June 25, 2024 • 28 mins
On this episode, Five to Thrive Live hosts, Karolyn and Lise will share six surprising ways to lower your risk of cancer and its recurrence. Each of these tips are backed up by published studies and there will be something for everyone in these strategies!
Five To Thrive Live is broadcast live Tuesdays at 7PM ET and Music on W4CS Radio – The Cancer Support Network (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
Five To Thrive Live Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Five To Thrive Live is broadcast live Tuesdays at 7PM ET and Music on W4CS Radio – The Cancer Support Network (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
Five To Thrive Live Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Any health related information on the followingshow provides general information only. Content presented
on any show by any host orguest should not be substituted for a doctor's
advice. Always consult your physician beforebeginning any new diet, exercise, or
treatment program. Welcome to five toThrive Live, a podcast about thriving for
(00:44):
those who have been affected by cancerchronic disease. I'm doctor Lisa Schuler and
I'm here with my good friend andco host Carolyn Gazella. Hello, Carolyn
Heyle. How are you? I'mvery good. How are you today?
I'm great. I love doing showswith you, so this is always exciting
for me. Indeed, quite anice way to finish the month of June.
(01:07):
So if you're new to our show, you can find all of our
past show podcasts on any major podcastoutlet. You can also find our schedule
on ithriveplan dot com. Tonight's showis going to be fun. Carolyn and
I are going to surprise each otherand maybe you with six surprising strategies to
reduce cancer risk. Each of thesestrategies is backed by scientific research, and
(01:30):
we've made sure that we've covered alot of different areas so that there will
be something here for everyone. Absolutely, I'm excited, but you know what,
Least, before we begin, let'sthank our sponsors. First. Amuse
a unique, patented postfiotic that givesyour immune system a key advantage. Amuse
is an ingredient in many immune supportingdietary supplements. Look for Amuse on the
(01:55):
label or go to immusehealth dot comfor more information. Also, Cognizance citicoline,
which is nature's way of keeping thebrain's energy producing centers firing on all
cylinders. If you're looking for away to enhance your brain function, including
memory, focus, and attention,look for Cognizant on the label or go
to Cognizan dot com for more information. Prothriver's Brain is a product that contains
(02:17):
Cognizant as well as other brain supportingnutrients and herbs. You can find Prothriver's
Brain online at pure formulas dot com. Also look for prothrivers Sleep, a
supplement which combines higher dose melotona andother sleep supporting natural ingredients specifically designed for
thrivers. You can find Prothrivers Sleepat pureformulas dot com as well. And
(02:40):
finally, doctor oheer is Probiotics,a best selling probiotic for over thirty years.
It contains twelve probiotic strains which areshelf stable, so no refrigeration is
required due to a unique three yearfermentation process. Learn more at doctor Oheira
probiotics dot com. Okay, Carolyn, thank you for doing that. Well,
this is going to be interesting.So I'm ready to be surprised.
(03:04):
What do you have for your firstcancer reducing strategy? Okay, so I'm
going to admit this is not goingto surprise you that much. However,
I think the study that I'm goingto talk about is going to surprise you.
There's a little twist in it foryou. So my first strategy is
to focus on getting enough sleep.I knew it. I'm predictable if nothing
(03:28):
else, right, Lise, Consistentsleep is really critical, you know.
To me, this show is kindof about picking your priorities. We're going
to help people do that because ofthese strategies. And sometimes it can be
hard to prioritize strategies because there area lot and it can be overwhelming.
So I'm going to make a caselease as to why sleep should be towards
(03:52):
the top of that leap on topof that list. I just wrote about
a study for Integritate Practitioner, andI want to talk about the study because
it highlights why sleep should be apriority. So this study was specifically about
reducing the risk of diabetes, soit focused on blood sugar control. While
(04:12):
it wasn't a specific to cancer,we know that blood sugar control is absolutely
critical for reducing risk of cancer aswell, so the researchers looked at diet
and sleep. Now, when itcomes to blood sugar, you would think
that diet would be the most importantthing to focus on, but in this
study, sleep was even more important. Researchers found that even if people ate
(04:36):
a healthy diet but they still gotless than six hours of sleep at night,
they had a significantly higher risk ofdeveloping type two diabetes. Now,
we know that lack of sleep putsyour body into an insulin resistant state,
and we know that insulin resisting increasesrisk of cancer, So this is really
(04:58):
significant. So, even if youhave a healthy diet and you've prioritized diet,
if you're not sleeping six hours ormore, you're going to be increasing
your risk of developing diabetes and possiblycancer. So the other thing I want
to point out is that it's weoften, especially with the research, they
(05:18):
focus on quantity. I want toremind our listeners that, yes, quantity
is important, so let's have thatgoal. You want to get seven hours,
eight hours, you know that's thegoal. But quality is also important.
So we all know what it feelslike when we have good quality sleep
because we feel rested in the morning. So look at quality and quantity and
(05:41):
have those be your goals. Now. The other thing I want to point
out is if you are like meand have a history of really really struggling
with sleep, I highly recommend anaturopathic approach, even if you can go
see a naturopathic doctor. A naturopathicapproach takes everything into consideration, diet,
(06:02):
lifestyle, you know, instead ofjust like saying, try this melatonin,
they're going to really hone in onsleep formulations and they're going to really have
a comprehensive approach to helping you getsleep naturally without resorting to prescription sleep medications,
which we could do a whole showon that that they're they're very problematic.
