Proactive Breast Health

If you don’t want to get breast cancer, don’t think about getting it!

“Clearly,” you say, “he must be mad!” How could a physician who specializes in optimal health make such a ridiculous statement? Here’s how: don’t focus on your fear; visualize vitality.

Aim For Your Desired Destination

When young people are learning to drive, they often swerve a lot at first. Their nail-biting path is due to where they mistakenly place their attention; on avoiding the curb. As they look at the yellow lines they unconsciously drive toward the curb! Young drivers soon learn not to drive to avoid the curb but instead drive toward their destination. In driving, the key is to keep your car tuned up and steer toward your desired destination.

Similarly, don’t spend your time and energy hoping to avoid breast cancer. This does not mean you should put your head in the sand! On the contrary, keeping your body in top shape is a key move, an important part of focusing on health. Do every thing you can to keep the machine you call your body in a state of optimal health and then steer for your destination: in this case, healthy breasts.

Practice Powerful, Proactive Prevention

While many wait passively for modern medicine to find the magic bullet cure for breast cancer, many women are waking up to the realization that it is better to take a more empowering, proactive role in their own health and try to prevent health issues from arising in the first place. Whether you like it or not, you have a lot of say in your state of health or illness; the choice is largely yours. Don’t be a victim!

There is much that can and should be done to keep your breasts as healthy as possible. Determining your risk is a good place to start. Modern science is discovering that how you break down estrogen can have a real impact on the likelihood of developing breast cancer. Excess stimulation of breast tissue by estrogens increases your risk of developing breast cancer. Your doctor can do a simple urine test to find out if you break down estrogen predominately into a safe form or a more carcinogenic one. If you are one of those women who breaks down estrogen excessively in an unhealthy manner then natural, safe supplements such as indole-3-carbinol found in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli or phytoestrogen-rich foods like soy or flax seeds can help.

Don’t put it off - get those routine screening tests done! Get a mammogram or better, if available, have digital infrared imaging of your breasts. This star wars technology is based on extremely sensitive cameras, which detect heat instead of colors. In this down to earth application, by detecting minute differences in the temperature of different areas of the breasts this technology can detect tumors years before mammography. Along with being totally painless, this technology does not expose the woman to any radiation.

If you’re carrying around a lot of extra weight get rid of it! Besides the increase in heart disease, osteoporosis, and other chronic diseases, obese women have a higher incidence of breast cancer. If you need help shedding extra weight, get it! Bypass the fad diets. Check with a nutritionist or dietician if you can to help you get on a plan that will bring perhaps slower but long lasting results. Eat 5-7 portions of colorful fruits and vegetables each day (remembering those cruciferous ones in particular!) Get into a regular exercise routine doing something you enjoy 4-5 times each week. Not only will this help you lose weight, it will lower your stress level, improve your mood, and strengthen your immune system, all of which lower your risk of cancer.

Read My Lips: It’s the Environment!

Take control of your environment! Chemicals in the air, water, and food supply can and will effect your chance of developing breast cancer. Many of the 160 billion kilograms of synthetic chemicals released into the environment each year are xenoestrogens- environmental compounds with estrogen-like effects on the body that may cause hormone-related cancer in susceptible individuals.

What can you do? Read labels and avoid using pesticides or herbicides at all costs. Of course, don’t start smoking and if you do, quit. I don’t care if your father smoked two packs a day for his entire life: you may not be so lucky! Don’t use the excuse that your father survived his dance with the ditch. Remember; keep your sights on your destination.

In terms of your food supply, whenever possible buy organic. When you can’t, rinse your produce well before consuming it. Try to avoid hormone-fed beef and poultry and replace them with soy. High intake of soy products and the isoflavones they contain are associated with low rates of breast cancer. Reduce your consumption of animal fats and increase your intake of fiber. This will help your body excrete excess estrogens. Increase your consumption of whole foods and fruits and vegetables which are rich in vitamins and other anti-oxidants. Be aware alcohol consumption increases estrogen levels and evidence is accumulating that even moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of breast cancer.

Make sure you are getting enough antioxidants and other vitamins particularly Vit. E – get at least 400 and preferably 800 I.U. every day. Vit. E inhibits the growth of breast cancer cells. Vit. C is very important for breast health, as are the B vitamins including: B2, B6, B12 and folate. Don’t overlook minerals such as selenium, magnesium, and zinc to protect your breasts from the cancer causing DNA damage of xenoestrogens.

Keep your immune system in optimal shape. The immune system is your first and best line of defense against cancer. Besides the above mentioned vitamins and minerals, get regular exercise to improve the elimination phase of dealing with unhealthy chemicals, reduce stress hormone levels, and increase the brain’s endorphin levels. Get adequate sleep. Sleep is the time of repair and rejuvenation

Women need to know that there is hope, that avoidance of thinking about it is not dealing with breast cancer. Women have to be proactive in terms of their breast health. If they want it, women can have more of a say in whether they are healthy or not.