Wise Woman Wisdom

Easy things you can do now to help Prevent Breast Cancer 2

Easy things you can do now to help Prevent Breast Cancer

(** Part 2 **)

3. Eat less vegetable oil; increase animal fat, especially from dairy products. "Diets high in corn oil leave animals especially vulnerable to chemically induced cancers" say researchers. (Science News, 6/24/89; 10/2/99) Frightening as this statement is, it is not true only of corn oil but of all vegetable (or seed) oils including those made from soy, sesame, sunflower, cottonseed, flax, and hemp.

 

If you are dubious about eating more animal fat and dairy products to reduce breast cancer risk, consider this landmark study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine (1/12/1998). To determine if food affected breast cancer risk. The diets of 61,000 Swedish women between the ages of 40-76 were followed for four years. The results~ For every 5 grams (about a teaspoonful) of vegetable oil consumed per day, breast cancer risk increased by 70%. In contrast, for each 10 grams of fat from meat and dairy products in the daily diet, breast cancer risk was decreased by 55%.

 

Another study, begun in the early 1970s, followed 4,000 Finnish women's diets for 25 years. Results recently released found that those who "drank the most milk had only half the breast cancer risk of those who drank the least."

 

American researchers agree. According to a report in International Journal of Cancer (2001), women who drank milk as children and continued drinking it as adults had half the rate of breast cancer of non-milk drinkers. (Yes, I do buy organic milk, but the studies used regular supermarket milk.)

 

Why~ Galactose, the primary sugar in milk, slows ovarian production of estradiol, a cancer-promoting hormone. Additionally, milk is rich in CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), a fat known to suppress breast tumors in animals.

 

For breast health I use yogurt, cheese, milk, butter, and olive oil daily, and eat meat occasionally.

 

Remember that olive oil is pressed from a fruit, not a seed. Women whose diets are high in olive oil, and who eat meat and dairy products regularly, have the lowest rates of breast cancer in the world. (Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 1/18/1995)

 

4. Eat less tofu and soy beverage; eat more miso and tamari

 

While it is true that if you begin eating soy foods as a child and continue throughout puberty the breast tissues you create during your adolescence will be highly resistant to cancer until after menopause. However, if you begin eating unfermented soy (tofu, soy milk, and the like) after puberty, your risk of breast cancer increases. (Science News, 4/24/1999)

The active ingredient in soy - isoflavone - when given to breast cancer cells in petri dishes causes them to grow rapidly. (Extracts of dong quai and licorice have a similar effect.)

 

Miso and tamari - fermented soy foods - are the exceptions. Both are strongly cancer preventative, no matter when you start eating them. Animal studies have found both miso and tamari highly effective in preventing cancer, even in mice genetically programmed to get breast cancer. And the more you eat, the more you lower your risk of cancer.

 

For breast health, I use miso and/or tamari every day. I occasionally eat tofu or edemame. I drink no soy milk, and eat no other soy products of any kind.

 

5. Eat foods rich in antioxidants; avoid supplements of vitamins C and E.

A diet that contains plenty of foods rich in antioxidants definitely lowers breast cancer risk. But supplements seem to do the opposite.

Doctors in Stockholm observed that, among breast cancer patients, treatment failures were higher for women taking vitamin E supplements - and the failure rate increased with dose. Studying this effect, researchers found that the anti-cancer benefits of fish oils "disappeared when [we] gave ... antioxidant vitamins”. In fact, when mice with breast cancer were given vitamin E supplements "the more we gave them, the bigger their tumors grew." The authors conclude that vitamin E supplements "preferentially protect a cancer and even aid its spread." (Science News, 4/29/1995 and 7/15/1995)

 

Supplements of vitamin C (synthetic ascorbic acid) are poorly used by body tissues. But cancer cells seem to thrive on it. (Cancer Research, 9/15/1999) One new "chemotherapy" links a lethal form of zinc to an ascorbic acid molecule; when the cancer eats the ascorbic acid, the zinc is set free to kill the cancer cell.

 

For breast health I eat 5-7 servings of dark green and bright red/orange foods daily.

