Cancer Part 2 - Breast Cancer Awareness Month

I thought it was appropriate to dedicate my next cancer blog to breast cancer - October is "Breast Cancer Awareness" month. I checked out the Susan B. Komen website and it lists a number of complementary therapies. A couple that Arnoux recommends for healthy living are flaxseed oil and organic produce. Why does Total Health Mastery suggests these two things and many more? Because your body needs two things for prefect health - all of the essential nutrients and removal of toxins. Arnoux lists more essential nutrients, but I am going to focus on flaxseed and organic produce.

So if you are eating Category 4 foods - the ones that diminish health - (animal products, processed foods, white sugar, white flour and cooked fats) then you are building up an acid environment full of toxins. You need to move up the food categories towards more essential nutrients - minerals and vitamins from fresh fruits and green vegetables, along with omega-3 and omega-6 fats from (you guessed it) FLAXSEED oil. Why? No disease can live in an alkaline environment according to the The pH Miracle by Dr. Robert O. Young.

Let's talk about flaxseed oil first and how it affects women's health. Flaxseed and its derivative flaxseed oil/linseed oil is a rich source essential fatty acids. The lignan constituents of flaxseed/flaxseed oil possesses in vitro anti-oxidant and possible estrogen receptor antagonist properties, prompting theories of efficacy for the treatment of breast cancer. Good news, it's easy to use and have a ton of other great health benefits - laxative, ADHD, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, prostate cancer... I throw a tablespoon in the kids oatmeal with fresh blueberries every morning and add a tablespoon to salads and dressings. And I should it's not that expensive and you can begin to feel the difference relatively quick.

Next, let's tackle organic produce. These are Category 2 foods if they are uncooked and Category 3 if cooked, which is much better then Category 4. The more people demand organic and turn away from toxic alternatives, the more the prices will come down. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA):

• "Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides, fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge, bioengineering, or ionizing radiation.

Remind me why we have to ask for foods without pesticides, bioengineering, toxic sewage or radiation. Both the Cancer Prevention Coalition and Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine support eating more fruits and vegetables to reduce our risks of breast cancer. They also clearly link the dairy products and animal products to higher risks of breast cancer. Ideally, the world has a fresh "untainted" food supply and cancer rates are down.

Kids love fruit and vegetables and they will eat them if they are chopped and ready to grab. Or better yet, prepare fresh juice.

Dr. Hubbard and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District - How can you ignore this cry for a better education through better nutrition? You have the power to be the first public school district to demand better -Go Organic, Provide Dairy Alternatives and Fresh Fruit and Vegetables! Be the example we need.

Makeover Your Diet

For the last two months I have been concentrating on eating better - more raw fruits and vegetables in my small four - six meals a day. I have had good results and it is easy to get the family on board. Everyone loves the fresh fruit and juice in the morning and an afternoon salad. They even love the side dishes for dinner. But here's the problem, if you have been reading what I have been posting, our last meal of the day is looking like the last meal before poor health - DINNER... We eat animal products 5 out of 7 nights. I carefully select the "right" kinds of meat - you know organic, free-range, hormone-free (really?) and whatever else we are suppose to avoid. All of us eat out at least one day a week, and my son eats a school lunch 5 times a week. We appear to be eating healthy, yet if you believe what the doctors are saying this is STEP 1... We need to get to Step 2 eliminating animal products.

So let's examine step 1 with a few things I have learned from Total Health Mastery.

Total Health Mastery: Frames the diet into four categories of food.

1. Rejuvenating Food (foods that rejuvenate your body)
2. Maintaining Food (foods that maintain your health)
3. Diminishing Food (foods that diminish your health)
4. Destructive Food (foods that destroy your body quickly)

The idea is to improve your diet slowly 50% raw 50% cooked, the 75% and 100% living foods. I like this approach... it is simple and easy to do based on the class and also based on the website suggestions. Ultimately, our family needs to move to Category 1 and 2 foods primarily. Most Americans eat only Cat 4 foods which include animal products - meat, eggs and dairy, highly processed foods - bread, pasta, candy and crackers, drugs and alcohol.

