Healthy Lifestyle

Healthy eating and regular physical activity can lower your risk of cancer. Other benefits include managing your weight and preventing heart disease and high blood pressure.

We’ve provided some guidelines for a healthy lifestyle below – keep them in mind when planning your Girls Night In, but more importantly try to incorporate them into your daily routine.

• Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables
• Eat a variety of wholegrain cereals, breads and pastas
• Maintain a healthy weight and be physically active
• Limit or avoid drinking alcohol
• Don’t smoke
• Select foods low in fat
• Where to go for more information?

Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables

Eating plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit may lower your risk of developing cancer. Vegetables and fruit contain natural substances, such as antioxidants, that can destroy cancer-causing agents. It is important to eat a variety of fruit and vegetables.

Fruit and vegetables are low in fat and high in fibre and are excellent foods for helping you maintain a healthy body weight, which also helps lower your risk of some cancers.

How much fruit and veg do I need to eat?

Five serves of vegetables and two serves of fruit a day are recommended for good health and for reducing your cancer risk.

A serve is 1 medium-sized fruit or 2 smaller fruits, ½ cup of fruit juice, ½ cup of cooked vegetables, 1 cup of salad

• Shop weekly for fruit and vegetables to ensure you have a fresh supply
• Enjoy fruit as a snack or for dessert
• Add fresh or canned fruit to your breakfast cereal
• Fill half your dinner plate with vegetables
• Include at least three different coloured vegetables with your main meal
• Include salad with your lunch
• Adapt your recipes to include more vegetables, eg add carrot, celery and peas to your Bolognese sauce

Eat a variety of wholegrain cereals, breads and pastas

Wholegrain foods help to ensure a healthier digestive system and contain high levels of fibre, resistant starch and natural protective substances such as antioxidants.

How much wholegrain food should I eat?

Depending on your age, at least four serves of bread and cereal foods are recommended daily for good health, although six to eight serves are better. These foods are a major source of fibre, B vitamins and energy for the body and brain. It is best if half your daily serves are wholegrain.

A serve is 2 slices of bread, 1/2 cup of muesli, 1 1/3 cups of high fibre cereal flakes, 1 cup of cooked porridge, rice or pasta

How to eat more wholegrains

Breakfast

• Wholegrain, wholemeal or mixed-grain toast
• Wholemeal English muffins or crumpets
• Whole-wheat breakfast cereal or porridge with low-fat milk
• Creamed corn on mixed-grain or wholemeal toast

Lunch

• Sandwiches made on wholemeal or mixed grain breads
• Wholegrain or wholemeal crispbreads with toppings such as creamed corn or salsa dip
• Brown rice salad, wholemeal past salad or tabouli made with cracked wheat

Dinner

• Brown rice with casseroles or curries
• Wholemeal pasta and sauce, or wholemeal lasagne
• Sweet corn counts as both a vegetable and cereal food
• Wholemeal flour used to thicken sauces, gravies and stews
• Oat topping for fruit crumbles

Snacks

• Low-fat popcorn
• Low-fat muesli cereal bars
• Wholemeal crispbread, crackers or biscuits (but avoid too many biscuits as they are high in fat)
• Muesli sprinkled over low-fat yoghurt

Maintain a healthy weight and be physically active

A healthy weight and regular physical activity reduces the risk of many cancer types and gives you more energy and vitality, making you feel better.

How to manage your weight

Maintaining a healthy body weight is a matter of balancing the energy (or kilojoules/calories) from food with the amount of energy burned each day. To cut down on kilojoules, keep portion sizes moderate and limit your consumption of high-fat foods.

Diets don’t work! Strict diets usually result in weight regain because you cannot keep them going. It is far better to make moderate changes that will last your lifetime. Be realistic about the changes you make and make them gradually so that you can stick to them. You can still enjoy the treats you love occasionally, but following a healthy eating plan most of the time will help keep you looking and feeling good.

Be physically active

Being physically active is one of the most important things you can do to reduce your risk of cancer (particularly breast cancer).

How much physical activity is needed?

Walking is a great exercise. You don’t have to join a gym to be more active. Choose activities you enjoy and that fit in with your routine or lifestyle. Try to be active everyday in as many ways you can.

If you are inactive, any increase is beneficial

For good general health, do at least 30 minutes of moderate activity (such as walking) daily. You can achieve this by doing three 10-minute sessions in a day.

To reduce your cancer risk, do one hour of moderate activity or 30 minutes of vigorous activity (such as jogging or cycling) daily.

• Be as active as you can
• Take the stairs, not the lift
• Get off the bus or train one stop earlier and walk
• Go for a walk at lunchtime
• Park further away from your destination
• Have some active fun such as bike riding, ballgames or join a sporting team
• Walk with a friend or join a walking group
• Take a dancing class

Limit or avoid drinking alcohol

Drinking alcohol increases your risk of developing some cancers, including breast cancer, so limit your consumption.

Aim to have at least one or two alcohol-free days a week and limit yourself on other days to no more than one standard drink a day ( two standard drinks a day for men).

Drinking large amounts of alcohol at once or binge drinking is not recommended. If you drink alcohol, it is better to drink a little regularly.

Don’t smoke

Smoking is suspected of increasing the risk of cervical and breast cancer. Although scientists haven’t yet been able to show a clear link between smoking and breast cancer, toxins from cigarettes have been discovered in breast cells. As smoking is also a major cause of heart disease, lung cancer and many other cancers, not smoking is a smart health choice.

If you’re a smoker and want help to quit, call the Quitline on 13 7848 (QUIT).

Select foods low in fat

High fat diets can lead to obesity and an increased risk of some cancers, including breast cancer. Obesity also increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Choose foods low in fat, particularly saturated fat, and use healthy oils sparingly.

Good and bad fats

A small amount of fat is essential for health. Choose small amounts of the healthier fats. The good fats are polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. The fats to avoid are saturated fats as they can cause high blood cholesterol levels.

Food with good fat (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated):

• Olive, canola, sunflower, soybean, sesame and peanut oils
• Polyunsaturated or monounsaturated margarines
• Avocado
• Nuts (all kinds)
• Seeds eg sesame and sunflower
• Oily fish eg salmon, mackerel, sardines, tuna

Foods with bad fat:

• Butter, cheese, cream, ice-cream
• Pastries, biscuits, cakes, pies and chocolate
• Fried take-away foods
• Fat on meat, bacon, sausages, salami
• Coconut cream
• Palm oil

How to enjoy food with less fat and healthier types of fat:

• Use low-fat or skim milk, low-fat yoghurt, custard and ice cream, and low-fat cheeses
• Trim the fat from your meat and buy lean cuts
• Enjoy at least three fish meals (preferably oily fish) each week
• Use non-stick cookware and use less oil or try an oil spray
• Enjoy only small amounts of unsalted nuts as a snack
• Include avocado in salads and sandwiches
• Use a scrape of polyunsaturated or monounsaturated margarine on your bread instead of butter

Where to go for more information on healthy eating?

• Cancer Council Helpline 13 11 20
  
  
• Australian Guide to Healthy Eating
  (Commonwealth Department of Health)
  http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/Publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-food-guide-index.htm
  For copies call 1800 020 103
  
  
• For nutrition tips or to locate an Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) in your area, visit the Dietitians Association of Australia website www.daa.asn.au or call the APD hotline on 1800 812 942.

© 2008 Cancer Council