Contents Introduction...2

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3 Contents Introduction...2 Ten Ways to Prevent Breast Cancer...4 Summary

4 Introduction Just for a moment, imagine living in a world where cancer is no longer the leading cause of mortality; "Cancer" is no longer a common phrase in health news headlines or in the everyday conversations of ordinary folks like you and me. Imagine cancer no longer takes our loved ones from us prematurely, nor does it devastate our own health and wellness. Many people find this thought exercise nearly impossible and for good reason. "Cancer" continues to be a word that strikes terror into people s hearts like no other disease. It continues to cause despair, suffering and grief. For many people, a cancer diagnosis is synonymous with terminal illness or a death sentence. Those who "have cancer in the family" live with the additional anxiety that their genes are destined to make them sick. All these fears are felt for good reason: Despite the many billions of dollars that have been invested in research, cancer rates have not decreased significantly and the overall health outcomes of those with the disease have not improved much. I ve been working in the field of breast cancer prevention for the past 15 years. I d like to share with you simple yet very important information to empower you with knowledge on how to prevent breast cancer. Unfortunately when in comes to breast cancer prevention, healthcare, the way it is practiced today, is not effective. The problem is that the current health care approach concentrates on breast cancer detection rather than breast cancer prevention. While detection is also important, by the time breast cancer is detected using conventional means, it takes anywhere between eight to nine years and sometimes even longer to detect breast cancer. Therefore it is not early detection. It is actually quite late detection. Further, the media and the medical establishment equate detection with prevention. Women are encouraged to undergo questionable and non-effective screenings with annual mammography, yet as far as prevention goes there is very little that women are offered. Worse, the information on prevention sometimes could be very confusing and even contradictory and thus many women understandably give up on the idea of prevention out of frustration. 2

5 Breast cancer, like many other cancers, in the majority of cases, can be prevented. If you follow the 10-step program outlined in this report, you can drastically reduce your chances of dealing with this disease. The American Institute for Cancer Research has stated that a third of most common cancers can be preventable. According to their research 38% of breast cancers per year or 88,000 women do not really have to deal with breast cancer. Based on my experience, that number is conservative and likely much closer to two-thirds or double this number of women in Canada and the United States. We re talking about close to 200,000 women a year. When it comes to colorectal cancer, the estimate is 50%. When it comes to mouth, laryngeal cancers, it s 63% and so on and so forth. So clearly this shows that most of the cancers are preventable. Let me show you how. Before we get into the 10 Steps, I want to address a common and disempowering myth that cancer is caused by our genes. Well, that s not exactly true. According to research it is only 2% of cancer that is genetic in origin. 98% of cancer is actually caused by lifestyle as well as environment; and 100% of cancer is influenced by lifestyle. My proposal is that we change our focus from breast cancer awareness, which is really mostly fear driven, to breast cancer prevention, which is about empowering women with relevant information that enables them to take productive action. 3

6 Ten Ways to Prevent Breast Cancer Regulate Your Estrogen Metabolism Some estrogens are cancer-protective. Of course, others are cancer-permissive. They re not all created equal. There are three main estrogens in your body: estrone, estradiol and estriol. The ratio in your body should be: Estriol 80%, Estradiol 10% and Estrone 10%. As long as they re in that ratio, everything seems to be working fine. Estriol is a hormone of pregnancy and when women are pregnant, they are protected from breast cancer as well as many other diseases. Estradiol, on the other hand, is a cancer-permissive estrogen and too much of this particular estrogen definitely increases the risk for breast cancer. To oppose your estrogen there is another hormone called Progesterone. Estrogen and progesterone are in a yin and yang relationship. Estrogen says grow, while progesterone says stop growth. Most women in the peri-menopausal and menopausal stages of their life appear to be progesterone deficient and thus become estrogen dominant. Make sure that you get the proper hormonal testing done and check your estrogen levels but also check your progesterone levels as well. Your estrogen may even be in a low range but if there is no progesterone in your body, you are still estrogen dominant. There are several ways to check this; blood test (most common), saliva and urine. Saliva and urine tests maybe useful since you can take samples over a period of time and thus giving you additional information as to your hormonal fluctuation during your monthly cycle. Blood tests are somewhat static as they can only provide you with the information for the period of time when the test was done. Once you get tested you can start correcting your hormonal imbalance if this is the case. At the very least you would know what needs to do be done. Synthetic Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) Avoid Hormone Replacement Therapy. Synthetic HRT increases the risk of breast cancer. On the other hand, bio-identical hormones are safe. Now let me also suggest that of course it s very important that you see a competent healthcare provider who has had quite a lot of experience when it comes to hormone replacement, specifically bio-identical 4

