Breast cancer hit our family like a ton of bricks. Within a six-month span of time, my mom’s older sister was diagnosed with breast cancer and so was my mom. While my mom did fine after having a double mastectomy, my aunt died from complications after surgery. My nurse practitioner assured me that I was probably not at an increased risk since both my mom and my aunt were older than 60 when they were diagnosed. That doesn’t stop her though from reminding me every year that with my family history, I can’t miss a mammogram and that I have to keep breast cancer prevention in the back of my mind. 

I appreciate the reminders because with the time that has lapsed between then and now, it’s much easier to think of those annual squeezes as more of an inconvenience than the disease-detecting miracle tools that they really are. They also serve as a yearly check-in with myself about whether I’m living in a way that will keep me as healthy as possible. While we can’t do anything about the most significant risk factors for breast cancer – which are being a woman, getting older and genetics – the good news is that there are steps that we can take as part of our regular lifestyle that will go a long way toward breast cancer prevention. 

Breast Cancer Statistics

Here are some statistics that we should all be aware of. According to breastcancer.org:

• About one in eight U.S. women (about 13%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
• In 2024, an estimated 310,720 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 56,500 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer.
• In 2024, approximately 42,250 women are expected to die from breast cancer.

So, what can we do about this? Unfortunately, there’s not a clear cut answer. Some people who don’t have any risk factors at all develop breast cancer while others with multiple risk factors never do. That’s because breast cancer seems to be caused by what the Mayo Clinic calls “a complex interaction of your genetic makeup and your environment.” 

Diet and Lifestyle Risk Factors

While food, diet or lifestyle changes can’t assure that we’ll never get breast cancer, there are things that we can do to lower our risk and that will work toward breast cancer prevention. Liliana Partida, CN is a clinical nutritionist with the Cancer Center for Healing and the Center for New Medicine in Irvine, California. She told me that while “We don’t want to live a life of fear,” we should think in terms of “What can we do to be mindful of the things that we eat and the things that we do in order to bring this burden load down?

More research is needed in all of these areas to rank where they fall on the risk factor scale, but here are some of the most common factors that Liliana says can increase our risk of developing breast cancer:

Too much sugar

The environment of cancer thrives off of glucose (also known as blood sugar). While glucose is our main source of fuel, if our diet consists of a lot of carbohydrates and processed foods, the excess sugar could become a breeding ground for cancer.

Chronic stress

It increases cortisol in the system which is behind the fight or flight response. The first thing the body is going to do is to start dumping glycogen from the muscles. Then it has to have a vehicle to transport those calories to the body, so it has to produce insulin. Cortisol can neutralize insulin, so if it’s a chronic situation, you can end up becoming insulin resistant. This allows for your sugar to enter the blood stream and have plenty of fuel for cancer.

Smoking

Liliana says that smoking adds to the body’s toxin burden overload, which can lead to breast cancer. According to The Mayo Clinic, this is particularly the case for premenopausal women. 

Obesity

Too much body fat, especially around the abdominal area can act as an endocrine organ and can begin to produce more estrogen. Breastcancer.org says that excess estrogen can cause extra breast cell growth which increases the risk of breast cancer. 

Eating too much red and processed meat

Liliana’s observation matches the findings of this study published in the September 5, 2018 issue of International Journal of Cancer. The study found that unprocessed red meat consumption is associated with a six percent higher breast cancer risk and processed meat consumption is associated with a nine percent higher breast cancer risk. While that is an important finding, we need to keep it in perspective. Breastcancer.org points out that since the average woman in the United States has about a 12 percent risk of breast cancer, eating a lot of processed meat would cause this risk to go up by one percent (12 percent x 9 percent), for a risk of about 13 percent. In comparison, smoking three cigarettes per day increases your risk of cancer by 500 percent. 

Exposure to chemicals in plastic

BPA, BPS and other chemicals in plastic are hormone disruptors. According to breastcancer.org, they “can affect how estrogen and other hormones act in the body, by blocking them or mimicking them, which throws off the body’s hormonal balance.” This can lead to breast cancer. 

Regular to high alcohol consumption

Alcohol can also change the way estrogen works in the body. Susan G. Komen says, “This can cause blood estrogen levels to rise,” which “may in turn, increase the risk of breast cancer.” 

