What we eat is the number one determinant of how long we live. What we eat is what determines most whether we’ll die prematurely. What we eat is what determines most whether we become disabled or not.

Does it really matter what we eat? Well, the good news is, we have tremendous power over our health destiny and longevity. The majority of premature death and disability is preventable, with a healthy enough diet. It’s…the…food.

Diet is the #1 cause of cancer. Cancer is, therefore, a preventable disease, but it does require major lifestyle changes. Only 5-10% of cancer is in our genes, our family history. The other 90 to 95% of cancer risk is caused by what we expose our bodies to.

Of the 90-95%, tobacco contributes about a quarter of the risk in the United States. There are some infectious causes—particularly in people with AIDS—but diet, if you include obesity and alcohol, makes up about 50% of our cancer risk. And cell phones, air pollution, X-rays, everything else, all just fits into that last 10-15%.

Anything about our diet in particular? From a massive new study in Canada last year, total meat consumption was directly related to the risk of not only stomach cancer, but colon cancer, and rectal cancer, and pancreatic cancer, and lung cancer, and breast cancer, and prostate cancer, and testicular cancer, and kidney cancer, bladder cancer, and more leukemia as well.