Breast Cancer Awareness Month

The month of October is full of excitement from the crisp air, apple picking, fall foliage, and of course Halloween. It’s a time of transition from summer which allows for beautiful landscapes full of color and yes, pumpkin spiced everything. October has a lot to offer, but it’s also known for something bigger. October is breast cancer awareness month, the annual campaign to increase awareness of the disease. I won’t get into numbers of how many are affected every year, but I can tell you, it’s not great. There are some ways that we can combat this disease and it may come as a shock, but changing your diet may help.

So far through my coursework I’ve learned that there are several ways to decrease your chances and perhaps even slow the progression and treat breast cancer. Did you know that with a soluble fiber-rich diet, with more fruit and vegetables including vitamin C are associated with lower risk of breast cancer? So, eating more leafy greens (collard greens in particular), apples (for the concentrated antioxidants in the peel), mushrooms and sipping green tea each day can help? Absolutely! The power of plants is amazing and I’m just scratching the surface.

Eating a heathy diet (mainly plant-based) isn’t the only thing you can do to lower your risk of breast cancer. Did you know that exercise not only helps with weight control, but also tends to lower circulating estrogen levels? Vigorous aerobic exercise 5 hours a week can lower estrogen and progesterone exposure. Michael Greger, author of How Not to Die had a great quote that stuck with me. He said: “Darwin was right: It’s survival of the fittest, so get fit.” This is true on soo many levels.

Throughout the course of the month I will be supporting breast cancer awareness posting content on my social media with some facts and figures to help spread awareness. If 2020 has shown us anything, it’s that we are all in this together.

Information provided by the “How Not to Die” book by Michael Greger.

(Such a great read!)