Diet and Lifestyle Steps That You Can Take for Breast Cancer Prevention

Liliana believes strongly that a patient’s realization that they actually do have a lot of power over prevention is one of the best forms of medicine there is. While there are many steps that you can take for breast cancer prevention, these are the ones she ranks at the top of the list.

Reduce stress

Liliana highly recommends meditation for this. 

Eat a primarily plant-based diet

Liliana suggests that if you’re going to eat animals for protein, only eat a palm-sized portion three times a week or at most, once a day. She also reminds us that “Any food from the plant kingdom turns into sugar,” so we have to be careful not to eat too many starchy vegetables. Foods that are going to be more watery and bitter like broccoli, asparagus, leafy greens and those types of vegetables are better for “mopping up an excess of estrogens.” She says those can all be large quantity foods because they’re so low in sugar. 

This is important both mentally and physically. Mentally, it helps us to reset our minds and gives us a chance to process the day’s events. It also helps us not to be as stressed or overreative to life. Physically, during REM sleep between 10:00 p.m. and 1:30-2:00 a.m. is when the body utilizes the most fat because it is repairing itself and preparing for detoxification. 

Exercise

According to Liliana, if we don’t stimulate the large muscle groups like the legs and the buttocks, we’re not going to have the pumping action that is “so important to cleanse the body of its impurities and to support the lymphatic system.” It also helps with weight control. 

Build emotional resilience in life

Being able to move through the normal emotions that we experience throughout the day without getting stuck in stress, anxiety or depression is critical to our overall wellbeing and our hormonal health. 

Maintain good relationships with family and friends

• Research shows that the endorphins that are produced when we’re feeling happy, supported or fulfilled are very enhancing to the immune system. 

Drink  alcohol in moderation (if at all)

Liliana believes that a glass of wine every now and then isn’t a problem but drinking on a daily basis is not a good idea. She says that spirits such as vodka, gin and tequila are even better (but still in moderation) since they don’t have any sugar in them. 

Limit exposure to plastic

Use glass containers to store food whenever possible. 

Bottom Line for Breast Cancer Prevention

All of this goes to show that breast cancer prevention doesn’t need to be an all-consuming worry. If we’re following the lifestyle steps outlined here and living the healthiest life we can, that will be plenty. Then, each year as we go for our mammogram and are taking stock of where we are health-wise, we can rest assured that we’re doing everything possible to try to make sure that we’re not another breast cancer statistic.

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and there’s no better way to learn about breast cancer than to hear from someone who’s been there. In Breast Cancer Awareness Part 1: One Survivor’s Life-Saving Warning to All Women, we met survivor Susan Leonard. We heard her story of detection, diagnosis and treatment in her own words, and we learned that she was only 44 years old with no family history and no genetic markers for the disease when she was diagnosed in 2016. Her story is scary but inspiring, and she has an important message for all women – especially those under the age of 50. “You can get breast cancer when you’re young.”

That’s why she wants to make sure that as many women as possible hear that warning, as well as her potentially life-saving breast cancer detection advice. At the end, you’ll find plenty of resources to help you learn more about this potentially deadly disease and the next steps you can take to be your own best advocate. Thank you Susan for being willing to share your story.

PTM: Are you cancer-free at this point?

SL: Yes. I have no evidence of cancer right now. I am being monitored every three months, and I receive a Zometa infusion every six months to protect my bones and hopefully prevent metastasisto the bones.

PTM: Have you made any lifestyle changes because of your experience that you consider to be working toward staying cancer free?

SL: I feel like I have. I still feel like I have more changes to make. But before I got the diagnosis, I didn’t really think about cancer. You hear all these things that might cause cancer like the microwave, heating plastic in the microwave, deodorant and aspartame. All of those things that you heard, I just didn’t think about it. If I wanted to use it, I used it. If I didn’t use it, it wasn’t because I was worried about cancer. But now, I don’t use plastic in my microwave at all anymore, and I’ve switched my deodorant to an aluminum-free kind. I’m trying to eat the super foods like spinach, blueberries, strawberries and the foods that are better for you, and I’m trying not to get as much processed food. I’m not perfect yet and it’s definitely been a process, but I’m working toward being healthier. Before I got cancer, I did walk with a neighbor. But now, I try to exercise even more, and I don’t drink soft drinks anymore. I am also trying to remove toxins by using essential oils for cleaning and medications instead of toxic chemicals and over the counter medications. I do take my prescription medications, but for routine aches and pains, I am using essential oils. In many respects though, I do still feel broken and am working on putting myself back together. I know I still have work to do, but I’m trying.

