***Healthy Eating for Breast Health

You are what you eat. This is not a myth that cancer has a lot to do with what you eat. Cancer has an insatiable appetite for sugar. It needs a sugary environment to survive.

Dr. Otto Warburg, a 1931 Nobel laureate in medicine first discovered that cancer cells mainly use glucose as a fuel and use so much more of it than normal cells use.

Recent research confirms there is a link between elevated blood sugar levels as well as increased insulin levels and cancer risk. Notably, too much sugar also suppresses our immune system.

How to eliminate sugar from your diet?

An effective tool in eliminating sugar from your diet is to eat according to glycemic load (GL). Focus on food with a low GL, such as vegetables, proteins, and whole grains, but pay special attention to cancer fighting foods like legumes and cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. Cruciferous vegetables are particular beneficial, as they contain components like 13C and DIM which promote the conversion of estrogen to its harmless 2-hydroxyesterone form. Include beta-carotenes found in carrots, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, green leafy vegetables and squash,

Eating the abovementioned foods (GL) helps your blood sugar level from spiraling out of control. An oversupply of high GL food, saturated fats and omega6 fatty acids in your diet may cause your body to become less sensitive to insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar levels. This pre-diabetic condition is called insulin resistance and it raises your risk of developing diabetes and breast disease. Try to reduce the amount of fat in your diet, especially the saturated kind to less than 20% of your diet. Avoid all hydrogenated oils and add a tablespoon of raw flax oil or ground flaxseeds to your food daily.

The Role of Hormones and finding balance

Hormones play an integral role in breast health. Estrogen fuels certain types of breast cancer and excess estrogen has also been linked to fibrocystic breast disease (FBD).

Pharmaceutical hormones as the oral contraceptive pills and HRT have been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. You don’t have to take hormones to be exposed to them. They are present in our food and water and certain chemicals in our environment have hormone-like properties.

Another thing you don’t know is that fatty tissue is a major source of estrogen production in post-menopausal women. High fat diets may reduce the amount of estrogen discarded by the body. High-fat diets may reduce the amount of estrogen discarded by the body, while diets high in fiber and low in fat can reduce the amount of circulating estrogen. The less free estrogen there is in the body, the lower the chances of unwanted lumps in your breasts.

To keep our breasts healthy, it’s important to reduce the amount of estrogen you might get from your diet.

How can we reduce the amount of estrogen in our diets? Try to avoid commercial animal products, which include meats, poultry, and dairy because these foods often contain fake estrogens used to breed the animals themselves. Instead let your diet, be plant-based.

Avoid food that has been in contact with soft plastics that can give off large amounts of toxins, called polymers. These may leach into food and mimic the effects of estrogen in the body. Increase your dietary intake of fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, whey, eggs, nuts and seeds, occasionally including hormone-free poultry and hormone-free low fat dairy products.

Caffeine! Is there a connection?

Studies have not proven a direct link between caffeine and FBD (fibrocystic breast diseases) yet, however, some doctors recommend that women with this condition should avoid coffee as far as possible. The reason based on the report given by women that they experience significant relief from FBD when they eliminated caffeine from their diets. If you believe or suspect caffeine might play a role in your FBD symptoms, eliminate all the possible sources of caffeine – chocolate, coffee, tea, and soft drinks- from your diet for three months to see if your symptoms improve.

Alcohol Use – good or bad?

The evidence shows that alcohol use, even in moderation, has been linked to an increase in the risk for breast cancer. Folate from green leafy vegetables may help the body to repair the genetic damage caused by the alcohol, which can lead to cancer. Alcohol is broken down into the body into a chemical called acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde has been shown to cause cancer. Without adequate folate, the body may not be able to reverse the harm done by alcohol.

What you can do!

TESTING YOUR GENES

The research has been done on gene mapping. You can make genetics screening as part of your prevention program, especially if you have a family history of breast cancer.

There are certain characteristics for genes called “low-penetrance mutations,” that show which diseases you run a greater risk of developing and are influenced greatly by what you eat, your lifestyle and your environment. Changing these factors, you can minimize the effects of these genes along with risk of developing the conditions they might otherwise promote.

THE LIVER - YOUR FRIEND

The liver is the workhorse organ in the body. It performs so many important functions in the body, including as a detoxifying and filtering system for body waste. It binds and eliminates extra hormones, including estrogen. Therefore, if the liver is not working properly as it should, estrogen levels go up. You can help out your friend the liver, by eating more fiber. The more fiber in your diet, the better it is for your body to function efficiently in getting rid of toxins absorbed from almost everywhere around you and from many different sources. Here are some things you can do to support your liver and to help prevent breast disease.

PROTOCOLS FOR ADJUSTING YOUR LIFESTYLE

These everyday changes you make in your life will help to boost your breast health:

Reduce Stress: Researchers have discovered a direct link between stress and the immune system and have found that happy women have stronger immunity that can prevent cancer.

Adequate sleep: Go to bed earlier, disruption to your natural body clock, such as being exposed to artificial light or staying up for long periods at night, increase the risk of breast cancer, according to a study by the American National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environment Health Sciences. Light slows down your body’s production of melatonin, a sleep hormone that opposes estrogen and protects against breast cancer.

Move: Be active, this is a pre-requisite for good health in so many ways, physical activities such as sport or exercise are the easiest lifestyle change you can make to protect yourself against breast disease.

Radiation Avoidance: It is known that X-rays can cause genetic mutations and cancer.

Breast Health Protocol – Nutrition

Calcium-d-glucarate (100mg twice daily)
This helps the body excrete cancerous toxins and hormonal waste products

Broccoli extracts (13C and DIM) 100mg twice daily
Promote metabolism of estrogen by the liver in its safer forms

EGCG 50 mg twice daily)
An extract from green tea, which helps to keep your genes from mutating

Selenium (50mcg twice daily)
Protects and boost your immune system and helps prevent cancer growth

Coenzyme Q10 (50-100 mg twice daily)
Protects and boosts your immune system and helps prevent cancer growth

Vitamin D3 (200 IU Per day)
Protects and boosts your immune system and helps prevent cancer growth

Omega-3 fish oil, krill oil or flaxseed oil
1,000-2,000mg twice daily)
May have a protective effect against breast cancer

Melatonin (3 mg at bedtime)
Powerful antioxidant. Regulate sleep and keeps estrogen in check.

The Case for Supplementation

Scientific studies show that a majority of Americans are deficient in many essential nutrients. How does this happen when we live in a land of plenty and have a variety of foods to our disposal? The answer is we eat more, yet obtain fewer nutrients. These foods contain little nutritional value. Some are eating too many “empty calories.” Empty calories are foods that are heavily processed such as baked goods, refined foods, soda candy, desserts, and nutrient depleting factors like alcohol, antacids, caffeine, junk food,
prescription medication and a host of others.

It is for these reasons that many doctors and patients have made nutritional supplementation a regular part of their health program. However, Nutritional supplementation is not only valid to maintain nutritional but it also help you to achieve your health goals. Take note that all supplements are not created equal and supplement manufacturers are not held to the same standard. “The quality of a supplement dictates its effectiveness. Ask your healthcare practitioner to recommend safe effective products made by a company with ethical standards, reputable history and respect in the market place.