Let’s Make October Breast Health Month–Ways You Can Promote Breast Health!

Every October, we are reminded about breast cancer–we are invited to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. What has always bothered me about this is the focus on disease–we are focused on celebrating our awareness of a disease. In my opinion, our focus is in the wrong place, because I believe what we focus on, we manifest. I wish we could begin to focus on breast health instead.

In order to move this posting in the direction of ways you can promote breast health, however, I feel the need to include some comments and statistics excerpted from Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way by Susun S. Wise as background and to substantiate what I believe:

Susun S. Wise states in her book, which was published in 1996, “It’s true that there’s more breast cancer now than ever before, that between 1979 and 1986 the incidence of invasive breast cancer in the United States increased 29 percent among white women and 41 percent among black women, and incidence of all breast cancers doubled. It’s true that the percentage of women dying from breast cancer has remained virtually unchanged over the past 50 years, and that every 12 minutes throughout the last half of the twentieth century another woman died of breast cancer. And it’s true that breast cancer is the disease that women fear more than any other, that breast cancer is the biggest killer of all women aged 35 to 54, and that of the 2.5 million women currently diagnosed with breast cancer, half will be dead within 10 years.”

She further states, “These facts frighten me, and they also make me angry. My studies spanning 25 years and many disciplines have convinced me that the majority of breast cancers are causally related to the high levels of radiation and chemicals released into our air, water, soil and food over the past 50 years. United States government researchers estimate that 80 percent of all cancers are environmentally linked.”

She asks in her book, “What can be done?” As she explains, and I concur, “The answer isn’t as simple as a yearly mammogram. That may help detect breast cancer, but it won’t prevent it. To prevent breast cancer we need to take individual and collective action.”

The action necessary isn’t to continue to search for a cure. As Ms. Weed explains, “Effective action requires understanding the causes of breast cancer and what decreases breast cancer risk. But there are few conclusive answers to these queries, partly because most research focuses on eliminating breast cancer after–not before–it occurs. Science has validated so few risk factors for breast cancer that 70 percent of the women diagnosed with breast cancer have ‘no identifiable risk factors.’”

There are risk factors for breast cancer that are scientifically accepted. These include sex, age, lifetime exposure to estrogen (which includes whether or not and when a woman had children, whether or not and for how long a woman nursed,and when a woman started and ended menses), family history (including genetic predisposition), lifetime exposure to radiation, race, culture, height and weight, level of exercise, and a woman’s exposure to DES in utero.

There are other risk factors that I believe are likely ones–and Susan Weed discusses these as well in her book–however these are not yet scientifically accepted. These, along with a few others, are listed on the American Cancer Society’s website as causes that are not yet proven. They include organochlorines, petrochemicals, electromagnetic fields, and tobacco smoke (which is usually linked to lung cancer).

According to the American Cancer Society, the only steps one should take to lower your risk of breast cancer, are as follows:
1. Yearly mammograms.
2. Eat a healthy diet to help control weight, since being overweight or obese may raise breast cancer risk.
3. Get regular physical activity. The American Cancer Society recommends 30 minutes a day, 5 or more days a week. Forty-five to 60 minutes a day is even better for reducing breast cancer risk.
4. Limit the amount of alcohol you drink to no more than 1 drink per day. Alcohol is clearly linked to an increased risk of developing breast cancer.

This is not enough! In my opinion, and as stated in Ms. Weed’s book, there are actions we can take as individuals to promote breast health and thus prevent breast cancer that go far beyond what the American Cancer Society lists. There is a limit to the control we have over our exposure to petrochemicals, radiation and other environmental cancer-inciters; however, the more we understand and learn, the more we can make educated choices about what we ALLOW into our lives. So, some of the steps I believe we can take as individuals include the following:

1. Buy organically grown food. It is important that we eat foods that have not been chemically treated with pesticides, antibiotics, or growth hormone. It is better to eat a primarily vegetarian diet, or if you follow the guidelines of The China Study, eat a completely vegan diet, with all foods derived from plants, seeds and grains. According to Whole Foods Diet Cookbook, you can elect to become a “flexitarian” which is someone who eats a predominantly plant-based diet but still eats moderate-size servings of land and sea animals one or two times a day. Whichever you prefer or whichever way you choose to go, the essential elements to a healthy diet are to GO ORGANIC and EAT WHOLE FOODS primarily.

2. Wherever and as much as possible, avoid organochlorines. Here are some ways to do that:
*Buy only organic butter, dairy, grains, beans, meat.
*Avoid non-organic produce from places where pesticide standards are lax.
*Avoid microwaving food and minimize your use of canned food.
*Avoid drinking chlorinated water. Install a chlorine filter in your home that services the entire home or, at a minimum, on the tap where you draw water for drinking and cooking.
*Avoid showering or swimming in chlorinated water. Again, install a household chlorine filter or, at a minimum, put chlorine filters on your showerheads.
*Buy peroxide-bleached or unbleached paper products.
*Use non-chemical cleaning supplies and no bleach. It’s easy to make your own cleaning supplies–you need very few ingredients and it’s very cost-effective too!
*Minimize or eliminate plastic usage in your home.

3. Avoid or minimize exposure to petrochemicals. Handling and breathing petroleum products, such as gasoline, kerosene, formaldehyde, and benzene, is risky. Petrochemicals CAN be absorbed through the skin and scalp, and then human organs and tissues – and over time these chemical agents can lead to nerve, liver and brain damage, birth defects, acute asthma, and cancer – Shocking, but true! Petrochemicals can be found in household cleaning products, fruits and vegetables, water, personal care products (mineral oil is a petrochemical), and home furnishings.

4. Distance yourself from electromagnetic fields in your home. Our house wiring, computers, TVs, refrigerators, hair dryers, electric blankets, clocks, ovens, electric fans, electrical appliances, cordless phones and cells phones all produce EMFs. Within 28 inches of the source; however, they are less than 80 percent as powerful. So, keep all electrical products at a distance. Try to minimize the time you keep other electrical products close to your head (such as cell phones and hair dryers).

5. Avoid tobacco smoke, excessive use of alcohol, and excessive calories in your diet.

6. Do include the following in your diet: phytoestrogens, cabbage family plants, grains, beans, foods with plenty of carotenes and high levels of Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and selenium.

7. Get plenty of Vitamin D.

8. Get adequate levels of melatonin production by sleeping in total darkness and consuming a low-calorie diet.

9. Get regular, significant exercise throughout your life by maintaining an active lifestyle and incorporating exercise or movement that pleases you into your life.

10. Incorporate spiritual practices that nourish your soul: prayer, meditation, journaling, and visualization are all wonderful!

11. Include laughter and play in your life! Entertain and give voice to the child within!!

12. Do what you can and then let go! Let go of fear and worry and trust that you are doing as much as you can to promote good health for yourself and your family!

13. Above all else, love and allow yourself to be loved!!!