Change Your Choices, Change Your Health!! Let's Beat Breast Cancer!!!

I had just finished working on a Cancer Prevention Project at Morehouse School of Medicine and was starting a new Health Promotion position with the Office of Nutrition for the Georgia Public Health Department.  Excited does not begin to describe how I was feeling!!  And then the  bottom fell out.  Stage 3 invasive, aggressive, metastatic breast cancer with 6/17 lymph nodes positive.  Prognosis 2-5 years with or without treatment.  Chemotherapy, stem cell transplant, more chemotherapy, radiation and tamoxifen recommended.  Not quite the summer I was planning.  It was 1996.  The Olympics were in town.  We had friends coming to visit.  My husband was training for the Peachtree Road Race.  And, now my life was moving at slow motion while the rest of the world was spinning around me…..like what you see in the movies.

I started looking for 2nd opinions. My work at Morehouse qualified me to know that lifestyle choices could impact health outcomes.  My graduate study at Loma Linda University laid a strong scientific foundation for the same concepts.  My undergraduate study at Oakwood University with Dr. Ephraim Gwebu, taught me about the impact of dietary choices on health outcomes.  And, my faith affirmed that the Great Physician was indeed a healer.  So, I went into my closet and asked for guidance.

Back then, the research was minimal at best as it related to breast cancer and lifestyle.  But a study on the benefits of phytochemicals on health outcomes, done by the late Herb Pierson at NCI, piqued my interest.  And it was then that I decided to overhaul my lifestyle habits in a major way to help me beat breast cancer.

My docs weren’t too happy.  I even offered to let them follow me, but they declined.  Yet, as I continued my blood tests and scheduled visits, the results confirmed that the cancer was no longer detectable.  And, I was watching other health challenges that I was experiencing, improve as well.  My primary doc warned me that I shouldn’t tell people  that if they changed their  choices that they could change their health……but now I didn’t just know this theoretically.  I was living it experientially and it was Somethin’ To Shout About!!!

Twenty six years later, there’s a LOT of science that confirms the connection between lifestyle choices and health outcomes not only for breast cancer but for other cancers and chronic diseases as well.  And, these findings put the “power” over your health, back in your hands!!!  Not one time during the start of my journey did my docs want to know about what else was going on in my life.  And, whew there was a lot.  But, as I recognized the impact of those choices, I made the changes.  And, I found LIfestyle Medicine Physicians/Medical Professionals who got it.  My sleep, exercise, relationships with others, stress management, diet, use of water internally and externally and my faith in GOD have guided me and countless others to a better place.

The Physician’s Committee For Responsible Medicine does a LOT of research on the impact of a plant powered diet on health outcomes.  I am happy to join the advisory board of their Let’s Beat Breast Cancer Initiative and promote simple things you can do to improve outcomes and reduce risk for breast cancer.  Exercise, Eating Plants, Avoiding Alcohol and Maintaining a Good Body Weight are all proven to affect your risk.  On October 27th I will join Dr. Kristi Funk to talk about my journey.

We have to stop treating our breasts as if they are not connected to our bodies and affected by what’s going on in there.  When you assemble your medical team, include those who know and appreciate the value of healthy lifestyle choices.  Whatever your final treatment course for your cancer, know that what you eat, how you sleep, how you relax, the chemicals you use on your body, your stress, your stressors, your relationship with others, your exercise routine, and your faith can all support your Journey to Better Health!!

I’m a Witness!!!

This Journey hasn’t been easy.  But, Changing My Choices has Changed My Life!  And, the same thing can happen to you.  Go ahead and do it.  Then find some friends and encourage them to do it too. Watch this Black Women, Breast Cancer and Chronic Disease video with them.  Women, especially us Black Women have the power to change the data about our health.  But the choice is up to us.

"Lifestyle is probably the most under-prescribed medical treatment for chronic disease. Yet, when prescribed and faithfully applied, it is the most powerful medical treatment available and  has no negative side effects."  Donna Green-Goodman, MPH

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!!  Let’s Beat Breast Cancer!!  It’s Wellness Wednesday Yawl!!

I’m STILL Shoutin’ Ova Here!!

Donna

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