DIET AND NUTRITION.

Overview

Eating pure and wholesome food has multiple health benefits. This is particularly true with reference to cancer and degenerative diseases. Eating lower on the food chain, meaning more grains, vegetables and fruits rather than factory farm produced red meat and diary, correlates with dramatically reduced incidence of cancer and other conditions. Further correlation is shown when comparing the extremely low rates of prostate cancer in populations that consume less meat and dairy, like those in Japan and Central America. Near the Equator, diets rely on beans and grains with lots of roughage from tubers and other vegetables. Japanese eat fish, seafood and ocean vegetables, as well as foods derived from soybeans, best known as “tofu,” along with tempeh and many other forms.

The key to better diet and nutrition is information and education. As with anything new and unfamiliar, first hand assistance is needed when selecting and preparing these items to insure a good experience. While vegetarians are increasing as percentage of the population, many people have not had a reason to explore it for themselves or, more importantly, lacked a personal guide to introducing whole foods into one’s daily diet.

We know it’s still considered weird in polite society. And we can help. We’ll be conducting food sampling and cooking workshops very soon.

Frank’s been a vegetarian for 30 years. Wife Jeanne works professionally in the field and son-in-law Michael is a leader of the local organic food movement and co-op.

Olympia Food Co-op - A Local Resource

Food co-ops (or cooperatives) are an excellent source for information and value when adopting your new diet and lifestyle. Our community is home to one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most successful consensus-run co-ops. With two stores and 13,000 member-owners, the Olympia Food Co-op is an unmatched resource for you.

Visit www.olympiafood.coop for background information and operating details of the stores. Follow the links to a limitless stream of information*, like recipes and so forth. Knowledgeable staff will answer your questions and help you make selections.

*Us Too International is representative of leading prostate awareness and education organizations (see link on our home page). The monthly newsletter devotes half it’s space to current diet and nutrition breakthrough studies about, for specific example, lycopene in tomatoes, protective properties in broccoli, supplementing with Vitamin D, or selenium or citrus pectin, and so forth…. .....Frank Agnello, National Project Coordinator

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT EARLY PROSTATE CANCER:

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF PROSTATE CANCER? Prostate cancer often does not cause symptoms for many years. By the time symptoms occur, the disease may have spread beyond the prostate. When symptoms do occur, they may include:

1) Frequent urination, especially at night.

2) Inability to urinate.

3)Trouble starting or holding back urination.

4) A weak or interrupted flow of urine.

5) Painful or burning urination.

6) Blood in the urine or semen (the fluid that is released through the penis during orgasm and made up of sperm from the testicles and fluid from the prostate and other sex glands).

7) Painful ejaculation.

8) Frequent pain or stiffness in the lower back, hips, or upper thighs.

These can be symptoms of cancer, but more often they are symptoms of noncancerous enlargement of the prostate. It is important to check with a doctor.

WHAT OTHER PROSTATE CONDITIONS CAN CAUSE SYMPTOMS LIKE THESE?The above symptoms may be caused by a variety of conditions. As men get older, their prostate may grow bigger and block the flow of urine or interfere with sexual function. This common condition, called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), is not cancer, but can cause many of the same symptoms as prostate cancer. Although BPH may not be a threat to life, it may require treatment with medicine or surgery to relieve symptoms. Again, it is important to check with a doctor.

source:National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD