Cancer prevention is not a case of crossing your fingers and hoping you don’t become a statistic. It starts with you, your lifestyle and your home

The American Cancer Society, which states: “More than half of all cancer deaths could be prevented by making healthy choices like not smoking, staying at a healthy weight, eating right, keeping active, and getting recommended screening tests.” This is empowering and good news! Prevention strategies not only exist, but also are remarkably effective at lowering the risk of most types of cancer.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in Australia and is steadily rising. One in two males and one in three females will statistically be diagnosed with cancer before the age of 85. Doing what you can to prevent it is something that can be quite easily incorporated into our daily lives. I could write pages to help with this, but to start with I have listed 11 tips below to help protect against Cancer, which are in addition to the advice above of not smoking, watching your weight, and keeping active, etc.

1. Optimize Your Vitamin D
Vitamin D3 is obtained either through the sun or supplementation, and is something you can ask your GP to check for you. Data from more than 100 countries has shown that the higher the solar UVB, the lower the incidence of 15 different types of cancer, which include: Bladder, Breast, Cervical, Colon, Endometrial, Esophageal, Gastric, Lung, Ovarian, Pancreatic, Rectal, Renal, Vulvar, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. If you supplement with oral vitamin D, it should be taken with vitamin K2, as K2 deficiency is the thing that produces the symptoms of vitamin D toxicity, which includes inappropriate calcification that can lead to hardening of your arteries. Email me to find out more about the best way to supplement.

2. Reduce Acidity in the Body
Excess acid forming foods (such as sugar, dairy, carbohydrates like bread and red meat in particular) should be eaten small amounts only. To say that all these foods are carcinogenic would be wrong, but they do contribute to high acidity in the blood, which is an environment that Cancer enjoys. To reduce acidity a diet rich in green leafy vegetables, and in fact most vegetables and fruits, and clean water is ideal. For further information about this write to me.

3. Promote Good Oxygenation
Ensuring your body gets a good supply of oxygen has been shown to be anti-Cancer. Cancer does not survive well in this environment. Good oxygenation can be achieved by getting plenty of fresh air and exercise and ensuring that one’s circulation and lymphatic systems are working well so that the body is eliminating waste and there is a good transportation of oxygen around the body.

4. Include Super Foods
Health food stores are packed full of super foods and of course many are found in our daily diets hopefully! There is a tremendous amount of superfoods that help with detoxification and supplying our bodies with essential nutrients and antioxidants. These particularly are colourful vegetables and fruits, such as berries, capsicums, beetroot, broccoli, the list goes on. Sprouted foods contain essential enzymes allowing the body to extract more vitamins and minerals and nutrition out of our food. Superfoods also include herbs and spices, in particular Tumeric, which contains Curcumin. Curcumin actually has the most evidence-based literature supporting its use against Cancer of any other nutrient, including vitamin D. As noted by Dr William LaValley, it is unique in that it appears to be universally useful for just about every type of cancer.

5. Avoid Chemical Cleaning Supplies
Reducing your exposure to environmental toxins like household chemical cleaners has to be mentioned. It is commonly accepted that household chemicals do cause or contribute to cancer, along with other health problems, such as reproductive and developmental problems in developing children. As an example, there is research that has found breast cancer risk is twice as high among women who report the most use of cleaning products and air fresheners, compared to those who rarely use them. Some of the chemicals of greatest concern to watch out for include: Synthetic musks, Phthalates, 1,4-diclorobenzene,Terpenes, Benzene, Styrene, Phenol, Nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs), Formaldehyde, Petroleum solvents, Butyl cellosolve, and Triclosan (antibacterial). There are lots of alternatives available, some which you can buy or even make yourself.

