Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Breast Cancer Fighting Foods

I have been pretty much going out of my way to avoid anything regarding Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

I'm more aware of Breast Cancer than I really care to be THANKYOUVERYMUCH, and don't need to be bombarded by a barrage of pink ribbons.

But I have been somewhat obsessing about why I get breast cancer.  

I've gone over the risk factors time and time again.  There's really never been any breast cancer in my family.  I don't smoke.  I'm relatively lean and I eat a mostly plant based diet.  And, while I like a glass of wine or two a few times a week, I'm not exactly guzzling down Martinis or Scotch on a daily basis (in fact, I pretty much don't drink hard alcohol and never drink beer).

So when I saw this article on foods to eat to avoid breast cancer, I thought I'd take a look despite my "avoid Breast Cancer Awareness Month" articles at all cost.   Here's what they listed as the "8 Foods that Can Avoid Breast Cancer Risk," and how I stack up:

1.  Plums and Peaches:   Now I'm not the biggest fan of plums and peaches, but I eat a fair share of each when they're in season:

2.  Walnuts:  I love nuts, and was actually eating a salad with walnuts in it as I read this article:

3.  Broccoli:  I eat a ton of broccoli.  It's one of my top favorite veggies.  In fact, dinner tonight for me is a baked sweet potato and steamed broccoli.

4.Salmon:  Another food I eat a ton of, generally at least once a week.

5.Olive oil:  I'm Italian.  Need I say more?

6.  Parsley:  I grow parsley in my garden every year, and it grows so abundantly actually go out of my way to add it to just about everything I cook.  Whatever remaining parsley which doesn't go into my food immediately, gets dried and added to food until the weather warms up and the parsley grows fresh again.

7.Coffee:  My morning cup of coffee is one of the highlights of my day.

8.  Beans:  See number 5 above about being Italian.

So, once again, the reason why I got cancer eludes me.   

BTW, I guess the ultimate breast cancer avoidance meal would be salmon sauteed in olive oil with broccoli and beans and sprinkled with chopped parsley followed by a plum and walnut tart for dessert with coffee. 

On a positive note, I stepped on the scale this morning for the first time since I was diagnosed.  

I lost three pounds in the last few weeks without watching what I ate, and despite my not exercising at my regular levels.

It's the stress diet.

Not a diet I'd recommend to anyone, however.

1 comment:

  1. Hang in there! Granted it seems to make no sense at all given your lifestyle, but you are still doing the best you can do to help your body combat all of the stress it will get put through to beat it. Cancers come from so many unknown sources.. electrical fields, chlorine being two enormous ones. Ramp up the cabbage and the Turmeric...doing all you can diet-wise will still be your best defence I believe! Sending good thoughts... :)

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