Let’s turn awareness into prevention! If you’re like me, you know that each year October is promoted around the world as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And if you’re like me, you’ve likely heard this saying countless times before: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And that got me thinking and wondering. How is it that we continue to hear about awareness year after year and not so much about prevention? ‘Early detection is key’ is the catchphrase that’s repeated in all the campaigns, on all the radio talk shows, by all the well-meaning breast cancer support groups. And don’t get me wrong. Early detection is key in order to take control of a cancer diagnosis before it grows and spreads. Early detection is important for determining the next course of action. Early detection is certainly better than late detection or not finding out at all. But don’t be fooled! By the time most breast cancers are detected ‘early’, it’s already been growing inside the body for quite some time.
So then, am I the only woman here who is more than a little disappointed that more – much more – isn’t said and done to educate more women about how to avoid getting breast cancer in the first place? Am I the only one crazy enough to actually believe that breast cancer prevention must be far better than the cure which we are yet to find? Is there anyone else out there who wants to see more information being made available in our schools and in our church and community groups, to our girls and young women, about the dietary and lifestyle steps they should take or changes they can make now to decrease their risk of developing breast cancer later? Even if there might be a family history of the disease?
This diet and lifestyle aspect is of critical importance since studies show that 90% or more of women with breast cancer do not have a genetic risk factor for breast cancer at all. What this means is that something else is clearly the cause. That something else is not just one thing. It’s an accumulation over time of many factors, expressed in what and how we eat, the way we live, our prolonged exposure to certain toxic elements in our environment and our level of stress. But there is also enough evidence to show that how we control those same factors – diet, lifestyle, our environment and stress – can have a protective effect in our bodies, minimizing or even reversing the cell damage that can develop into cancer.
This is the kind of consciousness I want to awaken among those who need to hear it most: women of all ages but especially our young children and teenagers whose diets and lifestyle habits are still forming. This is the kind of attention I want to breast cancer prevention to gain, not just in October but all year round. If you’re like me and this is what you want too, I’m asking for one, small favor: Share this message with one other woman, or two, or three or more. Together, let’s start building the kind of awareness that leads more women to take action to prevent a breast cancer diagnosis. Because the stakes while we wait for the cure are much too high.
Click on the link to take one small action step towards prevention. http://eepurl.com/hf2oWv