6 years!

Thank you everyone for the sweet birthday wishes, it is good to be 42.  The past year has been filled with a range of emotions.  I attended 3 funerals in 2013, all related to cancer.  Each celebration of life was intimate and beautiful, but at the same time devastating.  Cancer continues to be a part of my daily life, but isn’t that true for so many of you too?  I have many friends who have or have had cancer.   I read about cancer daily whether from my initiating a search or something coming across my desktop.  I see cancer in my scars that I have to look at every day.  And yes, some would just see a warrior or a badge of courage, but I can’t help but wish my scars were gone.  It is a burden I carry because at the same time I feel guilty that I’m complaining about scars.  I’m really looking forward to the perfect body in heaven.  But Lord not yet, I’m truly thankful for another birthday.

In March I celebrated 6 years as a cancer survivor.  My 12 year old daughter and I were on a ski lift together when I remembered it was 6 years!  We were surrounded by God’s landscape of beauty and it was a perfect time to share with Isabella how thankful I was and am for the 6 years.  Let me clarify, I’m thankful for life not cancer.   My 6 year check up with my wonderful oncologist Sharon Giordano http://www2.mdanderson.org/app/peoplefinder/person.cfm?id=3D5DD9DACF1D was uneventful.  For the first time, I had no anxiety-filled questions or concerns.  Whew!  I never thought I would get to this point, it is refreshing.  I will have to stay on Tamoxifen for 5 more years as the new studies are showing significant benefits on 10 years v. 5.  Onward with the hot flashes and other ‘not fun’ gynecological side effects……………  Oh Lord, I’ll take it!

I want to give back and am praying for God to show me how Waltz Warriors can best support breast cancer survivors this year.  Locally, I continue to serve on the board of Pink Ribbons Project www.pinkribbons.org.  I love this group of passionate men and women and appreciate what we are doing in the Houston community.  Speaking of Houston, I am enjoying the cool, spring weather and what a perfect time to eat outdoors.  Houston has some wonderful places to eat an anticancer meal alfresco.  To name a few- Local Foods (now with 2 locations), Adair Kitchen, Ruggles Green, Harvest Organic Grill, Radical Eats, Corner Table and Sparrow.  There are many more, which makes me proud to be in Houston.  This spring, Fox Restaurant Concepts www.foxrc.com will bring True Food Kitchen to the Galleria area.  I am thrilled!  This is a must eat restaurant and makes me feel like Houston is becoming one with the earth like those Colorado and Arizona folks. 

Finally, I want to give a shout out to Ali Miller, RD, LD, CDE www.naturallynourished.com.  I first heard Ali speak at a Food as Medicine event at Sparrow.  She immediately had my full attention with her discussion on cancer prevention.  Soon after, I made an appointment to see her.  Ali is a dietitian with both conventional and unconventional training- she marries the two perfectly.   She told me “we are going to put out the fire and rebuild the house.”  Aaaaaaah, someone who speaks my language.  I look forward to this newfound knowledge of detoxification.  Currently, I am awaiting results from a blood test that will identify pro-inflammatory foods in my body.  I know (I think I know) some of what this blood test will tell me.  However, hopefully these results will solidify many of my theories on types of food, inflammation and cancer/ disease prevention for my body.   And what am I going to do with that information?  I am going to start putting out the fire and rebuilding my house J.  To be continued.. 

The Shift

Last week, the World Health Organization reported that new cancer cases will skyrocket globally in the next 20 years.  Cancer deaths are predicted to rise from 8.2 million to 13 million a year!  Currently the most common cancers globally are lung, breast and colon.  Tobacco is to blame for 33% of cancer in the U.S. and poor nutrition, obesity and physical inactivity account for 28%.  This report is heavy, burdensome and depressing.  Clearly, what we are doing is simply not enough.  Yes, cancer advances have been incredible and miraculous in some cases.  But somehow the human race is balancing these advances with lifestyle choices that support more cancer. 

My belief is that God’s will is good, he wants us to live and be healthy.  He has given us tools and blessed us beyond measure with ways to fight cancer.  Why are good people diagnosed with stage 4 cancer?  Why are some of the most faithful faced with months to live?  Why are innocent children admitted to cancer centers every minute?  These questions blur my mind, give me a headache, make me sad.  Years into my cancer survivorship, it hit me that God wanted to use my circumstance for the GOOD.  Use me Lord!  I have prayed for (almost) 6 years! 

