Discussed in the Podcast:
- Cancer is the number one fear that people have
- People aged 40 and above are more susceptible to cancer
- The cancer stats are alarming
- There are things you can do to help minimize the risk for cancer
- The top 3 conditions for cancer
- The top 10 risk factors of cancer
- Share the information to help others
Hello and welcome to another new episode of the TheDVCC.com podcast. I’m Mark Gray, and next to me is my little bro, Stephen.
Stephen: Hello there!
Mark: So, today, we – well, actually, firstly, it’s – what is it? It’s almost May. I was just talking about this. How quickly the years are going. It’s going ridiculously quickly. I can only remember being Christmas the other day. So, if you think about it, I think we’re past what? Past a quarter of the year. So, are you a quarter of the way, or more than a quarter of your way to your weight loss goals, for your year goals? And if you aren’t, if you don’t know what they are, maybe you want to set them because obviously, if you don’t know where you want to be, you don’t know how to get there. So, are you a quarter of the way to your weight loss goals, or are you putting in the habits that will get you there? Because obviously, weight loss isn’t linear. We’ve done a podcast on that. So if you search weight loss and linear in the top right hand box on TheDVCC.com, you’ll be able to find it, but the most important thing is you’re putting in the habits in place that will get you to where you want to be.
Stephen: How many podcasts have we done now then? Because we started them in the beginning of February, wasn’t it?
Mark: There are something like – the actual podcasts, I’m not 100% sure, but in terms of taking the audios from the videos and everything else, there’s 80 something now.
Stephen: So the podcasts there must be four months?
Mark: Well, how many weeks?
Stephen: Four months. So four, 16? At least 16, 17 podcasts now?
Mark: Yes. It’s going quickly. So I hope you gained lots of useful information and tips from them and let us know if you have been. I got a lovely email from a chap the other day and I think he’s based – where did he say? It was Manchester. Well, it was around Manchester. He said he’s lost a stone-and-a-half just by putting in place things that he’s listened to on our podcast, which is awesome. Obviously, he can’t train at our centres in Bedford and Milton Keynes. It’s a little far to go. But, he was asking if we ever open up one there, let him know. But also, the fact that he can use the tips and use the things that we talk about on these podcasts to actually lose weight is amazing.
Stephen: So, what are we going to talk about today?
Mark: Cancer.
Stephen: [Laughs] Yes. So, we don’t want this to be a negative podcast because it’s really kind of – there’s no hiding from it really nowadays. I mean, the reason we wanted to actually do a podcast on this topic, which is quite an emotional topic. You’ll only have to watch TV to see the number of cancer charity adverts and things like that. But, it’s actually the number one fear people have. And I speak to a lot of clients and things, but overall, the stat in the country is that it’s the number one fear that people have of actually getting ill and getting cancer.
Mark: And it’s an interesting one because it is the number one fear, but you kind of fear it, but you think it’s not going to happen to you. Do you know what I mean? So…
Stephen: Well, hope, you hope.
Mark: You hope. Well, you hope. It touches people around you, but sometimes you think it – for us, for example, it never touched people very close to us. Cousins and second cousins, that kind of thing. But then, when your direct family are affected by it, it makes you a lot more aware of it.
Stephen: And so, that’s why we wanted to talk about it. Because we’ve done a lot of research, spoken to a lot of people, bought a lot of information that we have, we’re fortunate enough to have access to for certain reasons we wanted to do. But, we thought that it’s valuable because our clients or the clients listening to this and a lot of people that listen to this are maybe 40+. And when you actually look at the stats on cancer and things, there is really – well, for women it starts slightly earlier than men, but there’s a really, really sharp increase in the number of cancers diagnosed sort of 40+. Particularly for men, it’s quite sharp. If you look at the graph, it’s quite sharp, the rise. For women, it’s slightly slower.
And I’ve always been, I can’t stand the people that are, “Oh yes, but it’s going to happen. You have to live every day.” I’m not going to swear, but I kind of feel like that’s rubbish. When you walk across the road, you look left and right, don’t you? Because you want to minimize the risk that someone’s going to run into you, and you can do that same thing with life. And the thing being with cancer, some things is unavoidable. You can do everything you can do, but some things happen. However, the healthier, the more you know where you can help yourself, the better chance you have of actually fighting it off and actually, the healthier you are, obviously, the less chance you have of getting it. But also, the much better chance you have of actually coming through at the other end.
So, I don’t want people to think it’s just kind of a doom and gloom. And what we want to start to do with this podcast – it’s going to be a two-part podcast , isn’t it?
Mark: Yes.
