So it's been around 17 days into the year already, and I've
been swamped with calls as usual. January is always the busiest time for me.
People are keen to start off the new year with their resolutions to be fit and
healthy. Most of the calls i get revolve around weight loss and many around
those striving to make a lifestyle change. This year has been different. over
the last 17 days, I've got over 19 people with cancer reach out for
support.What i see out there is confusion, a lot of confusion, a lot of fear,
of course, a lot of families destroyed emotionally, financial distress that
this deadly disease brings along with it.
A large number of people are waking up to the reality of
this disease now, some making massive changes in their lifestyles and many
simply consoling themselves with the fact that they have massive insurance and
contacts with top oncologists around the world.
We need to realize that we are bringing on disease and
suffering on ourselves and really, the only solution is prevention through a
lifestyle change.
I met a 77 year old woman last evening, healthy, great
medical reports, but with this looming fear in her mind that she has cancer,
because a few years ago she visited a dentist for a routine check up and was
told that she could have gum cancer due to some white mucous he saw between her
gums.Since then she has lived with the fear of having the cancer ,and any cough
or cold she gets pushes her deeper into misery.
The question i get asked almost everyday is can cancer be
prevented? What is the right cure? Do you have to die if you have cancer?
It just reminds me of one phrase that we grew up with, '
Prevention is BETTER, than cure' . Cancer can be the product of over 200 things
going wrong in your body at the same time, does this mean 200 different
treatments? That's what makes it complicated, so yes, prevention is better than
cure, but how to prevent ?
There is so much information out there, and sometime too
much of information causes more confusion.
Many people believe that getting cancer is purely down to
genes, fate or bad luck. But through scientific research, we know that our risk
actually depends on a combination of our genes, our environment and aspects of
our lives, many of which we can control.
I don't want to talk about telomers, twisted DNA's etc,,,,in
my experience, keeping it simple has always provided the best and most
inexpensive results.
I have put together some lifestyle changes that i rate as
the most important to make, when it comes to a prevention.
Experts estimate that more than four in 10 cancer cases
could be prevented by lifestyle changes, such as:
Not smoking
keeping a healthy body weight
cutting back on alcohol
eating a healthy, balanced diet
keeping active
avoiding certain infections (like HPV)
staying safe in the sun
occupation
Some people are more at risk of cancer as a result of
chemicals or practices used in their occupation. Improved safety in the
workplace means fewer people will be at risk now than in the past.
Making lifestyle changes can be difficult, but there are so
many benefits. Try to find tricks that make it easier to get into healthy
habits, like being active with a friend, keeping track of what you eat or
drink, or letting your friends and family know about what you're doing.
Preventing cancer doesn't work in the same way as preventing
infectious diseases by injecting vaccines.
‘Healthy living’ is not a cast-iron guarantee against
cancer. Instead, it "reduces the risk" of the disease - it heavily
stacks the odds of avoiding it in our favour.
For example, we know that it’s possible for a heavy smoker
to live a cancer-free life, while someone who never touches cigarettes could
develop lung cancer. But if we look at this as a whole, we can clearly see that
non-smokers are far less likely to develop cancer than smokers.
In the same way, careful drivers cannot guarantee that they
will never get into an accident due to events beyond their control, but they
are much less likely to do so than reckless ones.
Can lifestyle changes
really make a difference?
Yes, and not just for cancer. In 2008, a large study worked
out how a combination of four healthy behaviors would affect your health
.
These were: not
smoking; keeping active; moderating how much alcohol you drink; and eating five
daily portions of fruit and vegetables.
People who ticked all four healthy boxes gained an average
of 14 years of life compared to people who did not do any of them. By the end
of the study, they were less likely to have died from cancer or heart disease.
In short, a lifestyle change is one of the best ways to
prevent cancer and other diseases and more I see people making these changes,
the more I observe their improvement in their recovery or ability to handle
their cancers.