Where then lies the shift?

Even if you have not been touched with cancer, although really, everyone has.  It is up to us to make the shift towards longevity.  I’m not talking perfection, just baby shifts.  Baby shifts, hmm.  There are many things we can do to support good health and fight cancer.  I’m not saying A+B= cancer, it is not that simple.  So much in our environment effects our genes and can turn that one gene on that promotes tumor growth.  If we make small shifts in a variety of areas in our environment, I believe we will make a difference in our health.  What do these shifts look like?

Maybe you smoke 1 pack a day instead of 2
Maybe you join a yoga studio and attend 4 days a week
Maybe you schedule a weekly longevity coffee with friends
Maybe you get involved with your house of worship more
Maybe you start reading food labels and try to decrease consumption of processed foods
Maybe you start buying organic
Maybe you never miss a medical checkup
Maybe you start juicing
Maybe you eat less meat
Maybe you join a tennis league
Maybe you change your beauty products to phthalate/paraben free
Maybe you just say NO to fast food
Maybe you join an advocacy group that supports cancer research
This list can go on forever…
 
Anticancer advocacy is growing!  Not a day goes by that I don’t see something related to fighting cancer.  One blog that I recently started following is Food Babe- http://foodbabe.com/ .  Talk about passion and GO for clean food.  This gal is a shifter!  As you enter 2014, I am praying for good shifts.  It’s a daily task for me, one that has to be intentional. 
So, onward to fighting cancer my friends and Be Well, 

Print This!

Hi Everyone,

PRINT this!  The Environmental Working Group released a new dirty dozen back in October.  This list is all about hormone- altering chemicals and how to avoid them.  Of course most of these chemicals can be tied to cancer in some form or another.  It may be overwhelming so take one step at a time.  Perhaps it might be simplest to go straight to the bottom of each paragraph and learn how to avoid each chemical. 

 

From the EWG website:

Dirty Dozen List of Endocrine Disruptors

12 Hormone-Altering Chemicals and How to Avoid Them
Monday, October 28, 2013

There is no end to the tricks that endocrine disruptors can play on our bodies: increasing production of certain hormones; decreasing production of others; imitating hormones; turning one hormone into another; interfering with hormone signaling; telling cells to die prematurely; competing with essential nutrients; binding to essential hormones; accumulating in organs that produce hormones.

Here are 12 of the worst hormone disrupters, how they do their dirty deeds, and some tips on how to avoid them.

BPA

Some may say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but do you really want a chemical used in plastics imitating the sex hormone estrogen in your body? No! Unfortunately, this synthetic hormone can trick the body into thinking it’s the real thing – and the results aren’t pretty. BPA has been linked to everything from breast and others cancers to reproductive problems, obesity, early puberty and heart disease, and according to government tests, 93 percent of Americans have BPA in their bodies!

How to avoid it? Go fresh instead of canned – many food cans are lined with BPA – or research which companies don’t use BPA or similar chemicals in their products. Say no to receipts, since thermal paper is often coated with BPA. And avoid plastics marked with a “PC,” for polycarbonate, or recycling label #7. Not all of these plastics contain BPA, but many do – and it’s better safe than sorry when it comes to keeping synthetic hormones out of your body. For more tips, check out: www.ewg.org/bpa/

Dioxin

Dioxins are multi-taskers… but not in a good way! They form during many industrial processes when chlorine or bromine are burned in the presence of carbon and oxygen. Dioxins can disrupt the delicate ways that both male and female sex hormone signaling occurs in the body. This is a bad thing! Here’s why: Recent research has shown that exposure to low levels of dioxin in the womb and early in life can both permanently affect sperm quality and lower the sperm count in men during their prime reproductive years. But that’s not all! Dioxins are very long-lived, build up both in the body and in the food chain, are powerful carcinogens and can also affect the immune and reproductive systems.

How to avoid it? That’s pretty difficult, since the ongoing industrial release of dioxin has meant that the American food supply is widely contaminated. Products including meat, fish, milk, eggs and butter are most likely to be contaminated, but you can cut down on your exposure by eating fewer animal products.

