Roots to Health with Dr. Craig Keever

Let's Beat Breast Cancer! Food Is Medicine!

• Dr. Craig Keever • Episode 17

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One in eight women will face breast cancer, but the story doesn’t end with risk—it begins with what we can control. We take you inside a practical, science-forward look at breast health where food, movement, stress, and sleep act as daily levers. With an evidence lens inspired by Dr. Kristi Funk’s work, we separate myth from mechanism and map out simple habits that lower estrogen load, cool inflammation, and support immune balance.

We dig into how cruciferous vegetables and broccoli sprouts deliver sulforaphane, why berries’ deep pigments signal polyphenol power, and how soy’s phytoestrogens differ from human estrogen in beneficial ways. Flaxseed gets a deserved spotlight for lignans and omega-3s—just remember to grind it. On the flip side, we unpack dairy’s hormone burden and industrial realities, what makes red and processed meats problematic (saturated fats, heme iron, cooking byproducts), and why alcohol—especially for women—raises risk while disrupting gut diversity and sleep quality. Green tea’s catechins offer a gentle, daily nudge toward cellular resilience, and taste can be trained with lemon or ginger.

Movement shows up as hormone therapy you can do at home: 30 minutes at a conversational pace, five days a week, to trim visceral fat, ease cortisol, sharpen insulin sensitivity, and improve sleep. If that feels big, start with five to ten minutes and stack habits—add flax to breakfast, walk after coffee, swap one animal-based meal for a plant-based one, or try a 21-day jumpstart to build momentum. The theme is agency without overwhelm: small, steady changes accumulate into meaningful protection, not just for breast health, but for metabolic, cardiovascular, and brain health too.

Ready to turn knowledge into action? Listen, pick one change to start today, and share your plan with us. If this resonated, subscribe, leave a review, and pass it to someone who needs hope backed by evidence.

Thanks for listening to Roots To Health!

The information provided in this video is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have seen or heard in this video. Dr. Craig Keever is a licensed pediatrician, but the content shared here is general in nature and may not be applicable to your individual health needs.

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SPEAKER_01:

I'd like to welcome everybody to the next episode of Roots to Health. Thank you for tuning in. I'm your host, Dr. Craig Keever, and my lovely vegan chef, wife, artist.

SPEAKER_00:

Sometimes you're like, my issue.

SPEAKER_01:

What a what I'm who is also a licensed food for life uh cook. Yes. And then it's instructor. Instructor. Yeah, that's the word I'm looking for. Cook too, yes. Who's now teaching people how to cook like this uh for our health? Well, I'm very excited today um to um present an episode in preparation for breast cancer awareness month, I believe that's what it's called. Excited about the month of October is that. And uh to that end, um, I would like to plug a uh book um from Dr. Christy Funk, uh, for those who can see it. Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Um for those of us that so that for those of you that are listening on um on any podcast, you can also watch it on YouTube. So they must not know that they can see it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. So this book is entitled Breasts, the Owner's Manual, uh by Dr. Christy Funk. And um, she is uh uh now supportive of of uh the plant-based uh plan for prevention and management. Uh and I haven't read the full book yet, uh, full disclosure on that one. Uh, but um uh she is definitely being instrumental in uh moving the needle forward and talking about this issue.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, she's one of the physicians for physicians committee for responsible medicine. She is backed by them, and in my mind, she's leading the pack as far as the the most recent research that's out there. So she's really, really gotten a lot of good information. You bet.

SPEAKER_01:

All right.

SPEAKER_00:

And you know, like many of the physicians, she did not come at this initially like I've been raised a plant-based person. She really kept looking at the science, and the science led her just like Dr. Campbell, just like Dr. Esselston.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah. You know more than I do because I haven't heard much about her.

SPEAKER_00:

So I mean, like she was not, she was not, she was on a standard diet, but she kept looking at things and saying, okay, we should take a look at this. This is not working.

SPEAKER_01:

Excellent. So the book really, uh, as I'm looking through it, I've read the first couple of chapters and then kind of scanned through the rest, and it really is emphasizing um things in our lifestyle um to do um to help prevent and maybe even help with treatment uh breast cancer. Um and uh to that end, um, yeah, she's she's put a bunch of do's and don'ts in there. I've seen a couple of chapters on that. So um number one, uh, why uh does this matter so much? Um a couple of statistics. And this one I've known for a long time. One in eight women. Let me repeat that. That's a lot. One in eight women will develop breast cancer.

unknown:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. And the interesting thing to me, as I've read through the first part of this, is you know, you hear a lot about the genetic component, the bronine, and and I think there's a maybe a few more coming out that are being known. That accounts for less than five to ten percent of breast cancer.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, that's encouraging because you don't want to feel like, you know, you want to feel like you can do something about it.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You want to you you think so, those that have the bronchogene, I feel like a plant-based diet is like absolutely the answer to stay away from. For real.

