The news is not good in terms of breast cancer. It seems that breast cancer in young adolescent females is on an upward trend. Sitting in my living room the other night with Robert Scott Bell of The Robert Scott Bell Show' (7:30 to 9:30 every night), we started chatting about this problem. Robert made a comment of, "How do young girls get breast cancer? They're so young, their immune systems should be so strong."
I started to think about this and I came up with several reasons why young girls are getting so sick so early in life. In fact, after visiting the Hassenfeld Cancer Center for Children in New York City, I'm understanding that this is not just a phenomenon of young girls with breast cancer, but young children, in general, getting cancer.
I could think of three things right off the bat that may contribute to this phenomenon:
- The first thing I think of is the mother's diet when the baby is in-utero. Whatever the mother eats, the child eats as well. Eating a lot of sugar, processed foods, alcohol, coffee, and chemicals that come in processed foods can really affect the baby's health. Unfortunately, the aforementioned things are part of the standard American diet - Aptly named SAD diet.
- The second thing I thought of is that when I read about breastfeeding and the historical precedents set, I was educated to the fact that when we are born we should be breastfeeding our babies for 4 years. Four years! I can't imagine what that would be like - all my friends who breastfed have said it's difficult. But, breastfeeding a child for two months is not enough even if four years SEEMS impossible!The mother's breastmilk is giving the child the immune system they need to make it through this toxic world. Colostrum is especially important, as are the vitamins and minerals, fats, and immune cells present in the mother's milk. Breastfeeding is more important every passing, toxic year - especially when establishing a base for health that is as necessary as a strong immune system. At the same time, I can't imagine a four-year-old "little man" suckling at his mother's breast. Even though I have seen it. The reason we need to breastfeed is becoming more and more apparent.
- Baby food is full of soy derivatives, wheat flour, "natural" flavorings (which are not really natural, nor are they a naturally derived flavor), and preservatives, among other things.
- Our health system is crumbling: people are getting ill at younger and younger ages. A strong immune system can help battle toxic circumstances, as well as lousy, SAD diets.
How do I know all this? I was brought up in the era of Dr. Spock. What does that mean? Apparently, Dr. Spock told women not to breastfeed their children! The result for me has been that I have struggled with health issues my whole life.The second reason I think that this trend toward cancer and ill-health is headed upward is due to the fact that children are eating a lot more fast food, or prepared foods. This includes pre-cooked frozen foods, canned foods, boxed cereals, food from fast food establishments, etc. These are not nourishing; in fact, they're full of sugar - added unnecessary sugars - that can feed cancers as well as obesity, causing fats added for "flavor."
3. Then a third thought came to mind: Xenoestrogens. Xenoestrogens are foreign estrogens (Xeno meaning foreign. Therefore, I am talking about external sources of estrogens; not the estrogens that a woman naturally makes, but estrogens that she picks up in her environment.)These Xenoestrogens can include chicken, which is a very big source of estrogen (organic chicken, as well as conventional chickens), bottled waters in plastic bottles that leach chemicals, and air pollution. (I read that the female body takes in air pollution and converts that to estrogens in the body. Bizarre, right?)A lot of what I've read is that reproductive cancers are resulting from high amounts of estrogen. I would assume that breasts are part of the reproductive system.
Now granted, we can't cut down on air pollution today, right this minute. But the other two causes are in our control. We can eat better when are pregnant, we can breastfeed our children, and we can certainly change our diets and our children's diets. These are things we really should be doing anyway. The problem is we don't feel we have the time to research and make those changes - but then again, how much time does it take to be ill?
