Did you catch the Stand Up to Cancer Telethon this year?  The brightest stars in the entertainment industry gathered for a commercial free hour this month to raise money for cancer research.  I’d love to see an end to cancer – wouldn’t you?  In looking at the shows website, they are quite transparent as to where the raised funds go.  Funds raised go to cancer treatment research. That means drugs.  That means accepting the fact that the gut wrenching statistic of one in 3 americans having cancer at some point in their lifetime is inevitable.

But can’t we do better?  Why not fund cancer prevention research and information programs?

Much is already known on how cancer happens.  in our bodies, cells are constantly dividing and forming new cells.  Sometimes the new cells formed are not normal.  In fact, this happens quite often.  Our bodies are designed to take care of these cells and eliminate them.  Right now, you have abnormal cells that are being created and eliminated before they multiply out of control. Out of control abnormal cells form tumors, and hit sis when the diagnosis of Cancer comes in.

But if our bodies have the capability to destroy these cells before they become multiply, why is cancer so prevalent in our society?  Well, things we do affect both the number of abnormal cells we have, and our bodies ability to successfully deal with them.

Yes, thats right, our behavior can affect whether or not we will some day be diagnosed with cancer.  There are things we can avoid doing, as well as things we can add to our life that have a tremendous impact on our future health.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was more research being done in this area? Instead of spending so much time, energy and funds on figuring out how to treat this disease, if instead we put those resources into communicating what we already know about how best to avoid getting cancer?  And into research on even more ways to to prevent it?

Known causes of cancer include smoking, environmental toxins, poor diet and carrying excess fat.  Research shows that living a healthier lifestyle makes it  much more likely you will avoid a cancer diagnosis.

So what can you do?

1. Eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, 5-10 servings per day.

2. Make sure you are getting an adequate amount of Omega-3 fatty acids in your diet – found in fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines

3. Drink Green Tea

4. Avoid fried foods

5. Don’t smoke, avoid being around secondhand smoke.

6. Get a moderate amount of sunlight.  Vitamin D in sunlight is beneficial, but too much sun can cause skin cancers

7. Engage in some form of physical activity each day.

8. Work towards eliminating excess body fat.

9. Believe in your bodies ability to be healthy.

It’s reported that 70% of cancers diagnosed today are preventable.  Preventable through making the right choices, by both adding and eliminating things from our diet.**  By avoiding contact with unnecessary chemicals.  If we already know so much, why is cancer still so prevalent? Lets start raising awareness and taking steps to help people make the changes that matter. And lets start funding more research,so we can increase the knowledge and the number of preventable cancers.  Its a matter of life and death – who’s with me?

**For a more detailed list of how foods can help prevent cancer, take a look at this website – Foods that fight Cancer – http://www.aicr.org/foods-that-fight-cancer/