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Self Breast Exam

According to the American Cancer Society, “The most common symptom of Breast Cancer is a new lump or mass.”

Despite increased use of screening mammography, a large percentage of breast cancers are detected by women themselves. 

Approximately 50% of cases of breast cancer in women 50 years and older and 71% of cases of breast cancer in women younger than 50 years are detected by women themselves. Despite this information, most women are in denial about feeling their breasts for potential lumps. 

Most don’t know what to feel for and others just don’t want to go there.

Even if you are getting yearly exams, there are still 364 days of the year in which changes can occur. A significant number of women are present with palpable breast cancer even with a normal exam within 1 year.

According to the American Cancer Society, “women should be familiar with how their breasts normally look and feel and report any changes to a health care provider right away”.

So … if finding a lump is so important and finding it through touch is so effective, then it only makes sense that the better you are at it, the higher the chances are that you will find your lump sooner than later and smaller than bigger.


There are two critical components to a self breast exam. Only when you combine both, can you expect to achieve the most effective Breast Self-Exam. 

1. Your fingers must be taught what to feel for, what a suspicious lump might feel like. This can only be accomplished by palpating a tactually accurate breast model. It cannot be done by watching a video or reading a pamphlet.

2. The educated fingers must then be brought into contact with ALL of the breast tissue where an unhealthy lump might reside.

Would you rather find a lump the size of a ping-pong ball or the size of a pea?

When you come in for your SureTouch breast exam as the examiner to let you feel our “fake breast tissue sample” it has different types of lumps and can help you locate one if necessary.

Stay Healthy, 
Janice

Postmenopausal Women With Gum Disease Seem to Have Higher Breast Cancer Risk

Gum disease, also called periodontal disease, can range from simple inflammation of the gums, called gingivitis by dentists, to periodontitis, when the gums pull away from the teeth leaving open spaces that become infected. The bacteria causing the infection and the body’s response to the infection can break down the bone and connective tissue that hold your teeth in place. If periodontitis isn’t treated, the teeth may become loose and have to be removed.

Gum disease can be prevented by regular tooth brushing and flossing.

Gum disease has been associated with several other diseases, including heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Past research has found links between gum disease and oral, esophageal, head and neck, pancreatic, and lung cancer, so researchers wondered if there were any links between gum disease and breast cancer.

A study has found that postmenopausal women with gum disease were more likely to develop breast cancer than postmenopausal women who didn’t have gum disease. If the women had a history of smoking, the risk of breast cancer was even higher.

The study was published online on Dec. 21, 2015 by the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Read the abstract of “Periodontal Disease and Breast Cancer: Prospective Cohort Study of Postmenopausal Women.”

The research is part of the very large Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study, commonly called the WHI. The WHI is looking for links between health, diet, lifestyle, and genetic factors and health problems, such as cancer.

In this study, the researchers monitored 73,737 postmenopausal women in the WHI who had never been diagnosed with breast cancer. About 26% of the women told the researchers they had gum disease.

After about 6.5 years, 2,124 women had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Overall, the risk of breast cancer was 14% higher in women who had gum disease compared to women who didn’t have gum disease. So if average breast cancer risk is about 12%, a woman with gum disease had about a 13.5% risk of breast cancer.

“We thought that periodontal bacteria — either the bacteria themselves or the inflammation that’s part of having periodontal disease — has an effect on other parts of the body, including breast tissue. We know there are bacteria in breast tissue and we know there are bacteria in mother’s milk. Women who had periodontal disease had a small increase in the risk of breast cancer overall,” said Jo Freudenheim, Ph.D., distinguished professor of epidemiology and environmental health at the University of Buffalo and lead author of the study.

Because earlier studies have shown that the effects of gum disease can be more severe if a person smokes, the researchers also grouped the women by smoking history:

  • Among women who had quit smoking within the last 20 years, women with gum disease had a 36% higher risk of breast cancer than women who didn’t have gum disease.
  • Among women who had never smoked, women with gum disease had a 6% higher risk of breast cancer than women who didn’t have gum disease.
  • Among women who had quit smoking more than 20 years ago, women with gum disease had an 8% higher risk of breast cancer than women who didn’t have gum disease.

“There’s been an explosion of information recently that makes it clear that many different parts of the body that were thought to be sterile contain bacteria and other microbes,” Dr. Freudenheim said. “These bacteria may influence diseases that were previously thought to have no infectious component.”

The researchers said there are several possible reasons for the association between gum disease and breast cancer:

  • Bacteria in the mouth can get into the bloodstream through tooth brushing, flossing, and chewing. Even though the bacteria are cleared out of the body quickly, the cumulative exposure to tissues can be considerable. It could be that these bacteria affect breast cancer.
  • Inflammation in one part of the body, such as the gums, may have an impact on other diseases.
  • There may be other factors that increase the risk of both gum disease and breast cancer.

“This is a new area, so we have to be careful in how we interpret our findings,” said Dr. Freudenheim. “We can’t say, ‘if you treat periodontal disease it will reduce cancer risk.’ There are new methodologies that allow us to measure things we weren’t able to before. We are now beginning to understand how much the interaction of the microbiome affects our health both in terms of acute infections and chronic diseases.”

Doing all that you can do to keep your breast cancer risk as low as it can be makes good sense. Besides exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, avoiding alcohol, and taking good care of your teeth and gums are steps you can take to control several risk factors.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, gum disease can be kept in check by:

  • Brushing and flossing your teeth every day to remove the bacteria that cause gum disease.
  • Seeing a dentist at least once a year for a checkup, or more frequently if you have any of the warning signs of gum disease:
    • red/swollen gums
    • tender/bleeding gums
    • loose teeth
    • bad breath or a bad taste in the mouth that won’t go way
    • gums that have pulled away from your teeth
    • sensitive teeth

(Article Excerpt from Breastcancer.org)   – See more at: http://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/gum-disease-may-be-linked-to-higher-risk

Lack of Exercise Can Raise The Risk of Breast Cancer

Research shows a link between exercising regularly at a moderate or intense level for 4 to 7 hours per week and a lower risk of breast cancer. Exercise consumes and controls blood sugar and limits blood levels of insulin growth factor, a hormone that can affect how breast cells grow and behave. People who exercise regularly tend to be healthier and are more likely to maintain a healthy weight and have little or no excess fat compared to people who don’t exercise.

Fat cells make estrogen and extra fat cells make extra estrogen. When breast cells are exposed to extra estrogen over time, the risk of developing breast cancer is higher.

Steps you can take

Exercise is now considered such an important part of daily life that the United States Department of Agriculture added it to ChooseMyPlate.gov, the U.S. government’s guide to healthy eating. The American Cancer Society recommends that women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer exercise regularly (about 4 to 5 hours per week) to improve their quality of life and physical fitness, as well as to reduce the risk of developing new cancers. Research shows that women who exercise the equivalent of walking 3 to 5 hours per week at an average pace after being diagnosed with breast cancer may improve their chances of surviving the disease.

Start slowly: The first thing to do is to talk to your doctor and possibly a certified fitness trainer about a safe and sensible plan designed specifically for you and your needs and physical abilities. It’s also a good idea to talk to your doctor about a healthy weight for your age, height, body type, and activity level.

You may want to start gradually, maybe walking for 15 minutes a day and then slowly increasing the amount of time you spend exercising, as well as the intensity level of each session. You may need months to work your way up to 5 hours a week, but that’s OK.

If you’re not sure how to start exercising, you might want to visit a gym or make an appointment with a certified personal trainer to learn about different types of exercise. Some people prefer exercising in their homes using videotapes or DVDs. Others find great joy in gardening or building things, as opposed to organized exercise. Some people love being part of a team and playing soccer or baseball. Walking or jogging with a friend is a great way to socialize AND get the benefits of exercise. Dancing to great music is great exercise. With so many different ways to move, you’re bound to find a way to exercise that suits your personality and schedule. If you can find one or a mix of exercises that you think are fun and not boring, you’ll be much more likely to stick with it.

(Article Excerpt from Breastcancer.org)   – See more at: http://www.breastcancer.org/risk/factors/exercise.

The Question of Soy and its Effect on Breast Cancer

Soybeans are the most widely used, least expensive, and least caloric way to get large amounts of protein with very little fat and no cholesterol. Soy is the main source of protein for billions of people around the world.

Some doctors are concerned about the safety of eating soy for women diagnosed with breast cancer. That’s because soy contains a protein, called isoflavone, which can act like a weak estrogen. Concentrated soy products, such as powders, pills, and capsules, contain more isoflavones compared to soy foods, such as tofu, soy milk, and the beans themselves (also called edamame). Hormone-like substances in plants are called phytoestrogens. The growth of hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers may be turned on by these substances.

Other doctors think soy might protect breast health because the hormone-like strength of isoflavones is MUCH weaker than the estrogen your body naturally makes. So it might be healthier if soy’s weak isoflavones wash out or replace some of your body’s stronger estrogen.

Doctors in the middle say it’s OK to eat soy foods because they are a healthy source of protein. But avoid — or greatly limit — your use of concentrated soy products.

Let’s keep things in perspective: Soy is NOT a major risk factor for breast cancer. At most, there is a concern about soy foods and a worry about soy products. We’re addressing this issue because a lot of you have asked us about things you can do in your everyday life to lower your risk and asked specifically about soy.

It turns out that the research on soy and its effect on breast cancer risk is unclear. You can find studies showing that soy is helpful, harmful, or harmless related to the risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer or a recurrence.

It’s not clear why the results are so different. It might be due to differences in a woman’s age, diet history, weight, amount of physical activity, and other aspects of her health.