Atrazine

What happens when you introduce highly toxic chemicals into nature and turn your back? For one thing, feminization of male frogs. That’s right, researchers have found that exposure to even low levels of the herbicide atrazine can turn male frogs into females that produce completely viable eggs. Atrazine is widely used on the majority of corn crops in the United States, and consequently it’s a pervasive drinking water contaminant. Atrazine has been linked to breast tumors, delayed puberty and prostate inflammation in animals, and some research has linked it to prostate cancer in people.

How to avoid it? Buy organic produce and get a drinking water filter certified to remove atrazine. For help finding a suitable filter, check out EWG’s buying guide: www.ewg.org/report/ewgs-water-filter-buying-guide/

Phthalates

Did you know that a specific signal programs cells in our bodies to die? It’s totally normal and healthy for 50 billion cells in your body to die every day! But studies have shown that chemicals called phthalates can trigger what’s known as “death-inducing signaling” in testicular cells, making them die earlier than they should. Yep, that’s cell death – in your man parts. If that’s not enough, studies have linked phthalates to hormone changes, lower sperm count, less mobile sperm, birth defects in the male reproductive system, obesity, diabetes and thyroid irregularities.

How to avoid it? A good place to start is to avoid plastic food containers, children’s toys (some phthalates are already banned in kid’s products), and plastic wrap made from PVC, which has the recycling label #3. Some personal care products also contain phthalates, so read the labels and avoid products that simply list added “fragrance,” since this catch-all term sometimes means hidden phthalates. Find phthalate-free personal care products with EWG’s Skin Deep Database: www.ewg.org/skindeep/

Perchlorate

Who needs food tainted with rocket fuel?! That’s right, perchlorate, a component in rocket fuel, contaminates much of our produce and milk, according to EWG and government test data. When perchlorate gets into your body it competes with the nutrient iodine, which the thyroid gland needs to make thyroid hormones. Basically, this means that if you ingest too much of it you can end up altering your thyroid hormone balance. This is important because it’s these hormones that regulate metabolism in adults and are critical for proper brain and organ development in infants and young children.

How to avoid it? You can reduce perchlorate in your drinking water by installing a reverse osmosis filter. (You can get help finding one at: www.ewg.org/report/ewgs-water-filter-buying-guide) As for food, it’s pretty much impossible to avoid perchlorate, but you can reduce its potential effects on you by making sure you are getting enough iodine in your diet. Eating iodized salt is one good way.

Fire retardants

What do breast milk and polar bears have in common? In 1999, some Swedish scientists studying women’s breast milk discovered something totally unexpected: The milk contained an endocrine-disrupting chemical found in fire retardants, and the levels had been doubling every five years since 1972! These incredibly persistent chemicals, known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PBDEs, have since been found to contaminate the bodies of people and wildlife around the globe – even polar bears. These chemicals can imitate thyroid hormones in our bodies and disrupt their activity. That can lead to lower IQ, among other significant health effects. While several kinds of PBDEs have now been phased out, this doesn’t mean that toxic fire retardants have gone away. PBDEs are incredibly persistent, so they’re going to be contaminating people and wildlife for decades to come.

How to avoid it? It’s virtually impossible, but passing better toxic chemical laws that require chemicals to be tested before they go on the market would help reduce our exposure. A few things that can you can do in the meantime include: use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter, which can cut down on toxic-laden house dust; avoid reupholstering foam furniture; take care when replacing old carpet (the padding underneath may contain PBDEs). Find more tips at: www.ewg.org/pbdefree/

Lead

You may or may not like heavy metal music, but lead is one heavy metal you want to avoid. It’s well known that lead is toxic, especially to children. Lead harms almost every organ system in the body and has been linked to a staggering array of health effects, including permanent brain damage, lowered IQ, hearing loss, miscarriage, premature birth, increased blood pressure, kidney damage and nervous system problems. But few people realize that one other way that lead may affect your body is by disrupting your hormones. In animals, lead has been found to lower sex hormone levels. Research has also shown that lead can disrupt the hormone signaling that regulates the body’s major stress system (called the HPA axis). You probably have more stress in your life than you want, so the last thing you need is something making it harder for your body to deal with it – especially when this stress system is implicated in high blood pressure, diabetes, anxiety and depression.

How to avoid it? Keep your home clean and well maintained. Crumbling old paint is a major source of lead exposure, so get rid of it carefully. A good water filter can also reduce your exposure to lead in drinking water. (Check out www.ewg.org/report/ewgs-water-filter-buying-guide/ for help finding a filter.) And if you need another reason to eat better, studies have also shown that children with healthy diets absorb less lead.