SPEAKER_01:

For real. Yeah. So yeah, and then she she definitely goes into, and uh, and I have yet to read the details of of all the different things in lifestyle uh that will help. So um, and the whole concept, uh, I think that she's kind of working on is how to fuel your body as opposed to feeding the cancer cells. Uh and and big distinction there. But uh the fact is that all these lifestyle changes that are proposed by plant-based eating and lifestyle medicine and and uh that whole group um has direct and impressive impact on hormones and immune system and inflammation and cell growth.

SPEAKER_00:

Because it definitely both is what you put in your body. But if you're putting something that's just over, you know, the doctor that I've talked about that I went to in Dallas, he's like, if you're gonna put that stuff, not talking to me, but if someone's gonna put, you know, be smoking or whatever it was that he was talking about, I'm just I'm not gonna waste my time or your money because I can't turn that around. And so just like the cholesterol video that physicians committee had, it was so great. It was just showing how the body knows how to get rid of anything excessive if you're not just drowning it with extra cholesterol, but it it recirc, you know, it recircles and you're how it recycles, and it's just it's just pretty brutal.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, our metabolic system is is uh a finely tuned system when it's treated right and and and wants to tend towards recovery and health. Definitely. Uh and uh so yeah, and so to that end, um, and I'm probably jumping ahead a little bit here, but um one of the big big things that that she talks about is avoidance of dairy. Okay, and and why is that? Well, to me, and I'm I'm giving this lecture regularly in my clinic to to moms, you know, I never was anti-dairy, never was. And and and and as I've as I've said, I think uh in many episodes before, I used to be an ice cream hound, you know. But we all yeah, but uh having said that, um understanding that 95% or more of all of the products in the dairy aisle uh at the grocery store comes from concentrated animal feeding operations. These large KFOs, depending on what author you're reading and what area of the country you're in, probably 50 to 70 percent of those animals aren't very healthy. You're right. And so they're throwing all kinds of chemicals, antibiotics, antibiotics, hormones in an animal that's already hormone laden because black taste, she just had a baby, she's gonna have lots of hormones, right? So all of that filters into the pro into the food, yeah, into the products. And and uh so couple that with the fact that the dairy industry has allowed a small percentage of what they term somatic cells in their products. Now, that sounds like a very generic, not worrisome term. However, I know what there is. What it means is it's pus. You get about three drops of pus per eight-ounce glass of milk. And when you get cheese, yes, when you get cheese, that's more concentrated. So it's even more than that. So all of that to say, yes, um female breasts don't respond well to this kind of stuff, right?

SPEAKER_00:

And so And men, I mean, like dairy really ups their chances for a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and I'm sure prostate cancer is on that list. Yes, yes. So, what are the some of the foods that are protective? Let's dive into that first. Um first of all, she she lists uh fruits and vegetables. Uh, what's so great about fruits and vegetables? Well, lots of antioxidants, lots of fiber, lots of phytochemicals. And you're gonna hear a recurring theme here. Right. That's not the last time I'm gonna say that. That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

So helping get those free radicals out.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right. Yeah. Yep. Mm-hmm. Um, next category: cruciferous vegetables. Yeah. Broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, um, sulforophane is another uh can uh uh substance that primarily in broccoli, and as we've come to experience, broccoli sprouts.

SPEAKER_00:

I saw something today and I was like, okay, I gotta make some more sprouts to just I keep forgetting to redo them.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, the amazing thing about the broccoli sprouts, A, they're super easy, right? I've I've watched her do multiple batches. Um, and tell me the numbers uh about the sulforaphane concentration.

SPEAKER_00:

I think it's 10 times what it what a regular you know broccoli would be as far as and and it's and it weekends each day that it's kind of you know fully sprouted. So it's post-ideal harvest time is right when you're ready.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So yeah, a huge boost to just doing simple broccoli sprouts.

SPEAKER_00:

That's wild how that works. This is not the same thing, but just like if you picked spinach from your garden, it's really not high histamine at that point. What the histamines start happening when it goes to the grocery store and it's sat, you know, right for days on end. So um, so yeah, the broccoli's good first thing.