PTM: Have you had genetic testing?

SL: They did do genetic testing, but I have no genetic reason to have cancer which is great for my daughter and my sisters. But they said that Rachel should probably start getting tested earlier, even though genetically, there should shouldn’t be a reason for her to have it.

PTM: What is your life like now?

SL: I quit my job. I worked through cancer and through chemo and through the hardest part. But my dad actually died in May of this year. And I wasn’t there with him. I think if I had been there with him, I might have had a different perspective. But I was like ‘okay, I’m not going to miss anything else because of work.’ So, I quit my job, which is a great thing to do right when your daughter’s getting ready to go to a private university. It probably wasn’t the most rational decision, but it still feels like the right thing to do.

We joined the YMCA because through chemo, I gained weight. I was surprised that happened, but they told me that a lot of people do gain weight because of all the steroids you’re taking. You also don’t feel like running a marathon when you’ve had chemo, and you don’t eat the healthiest foods. Lettuce is not the food you crave when you’re having chemo. Then with all the surgeries, you’re just inactive as well. So, I did a weight loss program at Duke. It was something David and I did together so that we could encourage each other and help each other through it. We both lost a good bit of weight through that, so we’re trying to continue that lifestyle.

PTM: Is there anything that you would say you’ve learned from your experience?

SL: That you can be diagnosed with cancer when you’re young and healthy because I just didn’t expect it. I think that if I hadn’t felt the lump – the type of cancer that I had doesn’t usually grow in a lump, it usually grows like spider legs, they just kind of spread out. So, the doctors were impressed that I found the lump myself because if it had grown differently, and we hadn’t found the lump, I don’t know that I would have had another mammogram before 50 because it just wasn’t something I was worried about. I want other women to understand that you don’t have to be 60 or 70 to get cancer.

I also learned that you have to advocate for yourself. Getting the initial mammogram, I had to let my doctor’s office know that I couldn’t wait to come in, I needed to get in sooner. Then I wanted to switch surgeons to get one that better fit my needs, but I had to push for and finally insist on it. Even if it means delaying things for a while, you have to advocate for yourself.

PTM: What would be the main piece of advice that you would give to other women in terms of prevention or detection?

SL: Be familiar with your body so that you can notice if things change. I didn’t do self-checks on a regular basis, but I had done them. Also, understand that your age has nothing to do with whether or not you’re going to get cancer. I think so many people really think you’re not going to get cancer at a young age, but there are actually many young people with cancer and most of them don’t have the genes.

PTM: Is cancer at the forefront of your thoughts all the time or have you pushed it to the back of your mind?

SL: Cancer is constantly on my mind. A lot of medications that I take cause different aches and pains and just not having estrogen in your body causes aches and pains. Every time there’s an ache in a different place, I wonder if my cancer is coming back. I think about it all the time.

PTM: Is there anything else that you would like to add?

SL: I want women to know that it’s not your fault. You don’t do things to yourself, unless you’re a heavy smoker – that’s pretty obvious. I think any woman who gets any kind of diagnosis wonders ‘What did I do?’ and it’s not your fault.

Also, with breast cancer, there are so many different types and different treatment protocols – it’s not a one size fits all. Some have chemo first, some have radiation, some have a mastectomy, some have a lumpectomy. If you’re diagnosed with breast cancer, talk to doctors about appropriate treatments but don’t compare yours to someone else because what’s appropriate for them may not be best in your situation.

Resources

As Susan’s story shows, it simply can’t be said too many times. Get regular mammograms starting at age 40, no matter what, and know your body. You have to be your own best advocate, and if you even think that something has changed, see your doctor. For more information about breast cancer and to find out about free diagnostic services for underserved women, please explore the following resources.

• Your regular primary care physician or OB/GYN
• American Cancer Society – Educational information about breast cancer and research.
• The National Breast Cancer Foundation – Educational information about breast cancer and support after a diagnosis as well as a National Mammography Program where they partner with medical facilities across the United States to provide free mammograms and diagnostic breast care services.
• Susan G. Komen – Educational information about breast cancer as well as information on financial assistance and insurance and other tools and resources.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Breast cancer statistics and information.
• World Health Organization – Information about prevention, early diagnosis and screening, and treatment.

