October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and there is no way I'm not using this blog to raise awareness about the C word!!! Because, shall I tell you a secret? I HATE Cancer. I LOATH it. I DESPISE it! I've never had it (Thank you God), but too many people I know have and it's ain't pretty.
I particularly dislike breast cancer; as a woman this illness evokes very strong sentiments in me and as someone who works in a predominantly female office (I'm an adoption social worker), I feel I'm constantly surrounded by it or the threat of it. That is because I am...
Just in the last 18 months three work colleagues of mine have been affected by breast cancer in one way or another. Thank goodness they are alive and brave and strong and standing. And I admire their courage and determination to fight with all their might. All three of them seem to be doing amazingly well now, by the way :), but stats in the UK are depressing with more than 12,000 women and 80 men dying of the illness every year!
I know, it's not like me to write doom and gloom blog posts, so let's talk about the good news quickly, ok? The good news is that I so strongly believe that we each have the power to reduce our chances of getting cancer. Yup, you read that correctly. Big stuff eh?! So how can we take matters into our own hands and kick cancer to the curb? By eating the right food. Another big statement, I know.
So what on earth is 'the right food'? Now here's where it gets a bit complicated, but only a tiny bit, so bare with me please. I know what you are thinking: There is soooo much conflicting information out there, how on earth can we know what we should and shouldn't eat? As a nutrition geek I have done a lot of reading up on the matter, delving into various written material by different authors, all expressing different perspectives. In doing so I aimed to get as rounded a view as possible. Though I am by no means an expert I personally feel that by far the strongest research points to a plant-based, seasonal, balanced and varied diet. (You can find some great books about nutrition, health and food on my post blog here). Therefore a plant-based diet is my weapon of choice; it's my way of empowering myself and my family.
Let me be clear about two things though. Firstly, a predominantly plant-based diet doesn't mean you can only eat cucumber sticks and lettuce leafs. I hope this blog evidences that. Perhaps controversially I also think it can mean that you can eat some meat and dairy (though I choose not to) on occasion, as well as some processed foods like sugar for example once in a blue moon. It does however means that the majority of your food (read 95%!!!!) should be real and plant-based so stuff like vegetables, fruits, seeds, whole grains, nuts, legumes etc.
Secondly, I am not in a million years suggesting that eating vegetables and fruits can guarantee that you'll never get cancer. Life isn't that simple. But I AM saying that eating a healthy plant-based diet has the potential to significantly reduce your changes of falling ill with cancer and to reverse very early stage cancers. YUP, I did just write that and I ain't taking it back!
So when I stumbled on THIS piece of research my eyes lit up and I knew I had to share it with yall! (click on it, it's short and sweet and well worth a read). Essentially it outlines that consuming 3 to 6 milligrams of beta-carotene—a carotenoid in dark green, orange, and red vegetables—each day can reduce the risk of breast cancer by about 19%. HOORAY! Better yet, it states that ''one medium sweet potato contains two to three times the recommended dietary intake of beta-carotene, which will help reduce the risk for cancer and boost the immune system.'' It also notes that 1 cup of cooked butternut squash has a staggering 9.4 mg of beta-carotene.
