Blog 10: Factors Influencing a Healthy Lifestyle

   I believe that the things you experience in your lifetime influence your choices to lead a healthier lifestyle in order to reduce the risks of cardiovascular disease and cancer. I know that my experiences with different illnesses in my family have influenced my decision to stop smoking, become a vegetarian and exercise on a regular basis. I have witnessed several of my uncles and aunts battle cancer and eventually lose. I never really thought about the link between cancer, diet and exercise but I did know that cancer was something that I wanted to take an active role in preventing. I began searching out information on cancer and what measures to take towards prevention. My biggest learning experience came when my father was rushed in for emergency surgery to fix his coronary arteries; three of them had become 99% occluded. Through his recovery, I began to learn about diet and exercise and eventually changed my diet to completely vegetarian, started exercising and eventually I was able to quit smoking. My mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, she is currently receiving chemotherapy, which has reinforced my interest in eating as healthy as possible.