Cancer is one of the scariest diseases today for most people and being diagnosed with the dreaded word can stop us in our tracks. If there is a history of cancer in your family, like there is in mine, it's something you think about every time you find a lump, notice a new spot or have a pain that doesn't go away.
An article I found showed that Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and a network of collaborators estimated mortality for 12 types of cancer linked to nine risk factors in seven World Bank regions for the year 2001? The following are the nine factors they listed:
• Smoking
• Alcohol
• Overweight/obesity
• Low fruit & vegetable intake
• Physical inactivity
• Unsafe sex
• Air pollutants
• Contaminated injection in a healthcare setting
• Indoor smoke from coal furnace or fireplaces
I found these to be pretty common across the board for the most part but a couple surprised me. Some we have no control over but five of the nine we can and should take a serious look at how they play a role in our own life. The following are some life changes to consider incorporating in your life that can make a significant difference in preventing disease. 5 things that you can do now that will reduce your risk of cancer:
1. LOOSE WEIGHT: Now we all know obesity can be the cause of many diseases and our diets play a big role in how our bodies react to disease. It has been proven that our western diet is one of the major problems with our constant consumption of fast food, greasy fried foods and the time saving prepared foods in our daily diet. The lack of exercise is also one of the nine key factors in obesity and can lead to disease. It's also well documented in the medical field that up to 40 percent of cancer cases can be prevented by a healthy lifestyle. Loosing just 5-10% of your body weight can make a huge difference in how your body functions and will take the burden off organs trying to over compensate for that extra weight.
2. REDUCE STRESS: Let's face it we will all have stress on a daily basis probably for the rest of our lives what with today's hectic lifestyle, working long hours and driving in traffic dealing with the activities of our kids. There is good news though, we can learn how to deal with stress so the effect it has on our bodies is reduced to a minimum. If you control your emotions and thoughts surrounding the stressor, weather it's while you're driving in traffic or dealing with a boss that is blaming you for something he did or didn't do, you can change how you feel and the effect it has on your body. The following is a list of ways to control emotions that I found helpful.
• Take 15-30 minutes a day for yourself, try to clear your mind and visualize all stress leaving your body with every breath you exhale.
• Meditation
• Cat naps-small naps if you're able will really help your physical well being.
• Stop and notice how you're feeling when you're in a stressful situation then immediately change your feelings surrounding it.
What you'll find if you do one or more of these is that you will be able to control your emotions and how your body handles stress as it comes along. The key here is to not let the stress get to the point that is can affect your physical well being.
3. EAT HEALTHIER & EXERCISE: Even though some of us who are not over weight are still at risk due to poor diet. Our bodies are starved because of the lack of nourishment in the food we eat. According to a Swedish study published in the "Journal Diabetes Care" elevated blood sugar has the potential of increasing women's risk of pancreatic, skin, urinary tract, womb and breast cancer. We all know that a diet high in junk food and high levels of blood sugar can eventually cause Type 2 diabetes in some people. Also called adult onset diabetes, which happens when the body can no longer regulate hormone insulin, and has been shown to lead to increased cancer risk. However, the Swedish study demonstrated a correlation between blood sugar levels and cancer risk, independent of the occurrence of diabetes. Researchers studied nearly 65,000 adults between the ages of 40 and 60 for 13 years. They found that the 25 percent of women with the highest blood sugar had a 26 percent higher chance of developing cancer than the 25 percent with the lowest blood sugar levels. Breast cancer risk in particular was increased only among pre-menopausal women. Blood sugar levels did not correlate with cancer risk in men.
Our western diet of red meat, starch and sweets may also be a major cause of breast cancer among postmenopausal women. It could double the risk compared to a diet that's rich in vegetables. This is just another reason for people, and especially woman to make small changes that could make a big difference. A lot of women are eating a diet of soy and more fruits and vegetables but as we have discussed already that's not enough.
4. TAKE A GOOD SUPPLEMENT: We all know taking vitamins to supplement what we don't get in our food is not only essential it's mandatory in our changing world. There are a lot of choices out there when it comes to supplements and to get every nutrient our body needs you could spend a small fortune every month and still not know if it was enough or if it was the right nutrient to do the job. The ideal is that we find one that delivers all the nutrition we need while being easy to take without breaking the bank.
5. STOP SMOKING: This is a big one not only will it reduce your chances of getting cancer it will help many other areas you don't even realize. I'm an ex-smoker and I can tell you until I quit I didn't realize how many health issues I had that were exacerbated by smoking and improved once I quit. Not only has it slowed the aging process, smoking can age the skin and cause wrinkles, but I found I slept better and we all know that deeper sleep can greatly improve our overall health. These five things can reduce your risk of getting cancer but the most important hands down is nutrition. I have spent a lot of time researching what the body needs to function at its peak and I found that the nutrients we consume are handled differently by each person. What causes this is our assimilation and how readily we can absorb the nutrition we put in our mouths. If a person has a digestive problem then takes a supplement, let's say vitamin c, they would only absorb a small amount in the blood stream and the rest would be flushed through their system. A liquid supplement is going to be more easily absorbed since it will go directly to the blood stream then a tablet that has to be broke down in the stomach then absorbed so this is a good choice of many.
The key here is to start somewhere, if you eat healthier, get exercise, lose weight (if needed), handle stress and stop smoking you will reduce your chances of getting cancer significantly but giving the body the nutrition it needs to work as it was designed to is the most important thing you can do. Most of us take better care of our car then we do our own body and this is evident when you look at how many people have chronic diseases today compared to fifty years ago. The time to change is today.
If you see Eva Longoria on the street and she’s looking slightly less hot- don’t panic. It’s on purpose, and it’s all part of a new story arc for her character on “Desperate Housewives.”Eva Longoria has recently been spotted sporting a much shorter ‘do, and while many thought it was just part of her cooler new summer look- not so. Turns out Longoria’s character is supposed to look much more weary next season, from raising children, and that her more practical haircut is meant to match her state of mind. Liza Anderson, Eva Longoria’s rep, told People magazine, “She’s making herself look like that as her character has let herself go. Gabrielle has gained weight and cut her hair.
