7 Healthcast: Eating healthy to beat cancer

Fay Hogan has brain cancer. She was diagnosed back in April of 2010 and the news was devastating. She was told she only had one year left to live.

"You say ‘I can't believe I just heard that. That happens to someone else, not me’," she said.

But her doctor told her she could increase her chances for survival by eating healthy and staying as active as possible.

Studies show that eating foods like green leafy vegetables which are high in vitamin A, can help prevent cancer and help those who already have it to fight the disease.

Dr. Molly Brewer said eating right and exercising helps to maintain a healthy body mass index, or BMI. People with high BMI's are more likely to develop some cancers.

"The cancers that are most strongly associated with body mass index are uterine cancer, endometrial cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer,” she said. “Those are the ones we know of."

The doctor said processed foods are high in fat and also contain preservatives that are linked to cancer and that people need to make the conscious decision to make better food choices and be active.

"Good health is a lifelong, really, endeavor and it's associated with a good diet, exercise, and a balance in your life," Dr. Brewer said.

Gyms and personal trainers can help get you on track.

"For the most part, when it comes to BMI it’s cardiovascular,” Personal trainer Richard Destefano said. “A lot of those aerobic machines that we all like to get on as far as rowing machines, treadmills, ellipticals, the swimming pool."

Destefano said everyone should do 30 minutes of aerobic activity, 5 times per week, and stick to the program.

“A lot of people find excuses,” he said. “I think that if you've got the schedule and you put you in there, and you have that hour for you, you'll make the time and do something."

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