Cancer Fighting Foods - How to Protect Yourself Against Cancer by Eating Healthy Foods

What are cancer fighting foods?

Healthy foods are more than just good for you because of the nutritional value they possess or because they are delicious but certain foods can prevent disease or even help in the cure. Foods that possess cancer prevention qualities are those that are common to everyday eating like tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, berries, certain bulk teas like green tea, foods with whole grains, the skin of red grapes and beans and the list goes on.

What foods are cancer-promoting foods?

Unfortunately there are foods that actually cause or at least contribute to cancer. Foods that are processed and contain ingredients like hydrogenated oils, sodium nitrate, artificial food colors, MSG and other preservative chemicals are considered cancer-promoting foods. Modern technology has made life a lot easier but has also created some real dangers to your health. Have you read the ingredient labels on the foods you eat? Pretty scary, isn't it?

Refined foods that are found in white rice, white bread, cereals, crackers, and baked goods like cookies for instance have all been found to be directly connected to causes of cancer. Eating foods that require a lot of refining, especially white bread are really bad food choices not only because they are cancer-promoting foods but because they translate to sugar in your system and will end up as unwanted stored fat.

What type of diet is considered an anti-cancer diet?

Obviously a diet that contains the foods that have powerful ingredients for cancer-prevention should be a big part of this diet. Also, fighting cancer is about adding as much nutrition, minerals, and vitamins as possible. This is from the foods you eat as well as the drinks you choose. Drinking eight glasses of filtered water is essential for any diet as it keeps your body hydrated and flushes out impurities. A high fiber diet containing foods that have high fiber content like legumes or anything from the bean family, and broccoli or leafy vegetables for example are important ingredients to your cancer fighting diet. Any foods that contain antioxidants will be greatly beneficial like beans, apricots, and spinach to mention a few.

Another important consideration in a cancer-prevention diet is to eat as many pure or organic foods as you possibly can. Organic foods are grown by farmers who do not use the chemicals and pesticides that others growers use to process their products. Instead of using chemical fertilizers and weed killers, the organic farmer will use manure to fertilize, mulch to keep the weeds under control and crop rotation to protect the plants. Even though organic foods, which should be labeled as such, are more expensive they are well worth the extra money.

Finally, be sure to include as much fresh garlic in your diet as you can. Garlic is an amazing food that studies have found to be not only extremely advantageous in cancer-preventing but also helps with the colon, stomach and esophagus to promote good digestion. Try including a clove a day.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3754981

Magical Weight Loss Foods

When all is said and done there is still only one way to lose weight. You have to burn off more calories than you take in. Exercise is an important part of that equation, but we are going to take a look at some foods that can help you achieve your weight loss goals. As a general rule weight loss foods are those that make you feel fuller without adding all kinds of empty calories. Adding these foods to your diet on a regular basis will help you to lose weight faster. Here are some of the top contenders.

Beans are at the top of list for several reasons. They come in many varieties, meaning they're versatile and you don't have to get bored eating them every day. They are low in fat, but very satisfying. They are packed with protein. And they contain plenty of fiber, which not only adds to how full you feel, but also reduces your risk for several diseases. The only thing you have to watch out for are re fried beans that have extra fat added, and canned beans that are too high in sodium. But you'll be doing yourself a tasty favor by eating any variety of dried beans.

Whole grains. There's one change you can make in your diet that's very easy: stop eating refined grains. The "refining" process gets rid of most of the good stuff, making them so void of nutrition that they actually have to re-add nutrients to make the process complete. All of that so our bread and rice can be pure white. To be blunt, it's ridiculous. Start eating whole grains to get the full nutrition nature put there in the first place.

Olive oil (or any other oil high in monounsaturated fat). Surprised? Yes, it still has many calories as any other kind of fat (9 calories per gram) but fat adds to the feeling of fullness. It also adds a nice flavor to many different foods. Besides olive oil is one of the healthiest fats that you can. So, while it may seem to be a lot of calories up front, the amount of calories you eat later will actually go down because it's so satisfying.

Oatmeal is another one of the best weight loss foods out there. A few years ago it got some good press for being able to reduce cholesterol. It's true, it is. But did you know that it has about the same amount of soluble and insoluble fiber? 

Again, it makes you feel fuller and is good for your overall health. Plus, it's low in calories. Most people think of oatmeal as a breakfast food, but it has a flavor that works well with many different foods. Therefore, it can be incorporated into any number of dishes throughout the day. There are many more weight loss foods, no question about it. But the four mentioned above will give you a great start on losing weight. Keep trying to reduce the bad foods, and increase the good ones and your waistline and health will be the better for it

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7972389