Current studies are starting to figure out how the many different compounds in soy affect our bodies. In general though, most doctors believe that it’s safe to eat a moderate amount of soy foods, with or without a history of breast cancer.

Soy 101

When I say soy, I mean all forms of soy foods, not byproducts such as concentrated soy protein powder and soybean oil that are found in many processed foods. Those are topics for another column.

Soy is promoted as a healthy option for vegetarians or for people who want to cut back on foods that come from animals.

Soymilk is a popular plant-based alternative to cow’s milk for vegans and people who are lactose intolerant. Unsweetened soymilk is comparable to cow’s milk in terms of calories, protein, and fat. It also has less sugar than cow’s milk. (Most plant or animal milks naturally contain some sugar.) Soymilk also provides important nutrients, including calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin B12, along with fiber and potassium.

Other substances in soy foods are thought to help keep cell growth and activity normal, regulate cholesterol, and protect cells from harmful chemicals called free radicals.

As discussed above, soy also contains phytoestrogens — weak estrogen-like compounds found in some plants. Isoflavones are a class of phytoestrogens. Some of the isoflavones in soy include genistein and daidzen. Equol is another isoflavone that comes from soy, but it’s only made by certain people when bacteria in their intestines break down daidzen. Not all people have the intestinal bacteria that create equol, so it’s not found in all people.

Because estrogen plays a significant role in the development, spread, and growth of breast cancers, there has been concern that eating a lot of estrogen-like soy compounds might also affect breast cancer risk.

So, is soy good or bad for breast health? 

The question is especially important for women diagnosed with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers. Big doses of isoflavones could overstimulate hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer. Small amounts of isoflavones in soy foods are less likely to cause a problem. Isoflavones also may get in the way of hormonal therapy medicine’s ability to do its job. Tamoxifen and isoflavones both work in the estrogen receptors in the body.  IF isoflavones deliver a weaker estrogen signal to the receptor compared to tamoxifen (and your body’s estrogen), then the isoflavones might provide extra protection against this type of breast cancer. But if isoflavones give breast cells a stronger estrogen signal than tamoxifen, that’s a problem. Large amounts of isoflavones could interfere with the goal of the aromatase inhibitors, which are Arimidex (chemical name: anastrazole), Femara (chemical name: letrozole), and Aromasin (chemical name: exemestane). Aromatase inhibitors, another type of hormonal therapy, lower the amount of estrogen available in the body to interact with the estrogen receptor.

So there are reasons why some doctors advise women diagnosed with breast cancer to limit or stop eating soy, while other doctors tell them to eat more.

The research: benefits

Most of the reassuring news about breast cancer and soy comes from studies on groups of people and their consumption of soy foods, not soy products.

There’s an association between eating soy and lower rates of estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer in women living in Asia. The link is weaker for Asian women living in Western countries. People living in Asia eat up to 10 times more soy than people living in the West. Because of this, experts wondered if eating a lot of soy helped protect against breast cancer. Of course, there are other healthy aspects to the Asian lifestyle besides soy that could help explain the lower rate of breast cancer, such as less obesity, more physical activity, and less alcohol use.

There are also studies that found no association between soy and a higher risk of breast cancer or its recurrence. For example, a 2009 study of postmenopausal women found that soy isoflavones didn’t increase breast density. This was an important finding since dense breasts are linked to a higher risk of cancer. Another 2009 study on more than 5,000 Chinese women diagnosed with breast cancer found that a diet rich in soy did not increase the risk of recurrence.

More recent, bigger studies and research reviews suggest eating soy foods (not concentrated soy products) can be protective for some people.

  • A 2014 analysis of 35 studies found eating soy foods was linked to a lower risk of breast cancer both before and after menopause for women in Asian countries, but not women in Western countries. Still, when researchers combined results from three large studies involving nearly 10,000 women, they found a lower risk of breast cancer recurrence in both U.S. and Chinese women who ate soy and had been diagnosed with breast cancer. This was especially true for women who had estrogen-receptor-negative disease. Risk dropped by 25% in women who ate about 10 grams of soy daily, an amount similar to what’s in a standard Japanese diet.
  • A study of 15,000 Japanese women found eating moderate-to-high amounts of soy foods was linked to lower breast cancer risk after menopause.
  • An analysis of more than 130 studies on soy consumption found that eating about 1½ cups of soy foods daily was linked to a lower risk of recurrence and dying from breast cancer for women who had been diagnosed, regardless of their ethnicity.

Recent research also suggests that the age a woman begins eating soy foods plays a role in soy’s effect on breast cancer risk. Asian women begin eating moderate to high amounts of soy foods as children. Scientists think that may be why the most protective results have been seen in these women. Eating soy foods early in life might reduce the risk of developing breast cancer because soy seems to contribute to breast-tissue differentiation in developing girls, which seems to be protective. Tissue differentiation is when cells line up to function as they’re supposed to. There’s also some evidence suggesting a link between better survival and eating soy foods a year or more after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

While all these results seem encouraging, other studies offer different results.

The research: risks

Most of the troubling results about soy come from studies on lab animals and cells. Research has shown that certain isoflavones in soy seem to encourage cancer cell or tumor growth and spread, particularly around menopause. For example, lab studies have found that low concentrations of the isoflavone genistein stimulated the growth of estrogen-receptor-positive breast tumors and interfered with the effects of tamoxifen.

Another concern is whether soy’s estrogen-like effects worsen outcomes for women newly diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. A small and short 2014 study suggests that for some of these women, adding about 4 cups of soy milk to their diets turns on several genes that encourage cell growth. The study didn’t last long enough to know whether these genetic changes would cause cancer to grow, and the study also didn’t look at whether soy does or doesn’t reduce the risk of breast cancer.

The research: mixed results

Some research has found that soy has different effects under different conditions.

For example, research done in animals has shown that high concentrations of the isoflavone genistein slow the spread of breast-cancer cells but low concentrations of genistein encourage tumor growth. Still, the amounts of genistein studied were higher than anyone would actually eat. Studies are also looking at how soy affects people of different ethnicities, how isoflavones interact with estrogen receptors, and how the interaction is affected by estrogen levels in the body.

Enjoy some soy

At most, soy’s effect on breast cancer risk is neutral, or small. It’s probably a combination of lifestyle factors (for example, exercising daily, limiting alcohol, not smoking) that all work together to lower risk. Also, people who depend on soy for protein are probably eating a healthy diet.

I’m not trying to be confusing by telling you about all these conflicting results. I just want you to know why doctors are still debating the soy question.

I feel comfortable recommending moderate amounts of soy foods as part of a balanced diet for healthy women and breast cancer survivors. This means two to three ½-cup servings of soy per day, similar to a Japanese diet.

That said, it’s always best to follow the Precautionary Principle:

  • Until the soy question becomes clearer, eating soy or increasing the amount of soy you eat is not a proven strategy to reduce your risk of breast cancer or lower your risk of recurrence.
  • Eliminating all soy from your diet “just to be sure” is drastic, hard to do, and is unlikely to give you any extra protection against breast cancer.

But we recommend that you:

  • Avoid highly concentrated soy products or protein supplements (they come in powders and capsules).
  • Avoid hidden soy, found in many packaged foods in various forms (protein isolate and soybean oil). Real whole foods provide the best nutrients. Packaged foods may affect your body differently than whole soy. Eating hidden soy may mean that you’re eating more soy than you wanted to.
  • Stick to certified organic soy foods. More than 90% of conventional soybeans come from genetically modified seeds. So far, no research shows that genetically modified foods affect cancer risk or cause long-term health problems. But many crops such as soy are engineered to withstand spraying with certain pesticides, and pesticide residues can cause unhealthy cell changes. Certified organic products don’t use genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Special circumstances call for extra precautions. Of course, anyone with soy allergies should avoid soy. Limit how much soy you eat if you’re being treated for low thyroid hormone levels, and don’t take your medicine with soy foods. And if you have problems absorbing minerals, you may want to avoid soy because compounds in soy called phytates can slow or block absorption of important nutrients including iron, calcium, and zinc.

(Article Excerpt and Image from Breastcancer.org)   – See more at: http://community.breastcancer.org/livegreen/the-soy-question-safe-to-eat/.

Breast Cancer Risk Factors

Just being a woman is the biggest of all breast cancer risk factors. There are about 190,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 60,000 cases of non-invasive breast cancer this year in American women. While men do develop breast cancer, less than 1% of all new breast cancer cases happen in men. Approximately 2,000 cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in American men this year.

The biggest reasons for the difference in breast cancer rates between men and women are:

  • Women’s breast development takes 3 to 4 years and is usually complete by age 14. It’s uncommon for men’s breasts to fully form — most of the male breasts you see are fat, not formed glands.
  • Once fully formed, breast cells are very immature and highly active until a woman’s first full-term pregnancy. While they are immature, a women’s breast cells are very responsive to estrogen and other hormones, including hormone disrupters in the environment.
  • Men’s breast cells are inactive and most men have extremely low levels of estrogen.

So hormonal stimulation of highly responsive and vulnerable breast cells in women, particularly during the extra-sensitive period of breast development, is why breast cancer is much more common in women than in men.

Steps you can take

Changing your sex to reduce your risk of breast cancer is not a realistic or reasonable possibility. But there are lifestyle choices you can make to reduce your estrogen exposure and reduce this sex-related risk:

These are just a few of the steps you can take. Review the links on the left side of this page for more options.

