Obesity And Cancer

Is there a link between Obesity and Cancer?

There are well-known risks for cancer but there are also other risk factors that people are curious about. One of the risk factors people want to know about is: does being obese increase your risk for cancer?

Here’s what National Cancer Institute says about a study that was conducted:

“One study, using NCI Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data, estimated that in 2007 in the United States, about 34,000 new cases of cancer in men (4 percent) and 50,500 in women (7 percent) were due to obesity. The percentage of cases attributed to obesity varied widely for different cancer types but was as high as 40 percent for some cancers, particularly endometrial cancer and esophageal adenocarcinoma.”

Does that mean that skinny people do not need to take of their health? Regardless of your weight you should be exercising and eating healthy in order to reduce your risk of cancer because cancer has more than one cause.

Common reactions to exercise

Some people look for reasons to make excuses of why they can’t or don’t need to exercise. These generally include:

1. No time
2. Too busy with work
3. Physical discomfort
4. Costly

It’s time to evaluate those excuses:

1. If you feel you have no time, then it’s time to calculate if that is accurate. You have 24 hours in a day. People generally sleep 7-8 hours, so let’s go with 8 hours for this math problem. You have 24hours – 8 hours = 16hours. You work 8-9 hours including commute. You have 16 hours – 9 hours = 7 hours in a day to do extra activities.
2. When calculating how much time you have you need to consider if you have extra time at work i.e. time between shifts, jobs or lunch breaks.
3. People that are overweight can experience pain and discomfort in their knees due to the excess weight they are holding. This pain can be experienced from walking a short distance.
4. Keeping your body fit and healthy doesn’t have to be expensive. Think about the costs involved with owning a car: do you tell yourself ‘I will run my car and see what happens without getting an oil change because I can’t afford an oil change’? Most people will look for ways to be able to get the oil changed because they know they need the car to get to work, the store, to travel and more. Your body should be even more important.

Reduce or eliminate your excuses

1. Exercising can be done in about 30-45 minutes a day, 3-4 times a week. Many gyms have televisions that can be watched while exercising. Want to make friends or workout with family or friends? Try a bootcamp or a semi-private training group that is led by a certified personal trainer. They can give you tips, guidance and a customized meal plan.
2. If you work a lot of hours it’s important to get exercise in to help you be healthy. You have a choice of working out whether by parking far away from the building at your work or stores and using the time to get a short workout in; stop at the gym before work, between jobs or after work. If you are at the office and just can’t get away, then a personal trainer can come to your office and work with you there.
3. If you think about it, even people that are in wheelchairs find time to workout. To me that shows me that there really aren’t that many excuses that can be used because if you can’t exercise while standing up you can still start out slowly while sitting down. You are welcome to ask your personal physician for advice of how to begin losing weight naturally.
4. If you think that exercising needs to be expensive then you need to consider your options such as: working out in the park, getting together with friends or family and exercising together, joining a semi-private training group or a bootcamp.

Time to take action

Ask your physician before beginning an exercise routine. If you’re looking for a personal trainer in the Pelham, AL area look for one that is a certified personal trainer in order to reduce the risk of becoming injured. Find a fitness coach that can give you a customized meal plan or menu for you to follow in order to help you reduce your weight and to maintain the weight-loss you achieve. Finally, make time and take action to get fit today. Don’t wait until tomorrow. Do you know why? There’s a saying: ‘tomorrow never comes because when the next day comes it is now today’. The point: do not procrastinate.