Cancer is one of the most wide spread and deadly diseases in North America today. Did you notice that I said North America and not the world? You may be surprised to know that people in other parts of the world are not experiencing nearly as many cancer patients as we are in the Western part of the world. I hope that makes you sit back and think! We are supposed to be one of the more advanced part of the world; the land of opportunity! Many people of all over the world have come to live in North America because it is a better place to live. We have health care, doctors, hospitals and nurses to take care of people, so why then, with all of these “better” things are we suffering from cancer more than anywhere else in the world?

According to the latest research, our cancer rates may have a lot to do with what we are eating on a regular basis. Colon cancer in particular has been linked to diet. Think about it; the Western diet is probably the unhealthiest and worst in the world! There is a reason that America is known as the fattest country in the world - let’s try to keep cancer from making us infamous as well. What makes our diet so unhealthy? Chemicals, processed foods, red meats, foods injected with hormones, refined sugars and grains, preservatives and fats; these are the culprits according to what researchers say.

Most of the time we go to the grocery store and buy with our stomachs, not thinking about what is in the food we are eating. Sometimes we don’t want to know what is in our food; ignorance is bliss, but not when that ignorance is causing colon cancer! In a recent study, researchers closely followed the eating habits of 1,009 colon cancer patients, and the results were directly linked to food. Once these patients were cancer free, (some through surgery, and some through chemotherapy) researchers monitored their eating habits. Recurring cancer and death happened 3.5 times more in the patients that followed a more “Western” diet, and the patients who ate more fruits, vegetables, fish and poultry only had a few recurrences, and experienced 28 deaths. The patients with the bad eating habits actually experienced 324 recurrences and 223 of these people died from colon cancer.

Colon cancer is serious, and we need to take better care of ourselves to make sure that we never get it. Even if cancer doesn’t run in your family, you could still be at risk. Eating to prevent cancer doesn’t mean that you can never have dessert or a little junk food, but it does mean that you need to seriously limit those things. Eat more fruits and veggie, and instead of having red meat 3 times a week, have it once a week. Fish should be eaten at least twice a week. It is good for you on many levels. If you eat healthier, you will be much more likely to prevent colon cancer from ever entering your body, and you will lose weight as well.