October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Take Control of Your Cancer Risk by Eating Super

Early detection, thanks to regular self-exams and mammograms, ups the chances of successfully treating and surviving breast cancer.

While finding the disease early is important, what if you could help prevent it from ever developing?

Research is mounting that women may be able to do just that – or, at least, greatly lower their risk of breast cancer -- by paying attention to what they eat and choosing foods that actually have breast cancer fighting properties.

“These are not exotic, medicinal tasting or hard-to-find items, but foods you can get at the grocery store,” says cancer expert and researcher Keith I. Block, MD, medical/scientific director of the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care and Optimal Health in Evanston, Illinois. “The key is to incorporate them into your diet and eat them regularly.”

Dr. Block, Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pharmacognosy (the branch of pharmacology that deals with drugs in their natural state and with medicinal herbs and other plants) has researched data from numerous studies and come up with a list of “super foods” that may hold the key to preventing many breast cancers.

For example, “mangoes are rich in cancer-fighting phytochemicals and spinach contains a carotenoid called lutein that may inhibit breast cancer growth,” says Block. “Garlic and onions also contain a host of substances (including flavonols called quercetin and kaempferol and the antioxidant glutathione) that reduce breast cancer risk. Red peppers and tomatoes are loaded with lycopene, a phytochemical that appears to have tumor blocking properties. Other ‘super foods’ with potent cancer preventing properties include corn, tofu, brown basmati rice, whole wheat, red beans, lemon juice and olive oil. In fact, use olive oil instead of other fats for salad dressing and cooking. According to a study released earlier this year, oleic acid, which is found in olive oil, may help inactivate a cancer gene that is responsible for up to 30% of all breast cancers.”

Changing your diet to include foods that may substantially lower your risk of breast cancer is not only a smart choice – it can be a delicious one, according to Penny Block, Co-founder of the Block Center and author of the cook book, A Banquet of Health which features over 200 tantalizing recipes including many of the world's favorite traditional dishes, only with a healthy twist. “The ‘super foods’ can be incorporated into everything from entrees to dips and salsas and even desserts. How you prepare food can also help lower your cancer risk,” Penny adds.

Another reason to pay attention to what you eat comes from a study recently published in the International Journal of Cancer concluded that eating foods that have a high glycemic index may raise the risk of breast cancer among older women. “The glycemic index measures how fast and how high blood sugar rises after you eat foods containing carbohydrates. For example, white bread, sugar and potato chips are high glycemic foods that are converted almost immediately to a rapid spike in blood sugar,” Dr. Block explains. “Brown rice and whole wheat, on the other hand, have a lower glycemic index. They are digested more gradually, leading to a lower and more gentle change in blood sugar. These are the kinds of foods you want to incorporate into a healthy and cancer preventative lifestyle.”

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), American women have a one in eight chance of developing breast cancer during their lifetime. ACS data show that more than 45,500 Americans, almost all women, died from the disease last year and about three million US women currently have breast cancer.

Betty Hoeffner has been writing articles for various media outlets for the past 30 years. She is currently producer of a patient safety film called Things You Should Know Before You Enter the Hospital and president of Hey U.G.L.Y., Inc. NFP, a 501C3 nonprofit organization that empowers teens with self-esteem building tools, to help them counter challenges such as eating disorders, bullying, violence, substance abuse and suicide. U.G.L.Y. is an acronym meaning Unique Gifted Lovable You.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Betty_Hoeffner

 

Breast Cancer Prevention and The American Cancer Industry

I am angry because The United States has yet to pass breast cancer prevention laws.

Unlike the European Union, which passed a cosmetics safety law in 2005, and a chemical safety law in 2006, the U.S. Government continues to allow known and potentially carcinogenic ingredients to be added to our food supply, our air and water, our cosmetics, our body care products, our dry cleaning process, and our home and garden supplies.

As a result of the European Union’s Safe Cosmetics Act, most of the shampoos, body lotions, hair dyes and lipsticks now in our American bathrooms, are considered unsafe and banned from sale in Europe. Imported non-organic meat and dairy products from the US are also banned. This is because most meat and dairy now sold in US supermarkets, contain added animal growth hormones, which research shows contribute to breast and other type of cancers.

Meanwhile, U.S., breast cancer rates are the highest in the world. In the 1950’s, only 1 in 20 American women could expect a breast diagnosis in her lifetime. Today, in some EU countries, that number is one out of 15, in Great Britain it is 1 out of 9 and in the U.S. it is now 1 out of 7.