(06:27):
So look to a naturopathic doctor toget a really comprehensive approach to getting
at the core issues of why you'renot sleeping, So that's that's my first
one, Lisa, all right,Well that's a you know, it is
worth starting off with sleep because Ithink so many of us put that on
(06:48):
the bottom of the list because we'rejust busy and we have a lot to
do. But yeah, we're talkingabout cancer risk reduction, so sleep good
like it? All right? Sowhat about you, what's your first one
to show? Are you going tosurprise me? Well? Perhaps so we
all know physical activity is linked witha lower risk of most cancer's, lower
(07:09):
risk of cardiovascular disease, better fitness. But what I want to talk about
is the idea of very short burstsof activity. I'm talking about like a
minute per activity, so super short. But if you even just do one
minute of physical activity, so youget five minutes over the course of a
day, so you do that fivetimes. That is linked to a reduction
(07:34):
in cancer risk by almost twenty percentand even up to thirty percent for certain
cancer types. Now there's a littlebit of a catch. This was based
This finding was based on a studythat was done out of the University of
Sydney and Australia that was published inlast year. In twenty twenty three in
(07:54):
jam On College, which is avery reputable journal. This researcher took over
twenty two thousand individuals who didn't exercise, so they were non exercisers, and
he looked at what happened with cancerevents in about seven years of follow up,
and what he found was that therewas this link between getting about five
(08:16):
minutes of these little bursts of activityevery day, but the catches that it
had to be pretty intense activity.So he characterized this as very intense.
And so this would be like youknow, kind of walking really fast,
even running up a flight of acouple flights of stairs for a minute,
(08:37):
or doing some jumping jacks for aminute, or you know, taking a
quick jog for a minute something,or doing some pushups for a minute,
so something that really gets you breathless. And of course your fitness level is
going to change over time, butif you can get yourself breathless just for
one minute, five times a day, you will see a reduction in your
(09:00):
cancer risks. So I think thisis really important for people who are pressed
for time. Maybe they're you know, facing a day where they don't have
time to do their dedicated physical activity. This is an option and doing this
regularly makes a difference. Wow,it's a great option, and it does
seem like it would be simple enoughto incorporate this into your day. And
(09:22):
I'm glad that you clarified what veryintense means because sometimes I think people get
confused because we talk about moderate exerciseversus vigorous exercise. So I think that
that is a really critical piece tothis. Yeah, for sure. All
right, so we've gone through too. We're now we're encouraging people to sleep
for at least six hours a nightto get at least five minutes of vigorous
(09:46):
activity. Okay, if it's aminute at a time, all right,
what's your second tip, Carolyn?Okay, my second tip is don't underestimate
the harmful effects of overeating. So, you know, when we look at
our diet, we often look atthe quality of our diet, which is
(10:07):
great, but sometimes we forget tofocus on the quantity of food that we're
eating. I think that eating hasalmost become a habit, like we don't
eat when we're hungry necessarily, wejust eat three meals a day and we
eat as much as we're is putin front of us. And this is
(10:28):
very problematic when it comes to ourhealth. So when we overeat, it
put extra pressure on our digestive system, on our organs in the body.
Speaking of sleep, overeating can negativelyimpact sleep, and of course it can
increase the risk of obesity, andwe know that being obese or overweight does
increase the risk of many different cancers. Overeating is also inflammatory, and we
(10:52):
know that chronic inflammation increases the riskof some cancer. So I think watching
Porsche is a good step in theright direction. When we're looking at our
portion size, we can make smalladjustments to kind of retrain ourselves to not
overeat. You know, like,if, for example, you like to
(11:13):
have a baked potato, well let'shave a half baked potato. If you
want to have a couple of piecesof toast with breakfast, let's only have
one piece of toast. You know, you get the idea. I think
there are ways that you can lookat meal time to actually reduce portion size.
There are also eating patterns that canhelp, you know, there's a
(11:35):
new review that just came out inthe Journal for Nurse Practitioners highlighting the fact
that intermittent fasting, which we've talkedabout on this show can help reduce the
amount of calories and the amount offood that is consumed. Oftentimes, people
who are doing intermittent fasting only havetwo meals a day instead of three plus
a snack, So I think thetiming of our eating is critical. I
(12:01):
also want to mention mindful eating.That's a great way to slow down your
food consumption. You know, ittakes about twenty minutes for the brain to
signal you, hey, listen,I'm full, and let me tell you.
In twenty minutes, you can getdown a lot of donuts, you
know. So I think eating mindfullyis going to help our bodies catch up
(12:24):
with our brains, and then we'regoing to be able to see those cues.
Intuitive eating may also help teach ushow to listen to our body and
know when we're full. I didan entire show on intuitive eating, and
that was one thing that I reallytook home, like learn to know when
you're full to help avoid overeating,because overeating can be problematic for our health
(12:50):
and increase our risk of developing cancer. Yeah, so here's the fun fact
that you didn't know about me.I have a genetic snip, which means
I've inherited a little difference in theway my gene is ordered, so that
the protein that this gene makes isa little different, such that I have
genetically a difficult time assessing when I'mfull, and so my genetic snip predisposes
(13:16):
me to overeating, which I thinkis pretty interesting. And I've noticed that
too, like I if I eattoo quickly, I just really don't know
when I'm full until I'm like uncomfortable. Yeah, I didn't know that about
you, and we've we have likea thirty year friendship. I know that
surprises great. Well, So Iappreciate this strategy. I think that it's
(13:39):
so so important. I would addone other tip for people on that one,
which is that there's some great apps, many of which are free now
or have free versions that help you. You can kind of put in like
let's say you're trying to lose weight, you can put in a calorie goal,
or you can just track your intakeand it will help you determine what
(14:00):
portions or appropriate portions are for yourweight. So there's sort of tools available
out there, like my fitness Palis one, chronometer is another one,
and these are things I think thatfor people who are confused might be helpful.
