Think Pink but Eat Green

It is pink week here again in Neepawa. The time every year when our thoughts and cash collectively go to the courageous cause of making cancer, specifically breast cancer “a thing of the past”.

A lot has been said about cancer.  It is a formidable foe to say the least.
It is the word that strikes terror in the soul of every one who hears it. It has touched each of our lives, somehow, sometime.

But with focus being made to effectively increase early detection, treatment and “curing” cancer, there is another word that all to often gets lost.
Prevention.  Is it possible? Is it probable and if so, whose responsibility would it be?

Cancer is a monster that is diagnosed in 175 North Americans every hour.
The American Cancer Society reports about 1.2 million cases will be diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. in 2008.  More than 552,000 Americans will die of it.

But even the American Cancer Society (ACS), which is as traditional as medical organizations come, have recently suggested that you can reduce your risk of cancer by more than 60 percent through simple lifestyle changes.
Most natural health experts believe that number to be much higher, as high as 95% in some cancers, such as colorectal cancer.

Nine recommendations made by the American Institute for Cancer Research to prevent cancer include:

  1. Maintaining a body mass index (BMI) from 18.5 to 24.9.
  2. Putting on no more than 11 pounds after turning 18 years old
  3. Maintaining a consistent exercise regimen consisting of challenging cardiovascular activity
  4. Consuming at least five servings of fruit and vegetables a day (only 25% of the population meet this requirement)
  5. Complex carbohydrate intake of around 14 ounces daily
  6. Restricting alcohol intake to one drink per day
  7. Reducing red meat consumption to under 80 grams a day
  8. Daily fat consumption shouldn't exceed more than 30 percent of total caloric intake
  9. Sodium restricted to less than 2,400 milligrams per day

Based on their own results of this study the AICR estimated that 31 percent of cancer cases and deaths from cancer could have been delayed or prevented altogether by following these basic recommendations alone.

Without a doubt, in the entire history of man, cancer has never been as prevalent as it is now.  It also must not be ignored that, never before, in the entire history of man, have our dietary choices have gone under such a radical, unnatural transformation.  Natural, whole foods have been replaced by chemically laden, nutritional void, molecularly altered, “non- food”, food products.

Is there a connection? Irrefutably YES! 

This is a connection that cannot be haphazardly pushed aside any longer.
In spite of medical research the statistics are still rising.

Education in nutrition and prevention needs to move to the forefront immediately. 
There is no therapy in the world that can compensate for all the pro-cancer things many people do to themselves.

I am a firm believer that people, more than anything, want to be well. I also am a firm believer that people, when given the proper information, can and will make the right decisions.

We are in a time now when we need to make an indelible connection between behavior and result.

How much responsibility do we have for our own personal health?  Are we really just a nation of innocent victims waiting vulnerably to be attacked from within?

I do encourage you to take part in the pink activities this week.  Absolutely, open up your purse and give. We do need to be vocal; we do need to be pro-active.

But before you put that fund-raising pop and hot dog to your mouth, and in your body, please, give consideration to these two last thoughts; 

In 1931 (almost 100 years ago) the Nobel prize in medicine was give to the German physician, Dr. Otto Warburg, for his research with cancer cells and the discovery that sugar aggressively feeds cancer.

The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has just completed a detailed review of more than 7,000 clinical studies covering links between diet and cancer. Its conclusion is rocking the health world with startling bluntness: Processed meats are too dangerous for human consumption.  The report boldly states “Consumers should stop buying and eating all processed meat products for the rest of their lives”.

Processed meats are usually manufactured with a carcinogenic ingredient known as sodium nitrite. Unfortunately, sodium nitrite also results in the formation of cancer-causing nitrosamines in the human body, and leads to a sharp increase in cancer risk for those who eat them.

The choice is yours.

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