> "All the money in the world can’t buy you perfect health, and it is crazy how many just ignore it. Small changes to diet and physical activity can go a long way in improving health."
This is so confusing for me, with the sense of helplessness, so she saying small change to diet or physical activity, and that she was healthiest person in world but still got sick, so what is the point than ?!
I mean you can do everything and still get sick, and some people drink, smoke eat junk food and never get sick, so what gives?
I mean more or less it looks like lottery with different probabilities, you can do all good and still pull unlucky card, or you do all bad and you still have health lucky card.
I guess, for me most depressing is how little we know about the cancer and things that causing it...
The point is that you have a lot of influence over outcomes. There are mountains of evidence to support that fact, with comparatively easy and accessible interventions ranging from abstaining from smoking, to eating healthy food, to getting exercise. As with everything else in life, though, what you are doing by living healthily is turning the probabilities in your favor. That means that someone with unlucky genetic predispositions, or with an undiagnosed infection/deficiency/toxin exposure etc, might develop cancer despite doing everything in their power to avoid it, while a lucky bon-vivant smoker/drinker/junk foodie might just roll those dice favorably enough times to die of other causes. The point is that you should live your life based on the expected outcome of your actions, rather than on specific example cases, which may be outliers not representative of what you might expect if you follow their lead.
May be we have to look at this using the low of diminishing returns. At some point optimising your "healthy life-style" won't yield significant reduction in probability of getting sick. But on the other hand very unhealthy life-style will yield sickness with very high probability. I guess a good balance would be to allow yourself a "treat" from time to time, but generally avoid things which are well-known to cause health problems like smoking for example. Also remind yourself not to go over-board with the "healthy life-style".
I guess being healthy isn't just about disease but wellbeing. You could drink/smoke/eat fast-food/never exercise and live till your 90 but you might feel shit every morning.
People think they're healthy bc they're doing what fitness gurus or "smart sounding" pro-PUFA types like you see a round here on HackerNews all the time, say.
Want to prevent cancer?
Fast on a regular basis.
Eat Nrf-2 activators (cruciferous veggies) , drink green tea, make tumeric a staple, a diet heavy in fruits and veggies should be the staple of your diet.
And keep inflmattory omega6s low in your diet.
But the biggest thing is fasting to keep mtor/igf-1 unactivated
I'll pile on the pieces i've gathered from various sources (will just list names, we can google/youtube them). I'm extremely unqualified to give medical advice, but it's the path I'm personally following.
Expose yourself to heat shock[1] or cold shock[2] to increase memetics and sirtuins
Give your body a chance to clean up after mTor & IGF -- have low protein days (~ <50g), consider metformin for off label usage and affect on blood sugar (else keep blood sugar from spiking), exercise but not too much there is a dose dependent amount that stimulates health but more is just wear and tear + anabolic growth factors.
[1] - peter attia on sauna usage
[2] - wim hoff on cold exposure (i dont care for his breathing stuff, personally)
1. Fast semi-regularly. I, personally, do an 18/6, 5 days a week. I do a 48-72 hour fast once a month. I drink things that spur on autophagy (green tea, black coffee, cinnamon) especially while in my fasting window. I, also, tend to exercise while fasted.
2. Protein at 0.5g per kg for weight for lifespan, 1g of protein per kg for healthspan. I waffle between the two. I probably exceed 1g some days. Between #1 and #2, I hope i'm giving my body a rest from mTor/IGF-1 activation. If i feel i had a lot one day, i just auto-correct over the next 2-3 days and have a low amount of protein.
3. Keep drinking to a minimum. I keep it to Fri/Sat and special occasions. No more than 3 drinks but usually less. I try to stay to low sugar, low alcohol low sulfate, red wines. I probably shouldn't do this at all but if i am, i do it in the least-bad way possible.
4. Eat tons of NRF2 activators. Mainly broccoli sprouts ( i grow my own) but also kale, brussel sprouts, watercress (for the sulphorophane). But other NRF2 activators too - such as tumeric. I'll buy maluka honey once in a while but frankly it's not worth it for what you pay for how little it activates NRF2.
5. Eat things that lower blood pressure: flax seeds, garlic, beets (in moderation and when paired with calcium to offset oxylates), celery, natto, hibiscus tea.
