Improving Health after Cancer Treatment

Improving Health after Cancer Treatment

Fortunately, many cancer patients are able to lead healthy lives after treatment. According to Mayo Clinic, cancer survivors can improve their health and lives by engaging in regular exercise. The benefits of exercise are the same whether a person has had cancer or not. Exercise helps keep the body healthy and strong. For cancer survivor, exercise becomes an important part of life. 

Many doctors recommend an exercise program to their cancer patients after treatment. A misconception is you must exercise rigorously. However, according to the American Cancer Society exercising for 30 minutes five days per week will greatly improve a cancer patient's healthy. In addition, the exercise program can be as simply as walking or riding a bike. All cancer survivors should follow recommendations by their doctor before beginning an exercise program. This goes for people with cancers with low survival rates like pleural mesothelioma and pancreatic cancer, to cancers with higher survival rates like testicular cancer  and breast cancer. It is recommended that these patients begin slowly to increase their physical activity. For example, a patient can walk for five minutes each day. As his or her physical stamina improves, he or she can increase the increment to 10 minutes. 

The greatest benefit exercise provides for cancer survivors are it decreases the recovery time. Adding an exercise program promotes healing. Exercise increases the blood flow in the body. In addition, it will increase red cell production. Red cells are responsible for transporting oxygen to the body's tissues. The healthier a person's circulation of red blood cells the healthier a person’s body becomes. This is true whether a person has survived cancer or just wants to become healthier.

Once cancer patients begin an exercise program, they will experience increased endurance and physical strength. As their strength improves, they can add additional activities to their exercise program. One of the immediate benefits of exercise is it relieves symptoms related to depression. This important benefit helps cancer patients return to a normal healthy life. Cancer survivors develop a tremendous amount of anxiety that the cancer may return. Exercise relieves this anxiety and promotes a positive attitude toward life. For cancer survivors attitude is crucial to surviving this disease. According to Mayo Clinic, studies demonstrate exercise may reduce the risk and recurrence of cancer. 

Increasing physical activity does not mean a person has to join a gym or take exercise classes. Instead of taking the elevator, a person can take the stairs. Even a stroll in the park is beneficial. As long as the physical activity is done on a regular schedule, the benefits are tremendous. 

Patients also turn to other forms of support like speaking with family member or other people with the same types of cancer. There are support groups for most types of cancers including mesothelioma support groups.

Exercise is proven to provide many health benefits including mental clarity and self-esteem. Anyone can benefit by increasing his or her physical activity. However, for cancer survivors, exercise can reduce their risk of the return of the disease. In addition, it helps improve the quality of life.

Liz Davies is a recent college graduate and aspiring writer especially interested in health and wellness. She wants to make a difference in people’s lives because she sees how cancer has devastated so many people in this world. Liz also likes running, playing lacrosse, reading and playing with her dog, April.

I Want to Lose Weight

We all know that talking about loosing weight and doing it are two entirely different things. We plan a diet and begin. Missing are some of the foods we enjoy and then we notice that we start to lose energy. At first we lose a few pounds. But soon our metabolism declines and we stop loosing. Then we get discouraged and quit the plan. Isn’t that the way it works?
Loosing weight is a matter of calories in and calories out. When you burn more than you consume, you will lose weight and you will continue to lose as long as you continue to burn more than you consume. Don’t we see that clearly on the reality series: “The biggest looser”?
So the solution to loosing weight is to find a physical activity that you enjoy, is fun, and will be pleased to continue. A few years ago I had a sedentary high stress job – no activity, high goals, business meals and cocktail parties. Over the years the pounds accumulated until I finally recognized I needed to do something.
At the time we were living north of Detroit. I enjoyed tennis and bike riding, but I was not doing either. So I joined a tennis league and arranged to play on Wednesday evening and Saturday morning. On days I was not playing tennis I rode my bike in our subdivision for an hour before dinner. I did not change my diet and I made a point of not eating more. The riding was relaxing. It took my mind off the stress of the day and helped me relax. In a matter of six months I lost 40 pounds.
I did it. You can do it. It is a matter of finding a physical activity that you enjoy and the will to do it regularly. Write down on a piece of paper: “What activities do you like to do?” --- walking, gardening, swimming, biking, mowing the lawn with a push mower, tennis, golf (no cart), the gym, the “Y”, line dancing, jogging, etc. Plan to do it at least five days a week for an hour. Remember calories in, calories out.
If you want to exercise indoors in the privacy of your home inside instead of outdoors in public, there are excellent machines available. On-line you can find very good prices. I like ellipticals and exercise bikes over treadmills because they are easier for the joints. Likewise, I prefer walking or biking over jogging for the same reason.
Article by
Will Keeney

