Hirotomo Sasaki writes:
Mrs.Masuda is a married Japanese middle
age woman. She is afraid of developing cancer and other diseases. What
I can advise her about are two or three things.
First of all, it is important to her to do exercise, it helps her to be
healthy and this has many advantages. She likes to stay at home; she doesn't
exercise much; fats can not be burned. Exercise reduces stress and fats
(LDL). Since stress causes cancer, she had better do exercise.
Secondly, she eats quite a bit of beef and pork. Animal foods are excellent
sources of protein, iron, zinc, and B vitamins, as are beans, nuts, and
seeds. Animal foods are indispensable but not too much. Animal protein
is a cause of arteriosclerosis.
And she cooks a lot of her food using sweet coconut oil or margarine. These foods provide calories, but little else nutritionally. Exceptions are vegetable oil, which is a rich source of vitamin E.
She dislikes most vegetables; and
she prefers to eat Western-style desserts like rich cakes and ice cream.
These desserts have a high level of sugar which become energy, but the
remainder become fats. Occasionally she likes to eat three or four desserts
at one time. She says, "I try to diet, I try to skip eating breakfast
but after a few days of dieting like this, I have to have something sweet
and delicious. I'm not sure that dieting will make much difference, in
fact, since all the women in my family become overweight as they get older.
I am not interested in becoming slimmer or more beautiful. I just want
you to tell me what I can do so I don't get cancer." Surely desserts
do not relate to cancer directly, but cancer is only one cause of death
and other diseases guide you to death, so you must prevent these diseases.
For example, being overweight can be a cause of death. Mrs. Masuda is approximately
15 kilos overweight. It's normal - even healthy - for women to gain weight
as they age. But women who add as little as 11 to 18 pounds in midlife
have a 25 percent greater chance of suffering a heart attack than do women
who gain less than 11 pounds.
Vegetables provide vitamins (especially A and C), are excellent sources
of fiber, and are naturally low in fat. For maximum nutrients, she should
select dark leafy greens, deep-yellow or orange vegetables, and starchy
vegetables like potatoes and yam, and take much vegetables that are low
in fat and high in vitamins. Also fruits are rich sources of vitamins,
most notably vitamin C. They are low in fat and calories. She needs to
select fresh fruits and fruit juices, and frozen, canned, or dried fruits,
and avoid fruit processed with heavy syrups and sugar-sweetened juices.
She needds to keep herself healthy and do self-control, or she may die
because of not cancer but what she is worried about.
Finally, she is a moderate drinker; moderate drinking of alcohol protects
against coronary disease in men and women alike. There is an important
warning, however: For some women, alcohol appears to be associated with
an increase in the risk of breast cancer. Mrs. Masuda does not want to
develop breast cancer, so she had not better drink. Life is yours, Mr.
Masuda, so you decide everything. If you do what you like, you must accept
the result. Many foods have potential of cancer, attention to these foods
may produce more stress but also improve your health. You had better try
a proper life style.
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