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 Here are five ways to help protect your breast
health.
1. Get to and stay at a healthy weight.
Being overweight or obese increases breast cancer risk, especially
after menopause. Gaining weight as an adult adds to your risk.
After menopause, most of your estrogen comes from fat tissue. Having
more fat tissue increases the amount of estrogen your body makes,
raising your risk of breast cancer. Also, women who are overweight
tend to have higher levels of insulin. Higher insulin levels have
also been linked to breast cancer.
If you’re already at a healthy weight, stay there. If you’re
carrying extra pounds, try to lose some. There’s some evidence that
losing weight may lower breast cancer risk. Losing even a small
amount of weight can also have other health benefits and is a good
place to start.
2. Be physically active and avoid time spent sitting.
Many studies have found that regular physical activity reduces
breast cancer risk .
Recent updates to the American Cancer Society Guideline for Diet and
Physical Activity recommend getting at least 150-300 minutes of
moderate intensity or 75-150 minutes of vigorous intensity activity
each week. Getting to or exceeding 300 minutes is ideal. You can
learn more about getting active in Fitting in Fitness.
In addition, you should limit sedentary behavior such as sitting,
lying down, watching TV, and other forms of screen-based
entertainment. This is especially important if you spend most of
your working day sitting.
3. Follow a healthy eating pattern.
A healthy eating pattern includes a variety of vegetables,
fiber-rich legumes (beans and peas), fruits in a variety of colors,
and whole grains. It is best to avoid or limit red and processed
meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, highly processed foods and refined
grain products. This will provide you with key nutrients in amounts
that help you get to and stay at a healthy weight.
4. It is best not to drink alcohol.
Research has shown that drinking any alcohol increases the risk of
breast cancer. If you choose to drink alcohol, the American Cancer
Society recommends that women have no more than 1 alcohol drink on
any given day. A drink is 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of
wine, or 1.5 ounces of hard liquor.
5. Think carefully about using hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
Studies show that HRT using a combination of estrogen and progestin
increases the risk of breast cancer. This combination can also lead
to increased breast density making it harder to find breast cancer
on mammogram. The good news is that within 3 years of stopping the
hormones the risk returns to that of a woman who has not used HRT.
For women who have had a hysterectomy, taking HRT that only includes
estrogen may be a better option. Estrogen alone does not increase
breast cancer risk. However, women who still have a uterus are at
increased risk of endometrial cancer from estrogen only HRT.
Talk with your doctor about all the options to control your
menopause symptoms, including the risks and benefits of each. If you
decide to try HRT, it is best to use it at the lowest dose that
works for you and for as short a time as possible.
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Try these healthy recipes taken from the American
Cancer Society collection of cookbooks.
Pumpkin Oat Muffins
Low in fat and loaded with vitamin A and fiber,
pumpkins are good for more than just fall décor – they’re also
delicious! One healthy and scrumptious way to use pumpkin is in our
recipe for pumpkin oat muffins from the American Cancer Society’s
Healthy Eating Cookbook.
Makes 40 muffins.
Approximately 158 calories and 5 grams of fat per muffin.
Ingredients
6 cups oat flake cereal
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup sugar
5 cups whole-wheat flour
5 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon dried ground ginger
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup golden raisins
2 eggs, beaten
1 15-ounce can pumpkin
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 quart low-fat buttermilk
¾ cup canola oil
Directions
Preheat oven to 400˚.
In a large bowl, mix together cereal, salt, sugar, flour, baking
soda, ginger, and cinnamon. Stir in raisins.
In a separate bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin, vanilla, buttermilk, and
oil and stir until blended.
Mix wet ingredients with dry until batter just holds together. Do
not overmix.
Bake in cup-lined muffin pans for 17 minutes.
Raspberry-peach Yogurt Smoothie
This creamy smoothie is a great on-the-go breakfast.
Not only that, it’s a great way to get calcium and two servings of
fruit in a jiffy.
1 cup frozen raspberries
1 cup frozen peaches
1 (6-ounce) container nonfat plain or vanilla yogurt
¾ cup apple juice
In a blender, combine raspberries, peaches, yogurt, and juice.
Process until smooth.
If you prefer a tarter drink, use plain yogurt. For a slightly
sweeter drink, add a teaspoon or so of honey or use vanilla yogurt.
Per serving:
Calories 165
Calories from fat 5
Total fat 0.5 g
Saturated fat 0.1 g
Trans fat 0.0 g
Polyunsaturated fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated fat 0.1 g
Cholesterol 5 mg
Sodium 60 mg
Total carbohydrate 37 g
Dietary fiber 2 g
Sugars 33 g
Protein 6 g
Find more healthy recipes here
https://www.cancer.org/healthy/eat-healthy-get-active/eat-healthy/find-healthy-recipes.html
[American Cancer Society] |