6. Get enough VitaminD (15-20 min of sun exposure a day when possible, or 2000-4000 IU in supplements), and Vitamink K2 - i get this from eating natto. This all helps build a healthy immune system and ensure calcium is going where it should (bones/teeth) as opposed to where it shouldn't (arteries, brain, kidney, heart)
7. Avoid and minimize exposure to seed oils. No canola, corn, safflow, rapeseed, cottonseed, soybean, peanut or other high omega6 oils. I stick to Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Butter, Ghee, beef tallow or duck fat. If i feel like spending a lot of money, I'll buy macademia nut oil (high MUFA, low PUFA, high spoke point). I will consume avocado oil in Primal Kitchen products, but I still think it's too high in PUFA's.
8.. Stay low in meat high in omega6s (due to changes in feed). So wings become a rarity. I stick to chicken with fat and skin trimmed off. Grass fed beef. Pasture-raised/cage-free eggs. Pork is a rare event.
9. Eat things high in probiotics. Natto for the win here again. Yogurt (milk or coconut based), kraut, kimchi, pickles, kevita, keifer, sometime kombucha.
10. Make sure you're getting tons of catcheins, spermidine (peas, mushrooms, wheat germ), Anthocyanins (blueberries, acai), Polyphenols (olive oil, red wine, 95-100% dark chocolate), Isothiocyanates (cruciferous veggies, moringa), antioxidants and other phyto-nutrients, which means staying pretty plant based. Tomatoes, onions, peppers, arugula, purple cabbage, carrots, radishes, the odd citrus fruit, the odd round of cherries, etc. If you're getting all of the above, then chances are high you're getting enough of the more essential vitamins and minerals.
11. Keep sugar low. This means keep sweets to a minimum. I don't add sugar to anything at all. I don't eat cookies, chips, cakes, candy, pies, ice cream, etc. (unless it's a rare treat). On this note i also keep rice, bread, cereal, and even most starchy veggies like potatoes and sweet potatoes to a minimum. I don't have a hard rule against them but after doing keto for 6 months, 2 years ago, i don't find avoiding them to be difficult.. I almost never have pasta of any kind. I use alternative noodles (palmini, zuchini, konjak)
12. Put lemon in your water (vit c and citrate to help avoid kidney stones).
13. Avoid high oxylate food - spinach, almonds/almond-flour. I make an exception for beets in moderation. When i eat oxylates i always pair with calcium.
14. I try to eat meat only 4 times a week, but i'm not the only person in my house and dinner is about family for us.. so i probably do it 5x a week
15. Don't go out to eat often. I violate this one too much.
16. Exercise 6 days a week. I do 3 days of cardio (5k+) and 3 days of lifting.
17. Daily Sauna (or hot bath).
18. Cold Shower once a week. The more i read here the more I feel cold exposure is really more about breath work and the benefits of it than cold stimulating proteins in the same fashion or the level of effectiveness that say a sauna would. Wim Hof's twin brother doesn't do any of the cold exposure stuff and he has the same amount of "brown fat" as Wim. Either way, i find it mentally healthier and i sleep better the nights i do this.
19. Take fish-oil 4x a week. Stay under 2G. Eat salmon 1-2x a week. I sprinkle Cilantro on any fish i cook b/c it's a heavy metal chelator.
20. Sleep on a schedule with little exception. To enhance my sleep, i do not eat anything beyond 6-7pm.
21. Eat things that lower uric acid - low fat dairy (again, i waffle on this), cherries, celery, celery seed (as a seasoning).
22. Don't add salt to anything. Buy low-sodium versions of things when there's the option.
I struggle to get into meditation and I struggle with spirituality - both I know are strongly correlated to health. But I'm working on it.
1. A healthy diet and activity cannot prevent illness entirely
2. She would possibly have handled the illness not as good, if she was eating junk and out of shape.
Short takeaway: we cannot influence everything about us, but we can influence activity and diet, and it does have a measurable impact on our health.
This is so confusing for me, with the sense of helplessness, so she saying small change to diet or physical activity, and that she was healthiest person in world but still got sick, so what is the point than ?!
I mean you can do everything and still get sick, and some people drink, smoke eat junk food and never get sick, so what gives?
I mean more or less it looks like lottery with different probabilities, you can do all good and still pull unlucky card, or you do all bad and you still have health lucky card.
I guess, for me most depressing is how little we know about the cancer and things that causing it...