Bacon, sausages and ham rank alongside smoking as cancer causes, says WHO

[djean111]

55. I have been on that Atkins diet, sometimes off, mostly on, since the '70s.

I am almost 70, no prescription drugs, blood pressure usually 105 or so over 65-70. Colonoscopy two years ago - nothing to be found. No diabetes, cholesterol levels great. I get my checkup once a year - my doctor recently lost weight, I commented, she said yeah, I tried skipping the carbs and sugar, like you said you do, and damn if that does not work for me.

My truck broke down recently, I have been making the three mile round trip to the grocery store in weather that "feels like" 110. Got really sweaty, that's about it. And I am not an exerciser, though I know I should be. I take some supplements, not many.

Your data is anecdotal, my data is anecdotal. I knew a guy who died at 50 with pancreatic cancer who thought he had lactose intolerance, and skipped dairy and fats, including fatty meats, all of his life. Turned out it was his pancreas. There are so many reasons for an organ to fail, some unavoidable, IMO.

I think genetics has a lot to do with things. My mother died at 49 from cancer that metastasized from her uterus to her pretty much everything. I don't know about her lifestyle choices, since I had not seen her from when I was six until right before she died. I think she drank a lot, but then so did I, back in the day. I am surprised my liver did not depart in the middle of the night, leaving a note that said it had to save itself - blood tests and sonograms say it, and the rest of my innards, are just fine now.

There is no one size fits all, again IMO. But I will stick with Atkins. Can't really afford a lot of the steak and bacon and such any more, I stick to cheese and fibrous veggies and nuts and BUTTER and eggs, stuff like that. It works for me. Sorry for the detail, but it bothers me when low-carbing is dismissed as a killer in that broad-brush way.