No more mammogram. Breast cancer prevention tips. Safer breast screening methods.

I recently did my breast screening. Three-prong approach. No mammogram.

Doctor exam, breast thermography and an ultrasound in two weeks. NO mammogram unless my thermography comes back suspicious and even then, I might opt for an MRI.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I don’t think big business is trying to screw us at every turn.  I do think many lack a corporate conscience, that profit trumps full disclosure. There exists a well-oiled machine in the health care world to feed the pockets of the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, often at the expense of patients’ health.  The solution is to stay informed.

There’s an enormous price to be paid for walking lockstep with even the most well-intentioned, likeable, loveable, “I’ve always loved my doctor” medical practitioner. Question. Ask. Get what you pay for. Respect. Professionalism. Competence. Cutting edge. Nothing less.

Conventional OR holistic medicine, know what you’re getting into regarding medications, supplements, herbs, medical procedures and screenings. Research the pros and cons. Natural is not always “safer.”

For traditional medicine check out:

Pub-med for the gold standard of peer-reviewed research

Mayo Clinic

National Institute of Health

Medscape

For alternative and integrative medicine check out:

Dr. Mercola

Dr Oz

Dr. Braverman

Christine Northrup (women’s health)

Women in balance (women’s health)

 

Dr. Mercola writes in his online article  Can You Cut Your Breast Cancer Risk by Skipping Mammograms?   

Analysis of 30 Years of Breast Screening Shows Mammograms Do More Harm than Good

Instead of mammo, he offers a prevention approach below: Before reading however, please note that a three-pronged screening approach is ideal.1. Exam by doctor 2. Structural: MRI (ideally, if not an MRI an ultrasound, if not then mammo, although this is debatable and certainly not annually. 3. Functional: Breast thermography by certified breast thermographer.  (IACT (International Academy of Clinical Thermology) Board Certified Medical Thermographer, CTT, specializing in women’s breast health.)

Dr. Mercola’s Breast Cancer Prevention Protocol

“In the largest review of research into lifestyle and breast cancer, the American Institute of Cancer Research estimated that about 40 percent of US breast cancer cases could be prevented if people made wiser lifestyle choices.^6, 7 I believe these estimates are far too low, and it is more likely that 75 percent to 90 percent of breast cancers could be avoided by strictly applying the recommendations below.

• Avoid sugar, especially fructose. All forms of sugar are detrimental to health in general and promote cancer. Fructose, however, is clearly one of the most harmful and should be avoided as much as possible.
• Optimize your vitamin D. Vitamin D influences virtually every cell in your body and is one of nature’s most potent cancer fighters. Vitamin D is actually able to enter cancer cells and trigger apoptosis (cell death). If you have cancer, your vitamin D level should be between 70 and 100 ng/ml. Vitamin D works synergistically with every cancer treatment I’m aware of, with no adverse effects. I suggest you try watching my one-hour free lecture on vitamin D to learn more.

Remember that if you take oral vitamin D3 supplements, you also need to increase your vitamin K2 intake, as vitamin D increases the need for K2 to function properly. See my previous article What You Need to Know About Vitamin K2, D and Calcium for more information. Please consider joining one of GrassrootsHealth’s D*Action’s vitamin D studies to stay on top of your vitamin D performance. For more information, see my previous article How Vitamin D Performance Testing Can Help You Optimize Your Health.

• Get plenty of natural vitamin A. There is evidence that vitamin A also plays a role in helping prevent breast cancer.⁸ It’s best to obtain it from vitamin A-rich foods, rather than a supplement. Your best sources are organic egg yolks,⁹ raw butter, raw whole milk, and beef or chicken liver.
• Lymphatic breast massage can help enhance your body’s natural ability to eliminate cancerous toxins. This can be applied by a licensed therapists, or you can implement self-lymphatic massage. It is also promotes self-nurturance.
• Avoid charring your meats. Charcoal or flame broiled meat is linked with increased breast cancer risk. Acrylamide—a carcinogen created when starchy foods are baked, roasted or fried—has been found to increase breast cancer risk as well.
• Avoid unfermented soy products. Unfermented soy is high in plant estrogens, or phytoestrogens, also known as isoflavones. In some studies, soy appears to work in concert with human estrogen to increase breast cell proliferation, which increases the chances for mutations and cancerous cells.
• Improve your insulin receptor sensitivity. The best way to do this is by avoiding sugar and grains and making sure you are exercising, especially with Peak Fitness.
• Maintain a healthy body weight. This will come naturally when you begin eating right for your nutritional type and exercising. It’s important to lose excess body fat because fat produces estrogen.
• Drink a half to whole quart of organic green vegetable juice daily. Please review my juicing instructions for more detailed information.
• Get plenty of high quality animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. Omega-3 deficiency is a common underlying factor for cancer.
• Curcumin. This is the active ingredient in turmeric and in high concentrations can be very useful adjunct in the treatment of breast cancer. It shows immense therapeutic potential in preventing breast cancer metastasis.¹⁰ It’s important to know that curcumin is generally not absorbed that well, so I’ve provided several absorption tips here.
• Avoid drinking alcohol, or at least limit your alcoholic drinks to one per day.
• Breastfeed exclusively for up to six months. Research shows breastfeeding can reduce your breast cancer risk.
• Avoid wearing underwire bras. There is a good deal of data that metal underwire bras can heighten your breast cancer risk.
• Avoid electromagnetic fields as much as possible. Even electric blankets can increase your cancer risk.
• Avoid synthetic hormone replacement therapy. Breast cancer is an estrogen-related cancer, and according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer rates for women dropped in tandem with decreased use of hormone replacement therapy. (There are similar risks for younger women who use oral contraceptives. Birth control pills, which are also comprised of synthetic hormones, have been linked to cervical and breast cancers.)

If you are experiencing excessive menopausal symptoms, you may want to consider bioidentical hormone replacement therapy instead, which uses hormones that are molecularly identical to the ones your body produces and do not wreak havoc on your system. This is a much safer alternative.

• Avoid BPA, phthalates and other xenoestrogens. These are estrogen-like compounds that have been linked to increased breast cancer risk
• Make sure you’re not iodine deficient, as there’s compelling evidence linking iodine deficiency with breast cancer. Dr. David Brownstein,¹¹ author of the book Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can’t Live Without It, is a proponent of iodine for breast cancer. It actually has potent anticancer properties and has been shown to cause cell death in breast and thyroid cancer cells.

For more information, I recommend reading Dr. Brownstein’s book. I have been researching iodine for some time ever since I interviewed Dr. Brownstein as I do believe that the bulk of what he states is spot on. However, I am not at all convinced that his dosage recommendations are correct. I believe they are too high.”