Yeah, that's great, well good, So what's your second surprising tip?
Least? Okay, my second isa favorite tip, and that is
(14:24):
another way to reduce your risk ofcancer is to drink coffee or tea in
the morning. And or of course, if you're not a coffee or tea
drinker, you could substitute eating freshvegetables and fruit, or you could do
all of those things. But basicallythe idea is that coffee and tea are
good for you in fact, especiallyif they're organic. And the reason for
(14:46):
that is that in the morning.And the reason I said in the morning
specifically is that in the morning,that's when we have a very high vulnerability
to oxidative stress because our natural productionof gludifine is that it's lowest. We've
used up a lot of glutithion overthe course of the night where hopefully we're
sleeping our six hours to regenerate toour antioxidant levels in the cell to kind
(15:09):
of deal with a lot of theoxidative stress of the day. So we're
sort of depleted in the morning,which gives us vulnerability now and we encounter
oxidative stress which can come at usfrom oh, I don't know. Exposure
to some environmental tox and having abig psychologically stressful event, being stressed about
(15:31):
getting to work on time. Eatingis generates oxidative stress. If we do
activity in the morning, that generatesoxidative stress. So there's lots of things
that can make oxidative stress. Andif we don't quench those oxidative molecules,
they can otherwise damage ourselves and evenour DNA, which can be a component
(15:52):
or a step in cancer causation.So it is helpful then to think about
giving ourselves a layer in the morning. So coffee and tea, as it
turns out, is full of antioxidativemolecules, and so they are quite a
rich source of antioxidative compounds. That'salso true, of course for vegetables and
(16:14):
fruits. Those have thousands of antioxidativemolecules in them. So any combination of
these things is going to help usto create that layer of protection at a
time when we're most vulnerable. Ilove it. I love it because you
also talked about timing, and Ithink that that's becoming really obvious that we
need to be mindful of the timewhen we eat and drink and things like
(16:36):
that the research about coffee and greentea in particular in terms of reducing cancer
risk is really clear. I wouldjust have one caveat there are a lot
of people, not a lot,but there are people who really enjoy to
put a lot of things in theircoffee, like you know, cream and
sugar and whipped cream and all ofthose types of things. And I think
(16:57):
that you would probably agree that thatkind of defeats the purpose. Well,
not the cream so much. There'skind of an argument that can be made
in favor of cream. The onlyreason not to do that is if people
are intimate and fasting. But actuallyadding a little bit of protein into your
coffee helps to bind up some ofthe tannins in these drinks, which otherwise
(17:21):
can theoretically, over time, youknow, contribute to some bone loss and
things like that. So I don'tthink that the milks that people put in
are really a problem. But Iagree one hundred percent with you that the
sugars that we put in, youknow, especially getting a big drink with
lots of sugar in it, isnot a good thing for our ends balancing
and sugar bouncing, right, Iagree. Okay, Clip number three,
(17:45):
this is your last one, sobetter be good. It's good. Well,
my final one is to reduce consumptionof fast foods, and this is
something that I really feel strongly abouved. So why fast foods so bad for
us? Because they're often ultraprocessed withhigh amounts of fat, sugar, and
(18:06):
sodium and very low amounts, ifany, actual nutrients that we're going to
need and benefit from, So they'redevoid of nutrients and yet they have all
this extra fat, sugar and sodium. You know, the research regarding the
dangers of ultraprocessed foods has been expandingdramatically over the past several years. I've
been following it and I periodically doa search and in fact, a brand
(18:29):
new review came out this year inthe British Medical Journal and once again explained
that a diet high and ultraprocessed foodsincreases the risk of many illnesses as well
as mental health issues such as anxietyand depression, and it also increases the
risk of cancer, especially colon cancer. You know, when you look at
fast foods, they're typically fried,and that frying process additionally creates acrylamides,
(18:53):
which are chemicals known to increase therisk of cancer. Sugary soft drink are
served at fast food restaurants and they'reproblematic for many reasons. And if I
go back to my second strategy,it can be easy to overeat at fast
food restaurants with the big gulps andsupersizing that goes on. So the tip
(19:14):
here is just to try to cutback. It's not an either or thing.
You don't have to stop fast foodentirely, but if you are going
to a fast food restaurant four timesa week, try to cut back to
two and then to one, youknow, and before you know it,
it's going to be rare for youto eat at a fast food restaurant,
and you may even lose the desireto eat those types of foods as you
(19:37):
transition away from fast foods. SoI think that this is an important one.
And we have a thing at leastin our webinar that we do where
we say, if you have todrive through to get it to get your
food, keep driving. I thinkthat's a good a good piece of advice.
So that's my strategy. Yeah,that's so important. You know.
(20:00):
I'm glad you're keeping up on thatbody of literature because it was not I
mean, there was a long timewhere we knew it sort of intuitively that
fast foods were bad or ultra processedfoods were not good for our health,
but we didn't have the data.Now we have lots of data. And
you know what's interesting too, isthat if you think about when McDonald's,
for example, just not to pickonly on McDonald's, but just as an
(20:22):
example, because that was one ofthe first major fast food restaurants, right,
So that came to being in whatthe nineteen fifties, But at that
time fast food was really different thanthe fast food today. I mean,
think about the volume of production thatMcDonald's, for example, is producing today
(20:44):
as opposed to sixty years ago.So I think that the other issue with
fast foods is that the foods themselvesare different. They're much they're made differently,
they're made to be mass produced,so they're all the things you said
about not having good nutrients and beingfull of chemicals is even more true now
than it was thirty forty years ago. I would agree, Yeah, I
(21:04):
would agree. And I and onemore thing to add as a as a
tip, because sometimes I get intotrouble if I go on a road trip.
