Have you been reading about the World Cancer Research Fund’s latest findings on the links between cancer, obesity, diet and alcohol? The figures make for grim reading and yet there is some hope. Incredibly, over 40% of bowel and breast cancers in the UK are preventable through a healthy diet, physical activity and keeping your weight stable. Grim because it seems that those of us in developed countries have lost our way to such an extent that we’ve completely discounted that age-old adage … you truly are what you eat. A bright and shining beacon of hope because this fate doesn’t have to be inevitable. By making pretty straightforward changes to our lives, we could take great steps towards preventing cancer.
Programmes like Change for Life already have the main tenets of the WCRF recommendations at their core – eat better, move more, live longer. This is not exactly ground-breaking stuff but clearly, enough Brits have been living pretty unhealthily for a long time to prompt a £75 million government health awareness campaign!
Being (only slightly) obsessed with food and healthy eating, I can only agree with the authors of the WCRF report – food doesn’t only meet basic needs, it can also influence health in dramatic ways.
If you’ve been trying to change the way your family eats, do share your top tips and where you found them!