 

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Order Susun's book Breast Cancer? Breast Health! here:

www.wisewomanbookshop.com/product-page/breast-cancer-breast-health

 

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Mysterious Mushrooms

Mysterious Mushrooms

As summer nights lengthen into autumn, the forests of the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York fill with magical, mystical, medicinal mushrooms. "Toadstool" is a quaint name for the many mushrooms that spring forth between rains, while "fungi" is the more technical term.

Fungi are plants, but plants without flowers, or roots, or chlorophyll (which makes plants green). Strange shapes (some quite sexually suggestive), the ability to grow (and glow) in the dark, and psychedelic colors make mushrooms an obvious addition to any witches' stew. But you will want some other reasons to make mushrooms a steady part of your diet. Is outwitting cancer a good enough reason?

It's true. All edible fungi--including those ordinary white button mushrooms sold in supermarkets--are capable of preventing and reversing cancerous cellular changes. We aren't exactly sure why.

Perhaps it's because fungi search out, concentrate, and share with us the trace minerals we need to build powerful, healthy immune systems. Or perhaps it's because of their wealth of polysaccarides, interesting complex sugars that appear to be all round health-promoters. It could be because mushrooms are excellent sources of protein and B vitamins with few calories and no sodium. Or we could single out the anti-cancer, anti-tumor, and anti-bacterial compounds found in the stalk, caps, gills, and even the underground structures (mycelia) of every edible mushroom.

So be sure to cook your mushrooms through; avoid eating them raw. Scientists at the University of Nebraska Medical School found that mice who ate unlimited amounts of raw mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) developed, over the course of their lifetimes, significantly more malignant tumors than a control group.

Everywhere I go in August and September--whether walking barefoot on vibrant green mosses or stepping lightly across the deeply-scented fallen pine and hemlock needles, whether climbing rocky outcrops festooned with ferny whiskers or skirting swamps humming with mosquitoes, whether following the muddy bank of a meandering stream or balancing on old stone walls inhaling the scent of righteous rot -- I am on the lookout for my fungal friends. ....

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Read the rest of this article here:
http://www.wisewomanmentor.com/wise-woman-ezine/9237445

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If you're ready to go deeper with your herbal studies, join Susun on her Mentorship website. Get new content every week, such as, videos, audio of Susuns past lectures, Q&As, many articles, and even personal one on one mentorship from Susun.
Register now:
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Green Tea, Coffee, Chocolate Part 2

Green Tea, Coffee, Chocolate Part 2

Join Susun on her monthly show on Healthylife.net as she talks about, Green Tea, Coffee, Chocolate Part 2, as well as health news, and herbs with a special emphasis on womens health.

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Immune strengthening soups

Immune strengthening soups

by Susun Weed

To make an immune strengthening soup:

• Chop at least half an onion per person and sauté in lots of olive oil until translucent..
• Add at least two cloves of garlic, sliced or chopped, per person and sauté.
• Add chopped vegetables of the season, a lot of seaweed, some mushrooms, tonic roots, seasoning herbs, sea salt and vegetable broth.
• Bring it all to a boil and simmer for an hour.
• Let the immune strengthening soup mellow in a cool place overnight.
• Serve it the next day, heated up, with freshly-baked bread and organic raw milk cheese.

Seaweeds help remove radiation from body tissues (heavy metals too). I like heavy seaweeds like kombu and wakame in soups. But sea palm fronds, nereocystis kelp, hijiki, and alaria are food too; they all taste different.

All mushrooms strengthen the immune system and counter cancer. I frequently use dried shitake as they are available and inexpensive at Chinese grocery stores. Reishii, maitake, and other medicinal mushrooms are delicious additions to immune strengthening soups, as are the more common dried porcinni, and fresh portobellos.

Tonic roots help our livers, lymph, and kidneys work well, protecting us from infection. I use one or more, fresh or dried, depending on what I have available: Siberian ginseng, astragalus, burdock, dandelion, chicory, yellow dock, American ginseng. I often put these tough roots into a jelly bag and drop that into the soup for I can fish it out before serving. About one ounce per gallon of broth used for your soup is a nice amount.

Seasoning herbs from the mint family - rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, marjoram, and sage - are loaded with antioxidants. I don't just season the soup with them; I add them by the handful.

There are recipes for several immune strengthening soups in my book Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way.

