Good afternoon, subscribers,
Fall has always been my favorite season, and I really wish it would last longer. Whether we realize it or not, fall is a time when we undergo seasonal transitions, and experience a movement toward introspection as the end of the year comes into view.
 
In a few weeks, the breast cancer awareness madness machine will begin, and the familiar pink ribbon will bloom on every possible product. (pink ribbon marketing is called “pink washing”) You will also be pressured by media and medical teams to get your annual mammogram. 
Before you schedule your mammogram, please, please, please read my entire Breast Cancer & Mammography newsletter.   http://healthiersolutionsbymarie.com/oct09.pdf#page=1
 
Here are a few excerpts from that issue:
 
“… Interpretation: Screening for breast cancer with mammography is unjustified. If the Swedish trials are judged to be unbiased, the data show that for every 1,000 women screened biennially throughout 12 years, one breast cancer death is avoided whereas the total number of deaths is increased by six. ... there is no reliable evidence that screening decreases breast-cancer mortality.” (The Lancet, 2000)
 
Some researchers believe that since widespread screening became standard, ductal cancer in women under the age of 40 has increased by over 3,000%!  That is no typo—3,000%!  There is no way this is due to better detection!
 
 “Mammograms increase the risk for developing breast cancer and raise the risk of spreading or metastasizing an existing growth…”  Charles B. Simone,M. MS, MD, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, National Cancer Institute 1977-82.
 
Genetics is not the biggest risk factor. Less than 10% of women with breast cancer have the known genes (BRCA1 & BRCA2). Remember that several studies have demonstrated that if you carry these genes, your tissue is more vulnerable to cancer being triggered by any radiation, yet this is the very group most often told to begin mammography at very young ages, making the risk higher. The Archives of Internal Medicine has just reported a natural way of reducing the risk of inherited breast cancer by 59% —breastfeeding.(Update: nutrition & lifestyle can prevent the activation of the genes)
 
Breast cancer is not the only cancer we need to think about, of course.  Every strategy for reducing breast cancer risk applies to all other cancers, as well.
 
I realize that my views go against everything you are told by the conventional medical establishment. I rarely offer their side, because I feel that you are bombarded by it on a daily basis. Several sources report that the average cancer patient generates $800,000 for the cancer industry!  Is it too far-fetched for me to be skeptical about how much interest there is in a real cure?
 
I base my information on reliable and scientific evidence.  It is tragic that the average person never sees or hears about the studies and research that could save so many lives.  Thousands of diagnosed cancer patients have cured themselves by using nutritional and holistic therapies.  Remember, medicines do not cause healing and repair, only your body can do that, and it can do remarkable things when given the right nutritional, emotional, and spiritual tools.
Conventional medicine has its place and purpose, but it is not very successful when it comes to cancer. Screening is sometimes useful, but it is not a preventative measure. When screening procedures use radiation, they are probably causing increases in future cancer. 
Conventional cancer treatment is toxic and brutal, and has not actually increased true survival since Nixon announced the war on cancer in 1971.
 
A short version of the following article will appear in my Kingsport Times-News article on the last Wednesday of this month.  Please share your thoughts and comments with me.
 
 
Cancer: How About Prevention?
Nearly half of us will, statistically, eventually face cancer. Many of my clients are cancer survivors, and I work with local cancer support groups.  I respect these amazing people and support them any way I can. I do not pretend to know what it’s like to walk in their shoes. I pray I never do.
The intention of this article is simply to make you think.  As you read, please consider this quote by philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860),
“All truth passes through three stages.  First, it is ridiculed.  Second it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

Holistic health providers have major misgivings concerning how cancer is handled by the conventional medical community.  Many people are under the impression that we do so without evidence, or are quacks lacking education, credentials, or expertise.  There are certainly some of those around, but we can’t continue trying to shoot all the messengers just because we don’t like the message.  We believe the most important single key to stopping cancer--genuine womb to grave prevention--is largely ignored.  
The average cancer patient generates $750,000 to $800,000 for the cancer industry! There’s a lot of money fueling the refusal to shift focus from treatment to prevention, and not much to be made from successful prevention—just my opinion, of course.
The average American is exposed to thousands of known carcinogens every day, and our toxic load begins to accumulate before we are born. The 2005 Environmental Working Group study, Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns, examined the umbilical cord blood of ten infants and found a total of 287 toxic chemicals (an average of 200 per infant).  Of these, 180 are known carcinogens. 
A 2002 US Preventive Services Task Force panel found that if 800 women age 50 and over were screened for 14 years, one life would be saved, with unknown damage done to the other 799.    Task force chairman Dr. Ned Calonge concluded that mammography had been oversold to American women. Remember—screening is not the same as prevention.