Our food supply is looking bleak. And this is where change happens. Read Arnoux "Free Tools" and Nutrition MD's Makeover your diet... small steps help the environment and your health.

Cancer Part 1 - How it Relates to Dairy

Cancer has become the common disease that effects every family. The Stand Up 2 Cancer campaign brought awareness to the commonality of cancer, yet it did not address the causes. So, in Cancer Part 1, I am going to explore the relationship between dairy and cancer. This will serve as one of the reasons the Newport-Mesa Unified School District should reconsider the way Nutrition Services approach school lunches. Our children's lives are at stake!

According to the World Health Organization, up to 40 percent of all cancers are preventable, and one-third of all cancer deaths in the U.S. can be attributed to nutritional factors, according the American Cancer Society (ACS). If we take this a step further, we find that those who avoided meat, fish, and poultry had dramatically lower rates of prostate, ovarian, and colon cancer compared to meat-eaters.

If you don't believe me, believe the credible sources with intelligent people working toward a better world, such as Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Cancer Prevention Coalition, British Journal of Cancer, Journal of National Cancer Institute and Cancer Research. All of these academic journals and groups have one thing in common - they see a direct link between dairy and animal products and cancer.

If the National Dairy Council would step up and ban genetically modifying our beef and milk supplies we might have a chance to reverse this problem. Canada and the EU have banned the use of hormones, such as the insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I).

Stay tuned for Cancer Part 2 - Breast and Prostate.

Yes on Prop 2 - The Power of Advertising

I did more research on California Prop 2. Although Prop 2 doesn't do everything I wish it would, such as ban the use of hormones or antibiotics, etc. But, it is a positive start.

There are so many disturbing videos and images showing the cruel treatment of our food supply. It made me cry. I am finding it harder to rationalize eating beef, chicken or pork, especially under these circumstances. I am already doing my part by reducing my meat, eggs and dairy intake.

The NO on Prop 2 campaign uses fear tactics to persuade their audiences and misleading names such as Safe California Food... THIS IS WRONG!

Prop 2 may not be perfect, but it does make a difference. Don't you be fooled either, VOTE YES on PROP 2... read the details and make an educated decision. The European Union and many other states have already banned these practices. We have to demand safe food supplies or we will suffer the same fate as the animals - death because of poor health.

Protein Myths

The other day I was hiking with a friend, and she asked me what I was doing different. I told her about the class I am taking and the small adjustments I have been making to my diet. Then she asked an important question, "Where do you get your protein if you are not eating meat or dairy as often?"

The first session of the Total Health Mastery class spelled out some misconceptions about protein sources. Arnoux pointed to the book, Diet for a New America (pg. 177) by John Robbins who I have mentioned before in other blogs. I did not know that I could get all the protein I need from vegetables and fruit. Spinach is 49% protein! Watermelon is 8%! Apples even possess 2%. Beef is only 27%.

MYTH 1 - animal products and dairy are the best source of protein
MYTH 2 - a vegetarian diet lacks enough protein

There's so much more than this, but you get the idea. Let's educate people on nutrition. Try making simple changes for a month and see you notice a difference.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District you must serve your public -Go Organic, Provide Milk Alternatives and Fresh Fruits and Vegetables! It's up to you Dr. Hubbard!

Join the Revolution Dr. Hubbard

Dear Dr. Hubbard,

California Prop 2 is just a part of the revolution happening today with our food supply. VOTE YES ON PROP 2.

The idea doesn't cover all of the issues, but does demonstrate the growing interest in creating humane safe food sources. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District (NMUSD) should be the leader in safe food options in our schools - Go Organic, Provide Milk Alternatives, and Fresh Fruit and Vegetables!

Personally, I am interested in this aspect of the campaign:

Improves our health and food safety. We all witnessed the cruel treatment of sick and crippled cows exposed by a Southern California slaughter plant investigation this year, prompting authorities to pull meat off school menus and initiate a nationwide recall. Factory farms put our health at risk—cramming tens of thousands of animals into tiny cages, fostering the spread of diseases that may affect people. YES! on Prop 2 is better for animals—and for us.

www.yesonprop2.com

Let's become the first school district to take the health of our children to the next level. We can be ahead of the trend, making a stand against polluted milk products. Offer something different than milk!