(Article Excerpt and Image from Breastcancer.org)   – See more at: http://www.breastcancer.org/risk/factors/woman

Study Says Breast Cancer Prevention Must Begin Early in Life

Every woman wants to know what she can do to lower her risk of breast cancer. Some of the factors associated with breast cancer — being a woman, your age, and your genetics, for example — can’t be changed. Other factors — being overweight, lack of exercise, eating unhealthy food — can be changed by making choices. By choosing the healthiest lifestyle options possible, you can empower yourself and make sure your breast cancer risk is as low as possible.

A paper strongly suggests that breast cancer prevention should start early in life because nearly 25% of breast cancers are diagnosed in women younger than age 50 in developed countries.

The paper was published online on July 22, 2015 by the journal npj Breast Cancer. Read “Preventing breast cancer now by acting on what we already know.”

The lead author of the paper is Graham Colditz, M.D., an internationally known epidemiologist and public health expert who is a member of the Breastcancer.org Professional Advisory Board. He is the director of Prevention and Control at the Siteman Cancer Center at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO.

In the paper, Dr. Colditz and his colleague Kari Bohlke describe the factors that most commonly influence breast cancer risk:

  • increased exposure to the hormones estrogen and progesterone
  • changes in women’s height growth rate and reproductive patterns
  • lifestyle changes, including diet, that come about because of economic development

The researchers also quote breast cancer prevention task force reports urging people to focus on risk factors during specific time periods in a woman’s life:

  • in childhood, before and during breast development
  • in young adulthood/adulthood before the breasts fully mature with the birth of a woman’s first child

Research has shown that girls who eat a high-calorie, low-nutrient diet that contains few vegetables and fruits and get little or no exercise/physical activity are more likely to start having their periods earlier. This means that the body starts producing more estrogen — so girls who start menstruating earlier are exposed to more estrogen over their lifetimes. We know that estrogen can make breast cancer develop and grow. Girls who eat more vegetables and whole grains are more likely to start their periods later, which means they’re exposed to relatively less estrogen over their lifetimes.

“Timing of prevention therefore matters,” the researchers wrote. “Because 22% of breast cancer is diagnosed in premenopausal women and is often more aggressive than cancers diagnosed in postmenopausal women, it makes sense to start prevention early in life when it can have maximum impact. For example, prevention begun in childhood and continuing through adolescence and early adult years can reduce development of premalignant or intermediate lesions that are on the pathway to breast cancer.”

They recommend the following strategies to reduce breast cancer risk and have calculated how much of a difference each would make in the number of cases diagnosed in the United States:

  • Eat a diet full of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains in childhood and continue eating that way throughout life: would prevent 3% of breast cancers
  • Be physically active as a child and continue exercising throughout life: would prevent 11% of breast cancers
  • Avoid gaining weight as you age: would prevent 25-32% of breast cancers
  • If you do gain weight as you age, lose about 10% of your body weight (and keep it off) after menopause: would prevent 25% of breast cancers
  • Limit or avoid alcohol between your first period and the birth of your first child: would prevent 3% of breast cancers
  • Limit or avoid alcohol throughout life: would prevent 3% of breast cancers
  • Avoid using medicines such hormone replacement therapy that contains estrogen and progesterone: would prevent 3% of breast cancers
  • Women at high-risk for breast cancer because of family history or an abnormal gene should consider taking preventive medicine such as tamoxifen or Evista (chemical name: raloxifene): would prevent 11% of breast cancers

Dr. Colditz urges communities, policy makers, schools, and parents to talk to girls about prevention strategies. Exercising, eating healthy food, maintaining a healthy weight, and avoiding alcohol all help reduce the risk of breast cancer. If these strategies start in girlhood, before the breasts begin to develop, breast cancer risk can be reduced even more than if these healthy behaviors start in adulthood.

“If we act and act now, shifting the balance and focus to earlier life, supported by additional resources devoted to implementing prevention, bringing messages and bolstering lifestyle and risk-reduction behaviors during the critical time points in life, we stand a good chance of significantly reducing the burden of breast cancer now and for future generations,” he wrote.

Doing all that you can do to keep your breast cancer risk as low as it can be makes good sense. Exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, and avoiding alcohol are steps you can take to control several risk factors. You can learn much more about breast cancer risk and other steps you can take to minimize your risk in the Breastcancer.org Lower Your Risk section.

(Article Excerpt and Image from Breastcancer.org)   – See more at: http://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/prevention-must-begin-early-in-life

The Five Steps of a Breast Self-Exam

Step 1: Begin by looking at your breasts in the mirror with your shoulders straight and your arms on your hips.Here’s what you should look for:

  • Breasts that are their usual size, shape, and color
  • Breasts that are evenly shaped without visible distortion or swelling

If you see any of the following changes, bring them to your doctor’s attention:

  • Dimpling, puckering, or bulging of the skin
  • A nipple that has changed position or an inverted nipple (pushed inward instead of sticking out)
  • Redness, soreness, rash, or swelling
Breast Self-Exam - Step 1Breast Self-Exam — Step 1
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Step 2: Now, raise your arms and look for the same changes.Step 3: While you’re at the mirror, look for any signs of fluid coming out of one or both nipples (this could be a watery, milky, or yellow fluid or blood). Breast Self-Exam - Steps 2 and 3Breast Self-Exam — Steps 2 and 3
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Step 4: Next, feel your breasts while lying down, using your right hand to feel your left breast and then your left hand to feel your right breast. Use a firm, smooth touch with the first few finger pads of your hand, keeping the fingers flat and together. Use a circular motion, about the size of a quarter.Cover the entire breast from top to bottom, side to side — from your collarbone to the top of your abdomen, and from your armpit to your cleavage.Follow a pattern to be sure that you cover the whole breast. You can begin at the nipple, moving in larger and larger circles until you reach the outer edge of the breast. You can also move your fingers up and down vertically, in rows, as if you were mowing a lawn. This up-and-down approach seems to work best for most women. Be sure to feel all the tissue from the front to the back of your breasts: for the skin and tissue just beneath, use light pressure; use medium pressure for tissue in the middle of your breasts; use firm pressure for the deep tissue in the back. When you’ve reached the deep tissue, you should be able to feel down to your ribcage. Breast Self-Exam - Step 4Breast Self-Exam — Step 4
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Step 5: Finally, feel your breasts while you are standing or sitting. Many women find that the easiest way to feel their breasts is when their skin is wet and slippery, so they like to do this step in the shower. Cover your entire breast, using the same hand movements described in step 4. Breast Self-Exam - Step 5Breast Self-Exam — Step 5
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(Article Excerpt and Image from Breastcancer.org)  – See more at: http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/testing/types/self_exam/bse_steps

Cancer Prevention Diet – Finding the Healthiest Foods

In the real world, people are busy. Not just “go to work” busy. We are busy in every single area of our lives… work, play, and life in general.

We try to be efficient with our time and plan as best we can. In the interest of cutting corners, it’s so easy to reach for convenient foods. Whether it means driving up to a window or heating up a frozen dinner at home, this can be a dangerous option. It definitely means you aren’t eating the best or healthiest foods possible for your anti-cancer lifestyle.

What Food Manufacturers Don’t Want You to Know

You probably already know some hard facts about food you buy at your local grocery stores and fast food joints. The majority of the population knows (even if they ignore) the dangers of soda, fake meats, and chemical-laden food that comes in a box.

Bad fats and hidden sugars are covered with pretty packaging and words like “low fat,” “gluten free,” “sugar free,” “natural,” and “healthy.” Some food labels list so many chemicals to simulate real food that you’d have to have a PhD in chemistry to understand exactly what you’re eating.

These dangerous foods masquerading as “healthy” foods are the curse of the fast-paced life. You think you’re doing the right thing for your family, that you’re choosing options that might not be as good as “homemade”, but maybe aren’t too bad.

Anything that is packaged, boxed, canned, jarred, or has a label with more than one ingredient (especially any that you can’t readily pronounce) listed has been processed. That means something about that food has been added, taken away, or refined to make it edible, shelf stable, and marketable.

Manufacturers don’t care about your diet or desire to eat the healthiest foods. They want your money and will use pretty pictures and fancy words to get what they want. It works every day, with thousands of foods, and their marketing campaigns result in astronomical profits.

Fresh Foods Aren’t Always the Healthiest Foods 

Fresh food has its own set of obstacles.

In your local market, 90% or more of the fresh produce has been treated in some way. Oranges are dipped in food coloring to make them bright and consistently orange. Apples are waxed and polished like brand new cars to make them universally appealing.

Unless it’s been labeled “organic” or “non-GMO,” it’s been processed just like packaged foods. Perhaps not to the same extent, but in ways you don’t want or need to be consuming. These are not the healthiest foods you can select.

Commercial agriculture is a multi-billion dollar industry. Big corporations and pesticide industries have figured out many ways to corner the market and we’ve allowed them to do it. Sadly, the fallout will affect many generations beyond our lifetimes.

Seeds modified in a lab are planted into soil that’s been chemically enhanced and will continued to be treated as the seeds absorb artificial nutrients during development. Plants grow under a shower of pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides to abate the weeds that refuse to die even in the presence of such adversity. Food is rinsed in water containing bleach and bathed in wax to kill (some) bacteria and make it look pretty for consumers.

By the time it makes it to your kitchen, these foods have spent days and weeks in trains, trucks, and on boats either ripening or being tricked into not ripening by artificial means.

Many of the items that should be the healthiest foods (and that all of us are trying to eat more of in our diet) may instead be speeding along the alarming rise in cancer and other deadly illnesses worldwide.

Is Fresh Meat a Healthy Food?

Perhaps fresh meat is safe? Don’t be so sure.

Local butcher shops are rapidly becoming a thing of the past and even most grocery stores have done away with actual butchers. The majority of meat sold in chain supermarkets is cut in a factory, sprayed to prevent discoloring, injected with salt and preservatives, pre-packaged to look appealing on the shelves, and frozen.

