To think the PoW’s diagnosis makes healthy living seem pointless?

[Notsuretoputit]

I try my best to live heathily (although definitely not fanatical). I try and stay away from ultra processed foods, try and avoid saturated fat, too much meat etc., try and exercise every week. I’ll have the odd takeaway and definitely overindulge on wine, but always try and be mindful of living heathily because so much information is constantly battering me through the radio, media etc. about getting ill from various foods and not exercising.

I’ve recently lost my mother far too young too, so I suppose it’s particularly on my mind at the moment. But then you hear Kate’s diagnosis, who obviously exercises regularly, has the best instructors, best food, best ingredients, best preparation, and she still falls ill, and it all seems a bit pointless.

AIBU to feel this way? I just wonder whether I really should make an effort to watch what I eat and run when I don’t feel like it if really, what will be will be regardless.

[ManchesterLu]

No, it's not pointless at all. Living healthily lessens your chances of becoming unwell - it can never remove the chance.

Also, I'd just like to point out that you have no idea what Kate does or eats when she's not on camera. She might eat lard for dinner every night, smoke 50 a day behind closed doors, be thin because she purges, or because she has Chrohns Disease or similar. Thin doesn't always equal healthy, and the media isn't always accurate.

Take care of yourself. But don't do it 'to avoid getting ill', just do it because it makes you feel better on a day to day basis!

[IncompleteSenten]

Some people who have never smoked in their lives get lung cancer. Does that mean you might as well start smoking?

[AtomicBlondeRose]

It’s never going to be pointless. I’m sure some people will pooh-pooh this idea but I’d say she’s probably also lived with a high level of stress for a long period of time. Regardless of the money/help, she’s also a mum of three and constantly in the public eye with a great deal of family strife being lived out in front of the cameras, and having to constantly put on a smile and bite your tongue and say pleasantries would be pretty stressful. So there’s that.

[Tropicalsunshine]

Did you seriously think that a healthy lifestyle would protect you from all disease?
Do you think that all the people who are ill just didn't live healthily enough?

How bizarre.

Healthy eating and exercise will protect you from alot of illness and is very important as you age but it's not going to make you live forever!

[Elebag]

No. Being healthy improves your chances when something nasty does get you. Because it will.

Both my parents had heart attacks despite being healthy. They were treated quickly as they wouldn't take up a bed for long and recovered really well.

[Maray1967]

I understand what you mean - I remember thinking that about Linda McCartney. But there are cancers and other diseases which you are much more likely to get if you smoke, drink excessively and overeat. A healthy lifestyle reduces the risk of those , so it is important - while not being a guarantee of health.

[Babyroobs]

Many types of cancer are heavily linked to poor lifestyles, smoking, excessive drinking and obesity. But of course healthy people still get cancer for all sorts of reasons, skin and hair coloring ( melanoma ), some cancers have a genetic link ( BRAC gene ), some are linked to certain occupations and exposure to chemicals. Yu cannot eliminate the risk altogether.

[Manyandyoucanwalkover]

I know just what you mean @Notsuretoputit , she radiated health and that’s why it’s all such a shock.

[DistinguishedSocialCommentator]

Everyhting in moderation and avoiding the really bad stuff along with exercise, getting out and about and being active is a good route to take. However, there is and always be an element of luck.

If I had the knlwldge we have now I'd not be eating the mass of chocs, cream cakes, chips but I'm so used to it - I love bacon but cut back on on all read meat and susuages

[pootlin]

I’m losing weight at the moment for more immediate concerns.

When I was a (short) 12 stone my thighs were rubbing against each other and chafing, I woke up sweating every morning and I was huffing and puffing with every walk.

Now I’ve lost some weight those things have gone away and I eat healthy foods to keep it that way.

I have cancer in my family (dad, grandma, uncle etc) but I don’t think about it much. I figure if I take care of the small things then the bigger things are left to chance.

[MakeItRain]

No because I think living healthily, in general makes you feel fitter and happier. There are no guarantees that we won't become ill in some way - that's a bit of a lottery. I wouldn't see healthy living as a way to prevent diseases like cancer, but more to lift mood/improve energy and make people feel better over all, as well warding off a host of diseases like heart problems and diabetes. It's definitely worth striving for, but I get where you're coming from. Cancer is always a shock somehow, even though we know it's so common these days.