Stephen: Was that we wanted to kind of make it clear because I wasn’t – until I really looked into it, I didn’t realize quite how the situation was regarding the amount of cancer around and things like that. We’ve learned a lot. Very recently, more than we have in the past, and I think it would be wrong of us not to actually share that information. And you can do with it what you will, but I think just by – if you’re able to actually help one person live a slightly healthier life, and therefore, avoid something that a lot of people have to go through or go through, then I think, you know…
Mark: Yes. And like I say, I mean, it’s so widespread now that you’re going to know somebody that has been affected by cancer where they got through it hopefully.
Stephen: I mean, the stats, if you look at it, the lifetime stats of getting cancer as a man are 1 in 2. For a woman it’s 1 in 3, which is like I didn’t ever realize until I looked into it more, how those stats are.
Mark: So 1 in 2 males in their lifetime will get cancer?
Stephen: Uh-hmm.
Mark: And 1 in 3 females?
Stephen: Correct.
Mark: So, yes. Exactly. And then you’ll be like, “Oh, but that’s 1 in 2. It’s 50%, so I’m going to get it anyway.” But really, no. Because I’d rather be in the 50% that didn’t, so I’m going to do everything I can with the knowledge I have to give myself the best chances of being in that 50% that don’t.
Stephen: Particularly when we’re genetically predisposed as well.
Mark: Well, we are genetically…
Stephen: And actually, a lot of people think, yes, it’s genetic. Actually, when you look into it, only 10% of cancers are actually genetic.
Mark: But, we are genetically…
Stephen: Oh yes, we are [Laughs].
Mark: Unfortunately, we are 10%.
Stephen: But, you can look at it at like two different ways, and I think this is true of anything in life. You can look at it, “Oh, it’s not worth doing anything. It’s going to happen” or, “I’m going to do my best and do everything I can to make sure that it doesn’t happen.” And that’s the choice we make, and everyone’s got that choice, I think.
Mark: So we’re predisposed to a certain type of cancer. So we’re going to do, like you say, cleanses and different things to make sure that it’s…
Stephen: Far less likely.
Mark: Far less likely.
Stephen: And that we live a life that minimizes the risk anyway. I mean, the thing being with it is that we kind of really put pharmaceutical Band-Aids on our health, don’t we? So that lite rally, we kind of support ourselves with these drugs and things and we’re able to live. And so, if you look at the stats of living, yes, everyone lives longer, but they live less healthy.
Mark: Yes. You’re always treating the symptoms and not the cause. So, you get ill and you take some pills, or you injure yourself or you do something else, as opposed to looking at why you were in that position in the first place. And if you could do things that would stop you getting it, that’s far better at all times. I mean, everyone, you’ll accept that, listening here, if you could prevent something by doing a few simple tweaks or by doing a few lifestyle changes, it’s far better than just by popping some pills after you’ve actually experienced it.
Stephen: And I think half the battle is actually being aware. So that’s why this first podcast is actually about making people aware of what the causes generally are and the World Health Organization and different bodies and things like that actually say about it because I don’t think people are actually generally aware because I wasn’t aware as much as I am now, and I know – I like to think I do a lot more reading about health and things like that than…
Mark: Than most people.
Stephen: Most people do. And yet, I wasn’t aware. I think it’s very easy just to kind of push into the back of your mind. It’s actually the number one moneymaker for pharmaceutical companies.
Mark: What? Cancer drugs?
Stephen: Cancer drugs. So it either show us that’s the way it’s treated or that it’s so rife that that’s why they, you know.
Mark: And they do get people to say that it’s because it’s being diagnosed more now. With better diagnosis, what’s the answer to that one?
Stephen: Well, when you – and I’ve listened to quite a few lectures very recently from top doctors and things like that. And the thing being, it doesn’t look like there’s been that much of it. Yes, there is probably more diagnosis now.
Mark: Well, there is.
Stephen: Yes. There is more diagnosis. But the change in the way it’s treating things has not really changed drastically, and they can even show us things that show between 1930 and now, there’s not been a significant change or improvement. And they kind of relate that to our overall lifestyles actually getting worse, as in the foods we eat, the toxins we ingest, and all different things like that. So, I thought we’d just go through a few of kind of the things that – I mean, top experts agree, cancer starts when conditions are just right, and the top three conditions are low oxygen in your body, low nutrients and high acid.
Mark: Right. So, okay. Those three. And let’s dig deeper into those then. Low oxygen?
Stephen: Well, I thought we’d dig deeper a little bit later on and go through…
Mark: Oh, okay.