The European Union’s government believes it has the responsibility and the ability to protect its citizens from this breast cancer epidemic that has gained momentum in both the US and Europe for the past fifty years. So why hasn’t the US passed similar prevention laws?

“It’s the cancer economy stupid.”... to paraphrase a well-known political truism.

Environmental and nutritional science, along with medical research, is now showing us that 90% of breast cancer is preventable. This is not good news for companies within the American Cancer Industry; such business entities do not promote prevention as they must always find ways to increase surgery numbers, drug sales and radiation procedures to meet their quarterly profit goals.

Neither the US corporate media, nor our politicians have yet to talk about this huge disconnect between the industry’s need for more cancer patients and our growing international body of scientific research that understands how to stop breast cancer before it starts. The result? American women are now living with an unnecessary breast cancer epidemic.

Maybe it’s time to haul in the pink ribbons and raise some red flags.

Susan Wadia-Ells is the director of The Women, Weight and Breast Cancer Project or WWBC. This national organization offers free workshops to women's community, religious and business groups around the country, educating women about personal and public ways we can each prevent breast cancer. The project also offers women support in losing extra body fat, in order to lower one's breast cancer risk. The project's growing group of paid workshop leaders hopes to offer workshops in all fifty states by the end of 2007.

To learn more about the project, to schedule a free workshop for your group or for information on how to earn income as a WWBC workshop leader, visit the project at http://www.womenwbc.org

Breast Cancer Awareness: An Alternate Perspective From A Cancer Survivor

I would like to honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month a little differently than most others. I have a different perspective. You see, I had breast cancer nine years ago. I rejected conventional medicine and went with an alternative approach.

I'm quite cynical about Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Throughout October I see stories about brave cancer survivors who survived their toxic treatments and went on to run marathons. I see stories about new, expensive cancer breakthroughs on broadcasts lucratively sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. These are the same multinational corporations that manufacture plastics, pesticides and fragrance chemicals that actually cause cancer!

Whether you count by dollars or numbers of people employed by it, Cancer is one of the largest industries in the country. How is it that the companies that cause cancer also manufacture the cancer drugs? When it comes to Big Pharma, news stories aren't so much news as propaganda. Watch carefully this month: How many breast cancer stories will show women being healed by natural, non-patented medicine? None.

Why is it that the research we're asked to fund looks for new treatments (as long as they can be patented), but never at the carcinogenic effects of plastics, pesticides and fragrance chemicals? Because it would rock the industrial boat that funds the research. Their definition of "prevention" is earlier detection. My definition of "prevention" is not getting it in the first place!

So why did I choose to risk my life with alternative medicine?

Two women whom I loved very much died of breast cancer not long before I got it. More accurately, they died of their cancer treatments. One was like a mother to me, the other, like a sister. They were both seemingly healthy when the cancer was discovered. Indeed one had no tumor site at all. At her annual physical, the doctor found some cancer cells trapped in a lymph node. That's what lymph nodes are supposed to do. Her immune system was working well.

They gave her every test they could to find the location of the cancer, to no avail. Then they proceeded to bombard the poor woman with "as much chemo as we can give you without actually killing you." After that, they gave her radiation therapy.

Once she had no immune system left, the cancer that her body had been keeping at bay took over with a vengeance. It spread to her hip bone. More radiation. Oops! Too strong. The radiation killed her hip bone so she needed a hip replacement. More chemo. No more visits from her beloved grandchildren because she had no immunity to germs.

The bone cancer spread to her arm. She had a painful surgery for that. Then to her skull- exactly where her mobile phone antenna had touched her head. The last three years of life for this once-vital, beautiful woman were spent in pain, wretched illness and isolation. She never complained once. She just accepted it as her fate. I held her hand as she died.

My other friend was only in her late 30's when they found the lump. She was a healthy vegetarian who practiced yoga, meditation, and alternative medicine. One day when she was getting a chiropractic adjustment, the doctor said her thyroid felt a little strange and suggested she get it checked.

She did, and it was fine. But the new doctor felt a breast lump and prescribed a mammogram and biopsy. Yep, take a little sealed-up tumor, crush it, radiate it and poke it repeatedly with a needle. Then act surprised when it suddenly metastasizes like crazy. The doctor actually told my friend that she had likely had the tumor for at least ten years.

