Reduce Your Cancer Risk!

Forty percent of cancers could be prevented by making these healthy lifestyle changes.

1) Watch Your Weight:
Being overweight or obese results in higher circulating levels of estrogen, as well as a hormone called insulin-like growth factor, which seems to contribute to the development of cancerous cells.

2) Get Physical:
Regular exercise lowers your risk of colon cancer by as much as 30%. Workouts help lower your odds for other obesity-related cancers by reducing inflammation, which may spread cancer growth, and keeping your weight in check.

3) Think Fresh:
It's hard to tease out whether one specific nutrient has cancer-fighting properties, but studies consistently show that eating a diet high in fruit and vegetables, and low in red and processed meats, reduces your risk for common cancers. When you prepare a meal, think of the meat as a side dish. Your plate should consist of at least two thirds plant-based foods such as fruit, vegetables, whole grains and beans, with only a third devoted to animal proteins such as fish, meat, poultry or low fat dairy.

5) Swear Off Cigarettes:
Smoking is linked to at least 30% of all cancer deaths. But if you quit today, in roughly 10 years your risk of dying from lung cancer is cut in half, as is your risk of developing cancer of the bladder, mouth, throat, or esophagus.

6) Sip Smarter:
Too much tippling has been linked to an increase in estrogen, raising your risk for breast cancer. Booze may also interfere with the colon's absorption of folate and may allow carcinogens into the cells of your mouth and throat, upping your risk for colon, mouth and throat cancers. Limit imbibing to one a day or fewer if you have other risk factors for breast cancer such as family history.

Get started today!


Via: Self Magazine