For example, I don't plan accordingly. All of a sudden, I
find myself at a fast food placeat when I'm gassing up my car,
and I'm like, oh, Carolyn, so to plan ahead and to you
know, really you know, planyour meals, and you know, I
(21:30):
think that that will help avoid thefast food because they're so convenient, right,
you know, So it's you've gotto try to avoid that enticement.
So planning ahead will help with that. Yeah, you know, there's this
is also a socioeconomic issue. Youknow, there's of course food deserts throughout
(21:52):
our country, especially in inner cities, and what you do find in those
food deserts are fast food restaurants.They're less expensive, they're accessible. So
there's a disproportionate kind of accessibility,if you will, of fast foods to
people who are or there's disproportionate harm. And you know, so I think
the other thing that people can do, if that's really their only option or
(22:15):
that's most of their option, isat least a lot of these chains have
tried to introduce healthier options on theirmenus, so you know, maybe just
going for the salads or if youcan get a grilled chicken or something instead
of a hamburger, maybe you know, not eat the bund. I mean,
there's ways to make it a littleless damaging. That's your only option.
(22:38):
Yeah, good point, good point. All right, So what's number
three for you? All right?Well, I think this is a pretty
surprising one too. My last surprisingstrategy is to get some sunlight every day,
or at least most days. Youknow, we have become very sun
phobic in general, and I thinkthat there is certainly rationale, and most
(23:00):
dermatologists would still advise you to stayout of the sun. But in reality,
uh, there are lots of datapoints now that point to the fact
that chronic so meaning regular, notoccasional and getting burnt never a good idea,
but kind of a regular sun exposure. I'll talk about the minutes in
(23:22):
a moment. Regular sun exposure isactually associated with a reduced risk of colorectal
cancer, reduce risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer, and non Hodgkin's lymphoma.
So those are big, big dealcancers. And you know, three
of those, colorectal, breast andprocedure among the foremost common cancers. And
(23:45):
even we know that. Yeah,so okay, why why is that the
case? So there's some theories thatwhen we're exposed to sunlight our skin,
with the addition of sunlight, thecholesterol in their skin is activated and we
make vitamin D. And we knowthat vitamin D is associated. Higher vitamin
(24:08):
D levels is associated with lower cancerrisk. So that's one mechanism, but
there are other things going on,which is what's kind of interesting about this
too. It's not just the vitaminD, which is why just taking vitamin
D and avoiding sun is not reallythe answer, because when we are exposed
to sunlight, we also affect howour immune system works, and it essentially
(24:32):
triggers or activates part of our defensivethe defensive cells of our immune system.
That's one another mechanism. It's alsotrue that when we expose ourselves to sunlight
it helps to sink our circadian rhythm, and circadian health, which is mirroring
our activity with the cycle of dayand night, is strongly associated with overall
(24:59):
health and with reduce cancer risk.And we also know that sunlight affects are
full of acid levels, which canalso influence cancer risk. So all of
these potential mechanisms, you know,first of all, go beyond vitamin D.
So again you can't just really getsunlight in a pill. And so
when we're talking about this, we'renot talking about getting burned ever, that's
(25:22):
carcinogenic for sure. So for mostpeople, getting at least five minutes up
to about thirty minutes of sun exposurewithout sun block is enough to gain some
of these benefits. And we knowthat because when people get that five to
thirty minutes of sun exposure without sunblockand having enough of their skin exposed to
(25:45):
the sunlight that they actually can youknow, create some of these effects.
We know that when they do that, they get they do increase their vitamin
D levels. So that's just evidencethat that exposure level is enough to start
to change our physiology. Now,when we get sun is also important.
If you get your five to thirtyminutes before ten in the morning or after
(26:07):
two in the afternoon, that's thesafest time to do it because that's when
the ultraviolet radiation is the least high. So you want to try to time
your five to thirty minutes before tenin the morning or after two in the
afternoon, and you want to goout there ideally without sunblock, and you
want to just you know, getenough if you're a Caucasian just to get
kind of a light maybe a lighttan, but you don't want to get
(26:32):
burned ever, and this is ofcourse true for people of all skin colors.
So I just think it's important.You know. Again, i'd say
that we're rather sun phobic, andI don't know that that is necessarily a
justified position. I love this one, and I'm going to add one more
thing and one more benefit. AndI don't have a study to back this
up, but I think you're goingto agree with me. Sunlight and sun
(26:56):
exposure seems to help my mental health. Yeah, sure, so that's got
to be an advantage as well.Yeah, I love it. And the
fact that there's a window to avoidwhen it's the UV radiation is the highest,
so before ten and after two that'sgreat advice as well. I love
it. I think that's a goodone, Lisa. So let's do a
(27:18):
little recap. So our six surprisingcancer risk reduction strategies that we've talked about
today are get enough sleep, fiveminutes of vigorous activity daily and those can
just be one minute bouts. Trynot to overeat, drink coffee, tea,
and eat vegetables and fruit. Inthe morning to shore up your antioxidant,
(27:42):
reduce consumption of fast foods, andget five to thirty minutes of sun
exposure each day before ten am andafter two pm. I think those are
great. Those are awesome, andyeah, something in there for everybody,
like we promised. Well, thatwraps up this episode of five to Thrive
Live again. We thank our sponsorsCognizance citicoline to help enhance memory, focus
(28:04):
and attention, immuse a post bioticfor immune support, doctor Orhira's Probiotics award
winning pre and probiotic formulas and prothrivers wellness supplements designed specifically for thrivers.
