10 Breast Health TIPS

1. Regulate your Hormones Most breast cancer tumours are ESTROGEN receptor positive. About 85% of all breast cancers are Estrogen Dominant. Avoid using the birth control pill and hormone replacement therapy. Consult a holistic health care provider to perform Saliva Hormone levels and educate you on natural solution to menopausal and hormonal symptoms. Check your thyroid hormones as hypothyroidism often precedes breast cancer. Just checking your TSH levels with your doctor may not be enough. Check for other ways of checking your thyroid with a natural health care practitioner such as a Naturopath or Homeopath. Iodine and Selenium are co-factors in thyroid metabolism. A deficiency of these and other essential nutrients may be responsible for certain symptoms, as they all play a role in optimizing the health of the thyroid.

2. Nutrition – Your ARE what you eat. Eat an ORGANIC, high fiber diet. Minimize your meat and dairy consumption replacing it with vegetables, legumes and organic almond milk. Minimize fish consumption unless you know it is free of chemicals. Add flaxseed, quality EFA, sea vegetables, spices turmeric, garlic, and ginger to your diet. Eat more raw vegetables especially the Brassica family: Cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage and broccoli. And last but not least, minimize your intake of sweets and sugar

3. Exercise – at least 10 mins daily on a rebounder is equivalent to 30 mins jogging! 3-4 hours of exercise per week can decrease your risk for Breast Cancer by as much as 40-50%

4. Environmental Toxins. (xeno-estrogens) Switch to using non- toxic self-care products, cleaning products (instead of bleach use hydrogen peroxide as a safe alternative), and cosmetics. Drink water out of glass or metal bottles instead of plastic which often leaches chemicals into the water that act like the hormone estrogen. Discontinue pesticide use when gardening and avoid using plastic products and products containing PVC. Buy metal or glass storage containers instead of the plastic ones and NEVER heat food in plastic in the microwave (if you still have one!) Avoid buying canned foods as most contain BISPHENOL-A as a plasticizer (except e.g. EDEN foods). Many chemicals are hormone-disrupting and mimic especially estrogen which is what we want to avoid. Change your underarm deodorants to natural ones especially avoiding Aluminum as it is toxic (as a matter of fact sweating is GOOD. It is the body’s way of detoxifying)

5. Breast Self Examination 70% of lumps are still detected by women themselves so learn to do those monthly self examination; make it a routine, perhaps 5 days after your period finishes. Hang a reminder on your bathroom mirror or a shower card in your shower.

6. Detoxification consider an hour a week in the sauna to eliminate chemicals or keep up with your 40 minutes of exercise each day, sweating it out. Consider Colon Hydro Therapy to cleanse your bowels on a regular basis and help clean your kidneys and lymphatic system.

7. Help your Lymphatic system to do it’s job of eliminating toxins from your system by e.g. Rebounding on a trampoline daily; implementing skin brushing techniques daily to activate your lympathic system, breast self massage, lympathic massage by a professional and contrast showers daily

8. Psychological learn to deal with your emotions such as anger, sadness and grief through Meditation, Yoga, psycho spiritual counseling. Invest your energy in activities such as hobbies, volunteer work or exercise. Resolve conflict immediately rather than holding it inside where it becomes a “toxic” emotion. Learn deep breathing exercises for at least 11 minutes prior to bedtime daily to increase your melatonin levels, balance your hormones and detoxify your cells

9. Supplementation use a high quality multivitamin (preferably whole food based and not synthetic) and a high quality mineral supplement. This should include 3000 IU of Vitamin D3. Don’t forget the Essential Fatty Acids and if you are not eating enough fruits and vegetables, supplement with a green powdered supplement. For Breast Health a supplement containing I-3-C (indole-3-carbinol), calcium d-glucorate and liver detoxifying herbs should be perused.

10. Add Medical Thermography to your annual breast examination. Medical Breast Thermography is a radiation free, non-invasive, safe & painless risk assessment test which can provide considerable peace of mind and an opportunity to become pro-active. Do not wait for those lumps to appear as it may take 8 years for a 1 cm lump to appear in a mammogram.