Breast Cancer Diet Tips for Better Health and Recovery

Breast Cancer Diet: Lifestyle Changes to Boost Treatment Outcomes

Breast cancer can be caused by genetic mutations, such as in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, among other factors. Lifestyle factors, including obesity, are also known to increase the risk of developing breast cancer. Therefore, making necessary lifestyle changes is crucial during treatment.

Eating a balanced diet will help manage the side effects of treatment, facilitate faster recovery, increase muscle tone, restore immunity, and reduce inflammation.

A patient's diet should be tailored to their individual needs, side effects, and nutritional status by a Registered Dietitian (RD) who specializes in oncology.

What Food to Include in the Diet of Cancer Patients?

If you have breast cancer, you will be undergoing chemotherapy or hormone therapy or taking HER2-targeted drugs. Including a variety of nutrient-dense foods, such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, is important to help support your body's strength and immune function during treatment. However, no food can cure cancer or replace medical therapy. Here is a list of general recommendations for food that will promote your overall health:

• Plant-Based Protein: In this form of diet, you intake plant-based protein. Such vegetables include beans, lentils, and soy foods. These have high levels of vitamins and minerals. Have nuts and seeds such as walnuts.
• Healthy Fats: Common healthy fats are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. You can have it by consuming avocados, olive oil, and grapeseed oil.These are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, making them a perfect choice to combat inflammation and improve heart health.
• Allium Vegetables: Garlic, onions,and leeks are known as allium vegetables. They include important nutrients like organosulfur compounds, flavonoid antioxidants, and vitamin C. All these compounds have powerful anticancer properties.
• Citrus Fruits: It includes grapefruits, lemons, limes, and tangerines. These fruits are high in folate, vitamin C, carotenoids, and flavonoids. Citrus foods and their peels have properties to protect and minimise the detrimental effects of breast cancer.
• Berries: Rich in flavonoids and anthocyanins, they protect you from cellular damage and control the cancerous cells from spreading across the body. You can easily have a handful of berries.
• Fish: Fatty fish-like salmon, sardines, and mackerel have immense health benefits because they are rich in omega-3 fats, selenium, and antioxidants like astaxanthin.
• Fermented Food: You will find various recipes of fermented foods across India, some of them being idli, kefir, yoghurt, kanji, and buttermilk. They contain probiotics and other nutrients that improve immunity and boost the healing process.
• Herbs and Spices: Spices such as turmeric, curry mixes, and ginger are basic for Indian households. Continue including these, as they are rich in apigenin, a flavonoid. Having herbs boosts the antioxidants carvacrol and rosmarinic acid.
• Whole Grain: It includes wheat, brown rice, barley, quinoa, and rye. These contain fibre, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, making them a crucial addition to your diet, as they are beneficial in fighting breast cancer.
   

What are the Different Types of Diets?

Your diet plays a significant role in supporting your health journey during and after breast cancer treatment:

• Keto Diet: It stands for ketogenic diet, which is high in fats and low in carbs. In this diet plan, you minimise your carbohydrate consumption to enter a state of ketosis, which is the forced burning of stored fats. It is a very restrictive diet that is not recommended as a general nutritional strategy for most breast cancer patients. It can cause significant side effects and malnutrition. While it is being studied in clinical trials for certain specific situations, it should never be attempted without the direct guidance and monitoring of a medical team and a registered dietitian.
• Plant-Based Diet: A plant-based diet consists of fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. It is similar to a vegetarian diet because it does include animal products like paneer and curd. Studies have shown that cancer survivors significantly benefit from this diet plan because it adds fibre, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals to their diet.
• Mediterranean Diet: The Mediterranean diet includes a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and seeds. Your source of protein is through chickens and eggs. However, in this diet, you avoid having processed food and minimise sugar, salt, saturated fat, and alcohol. This diet has a positive effect on breast cancer mortality.
   

Your diet cannot reverse cancer cells, but it does support your healing journey. Therefore, you must make the necessary changes in your diet to ensure that it aids your body while it recovers.