Ten Tips To Reduce Your Risk of Cancer

In 2008, an estimated 1.5 million people in the United States were diagnosed with cancer, including over 700,000 new cases in men and nearly the same number of new cases in women. There were also over 650,000 cancer deaths last year, which ranks cancer second only to heart disease as a leading cause of death

Cancer is caused by changes in genes that control the growth and death of cells. The disease develops when cells continue to grow and divide instead of dying off when they get older as they would normally do. As cancer cells multiply, they can damage nearby tissues and can also spread to other parts of the body and develop into new tumors. While improvements in detection, diagnosis, and treatment have increased the survival rate for many types of cancer, we also encourage doing all you can do to prevent the disease as a core strategy of your prescription for optimal health.

With prevention in mind, here are 10 things we can all do to reduce the risk of developing cancer:

1. Avoid tobacco products and second-hand smoke

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States for both men and women. Ironically, it’s also the most preventable type of cancer. Some 87-percent of lung cancer deaths are attributable to exposure to tobacco smoke including roughly 3,000 deaths each year in non-smokers due to second-hand smoke. Of the 45 million Americans who still smoke in 2007, 30-percent of male and 21-percent of female high school students reported using some form of tobacco in the prior month. If you smoke, take the necessary steps to quit for the health of you and your loved ones.

2. Achieve and maintain a healthy weight

Being overweight increases your chance of developing certain types of cancer, including cancer of the esophagus, colon and rectum, and pancreas. Obesity also increases the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women by roughly 50-percent, and endometrial cancer by about three fold. And carrying too much extra body weight is believed to account for up to 30-percent of kidney cancers in both men and women. Make smart food choices, control portion sizes, and fill up on fruits and vegetables to help manage your healthy weight and reduce your risk of cancer.

3. Get moving

The American Cancer Society recommends regular exercise as a way to prevent cancer. Regular exercise burns calories and can help you reach and maintain a healthy weight. Pick something that gets and keeps you moving like walking, hiking, cycling, swimming, team sports, and even dancing. Consider biking or walking to work, or take a walk during your lunch break. Be sure to gradually work up to 30-45 minutes of exercise a day for five or more days per week.

4. Eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains

Fruits and vegetables are naturally rich in dietary antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E, and a whole family of carotenoids that may help to protect your healthy genes from oxidative damage. Recent research suggests that eating tomatoes may help to protect against developing prostate cancer, while eating cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts may help to protect against bladder cancer. Fruits and vegetables are also rich in fiber which can speed the transit of food through the digestive system and may reduce the absorption of cancer-causing chemicals. So eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables may be the best way to ensure broad spectrum protection.

5. Fresh is best

Until about 20 years ago, stomach cancer was the most common cancer worldwide, perhaps due to cultural preferences for eating large amounts of salt-preserved foods such as cured meats and pickled vegetables. This finding underscores the point that when it comes to eating most foods, it’s generally best to eat fresh rather than salted, cured, or pickled. In general, the less processed the food, the healthier it will be for you.

6. Limit alcohol intake

Excess alcohol consumption is associated with increased risks of cancers of the oral cavity, throat, voice box, esophagus, liver, breast, and possibly the colon and rectum. Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer diagnosed in women, and aside from carrying too much body weight, alcohol intake is the only other established risk factor for this disease. It’s recommended that men who drink alcohol should limit their intake to no more than 2 drinks per day, while women should limit their intake to no more than 1 drink daily.

7. Practice sun safety and check for changes in your skin

Ultraviolet radiation from the sun is damaging to your skin. The genetic damage it can cause to skin cells can lead to skin cancer, a disease that is increasingly common, especially among young people. Be aware that the sun’s peak time is between 10 am and 3 pm and that sunlight exposure can be intensified by up to 50-percent when reflected from sand, water, snow, ice, and concrete. When outdoors, cover up exposed areas and wear sun screen with an SPF of 15 or more. Know your skin and be aware of the location, size, and shape of moles and skin spots, and report any changes promptly to your physician.

