{"id":1020,"date":"2026-03-06T10:17:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T10:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/?p=1020"},"modified":"2026-04-08T22:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:55:00","slug":"breast-cancer-diet-healthy-living-putting-all-the-pieces-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/breast-cancer-diet-healthy-living-putting-all-the-pieces-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Breast Cancer, Diet & Healthy Living-Putting All the Pieces Together"},"content":{"rendered":"

October is breast cancer awareness month.\u00a0 Breast cancer is diagnosed in over 220,000 women each year in the US.\u00a0 With one in eight or 12.3% of women being diagnosed, what can we do to prevent breast cancer or at the very least reduce our risk?<\/span><\/p>\n

We have all heard the saying, \u201cwe are what we eat\u201d.\u00a0 If we can control breast cancer through our diet and healthy living, we can focus more on prevention as a viable means to reduce the incidence of this common cancer affecting so many of our family and friends.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Diets High in Animal Fat<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Nurses\u2019 Health Study II showed \u201cpremenopausal women who ate diets high in animal fat had a 40 to 50% higher risk of breast cancer compared to women who ate less animal fat\u201d. \u00a0 Red meat and high-fat diary intake may increase levels of estrogen which may also increase the risk of breast cancer recurrence and survival.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Other studies have shown the post-menopausal age group who consumed high fat diets also had a higher risk of breast cancer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cgood\u201d fats include monounsaturated (olive oil, avocados, peanut butter) and polyunsaturated (salmon, flaxseed, nuts) fats while the \u201c(very)bad\u201d fats include saturated (high-fat meat, butter, diary) and trans (fried foods, commercially baked snacks &pastries) fats. Omega-3 fish oil,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

a polyunsaturated fat, has also been shown to lower the risk of breast cancer. Reducing animal-based foods and dietary fat, especially saturated fats to less than 10% of daily calories, will lower your breast cancer risk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Plant Foods Boost our Immune System\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

There is convincing evidence showing a diet rich in an assortment of plant foods such as whole grains, legumes, vegetable and fruits will drastically lower rates of cancer.\u00a0 To keep it simple, the more colorful your selection of fruits and vegetables are, along with whole grains and legumes, the more resilient and stronger your immune system. Chemicals found in plant food help protect against cancer including the phytoestrogens-isoflavones, coumestans and lignans.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Other immune boosting nutrients found in a plant rich diet include vitamin C, E and D, B vitamins, especially folate, vitamin A (beta carotene) and phytochemicals contained in tomatoes and coffee. Researchers recommend eating a variety of plant-based foods can lower your cancer risk by at least 20%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alcohol Consumption-How much is too much?<\/b><\/p>\n

We know drinking alcohol increases your risk of heart disease, liver disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and colorectal cancer.\u00a0 Now we can add breast cancer to the negative effects of excessive alcohol consumption.\u00a0 It has been found having two or more drinks a day increases the chance of developing breast cancer as much as 41%.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even moderate alcohol intake which consists of one alcoholic drink a day or more slightly increases your risk of breast cancer.\u00a0 If you drink moderate amounts of alcohol it\u2019s recommended to take 600mcg of folate to counteract the effects moderate alcohol consumption has on breast cancer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Physical Activity<\/b><\/p>\n

Regular weekly exercise involving at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity (even brisk walking!) has been shown to reduce your risk of breast cancer. We already know physical activity helps to maintain a healthy weight, reduces body fat, increases lean muscle mass, strengthens the immune system and improves our mental and emotional well-being.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Obesity<\/b><\/p>\n

Obesity affects 27% of people in the US.\u00a0 Being overweight and obese increases your risk for heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and strokes.\u00a0 Additionally for women there is an established association with obesity to breast, ovarian, uterine and colon cancer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Weight control is an essential part of good health.\u00a0 Ideally you want your BMI to be < 25 for optimal health.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Obesity has been identified as an independent risk factor for developing breast cancer.\u00a0 Obesity or having a BMI > 30 increases your risk of breast cancer by 33% in both pre- and postmenopausal women. Obesity is quickly overtaking tobacco as a leading \u201cpreventable\u201d cause of cancer. The World Health Organization estates that more than 1.5 billion people worldwide are overweight or obese.<\/span> Do you know your BMI?<\/span><\/p>\n

Soy<\/b><\/p>\n

Soy is an ideal protein that comes in the form of beans and legumes. \u00a0 Different forms of soy include whole beans, flour and commonly processed in soymilk, tofu, cheese, soybean oil, yogurt and miso. The nutritional benefits of soy depend on if is processed or not.\u00a0 In the United States the majority of soy consumed is in the form of processed soy which has less nutritional value. When Chinese women were studied\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

it was found when soy foods were consumed during adolescence premenopausal women had some protection against breast cancer.\u00a0 The effects of soy intake as an adult are less clear and more research is needed to understand the true relationship.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Vitamin D and Calcium<\/b><\/p>\n

Vitamin D and calcium have been shown to have a role in the prevention of breast cancer. Studies found women who consumed higher amounts of vitamin D and calcium from dairy products reduced their risk of breast cancer. Newer studies have shown a connection between low Vitamin D levels and breast cancer recurrence and shortened survival. The daily recommended intakes of dietary calcium are 1000mg.\u00a0 The vitamin D daily recommended intake of 600IU\u2019s is debatable since studies show higher amounts of vitamin D are necessary to achieve the cancer prevention benefits. Getting your vitamin D level check is the first step in knowing how much supplementing is needed to optimize what some refer to as the \u201cwonder vitamin\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The 3 most important things you can do to reduce your risk of breast cancer and other major diseases include a colorful plant-based diet, limiting alcohol consumption and controlling your weight. \u00a0 It\u2019s about time we start to look at prevention of breast cancer as opposed to early detection.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October is breast cancer awareness month.\u00a0 Breast cancer is diagnosed in over 220,000 women each year in the US.\u00a0 With one in eight or 12.3% of women being diagnosed, what can we do to prevent breast cancer or at the very least reduce our risk? We have all heard the saying, \u201cwe are what we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1020"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1025,"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020\/revisions\/1025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}