6. Avoid Toxic Beauty Products
Putting chemicals on your skin is actually worse than consuming them, because the liver will have a chance to detoxify what you eat, whereas chemicals on your skin are absorbed straight into your bloodstream without filtering of any kind. With personal care products, I like to use this rule: if you wouldn’t eat it, don’t put it on your body. Ideally look for organic products or natural alternatives, for example things like pure emu or coconut oil make good moisturizers. It is worth making the switch as unfortunately toxicity from beauty products are largely going into your blood, lymphatic system and then directly into your internal organs. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health reported that nearly 900 of the chemicals used in cosmetics are known to be toxic. According to a June 2000 Cancer Coalition press release “Cancer and health risk experts recently concluded reviews that indicate mainstream cosmetics and personal hygiene products pose the highest cancer risk exposures to the general public, even higher than smoking.”

7. Throw Away Your Non-Stick Cookware
Most cookware that is sold contains a non-stick coating and is best avoided. At high temperatures when the coating begins to break down toxic gases are released. Research has shown that these toxins can accumulate in your blood and may contribute to things like Cancer over time. Avoiding or minimzing products that contain PFCs will help to keep down your exposure. These include non-stick pots and pans (replace with ceramic or glass), microwave popcorn, paper and cardboard packaging for greasy foods, stain proof clothing, flame retardants and products that contain them, stain-resistant carpeting, and fabric stain protectors.

8. Drink Clear Pure Water
Perth tap water is treated with chlorine and also contains other toxins. Toxic disinfection byproducts (DBPs) form when disinfectants (such as chlorine) react with natural organic matter, such as decaying vegetation. DBPs are over 1,000x more toxic than chlorine, and out of all the other toxins and contaminants present in tap water, DBPs are probably the worst. Already, it’s known that trihalomethanes (THMs), one of the most common DBPs, are Cancer Group B carcinogens, meaning they’ve been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals, as well as being linked with other problems, in particular reproductive problems in both animals and humans, from stillbirths and malformations to miscarriage. You can read more here: https://www.cdc.gov/safewater/chlorination-byproducts.html A whole-house filtration system is the most thorough way to remove chlorine and other contaminants from all of your water sources (shower and tap), but there are plenty of other options for drinking water, such as reverse osmosis.

9. Choose Organic and Locally Grown Food
Many pesticides and herbicides are potentially carcinogenic. Conventionally grown crops and animal products may put you at risk of exposure to these. The US Environmental Protection Agency considers 60% of herbicides, 90% of fungicides, and 30% of insecticides to be carcinogenic. The safest bet is to opt for organically grown produce and organically raised animal products.

10. Skip the Canned Foods
Avoiding canned foods is perhaps your best way to avoid BPA. BPA is an endocrine-disrupting chemical linked to cancer and reproductive and fetal development problems, among other health issues. It’s commonly found in plastic containers, but is also in food packaging and the lining of cans. Research from the Harvard School of Public Health showed that canned food and drinks can increase a person’s BPA levels by 1,000% in just five days, which is remarkable. The lead researcher noted that in light of this finding, canned goods may contribute more significantly to your BPA levels than plastics.

11. Lifestyle
I think a really good way to sum this up is with the following true story I recently heard: A Greek man left his home country in his forties to start a new life in the US. He married, had a business and had all the material things he had hoped for; house, business, nice car, etc. He then was diagnosed with lung cancer, but after seeing nine oncologists who all recommended chemo therapy, he decided not to take their advice but to return to his village in Greece. On returning to his little hillside village, where his family cooked home cooked meals for him and friends visited, his strength improved gradually to the point where he grew his own herbs and vegetables, drank his own homemade wine and reconnected with his family, old friends and his church. The more he got back into life the more his health improved. He outlived all the oncologists he had seen in America and lived healthily into his nineties. I’m not suggesting that one ignores the advice of their Doctor, but rather wanted to share this true story as a testament to being, doing and having what makes one happy.

There are a lot of causes of Cancer that we don’t yet know about, and there are others that I haven’t mentioned here that have been suggested, such as radio waves and electromagnetic fields from items such as mobile phones and microwave ovens.

Stress and worry are not good for health. I hope that after reading the above, you will feel more empowered in how you can protect your health. I really feel that enjoying life and being happy is a massive step towards good health. My advice is always to see what you can do to integrate healthy steps so that they become a part of your routine and not a strain or problem for you.

If you have any questions or need any assistance please message me and I’m very happy to call you back.