Stephen: We’re going to go through. So don’t think we’re just going to talk about the issues. We’re going to talk about the strategies and nutritional things and things you can do maybe a bit more in the next podcast, but I think it’s important to kind of if you were to look at, to go over what the actual top risk factors for cancer are. Because I think if you’re aware of them…
Mark: Then you can do things that – yes.
Stephen: Then you can kind of think about what you do in everyday life. So, I’ll list them. The top 10 risk factors of cancer are tobacco or smoking. I think we did a video just the other day, but the World Health Organization says that if you smoke, you have a 1 in 2 chance of dying from cancer, which is massive. I didn’t ever realize that.
Mark: If you smoke, you have a 1 in 2 chance.
Stephen: And I actually checked that up a few times because I thought that can’t be true, that can’t be right. But, that’s what the World Health Organization says. Smoking will kill 1 in 2 people.
Mark: That’s massive.
Stephen: Yes. I didn’t realize. And I guess when you look at the facts, if you look at a packet of cigarettes and things in the shops, they’re literally able to put the whole thing out and you will die if you – basically, they’re really, really severe in the message they’re giving, so obviously…
Mark: Is it ridiculous? I don’t know the stats and I wonder if this is – I think that someone said that they pretty much put like your black lungs on the packet and tell you you are going to die if you smoke these. I don’t think it has dropped the number of people that smoke because of simply the packaging.
Stephen: No, but the whole social aspect I think makes a big difference.
Mark: That’s different, but the packaging hasn’t.
Stephen: No, no. But anyway, carrying on, so tobacco is number one. Chemicals. Actually, chemicals in food, genetics, hormones, infection. Now, radiation, including diagnostic radiation, which was interesting when I read more about that. And weight, physical activity. Oh, and then also, stress. So, I think just being aware of those things. I certainly wasn’t aware of all of those. It makes you able to think about your general life. How much do you expose yourself to toxins? For example, the food that you eat and things like that.
Mark: Are you overweight?
Stephen: Are you overweight? How much stress do you have to kind of go through every day.
Mark: So, basically, they are pro-cancer environments. So if you have all 10 of those in your life, then you’re far, far, far more likely to unfortunately develop cancers. But on the flipside of that, you know that now. So if you put things in place and reduce those, you’re far, far less likely to ever experience cancer.
Stephen: But I think that’s what we really want to get across, is that…
Mark: Forewarned is forearmed.
Stephen: Forewarned is forearmed, I think.
Mark: Yes.
Stephen: Yes. But basically, don’t just look at it like, oh, it’s inevitable. I can’t do anything about those, because you can. I mean, even down to chemicals and things like that, you can have an impact. Sure, you’re never going to be – and we’ll explain this in the next podcast – because you’re never going to be able to get away from all chemicals and toxins because even polar bears in – where do the polar bears live? Not the zoo.
Mark: The Antarctic?
Stephen: The Antarctic. Or is it – some of them will come out , it’s actually the southern, the other one. But, anyway, polar bears, killer whales, they’ve found toxins in all of those things. And you’d have thought if anywhere is not going to have any sort of toxicity, it would be there. But the way you can actually nourish your body to actually help you detox, if you actually limit the amount of exposure you get to certain things would be important. For example, plastics and things like that. Again, we’ll go into that a little bit more, but just simply drinking out of a BPA-free water bottle will limit the amount of toxins you have. Drinking out of a glass bottle is actually best. You can get glass bottles now that have rubbery things around them to protect them.
But, for example, don’t just think that all of those things, you can’t do anything about because pretty much most of them, you can do something about. Food, for sure. Obviously, the genetics you’re born with, you can’t. However, like I said, only 10% of cancers have actually been shown to be genetic. And also, knowing your genetics means that you can do more things to actually help your body detoxify certain things if you need or taking in, nourishing your body, making it as alkaline as possible, for example.
But talking about smoking, I mean we do have a video on this, don’t we? But something that can help with people is that nicotine, which obviously help with people is that nicotine, which obviously cigarettes contain, is a really strong driver of something called “Dopamine,” which Dopamine gives you motivation, interest and drive, but if often – well, a lot of the time when someone’s craving cigarettes or nicotine, it’s because they have low Dopamine. Their body is craving Dopamine. So, to get the Dopamine, it craves the nicotine. What you can actually do is there are foods that contain something called “Tyrosine,” which Dopamine is actually synthesized from, made from. And therefore, eating more of those foods mean that you’re far more likely to have higher Dopamine. So those foods. And we mention this in the video, but they’re almonds, avocados, meat and sesame seeds among others, but they’re kind of some of the main ones that you can add to your diet.