Yes, we appreciate our sponsors verymuch. Well, thank you everyone for
joining us. May you experience joy, laughter and love. It's time to
(28:29):
thrive everyone, have a great night.
Any health related information on the followingshow provides general information only. Content presented
on any show by any host orguest should not be substituted for a doctor's
advice. Always consult your physician beforebeginning any new diet, exercise, or
treatment program. Welcome to five toThrive Live, a podcast about thriving for
(00:44):
those who have been affected by cancerchronic disease. I'm doctor Lisa Schuler and
I'm here with my good friend andco host Carolyn Gazella. Hello, Carolyn
Heyle. How are you? I'mvery good. How are you today?
I'm great. I love doing showswith you, so this is always exciting
for me. Indeed, quite anice way to finish the month of June.
(01:07):
So if you're new to our show, you can find all of our
past show podcasts on any major podcastoutlet. You can also find our schedule
on ithriveplan dot com. Tonight's showis going to be fun. Carolyn and
I are going to surprise each otherand maybe you with six surprising strategies to
reduce cancer risk. Each of thesestrategies is backed by scientific research, and
(01:30):
we've made sure that we've covered alot of different areas so that there will
be something here for everyone. Absolutely, I'm excited, but you know what,
Least, before we begin, let'sthank our sponsors. First. Amuse
a unique, patented postfiotic that givesyour immune system a key advantage. Amuse
is an ingredient in many immune supportingdietary supplements. Look for Amuse on the
(01:55):
label or go to immusehealth dot comfor more information. Also, Cognizance citicoline,
which is nature's way of keeping thebrain's energy producing centers firing on all
cylinders. If you're looking for away to enhance your brain function, including
memory, focus, and attention,look for Cognizant on the label or go
to Cognizan dot com for more information. Prothriver's Brain is a product that contains
(02:17):
Cognizant as well as other brain supportingnutrients and herbs. You can find Prothriver's
Brain online at pure formulas dot com. Also look for prothrivers Sleep, a
supplement which combines higher dose melotona andother sleep supporting natural ingredients specifically designed for
thrivers. You can find Prothrivers Sleepat pureformulas dot com as well. And
(02:40):
finally, doctor oheer is Probiotics,a best selling probiotic for over thirty years.
It contains twelve probiotic strains which areshelf stable, so no refrigeration is
required due to a unique three yearfermentation process. Learn more at doctor Oheira
probiotics dot com. Okay, Carolyn, thank you for doing that. Well,
this is going to be interesting.So I'm ready to be surprised.
(03:04):
What do you have for your firstcancer reducing strategy? Okay, so I'm
going to admit this is not goingto surprise you that much. However,
I think the study that I'm goingto talk about is going to surprise you.
There's a little twist in it foryou. So my first strategy is
to focus on getting enough sleep.I knew it. I'm predictable if nothing
(03:28):
else, right, Lise, Consistentsleep is really critical, you know.
To me, this show is kindof about picking your priorities. We're going
to help people do that because ofthese strategies. And sometimes it can be
hard to prioritize strategies because there area lot and it can be overwhelming.
So I'm going to make a caselease as to why sleep should be towards
(03:52):
the top of that leap on topof that list. I just wrote about
a study for Integritate Practitioner, andI want to talk about the study because
it highlights why sleep should be apriority. So this study was specifically about
reducing the risk of diabetes, soit focused on blood sugar control. While
(04:12):
it wasn't a specific to cancer,we know that blood sugar control is absolutely
critical for reducing risk of cancer aswell, so the researchers looked at diet
and sleep. Now, when itcomes to blood sugar, you would think
that diet would be the most importantthing to focus on, but in this
study, sleep was even more important. Researchers found that even if people ate
(04:36):
a healthy diet but they still gotless than six hours of sleep at night,
they had a significantly higher risk ofdeveloping type two diabetes. Now,
we know that lack of sleep putsyour body into an insulin resistant state,
and we know that insulin resisting increasesrisk of cancer, So this is really
(04:58):
significant. So, even if youhave a healthy diet and you've prioritized diet,
if you're not sleeping six hours ormore, you're going to be increasing
your risk of developing diabetes and possiblycancer. So the other thing I want
to point out is that it's weoften, especially with the research, they
(05:18):
focus on quantity. I want toremind our listeners that, yes, quantity
is important, so let's have thatgoal. You want to get seven hours,
eight hours, you know that's thegoal. But quality is also important.
So we all know what it feelslike when we have good quality sleep
because we feel rested in the morning. So look at quality and quantity and
(05:41):
have those be your goals. Now. The other thing I want to point
out is if you are like meand have a history of really really struggling
with sleep, I highly recommend anaturopathic approach, even if you can go
see a naturopathic doctor. A naturopathicapproach takes everything into consideration, diet,
(06:02):
lifestyle, you know, instead ofjust like saying, try this melatonin,
they're going to really hone in onsleep formulations and they're going to really have
a comprehensive approach to helping you getsleep naturally without resorting to prescription sleep medications,
which we could do a whole showon that that they're they're very problematic.
