A Survivor's Perspective: A Grain of Salt

Donna-Lee Lista

Donna-Lee Lista is a lung cancer survivor and an advocate for lung cancer research. In this blog, she talks about nutrition and prevention advice… and why sometimes, you just have to take all the advice with a grain of salt. 

Who does all the research about what foods you should and shouldn’t eat to avoid cancer? I’ve often questioned how accurate all this nonsense is. Then again can nonsense be accurate? I really get a kick out of these reports that say you can lesson your chance of cancer by eating this or doing that. Blueberries, for instance, are supposed to lower your risk of cancer. Eat a diet of fruits and vegetables and limit red meat. Make sure to exercise and only drink in moderation (a little helps your heart!).

The list goes on and on and on.

I followed it all! Most of it I did when I wasn’t even aware it was supposed to help prevent cancer. As a kid, I loved blueberries, and detested cigarettes and red meat. I was the one always stuck sitting at the dinner table poking at my steak, because I just couldn’t swallow it. I ate healthy - one of the few kids that loved vegetables when I was young. I played outside all day long, and got plenty of exercise.

As an adult I got all the recommended screenings, EARLY! Had a few wild drinking nights in college, but honestly only a few and as an adult never really drank much, and lately, not at all. There were many years as a teenager that I fried my skin at the beach. I actually wouldn’t have been surprised if I got melanoma, but no, I dodged that bullet. I actually got hit with the bullet that I didn’t even knew could be aimed my way!

So, it means one of three things: God only knows what would have happened to me if I didn’t do those things, my case is a head-scratcher for the scientific community, OR (and this is the one I’m going with) no one knows for sure – it’s pure luck. A combination of factors so diverse that it’s as complicated, and with as many variables, as picking the correct lottery numbers… while blindfolded and sleeping!

So, until we know with absolute certainty what the cure is, what absolutely works, or what is an official recommendation, everybody do everything in moderation, give a lot of money to cancer research, and take all the cancer prevention advice you read with a grain of salt.

Hey, a grain of salt…hmm- I wonder if anyone has looked into …?