Stayin' Alive - A must read and watch - March 27 , 2012

So, I have a huge list of some cancer prevention do’s and don’ts, as well as things for those with cancer to try to adhere to. I have lots of factual documentation to back up these things, but as this is a blog and not a book I just don’t have time to write all that down. If however, you want to know more or ask why on specifics, I have an area to comment and I can answer you privately. I still struggle with this form of communication as the blog has had over 4000 views and I’ve only received 35 comments here. That is a bit frustrating, but I keep plugging away hoping that I am helping in someone if not many with this informational blog.

I‘ll divide the info into area that are capitalized. Let’s get started:
SLEEP:

1.     Avoid shift work – shift workers have more cancer than those who work during the daylight.

2.     Sleep in as dark of a room as you can possibly manage. This is important.

3.     Avoid blue or green alarm clocks – instead go with red since red doesn’t destroy melatonin

4.     Do not expose your body to TV, computers, etc between the hours of 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. this is when your body produces high amounts of melatonin.

5.     Don’t watch TV 30 minutes or more before bed. Your brain needs the rest.

FOOD & EATING

1.     Cut back on your sugar intake – this is especially important if you have cancer as cancer cells can readily metabolize fructose to increase proliferation. This especially means sodas, juice, and anything with high fructose.

2.     Cut back on your carbohydrates – America is especially at risk as our diet is so heavy in carbohydrate intake.  Don’t believe the media hype that wheat and grains are all good for you. You’ll lose weight and that will help prevent other diseases too.

3.     Stay away from genetically modified foods.  (things packaged and put on shelves like macaroni and cheese) When shopping stick to the outside isles.

4.     The average American eats only 12 food s, day in and day out. 7 out of 10 are picked up at random from the shelves. Diversify your diet.

5.     Eat more vegetables – 96% of American children don’t get enough vegetables and only 14% of adults get their daily recommended amount of veggies.

6.     Learn to cook – those that spend time in preparation, cooking and cleaning of the meal live longer as they are more aware of what and how the meal is cooked.

7.     Don’t overeat. Certain dietary choices (especially sugar) turn off the natural signals our bodies provide to inhibit appetite and thus lead to overeating. This is called “leptin resistance”.

8.     Stay away from the WHITE – yes the white – 3 things to always and forever to avoid are white sugar, white flour and salt. There is enough salt in the food you eat, you can also buy pink salt.

9.     Never again eat corn syrup or things with high fructose syrup or canned fruit. Only buy real maple syrup

10.  Eat organic! The main things you should eat are whole and organic. This is way more important than I ever thought. Yes it is more expensive, but trust me, it’s worth the cost to save a life.

11. Timing is everything – follow the old proverb – “breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper.’  In general your protein should be biggest in the moring and decrease from there. Try not to eat anything (except water) from dinner to bedtime. Try to put 12 – 14 hours between dinner and breakfast.

12.  Slow down – American’s especially eat to fast – chew your food till it’s the consistency of oatmeal.

13.  You are best of with the digestion of your food if you let your body work to process it and don’t drink during your meal and if you need to drink fluids at room temperature.

14.  Drink more water. 2 – 3 quarts per day.

15.  Eat more fish, but stay away from shellfish

16.  Fish oil is good for you; you can take supplements to make sure you have this in your diet if you don’t eat enough fish.

17.  Cut back on dairy – I’ll talk more about this later – just trust me on this, especially if you are a woman.

18. Eat only organic meats. That means stop buying it prepackaged at the grocery store and get it from the butcher and have him ground it for you fresh.

19.  Eat only eggs from free range chickens – best from farms around here – co-op style.

20.  Stay away from processed cheeses, such as American cheese.

21.  Stay away from all fast food – none of it is good for you.

22.  Especially stay away from the fried foods.

23. The most healthful oils are: olive and flaxseed. Steam your food but if you need to use oil use these.

24. Read the labels – stay away from enriched flour as the #1 ingredient.  This may be a difficult change for some of you; I know it has been for us.

Okay so I could go on and on but I think this is enough for one day. I’ll add more next week as I am traveling to training Wednesday – Friday this week:

I suggest that you print up this list and try to take 1 – 2 per week and focus on change in one area and master that before taking the whole list at once. You can put this up on a cabinet – taped there instead of the fridge where things get lost. Highlight the ones you are working on and tell your family to join you. Once you accomplish easier changes like switching to real high dollar maple syrup instead of the cheap corn syrup you can move onto big ones like no sodas or fast food.

Stay healthy and disease free, I pray none of you have to go what I am going through.

Enjoy the Stayin Alive video from  the Bee Gees have a great day!