Arsenic

Arsenic isn’t just for murder mysteries anymore. In fact, this toxin is lurking in your food and drinking water. If you eat enough of it, arsenic will kill you outright. In smaller amounts, arsenic can cause skin, bladder and lung cancer. Basically, bad news. Less well known: Arsenic messes with your hormones! Specifically, it can interfere with normal hormone functioning in the glucocorticoid system that regulates how our bodies process sugars and carbohydrates. What does that mean for you? Well, disrupting the glucocorticoid system has been linked to weight gain/loss, protein wasting, immunosuppression, insulin resistance (which can lead to diabetes), osteoporosis, growth retardation and high blood pressure.

How to avoid it? Reduce your exposure by using a water filter that lowers arsenic levels. For help finding a good water filter, check out EWG’s buying guide: www.ewg.org/report/ewgs-water-filter-buying-guide/

Mercury

Caution: That sushi you are eating could be hazardous to your health. Mercury, a naturally occurring but toxic metal, gets into the air and the oceans primarily though burning coal. Eventually, it can end up on your plate in the form of mercury-contaminated seafood. Pregnant women are the most at risk from the toxic effects of mercury, since the metal is known to concentrate in the fetal brain and can interfere with brain development. Mercury is also known to bind directly to one particular hormone that regulates women’s menstrual cycle and ovulation, interfering with normal signaling pathways. In other words, hormones don’t work so well when they’ve got mercury stuck to them! The metal may also play a role in diabetes, since mercury has been shown to damage cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, which is critical for the body’s ability to metabolize sugar.

How to avoid it? For people who still want to eat (sustainable) seafood with lots of healthy fats but without a side of toxic mercury, wild salmon and farmed trout are good choices.

Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs)

The perfluorinated chemicals used to make non-stick cookware can stick to you. Perfluorochemicals are so widespread and extraordinarily persistent that 99 percent of Americans have these chemicals in their bodies. One particularly notorious compound called PFOA has been shown to be “completely resistant to biodegradation.” In other words, PFOA doesn’t break down in the environment – ever. That means that even though the chemical was banned after decades of use, it will be showing up in people’s bodies for countless generations to come. This is worrisome, since PFOA exposure has been linked to decreased sperm quality, low birth weight, kidney disease, thyroid disease and high cholesterol, among other health issues. Scientists are still figuring out how PFOA affects the human body, but animal studies have found that it can affect thyroid and sex hormone levels.

How to avoid it? Skip non-stick pans as well as stain and water-resistant coatings on clothing, furniture and carpets.

Organophosphate pesticides

Neurotoxic organophosphate compounds that the Nazis produced in huge quantities for chemical warfare during World War II were luckily never used. After the war ended, American scientists used the same chemistry to develop a long line of pesticides that target the nervous systems of insects. Despite many studies linking organophosphate exposure to effects on brain development, behavior and fertility, they are still among the more common pesticides in use today. A few of the many ways that organophosphates can affect the human body include interfering with the way testosterone communicates with cells, lowering testosterone and altering thyroid hormone levels.

How to avoid it? Buy organic produce and use EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, which can help you find the fruits and vegetables that have the fewest pesticide residues. Check it out at: www.ewg.org/foodnews/

Glycol Ethers

Shrunken testicles: Do we have your full attention now? This is one thing that can happen to rats exposed to chemicals called glycol ethers, which are common solvents in paints, cleaning products, brake fluid and cosmetics. Worried? You should be. The European Union says that some of these chemicals “may damage fertility or the unborn child.” Studies of painters have linked exposure to certain glycol ethers to blood abnormalities and lower sperm counts. And children who were exposed to glycol ethers from paint in their bedrooms had substantially more asthma and allergies.

How to avoid it? Start by checking out EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning (www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners/) and avoid products with ingredients such as 2-butoxyethanol (EGBE) and methoxydiglycol (DEGME).

Be Well, 

The SCAR Project

Hi Everyone,

The SCAR Project is touring Houston right now.  Photographer David Jay is the amazing creator behind this awareness campaign which features large scale portraits of women in various stages of breast cancer between the ages of 18-36.  Jay started photographing young women with breast cancer after a dear friend was diagnosed at the age of 29.  Years later, he continues to capture the beauty, the suffering, the triumph, the devastation and the healing that these women are faced with.  These women are the voice for so many of us stricken with breast cancer.  But really, any cancer. 

