Cancer is not necessarily inevitable even if the hand you were dealt contains a familial history of the disease. Keep in mind that family members often engage in the same unhealthy habits generation after generation. If you are the one to put an end to these poor choices and replace them with more informed and healthier alternatives, you just may be the crossroad sign pointing to a new family history. Little things add up and while it may seem like some of this advice to prevent cancer may not give you much of an advantage, when combined they have the potential to lengthen your life if not prevent cancer from ultimately doing its sinister deed.
Exercise 30 Minutes a Day
Physical exercise can help to give you added advantage over a number of different cancerous invaders. One of the most concrete is how exercise can help lessen the odds of developing colon cancer because it helps to make the digestion system perform more efficiently. The smoother that waste travels through your body and is removed, the greater the odds of expelling cancer causing agents. You want to keep carcinogenics inside your body as little as possible.
Use the Correct Sunblock
The heaviest applications of sunblock are not going to protect you as much as a light application of the right sun protection factor. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you only need sunblock when you are headed to the beach or lounging by the pool. A friendly pickup basketball game can expose you in a more dangerous way than a trip to the beach if your games takes place 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM. Walking around Disney World can put you at greater risk if you haven’t covered exposed skin with sunblock than laying around a pool wearing a big hat and sunglasses.
Order Baked Potato Instead of French Fries
How many times do you go out to dinner in a restaurant where you order French Fries despite having the option of eating a baked potato. Do yourself a solid and start writing down the amount of time this option comes up and you go with the fried foods rather than the baked. The more fried food you can remove from your diet, the greater the protection against cancer you order as well. Why pay for cancer when you can pay for cancer prevention?
Have Your Hormone Levels Tested
Women should get their levels of estrogen and progesterone tested and then consult with your physician about the results. The resulting ratio between these two hormones can indicate the potential for developing breast cancer and you and your doctor can develop a plan for health if the results are not positive.
Consume More Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Omega-3 fatty acids do some might fine work inside your body. Sometimes you body wants to betray you by synthesizing prostaglandins with the sole purpose of facilitating the growth of cancerous tumors. Those Omega-3 acids get right to work as your body’s linebacker just waiting to see route that where the prostaglandins seeks the end zone but they are perfectly situated for an interception. By block the process of synthesis so that it can’t take place, prevention of cancerous growth occurs. These acids are found naturally in many different types of fish. If you are not a fish eater, you can get Omega-3 in supplemental form. Now you know why those supplements smell fishy.
Don’t be a Butthead
It should go without saying, but apparently that is not the case. If you want to raise lower the risk of developing lung cancer, don’t pick up the habit of smoking and if you are already a smoker, do what you can to quit. It almost seems unreal to think that anyone would voluntarily smoke these days, but the numbers don’t lie. If you can’t give up the habit easily, do a internet search for images of cancerous lungs, print them out and place them everywhere you might be in the habit of lighting up. An ugly way to go about it, but quitting ugly is better than dying pretty.
Reference Sources:
Foods that Harm, Foods that Heal: Theresa Lane, Ed.
Fight Back with Food: Reader’s Digest editors.
Prevention Magazine’s Nutrition Advisor; Mark Bricklin.