If you have been diagnosed with Lung Cancer, other than medication, nutrition can also help you combat this ailment. You need to follow the right foods that fight lung cancer. What you eat plays a significant role in determining the overall health of your body. With the right diet, you can be assured of a smooth treatment period, a speedy recovery and most importantly your body will gain the strength to battle this condition.
It is advisable for you to eat small and frequent meals throughout the day. This will ensure that your body is supplied with enough calories. You need to watch on your weight because lung cancer treatment can likely lead to weight loss. You also need to eat protein-rich foods which will help in the repair of body cells and tissues. Whole grains also prove to be a great source of energy. They too should be added to your list.
Fruits and vegetables should also be incorporated into your diet. They are ideal natural sources of vitamins and anti-oxidants which can help fight lung cancer. Only take healthy fats and keep your body hydrated at all times.
The above is only a general overview of what your diet should entail. These foods will arm your body to fight against lung cancer. However, below are specific foods that you should eat if you have lung cancer. They contain nutrients which not only guarantee the ability to kill cancer cells, they also help in minimizing their ability to spread. Below are the list of foods that fight lung cancer:
What Foods should Lung Cancer Patients Eat?
Leafy Green Vegetables (Kale, Spinach, Watercress etc.)
Leafy green vegetables should be at the top of your list. They are the cornerstone of every healthy diet. They contain minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, and vitamins. The good thing about these is that they help reprogram cancels to die off. Green leafy vegetables will also guarantee body health. They are not a favorite for most people, but their numerous health benefits and ability to kill cancer cells should be reason enough for you to love them.
Pears
Remember, when we discussed how vital fruits can be when they are part of your diet? Well, pears can give you more than just vitamins. Pears contain a phytochemical (a chemical found in a plant) known as phloretin. This chemical has anti-tumor properties. Meaning that it does a great job of killing cancer cells. Moreover, it is also known to increase the effect of chemotherapy drugs particularly cisplatin, which is for lung cancer treatment. Apples also contain phloretin.
Turmeric
Turmeric is a flavor that is used to prepare different cuisines. However, did you know that Turmeric can also help you fight against lung cancer? It has a compound known as Curcumin. This compound has anti-inflammatory properties and also facilitates cancer cell death. This tasty spice can significantly help in making your chemotherapy more useful as it sensitizes tumors to be more reactive to treatment. Even though it has yet been accepted as a form of cancer treatment, there’s no harm in making it part of your diet. Turmeric can make a delicious curry.
Carrots
Most reviews which discuss the foods that prevent lung cancer only mention carrots as a preventative food. But, they don’t acknowledge how beneficial it is at remedying lung cancer. Carrots contain a phytochemical called chlorogenic acid. Before we discuss how this acid helps treat lung cancer, you need to understand what angiogenesis is. This is a lung cancer treatment that blocks tumors from growing and invading tissues. The chlorogenic acid plays a similar role. It disrupts the growth of cancer cells. This compound can be found in potatoes, pineapples and also flaxseed.
Tomato Sauce
It’s shocking how most people don’t know the health benefits of tomato sauce. There’s a particular compound found in tomato sauce called Lycopene. It’s good at battling and preventing cancer. The reason why most nutritionists recommend tomato sauce to lung cancer patients is that of its effectiveness. It’s because it has the capability of inhibiting tumors, disrupting the spread of cancer cells and eliminating them from the body. Lycopene has anti-inflammatory properties meaning that it hinders the progression of cancer.
Green Tea
Green Tea has established itself as a natural reliever from a lot of conditions such as anxiety and depression. The good news is that it can also help in this fight against lung cancer. Green tea, for lung cancer patients, it can help in increasing the effectiveness of the cisplatin treatment. Research shows that those people who incorporated the use of green tea in their diet noticed a higher effectiveness of cisplatin in killing cancer cells.
Salmon
Salmon isn’t only famous for its delicious taste but also because it is a natural source of Vitamin D. vitamin D, on the other hand, can help lung cancer patients. In a recent study which tried to determine the effect of Vitamin D on lung cancer showed that it could inhibit the growth of lung cancer cells. The research also showed that high amounts of Vitamin D also increases its effectiveness in minimizing the growth of cancer cells in the lungs. Adding salmon, mackerel and other types of fatty fish into your diet is, therefore, a great idea. You can also get some vitamin D from the sun.
Oysters
Most lung cancer patients struggle with adapting to their new diets. If you are finding it hard to like your new diet, you should know that healthy eating isn’t as difficult as people perceive it to be. Take for instance; Oysters. They contain high amounts of Zinc which in turn makes lung cancer chemotherapy more effective. Also, you need to ensure that your body doesn’t undergo zinc deficiency, because it can lead to a weak immune system. This is something that you should try to avoid at all times.
The above eight foods can help fight lung cancer. You should attempt incorporating all of them into your diet. Quite often, a lot of people wonder how foods such as the one mentioned above can help fight lung cancer. Well, we all owe it to the nutrients found in these foods. Below are some examples of how these foods can help battle lung cancer:
- Certain foods such as carrots inhibit the growth of cancer cells.
- Foods that have anti-inflammatory properties like turmeric and ginger minimize the development of cancer.
- These foods help in the fast elimination of stubborn cancer cells which fail to undergo apoptosis.
- Finally, most of these foods keep our body health so that they can sustain the effects of chemotherapy.
What Foods Should You Avoid if You have Lung Cancer?
Now you have already learned that which foods fight against lung cancer . Additionally, the same way that there are foods which can help you beat lung cancer. There are others which can increase the severity of your condition. You might be receiving the best form of treatment, eating a healthy diet. But, if you are eating the wrong foods, then you could be endangering yourself. It’s why you should familiarize yourself with foods to avoid if you have lung cancer. They include;
Hot Pepper
One of the most common symptoms of lung cancer is difficulty in swallowing. Therefore, hot pepper should immediately be removed from your diet. It’s because it can increase nausea and inflammation of the throat. Despite the effectiveness of hot pepper in increasing appetite, it doesn’t go well with the sensitive throat of a lung cancer patient.
Rough Textured Foods
As with the case with hot pepper, a lung cancer patient esophagus is usually sensitive due to the treatment administered. Therefore rough textured foods such as raw fruits can be painful to swallow. However, this doesn’t mean that you should avoid fruits. You can easily blend them and still enjoy the health benefit of fruits. It’s also advisable that you stick to small and frequent meals as mentioned earlier.
Saturated Fats
There has been a growing concern associated with the consumption of saturated fats which is mostly found in delicacies such as pastries and junk food. These fats lead to poor health which leaves the body weak and unable to defend itself against lung cancer. There is a better alternative – healthy fats. They include olive and coconut oil.
Refined Carbs
Despite being sources of energy, refined carbs aren’t ideal for lung cancer patients. This is because they increase the blood sugar levels and this can lead to chronic inflammation. Moreover, they can also lead to obesity which can pose a health risk to a lung cancer patient. Refined carbs other than triggering inflammation on lung cancer patients it can also lead to the emergence of other ailments such as diabetes.
Final Thoughts
The above, are the foods that fight lung cancer and can damage your lung. you should or shouldn’t eat if you have lung cancer. One thing that you need to know is that you can’t put your hope in only one type of food because you like it the most. You need to combine all of them. After all, that’s what makes a healthy and balanced diet. You should talk to your nutritionist. He/she will help you come up with the ideal diet for you. Nonetheless, make sure the above lung cancer-fighting foods are part of your diet. It’s understandable that coming up with a lung cancer diet can be a bit of a challenge, but it is worth all the effort.