As I advise in my new book "Running From The Cancer Cooties" cancer is like one big life lottery and everyone is born with a ticket. We all have cancer cells inside of us that are capable of taking off with our lives. We don't yet know exactly why they take off when they do, but we do know there are ways you can increase your chances of it doing so. And like with any lottery, the more" tickets" you have, the greater the chance you have of "winning."
For Example:
If you smoke or chew tobacco, you have bought yourself another ticket in the cancer lottery. (Tobacco use is the single greatest avoidable risk factor for cancer mortality worldwide, causing an estimated 22% of cancer deaths per year. In 2004, 1.6 million of the 7.4 million cancer deaths were due to tobacco use.)
If you sip on more than 1 alcoholic drink a day for women or 2 for men, you've bought another ticket.
If you are overweight with a sedentary lifestyle, you don't even have to get up to get your extra ticket. It's right there around your waist.
If you have a poor steady diet consisting of too much sugar and empty caloric foods like white flour, white rice and processed products, then you are eating another ticket.
Wallowing in toxins by using sun-tanning booths, chemically saturated skin, hair and beauty products like make-up and nail polish raises your chances another notch.
The bad news is that this is one lottery you do NOT want to win, because the truth is, having cancer is CRAP! When you hear the diagnosis that your number has been called, it will be one of the worst days of your life.
Our doctors and other health professionals do what they can to help us deal with cancer once we get it, but if you wait for that moment, it could be too late. Cancers can grow quietly and quickly and before you know it, they're too big to remove and have traveled your bloodstream into other parts of your body. They can spread faster than gossip in a small town.
Or you could end up like many of us survivors with grueling tales of painful surgeries, of missing body parts, missing hair, fingernails and of distresses that still carry on. Of dealing with depressions and aches and drugs with disruptive, even harmful side-effects for the rest of our lives. The medical world can only do so much. Cancer is much bigger than any of us could ever imagine. It is a fight to the death between you and something evil that lurks just beneath your surface. Something that counts on taking over if you give it even the slightest chance.
Why let cancer get a foot hold in the first place? I am not alone in believing Prevention IS the key.
I will be researching each topic, trying to give you as much information on the subjects as I can, but ultimately, if it concerns you, you should do your own investigating for even more information and answers.
We each only have so much time on this earth. Personally, I'm trying to buy as many days, healthy ones, that I can because my work is not even close to being finished here. If I can, I would like to educate the entire world about the importance of cancer prevention. And that goal starts with one person at a time. Meaning with YOU.
Check back every Monday/Tuesday to learn more.
The Alphabetical Cancer Prevention Blogs begin on Tuesday October 11, 2011.
