A diet to fight cancer

How have you been? Hopefully pursuing happiness.

Let’s talk about one of the important aspects of that journey to joyfulness – what to eat?

We can keep our body in the best functional way by exercising and eating nutritious food. Essentially, it’s 40 per cent exercise and 60 per cent of what you put in your mouth – a rather simple ratio, but one that we often mess up. And then attempt diets to rectify it.

What kind of food you should eat depends not on what you think it should be or what your values or ethics dictate but on what the body wants.

Humans are supposed to be the most intelligent species on this planet. Then why it that we cannot decide what is right for our body? Most of the times, we really don’t need to go to a nutritionist for advice, only if we learn to listen to our body.

Research based opinions on diets keep changing every three to five years. So, according to me, you should try different kinds of foods. Understand and see how the body feels after eating a particular kind of food. If you feel agile, energetic and happy then that food is right for you. If the body feels lethargic and needs to be pumped up with caffeine or nicotine to stay awake, then the body is not happy with that food.

If you listen to your body, it clearly tells you what kind of food is right. Pay attention to your body. Isn’t this simple?

I was born into a vegetarian family. So, by default, I am vegetarian. However, as a homeopath, in terms of quality of food, I would say vegetarian is better than non-vegetarian. Before all meat lovers raise their hackles, let me explain why I say so.

World renowned figures including the Greek philosopher Plato, American political leader Benjamin Franklin, Mahatma Gandhi, the Beatle Paul McCartney to Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan have all advocated vegetarianism.

Multitudes of studies have demonstrated remarkable health benefits of a vegetarian diet, too. So, is this just a fad that will fade away or is there something more to it?

Vegetarianism is defined as avoiding all animal flesh including fish and poultry.

Vegetarians who avoid meat but eat animal products such as dairy and eggs are Ovo-lacto vegetarians (ovo is eggs and lacto is milk, cheese, yogurt)

In fact, health benefits increase as the amount of food from animal source in a diet decreases.

For example, a vegetarian diet that is naturally low in saturated fat (as long as we don’t cook it in too much butter or saturated fats) and high in fibre helps in preventing cancer because vegetarians get abundant cancer protective phyto chemicals that prevents cancer. As per the American Institute for Cancer Research, laboratory studies have shown that phytochemicals have the potential to:

 Stimulate the immune system

 Block substances we eat, drink and breathe from becoming carcinogens

 Reduce the kind of inflammation that makes cancer growth more likely

 Prevent DNA damage and help with DNA repair

 Reduce the kind of oxidative damage to cells that can spark cancer

 Slow the growth rate of cancer cells

 Trigger damaged cells to commit suicide before they can reproduce

 Help to regulate hormones

In addition blood analysis of vegetarians reveal the presence of ‘natural killer cells’ or specialised white blood cells that attack cancer cells.

Unfortunately, animal products are the main source of saturated fat and cholesterol. Vegetarian diets are by and large devoid of it, and the additional fibre in vegetables and fruits helps in reducing cholesterol, which essentially protects you against heart disease, especially if combined with exercise and non-smoking.

Research also shows that non-insulin dependent diabetes can be controlled through a low-fat vegetarian diet. Of course, it has to be accompanied by some form of physical exertion such as long walks.

Vegetarian diets have also shown to reduce one’s chances of forming kidney and gall stones. Diets that are high in protein, especially animal protein tend to cause the body to excrete more calcium, oxalate and uric acid. These three substances are the main components of urinary tract stones.

British researchers have advised that people with a tendency to form kidney stones should primarily follow a vegetarian diet.

I know, there are many who feel that a vegetarian diet is not complete and needs to be supported by supplements.

We’ll take an in-depth look into this question of should you or should you not take supplements if your diet goes green in the coming weeks.

The blogger is a homeopath, lifelong vegetarian and high level yoga practitioner. If you have questions for her, send them to readers@gulfnews.com or post them on our Facebook page. You can tweet us @gulf_news

Yoga for you

• Kneel on the yoga mat and place your hands on the hips.
• Your knees should be in line with the shoulders and the toes can be tucked in or facing the ceiling.
• As you inhale, arch your back and place your palms over the heel of your feet.
• Do not strain or flex your neck but keep it in a neutral position.
• Stay in this posture for a couple of breaths.
• Breathe out and slowly come back to the initial pose. 

• Improves digestion
• Stretches and opens the front of the body. It also strengthens the back and shoulders
• Relieves the body of lower back ache
• Improves flexibility of the spine and also improves posture
• Helps overcome menstrual discomfort