Movember Wrap-Up: An Ounce of Prevention

Movember has come and gone, and with it, a flurry of facial-hair growing activity. As promised, I am posting photos of the evolution of Anthony’s mustache. Congratulations to Anthony and his team, The Wade Boggs All-Stars for raising $7,817 and awareness about the dangers of bad facial hair, I mean, men’s health, in the month of November!

In my last Movember post , I talked about some of the risk factors for developing prostate cancer. In this post I will talk about some things you can do to help prevent it. Having watched a friend, a renowned medical researcher go through the frustration of wading through conflicting research and professional opinions, it appears that there currently is no one clear path to preventing prostate cancer. However, you can do your best to be healthy overall, and avoid certain things that are thought to contribute to the development of prostate cancer. I’ve compiled the following information from the Mayo Clinic, LiveStrong, Movember and President’s Cancer Panel websites.

1. Eat the Right Things. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, which should be the main part of your diet. For protein, include lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, legumes, eggs, and nuts. The fat you eat should be from plant sources, rather than animals. And avoid processed foods with trans-fats, sodium, enriched flour, and refined sugars. It is also a good idea to limit the amount of dairy products and red meat you consume. For more details, see LiveStrong’s list of foods to avoid.
2. Watch What You Drink. Green tea is full of anti-oxidants and has been found to reduce the risk of prostate cancer. And alcohol has been linked to all types of cancer, so it is best to limit yourself to no more than one or two drinks per day, if at all. . A standard drink is one 12-ounce bottle of beer or wine cooler, one 5-ounce glass of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits.
3. Breathe. First of all, don’t smoke. It’s undeniably related to cancer, not just of the lungs. Also, remember to breathe. Stress and the accompanying biochemicals it creates in your body have been found to contribute to all types of chronic illness. So learn some techniques, like meditation and visualization, for controlling your stress.
4. Move It! Men who exercise regularly have a reduced risk of prostate cancer, along with other chronic illnesses. If you don’t currently exercise, start out slow and work your way up to the optimal 30 minutes minimum per day.
5. Avoid Those Chemicals. Do your best to limit your exposure to Cadmium, Dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), bisphenol A (BPA), all of which are suspected of causing cancer in general, and prostate cancer in particular. BPAs and other chemicals are capable of mimicking human hormones and are suspected of causing prostate and testicular cancer. In a recent study, BPA was found to cause biochemical changes in prostate tumor cells in a laboratory setting. Avoid chemical pesticides, too. An NIH Agricultural Health study found that farmers, men who worked as pesticide applicators, and men who manufacture pesticides have a significantly higher risk for prostate cancer. The Environmental Working Group has information on other environmental toxins that are suspected of contributing to cancer.

Now, to get back to the fun stuff. To wrap up their month of serious facial-hair growing and awareness raising, Mo participants all over the world hosted Mo Galas last week to celebrate their success.  Here are some photos from the Washington, DC festivities. And, as promised, here are the photos of my Mo friend, Anthony, in the second half of his mustache-growing-for-charity adventure.

Anthony: Movember, Day 15.

Here is Anthony on Movember, Day 15. He mustache seems to say, “Hey, can I interest you in a used car?”

Anthony: Movember, Day 30

And here is Super Mario, I mean Anthony, on Movember, Day 30! Congratulations, Anthony! Now, can I interest you in some all-natural, vegan, toxin-free men’s grooming products?

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Safer Personal Care Products

Organic Peppermint Soap

Ten years ago this month, I was in the midst of a very sad and strange time. One of my friends was dying of prostate cancer, another was being treated for thyroid cancer, two were undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, and a professor of mine had recently passed away from a brief, but brave fight against a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so I have been thinking about these people have been on my mind lately.

One aspect of my work outside of Herban Lifestyle involves staying up to date on cancer prevention research, so I read a lot about topics like diet, exercise, and other ways you can reduce your risk of cancer. And one thing you can do to keep yourself healthy is to avoid potential carcinogens in your environment, particularly in your personal care and makeup products. You may be surprised at how prevalent they are.

There are many resources for finding out which ingredients are best to avoid, such as the European Union’s banned ingredients list. But one resource I have found to be very useful is Whole Foods’ quick guide to ingredients that have been found to cause a variety of health problems. Their Guide to Premium Body Care Product Ingredients is an easy-to-read list makes it simple to interpret those wordy ingredient labels. I recommend printing it out and carrying it with you when you shop for personal care products.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has as its mission “to protect the health of consumers and workers by requiring the health and beauty industry to phase out the use of chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects and other health problems, and replace them with safer alternatives.” Herban Lifestyle has signed the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ pledge “to not use chemicals that are known or strongly suspected of causing cancer, mutation or birth defects in their products.” You can find the complete list of companies that have pledged to use safe ingredients here.