October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but it’s March right now and I can’t wait that long to get the word out. A few years back there was new Cancer Project public service announcement, by none other than Olympic figure skater and breast cancer survivor Dorothy Hamill. Many remember her as "America's sweetheart." when in 1976, she was the vivacious 19-year-old who won an Olympic gold medal for her dazzling figure skating at the Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria.
These days Dorothy’s focus has taken quite a different spin as she encourages people to eat a plant-based diet to protect themselves from the deadly disease of breast cancer. It’s a proven fact that a lifestyle change to a low-fat, vegetarian diet actually fights breast cancer and other forms of the disease.
“Your body is an instrument of expression—and mine still has a lot to say.” says Hamill. There’s Cancer Project’s The Cancer Survivor’s Guide available free of charge and it’s all about putting healthy foods to work fighting cancer. The most important discovery I personally made researching this article was that the Women’s Intervention Nutrition Study (WINS) has shown that breast cancer survivors who cut their fat intake and increase their fruit and vegetable intake reduce their recurrence rate by 24 percent. For survivors with estrogen-receptor-negative tumors, the reduction is 42 percent. And those in itself are pretty impressive statistics.
Inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame and the Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2007, Dorothy was diagnosed with breast cancer, thankfully she recovered and has returned to her life’s passion, skating.
Did you know that plant-based diets promote cancer prevention and survival? The Cancer Project two new resources are contain life saving information: the second edition of Healthy Eating for Life: Food Choices for Cancer Prevention and Survival has great sections on “Food Choices for Cancer Prevention and Survival,” “Building Your Strength Against Cancer,” “Surviving Cancer,” and “Making Healthy Diet Changes,” as well as recipes and references.
There is an Educational Alliance Program that offers organizations and institutions support to bring the message of the value of a healthy diet for cancer prevention and survival to your community. The Cancer Project’s innovative resources and the proven nutrition education and cooking class curriculum is incorporated into their institutions’ existing programs, classes, or service offerings.
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