Preventing breast cancer is more easy and safe than curing it. Lifestyle, diet, exercise, heredity, etc are some of the factors that can trigger breast cancer. The most effective way to prevent breast cancer is to have a control on the major triggers of the disease. Here are some of the best ways to prevent breast cancer.
Following 9 Ways To Prevent Breast Cancer:
Diet And Life style
One of the most fundamental causes of breast cancer is wrong diet and life style. Many studies have revealed that positive diet and life style changes have considerably reduced the risk of breast cancer even in women who are highly prone to the disease.
Exercise
The recommended body mass index for healthy women is 18.5 to 25. Any values above this value is obese or over weight. Studies have shown that physically obese or overweight women are more prone to breast cancer. Being physically active and following a regular exercise regimen can definitely reduce the risk of the disease. Exercise at least an hour daily in order to maintain a healthy weight, and to escape breast cancer.
Say No To Alcohol And Smoking
According to American Cancer Society’s guidelines, women should limit intake of alcohol to less than a drink per day. This is the recommended safe limit for women to stay healthy.
There are a lot of evidence that shows a link between smoking and breast cancer. The risk of getting breast cancer is even more in women smokers who are in the premenopausal stage. Quit smoking to protect from breast cancer.
Eat Fruits, Vegetables, And Spices
Eat minimum 2 1/2 cups of fruits and vegetables every day. Studies have proved that tomato, broccoli, garlic, apples, pomegranates, and other orange fruits and vegetables like carrots, oranges are well known to fight against breast cancer. Similarly berries including blue, black, rasp and straw berries are potent anti breast cancer fruits.
Spices like turmeric, fennel seeds, cumin, cinnamon, oregano, cayenne pepper/chilli pepper, ginger, cloves, basil, fenugreek, mustard, mint, and rosemary have cancer fighting properties and including these spices in our day to day recipes can help to prevent breast cancer.
Reduce Fat In Your Diet
A recent research on women suffering from breast cancer revealed one thing common among them and that is increased fat intake. Increased fat intake is directly related to breast cancer. Increase the proportion of healthy fats in the diet and decrease the proportion of unhealthy fats to fight breast cancer. Nuts like walnuts, hazelnuts, flax seeds, are rich in healthy fats and also have cancer fighting properties. Include Olive oil in your recipes as it is a best known oil that fights cancer.
Breast Feed
Researchers show that breast feeding hugely reduces the risk of breast cancer. The exact reason behind the relationship between breastfeeding and cancer is not clearly known, however if you want to prevent breast cancer, one simple measure is to breast feed your child.
Avoid Hormone Replacement Therapy
Many women use hormones like estrogen in the form of pills or injections to ease the symptoms of menopause. This treatment is called hormone replacement therapy. Recent studies have shown that the women using hormone replacement therapy is more prone to various types of cancers which also includes breast cancer. The risk is even doubled if the women uses combined hormone replacement therapy. However if HRT is stopped, the risk of breast cancer reduces again. Consult your doctor regarding the risk of breast cancer before opting for this therapy.
Regular Breast Cancer Screening
Regular breast screening can help to spot the breast cancer in the early stage. Even before going to the doctor, self examine the breasts for lumps or uneven growths. If you suspect any deformity in the breast then rush to the doctor without any delay. Doctors usually do a mammogram for screening breast cancer. The usual frequency of screening breast cancer is once in three years. However, if you are a high risk individual then it is wise to ask your doctor regarding the frequency of screening.
Reduce Exposure To Environmental Pollutants
Researchers have found that there is a link between the air pollutants and breast cancer. High levels of nitrogen dioxide and other gases in the air can cause of breast cancer. Nitrogen dioxide in the air comes from the vehicle fumes. Covering the nose from inhaling the fumes can help a long way to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Many pesticides like DDT also causes for breast cancer. The easy way to remove pesticides from the vegetables and fruits is to wash them with 2% salt water. Salt water removes most of the pesticide residues from the vegetables. Soaking and washing the vegetables and fruits with 10 parts of white vinegar with 90 part of water also removes almost all the pesticide residues from them.