SPEAKER_01:

You bet. So coupled with fruits and vegetables, berries. I would have lumped this in the same category, but some people like berries separate from regular other fruits. Um, so again, they're anti-inflammatory, they're rich in polyphenols and all kinds of things that are help our free radical situation in the body. And and uh the darker the berry, the better. That's right. That's right. Here's a big um misunderstanding. Soy. Just had a ton of it for lunch. That's right. I mean, soy is actually the the actual scientific research that's up to date um has been shown to be protective against breast cancer and other forms of female cancer. The myth is the myth is that um it worsens things. And the other myth is that it feminizes males. Which is hysterical. It's hysterical. Um a couple of points about that. Um the phytoestrogens are what's in soy, uh different animal than regular human estrogens. And so intended.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh but uh they don't act the same way and they have protective effects. Uh, in addition, in terms of the feminizing effect on males, well, I would refer you to Derek Simnet of Simnet Nutrition, who talks about eating soy pretty much on a daily basis uh to achieve his protein content. This is a very ripped bodybuilder from Canada. Um has no evidence, repeat, no evidence of feminization. Right. Okay. Neemai doggados of meat in his life. So that's right. So yeah, those are myths. And I uh have heard, although I haven't seen the research project, I've heard that this was based on old inaccurate studies on mice.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, and who was it that was saying, you know, you go to the beach and you go find the guy that looks like he, you know, has the man boobs and say, you know, do you eat soy? I mean, it's from the case. Probably not gonna be the case. Do you eat ice cream? Yes. Yes. Um another thing is especially protective in breast cancer. I mean, against breast cancer.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes, particularly.

SPEAKER_00:

Can't say that much.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. So soy is good for you. And not only does it give you protein, um, but it gives you all the other protective effects of the phytoestrogen.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I feel better after I eat it.

SPEAKER_01:

You bet. Uh, another um uh probably little used substance outside of the plant-based world, flaxseed. Uh, I may be slightly incorrect in that. There may be omnivores that take uh take part in uh plenty of flaxseed, but I've I've heard it primarily referred to in the plant-based world. Um, and so uh there are lignins, not to be confused with ligands and whatever. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Anyway, lectins, that's the word I was looking for, um uh that um reduce estrogen-driven cancer risk. So the lignins are good for us.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's they're that's so good on so many levels.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, on so many levels. The omega-3s that come from flax are fabulous for inflammatory issues, um, probably also um contributing, you know, those inflammatory problems contributing to breast issues as well. Um, whole grains and legumes. Do you have any legumes?

SPEAKER_00:

There's a hand that says that. So every time we hear legumes, we laugh.

SPEAKER_01:

So, yes, uh primarily relating to the fiber, uh, which reduces the circulating estrogens um uh in the bloodstream. And then last but not least, green tea. This is something that uh at home we probably don't partake of as much yet. Um, I'm certainly open to it. I I keep seeing in the things that I've been reading in the last probably week or so, keep seeing references to, yeah, you really want to get two or three cups of green tea a day. It is an acquired taste. I'm trying to get there. Right. I'm trying to figure out how to do this, and maybe find some kind of a flavoring. The other tea that we the Lord, forget about it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I've guessed put five other different things in it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And a lot of sugar. That's like uh, you know, years and years ago when I drank uh alcohol, um um yeah, there was I I remember tasting scotch once. Ooh. Ooh, I've never tasted and and whoever I was with said something about yes, it's an acquired taste. And I'm thinking, who wants to acquire that taste?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, so yes, much like that. Yeah, that's right. All right. I think there's a lot of things that once we get past them, you go back to them, you're like, ooh, I don't I can't believe I ever liked that.

SPEAKER_01:

However, having said that, green teas in relation to breast cancer and breast protection uh do have uh substance called substances called catechins, which apparently are uh very helpful in supporting um cell health.

SPEAKER_00:

A little ginger in with it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Maybe something. Yeah. All right. So moving on to the next segment, uh, as we started to address um just before the protective foods, a foods to limit or avoid. Um dairy being one of the tops. All right. Uh animal fat and red meat. Uh, the big problem there, no surprise, saturated fats, um, heme iron, and then come the carcinogens just from the act of cooking. Uh so heme iron is a part of that. Heme iron is a problem, yes. Uh, I have to go back and reread um and restudy the exact mechanisms of how that's a problem for us.

