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Top Tips for Living a Cancer Free Life
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For many years, receiving a diagnosis of cancer was a virtual death sentence. Although survival rates have improved in the past couple of decades, every year, thousands of people die from some form of cancer; cancers that, more than likely, could have been prevented in the first place.
Propaganda about cancer is simply everywhere: on the internet, television, and in print media. This is because cancer treatment is big business that brings in millions of dollars every year, as well as those funds that ask for your money to “find a cure.” As long as cancer is making people big money, they will never find a cure, only treatments…expensive, ongoing, never-ending treatments.
Although some cancers seem rooted in our genes, most cancers are preventable. Why not take all the steps you can towards keeping your body in the best possible shape and avoid cancer so that you don’t have to worry about whether or not you can survive the treatment?
We have compiled a list of the top 12 ways you can live a healthier life and avoid the most common cancers that are due to lifestyle habits. Keep reading and find out how you can live a cancer free (and disease free) life.
1. Eat a Healthy Diet
Although you hear this all the time, how many people do you know that really try to eat a healthy diet? We all know people like this: They go to the gym in the morning, they have a green smoothie every morning, they carry a stainless steel water bottle with them at all times, then they pick up the kids from school, hit the drive through at the golden arches, and drink half a bottle of wine with dinner. To avoid cancer, you need to eat a truly healthy diet with about 80 percent of it being raw, organic produce. A healthy diet has no room for artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, GMO foods, MSG, trans-fats, or tons of refined sugar. Remove as much processed sugar and processed foods from your diet as you possibly can. Find out easy steps to give up sugar in your diet.
Also, numerous studies have shown a connection between high meat consumption and higher rates of cancer. Processed meats are perhaps the worst offenders since they are loaded with artificial preservatives and colors that are toxic. Eat meat, especially red meat, in moderation and always choose organic, free range meats and eggs.
2. Drink Plenty of Healthy Liquids
This would include plenty of pure, clean water, green juices and smoothies that include organic fruit and clean protein powders, and herbal teas. Green tea, especially, has been linked with lower rates of cancer and other chronic diseases as well. Green tea is anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and increases your metabolism naturally, which can even help you drop a few pounds. There is no room in a healthy diet for soda pop, those artificial fruit flavored drinks, or anything that contains artificial sweeteners.
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3. Drink Some Red Wine
While we are on the subject of drinks, you should limit your intake of alcoholic drinks to one drink each day for women and two drinks each day for men. If you are wondering what would be the best or the healthiest drink, and then think about drinking red wine. The polyphenols, including resveratrol, which red wine contains are known to protect healthy cells in the body from the effects of aging. Red wine will also slow all three stages of cancer development (initiation, promotion, progression) by blocking the action of NF-kappa B. It’s the fermentation process that causes the higher concentration of these healthy polyphenols, much more so than simple grape juice. So consider having a glass of red wine with dinner tonight!
4. Watch Your Weight
This is another one that you’ve heard a million times but still rings true. Studies show that people who are overweight or obese have higher incidences of cancer. We know that keeping your weight in check for many people is easier said than done and we aren’t here to do any bashing, so if you are overweight, we just want to offer a few suggestions. First, try to focus on not gaining any more weight. Even simply keeping your weight stable will help lower your risk of cancer. Then, you can start to make slow changes in your lifestyle and diet to perhaps help you to slowly lose a little weight. You don’t have to be a size 2 to be healthy. Try eating an apple before each meal. Then try to get in just 5 minutes of exercise two or three times per day, then slowly work yourself up to 10 or 15 minutes of exercise twice per day. Small changes can add up to big results. Even losing just a half a pound per week will result in about a 25 pound weight loss in one year.
5. Don’t Smoke
This is one you’ve heard before as well: Stop smoking and if you don’t smoke, don’t start. It might feel impossible, but it’s not. More than 1,000 people decide to stop smoking, and succeed, every single day in America. If you try to quit but end up going back to smoking, don’t feel bad. Many people try an average of 6 times before they quit for good. Keep trying and don’t give up!
