July 2025 Moreton & Company Health Insights Newsletter

Preventing Cancer Through Wellness
Eight healthy behaviors can go a long way toward improving your health and lowering your risk of many cancers–as well as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Small changes can have a big impact.

1. Maintain a Healthy Weight - Keeping a healthy weight can be hard, but it has health benefits, including lowering the risk of 13 different cancers.
2. Exercise Regularly - While it’s not always easy to find the time, fitting in at least 30 minutes of activity every day can make a difference.
3. Avoid Tobacco - Tobacco causes many types of cancer, along with other serious problems. If you smoke or use smokeless tobacco (like chewing tobacco, snuff or snus), quitting is one of the best things you can do for your health.
4. Eat a Healthy Diet - Focus on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and keep red meat and processed meat to a minimum. It’s also important to cut back on saturated and trans fats, and choose healthy more often.
5. Limit Alcohol - Drinking alcohol can increase the chances of developing six different types of cancer. Zero is best; just ó to 1 drink a day can increase the risk of breast and colon cancer.
6. Beware of UV Radiation - While the warm sun can feel great, too much exposure to its ultraviolet rays can lead to skin cancer, including melanoma. Tanning beds can be just as harmful. Skin damage starts early in childhood, so it’s especially important to start using sun protection at an early age.
7. Practice Safe Sex - Sexually transmitted infections–like human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis, and HIV–can cause a number of different cancers. Practicing safe sex can lower the chance of getting a sexually transmitted infection. Talk to a healthcare provider for more information on vaccination that can help lower your risk of developing cancer.
8. Get Screening Tests - There are a number of important screening tests that can help protect against cancer. Some of these tests find cancer early when it is more treatable, while others can actually help keep cancer from developing in the first place. Check with your health care provider to see what screenings are available to you.