SPEAKER_00:

But it's a big problem.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. Um, but the saturated fat issue has been with me since I first went plant-based because it was one of my motivating factors when I finally understood, okay, these plaques in my arteries um that I assume are building up because of the Stan American diet are made of cholesterol and saturated fat. Um, and our bodies make all the saturated fat we need. Okay. We do have saturated fat in our body, and our bodies really can make all of that without any help from having saturated fat in the diet.

SPEAKER_00:

I never really realized we had saturated fat in the body. So tell Dr. Clapper's story about the chicken fat.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, yeah. So Dr. Clapper, I think at one point um was doing, I don't know if it's a residency or practice. Anesthesiologist. Anesthesiologist. Um, and he was in the OR and looking at uh some of these surgeries where they um clean out these arteries, right? And they was stuff they were pulling out. Um, he was recognizing oh, that looks like chicken fat. Because it is.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. He finally came to that recognition and realization. And he's that perfect example of saying, when someone says, I'd rather die than eat that way, and he had a younger brother that had heart disease and passed away from it, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

And and his comment as as Dr. Clapper was trying to talk to him about changing the way his eat of his eating, and his brother replied to him, I would rather die than eat that way. And he did. Sad but true. You know, that's those are words from Dr. Clapper. And so um other foods that are kind of no-nos in terms of uh protection of the breasts and and promoting breast health, um, a use of alcohol. Um, I did read one line in here where uh she uh reports that really any amount of alcohol is not healthy. I'm sure you would find people. Yeah, especially for women. I'm sure you would find people to argue that uh prospect, um, particularly people who like to dabble in wine periodically or whatever, or a little beer or whatever. But um, at this point, science has not indicated that there is any amount that's helpful for the money.

SPEAKER_00:

It is a toxin, but I think on a greater greater level, it's like attacking your microbiome. And so it's like whatever you're building that diversity from, you're you're kind of knocking out with that.

SPEAKER_01:

You bet. And last but not least, in terms of uh foods to avoid uh ultra-processed foods, uh, primarily because the poor nutrient density and the uh promotion of inflammation in the body. Uh those are the big problems with the ultra-processed foods.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's not like one, I mean, every plant-based doctor takes a different route if they're or specialization if they're tackling heart disease. So there might be a little bit of deviation, but they all line up with the same information of antioxidants, fiber, fiber, fiber diversity. You bet. I mean, and don't get overwhelmed with it, is what I'm trying to say.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, exactly. Because I, and I was thinking this uh earlier today, you know, it it's kind of funny because um every time we pick a different topic to address that, oh, plant-based eating is good for this or or this, or in this case, breasts, or in my case, diabetes or heart disease, um, it's kind of comical to me that for the most part, it's all the same information. Like Dr.

SPEAKER_00:

said, it's not a diet for one person or another, it's for everything. Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Now, having said that, there are tweaks that make things that's what I'm saying. Yes, more effective. So, for instance, with the diabetes thing, um my issue was in in terms of keeping my insulin resistance under control, um, I need to eat less than 15% fat for my total calories. Now, without that knowledge and without that tweak, um, even on plant-based, I wasn't getting the results for my blood sugars that I was desiring. Right. Right. And so there are little tweaks for each thing um that uh that are important, you know, to maintaining specifics for this or that. But all right. Um next issue that uh she addresses in the book, and that's uh I think important to address here is other lifestyle changes besides food. Um and of course, the first thing that really pops out with that is exercise. Um, and what this does not mean is you have to become a gym rat and spend four hours a day in the gym every day. Uh, you know, and when I think about, you know, uh my busy life and my initial, you know, I used to think of myself as fairly active when I was 300 pounds. But in realizing what happened, I really wasn't. I was pretty darn sedentary, you know, and it took Dr. Morgan, my lifestyle medicine physician, to really kind of very subtly, quietly, politely slap me in the face with it.

SPEAKER_00:

Why one a hundred percent?

SPEAKER_01:

Because what I finally realized was, you know, I wasn't even getting 5,000 steps a day, you know, in just my normal routine activities, you know. And so depending on who you read, some exercise people will say you really need to get 10,000 steps a day. I don't know that that number is necessarily accurate. Um, but just as of for instance, I mean, I was quite a bit of a.

