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Lifestyle causes cancer

Chris hunt pilates

Lifestyle causes cancer

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Lifestyle causes cancer. It’s quite a statement to accept.

My regular readers will know that I have a big interest in the connection  between lifestyle and health; between physical and mental. I call this “total fitness” and I have written before that we have to consider every single factor when training. It is also something that I stress to clients on my PilatesEVO educations and on my healthy holidays and wellness retreats organised in Barcelona.

So a recent study that concludes  up to nine in ten common cancers are caused by the way people live, futher strenthens my opinions.

Research found that diet, a lack of exercise, pollution and stress lead to the overwhelming majority of cancers of the breast, prostate or lung, which kill tens of thousands of Britons a year.

The findings mean that simple measures such as brisk walking, cutting down on sugar, giving up smoking or living in green areas could have a greater impact on reducing the risk of cancer than some studies have shown.

Scientists said the emphasis was now firmly on the individual to make better lifestyle choices rather than considering cancer to be the result of “bad luck”.

The paper, published in the journal Nature, challenges the controversial theory that a large proportion of cancers are the inevitable result of cellular mistakes in the human body. Researchers at Stony Brook University in New York examined the genetic “fingerprints” of several cancers to calculate how much of the risk was down to environmental factors.

They estimated that between 70 and 90 per cent of the most widespread cancers had extrinsic causes, which include ultraviolet radiation, pollution, stress and other factors that are within people’s control. However, other kinds such as brain cancers are much more likely to be the result of the body’s natural repair mechanisms going haywire.

Cancers arise when defective DNA in cells sends their growth into overdrive. Sometimes this is caused by random copying errors but often the mistakes are introduced by stresses on the cells. Telling the two apart can be difficult.

Over the past year scientists have been arguing about the role of luck after two studies suggested it played a bigger role than previously thought. One, by by Cancer Research UK, found that about 40 per cent of cancer cases could be avoided by adopting a better lifestyle. This amounts to more than 130,000 a year in Britain.

More than a third were linked to smoking, diet, alcohol consumption and excess weight. Tobacco alone was found to cause 23 per cent of cases in men and 16 per cent in women. Experts said the “compelling” new figures were strong evidence that people had a great deal of control over their cancer risk.

Kevin McConway, professor of applied statistics at the Open University, said the study implied that the majority of cases of several major cancers could be avoided if the world could “magic away” controllable risks.

“They do provide pretty convincing evidence that external factors play a major role in many cancers, including some of the most common,” he said.

“Even if someone is exposed to important external risk factors, of course it isn’t certain that they will develop a cancer — chance is always involved. But this study demonstrates again that we have to look well beyond pure chance and luck to understand and protect against cancers.”

Jian-Min Yuan, professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh, pointed to research showing that people who stopped smoking at the age of 55 had half the lung cancer risk of those who quit at 85. The hepatitis B vaccine has also been shown to cut cases of hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer, by 70 per cent.

Emma Smith, the senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: “It definitely means that many, many cases of cancer could be easily avoided. We have power over extrinsic factors.

“We can make changes like not smoking, having a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight. If people make those choices you cannot guarantee that there won’t be cancer cases but you can really improve the odds.”

This study does somewhat contradict other studies that found a higher degree of bad luck was involved. But as far as I am concerned, it is a much better thing if we think that we can control cancer by making healthy choices, rather than living unhealthily and putting anything negative down to bad luck. And there is a clear message that it is never too late to make changes that can make a real difference.

Detox with me in Janaury in Barcelona! Click HERE for more information.

Chris Hunt is a Business Consultant and Pilates/functional training presenter and educator based in London and Barcelona, Spain. He is the creator of Pilates EVO©, bodyFUNC©, and CEO of Pilates Rehab Limited and Sport Core Strength. He also created Pilates Carnival and Fitness Carnival, conventions where all profits go to local children’s charities. He organises Pilates events, mind and body retreats, fitness holidays and sports holidays in Barcelona and Ibiza. For more information about training with Chris in Barcelona, please click on Barcelona Bienestar. To learn more about Chris Hunt, please read Just who is Chris Hunt anyway? You can also subscribe by completing the form on the this BLOG to receive articles and special offers straight to your inbox.

Chris Hunt pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.

What is a detox?

What is a detox

What is a Detox?

So what is a detox, and why it is incredibly important to your body?

