Maintain a healthy weight:
A healthy weight not only protects you from many types of cancers(including breast cancer) but also from other deadly diseases including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, If your weight is healthy, work to maintain that weight. If you need to lose weight, ask your doctor about healthy strategies to accomplish this. Reduce the number of calories you eat each day and slowly increase the amount of exercise.
Be physically active:
Physical activity can help you maintain a healthy weight, which helps prevent breast cancer. Most healthy adults should aim for at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity weekly, and strength training at least twice a week. According to WHO, your goal should be a moderate exercise for at least three to five hours per week or 75 minutes of more vigorous exercise. Additional resistance/strength training is always beneficial.Eat Healthily:
Eating a healthy diet might decrease your risk of some types of cancer, as well as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Generally, Specialists suggest the following additions and eliminations from the diet:
• Limit or avoid sugar-sweetened beverages. Choose water or unsweetened beverages more often. • Limit or avoid highly processed foods and refined grain products, such as fast food, ready-to-eat foods, snack foods, and candy.
• Avoid salt-cured, pickled, or smoked foods.
• Bake or grill food – limit frying.
• Eat more fiber – add vegetables wherever possible, choose high-fiber cereals, use whole grain flour, add kidney beans or black beans to soup and salads.
• Limit your saturated fat intake. Choose monounsaturated fats such as avocados and olive oil and polyunsaturated fats such as nuts, seeds, oily fish (salmon, mackerel, herrings, etc.
• Be “mindful” while eating. Studies show that we tend to consume more calories if we eat while engaging in other activities, e.g. watching TV, driving, reading, etc.
Quit smoking:
Growing evidence suggests smoking is linked to a lower chance of survival for women with breast cancer. A pooled analysis of data from about 10,000 women treated for breast cancer found smoking was linked to an increased risk of:
• Breast cancer recurrence (a return of breast cancer)
• Breast cancer-specific mortality (death from breast cancer)
• Overall mortality (death from any cause, not necessarily breast cancer)
Release Stress
Studies show that stress level may affect your nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. Chronic stress may weaken your immune system, leaving you with less disease resistance. In a study, they found that women who reported being under stress had twice the risk of developing breast cancer as women who managed to stay cool, calm, and collected. The younger a woman was when a crisis hit, the greater their risk for cancer. Responding to stress with optimism and a fighting spirit will not only have a protective emotional armor but will also raise their defense against breast cancer.
It’s important to understand that stress rarely happens in isolation, and perhaps some of the things people do when stressed, play a role. For example, some people eat more or drink more, or smoke when stressed.
It’s never too late to adopt a healthy lifestyle and save yourself from not only breast cancer but other deadly diseases. Take the first step and start by being physically active.