The Shift

Last week, the World Health Organization reported that new cancer cases will skyrocket globally in the next 20 years.  Cancer deaths are predicted to rise from 8.2 million to 13 million a year!  Currently the most common cancers globally are lung, breast and colon.  Tobacco is to blame for 33% of cancer in the U.S. and poor nutrition, obesity and physical inactivity account for 28%.  This report is heavy, burdensome and depressing.  Clearly, what we are doing is simply not enough.  Yes, cancer advances have been incredible and miraculous in some cases.  But somehow the human race is balancing these advances with lifestyle choices that support more cancer. 

My belief is that God’s will is good, he wants us to live and be healthy.  He has given us tools and blessed us beyond measure with ways to fight cancer.  Why are good people diagnosed with stage 4 cancer?  Why are some of the most faithful faced with months to live?  Why are innocent children admitted to cancer centers every minute?  These questions blur my mind, give me a headache, make me sad.  Years into my cancer survivorship, it hit me that God wanted to use my circumstance for the GOOD.  Use me Lord!  I have prayed for (almost) 6 years! 

Where then lies the shift?

Even if you have not been touched with cancer, although really, everyone has.  It is up to us to make the shift towards longevity.  I’m not talking perfection, just baby shifts.  Baby shifts, hmm.  There are many things we can do to support good health and fight cancer.  I’m not saying A+B= cancer, it is not that simple.  So much in our environment effects our genes and can turn that one gene on that promotes tumor growth.  If we make small shifts in a variety of areas in our environment, I believe we will make a difference in our health.  What do these shifts look like?

Maybe you smoke 1 pack a day instead of 2
Maybe you join a yoga studio and attend 4 days a week
Maybe you schedule a weekly longevity coffee with friends
Maybe you get involved with your house of worship more
Maybe you start reading food labels and try to decrease consumption of processed foods
Maybe you start buying organic
Maybe you never miss a medical checkup
Maybe you start juicing
Maybe you eat less meat
Maybe you join a tennis league
Maybe you change your beauty products to phthalate/paraben free
Maybe you just say NO to fast food
Maybe you join an advocacy group that supports cancer research
This list can go on forever…
 
Anticancer advocacy is growing!  Not a day goes by that I don’t see something related to fighting cancer.  One blog that I recently started following is Food Babe- http://foodbabe.com/ .  Talk about passion and GO for clean food.  This gal is a shifter!  As you enter 2014, I am praying for good shifts.  It’s a daily task for me, one that has to be intentional. 
So, onward to fighting cancer my friends and Be Well,