It’s shipped to your neighborhood store, slapped on the shelf, and you think it’s “fresh” when it’s been in transit longer than you’d be comfortable knowing.

Commercially raised cattle (unless you buy more expensive, specially-raised meat that is organic and grass-fed) eat genetically modified grain feed enhanced with growth hormones, grown in pesticide filled soil. This feed is formulated to force the animals to grow to abnormal sizes to feed our appetites. The animals are also injected throughout their lifetimes with antibiotics, growth hormones, and other nasty compounds that infuse the meat you ultimately consume.

Another shocking food fact is that some meat is irradiated (exposed to ionized radiation) before it hits shelves.

Even the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – the people in charge of the safety of our food supply – funded an educational video designed to “influence public acceptance of food technologies.” If the government funds a project to influence the public, you can rest assured that you should be concerned.3

Irradiated food is dangerous. This practice originated in a plan to find a use for spent fuel from the nation’s nuclear reactors. It wasn’t about making your food safer, it was about finding a new use for nuclear waste!

If what the food companies want to sell you is good, why does it need to be irradiated? What are they trying to kill? What do they know that we don’t?

The Bacteria, Funguses, and Viruses that Survive Food Treatments

It is not secret that many foods – despite the chemical treatments, the antibiotics, and irradiation – are still susceptible to dangerous organisms that can cause sickness and even death.

If they can survive all of these methods (that are already dangerous to human beings), how strong are these bacteria? As our chemicals become stronger, so do the bugs. If we can’t kill them on our food, they end up in our bodies. They are clearly stronger than even our most extreme methods of killing them. Once they take root in your body… how will medicines do any good?

Pharmaceutical companies invest in more research for better drugs to counteract the pesticides that build up in your system. They try to produce new treatments for illnesses that rage out of control faster than drugs are produced.

The Healthiest Foods Available: Local and Organic

Consider the food facts about what you usually eat and commit to consume cleaner options. It will build your own immune system and help you to fight stronger and stronger bacteria. It takes w5ork to protect yourself from something as basic as the foods you eat. You and your family deserve the healthiest foods possible that won’t result in bio-accumulative toxins at the cellular level.

Organic products are always the best option when they’re available and affordable. Look for and request your stores to carry better, safer products and buy them.

Explore your local farmer’s market. Get to know the people who grow your food and raise your meat. Ideally, the only hands that touch your food should be the farmer’s and yours. Be aware of what you purchase and say “no” to mass manufactured foods whenever possible.

Money Talks When it Comes to Food Choices

Money is what changes minds. Higher demand for local, organic options will drive healthier foods becoming more readily available.

Invest your hard-earned money in your local food scene. The expense and effort to find safer food options is far less expensive than the cost to your health later on.

Know the facts about the healthiest foods for your anti-cancer diet. Saving time isn’t the only thing to consider when it can take years off your life.

(Article Excerpt and Image from TheTruthAboutCancer.com), article by: Ty Bollinger   – See more at: http://thetruthaboutcancer.com/healthiest-foods-anti-cancer-diet/

Could Eating Pineapple 3 Times a Day Promote Breast Health?

See What Happen to Your Breasts When you Eat Pineapple 3 Times a Day

Do you have a problem with droopy and loose breasts? It is quite a normal phenomenon that occurs with age, but now you can easily change that, and all you need to do is to eat more pineapples. Smoking, excess alcohol and coffee can increase the problem, but pineapples can quickly solve it.

“Pineapples contain a whole range of antioxidants and are also considered to be anti-cancer fruits. However, its use in women is indispensable. It contains substances that restore elasticity of skin fibers and thus rejuvenate it. This is especially visible on female breasts which lose their shape over the years. Drink enough fluids, discard the coffee and alcohol and eat pineapples daily. The results will be noticeable immediately, “doctors recommend.

An amazing smoothy which can be consumes daily:

  • 1 cup finely chopped pineapple
  • ¼ cup pineapple juice
  • ½ cup yogurt
  • ¼ cup water
  • 3-4 ice cubes

Mix all ingredients in a blender and drink the smoothy in the morning or before a meal.

Here is the Benefits of Pineapple :

Arthritis Management: One of the most celebrated uses of pineapple in terms of health is its ability to reduce the inflammation of joints and muscles, particularly those associated with arthritis, a truly debilitating disease that affects millions of people around the world. Pineapples contain a relatively rare proteolytic enzyme called bromelain, which is primarily associated with breaking down complex proteins, but it also has serious anti-inflammatory effects, and has been positively correlated with reducing the signs and symptoms of arthritis in many test subjects.

After You Find Out What Pineapples Can Do To Your Breasts, You Will Never Stop Eating Them !

PineappleImmune System: A single serving of pineapple has more than 130% of the daily requirement of vitamin-C for human beings, making it one of the richest and most delicious sources of ascorbic acid. Vitamin C is mainly associated with reducing illness and boosting the immune system by stimulating the activity of white blood cells and acting as an antioxidant to defend against the harmful effects of free radicals. Free radicals are dangerous byproducts of cellular metabolism that can damage various organ systems and disrupt function, as well as cause healthy cells to mutate into cancerous ones. The vitamin C content of pineapples defends against this.

Tissue and Cellular Health: One of the commonly overlooked benefits of vitamin C is its essential role in creating collagen. This is partly the reason why it is seen as a healing vitamin, because collagen is the essential protein base of blood vessel walls, skin, organs, and bones. High vitamin C content helps you heal wounds and injuries to the body quickly, along with defending against infections and illness.

Cancer Prevention: In addition to the antioxidant potential of vitamin C in the battle against cancer, pineapples are also rich in various other antioxidants, including vitamin A, beta carotene, bromelain, various flavonoid compounds, and high levels of manganese, which is an important co-factor of superoxide dismutase, an extremely potent free radical scavenger that has been associated with a number of different cancers. Pineapple has directly been related to preventing cancers of the mouth, throat, and breast.

After You Find Out What Pineapples Can Do To Your Breasts, You Will Never Stop Eating Them !

PineappleImmune System: A single serving of pineapple has more than 130% of the daily requirement of vitamin-C for human beings, making it one of the richest and most delicious sources of ascorbic acid. Vitamin C is mainly associated with reducing illness and boosting the immune system by stimulating the activity of white blood cells and acting as an antioxidant to defend against the harmful effects of free radicals. Free radicals are dangerous byproducts of cellular metabolism that can damage various organ systems and disrupt function, as well as cause healthy cells to mutate into cancerous ones. The vitamin C content of pineapples defends against this.

Tissue and Cellular Health: One of the commonly overlooked benefits of vitamin C is its essential role in creating collagen. This is partly the reason why it is seen as a healing vitamin, because collagen is the essential protein base of blood vessel walls, skin, organs, and bones. High vitamin C content helps you heal wounds and injuries to the body quickly, along with defending against infections and illness.

Cancer Prevention: In addition to the antioxidant potential of vitamin C in the battle against cancer, pineapples are also rich in various other antioxidants, including vitamin A, beta carotene, bromelain, various flavonoid compounds, and high levels of manganese, which is an important co-factor of superoxide dismutase, an extremely potent free radical scavenger that has been associated with a number of different cancers. Pineapple has directly been related to preventing cancers of the mouth, throat, and breast.

(Article Excerpt and Image from TheTruthAboutCancer.com) See more at: http://www.healthfreedoms.org/see-what-happen-to-your-breasts-when-you-eat-pineapple-3-times-a-day/

Feminine Hygiene Products Can Contain Cancer Causing Toxins

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No one wants to discuss feminine hygiene products. Not ever.

It’s usually embarrassing and the topic can make even the strongest woman incredibly uncomfortable. Mothers purchase their daughters’ products and pray for them to read the directions instead of asking questions.

When a girl hits puberty, it’s automatically assumed that she’ll use pads for protection and sanitary reasons. Eventually, some young women may use tampons as well. They’re convenient, absorbent and, after a learning curve, reasonably easy to use. They’re on hand for when you need them. Women cycle every month from puberty to menopause and use what they require during those times.

But with studies questioning how these goods are made and what toxins they contain, women have new information to consider. The dangers sanitary products pose is a real concern. Ignoring them can lead to bigger health problems in the future.

The Science of Skin

Your skin is your largest organ. It is also the thinnest and most permeable organ. For women, this includes the skin around the delicate vaginal area. Any substance that comes in contact with your skin can be absorbed into your body, directly into your bloodstream.

It is this quality that makes topical medications so effective.

Your digestive system is designed to process compounds and rid your body of potential toxins. When something is absorbed through your skin, it doesn’t go through your body’s natural defense system. Your skin is unable to weed out the good stuff from what is potentially toxic.

A good rule of thumb in regards to skin care is that if you wouldn’t eat something, then you shouldn’t apply it to your skin.5

Skin Health and Feminine Hygiene Products

Let’s talk about how conventional tampons and pads are manufactured. A single sanitary napkin can contain enough plastic to make four plastic bags. Chemicals within the plastic include potentially toxic chemicals, pesticides, and petrochemicals. That’s quite a chemical concoction to put in contact with the most sensitive skin on your body.

Since these products are considered “medical devices,” manufacturers aren’t required to disclose all of the ingredients they contain. Companies typically disclose that a pad contains foam and an absorbent material.

One woman compared a 100% organic cotton pad with a nationally known brand of pad. When burned, the organic pad burned slowly and steadily, leaving behind almost no residue other than the ash from burning. By striking comparison, the national brand pad created thick, black smoke and left behind a thick residue.

