By: NELL STEPHENSON, B.S.
OCTOBER 20, 2014

It’s no surprise that eating a diet rich in fresh vegetables, lean meats, wild fish and natural fats, and getting regular exercise is a healthier approach and will lend better odds to your longevity than what has, unfortunately, become the Standard American Approach.

It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and you might wonder if eating Paleo can prevent something as widespread as this disease.

Sometimes we need to read between the lines and set the word ‘Paleo’ aside for a moment. Return to the basics, precisely what “True Paleo” is all about.

So, rather than trying to find studies that prove “Paleo prevents breast cancer,” we can discover fact simply by referring to the natural foods that are the essence of the approach.

For example, Dr. Kristi Funk, a board-certified surgical breast specialist and founder of the Pink Lotus Breast Center discusses the ‘superfoods’ that may help prevent cancer as well as help patients while undergoing treatment in the Ultimate Breast Cancer Prevention Guide:

1. Three cups of green tea a day can prevent breast cancer by as much as 50% because of its high EGCG antioxidant content. Squeeze a little lemon into your cup and increase the antioxidant power of your tea.

2. Garlic is a good immunity booster that also has anti-inflammatory properties.

3. Olive oil, borage oils and flaxseed oil contain monounsaturated fat, which can help suppress breast cancer.

4. Turmeric helps decrease estrogen. As little as one teaspoon a day has been shown to reduce tumor growth. Get your daily dose by mixing it into salad dressings, rice or vegetable dishes.

5. Cruciferous vegetables, such as kale, bok choy and Swiss chard bind estrogen in your GI tract and reduce tumor stimulation. They also detoxify the liver, which helps reduce the toxins flowing through your body that can irritate cells and turn them into early cancers.

6. Seaweed/Kelp are high in iodine, this is another estrogen reducer.

7. Vitamin D (2000 IU) Calcium-rich foods, such as sardines, salmon, milk and cheese are also highly recommended. Or, 15-20 minutes of sunshine every day can help every day can help you in getting your daily dose of Vitamin D, which can prevent tumor metastasis, reduce cancer cells and aid estrogen inhibitors.

In summary, Dr. Funk said, “All of these combined can decrease your breast cancer risk by up to 50%.”

Notice anything interesting about all the bullet points?

They’re all food. Real, fresh, unadulterated food that also happen to be Paleo-friendly.

We can also refer to The Paleo Diet, in which Dr. Cordain points out that grain and starch-based diets, which are the antithesis of a Paleo approach, may elevate the risk of breast cancer as they “elevate insulin, increases IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor one, a potent hormone in all tissues that regulates growth), lowers IGFBP-3 (insulin-like growth factor binding protein three) which causes the body to become less sensitive to one of its natural signals which limits growth.”1

Sadly, all those confusing messages in the media that ‘meat causes cancer’ or that we should ‘rely on a model such as the MyPlate template and be sure to include whole grains in our regular regime’ are just that – confusing messages that get easily taken out of context and may end up increasing your risk of becoming sick, despite the best of intentions.

So is Paleo the way to go?
I believe so.