The 10 Key Ingredients of the Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Diet
- Watch your weight and calorie intake. If you are overweight losing weight can help reduce your risk by as much as 40%.
- Do more exercise. Aim to include 3-4 hours of exercise each week (i.e. 5 35–45 minutes sessions each week).
- Limit your alcohol intake - each drink you have on a daily basis can increase your risk by 7% - therefore someone who has 5 drinks a day can increase their risk by up to 35%!
- Limit your intake of saturated (animal) and trans fats by cutting down on fatty
meats, high fat dairy products, cakes, biscuits, pastry, crisps and many
margarines. Not all fat is bad for us, the fats found in oily fish, avocado, and
rapeseed, walnut and olive oils are part of a healthy anti cancer diet. - Eat more wholegrain and less refined (white) starchy foods. Wholegrains can help to control levels of cancer promoting hormones in the body and will boost your intake of cancer beating nutrients like selenium and vitamin E.
- Include different coloured fruit and vegetables to ensure you take in a full range of anti cancer nutrients, aim for at least 5 portions per day.
- Include low fat dairy products such as yoghurt, low fat milk and cottage cheese which are rich in calcium and often vitamin D which help protect us from cancer.
- Be aware of taking combined HRT in the long term (more than 2 years) as this can increase the risk of breast cancer. Ten years on combined HRT can double your risk. This increased risk does disappear within about 5 to 10 years of stopping the combined HRT.
- Be breast aware, the majority of breast cancer outside screening programmes is detected by women themselves.
- Attend breast screening if you are eligible. Screening between 40-49 years if you have a moderate family history of breast cancer or after 50 years, 3 yearly, in the National NHS Breast Screening Programme. This has proven beneficial in reducing the likelihood of dying from breast cancer.