7 hormone replacement. There are many competent physicians that can help you with this but make sure that you re in the right hands as you form this partnership with them. Remember that the hand that gives the medicine is just as important as the medicine. I ve learned this a log time ago from my good friend and mentor Dr. Alvin Pettle, MD, Ob/Gyn, who has pioneered the use of bio-identical hormone therapy in Canada. Limit or Avoid Use of Birth Control Pills Even the least potent pill contains seven times the amount of estrogen naturally occurring in your body so obviously it s going to have an effect on you. Again, many women in the peri-menopausal stage of their life not wanting to have a pregnancy opt out for an easy solution of using a birth control pill. I would discourage you from using this method of contraception as it increases your risk of breast cancer. Women have been practicing the rhythm method for thousands of years. Remember that you can only get pregnant during the short window of ovulation (24-48 hours) per cycle. I often wonder how in the world our human race managed to exist with such a short window of opportunity. Of course, the answer is also very simple, as women ovulate their testosterone level goes up and the man they are with all of a sudden starts looking way better than he usually does. To circumvent an unwanted pregnancy, please use other methods of birth control during ovulation and f possible abstain from intercourse for a few days during ovulation. Limit Your Exposure to Xeno-Estrogens What are Xeno-Estrogens? These are chemicals and industrial pollutants that mimic the effects of estrogen on your body. Your body has many estrogen receptor sites and when estrogen comes in and binds to a receptor it creates an affect on your body by giving a certain signal. When xenoestrogen, which mimics estrogen, occupies that receptor site, unfortunately it also creates an affect on your body by giving a signal. However the signal is not exactly the same but in fact it is many times more powerful, so its reaction in your body is also going to be very different compared to your own estrogen. Xeno-Estrogents are prevalent in our environment as they are in our water supply, food chain, cosmetics, cooking utensils, cleaning agents and the list goes on. We no longer live in a pristine environment and thus not only humans but also animals are affected by this 5

8 rapid change of thousands of dangerous chemicals entering our daily lives. So, protect yourself from these dangerous substances as much as possible but do not get obsessive about it. Educate yourself about xeno-estogens and try to avoid them as much as it is possible. Do Your Own Self Breast Examination Self Breast Examinations are responsible for finding 70% of all lesions. The more you examine your breasts, the more you will learn what is normal for you. Now it s going to be easier after a while to tell whether something unusual is coming up for you. Once you get to know your breasts, you will know what s normal. Here I wanted to illustrate that there are 12 signs of breast cancer. For example, there is hardening, pinching, and skin erosion, which are most common. 6

9 Exercise and Fitness Activity Studies have shown repeatedly that three to four hours per week of regular exercise can decrease your risk of breast cancer by up to 50%. In other words, your lean body mass or your muscle does not generate estrogen like fatty tissue. If you re physically active already, this is great. However, if you re not where you d like to be and have a few extra pounds to lose, I encourage you to simply start walking on daily basis. You do not need to join a health club or purchase special exercise equipment. Just start with a minimum of minutes walk per day. You can do it alone or with a friend, you can do it outside or inside. The hardest thing in any journey is a start but the most challenging is consistency. Human bodies are designed for movement and if you want to stay in shape you have to move. Just 30 minutes per day is not really asking for much but the benefit that you ll gain from this is immeasurable. Add a few more minutes to your daily walk every other week, extend your walks to 40 minutes or more. Enjoy, the great thing about taking yourself for a long walk is that you always come back changed; try it and you ll see what I mean. Proper Nutrition No surprises here, we become what we eat. There is no other activity that we do more frequently in our life than eating. According to the World Health Organization and many other sources, 70% of all diseases are directly related to nutrition and diet. If you want to prevent disease and in particular breast cancer I suggest the following simple way: 7

10 Eating low saturated fat with high fiber has been shown to be beneficial for breast health. As you know, I m a big proponent of the Anti-Estrogenic diet which simply means that you avoid estrogen promoting foods. Start eating foods lower on the food chain, things like fruits, vegetables, legumes, roots, nuts, seeds, and eggs. Even wild fish or fresh dairy are permissible. Now what s not permissible is that you need to stay away from processed grains. Actually, you need to stay away from processed foods, period. But processed grains, things like sugar or overfed farm animals, refined, processed or chemically-loaded foods, these are foods that you need to stay away from. Of course, you need to eat organic whenever possible. Further, home cooking is much preferred to eating out for obvious reasons. The energy that goes into food preparation is very important and it is just impossible to attain that with commercially prepared foods. We have perverted our relationship with food, where food has become the enemy. It is the exact opposite; food is the most powerful medicine you have at your disposal, please keep this in mind as you re making your food choices. Lastly, the foods that that you eat are important but the thoughts that you have while eating is even more important. Check Your Thyroid and Adrenals I ll make a bold statement that low functioning thyroid or what is known as hypothyroid usually precedes most breast conditions. By correcting this problem as early as your first symptoms develop, you will decrease your risk factors and improve your breast health. 8