This led analysts to suspect that it contained petrochemicals, synthetic materials, and dioxins. Chemicals that have known links to cancer, heart disease, harm to developing embryos, and organ damage.

Tampons are manufactured using a blend of cotton, rayon, or a blend of the two materials. All tampons – organic or synthetic – have to pass the same standards for absorbency and protection.

Could Your Pad or Tampon be Harming You?

How can a clean, white pad or tampon cause damage? Consider whether or not that tampon is made with organic cotton. If not, chances are that it’s made with GMO cotton treated with crop pesticides. It’s a fact that 94% of the cotton grown in the United States is genetically modified.

If it’s an “odor neutralizing” product or contains any sort of fragrance, it contains a chemical soup of contaminates that can potentially cause infertility, neurological defects, hormone dysfunction, and cancer.

The average woman will use between 16,000 and 24,000 tampons in her lifetime, depending on how long her body menstruates. Without the ability to rid these toxins absorbed topically, they accumulate over a lifetime.

Tampons can also create an ideal environment for bacteria to develop and thrive. The walls of the vagina are so thin and delicate that regular use of feminine hygiene products can cause micro-tears. This presents a perfect breeding ground for bacteria. Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) is a potentially life threatening condition caused by either a strep or staph infection resulting from tampon use.

Do you wonder why feminine hygiene products are so bright white? In order to get that pure white look, manufacturers use chlorine bleach. A by-product that forms from this bleaching process is dioxins. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognizes dioxins as a serious threat to public health and determined that there is no safe level of exposure.

However, the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that there is no discernible threat to the health of tampon or pad users from these dioxins as they are below detectable limits. They believe that “trace amounts” of dioxins are acceptable and safe to the human body.

If you use a product on your skin as much as 24,000 times during your life, is that considered a “trace amount” by the FDA? Clearly, the cancer-causing effects of these toxins are of very little concern to a government agency that long ago stopped caring about long-term consumer health.

Alternative Feminine Hygiene Products to Consider

There are alternatives that you can choose to lessen your exposure to the materials contained in various feminine hygiene products and nursing pads.

  • Organic cotton tampons. These products must pass an absorbency test so you are not likely to find any reduction in the quality. Organic tampons continue to test well beneath detectable levels for toxins. Look for 100% organic on the label.
  • Organic sanitary pads. Available in health food stores and recognized by more national supermarkets every month, these pads are a safe alternative to traditional pads. Again, absorbency is regulated so you are not losing quality by choosing a safer product. Read the label carefully.
  • Menstrual cup. This is an alternative to tampons or pads altogether. This silicone cup is inserted into the vagina during menstruation. Many women are choosing this option because it can be worn overnight, which is not recommended for any tampon.
  • Homemade products. Before WWII, disposable products weren’t available. Women had to fashion their own re-usable, washable pads for use during their periods. Some were made from absorbent towels, flannel, or similar cotton fabric. There are many resources online that provide information and even sewing patterns to make your own sanitary pads. The environmental advantages aside, you do need to wash these pads so preparation is key.

Whether you choose organic disposable products or make your own, there are alternatives to feminine hygiene products mass-produced with chemicals and plastics.

Contact large manufacturers and push for product disclosure as well. If it goes into or on your body, you have a right to know what’s in it. If you can’t pronounce it, chances are it’s not good for your delicate skin. Using safe feminine hygiene products is another aspect of living a cancer-free lifestyle.

Research is key. Find the solution that’s right for you and share the news with your females friends and loved ones.

No matter what you use, chances are it still won’t be a comfortable topic… but it may help save someone’s life!

(Article Excerpt and Image from TheTruthAboutCancer.com), article by: Ty Bollinger   – See more at: http://thetruthaboutcancer.com/dirty-secrets-feminine-hygiene-products/

Is Your Gut Helping You Prevent Breast Cancer?

Prevent Breast Cancer

Your gut, which houses your digestive system, contains over a billion nerve endings. It has more surface area than your external skin. It is the place where the majority of the absorption of nutrients and water takes place and it interacts with nearly 20 hormones in your body. It also contains 70% to 80% of your body’s immune cells. When it comes to Breast Cancer prevention and overall health, a Healthy Gut = a Healthy Body = Less Dis-ease, including cancer.

Your Digestive System 101

Your gut is the home of all kinds of bacteria, both good and bad. Probiotics are “good” or “helpful” bacteria; “probiotic” literally means “for life.”  They protect your digestive system from unhealthy, opportunist bacteria, viruses and parasites.

To learn how your digestive health is connected to cancer prevention and overall health, let’s start with a visual of when things are NOT working well. We have all experienced the not-so-pleasant effects of a toilet backing up because of a paper clog or too much “you know what” in the bowl. Your colon is no different. It is like a sewer system and is designed to expel the waste matter from food and other metabolic processes.

If you do not have healthy intestinal flora full of happy probiotics, your “sewer system” will literally back up into your body. What should be coming out gets re-absorbed and eventually will push through the intestinal wall and re-circulate into your blood stream.

This plugging up of the digestive system also leads to increased toxicity in the body. And as the body becomes increasingly toxic, proper oxidation cannot take place on a cellular level. Without proper oxygen, the cells become stressed and your Immune System becomes compromised.

Research on Probiotics, Cancer and the Immune System

In the early 1900’s, Russian scientist Ilya Metchnikoff suggested that disease and the aging process came as a result of “auto-intoxication” due to unhealthy bacteria that produced phenols, indols and ammonia in the gut. Improving intestinal flora with fermented foods that contained “lactic acid” bacteria seemed to have many health benefits; including, improving the immune system. Metchnikoff had also observed that certain rural populations in Europe, for example in Bulgaria and the Russian Steppes, who lived largely on milk fermented by lactic-acid bacteria were exceptionally long lived. Based on these facts, Metchnikoff proposed that consumption of fermented milk would “seed” the intestine with harmless lactic-acid bacteria and decrease the intestinal pH and suppress the growth of proteolytic bacteria.

Metchnikoff had also observed that certain rural populations in Europe, such as Bulgaria and the Russian Steppes, who lived largely on milk fermented by lactic-acid bacteria were exceptionally long lived. Based on these facts, Metchnikoff proposed that consumption of fermented milk would “seed” the intestine with harmless lactic-acid bacteria, decrease the intestinal pH and suppress the growth of proteolytic bacteria. Almost a century later, modern science finally caught up.  In 1989, the Journal of Applied Bacteriology stated: “There is good evidence [to support] that the complex microbial flora present in the gastrointestinal tract of all warm-blooded animals is effective in providing resistance to disease.”

And just recently, a University of Michigan study indirectly linked healthy levels of probiotics and a healthy digestive tract to Immune System function in mice.  Researchers in the study gave the mice lethal doses of chemotherapy drugs and at the same time gave them a substance called “Rspo1” or “R-spondon1.” 50-75% of the mice given Rspo1 survived the lethal dose. Why?

Rpos1 produces stem cells that act like “‘super tissue regeneration machines.” These stem cells were able to rebuild damaged tissue faster than the chemo could destroy them.” The study used an injection of Rspo1 to activate stem cell production in the endothelial cells of the intestinal lining of the mice.

Our bodies, however, (and the bodies of the mice) already possess the blueprint to produce this powerful substance if our intestinal flora is healthy. More than anything else, the presence of healthy, probiotic bacteria is what determines healthy gene expression in the epithelial cells of your intestinal lining.

Although the University of Michigan study is questionable from a moral standpoint, since its aim was to prove that patients may some day be able to survive larger doses of chemo and radiation, an indirect consequence of the findings could be scientific proof of your own digestive tract’s ability to kick-start super-immunity naturally if given the ability to do so through the presence of healthy, probiotic bacteria.

Let Food Be Your Medicine

Essential #1 of The 7 Essentials™ System for healing the body naturally is to“Let Food Be Your Medicine.” This statement has never truer than with Probiotics. For thousands of years, fermented foods, the natural and nutritionally-based way to insure plenty of probiotic growth in your gut, have been a part of many cultures. Besides the Russian and Bulgarian peasants of Metchnikoff’s day that inspired him in his research, the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures have credited their relatively low rates of chronic degenerative diseases to the daily use of fermented milk and vegetable products. The Asian culture also includes high-probiotic, fermented foods like miso and tempeh in their daily eating.

To sum up, Probiotics work on several levels:

  1. They fight off unhealthy organisms and reduce the risk of infection;
  2. They regulate Immune responses;
  3. They support the healthy function of elimination from the colon;
  4. They have an effect on allergies and obesity; and, most important for you,
  5. They help fight inflammatory responses and reduce your risk of cancer.

Start today to incorporateProbiotics through fermented foods and/or supplementation into your daily regime. If you are proactive with prevention by incorporating Probiotics into your life, you may be on your way to prevent Breast Cancer naturally.

(Article Excerpt and Image from TheTruthAboutCancer.com), article by: Dr. Veronique Desaulniers   – See more at: http://thetruthaboutcancer.com/is-your-gut-helping-you-prevent-breast-cancer/

Reflexology For Breast Health

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Reflexology for Breast Health

According to Nobel Prize Laureate Carlo Rubbia, living things are only one billionth physical matter. The rest, he says, is energy! That goes for your body as well. When it comes to breast cancer prevention and breast health, it is vital that you keep your energy, or Qi, flowing.

One way to do this is through the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practice of reflexology. Reflexology is a type of acupressure or massage that focuses on the feet. The idea is that by stimulating points on the feet, one can improve the health of corresponding parts of the body, including various organs and the breasts. Reflexology has been used as a healing modality for thousands of years in Asia. Archeologists have even found evidence of its use by pharaohs in ancient Egypt.