* Dear Newport-Mesa Unified School District

Dear Dr. Jeffrey Hubbard,

I am starting with you because I believe we share a common goal - create a great learning experience in our district. I read your profile and I found an interesting quote by Winston Churchill "Never give in – never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense." This inspires me.

I am one of your families. I have lived in the NMUSD school district for 10 years. I have two juniors at Corona del Mar High School and one seventh grader at Corona del Mar Middle School - all on the same campus. My son buys his lunch every day, and my twin daughters come home for lunch or eat out.

These were my son's choices for lunch September 5, 2008:

2 Mini Cheese Burgers, Superstar Fruit Yogurt, Lunch Pac,
PB Jamwich, Lettuce & Pickles, Catsup, Diced Pears,
Nonfat Chocolate Milk or 1% Nonfat Milk
or
Pizza Hut Mini, Domino's by the Slice, or A Breaded Chicken Burger*

* This is what is available at school, but not listed on the website

This meal is heavy on dairy and animal products, and lacks fresh fruit and vegetables. Lettuce is the only fresh item and that's only if he chose a burger of some sort. Why? You claim to be a part of a Newport for a Healthy California and compliant to the USDA guidelines.

I don't blame you. But I do blame USDA's Visit Team Nutrition for misleading you. I can read from your Nutrition Services website that the NMUSD does care about the obesity epidemic and disease prevention through diet and exercise. We can fix this.

I propose you look at other evidence, such as the a PCRM’s 2008 School Lunch Report Card, specifically the Santa Ana school district and take it one step further - Go Organic and Provide Fresh Fruits, Vegetables and Dairy Alternatives!

We can lead the way with innovative ideas and healthier children. I suggest you start with one book I learned about at my Total Health Mastery class - Diet for a New America by John Robbins. I also suggest you look at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine website. This is a great start.

I plan on visiting the Hollandia Dairy (the one we use at CDMHS) and getting a first hand look at the practices they implore. Will they be practices you, our students, teachers, parents and peers would approve?

Subscribe to my blog www.notsomilkymom.blogspot.com and see my case unfold. I promise this is all for the right reasons - the health of our children and future.

I leave you with my favorite quote as I ask you to have the courage to lead NMUSD into a new era of education, that includes a healthy body.

- "If adapt to change, you survive. If you resist change, you die. If you cause change, you lead."

With Best Regards,
Not So Milky Mom

* The Exception to the Rule

Why do we have to ask for organic milk? Why isn't all milk organic? At what point did it become okay to contaminate the milk with toxins? When did they switch the milk? Did they ask us if we wanted the toxins? And, why don't they list the chemicals or explain on the label that the milk is genetically modified? Why aren't health risks listed on the carton, like alcohol and cigarettes?

U.S. Department of Agriculture "Team Nutrition Call to Action: Healthy School Nutrition Environments" report says 50 percent of total daily caloric intake is consumed at school. Public schools, including Newport-Mesa Unified School District schools, use the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for America to create school lunch programs. These guidelines promote consuming substantial amounts of dairy, while the information is contradictory to scientific evidence provided by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and many other sources.

Milk's selling points are calcium and vitamin D! "Milk and dairy products are not necessary in the diet and can, in fact, be harmful to health. It is best to consume a healthful diet of grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and fortified foods including cereals and juices. These nutrient-dense foods can help you meet your calcium, potassium, riboflavin, and vitamin D requirements with ease—and without health risks" - PCRM.

At the last Total Health Mastery class, Arnoux shared the best advice, "Get your vitamin D from the source, the SUN!" Five to fifteen minutes sun exposure a day is all you need. This is supported by the PCRM report outlining the potential health concerns related to dairy products.

Dairy health risks include cancer (ovarian, prostate, and breast), type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and the development of obesity. The only way to reduce these risks is to increase exercise and the intake of fruits and vegetables - calcium rich plant foods such as kale, broccoli, other leafy green vegetables and beans.

It should be the rule, not the exception that we give our kids the best foods available. More Living Foods Without Toxins!