I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer

That was a reasonably good summary. In general suspect anything that is foreign in nature( eg. plastics) to be harmful. The bar to deem them safe must be really high. Of course everything natural need not be safe either ( example green potatoes)

One important thing to add: Vegetables are not the super food that they are made out to be, and red meat isn't a carcinogen, It's the opposite. Good quality red meat is one of the superfoods and vegetables must be carefully chosen/cooked to negate their bad effect.

> The rate of cancer has risen about 30% for young people since the seventies. So it seems that there's something wrong in our environment or lifestyles that could be increasing risk. One would do well to read the research (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...) from which that widely quoted 30% figure comes. It does not suggest any simple conclusion as to what is causing the increase. Rather, it paints a very complex picture, with likely very different causes for increases in different cancers, and also documents significant decreases in certain cancers. Among the three categories of causes for increases listed, increased detection is prominent.

Note also that the study is a retrospective study, and comes with all the statistical cautions that are inherent in that methodology.

I’m 45 and I’m just now half way through my last chemo treatment for colon cancer. I would not say I’m you for cancer but definitely on the younger end of the spectrum for this type of cancer. I probably wouldn’t have gotten the colonoscopy that found the cancer had I not been lucky enough for the cancer to cause an infection where gut bacteria passed through my colon and made me extremely sick. I treated that with antibiotics and got a colonoscopy.

Results were that it was stage 3 c as I had 4 lymph nodes affected. The first step was surgery and about 12”/30cm of my colon was removed right where it meets the small intestine. This was the most difficult surgery I have been through and happens during the delta surge last summer. That means I couldn’t have visitors for the week I was in recovery.

Next up was surgery for a port after 3 weeks of healing. That went in my right shoulder near my collar bone with an iv line to my jugular. Once that healed started the chemo…

I didn’t take to chemo very well at first and I had a severe reaction to one of the drugs and landed in the hospital again for a few days. They could not figure out what was really happening but I basically had severe chest pain and jaw pain. They suspected heart/cardio problems and did a cardiac cath which came back normal thankfully. The fix was to reduce the dose of that particular drug by half. As time wore on the other drug in the cocktail started causing neuropathy in my fingers, feet and teeth/gums. Picture your finger tips always asleep. That can last for up 2 years but in some cases is permanent.

Now that I’m on the other side of the diagnosis and treatment I still have the post treatment scan. Typically colon cancer makes its was up to the lungs and brain if left unchecked. I get that scan mid April. To me that is the scariest part. I think it would be a huge gut punch to find out that it spread even after surgery and chemo.

As for life post treatment there are adjustments I have had to make: While I used to like spicy food my colon has decided that spice is a laxative now and usually sends me to the restroom within 2 hours. I have to plan my coffee intake with meetings. I have some days when things seem normal and the others when I’m going to the rest room 4-6 times per day.

In my 30s I was in marathon shape until I severely broke my foot at 38. I have slowly gotten out of shape since. I think this was a bit of a lifestyle reminder for me so the plan is get back in shape and check my diet.

I have quit alcohol for treatment so I’m going on about 9 months with no drinking. I don’t know if I will continue abstaining or not. I am certain that had I not had that infection I wouldn’t have gotten a colonoscopy. I think that’s the takeaway for me. Get your colons checked folks. Age 40 is the new recommendation my doc has mentioned.

This would be nice, but I fear we can go too far down this road, particularly with children.

Hormesis is important for our health: exposure to periods of starvation to induce autophagy of senescent cells, exposure to allergens and less-than-lethal pathogens (at a young age) to train our immune systems [1,2], etc.

Obviously we want to minimize heavy metal, PFAS exposure, etc - but living in ultrapure environments risks throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.

Absolutely in favor of better environmental monitoring, but we need to be very selective about the specific things we don't want.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis

[2] https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/22/health/leukemia-clean-childho...

People seem to hate it when you point things out like this. Had a guy in another thread become livid when I said I don't eat modern foods. You pretty much can't trust any nutritional study, and so as far as I'm concerned, eating like an antemodern hunter gatherer is as good as anything else.

I'm not sure what young athletes could do to be healthier; I imagine most of their issues are environmental. I personally err on the side of preindustrial when any question of lifestyle comes up, but who knows.