All About Prevention for Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Did you know? 1 in 8 women will get diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and 85% of these cases have zero connection to family history. (breastcancer.org)
This is why PREVENTION is so important. Here are three areas you can focus on to up your prevention plan! (These tips came straight from a friend who tested positive for the BRCA gene and has been working with a team of doctors for a while now.)
Prioritize Sleep
Eat a variety whole foods
Know your history/get checked
Don’t smoke
Exercise
If you want to take it a step further here are three areas to switch to safer.
Pots and Pans - Traditional non stick pans are coated with a class of toxins called PFAS that have been known to have carcinogenic characteristics. My favorite options are GreenPan, stainless steel and cast iron.
Fragrance - Inside this one word could be hundreds of chemicals that do not have to be disclosed. Many of these are hormone disrupters which can wreak havoc on our bodies. Also by shopping from brands that disclose fragrance you are most likely avoiding other toxic chemicals too.
Focus on organic meats. While it may not be doable to switch to completely foods, many of our meats have been processed with added hormones. I love the Thrive Market frozen meat and seafood boxes.
I have been stewing on this word prevention for a while. The actual definition of prevent is “to keep something from happening or arising.” We prevent serious injury in car wrecks by wearing seat belts, we prevent sunburns by wearing sunscreen, we prevent cavities by brushing our teeth…but why not work towards preventing hormone disruption, allergies, infertility and cancers? I know it is way more complicated than this and it is not as simple as A+B=C and sometimes it’s hard to think ahead. It’s easy to think “Well, I’ve been eating standard meat for a while and I’m fine.” While cancer is scary and super specific, what you are also preventing yourself from are hormonal imbalances, auto immune diseases, allergies, skin conditions and many more. It all adds up….and that means three simple switches can make a big difference.
*Disclaimer: It has not been proven that PFAS, non organic meats or fragrance cause cancer. But they can help in lowering your overall toxic load.
