Finally figured out why I got Colon Cancer

[Kick'nAssCancer'sAss]

So how does a guy who does not smoke, maybe drinks one beer a year, who cycles over a thousand miles a summer and plays hockey in the winter get diagnosed with colorectal cancer? How does a guy with absolutely no family history of cancer get to hear those three dreaded words “you have cancer”?

Well the simple answer would be that you are over fifty years old (I was 53 at dx) and you have a colon. Cancer in many cases is luck of the draw, a crap shoot. Smoking, drinking and family history just increase the odds.

OK fair enough but I knew there had to be more and I found it.

BACON!! Yes bacon.

I like most Canadian’s love the taste of bacon. I love the smell of bacon. The only think I don’t like about bacon is cooking it, especially without a shirt on. It is messy and can be painful. That aside those are small prices to pay to savour a pigs number one contribution to mankind.

Many years ago when I started working I was on the road every day. I would start every day with the same breakfast. Bacon and eggs, double toast, potatoes, all washed down with a couple of coffees and a glass of water. I was a lean guy always have been and basically could eat what I wanted, which I had no problem doing.

I had two or three greasy spoon diners which were my favorites in the city of Toronto. Steve’s Restaurant on Bathurst Street, The Good Bite on Yonge Street and my number one go to was the Bloor and Jane Restaurant at you guessed it, Bloor and Jane.

The breakfast was always around the same price, five bucks including tip (I’m talking 80’s 90’s prices here) Newspapers were bought from a box and were extra. Johnny at the Bloor and Jane had free Toronto Sun papers to read while dining in his fine establishment. Maybe that was why his place became my favorite.

Ok. I will try to figure out my bacon consumption over a job I kept for well over twenty years. Now when I say I ate bacon and eggs every day, it does not actually mean I ate that breakfast every single day 365 days a year. I would also consume the same breakfast on weekends at a local eatery known as the Orchard Family Restaurant in Mississauga. So for arguments sake I am going to say 300 days a year I ate bacon for breakfast and that would be a conservative guess probably more like 330 days a year. Bacon portion was sometimes three sometimes four slices per breakfast so again for arguments sake we will say go with the higher four slices of bacon. After all we were lower end with the 300 days a year.

So the formula would be as follows. 300x4=1200 bacon slices per year. That is just one year and not including any other bacon consumption other than breakfast. Overall after twenty years I consumed 24,000 (1200 X 20) slices of bacon at breakfast. I also did that job for twenty-three years but we are being conservative here.

Considering a pound of regular sliced bacon has between 16 and 20 slices, it would be safe to say that in twenty years I literally ate between 1200 and 1500 pounds of bacon just for breakfast. Since I really did not eat much bacon at home due to the fact I always ate it at breakfast and like I said earlier it was messy we will go with the 1500 pounds of total bacon consumption between the years 1981-2001.

WTF a f'n three quarters of a ton of nitrate infested bacon.

My mother always warned me about eating that much bacon with all those nitrates she said I was killing myself. Well you know that saying “Mother always knows best”

Who would of thunk it?

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/m ... s-sausages

[CRguy]

Interesting article buddy and the nitrate / nitrite / nitrosamines are certainly some major bad hombres here ...
AND also occur in a lotta' other foods/products.

I agree, you've probably OD'd on bacon
BUTT I was a once a week bacon and eggs guy, and maybe twice a week BLT sandwich guy
ALSO with your type of exercise regimen and doing a mediterranean diet for years
AND the only common link I guess = I was an older guy with a BUTT

Not to disparage celeb chef Emeril Lagasse ... BUTT sometimes maybe " pork fat doesn't ... rule ! "

and I think there is always more to this than we think .....
so we just keep on ... KEEPIN' ON !!!!
OR we could call up Bob and Doug McKenzie for a meal of beer fried back bacon with a couple of hosers
and like just take off eh !!! ?

Cheers and Harmony fellow Canuck !
CRguy

[risto]

Thank you for your very candid analysis. It is a good warning for others.
I really hope you'll be able to beat it!
BTW - My DW has been vegan since 10 years before diagnosis and vegetarian another 10 years before that. So you can't be too sure about the bacon.

[Utwo]

So how does a guy who does not smoke, maybe drinks one beer a year, who cycles over a thousand miles a summer and plays hockey in the winter get diagnosed with colorectal cancer? How does a guy with absolutely no family history of cancer get to hear those three dreaded words “you have cancer”?
...
OK fair enough but I knew there had to be more and I found it.
BACON!! Yes bacon.

muskokamike, you should have posted this 21 minutes later, on April 1st.
Based on your nic, I assume that you live in the EDT zone.

[horizon]

I agree, you've probably OD'd on bacon
BUTT I was a once a week bacon and eggs guy, and maybe twice a week BLT sandwich guy
ALSO with your type of exercise regimen and doing a mediterranean diet for years
AND the only common link I guess = I was an older guy with a BUTT

Ditto on this. Don't beat yourself up about it. I was in great shape, maybe ate bacon 1-2 a month, almost never ate other red meat, no family history, no genetic predisposition, and blammo....you've got colon cancer.

[henry123]

The China Study by Dr. T Campbell clearly established linkage between consumption of animal protein and cancer.
Yes , some vegans do get cancer but I feel heavy consumption of animal proteins including meats, milk , cheeses clearly increases odds of getting red mark. I myself was heavy consumer of milk products and chicken.
So those of us fighting it or trying to reduce chances of occurrence or relapse should definitely consider reduced animal products consumption along with a more active lifestyle and monitoring.