Cancer Prevention

    Cancer is scary, I think we can all agree on that. Sadly though, more and more people have their lives totally changed every day because of cancer affecting them or their loved ones. No one whats to go through cancer treatmeants or see their friends and family do so. If that is true, and for the most part it is, why aren't more people doing everything they can to prevent it? If you knew you could help prevent yourself and your friends and family from being effected by cancer, wouldn't you want to do everything you could? Of course you would! So why not start today?

Your Diet Matters

Like many diseases and health issues, your diet plays a big role. A healthy diet can be your shield against so many illnesses, including many types of cancer. But an unhealthy diet can be just as harmful as a healthy diet is helpful! Here are a few foods that aid in cancer prevention!

Garlic helps to slow the growth of tumor cells because of the allyl sulphur compounds they contain.
Broccoli is helpful in cancer prevention because of the high concentration of antioxidants, fiber and flavanoids!
Brazilian Nuts, if eaten daily, can be benefitial and healthy for the body as a whole! Overall body health is a great way to prevent cancer!
Mushrooms are great for boosting your immune system and helping your body fight against cancer! !
Artichokes contain an antioxidant called silymarin, which helps to prevent epidermis cancer.

Just like some foods are helpful in cancer prevention, there are other foods that aren't. To have the healthiest, cancer prevention diet, stay away from GMOs, Processed Meats, Hydrogenated Oils, Refined Sugars and Flours, Canned Goods, and Highly Processed Foods. Its sad to think that 5% of cancer diagnoses are realted to poor diet! Do what you can today to make sure your diet is a healthy one!

Stay Active

Just like your diet is important, so is your daily activity level. Getting at least 30 minutes of light exercise every day can be so helpful in cancer prevention! It keeps your body healthy in so many ways that it isn't something you should over look! 5% of cancer diagnoses are due to the lack of physical activity! Don't let your lack of exercise keep your from living a long healthy life!

Your Enviroment

Having a clean enviroment is key in cancer prevention. Make sure you aren't using products with tons of chemicals to clean your home. A lot of air-fresheners, furniture cleaners, and basic house-hold cleaners are full of harmful chemicals that do nothing to help promote a healthy enviroment! Go for a natural choice instead! Choose a natural cleaner brand or even make your own cleaners and air-fresheners with basic, healthier ingredients!

Obviously there is alot more to Cancer prevention than I can pack into one post, so I encourge you to do your own research to find more ways to help prevent cancer in your life and the lives of the ones you love!

In searching for articals to read for this post, I found a very helpful one from the Mesothelioma and Asbestos Cancer Center. Their focus is on Mesothelioma, which is a rare type of cancer caused by asbestos. I wanted to share a graphic from their website that I found helpful and I hope you do as well!

 

 

If you want more information about Mesothelioma, please visit the website linked above!

I know this is a very large topic and could never do it justice, but I hope I given you a few tips and tricks that will help you add cancer prevention to your life!

Cancer has affected and changed too many people's lives! Do what you can today to prevent cancer in your life and the lives of those close to you! Spread the word and help others learn about cancer and how to prevent it!

I hope you have found this post helpful! If you have, please share it with your friends and family!

You can follow the blog via email, Google, Twitter @ SpinachisGood, Tumblr @ justrunningforfood, and Pinterest @ Hannah Plunkett!

I post every Friday!

Stay Healthy, Happy and Laughing!
H. Banana

Never Skip a Meal!

     Around the world, people are skipping meals, fasting for hours or even days, and just not eating for a given amount of time. Not because they don't have food to eat, or money to buy it, but simply because they want to lose weight. They've all heard the 'calorie in=calorie out' speech, and they are hoping, that by consuming less calories than they burn, they will lose weight even faster! Maybe they will lose weight, but that weight will almost always come back once they start eating a normal, even healthy, diet. And, if you look at what it does to their health, it doesn't make it look all that worth it. In fact, starving your body is a lot more harmful to your body and future weight loss, than it is helpful!

Skipping a Meal Puts Your Body on a Blood Sugar Rollercoaster!
     When you skip a meal, you are supplying your body with the food it needs to use a fuel for it to run on. Because of this, your blood sugars drop and you feel a loss in energy. Glucose is something that all our organs need to function smoothly and it is super important for optimal brain activity! After four hours of not eating your brain starts getting a fuel shortage, you become tired, sluggish and moody, and your cognitive functions become affected and you will have problems with attention, memory and general mental performance.
     When you constantly put your body in a period of fasting(starving) your blood sugars go up and down a lot. This will seriously effect your dieting efforts! Also, because your insulin is disturbed, you are contributing to the development of diabetes later in life.

Putting Your Body Through Constant Periods of Starvation Will Change Your Metabolism
     If you are looking to lose weight, you want your metabolism to be working well and fast! If you increase your metabolism, it will help you burn calories faster with less effort.  However, when you skip meals, it causes your metabolism to slow down. Not eating gives your metabolism nothing to do, and when you provide it with food again, it finds it harder to kick in. As a result, the food is more readily transformed into fat and stored. 
    When you starve your body it must look for other sources of energy. Your metabolism starts transforming your stored fat into energy. While this might sound like a good idea, it comes with some serious health problems!  It causes nausea, constipation, serious fatigue, kidney stress, and low blood pressure.  And with time, your body gets used to the shortages in food and starts holding on to the food you do give it. It stores it as fat, while reducing your lean muscle tissue.


As you can see, skipping meals is not a healthy choice! It causes so many health problems, and will even harm your weight-loss and dieting efforts! No one wants that, now do we?