Exercise and Beautiful Skin

  People notice when your skin is smooth and radiant. It says something about you.  I am seventy, but people continually tell me that I look fifteen years younger than I am.  Over the years I have discovered ways to keep my skin looking young and healthy.
  I never smoked.  If you smoke, get professional help and stop now.  If is apparent that smoking will age you and injure your skin.  The chemicals absorbed through your lungs from smoke decrease the flow of blood by narrowing the tiny blood vessels in your skin.  This deprives the skin of oxygen and vitamin A, which is crucial to healthy skin.  Smoking also damages collagen and elastin, which are the fibers that keep your skin strong and elastic.  Smoking also significantly increases your chance of cancer and cardio vascular disease.  Cessation of smoking may not be easy.  So enlist the help of a physician who can prescribe aides to help you break this nasty habit.
  As a teenager, I worked as a lifeguard.  My fair skin was damaged and now I have need for semi-annual checks for skin cancer.  I learned my lesson.  Now I never go outside into the sun to work, play, swim or boat without applying high quality sun protection.  There are such wonderful products on the market today.  Generously apply water resistant protection every two hours.  Your radiant tan will be a complement to your complexion.
  Use common sense when you bathe. Hot showers or baths day after day strip your skin of important oils.  It would be wise to decrease the temperature and to spend less time in the shower or bath.  Use gentle cleaners, which contain moisturizers instead of strong scented soaps.  When you shave, use a moisturizing shaving cream or gel, which allows the razor to glide over your skin.  A blunt razor used with no cream or gel damages the skin removing essential oils, leaving cuts and nicks.  After you bathe, shower and/or shave, dry your self by patting your skin rather than rubbing hard.  The gentle patting allows some of the essential oils to remain on you skin.
  Fad diets are damaging to the quality of you skin.  Your body was designed to regularly receive a balance of protein, carbohydrates (particularly fresh fruits and vegetables) and fats.  Along with those food items comes a supply of vitamins, minerals and trace elements, which are essential for good health and healthy skin.  If you live in a cold climate and have periods of the year when your body is exposed to very little natural sunshine, vitamin supplements are a good choice.  Healthy skin requires vitamins A, D3, and C.
  The modern world is a fast paced world and with smart-phones, computers and ibooks getting faster.  With the fast pace come stress.  Some stress is good; it brings us to action.  But too much stress damages our health and wellbeing.  It damages the skin as well by changing the chemical balance of a healthy body.  Adrenalin levels are raised when we experience acute stress or even chronic stress.  When the adrenalin is flowing, it prevents other chemicals and hormones from flowing.  (The old "fight or flight syndrome). Find ways to decrease your stress - (a daily exercise program, ten minutes of deep breathing when stressed, a relaxing hobby, yoga, a hour or two when you get totally immersed in something other than what causes the stress --- if necessary, discuss stress reduction with your physician).  Your body and your family will thank you.
Article by
Will Keeney

