A pharmaceutical representative asked me what I was doing for breast cancer awareness month.  She was wearing her Breast Cancer T shirt and had brought lunch in to the cancer clinic where I am working to build an Integrative wellness center.  It caught me off guard for a Nano second and then I went into my spiel on what we are doing here in the clinic:

1. Discover Diversity in the Diet; Eat Real Food

First, this week, I made liver pate, homemade chicken and vegetable soup, rainbow kale salad and cauliflower “cheese” garlicky bread sticks, for our nutrition support group.  These are easy to make recipes that are fairly inexpensive.  See my book or free app for recipes.  Diversity in the diet is the largest differentiators of the 20% of women with BRAC 1 and BRAC 2 genes who did NOT get breast cancer. This is data from one of the largest studies done, the Framingham Nurses study, per Victoria Wood, RD, MPH, CNS, and a monthly guest speaker at our Nutrition Support Group.  www.victoriawoodnutrition.com

Rainbow kale salad has the colors of the rainbow which means it is full of protective flavonoids and phytonutrients and includes the “queen” cancer fighting cruciferous vegetable red cabbage, sweet baby kale, sunflower seeds and more. It makes a beautiful presentation on a buffet table. I offer these recipes as part of a package for our patients, families and friends who want to help in healing from within and with cancer prevention.

Why try “cheesy” garlicky bread sticks? Anyone who is on chemotherapy or merely eating the SAD (standard American diet), taking birth control pills, aspirin or NSAIDs, antihistamines, or drinking lots of alcohol has an inflamed gastrointestinal tract.  Do you ever experience gas, bloating, diarrhea, or constipation? If so, this means you. Gluten and dairy are the number one food sensitivities that can lead to and exacerbate a condition called intestinal permeability (aka leaky gut in layman’s terms). These bread sticks are made with cauliflower and Daiya cheese, (the only processed food I include in my recipes for this reason.) Do you have an autoimmune disease? Then you must put gluten free and dairy free as a top priority until you can heal your gut. Do you have brain fog, anxiety or depression? Ditto. 

There is a reason why every culture and cuisine has their own version of chicken soup.  Need I say more?

The liver was from Polyface Farms, Joel Salatin’s model sustainable farm in southern Virginia. Polyface offers free range, organic, happy chickens that eat their natural diet without the need for pesticides, growth hormones or antibiotics www.polyfacefarms.com . This is vitally important because, liver like many foods can be a health food, or not. The liver filters toxins from the body; you do not want to eat conventionally grown animal livers that are full of toxins. Liver is an excellent source of bio available vitamin A, D, zinc, iron (and healthy fat for absorption). These are essential vitamins and minerals for a healthy immune system. The immune system is our police force, it is what protects us from bad bacteria, viruses, toxins and foreign bodies, (like GMOs found in our food along with chemicals, pesticides and preservatives).

2.  Check your vitamin D level.

I asked the pharmaceutical rep if she knew what her vitamin D level was.  I then explained that vitamin D is a vital pre-hormone that turns on and off the expression of cancer genes at the stem cell. Not even chemotherapy does this. It decreases mortality of all dis-eases. It is essential to close the gaps in the intestine and heal leaky gut and all dis-ease. Normal range for lab tests is between 30 and 100.  It is now predicted that every 2 men and 2.5 women born after 1980 will get cancer.  I certainly do not want to be normal. We need levels to be at least 60 ng/ml to be protective of both cancers and autoimmune dis-ease. Ask your doctor to check yours or better yet, come get a total micronutrient test from Spectracell laboratories at our office on October 19^th and see for yourself if you have any common nutrient insufficiency that need to be corrected. If you are on any medication, then the answer is likely to be yes. 

3.  Consider Thermography as a breast health-screening tool. 

I never even heard of this until my daughter’s oncologist in Arizona recommended this to us. Thermography is an FDA approved, safe, non-invasive scan that can be done on the breasts for any “hotspots”.  Get a baseline screening and then compare every year. If positive, follow up with a ultrasound or MRI. No radiation and no excruciating crushing of precious breast tissue. I believe a kinder and gentler, way to go.  I am having mine done this weekend through a member of my Wellness Inspired Network (WIN) group @www.neckbackandbeyond.com

Most of all, my favorite offering this month was teaching Carpe Diem Movement, (movement to music) at our New Self Health Movement, (#NSHM Self Health Retreat at Asilomar Retreat center in Monterey, California), and for the patients at the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders in Bethesda, Maryland.  As I always say (and quote my MIT cellular biologist and functional medicine guru, Tracy Harrison),

   “Optimal Health is NOT complicated. We need to:

1. Maximize Nutrients, 
2. Minimize toxicity and inflammation and 
3. Prioritize self-care.”

As a born Washingtonian, living in a city of type A workaholics, prioritizing self-care is indeed the most challenging of the three.  Find time for fun, rest and relaxation.  Eat real food that is yummy and nourishing. Love your body like you love your baby, your lover and your best friend.  In return, your body will love you back.

Let’s focus on thriving, not just surviving!

Carpe Diem,

Lisa