     Because of the effect that starvation has on your body, it will hinder you in doing the things that you need to do, both for your health and daily activities! When you don't eat, you don't have any fuel for your body to run properly on, so you won't be able to exercise and be active like you should, especially for weight-loss. Also, you will feel tired all the time and you won't have the energy to do your job, participate in school, run your errands, care for your kids, and all the other task that fill your life.
     Another symptom of starvation is moodiness! The lack of glucose in your system causes you to be extremely moody! Your mood swings, mostly bad-moods, will not only effect you, but the people you are around! There is truth in saying you get moody when your hungry, or even ( to use the popular term) to get hangry!  Do yourself and others a favor by eating a good balanced diet!

     Headaches, nausea, toothaches, loss in hair, blurry vision, low-blood pressure, cold hands and feet, a dry mouth, and stiffness are just a few more of the symptoms of starvation! You can do a quick search on any search-engine and you will find that there are so many more reasons not to skip your meals!

     They are some people who had been skipping meals for years, and there are medical-terms for their condition. Skipping meals can quickly become a mental condition, and can even lead to death, if not taken care of. Anorexia and Bulimia are just two of the types of extreme starvation diseases.


Eating More Food can Be Your Key to Weight loss
     Not eating food might help you lose weight fast, but you will put it on even faster once you start eating normally again! You can bypass that whole yo-yo effect and simply eating more of the right types of foods! Eating more causes your metabolism to become faster, which helps your body burn food faster! The faster you burn food(calories) the easier it will be to lose weight!
     Eating healthier food, and more of it, gives you the energy you need to be active. Being active also aids in speeding up your metabolism, thus helping your weight-loss efforts even more!
When you eat a balanced healthy diet, with at least three meals a day, you are putting your body in a much better stage of health! You have the right amount of glucose in your body which causes your body to function like it should! No more nausea, mood swings, headaches, hair loss, tooth aches, and so on! Your brain works better, allowing you to concentrate and get your work done faster!

    All in all, eating more healthy food puts you in better moods, helps you lose weight, and keeps you feeling great all day every day! Why would you starve yourself when eating more food gives you all these benefits?


     I hope this post is helpful to you! Starvation and skipping meals is a serious problem, so educating yourself of the harmful effects of it will help you take care of yourself an even others! If you found this helpful, please share it with someone else who might find it helpful!

You can follow the blog via email, Google, Twitter @ SpinachisGood, Tumblr @ justrunningforfood and Pinterest @ Hannah Plunkett.

I post every Friday!

Stay Healthy, Happy and Laughing!
H. Banana

Spring + Summer Skin Care Tips

Everyone wants to have beautiful, bright, youthful-looking skin! Taking good care of your skin ensures that your skin is looking it's best all the time!

Your skin is your largest organ, so naturally you want to take really good care of it! During the spring and summer months your skin can really take a beating. Knowing how to take care of your skin during these warm-weather months can help you have beautiful skin year round!

 

 

How do you build the perfect spring and summer skin care routine? Most of it is done by trial and error and learning what works for you. Everyone has different skin, so what works for one person might not work for you!

During the warmer weather months your skin takes a beating from the elements, so skin care is super important! Here are a few tips and tricks that I hope will help you take care of your skin and build a perfect-for-you skin care routine!

1.  Clean your skin! Cleansing your skin is important to remove dirt, dust and dead skin cells that have built up. You can do this several different ways like cleansing wipes, washes, bars, soaps...etc. Try to go for organic and chemical free since those will be more gentle for your skin!

2. Moisturize! After cleaning your skin you have removed the natural oils that give your skin moisture, so you need to add that moisture back! Body lotions, face lotions, body bars, lotion bars and body creams are a great way do to this! Again I recommend organic and chemical free moisturizers.

3. Sunscreen! The sun can tear your skin up! Yes, I know its nice to have a good tan during the summer, but it isn't worth it to have wrinkles, sun spots and even skin cancer later in life! Use at least a SPF 15 for everyday use and SPF 30-50 for spending the day out in the sun. You can use lotion with sunscreen in it, sun blocks, and sun block oils to protect your skin from the harsh sun rays! Organic and chemical free brands are great!

4. Exfoliate. Exfoliating is to remove the dead skin cells that build up on your skin to reveal the bright, smooth skin underneath! It can be done many different ways including a body brush, facial and body scrubs like my Amazing Body Scrub . Exfoliate your skin about once a week to maintain bright and smooth skin!

5. Hydrate! Drinking lots of water is important to having a healthy body as well as healthy, bright and clear skin!

6.  Limit time in the sun. I know it feels great to lay out and soak up the sun, but you need to put a limit on it! Use sunscreen and wear sunglasses and a large hat to protect your skin. The morning and mid-day sun is the harshest, so try not to stay out too long during that part of the day and make sure to spend time in the shade!

7.  Stay away from harsh chemical! Chemicals are not good for your skin, yet you find them everywhere! They are found in most pool water, sun-blocks, skin care products and more! Use organic and chemical free products whenever you can to keep you skin healthy!

 

Here are a few brand that I use every day and that I highly recommend!

 Desert Essence - I use their face wipes, face lotions and body scrubs and I love them!

Burts Bees - I use everything from lotion, hair care and lip balms from this brand!

At Last Naturals  - I love the face lotion from this brand!

and of course home made skin care products like body creams and scrubs are great too!

 

I hope I have given you a few tips to help you keep you skin looking healthy this spring and summer! Remember that what works for some people might not work for others, so try different things and learn what works for you!

Please share this blog with a friend and check back often for more post on all things healthy!

 

Follow the blog here and on Twitter @ Spinachisgood and on Pinterest @ Hannah Plunkett

 

Keep healthy and safe!

H. Banana