Valentines, Express Love and Well-Being

 There is magic in the story as to how holidays and customs get established.  Often times the true story is not known. Saint Valentine’s Day, commonly shortened to Valentine’s Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14^th celebrating love and affection between companions. The day is named after one or more martyrs named Valentine and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 500 AD.
 The Early Medieval document, Legenda Aurea, states the St. Valentine of Rome, a priest in the church there, was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person.  Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to paganism in order to save his life.  Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead.  Because of this, he was executed.  On the night before his execution Valentine healed the blind daughter of a particularly kind jailer.  At the same time he left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it “From Your Valentine.”
 The first recorded association of Valentine’s Day with romantic love is in Parliament of Foules (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer. (modern translation: “For this was Saint Valentine’s Day, when every bird comes there to choose his mate.”)  Chaucer wrote the poem to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II to Anne of Bohemia.  Shakespeare wrote of St. Valentine’s Day in Hamlet Act IV in 1600-01. John Donne used the legend of the marriage of the birds as the starting pint of his piece celebrating the marriage of Elizabeth, daughter of James I or England and Frederick V, Elector Palatine.  In 1797, a British publisher published The Young Man’s Valentine Writer, containing many suggested sentimental verses for young lovers to pen to their love. Factory produced paper Valentines became popular in the early 19^th century.  An industry was born.  In the United States the first commercial Valentines were produced and sold in 1847 by Esther Howland of Worchester, MA.  A custom was established. It was estimated that about 15 million Valentine’s were sent in the United States in 2010.
 The holiday began with St. Valentine, who facing death, wanted to extend to the blind jailor’s daughter a gift of love and wellbeing.
 Above all else, I want the same for the ones I love — that they know love and possess wellness.  I am sure you do too.  So among the card giving, the roses and the bon-bons, I suggest that you mutually give a gift that when used can produce a healthier body, perhaps a longer life and increased years to share with the one you love.  Vow to each other that you love is so deep that you want them to join you in health eating and a regular exercise program.

Article by Will Keeney,

www.npkfitness.com

Your New Year’s Fitness Resolutions

It is an American tradition to make New Year’s resolutions, but it is oh so hard to keep them.  Getting into shape or loosing weight are common resolution that appear on many of our lists as to what we are going to do in the new year.  Some people will be successful, but many will not.  Why?
There are many reasons to the why.  A common one is that we are totally unrealistic with the goals that we set.  A goal that is too high or beyond achievement is not realistic at all.  We will get discouraged and quit.  An example would be to say you will loose one hundred pounds this year.  The chances of that happening are probably a million to one.  A realistic goal is to say you want to loose a pound a week.  That is realistic and achievable.  Fad diets are not a good way to loose weight.  The sensible way is to eat four small meals a day for a total of 1800 calories for a woman and 2100 for a man.  The four small meals tricks your body and maintains your metabolism.  Your body knows when you skip a meal or severely skimp on a meal and adjusts (i.e., slows) your metabolic rate.  This you do not want; you want a normal or accelerated rate.  The four small meals also prevents you from feeling starved and wanting to binge.
Another example of an unrealistic goal is to say you will walk/run a hundred miles a week.  A realistic goal is to say you will improve your walking/running endurance by five percent a week.  So if you are able to walk a mile a day five days a week (5 miles), a realistic goal would be to increase your distance by 5% a week (week 1 – 5 miles; week 2 – 5.25 miles; week 3 – 5.5125 miles; week 4 – 5.7881 miles, etc increasing by 5% each week).  It may not be practical to measure these calculations, so get in your car and measure a tenth of a mile.  Is it five houses, a block, half a block --- you get the idea.  Or buy a treadmill for your home.  There are a lot of nice ones on the market.  While exercising you can read a book or watch TV.
The four small meals, each between 450 – 525 calories depending on your gender, should be eaten around 8 AM, Noon, 4 PM and 8 PM.  At a minimum this will maintain your normal metabolism and prevent you from being hungry when you go to bed.  Your walking/running routine should be at the same time each day, preferably in the morning before a meal.  The exercise will raise you metabolism not only when you are involved in it, but also for many hours afterwards.
If you belong to a fitness club or the “Y”, three days a week get involved in an exercise class.  It is a social event.  You will make friends.  And your new friends can become a part of your “coaching” team offering compliments and encouragement.  On the two alternate days, walk or run.  I recommend walking because there is less impact on your joints.  What is important is the distance you cover.  You burn about the same amount of calories no matter whether it is walking or running.  It is the distance that is important.  If you use an exercise machine you have in your home, I recommend an elliptical trainer.  There is little impact on your joints and many will get your legs and arms moving.  An alternative to the elliptical trainer is a recumbent exercise bike.
Don’t weigh yourself every day.  Don’t record your distance every day.  Instead make a chart and record your weight and distance walked/run every week or two weeks.  You will be pleasantly surprised with the results, which becomes a reward for “well done.”
I believe you can do it.  Believe in yourself and hold yourself accountable.  Don’t be discouraged if you back slide.  Just restart where you are and keep your eye on the goal.

