With the recent announcement by Angelina Jolie to have her breasts removed due to having a defective BRCA1 gene, it seems as though the topic of breast cancer is on every one's mind these days. When you consider that her decision is front and center on every news station and magazines like People, it's hard not to think about it. The reality is that only about TWO PERCENT of breast cancer occurrences, so the chances of being faced with her decision are minimal.
But what about the other 98% of women? Unfortunately, my wife Debbie was stricken with this terrible disease last year, and it seems as though you can't find many women these days who don't have a family member or close friend who hasn't had to face this diagnosis. Why is this on the rise? Unfortunately, there are a number of factors for this, but rather than talk about the causes, I'd like to focus on what can PROACTIVELY be done by women to SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER their chances of becoming one of the growing statistics.
While our medical community prefers to focus on higher cure rates through better treatment, wouldn't it make more sense to focus on the things that one can do to avoid it altogether? My family has learned so much about how to do that since hearing the dreaded statement, "you have cancer" last October. In the last six months, Deb has bravely battled through 16 rounds of chemotherapy with surgery and radiation still to come. I often think, "If I had only known then what I know now, could we have avoided this?". While I can't change our journey, my hope is that we can help as many women we know to avoid it as possible. With that said, let's dive into some proactive ways that you can do just that!
- Avoid sugar, especially fructose. All forms of sugar are detrimental to health in general and promote cancer.Fructose, however, is clearly one of the most harmful and should be avoided as much as possible.
- Optimize your vitamin D. Vitamin D influences virtually every cell in your body and is one of nature's most potent cancer fighters. Vitamin D is actually able to enter cancer cells and trigger apoptosis (cell death). If you have cancer, your vitamin D level should be between 70 and 100 ng/ml. Vitamin D works synergistically with every cancer treatment I'm aware of, with no adverse effects.
- Get plenty of natural vitamin A. There is evidence that vitamin A also plays a role in helping prevent breast cancer. It's best to obtain it from vitamin A-rich foods, rather than a supplement. Your best sources are organic egg yolks, raw butter, raw whole milk, and beef or chicken liver.
- Lymphatic breast massage can help enhance your body’s natural ability to eliminate cancerous toxins. This can be applied by a licensed therapists, or you can implement self-lymphatic massage. It is also promotes self-nurturance.
- Avoid charring your meats. Charcoal or flame broiled meat is linked with increased breast cancer risk. Acrilamyde —a carcinogen created when starchy foods are baked, roasted or fried—has been found to increase breast cancer risk as well.
- Avoid unfermented soy products. Unfermented Soy is high in plant estrogens, or phytoestrogens, also known as isoflavones. In some studies, soy appears to work in concert with human estrogen to increase breast cell proliferation, which increases the chances for mutations and cancerous cells.
- Improve your insulin receptor sensitivity. The best way to do this is by avoiding sugar and grains and making sure you are exercising, especially with Peak Fitness.
- Maintain a healthy body weight. This will come naturally when you begin eating right for your nutritional type and exercising. It's important to lose excess body fat because fat produces estrogen.
- Drink a half to whole quart of organic green vegetable juice daily. We use a Vita-mix which keeps all the beneficial fibers of the fruits and vegetables we use intact. A less expensive alternative to the Vita-mix that does a great job is the Nutri-Bullet.
- Take Juice Plus Daily
- Get plenty of high quality animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. Omega-3 deficiency is a common underlying factor for cancer.
- Curcumin. This is the active ingredient in turmeric and in high concentrations can be very useful adjunct in the treatment of breast cancer. It shows immense therapeutic potential in preventing breast cancer metastasis. We throw a piece of turmeric into our smoothies every day.
- Avoid drinking alcohol, or at least limit your alcoholic drinks to one per day.
- Breastfeed exclusively for up to six months. Research shows breastfeeding can reduce your breast cancer risk.
- Avoid wearing underwire bras. There is a good deal of data that metal underwire bras can heighten your breast cancer risk.
- Avoid electromagnetic fields as much as possible. Even electric blankets can increase your cancer risk.
- Avoid synthetic hormone replacement therapy. Breast cancer is an estrogen-related cancer, and according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer rates for women dropped in tandem with decreased use of hormone replacement therapy. (There are similar risks for younger women who use oral contraceptives. Birth control pills, which are also comprised of synthetic hormones, have been linked to cervical and breast cancers.)
- Avoid BPA, phthalates, parabens and other toxic xenoestrogens. These are estrogen-like compounds that have been linked to increased breast cancer risk. This includes ditching the cosmetics, shampoos, soaps and deodorants that have these. Here's an example of the deodorant my wife now uses that is paraben free:
If you are experiencing excessive menopausal symptoms, you may want to consider bioidentical hormone replacement therapy instead, which uses hormones that are molecularly identical to the ones your body produces and do not wreak havoc on your system. This is a much safer alternative.
- Make sure you're not iodine deficient, as there's compelling evidence linking iodine deficiency with breast cancer. Dr. David Brownstein, author of the book Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can't Live Without It, is a proponent of iodine for breast cancer. It actually has potent anticancer properties and has been shown to cause cell death in breast and thyroid cancer cells.
By being proactive in these areas rather than simply hoping to not become a statistic, you can DRASTICALLY REDUCE your chances of facing this dreaded disease. My hope is that we can begin to share more of a dialogue about prevention rather than so called "awareness".
That starts with sharing this post with everyone that you know via all types of social media. Your decision to do so may have an impact on someone's health and well being! Thanks!
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Much of the information in this blog was shared from the following article:
