Holistic Approaches to Breast Cancer Prevention and Care

Unlock the secrets to achieving optimal breast health by balancing hormones and reducing inflammation through the artful combination of energy and functional medicine.  Explore the information on breast cancer types and learn about the crucial role of hormone receptors in shaping treatment plans. We also highlight the importance of personalized screening strategies, emphasizing how each person's unique history and risk factors should guide their approach to breast cancer screening, including mammogram guidelines.

Discover practical strategies to support your body's natural detoxification processes and promote hormone balance. This episode covers everything from dietary shifts, like minimizing processed foods and embracing antioxidant-rich plants, to lifestyle changes, such as resistance training and stress management. Learn how to reduce toxin exposure by making mindful choices, like opting for BPA-free products and organic produce, guided by the Environmental Working Group's "Dirty Dozen" list. I also share my experiences transitioning to natural personal care products, offering practical tips on reducing chemical exposure in everyday life. Empower yourself with the knowledge and tools to make healthier choices for a vibrant, wellness-oriented lifestyle.

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PDF for podcast

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Chapters

• 0:00 Breast Health and Hormone Balance
• 15:21 Detoxification, Hormones, and Toxins
• 19:50 Simplifying Personal Care Product Choices

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:52

We're going to talk about breast health and balancing the hormones to reduce our breast cancer risk. So I am a Reiki practitioner. I'm also a physician. I've practiced internal medicine for 20 years, as of this year and then I got started as a functional medicine practitioner about I think it's been about two years. I am not fully certified in the functional medicine world, but I am a practitioner of it. So functional medicine and energy medicine actually go together really well. It's one of my favorite topics is talking about putting those together because they're just one in the same.

Speaker 1: 1:34

But when it comes to our breast health this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and some of the things that we'll discuss although we're discussing it under the realm of breast health it's just good all-around stuff we want to do for ourselves when we balance our hormones. It doesn't just prevent breast cancer, it helps us feel good, it prevents all kinds of things. So breast cancer where we are in the most recent research and where medical science has us now. I always like to say it that way because the nature of medical science is that new discoveries are made. This could change, but from the best that we know of now in the treatment regimens for breast cancer work off the basis that there are basically three main types of breast cancer. There's actually breast pre-cancer types as well, but we don't get too much into that. So much because in those pre-cancer types and that is discovered, most likely abnormal mammogram leads to a breast biopsy and then the pathologist looks at that tissue and sees that there might be cells of inflammation or cells that are showing accelerated growth, but they're not cancer so they're not trying to spread. But these types here are from biopsy. So abnormal mammogram leads to ultrasound that localizes the abnormal part and the biopsy is done. And then from that tissue the pathologist will look to see if this is breast cancer and they look at the cells. They look for certain distinct characteristics of those cells that define it as cancer, which are abnormal cells that grow that don't have normal checks that the body can stop its growth, and cell types that want to spread beyond their origin, where they can cause damage to other tissues and drain the body system because of their unchecked growth, that they require too much energy to grow and that's where they do their damage.

Speaker 1: 3:45

But in the breast cancer realm, the hormone receptors. So if their breast cancer is there, does the breast cancer have receptors for the hormones, estrogen? Does it have the receptors for progesterone or does it not have any of those receptors? So this ends up coming up because the treatment options that are offered depend on if those receptors are there. And in general what's thought is that if those hormone receptors are there, then the treatment can be a little bit less harsh because you can block those hormones in the cells either with medications or with IVs. And then also it does appear that the breast cancer types that have the hormone receptors tend to respond better and faster to treatment. The triple negative breast cancers means that it is a cancer cell but it does not have any of those hormone receptors. Those type of cancers tend to be more aggressive, so they tend to be treated a lot more carefully because there's not as many treatment options.

Speaker 1: 4:56

However, this advice, as far as you know, a holistic approach supports, you know, every type of breast cancer diagnosis. So breast health we know of in our common talk is, of course, getting breast cancer screening or a mammogram and starting mammograms a certain period of time. It used to be the advice was every woman should get a mammogram, starting at the age of 40 and she should have a mammogram every year for the rest of the time she's alive and she should have a mammogram every year for the rest of the time she's alive. We actually have multiple guidelines now as far as when mammograms should start and how often. The way I approach this with my patients is I tell them that we just need an individualized approach. So it needs to depend on your personal history, your family history, your personal preference as well.

