Health Care Remedy: Live Healthier, Eat Healthier

The debate about how to improve Health Care has come to a boil. Interestingly, only a handful out of all the millions of reporters, writers, speakers, bloggers, or politicians have mentioned prevention as one step that needs to be taken to reduce sickness and disease (and naturally, wouldn't that reduce costs?).  This is the message that needs to be promoted, pushed, and publicized very heavily: if you want health care coverage, start choosing to live a healthy lifestyle. Good nutrition from plenty of fruits and vegetables is the foundation for a healthy diet. Since most people don't get enough, we recommend adding Juice Plus+® to your diet. Next in importance: the things that must be avoided - tobacco, fast foods, processed foods, soft drinks, too much alcohol. Here are some cancer-prevention points when it comes to diet and lifestyle --

According to a new global policy report , it is estimated that 45 percent of colon cancer cases and 38 percent of breast cancer cases in the US are preventable through diet, physical activity and weight maintenance. The report also recommends policies to reduce the global number of cancer cases.  There has been a lot of research in the field of cancer on foods that are beneficial in preventing and fighting cancer. This week is the start of a new weekly feature, highlighting a specific cancer fighting food each week.

A summary of the reports findings on preventing cancer:

1. Being as lean as possible without being underweight is one of the keys in preventing cancer. Try to hit the bottom range of the body mass index (BMI) for your height and age.  Click here to determine your BMI. Managing weight is also helpful in preventing many other diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
2. In addition to eating healthy, being physically active every day is another proven prevention tool. Aim for 30 minutes a day. Simple tips to start you out: park further away and get in extra walking, take the stairs, take a 15 minute walk during lunch or afternoon break or play with your kids.
3. Limit sugary drinks and processed foods (added sugar and fat, nutrients stripped and are low in fiber).
4. Basing your diet on fruits, vegetables and whole grains reduces cancer risk.
5. Limit red meats and processed meats. Red meat contains substances that are linked to colon cancer.
6. Limit alcoholic drinks. There is a lot of convincing evidence that alcohol increases the risk of cancer of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus and breast  and colorectal cancer.
7. Limit salt consumption. Evidence shows a high probability between high salt consumption and stomach cancer.
8. Aim to meet nutritional needs through diet alone, and moderate use of supplements. Generally, you get more nutrients out of eating the food than supplementing.

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Bottom line: The most important part of reducing your risk of sickness and disease is by following a healthy diet. Everything above can be summed up by those two words: healthy diet. Now there are plenty of foods and beverages to avoid or nearly eliminate in order to stick to a healthy regimen, and that seems to be just as hard for people as it is to eat enough of the right foods everyday. But that's what has to be done. You can avoid the obvious solution that works, that reduces costs, that makes everyone healthier (and most probably happier), and think that we can get everyone "covered". All that will do is make a bad situation worse, and it looks like we have to live it before we will realize it.

If you don't, won't, or can't get enough fruits and vegetables, add Juice Plus+ to your diet.

The Health & Wellness Institute, PC
Health Solutions for a Healthy Lifestyle
Official Juice Plus+ Distributor