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.

@BeMyGuest - did this happen last year? If so, we might well know the same person. An utter tragedy.

It's really not pointless at all. You're less likely to get heart disease, cancer, strokes etc if you live healthily but of course you still can.
By living healthily you're more likely to enjoy extra years of active, healthy life and you'll just feel a lot better!
I say this as someone who got cancer as a healthy living 30 something so I understand you can get cancer, no matter what! However, the experience has made me want to be as healthy as I possibly can be. Without health, life is pretty grim.

If you dont eat healthily and are still unfortunate and get Cancer ,then you are in a worse position really.Hopefully Kate will make a full recovery ,and be back to maximum health soon .Would have been worse if she ate all the wrong things .My friend was ill with bowel cancer despite being veggie for many years

It’s about probabilities which is a mathematical concept that some people understandably struggle to get their heads round. By not smoking, eating well, keeping fit, maintaining a healthy weight, drinking alcohol in moderation, using sunscreen etc etc we significantly reduce the probability of developing many types of cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes etc etc. But ‘reduce’ ≠ ‘eliminate’.

There are other factors over which we have much less control, eg genetics & luck, but by controlling what we can control we still reduce our chances of getting ill.

I wondered the same even before her news as things like that happens to lots of healthy living people too, she is not the first and won’t be the last.

However
Some people experience health living as pleasure and some as sacrifice - I think that is the main difference.

Life is unpredictable and the only certainty is death at some point one way or another.

Do what makes you genuinely happy, salad or burger, water or wine, know yourself and be content.

'Princes Kate diagnosis has made me realise even when privileged like she is,
our health is a social class leveller'

Respectfully, I must disagree. I understand what you are trying to say, but Princess Kate has had the best of private health care. No NHS waiting lists. No need to worry about applying for PIP or UC.

The news doesn’t mean that healthy living is pointless, instead it just shows that some cancers aren’t affected by lifestyle choices.

It's worth it because you are reducing the odds. Utimately any outcome is the result of multiple factors interacting in complex ways. Some of the factors and interactions can be controlled or influenced, others can't.

My maternal grandmother, mother and maternal aunt all got breast cancer. So perhaps I'm high risk who knows. All slim ate well, never smoked, drank. It's a lottery.

No, of course not and you’re also unreasonable to suggest what she eats behind closed doors. She could be living off of cigarettes and gin for all we know

Every day, people die in car crashes wearing seatbelts. Should that mean you never bother wearing a seatbelt? (Obviously this is an analogy before someone asks the relevance.)

Princes Kate diagnosis has made me realise even when privileged like she is,
our health is a social class leveller

I doubt that. I recon she didn't wait for years for surgery, she will have access to the best healthcare without delay. This just doesn't happen on the NHS anymore. She also won't have to work through treatment or having to worry how to feed the kids or keep a roof over her head.

I know poor people who have (had) cancer. Trust me, it's not the same!

This, plus boarding school life and probably 101 other traumatic events it's none of our business to know about.

Being healthy doesn't stop you getting ill but it does play a huge part in how well you recover.

I think it's pointless to obsess over never letting something unhealthy pass your lips. Be healthy but don't make your life miserable by taking it to extremes. You have to make the most of enjoying life because you never know how much you have left no matter how healthy your diet is.

Nature loads the gun, nurture pulls the trigger.

Perhaps she’s inherited a cancer gene? Perhaps she doesn’t have a healthy diet? Perhaps she smokes? We have no idea.

The reason I eat well and exercise is not to live to 100 or avoid cancer; I do it because it just makes me feel better on a day to day basis. I do have takeaways and UPFs, but I can’t eat like that all the time because I’d be constipated, tired and sluggish. If I don’t exercise, I don’t sleep as well, my mental health suffers and my energy levels drop. If I drink alcohol I don’t sleep well, I get heartburn and I feel tired.

In my 20s, I didn’t look after myself (smoking, drinking, junk food, no exercise, burning the candle at both ends, occasional drugs) and it didn’t make me feel shit because I was young and my body was resilient. Huge difference now that I’m late 40s and perimenopausal. I don’t like feeling tired and shit, so I look after myself (but still have treats).

My mum and dad were pretty clean-living and very active. They both got cancer and died in their 60s. It wasn’t ‘fair’ but that’s how it is. Given how common cancer sadly is, and the fact both parents had it, I would not be at all surprised to get cancer at some point. Obviously I hope I don’t and my lifestyle hopefully lessens the risks, but I look after myself because of how it makes me feel NOW not because of how it affects my cancer risk.

Breast cancer does have a significant hereditary genetic element. That’s why doctors ask about family history of cancer (and also of heart disease).

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/breast-cancer/risks-causes/family-history-and-inherited-genes

I suspect Kate is underweight rather than a picture of health - which has its own set of issues.

There’s nothing to say her prognosis wouldn’t have been worse if she was a less healthy person.

One person's diagnosis is not data.

Mass studies show the impact of healthy living on disease. That's all you need to know

I guess you don't smoke? I know people who smoke who have lived to a long time but who haven't got lung cancer. Does that mean smoking's ok?

You need to look at the mass studies - not one person

Yes I bet her two week wait was nearer a month! I imagine she had the expertise almost immediately.

I'm the same age as Kate so your op did resonate. You think if she exercises, has access to the best food and healthcare and she's still got it.

What I do think though is she (and other rich people) have access to the best screening and tests so things are picked up that aren't in the rest of us.

It is a fair point, still her doctors are not gods.
She will be more comfortable than anyone else for sure yet the realisation that she would trade all the perks of her lifestyle for another chance, one without illness …

Lots of poor people have great health and are happy with the basics. I’ve met tons of them as a social worker in rural part of a south american country in my youth and it made me realise very early on how status and riches are not everything.

Stress has a major impact on health

Honestly the same thought crossed my mind.

Realistically, though, healthy living is only ever shaving a percentile off here and there. Improving your odds.

Stuff happens in the womb before we ever get a chance to influence it. I think my mum was told to smoke for her health, for example. I can’t remember whether she was pregnant with me or my sister at the time.

She may have been exposed to a higher than usual dose of radiation through flying, or toxins through eating oysters or some other wealthy person problem!

Overall genes and luck. Do your best, no guarantees etc.

It really doesn’t op

On a population level you can see the trends, it doesn’t mean there won’t be outliers