Fend Off Cancer (and Other Diseases) With Four Changes to Your Life

The anti-cancer lifestyle. Make some minor adjustments to your life by eating better, getting exercise, and reducing stress -- and increase the chances of avoiding cancer and other diseases.

More than any other health concern, cancer is still the disease that when uttered aloud stops people in their tracks. Cancer is a word many of us dread hearing, bracing ourselves for the day we may inevitably hear the word.

Interestingly, back in 2017, Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and author of an amazingly hopeful book,  Anticancer: A New Way of Life, reported that we all carry cancer cells in our bodies -- but that for many of us, our natural defenses in our immune system help keep the cells from ever turning into the aggressive disease that haunts us.

Since that book's publishing, many other experts now agree that we regularly have cancer cells in our bodies and one key factor in whether that cancer can take hold in our bodies is the strength of our immune system.

Ongoing research and anecdotal evidence point to increased hopes that while we cannot yet block cancer and other health concerns from seriously affecting our lives and our health, there are proactive things we can do to help our bodies (and our minds) strengthen our natural defenses to better fight off and defend ourselves from debilitating and possibly fatal conditions.

What are the changes you need to make to your lifestyle to improve your defenses and help reduce your risks of cancer and other diseases?

You simply have to make four adjustments to your lifestyle:

• Eat the right foods while eliminating bad foods.

• Get regular physical exercise.

• Reduce stress and find ways to handle it better.

• Remove environmental risk factors in our homes.

1. Eat Right. Most of us know we should eat healthy, but often our busy lives and other factors prevent us from implementing such a plan. Yet, by simply eliminating a few items from your diet and adding a few others, you can easily make a dramatic change in your health and wellness with very little sacrifice. (Well, for some of you, it may be a bigger struggle to give up certain things than for others.)

Whenever possible, buy locally grown and/or organic foods that are free from pesticides and other harmful ingredients.

Let's start with the good foods you should add to your diet:

• eggs, ideally farm-fresh or organic (truly a superfood)

• quality meats: pastured, chickens and turkeys, grass-everything beef

• berries (especially raspberries, blackberries, blueberries)

• citrus (oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and lemons)

• dark chocolate (sugar-free only)

• cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, cabbage)

• carotenoid fruits and vegetables (carrots, yams, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, apricots, beets, squash)

• good oils: olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil

• garlic, onions, leeks, shallots, and chives

• turmeric, thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil, sage, ginger, and mint

• fiber (wheat bran, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, navy beans, whole wheat, whole grains, legumes, and prunes)

• wild-caught seafood, especially salmon, trout

• green tea

Now, for the foods you must eliminate. The worst offender is sugar, which promotes cancer and many other chronic health conditions.

• refined sugars of all types and shapes (and all the places it lurks: fast foods, packaged meals, sweetened drinks, prepared sauces and dressings, packaged foods, as well as sweets -- cookies, cakes, candies, and the like)

• white flour (because it quickly transforms to sugar in the body)

• white bread and white pastas

• bad oils (corn, sunflower, safflower, soy, "vegetable")

• meats and poultry (especially overly fatty and non-organically raised)

• dairy products that come from animals fed on corn, soy, wheat

For more advice on nutrition and the best foods that should be in your diet, go to the wellness section of RandallSHansen.com.

2. Exercise Regularly. Even small amounts of daily exercise can do wonders for your health and wellness. Experts state that regular physical activity has been shown to improve survival rates for many types of cancer.

The easiest way to add exercise into your daily routine is to increase the number of steps you take -- to focus on making walking part of your work or home life.

Strive for at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day as you start on a wellness program, but make it a goal to reach at least an hour six days each week.

Walking, swimming, and bicycling are the easiest physical activities to implement, but the key is finding something that you enjoy -- so that you get both the physical and mental benefits.

Go here for more information and ideas on adding exercise to your life.

3. Reduce Stress. Studies conclusively show that increased levels of stress have negative consequences on our health and well-being. Experts suggest that stress causes inflammation, which in turn weakens our immune system, causing a one-two punch in our fight against cancer and other diseases.

Your goal should be two-fold. First, find ways to reduce the stress in your life by changing jobs, changing relationships, or otherwise changing your lifestyle. Second, since some level of stress is inevitable, develop better mechanisms for dealing with and responding to stress -- consider breathing exercises, meditation, and yoga.

Experts also recommend getting a good night's sleep regularly -- clocking in enough hours (typically about 7-8 hours for adults) for your body and mind to stay healthy.

Find more resources for reducing stress -- and better dealing with stress -- as well as improving your sleep, elsewhere on this site.

4. Remove Risk Factors. The great military industrial complex of the last century developed many innovations that helped improve our lives. Unfortunately, we are continuing to discover that some inventions should be avoided for the sake of our health and wellness.

Dr. Servan-Schreiber states that these substances can impair your body's cancer-fighting abilities: cosmetics that contain certain preservatives (parabens and phthalates), Teflon from scratched pans, dry-cleaning chemicals, and gases released by new polyvinyl chloride objects. Other unhealthy base substances include benzene and xenoestrogens.

Final Thoughts on Fighting Cancer

This anti-cancer plan will not work for everyone, but making these four changes to your life early enough can lead to dramatic improvements in your overall health and wellness.

You owe it to yourself and your family to make the changes necessary to give your immune system the greatest chance to remove the cancer cells in your body.

Anti-Cancer Lifestyle and Diet Links

• Sugar and Cancer: What You Need to Know

• The Anti-Cancer Diet

• The Anti-Cancer Diet II: What Not to Eat

• Cancer-Fighting Foods to Reduce Cancer Risk

• 12 Cancer-Fighting Food Types to Add to Your Diet

• The Diet that Destroys Cancer