31 Days of Breast Cancer Awareness – Cut Your Risks
This is my last post for the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign this year. I hope that I achieved my goal, which was to provide snippets valuable information that would motivate folks to stop for a moment and think about their breast health and possibly share the information with others.
Ways to Potentially Cut Your Risks of Developing Breast Cancer
Obviously these suggestions will not apply to everyone. This is simply a short compilation of certain schools of thought on ways to potentially lower the risk of developing breast cancer.
You should spend a bit of time researching what your potential risk factors might be and work to incorporate changes that would make a difference for you.
Some areas to consider for lowering your risk are having regular checkups, watching your alcohol consumption & not smoking. The two areas that I will address briefly in this post are dietary choices, in particular fats and weight maintenance and physical activity.
Dietary Choices
There is tremendous controversy regarding the role of dietary fats in the development and progression of breast cancer.
However, evidence is building to show that the types of fats you eat and levels of other nutrients in your diet may greatly influence how your body processes estrogen-like substances, which clearly affect the risk for breast cancer.
Some of the typical dietary recommendations:
Fish was highly recommneded but because of the ever rising mercury levels found in a variety of fishe, fish oil supplements are being touted as an alternative for their Omega 3 fatty acids.
Eggs, Olive oil, Garlic, Soy foods, Legumes,Organic vegetables including broccoli, kale, fresh fruit, especially cranberries and citrus and apples, are others.
Also, some studies suggest that the more alcohol a woman drinks, the greater her risk of breast cancer.
Weight Maintenance & Physical Activity
The chance of getting breast cancer after menopause is higher in women who are overweight or obese.
This means that although we love being our wonderful curvy selves we have to take in to consideration the potentially deadly effects that great amounts of excess weight can have on our bodies.
Also, women who are physically inactive throughout life may have an increased risk of breast cancer. Being active may help reduce risk by preventing weight gain and obesity.
This means that small adjustments to your lifestyle, say walking more instead of driving, can have a huge effect on your health in the long run.
Here’s to our Breast Health!