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Although the percentage of women diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 40 is much lower (only about 7%) than the overall rates of diagnosis, sadly, these cancers are often not found in their early stages and can prove to be much harder to treat.  One reason these early onset cancers are more difficult to diagnosis is because the breast tissue of younger women is generally more dense than that of women over the age of 40.  There is also sometimes a “denial” aspect to the early diagnosis of breast cancer in younger women.  It seems that many younger women ignore some of the early warning signs, unknowingly believing that they are too young to have cancer.  For these reasons, diagnosis is often not made in the early stages of the disease (when treatment is much more likely to be successful), but rather in later stages that often prove to be more difficult to treat successfully.

In recent years the guidelines for when a woman should have their first mammogram has fluctuated quite a bit, making it even more confusing for young women to make informed decisions about their personal breast health.  Below are some guidelines that young women can use in screening for breast cancer.

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Today the government has issued new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, something they do every five years.  With obesity (and the deadly medical conditions associated with it) at a critical level in this country, they are guidelines that we can’t afford to ignore.

These new guidelines not only address the need to reduce our intake of unhealthy foods (such as high amounts of sodium, saturated fat, and sugar), but they go a step further, and suggest that Americans must begin to eat less.  Eating less may seem like an obvious suggestion, but most Americans have become a custom to extremely large serving sizes (even super-sizing).

But let’s talk about the specifics, this is from the Executive Summary of the New Dietary Guidelines…

Here are the suggestions for foods we should be trying to eat more of:

• Increase vegetable and fruit intake.
• Eat a variety of vegetables, especially dark-green and red and orange vegetables and beans and peas.
• Consume at least half of all grains as whole grains. Increase whole-grain intake by replacing refined grains with whole grains.
• Increase intake of fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products, such as milk, yogurt, cheese, or fortified soy beverages.
• Choose a variety of protein foods, which include seafood, lean meat and poultry, eggs, beans and peas, soy products, and unsalted nuts and seeds.
• Increase the amount and variety of seafood consumed by choosing seafood in place of some meat and poultry.
• Replace protein foods that are higher in solid fats with choices that are lower in solid fats and calories and/or are sources of oils.
• Use oils to replace solid fats where possible.
• Choose foods that provide more potassium, dietary fiber, calcium, and vitamin D, which are nutrients of concern in American diets. These foods include vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and milk and milk products.

Here are the suggestions for foods we should be trying to eat less of…

• Reduce daily sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) and further reduce intake to 1,500 mg among persons who are 51 and older and those of any age who are African American or have hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. The 1,500 mg recommendation applies to about half of the U.S. population, including children, and the majority of adults.
• Consume less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fatty acids by replacing them with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
• Consume less than 300 mg per day of dietary cholesterol.
• Keep trans fatty acid consumption as low as possible by limiting foods that contain synthetic sources of trans fats, such as partially hydrogenated oils, and by limiting other solid fats.
• Reduce the intake of calories from solid fats and added sugars.
• Limit the consumption of foods that contain refined grains, especially refined grain foods that contain solid fats, added sugars, and sodium.
• If alcohol is consumed, it should be consumed in moderation—up to one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men—and only by adults of legal drinking age.

As important as I believe these new guidelines are, I am disappointed by the lack of acknowledgment about why most Americans make unhealthy food choices in the first place.  The bottom line is, healthy foods are generally more expensive than unhealthy foods, and the super unhealthy foods are down right cheap.

In a time when so many Americans are struggling financially, it’s unrealistic to assume that the reason people are making unhealthy food choices is because they just don’t know any better.   I hope the reason money wasn’t addressed isn’t because the USDA believes that even people who can only afford to eat junk food, are covered by their “eat less” guideline  (as in a post I wrote about Twinkies a few months ago).

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There is a lot of stigma and misinformation surrounding eating disorders, and I imagine the biggest misconception about eating disorders is that it’s somehow the patient’s fault…But that couldn’t be further from the truth.  Since this week is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, I thought I would dedicating this post to providing as much information and facts about this disease as possible.

From NEDAwareness Week…

Mission: Our aim of NEDAwareness Week is to ultimately prevent eating disorders and body image issues while reducing the stigma surrounding eating disorders and improving access to treatment. Eating disorders are serious, life-threatening illnesses — not choices — and it’s important to recognize the pressures, attitudes and behaviors that shape the disorder.

