You go to the supermarket for your weekly groceries and find yourself in the produce aisle. Scratching your head, you wonder if you should splurge on the organic apples or save some money and get the shiny non-organic ones. The process continues as you work your way through the supermarket, with every aisle and every food item appearing to come in organic and non-organic forms, even candy bars. Is the extra cost worth it?
Cancer of the skin is the most common of all cancers. Approximately 5.4 million cases of basal and squamous cell skin cancer are diagnosed each year, about 80% of which are basal-cell type. Melanomas account for about 1% of skin cancers, but they are by far the most dangerous, and the rate of melanomas has been rising for the last 30 years.
Drinking eight glasses or two quarts of water a day has become an obsession for many people. Our cars have empty bottles rolling on the floor, and we bring our water with us wherever we go…to meetings, to work, to school or to the gym. In fact, people around the globe spend about $50 billion per year on bottled water. Water is very important for health, but have we gone overboard?
Everyone who has a dog knows how much they can enrich your life. We talk to them, play with them, cuddle with them, and try our best to understand them. But it’s not a one-way street. An avalanche of research confirms what every dog-loving person already knows—dogs do more for us than we do for them.
Many people diagnosed with cancer are besieged with “free advice” from wellmeaning friends and family who offer suggestions on foods to eat or avoid that may prevent their cancer from growing or coming back. There are dozens of diets and thousands of supplements being promoted that often lack the clinical evidence to back up their grandiose claims, but with the vast amounts of information on the internet, people are confused and overwhelmed.
We’ve all seen ads for “miracle” supplements that supposedly prevent or cure cancer or for special foods and/or diets that make tumors “melt away.” Many times, these claims are not based on sound clinical evidence, and people can end up spending a lot of money, with disappointing results. We don’t know why many cancers originate or develop, or why cure rates vary. Does that mean you should throw up your hands and give up, leaving all to chance and fate? Absolutely not! There is so much you can do!
Nutrition makes a difference and we can all make decisions that support us in avoiding health problems as we age.
As the body's largest and fastest-growing organ, skin has one important job: protection. The American Academy of Dermatology likens it to a coat: It helps us stay warm when it’s cold, helps cool us when it’s hot, protects our insides from the environment, and prevents the body from losing fluids. It’s a big job. And when you consider that the first line of defense—the skin’s top layer, or epidermis—is only about 1/100th of an inch thick, the skin’s work seems even more remarkable. But for all its strength, the skin is also highly susceptible: Skin cancer is, by far, the most common type of cancer.