Supermarkets offer a wide range of food products and people shop there, usually with no thought to the origin of the packaged food or how it was processed.
The food industry is vague about ingredients and processing methods, and has little regard for the well-being of consumers and real nutritional requirements.
Lifestyle diseases are the result of an unhealthy way of life, stress and the unawareness of individuals.
While I had to undergo chemotherapy, I thought of how can I take on responsibility for myself.
In this study I would like to give a brief insight into the issue of cancer as a lifestyle disease and its prevention via a health-conscious diet.
CONTENTS
Forward
Introduction
Cancer, a lifestyle disease
Causes of cancer
Cancer is cell degeneration
Food selection
Cultural differences
The food industry
Maintenance of health via nutrition
The effect of certain foods
Food vs. dietary supplements
Awareness and identity
Summary
List of References:
So long as people are well, they never give much thought to their lifestyle.
As long as their body functions, their actions and behavior are never questioned.
We eat enormous quantities of confectionery and become practically addicted to it, doing above all without fruit, vegetables and other natural foods instead.
What a good thing the human body is so adaptable, for it carries on trying to reorganize itself in order to maintain mental performance, strength and stamina, a cheerful mood and concentration.
Just think of all the things your body does every day. Your feet often carry you for miles. Your hands craft wonderful things. Your head reasons, comprehends, communicates and much more.
In the background your organs work around the clock like a power station to keep you alive. They filter, flush, heat, sluice and pump.
Your body operates self-sufficiently – yet it still requires your support.
This includes, among other things, an adequate supply of oxygen, water, vitamins and minerals.
Nobody drives to work with an empty tank, yet many people consider breakfast to be unnecessary.
Your muscles need to be regularly strengthened and tendons stretched.
Joints need to remain mobile and veins flexible.
So there are many things we need to attend to, but do we actually do it?
Before I was diagnosed with cancer I was very unconcerned about my body and its needs.
I slept too little and consumed too much sugar and alcohol.
When shopping I bought the cheapest groceries, spending on expensive chemical vitamin supplements instead.
I exercised very irregularly, so my circulation didn´t function properly and I was always cold.
It wasn´t until I underwent chemotherapy that I noticed that like me, the majority of people (and above all of those who are ill) gave little thought to their nutrition and lifestyle.
When I met other patients during the hours spent in the chemotherapy unit and observed their behavior, it became clear to me that I could only help myself if I made some changes.
I was shocked to see patients with bowel cancer, for example, who brought lemonade and white bread spread with chocolate with them as refreshment on the day of their treatment.
They believed that this was quite alright, saying that the affected part of the colon had been cut out and the cancer was now gone.
It didn´t occur to them that the disease might be connected to the way they ate.
This is precisely what motivated me to write this paper.
I wanted to know what was within my power, what I could do myself to help make my body healthy again!
Many patients told me when I talked to them that there was nothing you could do.
Either you had it or you didn´t.
It was in the genes.
It was God´s will.
I don´t believe any of that!
The fight against cancer means learning self-awareness and discipline, and giving up convenience and bad habits.
I want to take on personal responsibility; I want to fight for my life!
Thanks to all who supported me!
Introduction
Up to 200 years ago people in the Western world lived under precarious conditions. War, robbery and suppression were rife and the daily struggle for survival was part of everyday life.
Even as recently as 100 years ago and less, war and famine fuelled people´s natural instinct to flee and hunt.
Due to the aspiring economy of the last decades and an abundance of food, these natural human instincts are gradually disappearing.
Man has no natural enemies (apart from natural disasters) and is rarely subjected to extreme situations. The nation is fed.
Supermarkets offer a wide range of food products and people shop there, usually with no thought to the origin of the packaged food or how it was processed.
We buy meat from animals which have been treated with antibiotics and other medication. Packaged sausage consists of a meat mixture, preservatives, sugar and artificial flavoring.
Fruit and vegetables are sprayed or grown on synthetic, nutrient-free soil. Rye bread contains 70% unhealthy wheat flour, cheese can already be produced synthetically and 50g of yogurt contain 30g of sugar.
The food industry is vague about ingredients and processing methods, and has little regard for the well-being of consumers and real nutritional requirements.
Lifestyle diseases are the result of an unhealthy way of life, stress and the ignorance of individuals.
In this study I would like to give a brief insight into the issue of cancer as a lifestyle disease and its prevention via a health-conscious diet.
Cancer, a lifestyle disease
People are afraid of death. Many fear environmental disasters, accidents or illness. Whereas the chance of being struck by lightning is only 1:350,000 and the risk of being killed in a traffic accident 1:7,000, there is a 1:3 possibility of getting cancer and also dying of it.
Ten million people worldwide, of which nearly seven million die, fall victim to cancer every year and cost the health system an estimated 100 billion Euros plus annually (cf. Béliveau und Gingras, p.19 ff).
In Germany more than a million people are diagnosed with cancer annually, according to a statement by the Federal Statistics Board, and the figure is rising.
In France every second cancer patient now dies from the disease, which is why in 2006 Jacques Chirac, then president, introduced a cancer plan and turned it into a government issue.
President Nixon did the same thing in America in 1971, when he declared “war against cancer” and invested around 2 billion dollars in cancer research (cf. Ulmer, p.7 ff).
In Germany every federal state has at least one cancer organization. There are 26 oncological workgroups, as well as 11 foundations to support cancer patients. Furthermore, various tumor centres and haemotological societies carry out research and development work for the cure of the disease (cf. krebs-wegweiser.de).
Although if we have to talk of cure, it is already too late. Prevention makes more sense.
Most people are born healthy, so how is it possible to stay healthy?
“You will understand that a sick tree can only produce sick fruit, or that angry words provoke angry replies?
If we transfer this way of thinking to our own organism, it becomes clear that cancer can also be a response to negative behavior on the part of the patient.”
(Carson, p.108)
Causes of cancer
When we think about what causes cancer and who can get it, most of us are fooled by the fallacy that we humans are at the mercy of completely uncontrollable factors.
For example, 89 % of the population believes that the disease is hereditary and so a genetic predisposition exists.
Over 80 % of the population believes that pollution and pesticides in food are the cause.
In reality the largest risk factors for getting cancer are 30 % for smoking and also 30 % for nutritional deficiencies.
Genetic factors make up a risk of only 15 %, and pollution only 2 %.
Generally speaking, only about 30 % of cancer-inducing factors are beyond our control.
On the other hand, the predominating 70 % are directly connected to our lifestyle and are a result of obesity, lack of exercise, addictions and eating habits (cf. Béliveau und Gingras, p.21 ff).
Every case of cancer, no matter which organ is affected, has more than one factor – it is always a process with several stages.
Seven main factors which can create a diseased environment in the human organism and cause cell degeneration are excessive acidity of the body due to a lack of raw or unprocessed food, which can result in oxygen deficiency, leading in turn to a lack of energy.
Furthermore, permanent psychological and physical stress can lead to a lack of adrenalin, which in turn produces a mineral deficiency in the organism – which in the end results in immunodeficiency (cf. Ulmer, p.12 ff).
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