Breast Cancer and Stagnant Qi 

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, when cancer of any kind is discovered, this means that energy has been stagnating for a long time, similar to how a river may get clogged and muddy with the buildup of debris like twigs and leaves. In addition to unhealthy eating and lack of movement, a big reason why stagnation occurs is because of negative emotions that have not yet been healed.

Louis Hay, author of the best-selling book You Can Heal Your Life, presents one interpretation of this connection: “When there are problems with the breasts, it usually means we are ‘over mothering’ either a person, a place, or a thing, or an experience… If cancer is involved, then there is also deep resentment.” Other emotional blocks include lack of self-love and lack of nurturing in one’s life.

According to the Wai Ke Zhang Zong, written in the 1400s: “These [negative] emotions accumulate day by day and cause Spleen and Stomach Qi deficiency and Liver Qi stagnation. These conditions will cause the body to create a lump. When Qi or energy stagnation accumulates in the meridians over time, a small seed can progress to a cancerous mass. Then the five major organs will spiral out of balance. This problem is called breast cancer.”

Of course, this is a modern translation of the words of this ancient text as there was no such thing as the current concept of cancer back then. It is safe to say, however, that throughout history people have seen the consequences of blocked Qi. The development of “blocks in the river,” or tumors are a result.

Reflexology for Breast Cancer

The connection between points on the feet and the major organs is real and this knowledge has long been used by Chinese medicine practitioners. Holly Tse, CMP, tells a powerful story of her first introduction to both breast cancer and reflexology:

“When I was first introduced to Chinese Reflexology, my [practitioner] knew simply from massaging my breast reflexology point that I had a breast lump. While I was squirming in pain, he suddenly asked, ‘Do you have a breast lump in your right breast?’ That’s how accurately your feet can reflect your body!”

In recent studies, reflexology has shown to ease the symptoms, such as shortness of breath associated with chemotherapy and hormone treatment in women with metastasizing advanced-staged breast cancer.

The point on the feet that connects to the breasts is a rectangle-shaped area on the top of the foot that extends “from the base of your toe to slightly below your big toe knuckle.” To massage the area, Tsu suggests making a fist and using all of the knuckles to rub up and down with moderate pressure for 30-60 seconds. Massaging reflexology points that are connected to the lymph glands is beneficial as well, since the breast area contains a large number of lymph nodes.

Keeping the body systems in flow through the use of ancient Chinese medicine techniques like reflexology is a vital part of “The 7 Essentials System™” for healing the body naturally and a time-tested way to stay vibrant, vital and dis-ease free.

(Article Excerpt and Image from TheTruthAboutCancer.com), article by:  Posted by:  Dr. Veronique Desaulniers  – See more at: http://thetruthaboutcancer.com/reflexology-for-breast-health/

9 Healthy Cancer Preventing Kale Recipes to Try at Home

kale-salad

Kale is an unassuming leafy green that many people bypass due to its slightly bitter flavor. But if you learn to use it creatively, kale can be quite tasty, which is only one reason to eat this vegetable. In the realm of superfoods, and certainly of green leafy vegetables, kale is king (or close to it!).

One cup of kale contains just around 30 calories but will provide you with seven times the daily recommended amount of vitamin K, twice the amount of vitamin A and a day’s worth of vitamin C, plus much more.

Kale Dubbed the ‘New Beef’

Kale has a 3:1 carbohydrate-to-protein ratio – an exceptionally high amount of protein for any vegetable, and one reason why it has recently been acclaimed as the “new beef.

Surprisingly, like meat, kale contains all nine essential amino acids needed to form the proteins within your body: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, valine – plus, nine other non-essential ones for a total of 18.

Further, the amino acids in kale are easier to extract by your body compared to those in meat. When consuming a steak, for instance, your body has to expend great metabolic resources to break down the massive, highly complex, and intricately folded protein structures within mammalian flesh back down into their constituent amino acids.

Then, later, these extracted amino acids must be reassembled back into the same, highly complex, intricately folded and refolded human proteins from which your body is made. This is a time-consuming, energy-intensive process, with many metabolic waste products released in the process.

Kale, on the other hand, is easier for your body to use, yet can be considered “meaty” and worthy of being considered as a main course in any meal (you can try out the numerous kale recipes below).

If You Want to Flood Your Body with Antioxidants, Vitamins, and Minerals, You’ll Want to Eat Kale

Many people have difficulty consuming enough vitamins and minerals, but this becomes simple if you eat kale regularly. Most notably, one cup of kale contains over 10,000 IUs of vitamin A, most of which is delivered the form of natural beta-carotene, as well as significant amounts of vitamin K.

And as far as calcium is concerned, one cup of kale will give you 90 milligrams in a highly bioavailable form. One calcium bioavailability study found that calcium from kale was 25% better absorbed than calcium from milk.1

Kale is also an excellent source of magnesium, and as a cruciferous vegetablehas many of the same cancer-fighting properties as broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts. And, kale is loaded with both lutein and zeaxanthin at over 26 mg combined, per serving.

Of all the carotenoids, only zeaxanthin and lutein are found in your retina, which has the highest concentration of fatty acids of any tissue in your body. This is because your retina is a highly light- and oxygen-rich environment, and it needs a large supply of free radical scavengers to prevent oxidative damage there.

Your body concentrates zeaxanthin and lutein in your retina to perform this duty, and consuming these antioxidants may help to ward of eye problems like age-related macular degeneration. What else do you gain when you eat kale?

  • Anti-inflammatory properties that may help prevent arthritis, heart disease, and autoimmune diseases
  • Plant-based omega-3 fats for building cell membranes, protecting against heart disease and stroke, and regulating blood clotting
  • Cancer-fighting sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinol
  • An impressive number of beneficial flavonoids, including 32 phenolic compounds and three hydroxycinamic acids to help support healthy cholesterol levels and scavenge free radicals

Curly Kale to Dinosaur Kale: What’s the Difference?

There are multiple varieties of kale, which descended from wild cabbage. The oldest variety is curly kale, which has ruffled leaves, a deep-green color and a bitter, pungent flavor. More “recent” varieties are ornamental kale, Russian, and dinosaur kale, the latter of which has blue-green leaves and a more delicate taste than curly kale.2 Ornamental kale, sometimes called salad savoy, was originally used as a decorative garden plant (it comes in green, white, and purple colors), although it can also be eaten and has a mellow flavor and tender texture.

When choosing kale, look for firm, fresh deeply colored leaves with hardy stems. Avoid leaves that are brown or yellow or that contain holes. Kale with smaller leaves tends to be more tender and milder than larger-leaved kale. Choose organic varieties (or grow your own) and store it in your refrigerator (unwashed) in a plastic storage bag (remove as much air as you can). Ideally, eat kale as soon as you can, because the longer it sits the more bitter the flavor becomes.3

9 Tasty Kale Recipes

If you avoid kale because of its bitter taste, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the recipes that follow. Posted by Health.com,4 these recipes feature kale in fresh new ways that will tempt your taste buds and, with this much variety, there’s something for everyone.

Make it a goal to make your way through each recipe on this list… and remember to source locally grown organic produce, organic pastured eggs, raw dairy products, and grass-fed meats as much as possible. I also recommend swapping out olive oil for coconut oil in cases where the oil will be heated during cooking.

1. Two-Bean Soup with Kale5

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped carrot
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 4 cups organic vegetable broth, divided
  • 7 cups stemmed, chopped kale (about 1 bunch)
  • 2 (15-ounce) cans no-salt-added cannellini beans, rinsed, drained, and divided
  • 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

Preparation

  1. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion, carrot, and celery, and sauté for 6 minutes or until tender. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt and garlic; cook for 1 minute. Stir in 3 cups vegetable broth and kale. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 3 minutes or until kale is crisp-tender.
  2. Place half of cannellini beans and remaining 1 cup vegetable broth in a blender or food processor; process until smooth. Add pureed bean mixture, remaining cannellini beans, black beans, and pepper to soup. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, vinegar, and rosemary.

2. Raw Kale, Grapefruit, and Toasted Hazelnut Salad

Ingredients

  • 2 pink grapefruits
  • 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced, divided
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup fat-free plain yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 8 ounces lacinato kale, very thinly sliced, or baby kale leaves
  • 1 ounce toasted hazelnuts, chopped (1/3 cup)

Preparation

  1. Peel and segment grapefruit; reserve 3 tablespoons of juice in a large bowl. Mince 2 rings onion. Add to grapefruit juice, with lemon juice, yogurt, oil, salt, and pepper. Whisk until well mixed.
  2. Toss in kale. Top with remaining onion, grapefruit, and hazelnuts.

3. Braised Kale Frittata

Ingredients

  • 6 large organic, pastured eggs
  • 4 large egg whites
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 ounce Gruyère or Parmesan cheese, grated (3 Tbsp.)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped oregano
  • Cooking spray
  • 2 cups Braised Kale without cheese, drained, finely chopped
  • 3/4 cup chopped cherry tomatoes

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, whisk the first 6 ingredients (through oregano).
  2. Lightly coat an 8-inch ovenproof cast-iron or nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Heat over medium. Add the kale and tomatoes. Cook, stirring, until hot (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs and swirl to distribute.
  3. Transfer to the oven and bake until set and hot (about 20 minutes). Cut in wedges.