I visited the SCAR project last week.  When I walked in the door, I wasn’t prepared for the photo hovering over me of a young women with one breast, tears running down her face.  It was so heavy, I wasn’t sure what I was feeling.  Jay was there and he gave the visitors a heartfelt tour of his work.  Oh, he is so passionate about what he does.  He has shown love to these women and connected with them in such a profound way.  This project has many deep messages that can only be defined by those being photographed and those viewing the photographs.

What I have realized is this- my scars are the most difficult side effect of breast cancer that I have had to endure.  I see them every day, several times a day.  With time they will not go away, they will always be a part of me and that is damning, encouraging, sad and beautiful. 

The SCAR Project, October 17-28 at Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc.

Be Well,

And so the Pink Season Begins!

Hi Everyone,

It's that time again, the season of breast cancer awareness.  In the beginning, when I was first diagnosed, this season was too raw for me.  Everywhere I turned I saw pink and frankly, It was too much.  I felt like I was surrounded by pink vomit.  I'll never forget the first Komen race we participated in.  I was in the middle of chemo, had no hair, was so tired and in a @#$%! fog.  I couldn't decide to go bald or wear a wig or a hat or nothing, ugh!  I dreaded the race, was intentionally late and sick to my stomach.  When I arrived to over 200 friends and family I was overwhelmed and thanked God for his team.  Waltz Warriors won largest community team that year.  We had fabulous pink camo shirts, a huge banner, and friends and family from all over the country.  Only now, looking back do I realize how good, how necessary that Komen race was for me, my children and Brett.  It was part of my healing and I didn't even realize it.

Fast forward to 2013.  I have grown to love breast cancer awareness season- the pink hues and witnessing men and women coming together to educate, empower and support those touched with breast cancer.  I am part of an amazing organization, Pink Ribbons Project and have connected with many pink angels through the years. 

The Waltz family kicks off the breast cancer awareness season by participating in Tour de Pink, an annual bike ride benefitting Pink Ribbons Project.  Julia will be a volunteer, the rest of us will ride 23 miles.  Of course, we have not trained and I don't have a bike in my possession yet.  We are late in our fundraising efforts as well.  But, good prevails and I know we will succeed in our fundraising mission and have a fabulous time riding! 

Here is the link to all of our pages, please consider giving a pink gift! 

http://www.tourdepink.org/site/TR/Events/General?team_id=8610&pg=team&fr_id=1120

Be Well and Ride On!

Have you had your mammogram?

Hi Everyone!

It’s the third week of our school year and I am still treading water.  I have concluded that the older my kids get, the busier I get, the more expensive they become and the more I yearn for peace.  Aaaahhhh how I love the quiet mornings after everyone has left for school.  Today as I enjoy my morning, I am catching up on cancer studies.  An analysis was published yesterday in the journal Cancer that recommends more yearly breast cancer screening for younger women ages 40-49.  This study, which looked at 7,301 patients, analyzed the prevalence of breast cancer and deaths from breast cancer.  What they found was that the majority of those who died from breast cancer never had a mammogram prior to diagnosis.  50 percent of the breast cancer deaths occurred in women under the age of 50, only 13 percent were 70 or older.  The study also reports that, even with new protocols for treating breast cancer, regular mammography screening is the best way to significantly reduce breast cancer deaths!

Ladies, this is mucho importanto!  Please get your yearly mammogram.  If you are in the Houston area and do not have health insurance, contact The Rose at www.the-rose.org.  They provide mammography services regardless of your ability to pay.  In my opinion, mammograms don’t hurt- but maybe it’s because my breast tissue used to be nil, none, nothing!  Damn you A cup breasts, you failed me :0. 

Be Well,

Decoding Annie Parker

Hi Everyone,

Whew!  It has been an incredibly busy summer.  I apologize for the delay in posting.   Time….  I need more of it!  I wanted to share with you a trailer of a film based on the discovery of the BRCA 1 gene.  Decoding Annie Parker will be released soon all over the country.  This is going to be a must see. http://www.decodingannieparkerfilm.com/#trailers

Be Well,