From the Desk of Dr. Lenz

Food Tips for Thanksgiving from the NFCR

Dr. Lenz

I wanted to come up with some recommendations on diet over this Thanksgiving holiday. Searching the web and looking for advice to give you, I came across a wonderful website — TOP TEN FOOD tips by the National Foundation for Cancer Research — I wanted to share with you.

Here’s what they said.

• Skin the turkey – By removing the skin from the turkey (or chicken) after you cook it, you reduce the amount of fat and actually make the traditional centerpiece of the holiday meal better for you.

• Add more fiber to your stuffing – Try adding brown rice, celery, chopped apples, apricots, or nuts to your stuffing this year. These ingredients are all rich in fiber which is essential in a diet to deter cancer.

• Fruit not fudge – Rather than reaching for the tray of fudge and cookies this year for dessert, try Southern Ambrosia, a mixture of oranges, apples, bananas, pineapples, and coconut. Click here for the recipe!

• Use healthier cooking methods – Try broiling, grilling, roasting, or baking your holiday meals instead of frying and sautéing them. This reduces the amount of fat and allows the true taste of the food to come through.

• Cook with lower-fat dairy products – By using low-fat dairy products, you decrease the intake of fat that is later stored and used by cancer cells to grow. In most cases, you and your guests will not notice the difference in taste.

• Include fish in your holiday tradition – The Omega-3 oils in tuna, salmon, and mackerel appear to be protective of cell linings in fighting off cancer growth. Avoid tuna packed in vegetable oil, however.

• Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables – Research indicates that people who eat five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables each day can cut their cancer risk in half compared to those who eat only one serving per day.

• Make a spinach salad – Spinach contains one of the top cancer-fighting enzymes, sulforaphane, where traditional iceberg lettuce is a nutritional weakling. Don’t drench the salad with too much dressing which adds fat and calories. Even low-fat dressing may be loaded with too much sugar.

• Use tomato and pasta sauce – Research has proven that processed tomato products have a higher concentration of lycopene, the most powerful antioxidant carotenoid, than unprocessed tomato products. This includes tomato sauce, pasta sauce, stewed tomatoes, and other tomato products.

• Drink tea – Soda contains nothing more than empty calories and some juice drinks can be loaded with sugar. Green tea is one of the best drinks because it contains no calories and has well-documented cancer-fighting properties.

To all of you Happy Thanksgiving.

This news article was originally posted on November 25th, 2009 and was accurate at the time of publication. Since then, information may have changed or links may now be outdated. Please call our Answer Line 1-877-427-2111 for the latest information, or talk to your doctor before making any medical decisions.

Posted by Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD on November 25th, 2009
Tags: diet, Preventing Colorectal Cancer