Ralph Moss, PhD was the first American to have been made an honorary scientific advisor of the German Oncology Society. He was an Asst. Director of Public Affairs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and has been a board member of the Susan Komen Foundation, the National Cancer Institute, and the Cancer Prevention Coalition. He has been published in journals like The Lancet, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and JAMA, and is the Corresponding Editor of Integrative Cancer Therapies.   He has authored several books includingComplementary Oncology: Adjunctive Methods in the Treatment of Cancer and THE CANCER INDUSTRY: The Classic Exposé on the Cancer Establishment.
According to Moss, “We know that conventional therapy doesn't work--if it did, you would not fear cancer any more than you fear pneumonia. It is the utter lack of certainty as to the outcome of conventional treatment that virtually screams for more freedom of choice in the area of cancer therapy. Yet most alternative therapies, regardless of potential or proven benefit, are outlawed, which forces patients to submit to the failures that we know don't work, because there's no other choice."

Dr. Devra Davis, PhD, MPH served as Senior Advisor to the Asst. Secretary for Health in the Department of Health and Human Services, and has been an advisor to the UN and the World Health Organization. She is the former Director for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, and was a founding director of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology of the National Academy of Sciences. She has published dozens of articles in prestigious medical and scientific journals and has authored several books, including The Secret History of the War on Cancer and Disconnect.
According to Davis, “… the cancer war has been fighting the wrong battles, with the wrong weapons, against the wrong enemies. The campaign has targeted the disease and left off the table the things that cause it—tobacco, alcohol, … and other environmental hazards….The result is appalling: over 10 million preventable cancer deaths over the past thirty years… leadership acted to downplay research on prevention, and... this suppression of knowledge continues today... the American College of Radiology recently advised that radiation should be used more sparingly in young children and the rest of us... To put these dosages into perspective, even a properly calibrated CT scan of a child’s stomach can be equivalent to six hundred chest x-rays, while one of an infant’s head can be equivalent to a few thousand. Imagine a lifetime of emergency room visits, with repeated scans, and it becomes clear that these risks could create a major cancer burden of the future…”
“If we want the world of the future to be healthier than that of the past, we can start with ending the protection of toxic trade secrets and taking more realistic looks at the combined impacts of modern agents on our lives.”
 
This last comment is the key to prevention.  Many of us are exposed to hundreds and possibly thousands of carcinogens every day.  Our immune systems are over-burdened and unable to defend us.  We are experiencing unprecedented high levels of stress, and this is a known trigger for many diseases including cancer. We don’t get enough sleep and our food choices are often nutritionally empty or harmful. The more consistently you make the right choices in products and lifestyle, the less likely you will ever face cancer. 
Here are my top tips for reducing cancer risk or recurrence, and maximizing its defeat.
Choose Organic Foods and Products.  Yes, they can cost more. My philosophy is Pay Now or Pay Later.   I prefer to pay now for better quality products instead of spending my money later on medical bills. 
Ask a cancer survivor this: “If you could have prevented your cancer by going organic, even if it meant spending more money, would you have?”  What would your answer be?  Read labels and choose wisely.
Food: Organic meats and dairy are free of the hormones known to dramatically increase your breast cancer risk.  Remember that dairy cattle are often heavily dosed with hormones to increase milk yield.  Nonorganic poultry like chicken and turkey are fed hormones to increase breast size to give us the white meat we, as a nation, prefer.
Products like organic ham and bacon are free of carcinogenic nitrates and nitrites.  Organic fruits, vegetables, and dairy products (cows eat grain & grass) are free of the dozens of pesticide residues also known to be carcinogenic. (There are many great local sources for these!)
After public outcry over 25 years of increasing breast cancer rates forced  Israel to ban three highly toxic organochlorine pesticides, breast cancer rates fell 8% for all age groups, and by more than 33% for women age 25-34 within 8 years.
Over 100 studies now prove that organic food is higher in nutritional value than conventional food.
Avoid soy.  This is easier said than done, as soy and soybean oil are in most all processed foods from cereal  to soup to mayonnaise, and even canned tuna (?!). Soy is not good for anyone. (see my Soy series, 3/09-6/09). Some fermented soy is acceptable and possibly beneficial.  Despite what you have heard, consumption of unfermented soy can increase the risk of all cancers in the long run.
Green Tea appears to have a major impact in preventing the triggering of cancer, inhibiting the ability of cancer masses to create blood supplies and grow, and promoting cancer cell self-destruction (apoptosis). I prefer strong black tea, but by adding green tea to my black tea, I get the benefits of both easily. Again, choose organic to avoid the pesticides that are rarely washed off conventional tea before the leaves are processed.
Garlic People who consume large amounts of garlic have macrophages which are more aggressive and Natural Killer cells capable of destroying 150% more cancer cells than people who consume little or no garlic.
Yogurt People who eat 2 cups a day may have as much as 5x the interferon levels (major anti-cancer and antiviral fighter) and more potent Natural Killer cells. 
Mushrooms, some are especially effective Maitake-activates T and B cells, anti-cancer, anti-tumor.     Turkey Tail-natural source of the cancer drug PSK.
Beans and Lentils, especially dark colored (black beans) have been found to decrease breast and colon cancer by up to 95%.
 