(06:27):
So look to a naturopathic doctor toget a really comprehensive approach to getting
at the core issues of why you'renot sleeping, So that's that's my first
one, Lisa, all right,Well that's a you know, it is
worth starting off with sleep because Ithink so many of us put that on
(06:48):
the bottom of the list because we'rejust busy and we have a lot to
do. But yeah, we're talkingabout cancer risk reduction, so sleep good
like it? All right? Sowhat about you, what's your first one
to show? Are you going tosurprise me? Well? Perhaps so we
all know physical activity is linked witha lower risk of most cancer's, lower
(07:09):
risk of cardiovascular disease, better fitness. But what I want to talk about
is the idea of very short burstsof activity. I'm talking about like a
minute per activity, so super short. But if you even just do one
minute of physical activity, so youget five minutes over the course of a
day, so you do that fivetimes. That is linked to a reduction
(07:34):
in cancer risk by almost twenty percentand even up to thirty percent for certain
cancer types. Now there's a littlebit of a catch. This was based
This finding was based on a studythat was done out of the University of
Sydney and Australia that was published inlast year. In twenty twenty three in
(07:54):
jam On College, which is avery reputable journal. This researcher took over
twenty two thousand individuals who didn't exercise, so they were non exercisers, and
he looked at what happened with cancerevents in about seven years of follow up,
and what he found was that therewas this link between getting about five
(08:16):
minutes of these little bursts of activityevery day, but the catches that it
had to be pretty intense activity.So he characterized this as very intense.
And so this would be like youknow, kind of walking really fast,
even running up a flight of acouple flights of stairs for a minute,
(08:37):
or doing some jumping jacks for aminute, or you know, taking a
quick jog for a minute something,or doing some pushups for a minute,
so something that really gets you breathless. And of course your fitness level is
going to change over time, butif you can get yourself breathless just for
one minute, five times a day, you will see a reduction in your
(09:00):
cancer risks. So I think thisis really important for people who are pressed
for time. Maybe they're you know, facing a day where they don't have
time to do their dedicated physical activity. This is an option and doing this
regularly makes a difference. Wow,it's a great option, and it does
seem like it would be simple enoughto incorporate this into your day. And
(09:22):
I'm glad that you clarified what veryintense means because sometimes I think people get
confused because we talk about moderate exerciseversus vigorous exercise. So I think that
that is a really critical piece tothis. Yeah, for sure. All
right, so we've gone through too. We're now we're encouraging people to sleep
for at least six hours a nightto get at least five minutes of vigorous
(09:46):
activity. Okay, if it's aminute at a time, all right,
what's your second tip, Carolyn?Okay, my second tip is don't underestimate
the harmful effects of overeating. So, you know, when we look at
our diet, we often look atthe quality of our diet, which is
(10:07):
great, but sometimes we forget tofocus on the quantity of food that we're
eating. I think that eating hasalmost become a habit, like we don't
eat when we're hungry necessarily, wejust eat three meals a day and we
eat as much as we're is putin front of us. And this is
(10:28):
very problematic when it comes to ourhealth. So when we overeat, it
put extra pressure on our digestive system, on our organs in the body.
Speaking of sleep, overeating can negativelyimpact sleep, and of course it can
increase the risk of obesity, andwe know that being obese or overweight does
increase the risk of many different cancers. Overeating is also inflammatory, and we
(10:52):
know that chronic inflammation increases the riskof some cancer. So I think watching
Porsche is a good step in theright direction. When we're looking at our
portion size, we can make smalladjustments to kind of retrain ourselves to not
overeat. You know, like,if, for example, you like to
(11:13):
have a baked potato, well let'shave a half baked potato. If you
want to have a couple of piecesof toast with breakfast, let's only have
one piece of toast. You know, you get the idea. I think
there are ways that you can lookat meal time to actually reduce portion size.
There are also eating patterns that canhelp, you know, there's a
(11:35):
new review that just came out inthe Journal for Nurse Practitioners highlighting the fact
that intermittent fasting, which we've talkedabout on this show can help reduce the
amount of calories and the amount offood that is consumed. Oftentimes, people
who are doing intermittent fasting only havetwo meals a day instead of three plus
a snack, So I think thetiming of our eating is critical. I
(12:01):
also want to mention mindful eating.That's a great way to slow down your
food consumption. You know, ittakes about twenty minutes for the brain to
signal you, hey, listen,I'm full, and let me tell you.
In twenty minutes, you can getdown a lot of donuts, you
know. So I think eating mindfullyis going to help our bodies catch up
(12:24):
with our brains, and then we'regoing to be able to see those cues.
Intuitive eating may also help teach ushow to listen to our body and
know when we're full. I didan entire show on intuitive eating, and
that was one thing that I reallytook home, like learn to know when
you're full to help avoid overeating,because overeating can be problematic for our health
(12:50):
and increase our risk of developing cancer. Yeah, so here's the fun fact
that you didn't know about me.I have a genetic snip, which means
I've inherited a little difference in theway my gene is ordered, so that
the protein that this gene makes isa little different, such that I have
genetically a difficult time assessing when I'mfull, and so my genetic snip predisposes
(13:16):
me to overeating, which I thinkis pretty interesting. And I've noticed that
too, like I if I eattoo quickly, I just really don't know
when I'm full until I'm like uncomfortable. Yeah, I didn't know that about
you, and we've we have likea thirty year friendship. I know that
surprises great. Well, So Iappreciate this strategy. I think that it's
(13:39):
so so important. I would addone other tip for people on that one,
which is that there's some great apps, many of which are free now
or have free versions that help you. You can kind of put in like
let's say you're trying to lose weight, you can put in a calorie goal,
or you can just track your intakeand it will help you determine what
(14:00):
portions or appropriate portions are for yourweight. So there's sort of tools available
out there, like my fitness Palis one, chronometer is another one,
and these are things I think thatfor people who are confused might be helpful.
Yeah, that's great, well good, So what's your second surprising tip?
