Empower yourself, take control of your health! If
you don’t smoke, are at a healthy weight, and
aren’t stressed out everyday you are ahead of the
game. On the other hand, if you smoke, are
overweight, and life has you stressed tighter than
a drum, you need to make some changes ASAP!

     Every woman wants to know what she can do to lower her risk of developing breast
cancer. If you have no personal history of the disease, you want to do what you can
to stay clear of it. And if you have had breast cancer, you never want to get it again.
You want to know how to lower your risk of the cancer coming back, and you want
to reduce your risk of getting an unrelated new breast cancer.

    The best defense against breast cancer is a good offense. There are no perfect
solutions, but you can do many things to reduce your risk.

     Regular screening tests for breast cancer, such as an annual mammogram and a
breast exam during your annual checkup, allow you and your doctor to ensure that
your breasts are as healthy as they can be. Screening also increases the likelihood
that your doctor will find breast cancer early, when it’s most treatable.

Making the following changes in your life will improve your overall health and
also MAY SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE your risk for breast cancer.

     Stop smoking! You should use every resource you can find to help you quit
smoking—for good! Research shows that smoking causes many diseases, and it is
associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer. Smoking can also
increase complications from breast cancer treatment. It can worsen radiation
damage to the lung, cause difficulty healing after surgery, and increase risk of blood
clots with hormonal therapy. But even knowing about all of the dangers isn’t always
enough to make you quit. Smoking is a habit that’s very hard to break. Fortunately,
if you’re serious about trying, you have lots of help:

• The American Lung Association offers a free online smoking cessation
  program. Local chapters of the American Cancer Society offer their Fresh Start
  program to help people quit smoking. You can also call their “quitline,” at 1-
  800-ACS-2345, to get support and free advice on how to stop smoking from
  trained counselors.

• Medications to help you quit can be taken as a pill, chewed as gum, or worn
  as a patch on the skin.

• Acupuncture and meditation can also help.

• It’s also easier if you have a friend or “buddy” who can either stop with you or
  cheer you on when you’re feeling you can’t make it on your own.

     Get more exercise. Exercise has many healthy benefits. Research has shown that
five hours of exercise a week may lower the risk of breast cancer. Over time,
exercise may be able to lower the estrogen levels in your body. With less estrogen
around, there is less stimulation of breast cell growth, which is associated with a
lower risk of breast cancer. Other research on exercise and breast cancer has found
that exercise also can help boost the immune system, limit weight gain from
chemotherapy, and help ease treatment side effects.

     Maintain a healthy weight. Overweight women have an increased risk of getting
breast cancer after menopause. And being overweight can increase the risk of
breast cancer coming back in women who have had the disease. There are probably
several reasons that being overweight is associated with an increased risk of breast
cancer. Extra fat cells make extra estrogen that might stimulate breast cell growth.
Plus, overweight women tend to exercise less and eat higher-fat foods. Regular
exercise can reduce fat in the body and help with weight loss. As we age, it’s harder
to keep weight under control because our metabolism slows down and we tend to
get less exercise. But if you can stick to a low-fat, low-calorie diet and stay physically
active, weight is much easier to control.

     Reduce your exposure to estrogen. Prolonged exposure to estrogen without a
break can increase your risk for breast cancer. To reduce or eliminate sources of
extra estrogen from your diet and environment, try the following steps:

• Shed any extra pounds, and try to keep those pounds off. Extra fat cells make
  extra estrogen. At a healthy weight, estrogen levels tend to be lower.

• If you have already had breast cancer, avoid taking estrogen-like and
  progesterone-like products such as menopausal hormone replacement
  therapy (HRT) and DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone). So far the increased risk
  of breast cancer is most closely associated with the combination of estrogen
  and progesterone pills. Little is known about the relative safety of vaginal
  creams, gels, rings (such as Estring), “natural” hormones, and herbal
  hormone-like remedies. Your doctor may prescribe vaginal hormones to help
  with vaginal dryness and discomfort. Hormone preparations used in the
  vagina mostly stay in the vagina. But some of these hormones can be
  absorbed into your bloodstream and get to your breasts. Blood levels of
  estrogen depend on the dose, frequency of use, the type of estrogen
  preparation, and your body’s ability to absorb the hormone. If you decide to
  use estrogen with your doctor’s advice, try to use the lowest dose possible.