[Doyoumind]

Healthy living reduces the risk of some cancers and other diseases but it doesn't eliminate the risk.

[mynameiscalypso]

Being skinny/slim (depending on your perspective) does not always equate to a healthy lifestyle.

[TDIAP]

Im my own life I know 3 people over the age of 90 in excellent health and 2 of them have never touched salad and hate vegetables. They all eat processed food, I also know more than one person who ate healthily and died between the ages of 40 and mid-60s.
So yes, I think it’s pointless. I believe Its more down to genes and stress than anything else.

[SpaghettiWithaYeti]

Have you been going around assuming everyone else is only ill because it's their fault?

That explains all the deranged advice from friends who try and suggest weird diets or yoga will cure my genetic condition.

[WarriorN]

Quite a lot of cancer is pure chance. They don't know why it happens.

It's not pointless to be as healthy as possible as many of those things reduce the risk of other issues such as type two diabetes. Exercise and resistance training greatly reduces the risk of dementia.

Also, if you've not been exercising at all, and start after a cancer diagnosis, it can reduce the risk of reoccurrence by as much as 55% for some types of cancer. (Varies depending on the cancer obviously.) Bowel and breast in particular iirc. Which is sometimes a better percentage rate than many of the treatments.

[Hotcuppatea]

I'm really sorry to hear about your mum. 💐Losing a parent is very tough and its normal to be impacted by events around you in a disproportionate way when youre grieving.

in my mind, living a healthy lifestyle is about being able to enjoy the time you have to the fullest. Its not necessarily about getting more time.

Quality not quantity.

[5128gap]

Well I look after my body and will continue to do so. As while I can't protect myself from every eventuality, I can dramatically reduce my chances of some, give myself the best chance of recovery from those I can't, and enjoy the benefits of feeling my personal healthiest. All of that matters more to me than eating and drinking what I like, so I press on. I don't expect it to make me invincible though.

[RoseAndRose]

YABU, meant in a nice sort of way.

Doing things that reduce the chances of getting XYZ isn't the same as there being a guaranteed protective effect.

So some people will come down with serious illnesses regardless of what they do (and remember that we do not know what sort of cancer either the King or he Princess have - they may be ones unlinked to lifestyle factors for all we know)

But others, for cancers and other conditions which do have lifestyle factors, then yes there is a protective effect. Reducing odds from (to pull some numbers at random) from 3% chance of getting XYZ to a 1% chance of getting it doesn't mean that you as an individual won't get it; but it does mean that in a national population of 68mil you can expect number affected to fall from a little over 2mil cases a year to 680,000. That's a lot of people to whom it does make a big difference.

[LadyKenya]

Eating well, with limited UPFs would give your body a better chance of dealing with something like that, if it was to happen, I think. I would never think that somebody would not get xyz, just because of how they present. I think that is a strange way to think, but it would seem that a lot of people are saying the same thing. Obviously genetics could be at play as well. I eat as well as I can, but I do not believe that makes me immune to illness.

[Citrusandginger]

At a population level, people who live healthier lives, live longer than those who don't. There are outliers both ways, within my own family, I have had a sports mad relative who died of mesothelioma in her '50's and an overweight, alcoholic FIL who is going strong in his late eighties.

If a hundred people your age ate healthily, exercised and didn't smoke, as a group they would outlive a group who did the opposite.

[WarriorN]

Being physically fit, particularly physically strong, also helps you deal with side effects if you are unfortunate enough to need treatments.

[CranfordScones]

Doing all the right things reduces the chance of getting cancer and other diseases. There's no doubt about that. So it does work in the sense that you're less likely to get ill.

Less likely doesn't mean that the risk is entirely eliminated. And some diseases are less affected by lifestyle factors.

[Finosaurtea]

@WarriorN

Being physically fit, particularly physically strong, also helps you deal with side effects if you are unfortunate enough to need treatments.

Totally agree

[OrchardDoor]

Genes play an important part as well as lifestyle. My grandad smoked roll ups and lived til 91 (and didn't die of lung disease or heart issues.) He was fit and healthy until not long before he died. I still wouldn't take up smoking as I've got my own set of genes and it might see me off of lung disease earlier than I would have died.