Mark’s Daily Apple

The Biggest Myth About Cancer: That It Just “Happens”23

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Beat cancer. Live right. 

There are many persistent myths about cancer and cancer prevention, but central among them is the assumption that cancer “just happens”. This is fallacious. How you live and what you choose to put in your body has a direct - and significant - causative relationship to whether or not your risk for cancer will be elevated.

Cancer isn’t an overnight event - it develops most frequently over many years due to a range of factors. A fascinating review of over 7,000 studies (talk about thorough) finds that what you eat and how fast you grow are perhaps most significant. I’ve long said that the fuel you serve your body impacts 70% of your health (the rest is exercise and stress management). But it’s interesting, especially in light of our Primal Health explorations, to consider the role of growth - and by growth researchers are talking about hormones.

 The surest way to minimize your risk for all cancers is to practice a healthy lifestyle:

- do not smoke

- drink alcohol in moderation

- eat copious produce (this should be the “bulk” of your diet)

- do not eat processed, fried, junk, or refined carbohydrate/grain foods

- absolutely avoid sodas and sweetened drinks

- avoid corn syrup, cured and/or heavily processed meats, and corn oil

- do not eat trans fat or canola oil

- eat “clean”, lean protein  (organic, grass-fed, free-range, etc.)

- eat “smart” fats (wild fatty fish, fish oil pills, avocados, nuts, olive oil, purslane)

- mothers, breast-feed your baby if possible

- exercise

- get daily sunlight exposure!

- get plenty of antioxidants from your diet and supplements

- avoid hormone therapy unless medically necessary

- manage stress to regulate hormones appropriately

Further reading:

16 Ultimate Super Foods

Smartest Foods to Boost Your Brain

44 Amazingly Healthy and Delicious Naturally Low-Carb Recipes

Technorati Tags: cancer prevention, cancer, cancer myths, longevity, aging, tips

Posted: Aging, How To, Pictures

The Hypothetical Game3

When I was a kid my best friend and I loved playing the hypothetical game. In case you are unfamiliar with this pastime it basically involves inquiring as to the minimum limits of compensation it would take to get the other person to experience something downright horrible. For example, “How much money would it take for you to run up to ugly Julie right now and kiss her on the mouth?� (We were juvenile, I know.) Or maybe, “How many Snickers would it take to get you to eat an entire earthworm?�

The consequences of such actions are fairly clear. My friend would probably be slapped by Julie and made a social pariah in the first case, and would likely vomit in the latter. Oh, but the sweet reward. We all have our price, and this is the beauty of the hypothetical game. (I think at age 10 it was somewhere around $100 and 2 1/2, respectively.)

The health version of the hypothetical game goes something like this: What sort of compensation would it take to get you to experience an intense blood sugar spike, increased urinary excretion of essential minerals, followed by an extended period of irritability and lethargy? Would a single can of soda do the trick? Most people would say no in all honesty, but do just the opposite in action. Strange, huh?

What happens if…

you drink a can of Coke right now?

you stay awake for 11 days straight?

you keep puffing away? (Warning: Graphic Image and Large File >7 mb)

you party a little too hardy?

you play golf during a thunderstorm?

you stop smoking right now?

you are a child that watches too much television?

you imbibe alcohol during pregnancy?

and last but not least…

you play too close to the event horizon?

Technorati Tags: hypothetical game, smoking, alcohol, sleep deprivation, childhood obesity, hypertension, lightning, black holes, Coke, soda

Posted: Health, Humor, Personal Improvement

Lavender: 10 Natural Health Benefits and Healing Uses9

Over the course of the next few weeks we will be highlighting the health benefits of various herbs that offer natural healing properties.

Lavender: Benefits

10. Scent

Crush fresh lavender between your fingers or rub lavender oil on your temples for a soothing dose of aromatherapy stress relief. Lavender relieves anxiety and tension naturally.

9. Tea

Did you know that steeping a small handful of lavender flowers in boiling water creates a healthful herbal tea? This is just as effective as chamomile for promoting sleep and helping to soothe frazzled nerves.

8. Perfume

Lavender oil makes a nice, chemical-free alternative to perfumes and colognes. Dab a little at the back of your neck or wrists to smell clean and light.

7. Bath

Adding either oil or fresh buds to a hot bath will promote relaxation and ease tired muscles.

6. Sleep accessories

Tie up fresh flowers in a satchel, small pillow case, or reusable eye pillow. Lavender helps you to sleep better.

5. Skin relief

Is your skin burned, chafed or irritated? Add some lavender oil to your moisturizer or a spray water bottle and apply or mist your skin generously.

4. Sweet, fresh-scented laundry

Tie up a bundle of lavender blossoms in a cloth and add them to the dryer cycle when you do laundry. It beats those chemical sheets!

3. Cuts and scrapes

Lavender has natural antiseptic properties. Use lavender oil as a protective salve instead of rubbing alcohol (this is a nice alternative for children).

2. Dandruff

Between vinegar and lavender, who needs those harsh chemical shampoos? Steep lavender as you would to make tea; allow to cool and use as a rinse daily until dandruff is cleared up.

1. Recipes

Lavender makes an unusual, floral accent in many dishes. Reader Sarah C. grills peach halves wrapped in applewood smoked bacon and tops them with a sprinkling of lavender flowers and crushed black pepper. Get creative!

Further reading:

10 Unusual Flavor Combinations for Bored Tastebuds

The Many Uses of Vinegar

13 Simple, Timeless Kitchen Hacks

Easy, Natural Household Cleaners You Can Make Yourself (Chemical-free!)

- via Health Mad

- Flickr Photo (CC) Studio-D 

Posted: Nutrition, Prevention, Stress, The Tuesday 10

88 Deadly Fast Foods (the others are merely really, really terrible)7

A Calorie Counter blog has gone to the trouble of compiling the absolute worst fast foods from all American chain restaurants. The author looked through every single item offered at every single restaurant from McDonald’s to White Castle to Burger King to Taco Bell to KFC to Wendy’s - whew!

Why 88, you ask? Why not! Though there are hundreds more health offenders, these 88 were determined to be the worst foods based upon their trans fat content. The vegans over at Taste Better were horrified to learn that onion rings serve up nearly 30 grams of trans fat (daily recommended allowance: zero). But meatasauruses don’t get off so easily: fish is next on the list of dangerous, deadly fat portions. It’s not a good day for fast food in the blogosphere, but it’s a really bad day for White Castle (both the onion rings and fish are from this trans fat triumph of a food chain).

- Pengrin Photo on Flickr (CC)

Further reading:

Fried Lattes and More

Pizza Hot Dog Hamburger Hashbrown Food Thingy

Deep Fried Macaroni and Cheese Balls

Technorati Tags: fast food, 88 worst fast foods, white castle, trans fat

Posted: Big Agra, Carbs, Diet, Health, Nutrition

The Burrito Diet, the Beverly Hills Diet, and the Only Diet on Earth That Actually Works16

If it’s not a region - Sonoma, Hamptons, Mediterranean, South Beach, and the original locale diet, the Beverly Hills Diet - it’s a noun: Subway, Cabbage Soup, Cookie, and now the Chipotle Burrito Diet. That’s right. The latest diet is not just a single food, it’s got an adjectival spice to go with it. A man apparently lost 40 pounds in 3 months eating a single burrito daily. In terms of health, this has trouble all over it: too many calories in a serving, monotony and the consequences for metabolism, and far too many carbohydrates.

The truth is that any diet will “work”. You can live on cookies or ice cream or Snickers if you please, and if you are taking in fewer calories than your body needs to maintain its current weight, you will lose weight. It really is that simple. While different macronutrients - protein, carbohydrate, fat - play different roles in the body and varying the ratio of intake can have certain positive or negative health effects, at the end of the day, it’s the calories that count for weight loss.

But the only diet on earth that actually works is the one you can live with for the rest of your life. Maintaining a healthy weight is not a race; it is a lifetime commitment. That’s the trouble with “diets”. Whether you do Atkins or Pritikin, peanut butter or ice cream, veal or veganism, you can and probably will lose weight if you are cutting back your caloric intake. (Of course, the health value of these diets varies significantly.) I’m not necessarily opposed to a “jump start” if you are severely overweight and need to lose excess pounds. But recognize that the only true way to keep trim is to maintain a lifestyle that supports it. It sounds ridiculous, almost stupid, and yet this tortoise approach eludes so many of us.

There are several body types. Some of us are simply prone to thicker musculature or a bit more body fat (which is why the BMI is so limited in its utility). I promise, if you follow a healthy lifestyle, your body will eventually get to - and maintain - the exact weight it is supposed to maintain. Eating light meals based upon fresh vegetables and a bit of lean protein and healthy fats, managing stress, and exercising at least 3 times a week (but preferably 4 to 6), is the only way your body can permanently do what it naturally wants to do. And that is to be strong, fit, and appropriately lean according to your particular physique. We don’t really need diets because the body is perfectly capable of maintaining itself healthily if the lifestyle supports it. Slow and steady wins the race.

Further reading:

What I eat to stay lean

My carb recommendations

My carb pyramid

Why the Atkins Diet works

Miss Rogue Photo on Flickr (CC)

Technorati Tags: beverly hills diet, burrito diet, best diets, lose weight

Posted: Carbs, Diet, Health, How To, Hype, Nutrition, Personal Improvement, Weight loss