OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS ALONG SAN FRANCISCO BAY

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the following post is dedicated to all those women and men who have been and will be diagnosed with breast cancer as well as to their friends and loved ones who are and will be supporting them during their ordeal.

As I walked along the Embarcadero waterfront this past week on my way to and from my appointment for a routine mammography, I thought about how I would word what has been on my mind for several years now. My heart goes out to all those individuals who have been diagnosed or will be diagnosed with breast cancer. There are facts, however, surrounding breast cancer and many other cancers which the majority of the public appears to have little, if any, knowledge about.

Most people do not seem to grasp that so much is indeed within their control and that the majority of cancers, including breast cancer, could be PREVENTED in the first place. That being said, we must not stop trying to treat those cases which could not be prevented and we must not stop trying to find a cure. It does however make a lot more sense to PREVENT what we can and to BE COMBAT-READY for what we cannot.

Although prevention is a word tossed about in the media, it would appear that all too often it is not taken very seriously. At a San Francisco Bay Area women's networking event last year, a facilitator made the following statement to me after I stressed the need for prevention education. She said, "People don't want prevention. They want a remedy." What a strange statement! I cannot think of anyone who would choose to go through enduring and possibly not surviving a disease such as breast cancer rather than taking steps to help avoid it in the first place. While there are those who are genetically "predisposed" to diseases such as breast cancer but are never diagnosed with it since they choose to live a healthy lifestyle, there are others who have no such "predisposition," who choose to live an unhealthy lifestyle and are later diagnosed.

Too many people are making choices completely inconsistent with trying to prevent not only breast cancer but also the myriad of other conditions and diseases currently plaguing the public. The interesting part is that what one must do to help prevent one condition or disease can and often will help prevent another. If you want to prevent breast cancer, other cancers as well as cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes and more, stop smoking, limit or eliminate alcohol and understand that there is no substitute for effective cardiovascular and progressive anaerobic exercise combined with healthy whole food nutrition. 

"CLIMB, LIFT & EAT WELL..." ®