Colorectal cancer is a cancer that starts in the colon. The colon is also known as the large bowel or large intestine. It is the final part of the digestive tract that functions to absorb water, minerals and some of the remaining nutrients from your food. It also processes toxin and waste products from the body and prepare for its elimination, keeping your body clean and healthy. As such, eating well and balanced diet is one of the best ways you can prevent or recover from colon cancer.
Here are some key tips for building a diet plan that will help you keep your colon in the best shape possible:
Complete nutritional needs
Nutrients are components of food that provides nourishment essential for growth and the maintenance of life. It can be categorised into macronutrients and micronutrients.
Macronutrients are nutrients that body needed in large amount:
- Carbohydrates
- Proteins
- Fats
Micronutrients are nutrients that body needed in exceedingly small amount:
Each of the macro- and micronutrients affects our body differently. Therefore, it is important to never skipped any of the nutrients! It is only the amount that varies. Nutritional needs are different for men and women, certain medical conditions, activity level, and age. To learn about how much you need, consult our nutritionist – Broca for free now! T&C applies.
Choosing the right food
- Get vibrant coloured fresh fruits and vegetables
- Get whole-grain and fiber-rich grain foods such as barley, brown rice, buckwheat, bulgur, millet, oatmeal or popcorn
- Get Low-fat and fat-free milk, cheese and yogurt
- Get poultry, fish, eggs, beans and nuts
- Limit red meat
- Limit refined carbohydrates such as bread, pastries, cakes, biscuits, pizza, pasta and breakfast cereal
- Stay away from added sugars and syrups
- Stay away from cold cuts and processed meat such as ham, hot dogs, sausages, nuggets, bacons, corned beef, or beef jerky
- Supplement with some fermented food such as miso, kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir or tempeh
Drinks plenty of water
Drinking enough water is crucial to keep your body at work i.e., allow cell communications, regulate temperature, lubricate joints, transport nutrients and waste, etc. Generally, one should drink not less than 6 glasses (6 X 250mL) of water daily. The easiest way to keep yourself hydrated is to drink water gradually throughout the day.
Choosing the right beverages
There’s no doubt that water is the best beverage for your health. Your body would be perfectly content if you drank nothing but water. But with so many choices available, most people drink a variety of beverages. Experts from Harvard University reviewed the evidence on beverages and health and ranked categories of beverages into six levels.
Keep gut flora balanced and diversified
Gut flora plays an especially important role in your health by helping control digestion and benefiting your immune system and many other aspects of health. An imbalance of gut flora in the intestines may contribute to chronic inflammation such as colorectal cancer and other disorders such as weight gain, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, etc. According to research, when compared with the healthy individuals, the species richness and diversity of gut flora in patients with colorectal cancer were significantly reduced. Click here to find out how you can improve your gut flora diversity.
Eat small, frequent meals.
Smaller, more frequent meals in your daily eating patterns can aid in a more efficient metabolism compared to a slower metabolism when meals are skipped. This eating pattern is a great strategy for symptom management beyond appetite changes, like fatigue, reflux and diarrhoea; especially for individuals diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
References:
Ai, Dongmei et al. “Identifying Gut Microbiota Associated With Colorectal Cancer Using a Zero-Inflated Lognormal Model.” Frontiers in microbiology vol. 10 826. 24 Apr. 2019, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.00826
Kosumi, Keisuke et al. “Dysbiosis of the gut microbiota and colorectal cancer: the key target of molecular pathological epidemiology.” Journal of laboratory and precision medicine vol. 3 (2018): 76. doi:10.21037/jlpm.2018.09.05
