Guys, cancer is on the rise. It's freaking scary. So I've seen a report and I double-checked it with the eye, I then checked that it was scientific, robust evidence that's come out about men that are younger than 50 normally, prostate cancer and other illnesses. You become more prone to them when you're 50 and beyond. And I'm 49 now, so it's pretty important to me. I've just booked a health screening test. So I had one in 2024. So for this one, I can't get an automatic NHS one. I've got to speak to the doctor uh next week, I think, um, to say why I want one out of the ordinary time frame. And I'll explain why I'm getting one in a second and why I had one in 2024. But before I do, welcome to Beyond Bathroom Blues Podcast, helping men understand irritable bowel syndrome, IBS, reducing symptoms, and take back control of their health and their life. Each episode focuses on clarity, not quick fixes. So you can stop guessing, make sense of what's actually going on in your gut and your mind, and move forward with confidence. I'm your host, Glen Cook Winchurch. Let's get into today's episode. So the health check, the thing that I read this morning when we were discussing with CJ is how cancer, especially prostate cancer, is on the rise in younger men. Even fit men that don't smoke, never smoke, seemingly healthy lifestyle again as well. That's pretty, pretty scary stuff, especially if they haven't got a family history of it. So looking at that, what kind of things is in my mind is I'm thinking, why are men, younger men, getting cancer? Why are you especially prostate cancer and potentially bowel cancer? Now, the obvious one that comes up is alcohol. It's one of the reasons, one of many reasons I stopped drinking several years ago along with CJ for my own health and well-being moving forwards, and to obviously pass on a good example to my kids. But that to one side, this is not an alcohol or anti-alcohol video podcast, is obesity. You know, if you've got a big waist circumference as a guy, even a midsection that's pretty tub, then it might be time to consider looking inwards and thinking, right, I need to get a grip of this as I'm getting older, or at whatever age, because overweight, obesity is obviously on the rise in the world, and that's a big thing in all sedentary lifestyle. If you're not doing any exercise and any fitness and getting out there, keeping moving. Maybe you sat down all day in your office. I set my watch to 20 minutes, uh, Pomodoris, so does CJ. Every 20 minutes or so, I'm getting up and moving around the house. I work from home, but you can do it at work as well. And again, it's just a few things that come to mind. Ultra-processed foods and high sugary foods is literally a killer, isn't it? If you're eating them all the time. And then the one thing which this might get a few people's backs up, but I don't care because I I care about you and I want to say it anyway, is things like the carnivore diet that just eating shed loads of red meat. Now that's become more, I say, trending over the last decade. Guess what? All these cancers that are on the eyes in men are from the last decade or to a bit of a coincidence. But scientists have been saying for years that high consumption of red meat is one of the causes for cancer. So it's like, why do people do it? Because influencers are telling you you can get gains, you can lose inflammation, you'll lose body fat, you'll do this, that, and all these benefits and benefits. But is the risk, or is the you know, is the juice worth the squeeze, as we used to say in the army, uh, is the risk versus the reward? So there's all these things. Now, there's there's loads more. Go again, this is not a podcast or a video or anything to do a deep dive on. I'm not a scientist, but the evidence is out there. Please check it out if you're a man, whatever age you are now. I was gonna say if you to if you'd like me and you're 40, I'm 49 now, and if you're nearly 50, it might be worth getting a screening done. But actually, it's probably worth getting one done anyway, isn't it? If you think about it. But again, reflect on your own lifestyle. One of the things that's been critical for me, and I said before at the beginning of the video that I had uh my checks done at in 2024, so what two years ago, so I was 47 at the time. That wasn't just a routine check for me thinking, do you know what? I'm gonna go to doctors and have the finger check for prostate and bloods and all that jazz. And I've shared this story before. I basically went to the toilet, and as I keep recommending to you on here on these videos, and I've said it before, do what I call a two-second life check. Just look down the toilet. You should do that anyway, especially if you're a man suffering with gut conditions, IBS, or just even just looking after your health, is have a look down at your stools when you're finished. And they're the different types there, you know what you'd be looking at. And these are all available online. They're they're just one that I've pulled from men's IBS journal, uh IBS Diary for men, which is what I used during my uh transition, transformation, as you will, when I was struggling and suffering with IBS many years ago, up to getting a diagnosis and then beyond to then achieving IBS mastery. It's it wasn't as a refined journal as what this is. Charlie Jeans uh authored this, and I'll go into some stuff in there so to share with you whether you get one of these or not, what why it's helpful to have one of these things. Because you've got to track what's going on. Look down the toilet at your stools, checking what type it is, but also you're looking for red flags. For me, in 2024, I had dark tarry stools, and they absolutely