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As you know I've decided this month to see what I can learn about women and their experiences with breast cancer through books. Reading all of these stories lead me to wonder what I could be doing to decrease my own chance of getting breast cancer. I'm too young to start yearly mammograms, I'm too young to even get my baseline mammogram done. There are differing opinoins on the effectiveness of self breast exams. So what's a gal to do? There's got to be something right? Enter Tell me What to eat to Help Prevent Breast Cancer by Elaine Magee M.P.H., R.D., aka the Recipe Doctor. This little book packs a wallop in terms of information. There questions that you'd like to ask doctors and dieticians. There are healthy living suggestions. There are recipes. I'm a bit of a foodie and a fan of both her blog and her website so I was very happy not only to be able to pick up her book but also to ask Elaine a few questions.
Hi Elaine. Thank you for taking the time to do this.
It seems that no one really knows what causes cancer and breast cancer especially seems to strike randomly. Is there a correlation between a healthy lifestyle and our chances of being diagnosed with breast cancer?
Yes, There are definitely some things we can do dietwise to decrease our risk of breast cancer like maintaining a reasonable body weight and avoiding high fat, high saturated fat, and choosing smart fats when possible like olive oil, fish, plant foods rich in omega-3s. Also important is to avoid excessive alcohol and to eat plenty of nutrient and phytochemical rich fruits and vegetables and other plant foods (foods rich in carotenoids, vitamin C, isoflavones, and lignans for example). These food steps with also reduce the risk of other cancers, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure!
Your 10 food steps to freedom are very simple suggestions. They include things like eating at least the daily minimum suggested servings for fruit and vegetables (and hopefully more), eating more fibre, limiting our fat intake - it's really things that we've been told to do for years. Why do think that so few of us do it and that it's thought to be so hard to do?
I think it’s because our typical American lifestyle favors eating out and processed food/junk food/fast food. You have to go out of your way it seems to eat healthier meals that emphasize whole foods. Once you get in this groove though, it feels so right and so good, you don’t want to go back to the junk food diet.
I think that one of the things that I struggle with personally is trying to figure out what qualifies as a "serving" of fruits or vegetables. I know a lot of the times I don't think I'm getting a full serving of fruits and vegetables. Are there any general guidelines for serving sizes?
About 1/2 cup of cooked veggie is a serving but 1 cup of leafy raw veggie (like in a salad) is a cup. About 1 piece or 1/2 cup of fruit is a serving and 8 ounces of juice is a serving. The smaller fruit like apricots or kiwi, it could take 2 to equal a serving though. That’s why 10 servings isn’t quite as hard as it sounds. A 2 cup salad with 1 cup of raw veggies is about 3-4 servings and add a cup of orange juice (1 serving) and a cup of apple slices (2 servings) and 1 cup of cooked veggies with dinner (2 servings) and you now have a total of around 9 servings!
Can we count things as "half servings"?
Absolutely, it’s all good!
Since I read your blog I know that you never recommend any product or recipe without having tried it yourself. What do you look for when you look for new healthy products to try?
I try to find items that contribute some fiber, nutrients and smarter fats, but sometimes I test a product that just has less of some of the bad stuff—that offers us the lesser of two evils, like light ice-cream, for example. It still has sugar and it still has some dairy fat but it has a lot less than regular ice cream.
I know that you are a big fan of flaxseed. Flaxseed has a lot going for it - it's an antioxidant, it has