My friend wanted to do alternative cancer therapies. Her oncologist said she should only do them as an adjunct to conventional treatment. Within a year she had lost her breast and was almost killed by chemo and radiation. The natural medicines, which are much more gentle, had no hope of working on a body that was so ravaged and sickened. Within another year she had lost the other breast, had more rounds of chemo, and died shortly after that.

The next year I found my lump, and within six weeks I had six lumps. I consulted with an M.D. and several alternative doctors. I read a bunch of books they recommended. I prayed and fretted, then decided that, live or die, I was going with non-toxic alternative medicine.

I called my late friend's husband and told him the news. He said, "Whatever you do, don't let the doctors get their hands on you. My wife told me before she died that she was sorry she ever listened to them. I believe that if she had gone a natural route she would be alive today."

So here is my advice for Breast Cancer Awareness:

1. Question Authority- Don't automatically believe the doctors, or anyone else. That includes this article.

 

1. Take Responsibility for Your Life- People who will spend weeks researching the pros and cons of a new car, carefully studying the fine print on a contract, will never study their medical options! Your doctor doesn't have to live or die with the consequences of your treatment, you do!

    

2. Learn About Your Options- They're out there, but your medical doctor has not studied them. Even if she has, she is forbidden to suggest them! Educate yourself before you're ever in a health crisis.

    

3. Be a Difficult Patient- Demand thermography instead of, or at least before, a mammogram. Thermography uses no radiation, does not crush the breast tissue, and can detect cancers months or even years before a mammogram can.

    

4. Learn About the Fungal Connection to Cancer- It can save your life.

Wishing you and yours the best of health!

Siri Amrit Kaur Khalsa is a cancer survivor. She started Tigerflag Natural Perfumery to give people natural alternatives to toxic fragrance products. She wrote a paper describing her successful battle with cancer as a resource to help others going through the difficult process of choosing their treatment.

You may print or publish this article as long as you use it in its entirety, with credit to the author and Tigerflag Natural Perfumery, LLC.

Lung Cancer - Are Women More Preoccupied About Breast Cancer?

Lung cancer is among the most common cancers in the Western world. Lung cancer occurs due to the growth of malignant or abnormal cells in the lung. It is the third most common cancer in males and the fifth in females. Yet lung cancer is increasingly becoming a woman's problem. The risk for dying of lung cancer is 20 times higher among women who smoke two or more packs of cigarettes per day than among women who do not smoke at all. Lung cancer is a cancer that originates in the tissues of the lungs. It can be very difficult to detect at an early stage because the symptoms often do not appear until the disease is far advanced.

Health experts say more needs to be done to educate women about the risk of lung cancer. Bearing in mind that breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, studies show that since 1987, more women have died each year of lung cancer than from breast cancer. Researchers have found that women who had one or more children had nearly a 40 percent lower risk of contracting lung cancer compared to women without children. Recently, research has suggested that women who don't smoke are two to three times more likely than non-smoking men to develop lung cancer. In women, the three types of cancer most commonly seen are breast cancer, lung cancer, and colon cancer. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women (behind lung cancer), and the most common cancer in women.

Lung cancer kills more people than breast or prostate cancer, primarily because by the time it is detected, lung cancer is usually in an advanced stage. Also when cancer spreads to the lung from the breast, the resulting cells are breast cancer cells, not lung cancer cells. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American women behind lung cancer, yet surveys have shown that women are more worried about getting breast cancer than lung cancer. Breast cancer has surpassed lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide, accounting for more than 400000 deaths per year.

Today there are many treatment options available to lung cancer patients. The type of treatment for lung cancer depends on the cancer's specific type, how far it has actually spread, and the patient's status. It is important to know the stage in order to plan treatment. Treatment for a secondary lung cancer depends on the primary cancer. However, new anti-cancer drugs, improved staging and imaging techniques, combined with new surgical procedures have all contributed to dealing with the disease. Finding early-stage lung cancers is crucial in the treatment results for lung cancer. While having treatment for any stage of lung cancer, you will be able to manage some side effects that may accompany lung cancer or any cancer treatment.

Summary:

Lung cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the lung. We already know that the best way to prevent lung cancer is to quit or never start to smoke in the first place. Small cell lung cancer is a bit more common in men than women. But lung cancer is increasingly becoming a woman's problem. The links between your smoking history and lung cancer is clear. Lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world. It is the most deadly of cancers worldwide, resulting in up to 3 million deaths annually.

For More Information On Lung Cancer: http://healthinfodocs.com/category/lung-cancer/