Speaker 1: 5:56

There are some women who don't have any family history of breast cancer. They themselves will come in as relatively low risk of breast cancer for several reasons. They just don't like mammograms. For those women they are going to be on that spectrum of screening less often and potentially screening later. They may be appropriate to start their breast cancer screening at the age of 45, and they may be appropriate with getting their breast cancer screening done every two years. If a woman has a family history of breast cancer, particularly family history of breast cancer in first-degree relatives, male or female, or multiple family members with breast cancer in first degree relatives, male or female, or multiple family members with breast cancer Potentially if she's got a family history of certain types of cancer and if those started at a younger age, for her it might be more appropriate to start breast cancer screening at a younger age. It could be as young as 35. And some women, because of their family history they may need to start breast cancer surveillance and awareness as young as their 20s and their approach is individualized because it might not even be mammograms. It may be taking breast ultrasounds at a younger age. So it's very individualized. Best to discuss with your doctor what's going to work for you. But for the kind of the catch-all now was, it went back because for a while they were saying no, don't start till 45, start earlier. But the catch-all advice that we're taking now is consider a baseline mammogram at 35, consider starting at 40 for regular mammograms. Consider getting your regular mammograms every one to two years In your 70s. Discuss with your doctor if you still want to continue breast cancer screening, if you've always had normal mammograms In the breast tissues, the hormones estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, which affect every part of our body but they come into play as far as too much, not enough.

Speaker 1: 8:00

In women. These levels are fluctuating month to month during the years that you're having children and during the years that you are not having children. So that's of course puberty. We don't really have the breast tissue. Much then to discuss. And then later in life, during menopause, where those levels may be starting to go down. They may be going down in a jagged fashion, maybe a little up on estrogen, a little bit down. Or if you've got a history of certain conditions where you may have carried too much estrogen in your life, those estrogen levels might be staying high while progesterone and testosterone drop your life. Those estrogen levels might be staying high while progesterone and testosterone drop. Interesting enough, if someone's on a weight loss journey, all of these hormones are stored in the fat and if they're having a successful weight loss, those fat cells are releasing their contents, which is fat. They may have spikes or changes in these hormone levels, and so that's kind of good to be aware of and it's kind of a good explanation why some women, as they're on a weight loss journey, may have had fertility problems and then, as they successfully lose weight, they easily become pregnant as these hormone levels become released into the bloodstream, become available and help to regulate their ovulation, and that allows for a successful pregnancy, where they may not have been able to do that when they carried more of that weight.

Speaker 1: 9:29

So, just as I was saying before, that imbalances and as far as like what hormone balance is. It's individualized because it depends on, of course, the gender you are and what your optimum hormone balance is. It also depends on where you are in life chronologically, because there are times that you might benefit from more of these hormones. There may be times you benefit from less of these, and it depends on then, as far as gender, are you having babies, wanting to get pregnant or not? And then also just physically, how you're feeling and what you want to accomplish. And then your individual risk factors for breast cancer feeling and what you want to accomplish. And then your individual risk factors for breast cancer.

Speaker 1: 10:17

Having too much estrogen can have some kind of icky effects on the breast, because there's certain types of estrogens that are inflammatory, they mess with our DNA and cause the DNA to get a little bit weird or angry, and that estrogen can fuel some of those types of breast cancer and that estrogen can fuel some of those types of breast cancer. So we don't always really want that. And then, of course, prolonged exposure, and that comes from that's the question that they'll often ask when they're getting ready to do a mammogram is what age did you start your period? What age. Did your period stopped, if they've stopped? Because the thinking is that if you have longer reproductive years you may be exposed to more estrogen and they need to take that into account when they look in your breast as far as risk stratification.

Speaker 1: 10:58

And then the environmental issues. The one that comes up quite a bit is environmental toxins, because we know now that certain environments, certain things that have been put into our environment, been taken out of our environment, can affect our hormone levels and certain synthetic compounds can act like some of these hormones in our body. I have a handout on forever chemicals. I think I'll send that out in the email. But the forever chemicals and breast health is actually super important because it turns out that, unfortunately, the first chemicals are in our environment, but there are some steps that we can take to reduce our personal exposure to these chemicals.

Speaker 1: 11:53

Needs to do for you, but signs that your hormones may not be optimized, might not be in the best place for you, are changes in the weight that we don't want, because sometimes we do need our weight to change, sometimes we don't. If you are a woman that has periods, if the cycles are changing regular to often not occurring at all, and particularly for regular cycles and you're wanting to become pregnant, the mood changes, mood swings. A lot of times in my primary care world that's the first thing that's presented to me is anxiety. But when we have an opportunity to ask more questions in my functional medicine practice we really delve into that a lot more. It turns out that it's not just anxiety, that there's a pattern to it and it has something to do with these hormonal fluctuations that may not be a good thing and sleep issues, which so many things can disrupt our sleep. But for men and women, changes in the hormones where they're not optimized can make us either sleep too much and be tired or keep us from sleeping restfully. So when we take this functional and holistic approach, how we support our hormone balance.