Related posts: Exploring a Plant-Based Diet, Eating for Wellness, Healing Power of Food: A Doctor’s Journey from Disease to Health

The post Breast Cancer Awareness Part 2: One Survivor’s Life-Saving Warning to All Women appeared first on Peppermint Tea.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and survivor Susan Leonard has a message for all women. “You can get breast cancer when you’re young.” Susan, unfortunately, knows this from experience. While her warning isn’t meant to needlessly scare others under the age of 50, it is meant to help save lives. After reading this inspiring two-part Q&A with her, I can guarantee that you’ll be motivated to get that mammogram you may have been putting off.

If you don’t know where to start with that or think you can’t afford diagnostic services, there are plenty of resources to get you on your way. After you hear from Susan, I’ll share some of these to guide you in your next steps. Any time of the year is a good time to learn more about breast cancer, but during this month in particular, it’s time to become aware and to take action. I, for one, appreciate Susan’s courage in sharing her story, and I know you will too.

Peppermint Tea & Me: You were diagnosed with breast cancer in March of 2016. How old were you when you were diagnosed?

Susan Leonard: I was 44 years old.

PTM: How was your breast cancer found?

SL: I did find a lump. I had had a mammogram at age 40, like I was supposed to. Then I was supposed to have another one at 42, and I hadn’t had it done. I found a lump, and I ignored it for a little while. I thought this has got to be pre-menopausal something. But it never went away and never changed. I looked at my paperwork and my mammogram was still current, so I just scheduled a routine mammogram. When I told them I had a lump, they said, ‘Okay, we can’t do a routine mammogram, we have to do a diagnostic mammogram.’

PTM: What’s the difference in protocol between a routine and diagnostic mammogram?

SL: I know for the place where I had my mammogram done, when it’s a diagnostic mammogram, they have a doctor onsite who can read it. If additional testing is done, it can be done immediately, and you don’t have to wait. But it’s also a different doctor’s order, and it’s just a whole different procedure. I had to go back to my regular doctor to get the order. They had already scheduled the diagnostic mammogram to happen fairly quickly, but my regular doctor’s office said that I couldn’t be seen for another three weeks. I had to insist that I needed to have the appointment by the mammogram date, and they were able to fit me in.

Note: According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, a diagnostic mammogram is used after suspicious results on a screening mammogram are found or after some signs of breast cancer such as a lump, breast pain, nipple discharge, thickening of skin on the breast, or changes in the size or shape of the breast alert the physician to check the tissue. “As compared to screening mammograms, diagnostic mammograms provide a more detailed x-ray of the breast using specialized techniques.” They take longer than a screening mammogram because more x-rays are taken that can provide views of the breast from multiple angles.

PTM: What was your life like when you were diagnosed?

SL: David and I were approaching our twentieth wedding anniversary, so we were planning a big trip. Rachel was 15 and was going to be 16 in April. I got my official diagnosis from the doctor on John’s ninth birthday. I was working for a small family-owned company and had been there since 2014 because we were starting to get ready to pay for college. The wife of the owner had actually had breast cancer a few years before I started working there. They were the first people I told other than my immediate family because I knew that I’d have to miss work for testing and other stuff. Since she had been through the whole process, they were very supportive.

PTM: Can you please describe what you were thinking and what you felt when you received your diagnosis?

SL: I was shocked initially because I had no family history. I felt like I was healthy. I didn’t expect to get the diagnosis, but I pretty much knew when they did the mammogram. Since I’d had one at 40, I knew what that one was like. For this one, they took a thousand extra pictures, and then said, ‘Don’t get dressed. Stay right here.’ Then they came back and said they were going to have to do an ultrasound. A doctor has to tell you, but they did say there was definitely a lump there. They weren’t giving me any other options about what it could be, so I pretty much knew from that very first mammogram what I was going to hear. It was still a little shocking and numbing to actually hear it.

PTM: What type of treatment did you go through, and how long did that last?