This year, NEDA asked everyone to do just one thing to help raise awareness and provide accurate information about eating disorders.

This is from Manolo for the Big Girl — Myths and Facts About Eating Disorders…

So how do we turn the mass of misinformation around? We educate ourselves. We learn what the latest research has to say and listen to the voices of recovery. We keep our ears, eyes, minds, and hearts open. And once we have educated ourselves, we talk.

Here are some the the facts and statistics about eating disorders.

From Eating Disorder Statistics — Mortality Rates…

• Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness
• A study by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders reported that 5 – 10% of anorexics die within 10 years after contracting the disease; 18-20% of anorexics will be dead after 20 years and only 30 – 40% ever fully recover
• The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than the death rate of ALL causes of death for females 15 – 24 years old.
• 20% of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications related to their eating disorder, including suicide and heart problems

From FamilyDoctor.org — Warning Signs of an Eating Disorder…

• Unnatural concern about body weight (even if the person is not overweight)
• Obsession with calories, fat grams and food
• Use of any medicines to keep from gaining weight (diet pills, laxatives, water pills)

More serious warning signs may be harder to notice because people who have an eating disorder try to keep it secret.  Watch for these signs:

• Throwing up after meals
• Refusing to eat or lying about how much was eaten
• Fainting
• Overexercising
• Not having periods
• Increased anxiety about weight
• Calluses or scars on the knuckle (from forced throwing up)
• Denying that there is anything wrong

From Psych Central — Eating Disorder Recovery (an in-depth Q&A)…

In honor of NEDA Week, I wanted to talk about the common obstacles on the road to eating disorder recovery and how individuals can overcome these obstacles.

If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, know that you can absolutely recover. It’s normal to experience setbacks and challenges. Everyone does.

Here is a very informative video about the facts about eating Disorders, with Lynn Grefe, CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association…

Sometimes less is more, and in the case of breast cancer surgery this seems to the case.  In a  just released study on women with breast cancer, it turns out that the removal of cancerous lymph nodes may not always be necessary.   The results of this study will facilitate major changes in the way breast cancer is treated, and could be hard for a lot of women to accept at first; since most of us are programmed to want all cancer removed.  But it turns out that about 20% of breast cancer patients who have cancer in their lymph nodes and who would normally have those nodes removed, will not need this aggressive surgery.

The new study concludes that the decision of whether or not to remove the lymph nodes should now be based on what stage the breast cancer is in, rather than the finding of cancer in the  nodes.

This is from the New York Times - Lymph Node Surgery for Breast Cancer Not Always Needed…

The new results do not apply to all patients, only to women whose disease and treatment meet the criteria in the study.

The tumors were early, at clinical stage T1 or T2, meaning less than two inches across. Biopsies of one or two armpit nodes had found cancer, but the nodes were not enlarged enough to be felt during an exam, and the cancer had not spread anywhere else.

So why is this such an important discovery in the treatment of breast cancer?

It’s because in patients where the removal of these nodes do not change the outcome of survival or re-occurrence, the benefits of removal do not outweigh the risks.   Not only is the removal of these lymph nodes very painful to recover from, but the complications (such as infection and lymph edema) can be very serious, even disabling.  So if doctors can eliminate this complication for over 40,000 women a year, that is a very good thing.

Here is a video discussing this latest study…

From the Washington Post – Breast Cancer Study Questions Lymph Node Removal…

The study, involving nearly 900 women who were treated at 115 sites across the country, found that those who did have their lymph nodes removed were no more likely to survive five years after the surgery than those who did not, the researchers reported in a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Even though the cancerous lymph nodes will not be removed during surgery for patients meeting the new criteria, the cancer in those nodes is eradicated when the patient is given chemotherapy after surgery.

More from the New York Times article…

Removing the cancerous lymph nodes proved unnecessary because the women in the study had chemotherapy and radiation, which probably wiped out any disease in the nodes, the researchers said. Those treatments are now standard for women with breast cancer in the lymph nodes, based on the realization that once the disease reaches the nodes, it has the potential to spread to vital organs and cannot be eliminated by surgery alone.

Experts say that the new findings, combined with similar ones from earlier studies, should change medical practice for many patients.

What do you think about this new study and how it will affect the treatment of breast cancer?  Do you agree with the findings of the study?  What would you want to do if you fell into this new criteria, and the recommendation was to not remove the lymph nodes?  Please let us know your thoughts in comments.