 

 

Nourishng the Liver

Nourishng the Liver

Use herbs that nourish the liver. Simple remedies such as dandelion, yellow dock, chicory, milk thistle, and nettle aid the liver and are safe to use. But many herbal remedies, especially those taken in capsules, are hard on the liver and need to be avoided or used with great care and caution when liver function is not strong.

Avoid herbs that are rich in alkaloids and other natural chemicals that stress the liver: including golden seal, senna, celandine, chaparral, lobelia, licorice, valerian, rhubarb root, cayenne, and poke root. Some sensitive people may find aromatic herbs such as peppermint, lemon balm, rosemary, thyme, and lavender upsetting to their livers.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is probably the simplest, safest, most effective, and least expensive liver-nourishing herb known. All parts of the plant are medicinal: root, leaves, stalks, and flowers. Tincture of the root is most often used, but root vinegars, flower wine, cooked leaves, and stalk tea may be substituted. The greatest effect comes from eating or taking a dandelion remedy three times a day, but even once a day is useful. For more information on making and taking dandelion remedies, please see my book Healing Wise. The usual dose of the tincture is 10-30 drops diluted in some water and taken before meals. There is no known overdose.

Yellow dock (Rumex crispus and other species) is another common weed widely used to improve liver functioning. The root is generally tinctured and taken in 20-30 drop doses with meals; but the leaves or seeds can be put up in apple cider vinegar, and 2-3 tablespoonfuls taken on salad, cooked greens, or in water. Yellow dock, like dandelion is simple and safe to use. There is no known overdose. It is a highly effective agent for promoting bowel regularity.

Chicory (Cichorium intybus) flashes her brilliant blue flowers for months along roadsides here in the northeast. In the fall, we dig her roots to make a liver-strengthening tincture. The dose is usually 20-40 drops three times a day in some water. There is no known overdose. Some folks do drink chicory root tea, but it is very bitter. Roasted chicory roots are used as a coffee substitute; opinion is divided as to whether this preparation still has medicinal qualities.

Read the rest of this article here:
http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/June06/anti-cancer.htm

Menstrual cycle post birth control

Menstrual cycle post birth control

A caller on blogtalk radio says she has stopped taking birth control pills and is trying to get her menstrual cycle back to normal. She's currently taking Vitex. Susun talks about why its ok to take birth control pills. She answers the callers question by saying it could take a year for her cycle to regulate.
This audio is almost 6 minutes long.

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Join Susun Weed on blogtalkradio, Tuesday nights 7:30-9:30 pm EST. Call or Skype in: 1-646-929-2463, with your questions or email ahead of time to [email protected]. 

Visit the link for more info:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/susunweed

 

Reishi mushrooms

Reishi mushrooms

Susun shows us, Reishi mushrooms which is used as an adaptogen, a helper for people doing chemo therapy, heart health and more.

Lung cancer

Hi Susun,

I'm one your new new students in your Green Witch correspondence course. I'm going to set up some talk time with you but I was hoping to get your perspective on my mother's health condition as soon as possible. She was just diagnosed with lung cancer after recurring bouts with pneumonia and a bronchoscopy/biopsy. We don't know yet what stage it's at, whether it has spread, or what treatment plan is being recommended yet (they are taking forever). She is having a Pet Scan Friday so we are supposed to find out on then. We do know that the tumor is between golf ball and baseball-sized.

I've listened to your 7 Rivers of Healing and looked at some of your articles online, but wondered if there is anything specific you'd recommend for lung cancer. i want to help her as much as possible!

Thank you and green blessings,
Drucilla

 

Hello Drucilla,

Some suggestions would be mullein and red clover infusions, making sure to strain the mullein in cheesecloth to remove the tiny hairs -- comfrey infusions as well. Also from Susun: "And, maybe we need to consider stronger herbs. How about poke root tincture? Read more about it in my Breast Health book. A dose is one or more drops, but build up slowly, as it is considered poisonous and is very powerful. And, of course, lots of whole grains, lentils, leafy greens, and cooked vegetables and fruits. And do avoid all supplements, especially ascorbic acid (a favorite food for cancer cells), vitamin E supplements (which encourage metastasis), and beta carotene (know to make lung cancer much worse)."

The Breast Health book would be great to have to help your mom as she goes thru any treatments since the suggestions in there are beneficial for any cancer... Starting on poke root tincture might be of help - it is taken in very small dosages, just a couple drops at a time.