stunk really, really bad. And there was a lot of blood in there, dark blood as well, not just bright blood, bright blood on the tissue, which obviously could be piles or you could tear yourself. But dark blood, older blood, is alarm bells because these can be signs and symptoms for things like bowel cancer. So you've got to go and get well, you don't have to, you can just ignore it. And I've had a friend, a colleague in the military that that ignored the warning signs for many, probably many years, and then eventually it was too late and he lost his life, you know, he was taken away well before his time, early 50s, married children, absolutely amazing career in the military. Um, you know, he'd gone all the way up through the ranks to then be an officer, all this stuff, and then to be just taken before his time. Because, and I'm not saying even if he'd got gone to the doctors early, that he would have got cured, but the chances I would have had a better chance of success, if that makes sense. So get when you've been to the toilet, just have a quick look, look at your tissue, look down the pan, you're on your own in the toilet, so you don't need to be embarrassed and have a look down. And if you see something that's quite scary or you're not sure, then the best thing to do if you're unsure is make a note of it. Don't commit to memory. I've got a gleaming memory, but you forget stuff, life gets in the way, business, family, oh just everything, doesn't it? You're on, I don't know, even Instagram zaps you, it just zaps your brain, doesn't it? All this AI stuff, and everything's just trying to grab your attention all the time. Before you know it, you've forgot something that's critically important to your life that could have a detrimental effect further down the road. So have a look down the toilet. And also, if you are suffering from gut issues and you've not yet been diagnosed by a medical doctor, not some fricking charlatan or some nutritionist or naturopath, go to a medical doctor. In the UK, it's a general practitioner in America. I'm guessing uh an MD, and get checked properly. Speak to them about your condition, speak to them about your symptoms and what you're suffering with and what you've been experiencing in detail. And even a gastro can help you out as well, a gastroentologist, and speak to them as well. You know, they can diagnose IBS in the UK. And this is where tracking things comes in. Now, in this journal, and I used one of these when I was younger, there's photos of me online using it, and I've shared this before on how to fill them in. Look, we've got to track things on there. Your sleep, your poo. Other symptoms, look, people don't think about tummy pain and bloating, you think about them also, but you don't think about nausea, reflux, anything else. Medications, because medications might have an impact with you. Overall mood and stresses, activities and exercise, water consumption, what have you eaten in the morning, the afternoon, the evening, any snacks, all these things need to be written down. All of it and beyond. And that's why in there there's a it's a guide on how to do that. Because here's the thing no matter how switched on you are, and I, you know, like if you're like me, I am super switched on, I've got an amazing memory, I'm fit, healthy, look after myself, and I'm always striving for excellence in my business, in my family, in myself. And I all still forget things, it's annoying, especially as I'm getting older. We seem to forget more things. And I'm not as sharp as I used to be in my sort of mid-20s, uh early 30s for sure. Even though back then I used to drink shed loads of alcohol and not sleep as well as I do now. So you've got to write things down. If you're a professional guy, you'll be used to this anyway. Just I journal all the time. The old classic Jim Ron leadership journal. Just even journaling for things like your goals and your business and all that sort of stuff, your feelings and and all that, that's great. But not journaling isn't going to affect your life, is it? Unless you're, you know, mapping things out in there to read your health. If you don't journal uh for a week or a month or two, it doesn't really impact your life. Look at how many people don't journal and they have a long, fulfilling life. But however, IBS journaling is a completely different nature, you know, nature of the beast. If you've got gut issues, whether you've been diagnosed or not, get yourself a journal. Don't have to look if you want one of these, the link's in the description. I'll put the link in the description and you can grab one off Amazon. It's an investment in yourself, it's not a cost, it's the cost of inaction, a cost of not doing it. And you don't need to get one of ours. You there's probably other ones online, but a lot of them are all pink and girly, and they're not as discreet as that. But the point being is leaders are readers, but leaders also track, don't they? They track what they do, they track their things in the business, their life, they track the things with the health. Your health is most important. You are the most important person in your life. Even though we like to think, and I'm there, I'm married, I've got an amazing set of kids, and I'm like, right, do you know what? My kids and my wife are my life, and they are. And I prioritise them the majority of the time. But guess what? I come first because you've got to come first. I come first in terms of looking after my health, my physical and mental health, my well-being. And I and I'm focusing on myself all the time as a priority. Because if I'm squared away and if I'm good to go, then I can look after my family, my dogs, my business, clients, and