Читать книгу The Healthy Gut Cookbook: How to Keep in Excellent Digestive Health with 60 Recipes and Nutrition Advice - Marguerite Patten - Страница 18

The right foods help prevent cancer. In 1997, a major research report by the World Cancer Research Fund, Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer, announced that what you eat dramatically affects your cancer risk. One recommendation stands out from all others: individuals can significantly decrease their risk of developing certain cancers by increasing their intake of fruits and vegetables. Based on this report, the British food writer Oliver Gillie produced Food for Life, Preventing Cancer through Healthy Diet in 1998. His advice is:

• Enjoy a plant-based diet rich in its variety of fruits, vegetables and pulses. Minimize your intake of starchy staple foods.

• Eat 400–800 grams (15–30 ounces) of fruits and non-root or tuberous vegetables a day – every day of the year (this works out to be five or more servings).

• Eat 600–800 grams (20–30 ounces) of mixed cereals and root or tuberous vegetables and plantains.

• Choose minimally processed foods and restrict consumption of refined sugar.

• If meat is your source of protein, give it a low priority; 80 grams (3 ounces) a day is adequate for adults. Preferred meats are fish, poultry and meat from non-domesticated animals (venison and hare from reputable sources are excellent foods).

• Limit your intake of saturated fat. (Fat is part of a healthy diet. Tip your fat intake towards unsaturated fats like those in oils, nuts, olives and avocados.)

• Alcohol is ‘not recommended’. (Keep your intake well within safe limits. See here.)

• Avoid charred foods. (Skip the blackened barbecued steak, especially the charred fat.)

• Limit your salt intake and avoid salted and preserved foods.

Since publication of the report by the World Cancer Research Fund, medical and governmental authorities have flooded the news media with information about the importance of eating fruit and vegetables; five portions a day has been recommended as a healthy dietary goal for everyone. There is scant evidence, however, that the general public has taken the message on board. Women, and particularly younger women, appear to be more receptive to the message than other demographic groups, but most men still look upon fruit and vegetables as uninteresting food. Of even greater concern, recent studies of children’s diets show they fall far short of ideal.