We’re all guilty of it on occasion.
Taking a second—or even a third—helping when one would have been plenty. Or opening a bag of snacks and realizing two hours and a movie later you’ve downed the entire bag.
If it only ever happens once in a blue moon I’d chalk it up to being human.
But chronic overeating can stand in the way of your health in far too many ways to count. And now we have a new… and frightening… consequence to add to the list.
Colon cancer is the second deadliest cancer in the US
According to a team of researchers at Thomas Jefferson, Harvard University and Duke Medical School, eating too much could be putting you right smack dab in the direct path of colon cancer.
And with skyrocketing obesity rates it’s really no surprise that colon cancer is the third most common cancer and second leading cause of cancer death here in the United States.
In other words, our fight isn’t just against obesity anymore it’s a fight against a killer cancer.
The researchers made the connection between overeating and colon cancer by looking at the intestinal lining of obese lab rats, according to the study published in the journal Cancer Research.
Overeating clicks the off-switch on a key hormone
They found that overeating acted essentially like an off switch for a critically important hormone called guanylin. Guanylin helps to protect us against cancer by jumpstarting special receptors in our intestines that discourage tumors from forming.
But when guanylin production is switched off those anti-cancer receptors just sit silently by.
According to the lead researcher Dr. Scott Waldman there’s around 80 percent less guanylin activity in extremely obese people than their thin counterparts.
Which helps explain, at least in part, why you have a 50 percent greater risk of developing colon cancer if you’re obese.
Put down the fork, close the bag and step away from the table
It’s time to get serious about overeating. Make a commitment, starting today, to be more mindful whenever you eat.
Don’t take more than you need or accidentally overeat out of boredom or stress.
By far, the easiest way I’ve ever found to both curb over-eating and lose extra pounds is to switch to a healthy low-carbohydrate diet such as the Paleo Diet. Full of filling animal and nut proteins—and plenty of low-sugar veggies and fruits—it will leave you both healthy and feeling satisfied.
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Michael says
February 5, 2016 at 2:27 pmThank you doctor for being so right on the subject! After researching on natural integrative and holistic medicine science for the last 8 years, I came to the point where the concept of being really healthy is directly associated with the type of food we eat and how much we eat. One thing for sure is most of us in this country somehow afraid to die from hunger. Look around to see the number of buffet restaurants where you can eat as much as you want for a fixed cheap price. This is appealing to a lot of people and they eat and eat more just because it’s cheap and unlimited. Usually, the food being served in these type buffets is pure junk and very unhealthy. However, a lot of people don’t care and being ignorant as long as the food is cheap and unlimited. Well, they will pay the highest price later with their health or even with their life. I had couple friends who used to go to this type of eatery and one of them already died from colon cancer at the age of 55 and another was diagnosed with colon cancer too having the chemotherapy. His prognoses are NOT good. So stop being cheap and become wise. Eat the best food you can afford and in the control moderation. The older you are, the lees food you need period!