FOOD: Way to live better

Even though death by the COVID pandemic has killed hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S., when I read the obituary pages, the cause of death is more often listed as cancer than COVID.

Cancer is a major cause of death here in the U.S. but rare in many other countries. Why is that? Studies have been done that put the blame squarely on our standard American diet (SAD), with too much meat, sugar and refined foods.

A healthy diet would include lots of fruits and vegetables, such as eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day, along with dried beans, seeds and nuts. Those who follow this diet have half the risk of dying of cancer than those who don’t, and reduce your risk of breast cancer by 62%. The more whole plant foods you eat, the less risk of getting cancer, and the more consumption of foods of animal origin, the more risk of getting cancer.

The No. 1 killer in the U.S. is heart disease, killing more people annually than all of our past wars combined, more than 400,000 each year, while in many less developed countries, death by heart attack is very rare. By eating a healthy plant-based diet, along with some oily fish, you can count on living to a healthy old age.

Take control of your life; eat better, live longer.

JANET CRUZ

Rathdrum