• Limit alcohol use. You may choose to stop drinking alcohol completely. But if
  you enjoy alcoholic beverages and plan to continue using them, try to have
  fewer than five alcoholic drinks a week. Significant alcohol use is unhealthy for
  your liver, which helps regulate estrogen levels in your system. So limiting
  your alcohol use helps your liver keep blood estrogen levels low.

• Restrict sources of red meat and other animal fats (including dairy fat in
  cheese, milk, and ice cream), because they may contain hormones, other
  growth factors, antibiotics, and pesticides. Some researchers believe that
  eating too much cholesterol and other fats are risk factors for cancer, and
  studies show that eating a lot of red and/or processed meats is associated
  with a higher risk of breast cancer.

• If circumstances allow, consider having children sooner rather than later in life
  and breastfeed your babies. A full-term pregnancy, which stops your
  menstrual cycle for nine months, seems to offer protection against breast
  cancer. Pregnancy produces a blend of several hormones that forces breast
  cells to “grow up” and learn how to make milk. Estrogen is in the mix of the
  hormonal blend, but the other hormones seem to balance out its effects.
  When breast cells mature and have a job to do, they have less time to act out
  and cause problems—like starting a cancer. Additionally, research shows that
  breastfeeding lowers breast cancer risk for both younger mothers and women
  who have delayed having children.

     Learn about good nutrition and start eating for good health. Everything your body
does—from healing a wound to fighting cancer cells—is affected by what you eat.
Bad nutrition seriously hampers your body’s ability to function in top form. Good
nutrition increases general wellness.

     Two leaders in the field—Dr. Keith Block (University of Illinois and the Block Medical
Center, Evanston, Illinois), and Dr. Mitch Gaynor (Strang-Cornell Cancer Prevention
Center, New York City)—focus on nutrition as a means of reducing cancer risk,
extending survival, and increasing quality of life. Their work emphasizes vegetarian
diets and fat restriction, coupled with stress reduction and other complementary
medicine therapies. They believe these factors combine to strengthen the immune
system. A strong immune system can fight disease better, and it seems logical that
this would lower your risk for all disease, including breast cancer.

     The American Cancer Society has guidelines on nutrition and exercise for cancer risk
reduction that may be helpful for you.

     Eat your fruits and vegetables! Researchers disagree on whether certain
vegetables or fruits reduce risk for breast cancer. One report that combined many
dietary studies showed no clear decrease in risk of breast cancer from diets high in
vegetables and fruits. But a diet full of produce can help you lose weight or maintain
a good weight. So through this indirect result, this type of diet may also be able to
help lower breast cancer risk.

     Some people chose to eat organic foods when possible to minimize exposure to
pesticides, extra hormones, antibiotics and genetically modified organisms. But keep
in mind that the U.S. Department of Agriculture makes no claims that organically
produced food is safer or more nutritious than conventionally produced food. More
research is needed to find out whether organic foods are more nutritious or
healthier compared to foods produced by traditional farming methods.

      Here are some easy ways to make sure you get at least five servings of vegetables
and fruit in a day (nine is better):

• Add chopped squash and carrots to jarred or fresh spaghetti sauce (serve on
  pasta for a great dinner).
• Eat tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes—raw in salad, sandwiches, salsa, juice,
  alone (like a piece of fruit), cooked in sauces.
• Eat whole fruit rather than drink juice, to reduce calories, add fiber, and
  increase feelings of fullness.
• Snack on baby carrots and celery (keep a cooler of them in the car).
• Throw handfuls of spinach into stews and soups
• Add shredded lettuce to potato salad.
• Add broccoli, tomatoes, or zucchini to scrambled eggs or omelets.
• Freeze grapes and berries in single-serving containers for a cool treat during
  summer months.

     Relax. Anything you can do to reduce your stress and to enhance your comfort, joy,
and satisfaction will have a major effect on your quality of life. So-called “mindful
measures” (such as meditation, yoga, visualization exercises, and prayer) may be
valuable additions to your daily or weekly routine. Intriguing new studies suggest
that these fundamental but non-traditional interventions may strengthen the
immune system. And if your immune system is strong, it’s better able to fight
disease. For example, improved immune cell function has been documented after
people with melanoma, a malignant skin cancer, attended regular support group
meetings. Another study found that women in breast cancer support groups had a
better quality of life and more immune cells in the blood than those who don’t join
such groups. The power of support goes a long way to reduce stress and make
people feel connected—not alone—in their fight against cancer.