Good news from Newsweek?  − 4 July, 2008

The only time I read Newsweek is in waiting rooms, or at the café when I have forgotten my book and there is no better magazine available. This happened on Wednesday. It broke my Pavlovian streak of being stimulated to creativity by reading at the café. In fact I have not felt a single ounce of creativity since Tuesday. That’s pretty bad, given how things have been going since I started writing fiction.

 

So I picked up this Newsweek since I had to have something to read. I’m lousy at just staring into space, and my café is not a bustling one. There was an article about cancer written by two doctors. It is stated a few findings that gave me hope, given my almost irrational fear of cancer.

 

First, it said only 10% of cancer is determined by genetics.

 

Second, it said that the three biggest factors determining whether we get cancer are 1) the American diet; 2) obesity; and 3) lack of exercise.

 

Better yet, now listen up folks, there are benefits to regular exercise even when there is no weight loss.

 

That’s right! So for all you folks (myself included) who diligently do their duty at the gym, but can’t seem to lose weight, pat yourselves on the back anyhow. You are still doing your body good.

 

On the other hand, if you are obese, get yourself down to that body mass which takes you out of the almost absurdly stringent range that is considered to be obese.

 

I ought to quit worrying about cancer. I do not eat the classic American diet. I am not obese. I work out regularly, or a least I have a history of it. I don’t know whether my walks in the woods count. But over the winter I was pretty good about it.

 

 FYI – the article was in Newsweek from June 23, 2008. The article is called “Your Lifestyle, Your Genes, and Cancer” by Robert A. Weinberg and Anthony L. Komaroff.

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