Speaker 1: 13:07

In my 20 years of medical practice, what I had noticed is, before I even had learned about functional medicine, was that my patients were seeing practitioners and they would initially tell me about their symptoms and they would see a practitioner and start a hormone replacement regimen of some kind, hoping to alleviate symptoms, and then, oddly enough, they would come back to me and the symptom they were trying to alleviate actually got much worse, because it turns out like I was saying that hormone balance is individualized. It depends on what you need from your body, what your body needs from you, where you are in life, your genetics, your gender, a number of things, so that some of those will be called perimenopausal or menopausal symptoms that a woman may have, and they may absolutely be in perimenopause or menopause, and they start a regimen of adding estrogen and then it turns out they already had too much estrogen and you throw all that extra estrogen and they actually feel worse. So sometimes hormone replacement is the way to go and it's necessary, it's what's needed, but adding more doesn't always help. But balancing the hormones and starting with what goes into your body as far as foods and for men, women, everyone getting enough fiber in the fiber that hits your stomach and the fiber that hits your small intestines is so awesome because that extra fiber is going to do several things for you. That fiber is going to soak up waste products that we don't want and help take it out of your system. When that fiber hits your small intestines, it can work with your liver. As your liver is trying to get rid of toxins in your body. The fiber can be there and take it out of your system through your stool. And then, of course, fiber keeps our digestive system regulated and moving and a lot of our detoxification that happens, which is getting rid of products that we don't want, happens through the digestive tract. So, starting with the nutrition and just simple, like eating a fiber, including cruciferous vegetables that can actually be cabbage, it can be broccoli, broccolini, but somehow including those even you have to sneak them into your diet.

Speaker 1: 15:22

And eating foods that help lower inflammation, which you know. The catch all term, I tell my patients is if it tasted really good and you wanted a second serving of it, it's probably inflammatory. Unfortunately, processed foods, foods high in sugar, those kind of things Supporting your body's ability to get rid of toxins, to detoxify. So water, simple, inexpensive, staying well hydrated, starting your day with a nice amount of water just to hit your digestive tract, because your kidneys have the other major detox pathway and your kidneys will eliminate certain toxins through them. When we stay well hydrated, that allows enough water to get through the kidneys that the kidneys can flush themselves out, because they can become a reservoir of holding on to toxins and things which could lead to formation of kidney stones and other stuff. So water is always the best way to go. Consuming foods that are high in antioxidants this is, colorful, plant-based foods is the easy catch-all.

Speaker 1: 16:26

Exercise helps our body to stabilize hormones in that whenever we engage our muscles, our muscles will initiate a cascade that will encourage the hormone pathway that leads to the production of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. To produce slightly more testosterone and when I work with a lot of my patients that are testosterone depleted, that's often what I encourage them is to consider resistance training, because that's a natural way to encourage testosterone production. Just a little bit over time, rather than adding a big bolus of it through supplement, helps the hormone cascade, particularly in the adrenal glands, because when we carry too much stress, there are complicated set of steps and mechanisms. The adrenal glands will sort of kick into gear and produce more stress, producing hormones, particularly cortisol. That will impact the body in a number of ways, from poor wound healing to changes in the color of the skin to elevated blood sugars. So managing stress although it sounds overly simplified, just realizing that like hey, if we have certain things that we do that create stress, can we reduce that a little bit more? Because if that impacts our hormone cascade, it can increase our risk of breast cancer and other cancers. So again, and I'll include that forever chemicals I'll send out in the email because I'm gonna have to search for.

Speaker 1: 18:00

But wherever we can reduce our toxins and fortunately our world's a little toxic we just can't get around it. It's toxic chemically, a little bit toxic emotionally and we can't control the environment around us, which we could, could, but we can't. But what we can do is avoid toxins where we can, such as in plastics. So as you're restocking, doing things at home, trying to avoid plastic containers or just over time, maybe replacing plastic containers where you can, minimizing our exposure to one of those forever chemicals, just BPA. And the nice thing is the food industry is starting to help us out by letting us know when things don't have BPA, when linings and canned food don't have it.

Speaker 1: 18:48

So just your awareness of it and starting to look around for it, when possible, choosing organic produce. So this part gets a little bit tough. But there are certain grocery stores that only carry organics and don't use any type of preservatives on the outsides of those organics or of those produce. That's not always possible, unfortunately, because of cost and accessibility. So if it's not possible having a high quality produce wash, so as soon as you purchase your produce, giving it a good wash. There's several produce washes you can use at home where you put some in a bowl and you swish the vegetables or fruit around and you rinse them off and let them dry and that can help remove some of that coating. There's the environmental working groups, dirty Dozen I think you can just Google that term, dirty Dozen and they'll tell you which of the produces that, if you can't find organic, you want to avoid. Because of the nature of the produce, it allows it to absorb more of that stuff.

Speaker 1: 19:51

Using natural personal products and the way I would approach this is that we don't have to throw out all of our cosmetics and all of our personal use products, but as you get close to replacing something, before you toss out the empty bottle, just have a look at what it contained in it and decide if you want to restock with that. I've definitely in my own personal life gone to using beauty products with the least amount of chemicals, using scent-free lotions and soaps wherever I can, just to reduce chemical burden, and I definitely go on to that, just to reduce what we get, because when you see those labels and the more chemicals that they have, maybe it doesn't harm you. Maybe it does, and it's just going to be impossible to know. So when you can get to fewer ingredients, or even if you're crafty and you start making your own lotions or those kind of things where you know what you put in it, that way just reduces your overall exposure.