After the death of Sarah Harding over this past week (1 of the 5 singers from favourite girl band growing up!), it got me thinking more about Breast Cancer again. Breast Cancer is the most common cause of cancer here in the U.K, with 1 women being diagnosed every 10 minutes! My precious grandmother survived Breast Cancer when I was a little girl and I am so grateful she is still here today.
While there is one risk factor for Breast Cancer we cannot change - which is the fact we are indeed a women. There are many other factors in our lives where we can take the initial steps to prevent our risk for Breast Cancer.
6 Ways to Prevent Breast Cancer
Heal Your Gut: The health of both your Digestion tract and Liver are important for the health of your breasts. Excess estrogen in the body is processed by the Liver and removed from the body via the Gut. Eating foods rich in fibre, taking your probiotics and healing a leaky gut or any lingering infections will enable your gut to properly remove toxins, hormones and waste. To protect your body more efficiently enable you to get the most nutrients and minerals from your food.
Limiting Alcohol: In one prospective study, which involved 320,00 women, it found having two or more alcoholic drinks a day increased your risk for breast cancer up by 41%!
Exercise: The recommended guidelines for exercise is to do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity a week. Exercising just once or twice a week can also reduce your risk of heart disease or stroke.
Increase Fruit & Vegetables Intake: Vegetables that are in the Brassica Family are known to be beneficial at fighting cancer cells. These include, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower etc. Berries, cherries, kale, tomatoes & spinach also contain nutrients that promote cellular health and protect the cell from damage.
Stop Smoking: Smoking increases your Breast Cancer risk by 27%, as well as many other types of cancers.
Reduce Estrogen Exposure: Estrogen is the female hormone, which is also found in oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy drugs. Estrogen can promote the growth of cancer cells and when in excess, may increase your risk.