4. Crispy Tamari Kale Chips

Ingredients:

  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons tamari
  • 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
  • 1/2 pound kale, coarse stems removed and leaves torn (about 6 cups)
  • 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 425°.
  2. Combine 2 teaspoons each olive oil, tamari, and sherry vinegar; toss with 1/2 pound kale, coarse stems removed and leaves torn (about 6 cups).
  3. Divide kale mixture among 2 shallow baking pans; bake until crisp and golden (about 15 minutes), stirring occasionally.
  4. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

5. Roasted Squash and Kale Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 butternut squash
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 pound kale, thinly sliced
  • 1 cucumber, peeled and julienned
  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
  • 2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
  • 2 teaspoons fresh ginger
  • 1 tablespoon water

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 400°.
  2. Peel, seed, and cut butternut squash into 1-inch chunks.
  3. Toss with olive oil, brown sugar, salt, and pepper; bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven; cool.
  4. Toss with kale, cucumber, and red onion.
  5. In a blender, purée low-sodium soy sauce, fresh lime juice, sesame oil, sugar, creamy peanut butter, fresh ginger, and water.
  6. Drizzle salad with dressing; serve.

6. Barley-Stuffed Poblanos

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 1 1/2 cups barley, soaked overnight and drained
  • 1 bunch kale, thick stems removed, leaves chopped
  • 1 1/8 teaspoons chili powder, divided
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 6 large poblano peppers
  • 2 ounces white cheddar, grated (1/2 cup)
  • 3 slices Monterey Jack cheese, halved
  • 1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco

Preparation

  1. In a large saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until soft (5-7 minutes). Add barley and 3 3/4 cups water and cook until barley is tender (about 30 minutes). Stir kale and 1/8 teaspoon chili powder into barley until kale is wilted; mix in cheddar.
  2. Meanwhile, in a heavy pot, heat remaining oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, remaining 1 teaspoon chili powder, and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens (about 30 minutes). Turn heat to low; cover.
  3. Preheat broiler with rack in middle position. Slice off stems from peppers to make a wide hole for stuffing; reserve stems. Using a small knife, carefully remove membranes and seeds. Stuff peppers tightly with barley mixture; return stem ends to top of peppers. Place in a large, broiler-proof baking dish; broil until peppers are charred and soft (20 minutes), turning once halfway through. Add tomato sauce to pan around peppers; cover each pepper with 1/2 slice Monterey Jack. Broil until cheese melts (1-2 minutes). Transfer peppers to plates with sauce; top each with 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon queso fresco.

7. Tuscan Kale with Almonds, Plums, and Goat Cheese

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon tamari or low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 pound Tuscan Kale, Swiss chard or spinach, tough ribs removed and sliced thin (about 8 cups)
  • 1/4 cup sliced seasoned almonds (such as Almond Accents)
  • 2 plums, halved, pitted and cut into wedges
  • 2 ounces crumbled goat cheese
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

  1. Whisk together the first 5 ingredients (through olive oil) in a large serving bowl.
  2. Add remaining ingredients to dressing, and toss well to combine.
  3. Divide salad among 4 salad plates, and serve immediately.

8. Chicken and White Bean Soup with Greens

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 1/4 cups thinly sliced leeks, white part only
  • 1 large garlic clove, crushed
  • 1/2 cup (1/4-inch-thick) slices carrot
  • 6 cups reduced-sodium, fat-free chicken broth
  • 1 1/2 cups skinless, boneless, shredded, rotisserie chicken
  • 1 (2-inch) fresh rosemary sprig
  • 1 (19-ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 cup packed roughly chopped fresh kale
  • 1 cup packed baby spinach
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

  1. Heat oil in a stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add leeks and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, for 3–4 minutes or until tender but not browned. Add carrots, and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add broth, chicken, and rosemary; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes, skimming occasionally.
  2. Add beans and kale, and simmer for about 5 minutes more. Add spinach, and cook for 2–3 minutes more or until tender. Season with salt and pepper.
  3. Remove rosemary sprig and garlic clove. Ladle soup into 6 warm bowls; sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon parsley.

9. Braised Kale

Ingredients

  • 1 large (14-oz) bunch kale
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 8 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 3/4 cup lower-sodium chicken broth
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 ounce grated Parmesan (optional)

Preparation

  1. Strip the kale leaves from the tough stems. Discard the stems; coarsely chop the leaves. Rinse well in a colander, leaving the water on the leaves.
  2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over low heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until it’s golden and aromatic (3-4 minutes). Transfer the garlic to a dish and reserve.
  3. Reheat the oil over medium heat, then add the kale and the broth. Cover and simmer until the kale is tender (3-4 minutes). Season with the salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving platter and top with the garlic and Parmesan, if desired.

(Article Excerpt and Image from Mercola.com), article by:  Dr. Mercola – See more at: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/09/21/9-healthy-kale-recipes.aspx?e_cid=20140921Z1_SNL_Art_2&utm_source=snl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art2&utm_campaign=20140921Z1&et_cid=DM56402&et_rid=666841569

Breast Cancer Occurs Most Often in These 5 States

Breast cancer was diagnosed in more than 220,000 women in 2011. Find out in which five states a breast cancer diagnosis is the most common, as well as what current and developing therapies are being used to treat this terrible disease.

ImagesWith the exception of certain types of skin cancers, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. Though the disease is by no means relegated just to women — more than 2,000 cases were diagnosed in men in 2011 — women do account for about 99% of all breast cancer diagnoses (220,097 in 2011) according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s also the second-leading cancer-based cause of death for women behind only lung cancer.

In addition to being among the most-diagnosed cancer types, it’s also quite expensive to treat. Based on a study published in Dec. 2012 in the American Journal of Managed Care, the direct costs of treating breast cancer totaled $16.5 billion in 2010. This amounts to about 13% of all dollars spent in the U.S. to treat cancer that year. This can place a big burden on the healthcare system as a whole, and especially the patient, who can suffer costs of $20,000 to $100,000 on average, with more advanced disease patients generally coping with higher costs.

Five states where breast cancer is most common
Though roughly one in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer at some point during their lifetime, and breast cancer can happen to anyone throughout the U.S., there are a few states that stand out as well above average when it comes to female breast cancer incidence rates. Across the United States, the average incidence rate is 122 cases per 100,000 people. In the following five states, however, incidence rates range from nearly 134 to more than 141 incidences per 100,000 people.

These states are:

  1. New Hampshire (141.7 incidences per 100,000 people)
  2. Massachusetts (135.5)
  3. Connecticut (135.2)
  4. Minnesota (135.1)
  5. Washington (133.9)

G
AGE-ADJUSTED FEMALE BREAST CANCER INCIDENCE RATES PER 100,000 PEOPLE. SOURCE: CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION.

There’s not too much in common with these states other than the fact that they’re in the upper half of the country (from a geographic standpoint), which leads me to one of my key points about breast cancer: Researchers aren’t exactly sure why some women get breast cancer and others don’t. Don’t get me wrong; doctors do have a general idea about some of the primary risk factors for breast cancer, which include age, genetics, whether or not a patient is a smoker and/or is overweight, and even whether or not hormone replacement therapy was previously used. But, the fact remains that there’s no certainty in determining whether or not one woman will get breast cancer and another one won’t.

Definitive improvements
Although that uncertainty might be scary, we’re also seeing a bright side to multiple decades of therapeutic research into treating breast cancer.

Since 1975-1977, the five-year survival rate for women diagnosed with breast cancer has jumped from just 75% to 90% as of 2002-2008. You can attribute part of this to better education and awareness of the disease, which includes regular preventative screening for women, as well as more effective drugs aimed at improving patients’ quality of life and lengthening overall survival.

Ultimately, this would imply that all of those decades of research and preparedness are paying off. Let’s have a quick look at some of the key therapies playing a role in improving patients’ quality of life and look at two experimental therapies currently in clinical trials that may have the potential to dramatically alter breast cancer patients’ chances for survival in the not-so-distant future.

ImagesSOURCE: THESUPERSTAR VIA FLICKR.

These drugs are making a meaningful difference
Perhaps no drug has played a larger role over the past 15 years for breast cancer patients than Roche’s (NASDAQOTH:RHHBY) Herceptin. Without getting too technical, Herceptin disrupts HER2 proteins’ ability to bind with HER receptors located on the outside of cell membranes. These receptors are responsible for “signaling” a cell to replicate. Thus, Herceptin works by slowing the replication of HER2-positve breast cancers. It’s currently approved to treat metastatic and adjuvant breast cancer, as well as gastric cancer.

But, that’s not all from Roche. The company continues to work to bring new and innovative therapies to cancer patients that offer the potential to improve patient quality of life. Perjeta is one of Roche’s latest breast therapies approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Just last year, the drug was approved as a neoadjuvant treatment in combination with Herceptin and docetaxel in locally advanced or early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer patients who are at a high risk of having their cancer return or spread. In clinical studies, patients in the Perjeta intent-to-treat arm had a pathologic complete response of 39% compared to just 21% for the control arm taking just Herceptin and docetaxel. A longer-term outcome on survival is expected from this study in 2016.

In addition, Kadcyla was approved by the FDA in Feb. 2013 and represents an intriguing new treatment pathway for HER2-positive breast cancer patients. Kadcyla, which was developed by ImmunoGen (NASDAQ:IMGN) in collaboration with Roche, is an antibody-drug conjugate. In short, these antibodies use linkers to attach a toxin, such as Herceptin, and release this toxin once they come in contact with a targeted cancer cell. The goal is to deliver a more potent dose of chemotherapy directly to cancer cells and avoid healthy cell death.

But, keep your eye on these potential game-changers
Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of breast cancer treatments is what’s currently in development.