Mark: So in layman’s terms, you want to have Dopamine. Nicotine gives you Dopamine, but you don’t want to be getting it from nicotine. So, the way you can do that is by – Dopamine is made from Tyrosine, synthesized from Tyrosine, which means, obviously, if you have more Tyrosine in your body, you’re going to make more Dopamine, which means that you’re going to more Tyrosine in your body, you’re going to make more Dopamine, which means that you’re going to not want nicotine. So, like Steve says, the things you can eat to increase – because it contains Tyrosine – are almonds, avocados, meat and sesame seeds, and there are also others.
Stephen: So, the action step would be to integrate those more into your diet, your daily food intake. If you have nuts, change them to almonds. If you don’t have avocados in your salads, chuck in the avocado in your salad. Simple. Like I eat an avocado a day now. I love it with sweet balsamic vinegar. I chuck it on. Well, not chuck it on but dribble it on, and then just have the avocado. I love that. It’s my little starter before my lunch.
Mark: I find it important you get the ones that are already…
Stephen: Ripe.
Mark: Already ripe. Because if you go to the shop and you get the ones that aren’t ripe…
Stephen: Oh, it takes forever!
Mark: They don’t ripen. I swear they don’t ever ripen. I swear. You sit them on the windowsill. They never ripen. They’re rock solid. You can never eat them.
Stephen: But, after that digression, those are the foods you want to be having. Almonds, avocados, meat and sesame seeds. Right? And that’s going to increase your Dopamine, which will increase your drive.
Mark: Because if you look at tobacco, I mean, I know people will say, “Oh, it’s much easier said than done to quit smoking and things. I try, I want to,” blah, blah, blah. But, if you look at the top risk factors, then yes, there is no bigger motivator than that. So, really, the thing with those top causes of cancer is you can look at them, listen to them or read them – the transcription of this will be below the podcast – but there’s something you can do for pretty much every single one. I mean, weight and physical activity. Basically, the more body fat you have, the more toxins you’ll store because toxins are stored in fat. But also, the more Aromatase, the more Estrogens, bad Estrogens, you’ll have in your body, which, as we’ll find out in our next podcast, are important to not have or to at least get rid of. So, it’s being shown, the less body fat you have, obviously, the healthier you are, the less risk you are at actually having cancer. And also, physical activity has been shown.
Stephen: Yes.
Mark: So, there’s plenty of things that you can do to actually minimize, to limit your risk. And I think that’s the key, is that you’re looking to limit your risk because unfortunately, I don’t think it’s possible to make it completely, completely go away. However, you can really make a massive stride, a massive stride to limiting that risk. So, I really don’t want people to have the attitude that oh, there’s nothing you can do.
Stephen: Yes, don’t. I mean that’s a defeatist attitude and you shouldn’t have that in any part of your life really if you want to live a full and fulfilled life because these are the stats and you can be in the top percentage of positive or the negative percentage if you just let it go.
Mark: And particularly when the number one fear for people is actually getting cancer and fear normally comes from not feeling like you can do something. So if you’re actually doing something, then that drops your fear down automatically.
Stephen: Fear is not a nice thing to experience anyway. So if you’re not doing anything about it and you’re just constantly in fear – and you know what? If you’re listening to this and you’re like, “Oh, I’m not in fear of cancers or anything else like that, I’m not in fear of it, well, that’s probably because you don’t know. You’re not aware. So, hopefully this podcast will make you more aware of the risk factors and the things you can do about them. Like we say, listen to the next podcast because we’ll have more actionable steps. But, if the only thing you get from this today is that you start eating more Tyrosine-rich foods, then we’ll have achieved something.
Mark: Correct, correct. Yes. So as they say, action alleviates fear anyway. So, whether you’ve actually even considered it or not, there are massively important things you can be doing to actually limit your risk of one of the biggest, most rife things, diseases, in the world.
Stephen: And even if it’s not for you, you’ll know someone that can benefit from it.
Mark: Yes. So that leaves us on to the fact that you want to be sending this to your friends, sharing it on Facebook, sharing it on Twitter or re tweeting it, sharing it on LinkedIn, and emailing it to your friends also because as we said, everyone is touched by it, and the more people that hear this and are going to be educated, the better really because like Stephen says, education is the key. So, send it around. Let us know your comments also. We’d be really appreciative because you’ve probably got firsthand knowledge of the positives and negatives of cancers, because there are positives as well, because we’d love to hear from you. So, put them in the comments below.
Stephen: Right. Until next week, and listen out for the next podcast on this same subject. Bye-bye!
Mark: Bye-bye.
