Healthy Eating After Breast Cancer

Healthy eating can help you heal more efficiently and mobilize your immune system. Healthy eating can also help hasten recovery from treatment side effects and detoxify the body. One way to insure a variety of healthful foods in your diet is to eat by color. Try to include each of the following in your weekly or daily diet depending on the recommendations.

Red Foods

Lycopene, a substance found in tomatoes and tomato products, as well as in other red or pink foods, has shown anti-prostate cancer effects in research studies. However, lycopene is also a powerful antioxidant, meaning it seems to protect cells from the damage that sometimes leads to cancer. The best source of lycopene is tomatoes. More lycopene is released when tomatoes are cooked. Having one pasta dish with a half-cup of tomato sauce daily supplies the recommended 30 mg of lycopene. To increase the amount of lycopene the body can absorb, serve tomatoes with olive oil.

Red & Purple Foods

Grape skins contain resveratrol, which slows the growth of tumors in animal studies. The data for cancer prevention by resveratrol shows that it has powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The darker the red or purple in the food, the more resveratrol the food has. Raspberries, blueberries, and other edible berries contain anthocyanins and ellagic acid, both of which seem to inhibit cancer growth in animal studies.

Dark Green Foods

Indole-3-carbinol is a compound found in broccoli, kale, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and swiss chard. Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli also contain glucaric acid, which inhibits the development of tumors of the colon, prostate, lung, liver, skin, and breast in animals. Green vegetables also contain other phytonutrients such as sulforaphane, isothiocyanate, carotenoids and folate. Eating between 5 and 10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day gives you a minimum dose of these health-promoting substances.

Orange & Yellow Foods

Citrus fruits contain glucaric acid, limonene, and perillyl alcohol, which inhibit the development of tumors of the colon, prostate, lung, liver, skin, and breast in animals. Orange and yellow fruits and vegetables are also rich in vitamin C and the compounds called carotenoids, which include beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, and zeaxanthin. If you eat 3 cups of vegetables and 2½ cups of fruit each day, you'll get 3 to 6 milligrams of beta-carotene. Many of these compounds are available as supplements; however, avoid large or "mega" doses of any vitamin or supplement.

White Foods

Garlic contains sulfur compounds that may reduce the risk of a number of cancers and may inhibit tumor growth. Allium vegetables, which include garlic, onion, leeks, and scallions, contain cancer-fighting substances called allicin, allixin, allyl sulfides, and quercetin. Garlic is the best researched of the allium vegetables and has long been appreciated for its disease-fighting qualities.

Green & Black Tea

Green and black teas are made from the Camellia sinesis plant. For green tea, leaves are simply dried; black tea is made from fermented and oxidized leaves. They both have catechins, which may help prevent cancer. Green tea contains higher levels of catechins. Steeping tea for about 5 minutes releases most of its catechins.