Healthy Lifestyle: Sample Daily Menu
Sizing It All Up - Portions Count
Breakfast:
For breakfast, try using premeasured instant oatmeal and a full 8-oz. glass of nonfat milk or nonfat soy milk and half a grapefruit. Another healthy breakfast would consist of two to three hard-boiled or poached eggs with as little yolk added as possible (that's where the cholesterol and the fat are) along with an English muffin and fruit jam. One serving of bran cereal with nonfat milk and a banana is also a satisfying breakfast.
If you hate to eat breakfast, have a soy protein supplement. Keep a baggie filled with soy protein powder and a container of juice in the back seat of your car and drink the combination in case you forget a meal or get hungry on the road.
Lunch:
For lunch, try a half to a full sandwich (depending on whether you are tall or short) made with any kind of bread (don't sweat the small stuff) and filled with water-packed tuna, white meat of chicken or white meat of turkey. You can use mustard and relish but no mayonnaise in the sandwich. For a change, you can have a salad with the white meat cut up on top. Supplement this with a piece of fruit.
Mid-afternoon, you should have another soy protein drink. This afternoon snack will counteract that low-energy feeling in the afternoon and make you less likely to overeat at dinner.
Prostate Cancer Prevention Diet
It will take time and self-discipline to limit - and eventually eliminate - these items from your diet. You've had a lifetime to develop eating habits, so it will take time to break the negative ones. Make each of these a goal to work toward and don't give up.
Eliminate from your diet:
• Nuts, including peanuts, macadamia nuts, peanut butter and pistachios
• Salad dressings made with oil
• Mayonnaise, butter and margarine
• Red meat, including veal, beef, pork and lamb
• Fatty fish, including salmon, trout and catfish
• Cheese and cheese pizza
• Non-fat yogurt and ice cream
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Dinner:
Dinner consists of three components. Start with either 3 oz. (shorter people) or 6 oz. (taller people) of white meat of chicken or turkey, white fish or shrimp, scallops, crab, clams or lobster. You should have one-half cup (shorter people) or one cup (taller people) of rice, pasta, potatoes, beans, corn or peas (starchy veggies) and one cup of vegetables (such as carrots, asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts or string beans).
Finally, add a large salad with no beans or croutons and wine vinegar, rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar instead of salad dressing. If you are hungry after dinner, either go for a walk or have some air-popped popcorn with no oil and no salt. Don't buy the microwave popcorn - there is a block of vegetable fat in each package. Don't buy the artificial fat spray to spray on your popcorn. You will just pollute your taste buds and make it harder to break your high-fat habits.
It's been proven successful
The above diet has been successfully used with many prostate cancer patients. It meets or exceeds the fat reduction advice contained in most government recommendations for diets in healthy populations where a guideline of 30% or less is used.
Eat healthy snacks - fruits and vegetables - to increase phytochemical intake. Using garlic in cooking and drinking 6 to 8 cups of green (not black) tea may be helpful. Also remember to drink 8 full glasses of water, and chew each bite of food slowly and thoroughly to help your digestion process (you will eat less this way, too).
Exercise and Stress Reduction
In many cases, exercise is also important for weight loss and increased muscle mass. Both aerobic exercise and weight lifting (or heavy-resistance exercise) can be incorporated. An easy way to begin to enjoy exercise is to take a brisk walk in the morning or after dinner. Always consult a physical therapist before starting your exercise program if you have any aches or pains.
Lifestyle changes should also include stress reduction, which will occur to some extent as the result of more frequent exercise. Transcendental meditation, visual imagery, Tai Chi and other relaxation methods can be very valuable additions to the diet and exercise program described above.