Least? Okay, my second isa favorite tip, and that is
(14:24):
another way to reduce your risk ofcancer is to drink coffee or tea in
the morning. And or of course, if you're not a coffee or tea
drinker, you could substitute eating freshvegetables and fruit, or you could do
all of those things. But basicallythe idea is that coffee and tea are
good for you in fact, especiallyif they're organic. And the reason for
(14:46):
that is that in the morning.And the reason I said in the morning
specifically is that in the morning,that's when we have a very high vulnerability
to oxidative stress because our natural productionof gludifine is that it's lowest. We've
used up a lot of glutithion overthe course of the night where hopefully we're
sleeping our six hours to regenerate toour antioxidant levels in the cell to kind
(15:09):
of deal with a lot of theoxidative stress of the day. So we're
sort of depleted in the morning,which gives us vulnerability now and we encounter
oxidative stress which can come at usfrom oh, I don't know. Exposure
to some environmental tox and having abig psychologically stressful event, being stressed about
(15:31):
getting to work on time. Eatingis generates oxidative stress. If we do
activity in the morning, that generatesoxidative stress. So there's lots of things
that can make oxidative stress. Andif we don't quench those oxidative molecules,
they can otherwise damage ourselves and evenour DNA, which can be a component
(15:52):
or a step in cancer causation.So it is helpful then to think about
giving ourselves a layer in the morning. So coffee and tea, as it
turns out, is full of antioxidativemolecules, and so they are quite a
rich source of antioxidative compounds. That'salso true, of course for vegetables and
(16:14):
fruits. Those have thousands of antioxidativemolecules in them. So any combination of
these things is going to help usto create that layer of protection at a
time when we're most vulnerable. Ilove it. I love it because you
also talked about timing, and Ithink that that's becoming really obvious that we
need to be mindful of the timewhen we eat and drink and things like
(16:36):
that the research about coffee and greentea in particular in terms of reducing cancer
risk is really clear. I wouldjust have one caveat there are a lot
of people, not a lot,but there are people who really enjoy to
put a lot of things in theircoffee, like you know, cream and
sugar and whipped cream and all ofthose types of things. And I think
(16:57):
that you would probably agree that thatkind of defeats the purpose. Well,
not the cream so much. There'skind of an argument that can be made
in favor of cream. The onlyreason not to do that is if people
are intimate and fasting. But actuallyadding a little bit of protein into your
coffee helps to bind up some ofthe tannins in these drinks, which otherwise
(17:21):
can theoretically, over time, youknow, contribute to some bone loss and
things like that. So I don'tthink that the milks that people put in
are really a problem. But Iagree one hundred percent with you that the
sugars that we put in, youknow, especially getting a big drink with
lots of sugar in it, isnot a good thing for our ends balancing
and sugar bouncing, right, Iagree. Okay, Clip number three,
(17:45):
this is your last one, sobetter be good. It's good. Well,
my final one is to reduce consumptionof fast foods, and this is
something that I really feel strongly abouved. So why fast foods so bad for
us? Because they're often ultraprocessed withhigh amounts of fat, sugar, and
(18:06):
sodium and very low amounts, ifany, actual nutrients that we're going to
need and benefit from, So they'redevoid of nutrients and yet they have all
this extra fat, sugar and sodium. You know, the research regarding the
dangers of ultraprocessed foods has been expandingdramatically over the past several years. I've
been following it and I periodically doa search and in fact, a brand
(18:29):
new review came out this year inthe British Medical Journal and once again explained
that a diet high and ultraprocessed foodsincreases the risk of many illnesses as well
as mental health issues such as anxietyand depression, and it also increases the
risk of cancer, especially colon cancer. You know, when you look at
fast foods, they're typically fried,and that frying process additionally creates acrylamides,
(18:53):
which are chemicals known to increase therisk of cancer. Sugary soft drink are
served at fast food restaurants and they'reproblematic for many reasons. And if I
go back to my second strategy,it can be easy to overeat at fast
food restaurants with the big gulps andsupersizing that goes on. So the tip
(19:14):
here is just to try to cutback. It's not an either or thing.
You don't have to stop fast foodentirely, but if you are going
to a fast food restaurant four timesa week, try to cut back to
two and then to one, youknow, and before you know it,
it's going to be rare for youto eat at a fast food restaurant,
and you may even lose the desireto eat those types of foods as you
(19:37):
transition away from fast foods. SoI think that this is an important one.
And we have a thing at leastin our webinar that we do where
we say, if you have todrive through to get it to get your
food, keep driving. I thinkthat's a good a good piece of advice.
So that's my strategy. Yeah,that's so important. You know.
(20:00):
I'm glad you're keeping up on thatbody of literature because it was not I
mean, there was a long timewhere we knew it sort of intuitively that
fast foods were bad or ultra processedfoods were not good for our health,
but we didn't have the data.Now we have lots of data. And
you know what's interesting too, isthat if you think about when McDonald's,
for example, just not to pickonly on McDonald's, but just as an
(20:22):
example, because that was one ofthe first major fast food restaurants, right,
So that came to being in whatthe nineteen fifties, But at that
time fast food was really different thanthe fast food today. I mean,
think about the volume of production thatMcDonald's, for example, is producing today
(20:44):
as opposed to sixty years ago.So I think that the other issue with
fast foods is that the foods themselvesare different. They're much they're made differently,
they're made to be mass produced,so they're all the things you said
about not having good nutrients and beingfull of chemicals is even more true now
than it was thirty forty years ago. I would agree, Yeah, I
(21:04):
would agree. And I and onemore thing to add as a as a
tip, because sometimes I get intotrouble if I go on a road trip.