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6. Get Safe Sun Exposure/Vitamin D
Most people have low levels of vitamin D in their blood, and studies show that persons with cancer tend to have very low levels of this important vitamin. Of course we aren’t advocating sunbathing for 6 or 8 hours every day, but you can begin by getting about 5 minutes of sunlight every day, then add 1 minute more of sun exposure about every 3 to 4 weeks until you have worked yourself up to about 30 minutes of sun exposure. If you are African American, you will need to work up to about 60 minutes of sun exposure each day. If you can’t get this amount of natural sunlight every day for whatever reason, take 1,000mg of vitamin D in a high quality supplement daily.
7. Protect Yourself from STDs
Although the hubbub about AIDS/HIV has diminished in recent years, the disease is still around and although it doesn’t kill as quickly as it did in years past, there is no cure. Other STD’s abound, such as HPV (human papillomavirus) which are linked to a number of different cancers. It’s better to just avoid these diseases than to try to deal with them later and hope that they don’t kick start cancer in your body. Limit your number of sexual partners, try to stay in a monogamous relationship, and always, always, always wear a condom.
8. Detox Regularly
No matter how healthy or organic your diet, your body still absorbs toxins and pollutants via the air, lawns and golf courses you might walk on, contaminated food (no one can eat home grown food every meal every day) and water, and toxic, cancer causing chemicals from our workplace, grocery stores, prescription drugs, and shopping malls. Toxic chemicals and heavy metals get into our bodies in numerous ways and performing detox programs on a regular basis can help our bodies remove these chemicals. There are many ways to do detox programs and many different types of programs available. Find the one that works best for you and stick with it.
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9. Clean Up Your Beauty Routine
Most people try to avoid toxins in our air, food, and water, but not many people give thought to the toxins they deliberately put on their bodies every single day. Many cancer causing toxins are absorbed through our body’s largest organ: our skin. Whatever you place on your skin is absorbed directly into your bloodstream within 15 minutes. This means many cosmetic and beauty products such as creams, lotions, soaps, shampoo, nail polish, baby oil, and petroleum jelly contain cancer causing ingredients such as phthalates, parabens, and other chemicals that have been linked to higher rates of cancer. You can make many of your own beauty products with natural ingredients. The internet has hundreds if not thousands of recipes that will help you avoid these cancer causing compounds as much as possible.
10. Stay Active
Getting some regular exercise has been shown to protect you from several different types of cancer. You don’t have to be a marathon runner, just getting some regular exercise, whatever works well for you, is enough. Swimming, dancing, walking, even gardening or heavy housework can be a great source of exercise. Do something you love that gets you moving because when you love what you are doing, you will keep doing it.
SEE ALSO: Top 12 Natural Cancer Prevention Strategies
11. Get Your Z’s
Don’t think of sleeping as being lazy or wasting time. Your body needs sleep so that it can repair and regenerate itself. Your body is hard at work while you are sleeping, flushing toxins, repairing and making new cells, and giving your brain a soft reset. Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night and help your body fight off cancer.
12. Manage Your Stress
In today’s world, it is virtually impossible to eliminate all stress, but you can learn to manage it better. All that we are is the result of what we think and what we believe. If we believe that worst will always happen, if you believe in Murphy’s Law, if you believe that you are going to die from cancer and you can’t stop it, you might just find that these things are self-fulfilling prophecies. The more we give in to fear, stress, and anxiety, the more we deplete our body’s reserves of vitamins and minerals, and other nutrients vital to our survival. People with negative outlooks on life and those with chronic, ongoing stress levels tend to have higher rates of cancer.
Remove or limit contact with negative, irritating people. Don’t bother getting into those heated arguments in chat rooms or on Facebook. You won’t change anyone’s opinion and all it does it add to your stress levels. Work out your angry feelings with therapy or vigorous exercise. Practice yoga and/or meditation. Empower yourself by taking charge of your life, rather than feeling like life is something that is just happening to you.
Take control of your health and encourage your family members to do the same. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, friends. Live your best life!
References:
Olivia Stone
Nov 29, 2016 at 11:16 am
Thank you for this post, as I have read in Consumer Health Digest, having family history of cancer can give someone in risk of acquiring it, but risk is only a possibility right? Thank you for shedding some light on things that could prevent cancer cells from forming. I will follow this by heart as I am also in risk
Olivia Stone
Aug 28, 2017 at 7:58 pm
Thank you for this post, as I have read in Consumer Health Digest,
having family history of cancer can give someone in risk of acquiring
it, but risk is only a possibility right? I cant really move on since the death of my aunt to cancer, Thanks for this great tip on how to be cancer free