The holiday season can be full of fun, laughter, and delicious food – but it can also be overwhelming at times, packed with meals and treats that are high in fat and calories. Experts warn that the combination of high-fat and high-calorie foods – factors that traditionally go with the holidays – can increase your risk of cancer over time.
The Asian Fund for Cancer Research has developed a list of "Top Ten Food Tips to Help with the Holiday Season" to help you keep up a healthy lifestyle and minimize your risk of cancer over the long-term.
1. Skin the Poultry – By removing the skin, you reduce fat and make the centerpiece of the holiday meal good for you.
2. Try High Fiber Dressing – Try a wild or brown rice dressing. It is loaded with fiber, one of the essential ingredients to deter cancer. Beans are also a good source of fiber.
3. Choose Fruit, Not Fudge – Rather than reaching for the tray of fudge and cookies, try Southern Ambrosia, a mixture of oranges, apples, bananas, pineapples and coconut. It isn't only good, it is good for you.
4. Use Healthier Cooking Methods – Broiling, grilling, roasting or baking holiday meals instead of frying and sautéing them. This reduces fat and allows the true taste of the food to come through.
5. Cook with Lower-Fat Dairy Products – By using low-fat dairy products, you decrease the intake of fat that is used by cancer cells to grow. You and your guests will not notice any difference in taste.
6. Include Fish in Your Holiday Tradition – Omega-B oils in tuna steak, salmon, mackerel and sardines are protective of your cell's linings in fighting off cancer growth. Avoid tuna packed in vegetable oil.
7. Eat Five to Nine Servings of Fruits and Vegetables Each Day – Research indicates that people who follow these guidelines can cut their cancer risk in half.
8. Make a Spinach Salad – Spinach contains one of the top cancer-fighting enzymes, sulforaphane, while iceberg lettuce is a nutritional weakling. Don't drench the salad with dressing adding fat and defeating the powerful effects of the spinach.
9. Use Tomato and Pasta Sauce – Research has proven that processed tomato products have a higher amount of lycopenes than unprocessed tomato products. This includes tomato sauce, pasta sauce, stewed tomatoes and other tomato products.
10. Drink Green Tea – Soda is nothing more than empty calories, and juice drinks can be loaded with sugar. Green tea is one of the best drinks, with no calories and lots of well-documented cancer-fighting ingredients.