11 Another connection that is often overlooked is that your proper thyroid function also depends on your function of the adrenal glands. Adrenals become physically exhausted after prolonged stress or a prolonged illness. Therefore if your adrenals are not functioning well you re not going to get your thyroid issues resolved either. You can use different methods to check your thyroid and adrenal function. Your Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) may be in the normal range and because of this you may not be getting proper treatment. Make sure that when you re testing that your Free T-3 and T-4 as well as Thyroid antibodies are checked as well. DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone) and Cortisol levels are also important indicators of your adrenal function. If you have high cortisol output and low DHEA you most likely have other hormonal issues as well and you ll be ageing very fast. Again, find and work with a healthcare practitioner that can support you with a holistic approach in this area. It is very important that you are treated as a whole rather than just a part that is dysfunctional. Stress Stress and trauma play a major role in most health conditions. Breast cancer, of course, is no exception. Keep in mind that stress, or perceived stress, puts your body into a fight or flight response in your autonomic nervous system. We have both sympathetic and para-sympathetic systems and each one has a specific function. To simplify matters I ll use the following analogy - Sympathetic System will be termed as a fight or flight state while Para-Sympathetic System we will call a wine and dine state. There is very good reason why we need to activate these states. For instance if you walk down a street and someone is trying to mug you, your sympathetic nervous system will kick in. You ll have a chance to fight or get out of this situation by running away. In either case, your major muscle groups are going to be ready with having more blood supply to these muscles. Your breathing is going to be shortened, your mouth will get dry, your digestive process is going to be shut down, your heart is going to palpate faster, you bladder and bowels are going to contract and your cortisone (adrenaline) levels are going to be released to their maximum. This is a very efficient way to make sure that you survive whatever challenge you re facing at the moment. 9

12 By contrast your para-sympathetic nervous system is the exact opposite in function. As you wine and dine your breathing is much slower, your heart rhythm slows down, you start secreting saliva and you are ready to digest and eliminate as you are in a relaxed state. The reason why I m illustrating the function of our sympathetic and para-sympathetic systems is very important because most of us are in a sympathetic mode most of the day. We eat on the run, drink coffee during our commute, deal with stressful or unpleasant situations at home and at work and guess what effect it has on us? This daily grind is slowly killing us as we are not able to digest or eliminate properly, as our high cortisol levels create inflammation in our body and turn everything we eat into fat, as our hormonal levels are stressed and become imbalanced. Yet, it is not only daily occurrences and actions that force us into a sympathetic mode but even our anxious or negative thoughts can trigger the same response. I strongly believe that this is one of the major reasons why we get sick and age prematurely and it is all because we live in a sympathetic or a fight or flight world. Remember, we re not just a physical body. Your emotions and thoughts directly influence your physical health. Almost everyone can use some help in this area and once you do, you can really attain real health and well-being. My advice to you is to create a plan of action on how you re going to de-stress in a healthy way. Perhaps going for a walk or spending time listening to music or reading a book or meditating, whatever it is that you find enjoyable and relaxing will work. Make sure that you create that daily ritual for yourself, (a place of refuge and personal healing), because if you do not create this nobody is going to do it for you. Breast Thermography Mammography can be useful as a diagnostic tool when necessary but as a mass screening method it has not been effective. Mammography has been the most controversial test for the past 40 years. Women have been deceived by the notion that routine mammography screening saves lives. It does not. Numerous long-term studies question the effectiveness of mammography mass screening since cancer is frequently missed or often over-diagnosed. Younger women with dense breast tissue along with women with fibrocystic breast condition derive little or no benefit from conventional screening with 10

13 mammography. Even women over the age of 50 may not benefit from mammography screening since it takes 8 to 9 years or longer for a tumor to grow to a size that is detectable by a mammogram. This is hardly an early detection paradigm that we were led to believe; this is in fact late detection. I have been advocating for many years that we need a more personalized approach to breast cancer screening. Breast Thermography can play a great role in early detection and risk assessment. Breast thermography is non-invasive, radiation free and a completely safe method that compliments all other types of breast testing modalities. Thermography evaluates how breasts function and can gives an early warning signal that may be life-saving. Once the risk level is assessed with breast thermography you can develop strategies of lowering these factors before cancer has a chance to develop. You can also monitor your progress with breast thermography and see if you re on the right path or if you need to make some adjustments to your therapy. Breast thermography is an indispensable tool in breast monitoring and over-all breast cancer prevention plans. I have seen thousands of women who assess and monitor their breast health using breast thermography evaluation; they are proactive in their health and follow the plan outlined above with great success. 11

14 Summary What can you do? Begin to incorporate the steps outlined here. Step by step, move in the right direction with your breast health. I want to leave you with this final thought: Your health really does not get better by chance. It doesn t get better by quick fixes here and there. It does get better with change and altering the lifestyle choices you make. Preventing breast cancer is far more important and powerful than simply trying to detect the disease. So if we are going to make a dent in breast cancer statistics, it is time to take personal responsibility and start doing what we need to do, individually and collectively. I m confident that if you take this advice and implement some or all of the 10 ways outlined in this publication, first, you will be empowered to steer your own health in a new direction. And, most importantly, you will not become another woman who survives breast cancer but instead you will be a woman who thrives in your life! Help us spread the word about breast health and cancer prevention. Please visit us at Like us on Facebook 12