SL: My cancer was on the left side. I initially had a mastectomy just on the left side. While there were some irregular cells on the right side, there wasn’t any cancer there. The surgeon that I went to for a second opinion wanted me to have an MRI. He said that ‘the type of cancer you have likes to hide and it’s probably more than what you think.’ It did end up being larger, so we decided to do the mastectomy. They said, ‘Let’s just do the left side first and get rid of what we know is cancer. We’ll deal with the right side later.’

So, I initially had a mastectomy on the left side with no expanders, no reconstruction at all. It just left me even less than flat, concave there, and then I did chemo. I was supposed to do 12 rounds of chemo, but I wasn’t able to do the last two rounds because I developed neuropathy in my hands and feet. The doctors felt like the chemo would make it worse so that ended in September of 2016.

PTM: Was that all of the treatment that you had or was there more?

SL: My cancer was 100 percent estrogen positive and 100 percent progesterone positive and then HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) negative. As far as cancer goes, that’s a good thing to be. I have to take a hormone blocker and initially got a Zoladex shot, which stops your ovaries from working. After doing that for a year, we decided to go ahead and remove my ovaries and tubes because I was having all of the hot flashes and stuff. I still have to take a pill every day to block the estrogen and will probably do that for 10 years. Then we did the mastectomy on the right side, and I had reconstruction at that time. So that was 10 months later that I had the reconstruction.

The type of cancer that I had was Grade 2 Stage 2b Invasive Lobular Carcinoma, and it likes to migrate to the other side. So that’s why I wanted to have the second mastectomy. You hear a lot of times that once you reach your five-year mark, your chance of recurrence lessens. But with Lobular Cancer it’s the opposite. It usually stays dormant or doesn’t show up again until much later. So that’s why my treatment was a little more aggressive because we were trying to keep it from coming back.

PTM: What were the treatments like, and how did you and your family handle that?

SL: It was really strange. By nature, I am a tearful person. Hallmark commercials make me cry. But when I got the diagnosis, I did not cry. David, the day we got the word, it was John’s birthday, and John was getting ready to come home from school. Someone had called David, and his face was red, and he had been crying. We weren’t going to tell the kids yet. We were going to wait until we knew a little bit more before we told them. And I was like ‘you’ve got to stop. The kids can’t see you like this.’

So initially, I don’t know what happened because that’s just not my personality at all. But when it came to chemo, I was terrified. I’m being treated at Duke University Medical Center, which is a great place to be treated, but they treat so many people that the wait times there are crazy. My very first treatment, I of course had no idea. They did do some pre-chemo training, but you still don’t know what it’s actually going to be like. I did have a port put in in my chest area, so they would just access the port instead of trying to get a vein every time.

Chemotherapy

I’m waiting in the waiting room for chemo to start, and the longer I sit there, I just get more and more anxious, and I’m finally in tears. They finally take me back, and the actual chemo itself wasn’t that bad. The initial chemo I had, the infusion part, lasted maybe three-and-a-half to four hours. I didn’t feel bad until four days later, and then you feel really, really bad. I was taking three different anti-nausea medications and steroids before and after chemo no matter how I felt, so that helped. They also told me when my hair would probably fall out, so I was prepared bookwise, but I wasn’t prepared physically. You just don’t know any of it until it happens.

I didn’t get sick. I never threw up after chemotherapy, but I did develop what they called chemo-anxiety. A couple of times, I threw up before chemo, so they gave me some Ativan to take before my treatments. My worse side effects with chemo were mouth sores and thrush. My blood counts dropped, but usually rebounded pretty quickly. I experienced some nausea, but the medications helped, and I lost all of the hair on my body, including eye brows and lashes.

The good thing about the treatments is that David works at Duke and his office is near the hospital, so he came with me to every single treatment. It’s nice to have an extra set of ears. Because there were times when I’d say, ‘Did the doctor say this?’ and he was like ‘No, they said this.’ So, it was nice to have him there.

Susan’s Story Continues

This was the beginning of Susan’s journey with breast cancer. Find out how she’s doing now, what she’s learned from her experience, the advice she would give to other women and resources to help all women get the testing they need in Breast Cancer Awareness Part 2: One Survivor’s Life-Saving Warning to All Women.

The post Breast Cancer Awareness Part 1: One Survivor’s Life-Saving Warning to All Women appeared first on Peppermint Tea.