Obesity Raises Ovarian Cancer Risks

As you well know, the obesity epidemic -- increasing one's risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes -- may whittle away the life expectancy of the average American by as much as five years by the middle of this century. If you're an obese woman fighting ovarian cancer, unfortunately, your odds of eventually beating it are lower too.

Taming obesity will do your body a great deal of good, reducing your risk of heart disease, diabetes and arthritis as well as cancer. And you don't have to go it alone, because there's plenty of free tools on my Web site to help you improve your health safely and naturally.

Fortunately there are some relatively simple and inexpensive life choices you can make that will help you in this area.

If you want to virtually eliminate your risk of cancer, I urge you to read my major recommendations that are far more comprehensive than the few suggested by the American Cancer Society:

1.      Control your insulin levels: Make certain that you limit your intake of processed foods and sugars as much as possible.

2.      Get appropriate amounts of animal-based omega-3 fats and make sure you use cod liver oil if you don't have regular access to sun exposure.

3.      Get appropriate exercise. One of the primary reasons exercise works is that it drives your insulin levels down. Controlling insulin levels is one of the most powerful ways to reduce your cancer risks.

4.      Normalize your vitamin D levels with safe amounts of sun exposure. This works primarily by optimizing your vitamin D level. If you have regular access to sun exposure then you should use fish oil, not cod liver oil, as your primary source of omega-3 fats. Ideally, it would be best to monitor your vitamin D levels.

5.      Eat according to your nutritional type. The potent anti-cancer effects of this principle are very much underappreciated. When we treat cancer patients in our clinic this is one of the most powerful anti-cancer strategies we have.

6.      Have a tool to permanently erase the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. Energy psychology seems to be one of the best approaches and my particular favorite tool, as you may know, is the Emotional Freedom Technique.

7.      Only 25 percent of people eat enough vegetables, so by all means eat as many vegetables as you are comfortable with. Ideally, they should be fresh and organic. However, please understand that, frequently, fresh conventionally grown vegetables are healthier than organic ones that are older and wilted in the grocery store. They are certainly better than no vegetables at all, so don't use that as an excuse. If you are a carb nutritional type you may need up to 300 percent more vegetables than a protein nutritional type.

8.      Make sure you are not in the two-thirds of the population who are overweight and maintain an ideal body weight.

9.      Get enough high-quality sleep.

10.  Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners and air pollution.

11.  Boil, poach or steam your foods, rather than frying or charbroiling them.