8. Reduce your exposure to potential carcinogens

There are many substances in the environment with the potential to put you at higher risk for developing cancer. On the job, minimize your exposure to fumes, dust, solvents, and chemicals. Try to reduce your everyday exposure to potentially-toxic environmental chemicals in the home and…

Dust and vacuum regularly to rid your home of toxins attracted to dust
Open windows and use fresh air to freshen and minimize indoor pollution
Filter your drinking water to remove pollutants
Switch to green cleaning products that are safe but still powerful
9. Know your family history and get screened

Some 5-10-percent of cancers are due to a genetic predisposition to cancer. Family history is a risk factor for common types of cancer including breast, ovarian, colon, and prostate cancer. If you have a family history of cancer your physician may recommend genetic testing to see if you have the type of gene that can increase your chance of developing cancer. For individuals with an average risk of cancer, the following cancer screening guidelines are recommended:

Breast cancer: Women should begin yearly mammograms at age 40 and conduct regular breast self exams starting in the 20’s.
Colon and rectal cancer: Men and women should have one or more screening tests including a colonoscopy starting at age 50.
Cervical cancer: All women should begin cervical cancer screening no later than 21 years of age.
Prostate cancer: Men should have the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and digital rectal examination annually beginning at age 50.
10. Choose your dietary supplements wisely

Whether it’s vitamin D, folic acid, calcium, the antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E, and the carotenoids, fiber, or emerging phytochemicals, nutrition surveys have made it clear that your diet is unlikely to be providing all the essential nutrients and other dietary factors you need to be at your healthiest. And dietary supplement studies have yielded compelling evidence that supplements can help to reduce the chance of developing cancer in undernourished individuals.

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington published a study in Nutrition and Cancer1 that evaluated the association between dietary and supplemental zinc and prostate cancer in 35,242 men participating in the VITAL cohort, a study specifically designed to evaluate the impact of dietary supplements on cancer risk. In this study, long-term supplemental zinc intake was in fact associated with reduced risk of clinically relevant advanced disease.

And as reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine2, National Cancer Institute researchers found that among postmenopausal women, the greater their total calcium intake from dietary supplements and food up to about 1,300 mg per day, the lower was their risk of developing cancer. For men and women, a diet rich in calcium from supplements and food was associated with a lower risk of developing cancers of the digestive system such as colon cancer. These findings are consistent with randomized clinical trials which have shown that calcium supplementation reduces the recurrence of colon polyps, which are precursors to colon cancer

Clearly, dietary supplements play a key role in making up the nutrient shortfalls in your diet, and they provide a means of achieving optimal nutrient levels needed to achieve and maintain the best of health.

1Zinc intake from supplements and diet and prostate cancer. Gonzalez A, Peters U, Lampe JW, White E. Nutr Cancer. 2009;61(2):206-15

2Dairy food, calcium, and risk of cancer in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. Park Y, Leitzmann MF, Subar AF, Hollenbeck A, Schatzkin A. Arch Intern Med. 2009169(4):391-401

Above information provided by Shaklee.

Don't Be A Drip - Tips For More Environmentally Responsible Behavior

DRIP, DRIP, DRIP...No, there's not any name calling, going on here today. Instead, we're going to share some practical tips for being more environmentally responsible AND saving money too. -Take that Recession- POW!

A couple of posts back, I talked about the ecobutton™ and the Smartstrip, as ways of reducing electrical power consumed. The power used from idle devices, or even some devices when turned off, is known as Phantom Power.

The next suggestion was eluded to, in the title of this post: water dripping. Three easy suggestions are: Getting leaky faucets fixed, not running the water when brushing your teeth, and/or installing fixtures that have EPA WaterSense efficiency standards.

The "Three R's": Reduce - Reuse - Recycle, pretty much speak for themselves.

Use environmentally safe cleaning products: One of the most economical all-purpose cleaners is Basic H2® Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate by Shaklee. This product even carries the Green Seal. The Green Seal endorsement comes from a independent, non-profit organization that tests and endorses products from environmentally responsible companies. One 16-ounce bottle of Basic H2®, dilutes into over 200 bottles of all-purpose cleaner. Not only is it safe for the planet, it's safe for folks that are sensitive to scents and/or have allergies. Then, once you've used up the 16-ounce bottle, if not recycled, you would only be putting "1" plastic bottle into the landfills, versus over 200 bottles of the "other brand".

I hope some of you will write back and share some other great planet saving ideas. Also, tell us which ones you are personally incorporating into your daily routine.

You Don't Have To Be Irish To Be Green

Happy St Patrick's Day to Everyone !

In honor of this historically green day, I decided to continue sharing ways to lower your Carbon Footprint on this beautiful planet. In Wikipedia, a Carbon Footprint is defined as:

“the total set of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event or product” (UK Carbon Trust 2008). An individual, nation or organization's carbon footprint is measured by undertaking a GHG emissions assessment. Once the size of a carbon footprint is known, a strategy can be devised to reduce it.

