Nutrition & Cancer

Eating well is one thing you can do to help lower your risk of getting many types of cancer.  Healthy eating and regular physical activity can also help achieve and maintain a healthy body weight, which is one of the most important ways to protect against cancer.

Follow these steps to decrease your risk of getting cancer and to help achieve a healthy body weight:

• Following Canada's Food Guide
• Eat more plant foods.  Think of meat as a garnish rather than the centerpiece.  Fill your plate with mostly plant foods like vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and legumes. 
• Follow a lower fat diet.  Add less fat to foods, use low-fat cooking methods and limit high-fat convenience foods.
• Limit sugary foods and beverages with added sugar. Drinking too many sugary beverages can limit your intake of important nutrients and add extra calories to your diet.  Drink lots of water and at least 2 cups of milk every day.  Click here for information on sugar and artificial sweeteners.
• Eat less read meat and avoid processed meats.  Have red meat like beef, pork and lamb less often and have smaller portions.  Save processed meats like sausages, bacon and hotdogs for special occasions.
• Reduce your salt intake. Enjoy food without adding salt.  Limit packaged snack foods, canned vegetables, soups and stews and deli meats. Visit www.sodium101.ca for ideas and tips on reducing salt intake.
• Achieve and maintain a healthy body weight
• Be active every day

Click for more nutrition information to help protect against breast, cervical, colorectal and skin cancers.