Everything Causes Cancer

For the first time in, well, ever cancer is the most prevalent disease in our society. It has risen steadily since the early part of the century. It went from a disease rarely even mentioned in medical texts to a household word. Everything causes it. The sun, our cell phones, our food, our hair products. We can't escape it. Or can we?

Okay, I am NOT going to get on a soapbox about why we have cancer more now than 100 years ago. I could . . . but I wont. Instead I'm going to tell you how to NOT have it. The abridged and simple version. You're welcome.

It is true that we can't escape carcinogens in our life. They are all around us. Although they are fueled by technology and convenient lifestyles, even the most primitive humans would have come in contact with them just by cooking over a fire. We DO have more toxins than ever in our lives. But we also have ways to fight it off.

What is cancer?

Our bodies create and multiply cells constantly. But did you know that cells have a self-destruct setting? They are supposed to die and be absorbed as waste once they can no longer do their job. But some cells, free radicals, just refuse to die. The name "free radical" seems more meaningful in that context. Some cells become mutated before they multiply, such as in the case of skin cancer. Our bodies are supposed to recognize and attack these cells. So why don't they? Actually, they do to an extent. Free radicals are present in our bodies on a daily basis. Usually, they are attacked and killed before growing into something harmful.

In order for your body to function properly you need a few essential things. Nutrients, sleep, exercise, etc. But in order for our bodies to perform optimally you need perfect nutrition, perfect sleep, perfect exercise . . . And our body NEEDS to be performing optimally to fight off this most persistent disease.

You cannot always control what is around your body, but you CAN control what you put in and on your body. In an ideal world you could eliminate all the processed and unhealthy foods that put our bodies at risk. But I'm going to be more realistic. Instead of trying to eliminate every bad thing, just try to ADD the good stuff. I may have some real issues with the Government's Food Pyramid, but I'm going to ask you to strive to meet their fruit and vegetable standards. That's 2-4 servings of fruit per day, and 3-5 servings of vegetables. If you give your body what it needs, it will have a better chance of fixing the other damage done to it by the less than ideal stuff. Also, IGNORE THE GRAIN SECTION OF THE PYRAMID! It is driven by lobbiests and government subsidies.

Now I'm going to qualify this, and challenge you. When I say 2-4 servings of fruit, I mean fresh fruit. Not canned or dried. So lets shoot for AT LEAST two servings of fresh fruit per day (ideally in the morning when your stomach is empty).

For vegetable, they should be fresh and raw or very lightly cooked. Steamed is best. So lets try two or three servings of raw or lightly cooked. The other servings can be as you wish. You may find that if you incorporate these foods in your diet daily, your desire or room for other foods lessens.

So try it out for a week and let me know how it goes. I will be accepting the challenge also. Good grazing!