Why would you want to reduce the size of your Carbon Footprint?

Lowering your carbon footprint, is believed to help reduce the affects of Global Warming. Although, there is much controvery about whether Global Warming is really taking place or not, I feel that is pretty much irrelevant to the issue of our carbon footprint.

My thoughts on that is, IT DOESN'T MATTER, either way. Because, the positive actions taken to reduce your carbon footprint and/or positively affect Global Warming, are all good things. Pulling less fuel resources from the planet, reducing electrical consumption, recycling, reducing & reusing, benefits you personally and the planet.

How do you determine what your Carbon Footprint is? There are several online calculators to help you calculate it. There's one at American Forests website and it is very easy to navigate through. Then, set a goal of how much you'd like to reduce your footprint over the coming year. A realistic goal is 10 percent to start with.

How about sharing this information with some of your friends and having a Green Footprint Challenge? Feel free to post your results and your intended goal, to encourage others who read this post. Let's work together to stay

GREEN....EVERYDAY !

NOTE: Remember that Earth Hour is only 11 days away.

Save Ourselves - From Ourselves

If, you missed the special last week on the Discovery channel, it's your lucky day!

Earth: The Sequel will be reaired in an encore showing today, March 15th at 11 am ET.

How Green Savvy Are You?

I found this quick online game, to test your "Green" aptitude.
The game host is an animated Tom Green. I think it's entertaining as well as educational.

Check it out and share back with us your scores...if you want to ;-)

Is Clean Energy In Our Future?

Clean energy is the only alternative to a sustainable future for our planet. Watch the Discovery Channel this Wednesday, March 11th at 10 PM ET, for Earth: The Sequel.

Earth Hour - March 28th - Join The World

In 2009, at 8.30pm on March 28, people around the world will turn their lights off for one hour - Earth Hour. We're aiming to reach one billion people, more than 1000 cities, all joining together in a global effort to show that its possible to take action on global warming.

This event is part of WWF's international campaign to convince governments across the world to agree a strong global deal to tackle climate change, when they meet at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen, in December 2009.

A two degree rise in average global surface temperature will have severe social, economic and environmental impacts: 3.1 billion people will suffer serious water shortages; 180 million people will be affected by sea level rise; and approximately 25% of species extinct in present habitat. The world's leading climate scientists believe that we must reduce greenhouse gas pollution by 25%-40% below 1990 levels if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Earth Hour provides a united global message to every individual, every business and every community that climate change affects us all and to take responsibility in working towards a sustainable future.

Join us for Earth Hour 2009, turn off your lights at 8.30pm Saturday 28 March and sign-up here at earthhour.org/Australia

Earth Hour is a message of hope and a message of action. Everyone can make a difference.

Above taken from WWF-Australia's website. For more info, please go to www.earthhour.org.

Time Change - Spring Forward - Move Forward

Yep, it's time again to change all of our clocks. I must admit that this activity has always been an annoyance to me; going to every timepiece in the house, vehicles, workplace, wristwatches, etc., and changing the time on every solitary one of them. Honestly, if it wouldn't affect me on a daily basis, I probably would just ignore the whole process for as long as possible. Yet, without taking personal responsibility to complete this process twice a year, my life could be negatively affected in countless ways.

The same holds true with making relatively small, appearing insignificant changes in our daily activities. Changes that could make a positive impact on the environment and our quality of life. How many minor changes can we make in our lives that actually cost us very little, financially, emotionally, physically, and make a positive impact on the planet? That's the primary purpose for this blog, sharing ways to take better care of ourselves and our planet.

So today, I wanted to show you a product that I personally have not yet tried. It's called the ecobutton™, and it reminds me a lot of the Smart Strip. Essentially, this button helps you save electricity, every time your computer is going to be left idle. And, if you're reading this blog entry right now, there's a 99% chance that you're sitting at a computer reading it. So, this little gadget could be great for you to use!

The ecobutton™ is illuminated and sits on your table/desk top next to your keyboard. It connects to your computer via a USB cable. There's also an additional bonus, each time your computer is put into 'ecomode' the clever ecobutton™ software records how many carbon units and how much power and money you have saved by using the ecobutton™.

If, this is an resource you choose to try in your small steps to be more environmentally conscious, please post a comment on how you like it. Please consider taking a small step forward in making positive changes for our planet. And don't forget, Sunday, March 8th, Daylight Savings Time takes place. SPRING FORWARD ONE HOUR !