Article by

Will Keeney

Maintaining Your Weight during the Holidays

The holidays are here and with it comes parties, luncheons, special dinners and sweet treats we may not normally have.  There are steps that you can take to make sure the holidays are healthy and happy for everyone.
The holidays are not a time to make weight-loss a goal.  Save that for January 2.  Instead be realistic and strive to maintain a healthy weight and attitude about the temptations.  Also, be regular with your exercise program.  Walk daily; make the gym or "Y" a part of your shopping trip; continue to spend at least 30 minutes daily on you home exercise equipment.  Not only does the exercise burn calories, but it helps you deal with the holiday stress, which, in turn, helps improve your mental health.
Maintaining weight is easier said than done, given the bountiful food and drink available during all the festive activities.  There are some surprisingly simple tips and tricks people can use to keep holiday weight gain in check without skipping sampling all the goodies.
Eat regularly (breakfast, lunch and dinner) throughout the day.  Don't starve yourself in anticipation of a big meal.  It may seem like it is good sense to save room, but skipping a meal usually leads to overeating.  Being extremely hungry may lead to gorging yourself.  Use a smaller plate when enjoying a buffet or snack trays.  The smaller plate will help you take smaller portions.
If you are doing the cooking or giving the party, reduce the amount of butter, oil or shorting by half  by replace it with an equal amount of apple sauce.  Use artificial sweetners instead of sugar.  You won't know the difference.  Serve punches made with artificial sweetners instead of sugar or corn syrup solids.  If your recipe calls for eggs, substitute two egg whites for every required egg.  Using egg whites can reduce cholesterol significantly.
Serve light beer instead of regular.  Serve punches instead of mixed drinks.  My favorite is a mulled wine made with red wine, cranberry juice (1 to 1 ratio) and spices.  The spices give a festive aroma to the whole house.
After eating a big holiday meal, go for a walk.  Ask others to join you as you walk around the neighborhood.  Do something active as a group.  Play several rounds of a Wii compute sports game.  Be on your feet moving.
Mentally plan your holiday and have a wonderful time with family and friends.
Article by Bill Keeney

Fitness and Nutrition

Fitness requires not only a good exercise program, but also sound nutrition.  Most people exercise because they want stamina, a trim body and/or weight loss.  The human body is a marvelous machine that needs a balance of the right minerals, vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, fats and exercise.
Those who are most successful with a fitness program have a set time, which they devote to their exercise routine.  You need to evaluate your own lifestyle and decide what is best for you.  Some like to rise and exercise before showering and preparing for the day.  Others use their lunch break for their program.  Others will set aside forty-five minutes after work and before dinner.
You also need to choose where you will exercise: outside, inside, gym, or at home.  Runners and walkers have their favorite trails; you are outside enjoying the scenery around you as the seasons change.  Others prefer the socialization of a gym or the Y; you are around others and it adds to the discipline.  Exercising at home provides convenience and economy of time, and you do not need a special wardrobe. You can choose from treadmills, exercise bikes and elliptical machines.  The advantage of elliptical machines do not stress the joints the way running, jogging or walking do.
Daily your body needs a balance of the right minerals, vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and fats.  Recent studies have shown that most people do not get enough Vitamin D3, which benefits the immune system, the health of the colon, and the health of the skin. Studies are also showing that a daily supplement of Omega 3 fats is beneficial for cholesterol control and brain acuity.  Too much protein puts a burden on the kidneys and too many of the wrong carbohydrates cause spikes in hunger and can lead to weight gain. Diabetics need to avoid simple sugars, fructose corn syrup solids, potatoes, rice, white bread, and pasta.  Of course the best foods are fish, chicken, turkey, pork, fresh vegetables and fresh fruits. It wise for every one to avoid simple sugars and fructose corn syrup solids. (If you find it on the perimeter of the grocery store, it is probably good for you.)
If you are interested in loosing weight or excess body fat, the best regime is to eat four or five small meals a day keeping your total caloric intake around 1800 for women and 2400 for men.  The small meals "trick" the body into thinking that it is being nourished and prevent the hunger pains.  With exercise and a controlled caloric intake, the body will shed pounds, usually around one or two per week.
There is one other important thing --- hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.  If you get thirsty while exercising, you are already behind the hydration curve.  A sip every ten minutes while exercising is a good routine.
Author: Bill Keeney