For example, I don't plan accordingly. All of a sudden, I
find myself at a fast food placeat when I'm gassing up my car,
and I'm like, oh, Carolyn, so to plan ahead and to you
know, really you know, planyour meals, and you know, I
(21:30):
think that that will help avoid thefast food because they're so convenient, right,
you know, So it's you've gotto try to avoid that enticement.
So planning ahead will help with that. Yeah, you know, there's this
is also a socioeconomic issue. Youknow, there's of course food deserts throughout
(21:52):
our country, especially in inner cities, and what you do find in those
food deserts are fast food restaurants.They're less expensive, they're accessible. So
there's a disproportionate kind of accessibility,if you will, of fast foods to
people who are or there's disproportionate harm. And you know, so I think
the other thing that people can do, if that's really their only option or
(22:15):
that's most of their option, isat least a lot of these chains have
tried to introduce healthier options on theirmenus, so you know, maybe just
going for the salads or if youcan get a grilled chicken or something instead
of a hamburger, maybe you know, not eat the bund. I mean,
there's ways to make it a littleless damaging. That's your only option.
(22:38):
Yeah, good point, good point. All right, So what's number
three for you? All right?Well, I think this is a pretty
surprising one too. My last surprisingstrategy is to get some sunlight every day,
or at least most days. Youknow, we have become very sun
phobic in general, and I thinkthat there is certainly rationale, and most
(23:00):
dermatologists would still advise you to stayout of the sun. But in reality,
uh, there are lots of datapoints now that point to the fact
that chronic so meaning regular, notoccasional and getting burnt never a good idea,
but kind of a regular sun exposure. I'll talk about the minutes in
(23:22):
a moment. Regular sun exposure isactually associated with a reduced risk of colorectal
cancer, reduce risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer, and non Hodgkin's lymphoma.
So those are big, big dealcancers. And you know, three
of those, colorectal, breast andprocedure among the foremost common cancers. And
(23:45):
even we know that. Yeah,so okay, why why is that the
case? So there's some theories thatwhen we're exposed to sunlight our skin,
with the addition of sunlight, thecholesterol in their skin is activated and we
make vitamin D. And we knowthat vitamin D is associated. Higher vitamin
(24:08):
D levels is associated with lower cancerrisk. So that's one mechanism, but
there are other things going on,which is what's kind of interesting about this
too. It's not just the vitaminD, which is why just taking vitamin
D and avoiding sun is not reallythe answer, because when we are exposed
to sunlight, we also affect howour immune system works, and it essentially
(24:32):
triggers or activates part of our defensivethe defensive cells of our immune system.
That's one another mechanism. It's alsotrue that when we expose ourselves to sunlight
it helps to sink our circadian rhythm, and circadian health, which is mirroring
our activity with the cycle of dayand night, is strongly associated with overall
(24:59):
health and with reduce cancer risk.And we also know that sunlight affects are
full of acid levels, which canalso influence cancer risk. So all of
these potential mechanisms, you know,first of all, go beyond vitamin D.
So again you can't just really getsunlight in a pill. And so
when we're talking about this, we'renot talking about getting burned ever, that's
(25:22):
carcinogenic for sure. So for mostpeople, getting at least five minutes up
to about thirty minutes of sun exposurewithout sun block is enough to gain some
of these benefits. And we knowthat because when people get that five to
thirty minutes of sun exposure without sunblockand having enough of their skin exposed to
(25:45):
the sunlight that they actually can youknow, create some of these effects.
We know that when they do that, they get they do increase their vitamin
D levels. So that's just evidencethat that exposure level is enough to start
to change our physiology. Now,when we get sun is also important.
If you get your five to thirtyminutes before ten in the morning or after
(26:07):
two in the afternoon, that's thesafest time to do it because that's when
the ultraviolet radiation is the least high. So you want to try to time
your five to thirty minutes before tenin the morning or after two in the
afternoon, and you want to goout there ideally without sunblock, and you
want to just you know, getenough if you're a Caucasian just to get
kind of a light maybe a lighttan, but you don't want to get
(26:32):
burned ever, and this is ofcourse true for people of all skin colors.
So I just think it's important.You know. Again, i'd say
that we're rather sun phobic, andI don't know that that is necessarily a
justified position. I love this one, and I'm going to add one more
thing and one more benefit. AndI don't have a study to back this
up, but I think you're goingto agree with me. Sunlight and sun
(26:56):
exposure seems to help my mental health. Yeah, sure, so that's got
to be an advantage as well.Yeah, I love it. And the
fact that there's a window to avoidwhen it's the UV radiation is the highest,
so before ten and after two that'sgreat advice as well. I love
it. I think that's a goodone, Lisa. So let's do a
(27:18):
little recap. So our six surprisingcancer risk reduction strategies that we've talked about
today are get enough sleep, fiveminutes of vigorous activity daily and those can
just be one minute bouts. Trynot to overeat, drink coffee, tea,
and eat vegetables and fruit. Inthe morning to shore up your antioxidant,
(27:42):
reduce consumption of fast foods, andget five to thirty minutes of sun
exposure each day before ten am andafter two pm. I think those are
great. Those are awesome, andyeah, something in there for everybody,
like we promised. Well, thatwraps up this episode of five to Thrive
Live again. We thank our sponsorsCognizance citicoline to help enhance memory, focus
(28:04):
and attention, immuse a post bioticfor immune support, doctor Orhira's Probiotics award
winning pre and probiotic formulas and prothrivers wellness supplements designed specifically for thrivers.
Yes, we appreciate our sponsors verymuch. Well, thank you everyone for
joining us. May you experience joy, laughter and love. It's time to
(28:29):
thrive everyone, have a great night.
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