(cross-posted to BlogHer)

Nutrition:  Are Women Getting Enough Vitamin D and Calcium? (cross-posted to BlogHer)

How much vitamin D do we need?  A recent report calls for a small increase in the daily recommendations of vitamin D, but does not go as far to recommend the much higher levels thought to possibly prevent chronic illness (such as cancer and diabetes).  The US-Canadian report reviewed nearly 1,000 published studies along with testimonies from scientists and other experts, and it concluded that there is not strong enough evidence (at least at this time) that vitamin D can prevent chronic illness.

The new recommended levels are somewhat higher than the ones set in 1997 (the last time a government panel examined vitamin D intake).  However, the new recommendations are much lower than many doctors and supplement advocates had been suggesting, and some are even suggesting there is a cover-up going on.

The panel focused primarily on skeletal and bone health to determine their new recommendations for both vitamin D and calcium.

The good news is — Most American’s and Canadian’s do seem to be getting enough vitamin D in their diet for healthy bones.

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Diet and Weight Loss:  Is it possible to eat healthy during the holidays?  Do you really want to?

For me, the answer is yes and no.

Yes, I know it’s possible to continue to eat healthy during the holidays.  But no, I really don’t want to.  So instead, I’ll try to find a happy medium.

Some say that most people only gain about a pound during the holidays, others say you can gain up to ten…I imagine it depends on the person.

Here are my 8 tips for avoiding holiday weight gain that I wrote last year around this time…

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Weight Loss:  It’s Not About The Twinkies, Stupid – (cross posted at BlogHer Health & Wellness)

Here’s what I think about the Twinkie Diet and the professor who claims to have lost weight on it…

In an unprecedented show of nutritional and scholarly savvy, a forward-thinking professor of nutrition was seeking to prove that limiting calories is the key to weight loss.  And incredibly, his theories have turned out to be correct.

Wait a minute, wait a minute, am I being Punked?  Isn’t it already a fact that eating less calories than your body burns is the key to losing weight?  I guess we can overlook that minor detail, because it’s how the professor lost the weight that is so astonishing.

You see, the real excitement of this story is how Twinkies and junk food are finally taking their rightful place in the war against obesity.

Yes, it’s true…

A one-man pseudo-research experiment has proven without a doubt that eating Twinkies can lead to weight loss (just as long as you consume considerably less calories than your body requires).  I know, it’s a shocking revelation.  It’s being dubbed, the Twinkie Diet, and you can actually eat just about anything (candy, cookies, chips, cake. fruits, vegetables) and still lose weight, just as long as you are taking in much less calories than your body burns.

If it sounds like a miracle diet, IT’S NOT.

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Are your kids drinking enough water?  Is it really that big of a deal if they’re not?   The answers may surprise.

[For the sake of this post, when I use the word child I am referring to children as young as 2, and as old as 19.]

We all know that our bodies require a lot of water, and living without it for even just a few days can be life threatening.  But the implications of even mild dehydration can not only be serious, but it can often go unrecognized.   Here are a few examples…

Does your child seem more tired than other children his/her age?

Is your child finding it more difficult of concentrate on school work?

Does your child complain about headaches or muscle weakness?

Each of the above problems can be associated with your child not drinking enough water.  Your child could also suffer with an impairment of their cognitive and mental abilities as well, simply because they have become mildly dehydrated.  It’s a much bigger deal than parents realize.

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Understanding The Latest Research About Hormone Replacement Therapy

For years there have been suspicions and studies linking Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to breast cancer, but new research is now definitively linking HRT to an increase in breast cancer death rates.

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This is my personal story of how I lost those last 10 pounds.  It started over two years ago when I lost 30 of the 40 pounds I had gained.  Those first 30 came off just by making healthier food choices, but the last 10 were proving to be much more difficult.   But I did it, and so can you.

Many of you who read my BlogHer posts are familiar with the struggles I’ve had with weight loss over the years.  For the most part I’ve been successful, although it took almost two years to finally get rid of those last ten pesky pounds.  But before I tell you my “how I did it” story, I want to share with you my “how I got there in the first place” story.  I think it’s just as important to recognize how and why we gained the weight, as it is to actually lose the weight.  Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with all the details, but in a nutshell two things had the greatest contribution to my (rather rapid) weight gain of about 40 pounds…

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