It is hard to believe that we are already 17 days into the New Year, and if you are like me, you've already broken at least one of your New Year’s resolutions. Making grandiose resolutions usually results in failure to live up to your own promises, so I've resolved to make my goals attainable.
When it comes to making healthy lifestyle changes, I've made the following easy ones. I think you'll agree that these are choices that you can actually live with.
We all know tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which is an antioxidant that is believed to reduce the risk of prostrate cancer and several other cancers. The tomatoes need to be cooked to release the lycopene.
Lycopene is fat soluble, so your body is better able to get the benefit from it with a bit of fat, such as the olive oil, which is found in tomato sauces. So, dousing your burger in catsup helps, as catsup is a cooked product.
Grapes are great sources of resveratrol, the same cancer protecting compound found in wine, but they don't have the alcohol of wine, which can increase the risk of breast cancer in women. Resveratrol is a vitamin D and can safely be taken in tablet form, but grapes taste better!
A diet high in onions may reduce the risk of prostrate cancer by 50 percent and the effects are strongest if eaten raw or lightly cooked. If you like a milder taste, try Vidalia onion, shallots, chives or scallions in your salads.
Another change you can make is to break the soda pop habit and start drinking fresh lemonade or limeade. Daily doses of citrus fruits cut the risk of mouth, throat and stomach cancers in half.
Enjoying a 30-minute walk every evening after dinner is another way one can reduce their risk of breast cancer, according to the cancer research center in Seattle. Moderate exercise reduces levels of estrogen, a hormone that contributes to breast cancer. Women who lost 2 percent of their body fat had decreases in estrogen.
Another study linked to walking discovered that walking four hours a week cuts the risk of pancreatic cancer in half, probably related to improved insulin metabolism due to the exercise.
Buying organic foods is more expensive, but foods grown without those pesticides or hormones may eventually lead to cancer.
This raises a question in my mind because of all the chemicals and pesticides sprayed on lawns; is it really organically clean?
Commercial pesticides like 2,4-D are linked to non-Hodgkins lymphoma and MCPP, which are soft tissue cancers. No federal studies have accessed the safety of lawn care chemicals.
I would rather enjoy that bright little yellow flower, the dandelion, instead. They don't last long and its colorful shape makes it look like a happy face. I can live without the pesticides.
Another important bit of info: don't buy clothes that need dry cleaning. Dry cleaners still use a chemical called perchloroethylene which has been found to cause liver and kidney damage in animals if repeatedly exposed through inhalation. If you must take something to the cleaners take the plastic bags off of them as soon as you get them back home again and let them air outside before wearing them.
Acrylamide forms as a result of chemical changes that occur in foods, such as potatoes that are fried, baked, or roasted, which makes them a bad choice. Mashed potatoes are safer.
Thirty-five percent of food tested in the U.S. has been found to have detectable pesticide residue. It is much higher in other countries.
You decide when it comes to salmon on the grill. Canadians found those who ate four or more servings of fish per week were nearly 1/3 less likely to develop blood cancers.
Credit the omega 3s, which applies to most fish. They reduce the risk of endometrial cancer in women, but there is a catch — excuse the pun. Wild salmon is by far the best. The FDA has approved genetically modified salmon to be introduced into the US food supply.
Genetic salmon is meant to grow twice as fast as regular salmon and deemed safe for consumption, but it does not have to be labeled as such so you don't know what you're getting. Wild, farm-raised, or genetically changed, and there are huge differences.
Do you take a multi vitamin every day? Studies suggest it is the ideal way to improve your immune system’s function and help prevent a variety of cancers.
Are you a sun bather? People have been so good at taking advice to lather on lotion to avoid the sun’s rays, but then many don't get the natural vitamin D that the sun provides. Moderation is the key because too little may increase the risk of multiple cancers like breast, colon, prostrate, ovarian and stomach cancers as well as osteoporosis, diabetes, MS and high blood pressure.
The best source is exposure to UVB rays found in natural and artificial sunlight, but a little dab will do you — like 15 minutes a day. Vitamin D also comes in calcium supplements.
No surprise: mental attitude can also be a culprit. It seems at a hospital full of high tech machinery, doctors and aides who were social psychologists hired to help patients manage their personal care could predict who would make it and those who wouldn't. (upon their departure) It depended on the patient’s attitude.
If the patient returned to a different situation than what he had originally left, he recovered. If the situation was the same as previously, he went back to the same impass.
The disease continued its relentless course and he didn't survive. Cancer was a ticket out of an intolerable life.
Casting one’s self in a role of fear, victim, or distorted influences made the difference; negative thoughts and outlooks produce negative thoughts. The patients that survive almost invariably have a positive outlook. While outlook alone cannot ensue positive results, it certainly beats negative thoughts.
Thinking patterns are that powerful!
Some of our Star Eagle readers have commented they like to read about events such as family and school reunions, birthdays and anniversaries, and birth and wedding announcements. In order to read about these important things, we need our faithful readers to pass along the information to us. If you have news, please contact me via e-mail, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; by postal mail, P. O. Box 192, Geneva, MN 56035 or telephone, 507-256-4405.
Birthdays and Anniversaries:
• Thursday, January 17th: Ava Elizabeth Schember, her 5th; Blake Michael Born/Norday, Don Anderson, Jan Bartsch, Annette Busho, LuAnn Johnson Prescher, David Strenge, Mike Peterson, Brayden Broitzman, Kayley Camerer.
• Friday, January 18th: Madilyn Hamilton, Deb Bohnoff, Todd Holland, Julie Bunn Hunt, Annie Miller, Tabatha Miller, Mark Misgen, Vicki Babb, Ruth Neidermeier, Garret Schley & Ellie Schley.
• Saturday, January 19th: Brian Wayne, Laura (Otterson) Ortiz, Dennis Grunwald, Steve Jon Christensen, Barb Wayne Heyer, Kent Johnson, Thomas Kasper, Francis Misgen, Peter Spande, Dick Ewing, Dick & Laurie Swift.
• Sunday, January 20th: Brentson Lange, Jim Krause, Marc Nelson, Jenna Nicole Cooper, Pastor Alvin Cooper, Anthony Thostenson, Alicia Lizaazo.
• Monday, January 21st: Joshua Dobberstien and Gerald Wobshcall.
• Tuesday, January 22nd: Reese Hendrickson, Taylor Lunning, Christian Sletten, Tom Haried, Lyle Shaunce, Barbara Van Gorkom, Jeff Miller, Heather Sargent.
• Wednesday, January 23rd: Eugene Worke, Bob "Emeritus" Hanson, Eugene Cornelius, Rodney Sorenson, Dean Broitzman, Garnet Folie, Jeff Miller, Chris Paulson.
May your special day be a happy memory and tomorrow a bright new promise.