The word Detox is just short for detoxification. DETOXification is the body’s natural, ongoing process of neutralizing or eliminating toxins from the body. If so, what are toxins? Toxins are anything that can potentially harm body tissue, including waste products that result from normal cell activity, such as ammonia, lactic acid and homocysteine, and human-made toxins that we are exposed to in our environment, food, and water. Normally, our bodies are designed to be able to get rid of these toxins naturally. The body itself performs detoxification daily via the liver, intestines, kidneys, lungs, skin, blood and lymphatic system. All these systems work together to ensure that toxins are transformed chemically to less harmful compounds and excreted from the body. The lungs excrete toxic gases from the blood and gets fresh oxygen from the air. Heavy metals are excreted via sweat and urine while solid waste and other toxins are eliminated via the faeces.

But our bodies can become just overloaded.

If you are not living under a glass dome where all the microbes are killed, where you breathe pure pine-forest-like-oxygen and eat only organically grown raw vegetables and fruits and drink only spring water, then most likely that your body is full of all kinds of toxins. So that will be all of us then! Simply because many of the chemicals we ingest daily through food, water, and air can become deposited in fat cells in our bodies. Toxins include pesticides, antibiotics and hormones in food, chemicals from food packaging, household cleaners, detergents, food additives, heavy metals, pollution, drugs, and cigarette smoke. We are getting these toxins into our bodies on an everyday basis, and some of those things on this list we cannot easily avoid.

Our lives become very hectic at times and it is hard to lead a healthy way of life on an everyday basis. Diets that are high in saturated fat can lead to fat build up in the arteries. Cholesterol, Xenobiotics and inorganic chemicals can build up on the internal organs, affecting their ability to detoxify. After several years of exposure to chemicals, the body can no longer efficiently eliminate these toxic substances inside the body and toxins get re-circulated into the bloodstream which causes more damage in the body. The gastrointestinal tract can have ulcerations, imbalance in the acidity, growth of tumours and polyps. We choose the easier ways and grab a hamburger or sandwich when we would better make a salad. As a result of normal metabolic function our bodies produce and accumulate more waste products.

The only way to help ourselves and reduce accumulation of external toxins in our bodies is to get rid of toxins at least once a year. It is definitely better than nothing. Of cause, you may do body detox a couple of times a year for better result, but even if you go through a purification program once a year, you will feel a difference for months to come and most likely that you will try keep to continue your healthy life style.

Detox diets can take many different forms. Though methods vary but many of them are performed for short durations only. One type involves reducing the amount of chemicals consumed and consuming organic food instead. Others ingest antioxidant-rich foods that supply the body vitamins and nutrients that are required for getting rid of toxins from the system. Some take in foods high in fibre that help remove toxins by increasing bowel movements.
But mainly Detox diets are divided into two categories. The first one is aimed on natural body detox thus it requires an all-natural detox diet from fruits and vegetables. The second type of detox diet involves the use of synthetic chemicals which increases the rate of body detoxification. However, it is important to note that synthetic chemicals used in a body detox could also generate waste products that could become toxins! Therefore, it is always better to use first type of detox when you going through natural detox and also creating a new healthy life habits.

There are many methods recommend to help you detox. Of course, a big part of most detox plans is making dietary changes, but also with detox diet in combination working well saunas, different types of massages and body brushing, special breathing techniques to help your systems get rich of oxygen and get rid of toxins. If your gastrointestinal system feels slower than usual or if you feel weak, you may benefit from a detox.

Check out our next detox retreat in Barcelona. A detox of physical, emotional and spiritual aspects.

https://www.facebook.com/events/434444700080846/
Your greatest New Year resolution!

www.barcelonabienestar.com

Chris Hunt is a Business Consultant and Pilates/functional training presenter and educator based in London and Barcelona, Spain. He is the creator of Pilates EVO©, bodyFUNC©, and CEO of Pilates Rehab Limited and Sport Core Strength.  He also created Pilates Carnival and Fitness Carnival, conventions where all profits go to local children’s charities. He organises Pilates events, mind and body retreats, fitness holidays and sports holidays in Barcelona and Ibiza. For more information about training with Chris in Barcelona, please click on Barcelona Bienestar. To learn more about Chris Hunt, please read Just who is Chris Hunt anyway? You can also subscribe by completing the form on the this BLOG to receive articles and special offers straight to your inbox.

Chris Hunt pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.