Barbara Ehrenreich, author, political activist and breast cancer survivor, writes on the "Blame the cancer patient" mentality this week on her blog in a piece titled, "What Causes Cancer: Probably Not You."Ehrenreich writes about the new study that came out last week about fruits and vegetables not preventing the recurrence of breast cancer:
The perennial temptation to blame disease on sin or at least some grave moral failing just took another hit. A major new study shows that women on a virtuous low fat diet with an extraordinary abundance of fruits and veggies were no less likely to die of breast cancer than women who grazed more freely.
Ehrenreich also criticizes the positive psychology movement, where any health setback can be conquered with optimism, writing that the science here is "shaky at best."
Ehrenreich concludes that "optimism, especially about the validity of the conventional wisdom, can be hazardous. What you need is a narrow-eyed, deeply skeptical attitude."
1. There is one cause for cancer. A gene mutation. This causes the cells to overgrow and behave differently and in a detrimental matter. We may never know exactly what external factors can cause the mutations. But we do know that a small part is hereditary, mom had it, dad had it, you will likely have it. Living healthy is never wrong. Beating yourself up for a cheeseburger or chocolate cake is wrong. Cancer is a disease, and for some as unavoidable as breathing, but for others a total crap shoot. Live happy, be well, watch your own body for changes!
Posted at 3:47PM on Jul 25th 2007 by Carrie