Posted on

4 Healthy Habits You Can Take Too Far

While quitting smoking and eating right are certainly important to your health, they aren’t the only habits to consider.

There are many seemingly harmless things you do every day that could be bad for you — so bad that they could up your cancer risk.

Sitting Too Much

A desk job, a long commute or binge watching your favorite show: They may seem benign, but don’t be fooled. They all keep you on your tush for too long, and prolonged sitting has been linked to an increased risk of cancer.
Researchers from the American Cancer Society (ACS) found that women who spent more than six hours a day of their leisure time sitting had a 10% greater risk of cancer than women who spent three hours of their free time sitting. Some studies have found that sitting for long periods of time ups your chances of developing colorectal, ovarian and endometrial cancer, as well as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Working the Night Shift

While you may not be able to change your working hours, it’s important to know that shift work may be increasing your cancer risk. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) calls it a “probable carcinogen.”

One study found that women who spent more than 30 years working the night shift were more than twice as likely to develop breast cancer as those who didn’t. Research has also shown a link between men who work the graveyard shift and increased prostate cancer risk.

Researchers suspect that irregular sleep patterns could affect melatonin production, a hormone that regulates sleep, and one that may also prevent tumor growth. Other factors may also play a role.

Worrying Too Much

We’re all victims of an occasional nagging worry, but chronic stress and anxiety could indirectly up your cancer risk.
The theory is that people who are chronically over-stressed may also engage in other unhealthy habits, such as overeating, not exercising, smoking or drinking too much alcohol, all of which have been linked to different types of cancer.
Stress also lowers your overall immunity, leaving you susceptible to many different diseases, including certain cancers.

Drinking Beverages Loaded with Sugar

Too much added sugar is bad for you for many reasons. Not only can it make you gain weight, it also increases your risk for a slew of health problems, including cancer.

One study found that women who drank more than four sugary drinks per week increased their risk of endometrial cancer by 78% compared to those who didn’t drink them at all, possibly due to sugar’s impact on estrogen and insulin levels.

One easy way to cut back on added sugar is to stop drinking sugar-loaded beverages. A 20oz bottle of regular cola alone contains 65 grams of sugar (16+ tsps. of sugar), which means trading it in for water or unsweetened tea could go a long way in improving your health and lowering your cancer risk.

Posted on

Fortify Your GI Tract With This Midnight Munchie

It’s long been a favorite of midnight moviegoers, and research now shows that it could give your gastrointestinal (GI) tract the red-carpet treatment, too. It’s popcorn.

An 18-year study suggests that eating a couple of servings of the stuff each week could do nice things for your colon, like reduce the risk of diverticulitis by 28 percent.

Popcorn Not a Problem?

For years, doctors have warned patients with diverticulitis to avoid popcorn, thinking that the undigestible bits could cause serious complications. This new study has many wondering if that thinking could be a little off track. But don’t make any changes to your diet without talking to your doctor first.

For people who do not have diverticular disease, a couple of servings of popcorn a week could be just the ticket to avoiding the painful condition down the road. Nuts also seemed to lower diverticulitis risk in the study.

More Popcorn Pros

Some of popcorn’s good GI deeds may come from the inflammation-fighting lutein in the kernels, as well as the magnesium content. And eating popcorn is a great way to bump up your fiber and whole-grain intake — two more things your GI tract loves.

So, go ahead, pop away!

Posted on

Good Bugs Or Bad Bugs

Many patients recently have been asking me the importance of probiotics and prebiotics to a healthy diet and gastrointestinal system.

For a healthy body, we need bacteria. Sounds strange! But it’s true-some of the microorganisms that live in our gut help us with vital functions. Without these untold millions of microbial species, we’d have trouble digesting foods as well as facing or dealing with immune challenges. It’s also true that some of our gut hitchhikers don’t help us and could challenge our gut as well.

Indeed, one way to promote gut balance is through the use of probiotics and prebiotics. These are products that work with your body to keep the gut environment healthy.

Probiotics – “Good” Bugs

Probiotics are live beneficial bacteria that help support normal balance in the intestinal tract. By adding these bacteria to the digestive tract, there are a number of ways they would improve the gut environment:

They could take up space in the gut, leaving less “free” space for other bacteria.
Interfere with the growth or activity of other bacteria.
Help change the pH of the gut so that it is less hospitable to other types of bacteria.
Support the cells and mucus of the gut.
Attached to other bacteria as they can’t attach to the gut wall.
Probiotic bacteria can be found at a range of products. But when deciding which product is best for you it’s important to determine whether it contains research-supported strains. By using probiotic strains with the research behind them, you can trust that the product is effective and high quality.

Prebiotic – Food for the “Good” Bugs

These are indigestible carbohydrates, used by beneficial bacteria as food. They support a favorable gut environment by selectively stimulating the growth of your unique beneficial bacteria (including Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus). Different bugs prefer different prebiotics -for example Bifidobacteria (found primarily in the colon) seem to prefer GOS, a natural prebiotic originally found in breast milk.

In addition, prebiotics promote gut colonization by desirable bacteria, energize colon cells, improve immune system function and mineral absorption, and help intestinal gene expression and cell differentiation (the process that allows cells to become more specialized).

So, without a doubt, if you’re not taking any probiotics or prebiotics to help promote a healthy gastrointestinal tract then you should be!