Diet is only one of factors that can affect your immunity. Multiple factors are important in cancer management as cancers are multi- factorial, that means there is no single reason for cancer.
Diet and nutrition is important in cancer treatment but no diet will make the cancer disappear. We need to take healthy diet so that our immunity increases to prevent cancer from coming back.
Keeping the weight under control is also necessary and your Body mass index (BMI) should be within normal limits.
Women with higher weight have more oestrogen circulating in their body. Many breast cancers are responsive to oestrogens. So more the amount of oestrogen, more is the proliferation of breast cancer.
BMI charts are available online and anyone can calculate their BMI.
So what is the right diet for Breast cancer patients?
National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR) and ICMR, India has given guidelines for cancer nutrition. (Diet and cancer.http://cancerindia.org.in/diet-and-cancer/)
Avoid food that increase the cancer risk:
Smoking is definitely associate with increased risk of many cancers, including lung, stomach, breast cancers. Intake of more of saturated fats and obesity have been linked to breast cancer.
The nutrition guidelines and the World Cancer Research Fund recommendations advocate that having a diet with liberal amount of vegetables and fruits, less of saturated fats decreases that risk of breast cancer.
So what should you eat if you have been diagnosed with breast cancer?
National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) recommends a diet (min 400gm) that includes high intake of fresh vegetables, fruits, garlic and spices such as turmeric in adequate amounts for cancer prevention(Dietary Guidelines for Indians. 2011. National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, India)
Along with diet, regular exercise improves your immunity. Stress management is absolutely necessary. Meditation, Yoga has been proven to reduce anxiety, reduces stress, gives you sound sleep.