Look into a macrobiotic diet ... Some other allies to investigate would be for lungs: elecampne root tincture, horsetail tea, nettle infusions, yarrow flower tincture. Hopefully that can get you started in a direction. At some point once more is known, your mom may want to call Susun directly during her free health hotline -- it's always best for her to talk directly with the person to get any needed clarification - these are each Tuesday from 7:30pm-9pm Eastern at (646) 929-2463.

Let us know as you find out more ... lots of healing and best wishes to you and your mom...

blessings,
Kim
Wise Woman Team

www.wisewomanweb.com
www.wisewomanbookshop.com
www.wisewomanuniversity.org
www.wisewomanmentor.com

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Join Susun Weed on blogtalkradio, Tuesday nights 7:30-9:30 pm EST. Call in with your questions or email ahead of time to [email protected]. 

Visit the link for more info:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/susunweed

 

---

If you're ready to go deeper with your herbal studies, join Susun on her Mentorship website. Get new content weekly such as the expanded herbal ezine, replays of teleseminars, videos, audio of Susuns past lectures, many articles by Susun, and even personal one on one mentorship from Susun.
www.wisewomanmentor.com

Can breast cancer be prevented?

Can breast cancer be prevented
An excerpt from chapter One of Breast Cancer? Breast Health! by Susun Weed
Available at www.wisewomanbookshop.com

Sometimes it seems that every magazine, newspaper, radio show, and piece of mail has a headline declaring that every woman’s risk of developing breast cancer is increasing. There is a numbing feeling of inevitability in these pronouncements. More and more women think about breast cancer as a when rather than an if.

It’s true that there’s more breast cancer now than ever before, that between 1979 and 1986 the incidence of invasive breast cancer in the United States increased 29 percent among white women and 41 percent among black women, and incidence of all breast cancers doubled. It’s true that the percentage of women dying from breast cancer has remained virtually unchanged over the past 50 years, and that every 12 minutes throughout the last half of the twentieth century another woman died of breast cancer.

And it’s true that breast cancer is the disease that women fear more than any other, that breast cancer is the biggest killer of all women aged 35 to 54, and that of the 2.5 million women currently diagnosed with breast cancer, half will be dead within ten years.

These facts frighten me, and they also make me angry. My studies spanning 25 years and many disciplines have convinced me that the majority of breast cancers are causally related to the high levels of radiation and chemicals released into our air, water, soil, and food over the past 50 years. United States government researchers estimate that 80 percent of all cancers are environmentally linked.

What can be done? The answer isn’t as simple as a yearly mammogram. That may help detect breast cancer, but it won’t prevent it. To prevent breast cancer we need to take individual and collective action.

Effective action requires understanding the causes of breast cancer and what decreases breast cancer risk. But there are few conclusive answers to these queries, partly because most research focuses on eliminating breast cancer after—not before—it occurs. Science has validated so few risk factors for breast cancer that 70 percent of the women diagnosed with breast cancer have “no identifiable risk factors.”

Unfortunately, our sex, age, reproductive history, family history, exposure to radiation (such as fallout from above-ground atomic bomb tests), race, culture, and height are beyond our control. When we’re told these are the only risk factors, we can be left with feelings of hopelessness and panic.

But when we include risk factors that are considered “not well substantiated”—but which are clearly contributing to breast cancer incidence—including ingestion of and exposure to prescription hormones, hormone-mimicking organochlorines, prescription drugs, petrochemicals, and electromagnetic fields, as well as unwise lifestyle choices such as smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol immoderately, wearing a bra, or not exercising, then we can find many ways to lower breast cancer risk. No need to panic.

We can help prevent breast cancer on an individual basis by buying organically grown food, filtering our water, building powerful immunity, living wisely and vigorously, being in touch with our breasts, using natural remedies for menopausal problems, and by paying attention to our Wise Healer Within.

But there’s a limit to the control that any one woman has over her exposure to petrochemicals, radiation, and other environmental cancer-inciters. Limiting the production and discharge of substances that initiate and promote cancer is collective work. When our individual acts are combined with the acts of others, we can achieve the envisioned social change. For example, as I saw more and more evidence that chlorine residues from papermaking contribute to breast cancer, I began to ask for chlorine-free paper from my book printer. They went from amazement and puzzlement at my request to contracting with a new paper supplier who can provide them with elemental chlorine-free paper. (I’m not the only one asking, you see.)