Top Foods to Prevent, Fight, & Survive Cancer
 Goji berries, pomegranate, blueberries, black raspberries, strawberries
Tomatoes, watermelon
Garlic, onion, leeks
Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, beets, kale—can even prevent spread of existing cancers
Spinach, greens
Pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots, mangos, peppers, papaya
Citrus fruits and peels
Apples (with skin!)
Whole grains, flaxseed
Fish, chicken, eggs —choose wild or organic
Legumes—beans, peanuts, lentils, peas--3-5 servings per week can decrease breast cancer risk by up to 95%
Yogurt
Green tea—5 cups a day appears to have significant impact on existing cancers, 3 cups may be enough for preventive action
Olive oil and coconut oil
Spices & Herbs appear especially potent
Curcumin, found in the spice Turmeric, acts against transcription factors, which regulate tumor growth.
Ginger reduces inflammation known to increase cancer risk and has recently been shown to fuel apoptosis (cell self-destruction) of cancer cells.
Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram are also known to increase cancer cell self-destruction.
 
Sleep enough hours and in the dark. Sleep deprivation depresses your immune system in several major ways. Recent studies show that insufficient sleep may increase your breast cancer risk by 60%.   Melatonin deficiency increases cancer risk.  It is a natural hormone produced by the body during the night time darkness.  It is vital that you accustom your children and yourselves to sleeping in a dark room with no nightlights as soon as possible.  Teenage girls who sleep in lit rooms exhibit higher rates of breast cancer as adults. The pineal gland responsible for melatonin production is highly light sensitive, and requires darkness. This is one of several reasons why shift workers have high cancer rates.
 
Smoking increases the risk of breast cancer as it does other cancers.  Still, the National Cancer Institute is reluctant to admit what many studies have demonstrated.  The younger you start, the longer you smoke, the more likely you are to develop breast cancer.  A life long pack a day habit increases your risk by about 83%.
  
Microwave ovens change the molecular structure of foods and create changes in the blood cells of people who consume microwaved food.  This could be absolutely unrelated to breast cancer, but I believe you should avoid them.
 
Personal Care Products are full of toxic ingredients unless you are choosing organic or truly natural ones.  The numbers of carcinogenic and/or estrogen mimicking substances in our products is shocking. Go to this site and look up a few of your products. www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php?nothanks=1   The world of organic toiletries & cosmetics is booming right now and many wonderful products are available.
 
Home Cleaning Products are also full of toxic ingredients.  Truly natural ones are best, and creating your own is easy and economical.  Ask me about the effective, chemical-free dryer sheets I order for my clients and subscribers.  The added bonus? They are very economical to use at $10-12 per year!
 
Synthetic Fragrances are some of the most toxic substances in our environments, containing many known and unregulated carcinogens.  Choose scented products that use genuine essential oils known to promote health and healing.

For more ideas, please see the above linked Cancer & Mammogram issue.