Most of us know that if we improved our lifestyle, we would feel a lot better, be a lot healthier, and live a lot longer.

True Neighbourhood Heroes don't just talk about improving their lifestyle ... they do it. That's why they are fifty percent more likely to live cancer-free. That's right, they improve their chances of living cancer-free by fifty percent.

Soon after her father died of lung cancer, today's Neighbourhood Hero, Denyse McCullough, began implementing her lifestyle improvement plan. A few years after that, she became President of the Nanaimo Unit of the Canadian Cancer Society.

Of course the first thing Denyse did was quit smoking. Smoking causes roughly 30% of all cancer deaths in Canada. Lung cancer is the leading cause of death for both men and women, but smoking also increases our risk of developing cancers of the mouth, throat, larynx, cervix, pancreas, oesophagus, colon, rectum, kidney, and bladder.

Smoking may be the toughest mountain you'll have to climb on your travels toward a cancer-free lifestyle, but there is help available if you Google "Quit Smoking" on the Internet, or simply check with your doctor.

You'll also find it easier if, as I did when I quit smoking twenty-five years ago, you see it as a life or death decision. I chose life over cigarettes. Denyse made a similar decision.

The next mountain involves exercise and nutrition. Over the years Denyse has become somewhat of an expert in this field and there is no shortage of books for you to study. But the basics are simple.

The exercise part is as easy as buying a decent pair of walking shoes if you don't already have a pair, and then getting out every day rain or shine. After a few months you will feel so good, you'll want to do more and a variety of inexpensive home-based exercise plans are available.

Studies strongly indicate that exercise reduces your risk of colon cancer. There is also evidence of a link between physical activity and breast cancer.

As far as nutrition is concerned, research suggests as much as one third of all cancers may be related to what we eat and drink.

Denyse makes sure she eats between five and ten servings of fruit and vegetables a day as well as plenty of whole grain fibre. She also keeps her dietary fat intake low by eating less red meat and more fish and chicken.

"I fill three quarters of my plate with fruit and vegetables," she told me, "and one quarter with protein."

Protecting yourself from environmental carcinogens is the third of the four basic steps in your cancer-prevention program.

Once again there are many books on the subject but Denyse's advice for beginners is to always wash your fruit and vegetables under cold running water, and if you must use strong household cleaners, be sure to do so only in a well-ventilated room.

The last of the big four cancer prevention lifestyle habits is to remember to use sun screen and a broad-brimmed hat especially in the summer.

Both Denyse and I had to confess that we still have a way to go before we can claim total success in this area.

Denyse says her husband does a much better job than she does, and I am no better that she. A year ago my doctor told me I should apply sunscreen every morning -- winter and summer -- and yet I haven't been doing it.

Now that I have written this column, I promise to stop thinking about it, and start doing it ... every day.

It was only after her father died of lung cancer that Denyse McCullough chose to begin the four-prong cancer prevention program.

What will have to happen before you make that same decision...and then act on it?