Whether you think your risk of breast cancer is high, low, or average, there are things you can do, individually and with others, to help yourself stay free of breast cancer and to help stop the epidemic of breast cancer, too. (What is your risk of breast cancer? See “Risk Assessment,” page 317, to educate your guess.)

Order Breast Cancer? Breast Health! here:
http://www.herbalmedicinehealing.com/store/item_view.php?id=1000022

Can breast cancer be prevented?

Can breast cancer be prevented?
An excerpt from chapter One of Breast Cancer? Breast Health! by Susun Weed
Available at www.wisewomanbookshop.com

Sometimes it seems that every magazine, newspaper, radio show, and piece of mail has a headline declaring that every woman’s risk of developing breast cancer is increasing. There is a numbing feeling of inevitability in these pronouncements. More and more women think about breast cancer as a when rather than an if.

It’s true that there’s more breast cancer now than ever before, that between 1979 and 1986 the incidence of invasive breast cancer in the United States increased 29 percent among white women and 41 percent among black women, and incidence of all breast cancers doubled. It’s true that the percentage of women dying from breast cancer has remained virtually unchanged over the past 50 years, and that every 12 minutes throughout the last half of the twentieth century another woman died of breast cancer.

And it’s true that breast cancer is the disease that women fear more than any other, that breast cancer is the biggest killer of all women aged 35 to 54, and that of the 2.5 million women currently diagnosed with breast cancer, half will be dead within ten years.

These facts frighten me, and they also make me angry. My studies spanning 25 years and many disciplines have convinced me that the majority of breast cancers are causally related to the high levels of radiation and chemicals released into our air, water, soil, and food over the past 50 years. United States government researchers estimate that 80 percent of all cancers are environmentally linked.

What can be done? The answer isn’t as simple as a yearly mammogram. That may help detect breast cancer, but it won’t prevent it. To prevent breast cancer we need to take individual and collective action.

Effective action requires understanding the causes of breast cancer and what decreases breast cancer risk. But there are few conclusive answers to these queries, partly because most research focuses on eliminating breast cancer after—not before—it occurs. Science has validated so few risk factors for breast cancer that 70 percent of the women diagnosed with breast cancer have “no identifiable risk factors.”

Unfortunately, our sex, age, reproductive history, family history, exposure to radiation (such as fallout from above-ground atomic bomb tests), race, culture, and height are beyond our control. When we’re told these are the only risk factors, we can be left with feelings of hopelessness and panic.

But when we include risk factors that are considered “not well substantiated”—but which are clearly contributing to breast cancer incidence—including ingestion of and exposure to prescription hormones, hormone-mimicking organochlorines, prescription drugs, petrochemicals, and electromagnetic fields, as well as unwise lifestyle choices such as smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol immoderately, wearing a bra, or not exercising, then we can find many ways to lower breast cancer risk. No need to panic.

We can help prevent breast cancer on an individual basis by buying organically grown food, filtering our water, building powerful immunity, living wisely and vigorously, being in touch with our breasts, using natural remedies for menopausal problems, and by paying attention to our Wise Healer Within.

But there’s a limit to the control that any one woman has over her exposure to petrochemicals, radiation, and other environmental cancer-inciters. Limiting the production and discharge of substances that initiate and promote cancer is collective work. When our individual acts are combined with the acts of others, we can achieve the envisioned social change. For example, as I saw more and more evidence that chlorine residues from papermaking contribute to breast cancer, I began to ask for chlorine-free paper from my book printer. They went from amazement and puzzlement at my request to contracting with a new paper supplier who can provide them with elemental chlorine-free paper. (I’m not the only one asking, you see.)

Whether you think your risk of breast cancer is high, low, or average, there are things you can do, individually and with others, to help yourself stay free of breast cancer and to help stop the epidemic of breast cancer, too. (What is your risk of breast cancer? See “Risk Assessment,” page 317, to educate your guess.)

Since 1950 the incidence of breast cancer in the U.S. has increased by 53 percent, according to Nancy Brinker, chair of President Clinton’s Special Commission on Breast Cancer.