Fitness, Leisure and Sports | Health Articles | Avoiding and Preventing Cancer: Simple Steps to Take

With its fairly unique characteristics, cancer strikes intense fear in many people and all would like to find ways to preventing and avoiding cancer. Obviously, any disease that is a) fatal, b) incurable and c) derived from unknown causes will earn a position of esteemed concern among the general public.

The faulty basis regarding the incurability of cancer is something you will find in my most recent book, but for now let us acknowledge that most people believe this to be true.

Cancer is a unique illness, in that it is created within our cells, by our cells. Damaged DNA causes a cell to divide without limits, producing more cells with damaged DNA that divide without limits. Soon, the cells create a massive tumor which is often fatal. Is it really possible to avoid and prevent cancer?

The most reliable medical treatments for cancer are essentially poisonous. We poison our body, depending on the fact that the cancerous portion will perish first. This theory has proven itself workable, though it often generates effects which are as lethal as the cancer.

Luckily for us, our bodies were created with an inherent set of tools, our immune system, designed to keep illness from settling in and destroying us. Not so luckily for us, we live in an age where the maintenance of those tools is incredibly poor.

To increase the abilities of our immune system and ensure that it can do its job, we must strive to be as healthy as possible. Our immune system will help us prevent and defeat disease, but it won't do it all by itself: we must be willing to help. There are indeed some simple steps you can take to avoid and prevent cancer.

After all, if we don't care enough about our health to fight for it, why should our immune system? If you do care enough to fight for it, how do you go about it?

Start exercising
This is actually one of the cheapest, easiest and potentially most effective tactics we have in promoting a healthy, active and forceful immune system. We make it hard, even though it doesn't need to be. There is no need to join a health club or purchase fancy equipment.

If you have stairs in your home, spend 15 minutes a day walking up and down them. Do sit-ups and push-ups. The key is to do something, which will always be better than doing nothing regarding exercise.

Eat better
While there may not be a scientifically backed study indicating that a regular diet of deep fried fast food causes cancer, it has certainly been linked to a variety of health problems. Remember that any health problem drains your immune system which, in turn, makes you more susceptible to other health problems.

I'm not suggesting that you become a vegetarian and start shopping exclusively at organic health stores, although you may want to look into those options. But you may stop giving into the so-called "easy" way of eating.

Look at it from a new perspective. Certainly, every time you pick up a quick dinner at the local grease market you are saving yourself the time and trouble of preparing a healthy meal.

What's really happening with those "savings," however, is that you're stashing them into a "time bank." Like most savings, that time earns interest. In this case, the interest you are earning is pain, problems and suffering. When you finally withdraw all of that saved time, later in your life, you have to withdraw the earned interest as well.

Reduce stress
Stress is a massive immune system inhibitor. It comes at you from all angles, in every direction and with varying intensity. Recognize the sources of stress in your life and then work on healing them. A great number of options exist to reduce stress, you simply need to find the one that works best for you.

Of the options, one that is particularly viable to the prevention and avoidance of cancer is meditation. Drop the images you may be having of monks in robes. Meditation can be done in a very secular way, with no dogma attached.

Simply sit undisturbed in a comfortable position while visualizing your self at the peak of health. When your mind strays, as it will, from the visualization of yourself at peak health, all you need to do is simply bring it back.

After practicing this for awhile, you'll find that your mind hardly drifts at all. You'll also find yourself feel much better than you've felt in a long time, and it won't even cost you a penny. This simple step could indeed be the start of avoiding and preventing cancer.