everything else. That should make it. If that doesn't make sense to you and it doesn't compute, then you're crazy. Because look at how many people, let's flick it around a little bit. And I mean, no disrespect to these people, you know, anybody out there, any men that are massively overweight, unfit, unhealthy, and struggling with their health. Because it's sad. It really is sad. But look at them, and they're they've got an amazing family, multi-millions in the bank or in assets, maybe even billionaires. So they've got all the money, property, cars, they might be driving around in flipping Bugatti, Roll Choice, it doesn't matter. All the nice watches, but their health is falling apart, their self is crumbling. And Jim Ron, and I held up a Jim Ron journal there, said it best is look after your body because it's the only place you have to live. And it's so true. So I'm going off on a bit of a tangent because I'm passionate about this. I'm passionate about helping men with their health and their well-being, especially mental health and physical health, and also in terms of your gut health. So if you haven't got uh yet, if you've got if you're suffering with symptoms, if you're suffering and you're having issues, start tracking things. You've got to start tracking things rather than just going to the doctors and saying, and I've been there, I've been to doctors years ago before I met CJ, and I'm like, yeah, I think I've got a bit of tummy pain and a bit of this going on. I've had some diarrhea. Doctors are gonna be thinking, well, hang on a minute, you could have um D and V, you know, you might just have a stomach bug, you could have a bit of mild food poisoning, you could have this, you could the list is like so. The more detailed, it's like anything, isn't it? The more the better the information that's given to somebody, the better the outcome is that you're gonna get. And like I say, in there, it it shows everything how to do. You know, there's there's no point having a journal and not knowing how to fill it out. So track what's going on because and and also circling all the way back to the beginning about we we talked about cancer being on the rise, and again, it's not a scare tactic, this is truth that's out there. You can go and do your research. If you've not had a diagnosis of your IDS, go and get one. If you need to know uh what steps to get the best diagnosis possible, what steps you should take, again, under the link for the journal in the description to the video and the podcast, I'll put a link, a second link of uh a free My Gift to You diagnosis check check sheet. So you can just take that, you can print it off or have it on your phone, save it as a screensaver, and you can just take it to the doctors with you and you can have it out in front of you, and you can just tick tick along mentally and go, yeah, and then you've you know you're gonna get hopefully the best outcome possible. And also, I if it was me and in the past, I would have that. So the diagnosis check sheet, which again is free, and I would have a journal. Again, if you want to grab one of these, you can do it. I would highly recommend it because it you know it's an investment in yourself, in your health. If not, have something similar, uh just have things written down, everything, and then you've been armed with all that right information, and you can set yourself up for success, set the doctor up for success or the gastro and get the best outcome possible. That's my recommendation in terms of uh helping you out, and also circling back to the the whole getting health screening. If you're 50 or you're 49, like I am, go and get it in the UK. I don't know if it's the same in America and Canada. It's probably worth considering swallowing your pride. If it, yeah, you might be scared or you might be a little embarrassed. But look, at the end of the day, what would be worse? What's worse? Going to the doctor and having a finger check your prostate and having some blood taken, a needle, and waiting for the results and whatever else to do, so a few checks, which is not that bad, really. You just kind of got to get over yourself with it, versus like my colleague in the army, not doing it, brushing it off and thinking sod it, I'll be alright, and then getting to the point where it potentially it's too late. Especially if you've got family history. If you've got family history, you should you should have had it done anyway, is get that done. I see too many comments, and it is heartbreaking, even though I don't know the p the men personally, and on the YouTube videos that I've done historically about cancer awareness and sharing videos similar to this where men have commented saying they left it too late. It's it's so so sad. And what's even I guess worse, that in several occasions they were literally uh being given how much time left to live. And it's absolutely awful thinking that somebody is at the other end of that message, they've wrote that on their computer or on their phone, and they've posted it to help raise the awareness and help other men out, which is fantastic of them. And to think that they're not, they're probably not even here anymore. But there we are. Well, we've got to help each other out in life, it's my belief. We we're here as men, we're the hunter-gatherers. We need to look after ourselves so we can look after everybody else. Take care, God bless, and I wish you nothing but the best. Have a good weekend. Thanks for spending your time with me today. Don't take that lightly and our precious time is. If you found this helpful, follow the podcast so you don't miss future episodes. Until next time, take care, be blessed by the best, and keep moving forward.