Pfizer’s (NYSE:PFE) palbociclib, for example, delivered some very impressive results in the company’s PALOMA-1 trial. Palbociclib, which is given in combination with Novartis’ Femara, practically doubled HER2-negative breast cancer patients’ progression-free survival (i.e., the period where tumor growth isn’t advancing) to 20.2 months from 10.2 months in the Femara control arm. Although median overall survival statistics may have let a few people down at 37.5 months, it was still a 4.2 month improvement over the Femara monotherapy arm. This currently experimental drug certainly has an opportunity to be a game-changer for HER2-negative patients.

GSOURCE: GALENA BIOPHARMA.

The other therapy worth monitoring is an adjuvant breast cancer therapy in development by Galena Biopharma (NASDAQ:GALE) known as NeuVax. NeuVax is part of a new class of drug known as cancer immunotherapies, which are designed to enhance the body’s immune system to help recognize cancer cells and more effectively fight them. NeuVax specifically is designed to reduce the recurrence of breast cancer in patients with low-to-moderate HER2 expression.

According to Galena’s midstage results on NeuVax at the 60-month mark, just 5.6% of patients who had been given NeuVax injections had their cancer recur. By comparison, 25.9% of patients who didn’t take NeuVax saw their breast cancer return. In other words, NeuVax appears to have produced a 78% reduction in breast cancer recurrence. The experimental drug is currently being examined in a larger study (the PRESENT trial), with results expected in late 2016 or early 2017.

What really matters
Ultimately, the only thing that really matters is working toward a goal of curing breast cancer. Clearly there are plenty of additional steps to be taken, and likely many more years of research to be done. However, it’s also clear that things are indeed getting better. Survival rates have improved over the past four decades, and breast cancer patients’ quality of life is arguably improved, which is really what pharmaceutical research aims to impart. With plenty of funding, here’s to hoping that the coming years bring plenty of additional advances in treating breast cancer, and that one day, we do indeed find a cure for this terrible disease.

(Article Excerpt and Image from TheMotleyFool.com), article by:  Sean Williams – See more at: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/09/21/breast-cancer-occurs-most-often-in-these-5-states.aspx

What Really Causes Cancer?

What-causes-cancer-620x330

Most people think that DNA damage is what causes a cell to be cancerous.

While it is true that cancer cells may have DNA damage, it is highly unlikely that DNA damage can cause any cell to become cancerous.  In fact, the DNA damage is a result of the true cause cancer.

So let us discuss what really causes cancer.

There have been many discoveries about cancer in the past 125 years.

For example, William Russell (1852-1940), in 1890, discovered that there are microbes inside and outside of cancer cells.

Later it was discovered that the microbes inside cancer cells were “pleomorphic,” that is, they changed shapes and sizes depending on the pH inside the cancer cells.

In 1931, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Otto Warburg for his discovery in determining that the defining characteristic of cancer cells was low “ATP energy” (ATP is made inside the mitochondria of cells and is called “adenosine triphosphate”).

In 1930, it was proven that if the microbes inside the cancer cells are killed, the cancer cells will REVERT into normal cells.  This discovery was made by Dr. Royal Rife, a microbiologist who developed the use of “harmonic frequencies” to vibrate the microbes until they “exploded” and died.

Rather than winning a Nobel Prize for his discovery, Dr. Rife’s lab and inventory were destroyed by the combined consensus of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the American Medical Association (AMA).

So why was Dr. Rife shut down?  It was because his discoveries led to a 100% cure rate amongst his cancer patients. See www.rifevideos.com.

This might seem strange to most readers.  Why would a cancer researcher be shut down for curing cancer?

It is assumed that conventional medicine and the pharmaceutical industry are diligently looking for the cures for cancer.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

What they are looking for are massive, massive profits selling their patented chemicals (i.e. drugs).

Curing cancer is not on their agenda since that would cut into their profits.

So what exactly is the purpose of the Food and Drug Administration?  The FDA is the “private police force” of the pharmaceutical industry.  Their primary objective is to make sure that the profits of the pharmaceutical industry are protected, even if that means shutting down those who know how to cure cancer, such as Dr. Rife.

It is all about patents.  Drugs made by the pharmaceutical industry can be patented.  Frequency wave forms and molecules in Mother Nature cannot.

Patents are the main drivers of the war against natural medicine by the pharmaceutical industry, the FDA and the AMA.  They are all “in bed” together.

The media is also part of this conspiracy.  Medical doctors are intentionally glorified on television shows and advertisements manipulating the unwell to head for the doctor’s office.

The modus operandi of the media can be summarized by a person who was an expert in understanding propaganda techniques, namely Stalin.

“No one understood better than Stalin that the true object of propaganda is neither to convince nor even to persuade, but to produce a uniform pattern of public utterance in which the first trace of unorthodox thought immediately reveals itself as a jarring dissonance.”
~ Alan Bullock, in Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives

When a person is diagnosed with cancer, they cannot run fast enough to their nearest oncologist.  The media has done their job well.

So, even though researchers seeking natural cures for cancer today know much more about the disease than in the 1930’s, very few patients start their treatment with natural medicine.

The scientists at the Independent Cancer Research Foundation (ICRF) – a non-profit foundation investigating natural medicine – are the ones who discovered how the microbes inside cancer cells were partially blocking the ATP energy, as discussed below.

With this knowledge, they developed more than 25 natural cancer treatments targeting and killing the microbes inside cancer cells (as Dr. Royal Rife did), thus reverting them into normal cells.

They also use a new technological device, inspired by Dr. Rife’s equipment, which kills the microbes inside the cancer cells, known as the “High RF Frequency Device” according to the Cancer Tutor website (www.cancertutor.com).  The Cancer Tutor website is the main ICRF website.

How Microbes Inside Cancer Cells Cause Cancer

So, let’s talk about how microbes inside the cancer cells partially block the production of ATP energy.  This is the key to understanding many new cancer treatments.

First of all, let us look at what causes the ATP energy to be created in a healthy cell.

Step 1: In a normal cell, glucose receptors allow glucose inside the cell.

Step 2: In a 10-step chemical chain reaction this glucose is converted into pyruvate.

Step 3: The pyruvate enters into the cell’s mitochondria (every cell has thousands of mitochondria).

Step 4: The pyruvate is at the beginning of a chain reaction called the “Citric Acid Cycle” or “Krebs Cycle.”

Step 5: About half-way through the Citric Acid Cycle, a second chemical chain reaction begins called the “Electron Transport Chain.”

These two cycles create most of the ATP energy in the cells.

Here is the key.  Cancer cells have more glucose receptors than normal cells and 15 times more glucose than normal cells, though the microbes intercept most of the glucose.  So, even though a cancer cell has far more glucose than a normal cell, less of this glucose gets inside its mitochondria than in a normal cell.

Thus, a cancer cell has lower ATP energy because it has less pyruvate and it has less pyruvate because it has less available glucose.

Does DNA Damage Cause Cancer?

So let us talk about why cancer cells may have DNA damage.  The Virginia Livingston team of natural medicine cancer researchers discovered that one or more of the microbes inside the cancer cell penetrate  the cell nucleus (where the DNA is located).

The DNA of the cancer microbes may “mix” with the DNA of the cell and modify the DNA of the cancer cell, causing DNA damage.  This is the basis of “gene therapy” in conventional medicine.

But DNA damage is not what causes the cell to be cancerous.  It is only a symptom of the presence of the microbes.

Cancer researchers, such as the American Cancer Society, are trying to fix the DNA damage.  This is a total waste of time!  But it convinces the general public that they are “looking for” a cure for cancer, when in fact they have no intention of “curing” cancer.  Had they hired one of the ICRF cancer researchers they could have 25 cures for cancer in one week!

Many of the conventional cancer “research” organizations do a good job of pretending to look for cures for cancer, but in fact they have no interest in curing cancer at all.

This is the key: by killing the microbes inside the cancer cells, Dr. Rife was able to prevent the microbes from blocking the ATP energy.  Once the microbes were dead, the cancerous cells were able to access their ATP energy and “reverted” into normal cells again!

The ICRF researcher who discovered how microbes block the ATP energy also developed about 25 different ways to kill these microbes while they are inside the cancer cells (the microbe is actually a bacteria – Helicobacter Pylori) thereby reverting the cancer cells into normal cells.

Here is one example of how the bacteria inside the cancer cell are killed.  Let us consider the “honey and turmeric” protocol, which is part of the Dirt Cheap Protocol (that is its real name because so many cancer patients cannot afford some of the natural cancer treatments) on the Cancer Tutor website.

Cancer cells have more glucose receptors than normal cells and thus are attracted to honey.  To some degree, honey can kill the microbes inside the cancer cells, but it is far more effective to mix the honey with turmeric (or some other herb which kills microbes) to eradicate these microbes.

Therefore honey becomes a “Trojan Horse” to get the turmeric inside.

Three different studies show that turmeric is the most effective herb at eliminating Helicobacter Pylori and the cells are reverted into normal cells.

The Dirt Cheap Protocol includes over a dozen other techniques that are synergistic with honey and turmeric because they are also designed to target and kill the microbes inside the cancer cells.

The Dirt Cheap Protocol can be found on the Cancer Tutor website (www.cancertutor.com) along with several other natural cancer treatments.

In addition, the Royal Rife technology, which also reverts cancer cells into normal cells, has been replicated and improved upon.  On the Cancer Tutor website, the “High RF Frequency Protocol” is automated and performs everything the original Rife frequency generators did and much more.

In conclusion, natural medicine researchers use traditional methods (e.g. carrot juice with a little beet juice mixed in) as well as state-of-the-art technologies as a cure for cancer.

There are many natural medicine cancer clinics, some run by medical doctors who switched to natural medicine.

(Article Excerpt and Image from Thethruthaboutcancer.com), article by: Webster Kehr– See more at: http://thetruthaboutcancer.com/what-really-causes-cancer/

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