SPEAKER_00:

She recommends 30 minutes a day.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And and so, yeah. So what then um it comes to really the science behind this is actually if if you can get about 30 minutes of an activity that just elevates your heart rate a little bit, so to where you know you you can have a conversation, but you're kind of, you know, but having to breathe a little bit more than normal, you know, um that's the elevation that you want to get to. It's not the kind of elevation where you're sweating bullets and you can't catch your breath. That's too much. Uh, but 30 minutes a day, five days a week is uh the starting point for a good amount of physical activity that will make a difference with your physical health.

SPEAKER_00:

And the starting point for someone may be five minutes a walk, you know, and wherever they're at.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. And to your point, when I first started this and couldn't even get 5,000 steps a day, that's exactly right. I I started very low.

SPEAKER_00:

Um don't want to go overboard. Even, you know, 30 minutes can be a lot for somebody. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, you start where you are, um, and you know, with the understanding that the goal is going to be eventually, however long it takes to get there, 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Um and just get there when you can.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Same thing with eating more fiber. You know, we've talked about this in previous podcasts, but in case somebody's brand new, you know, don't feel like you've got to bite all the tree off at once. We won't say elephant, but just get a little bit more, a little bit more, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

That's exactly right. Yeah, yeah. Um starting too much with exercise makes you feel really crummy and with food. All your muscle aches and everything will probably prevent you from getting back into that the next day.

SPEAKER_00:

And we can't say, you know, this enough about if you take a bunch of fiber and you go, oh gosh, I was sick as the dog, it's because your your microbiome does not have that bug to break from that fiber, and that means your your body needs it even more than than you know you think.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right. And so with the standard American diet providing probably around 10 to 15 grams of fiber a day, and our bodies actually need more than 30, um, then moving that up slowly, jumping from 10 to let's say 20, you know, uh, give your body a chance to learn how to digest this, and you will avoid some of those initial pains of bloating and whatever other symptoms happen uh when we just take too much fibers.

SPEAKER_00:

And I mean, I want to tell people about my class coming up. So from October 3rd to the 31st, every Friday from six to eight, I believe it is. You can look on Eventbrite, you can look on my website, journey of awildflower.com, and it's on your website as well. Um, I'm gonna be doing a breast cancer awareness and prevention class. And so each week, each Friday night of the month of October, we're gonna be breaking down not only great videos from I'm I think Dr. Christy Funk is a part of that, but physicians committee's got some excellent videos on the science behind all this in more detail. And then we're gonna be doing a tasting. So I'm gonna be cooking each night and showing them how to do this. How do you how do you start? Where do you start?

SPEAKER_01:

So I'm looking forward to that.

SPEAKER_00:

It's gonna be so you can find that online.

SPEAKER_01:

So, in terms of exercise, what does exercise do for us? So how how is it protective for us? How does it help us? Well, one thing it does is it reduces estrogen levels and it boosts immunity. Um, those are key factors, of course, because some breast cancers are fed uh by estrogen.

SPEAKER_00:

And our our visceral fat, is that any different, would you say than the regular Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh exercising regularly will reduce the visceral fat. The visceral fat is the really metabolically active form of fat in our bodies. You know, the subcutaneous fat the most dangerous. It's yes, that's what I'm getting to is the that um the the subcutaneous fat is there as a storage place for excess fat for us, but the it doesn't have as much uh production of all the inflammatory problems as well as uh estrogens. Um so it's the visceral fat, it's kind of around our organs. That's exactly right. Uh the that wraps around the organs and is within the organs. It's um um part of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and and it's all just kind of connected there. It's bad stuff. Yeah, it's not healthy for us for sure. Other things, of course, that exercise helps us with is uh weight management. Uh less body fat, um, which the excess body fat does tend to fuel estrogen production. Stress reduction. Uh exercise helps them a bunch with stress. These are important in today's social media. Uh and by stress reduction, what we do is reduce our cortisol. And cortisol, while it's an important uh hormone for us, um, it's our it's our reaction to stress, and that creates conditions in the body, um, which, if sustained for prolonged periods by cortisol levels that are too high, aren't good for us.

SPEAKER_00:

And this has become a real problem with children. I know we're talking about breast cancer awareness, but you know, they're getting on their phones and they're just that that ups that stress, that ups that just dopamine response. And it's, you know, it's really caused a lot of problems.

SPEAKER_01:

For sure. For sure. And last but not least, exercise also does tend to help with circadian rhythms and and sleep patterns. Um, so um, yeah, all these things kind of fit in, uh, which sleep patterns and circadian rhythms are hugely important in breast cancer, you know, as well as pretty much all other aspects of our life. Yeah. So what are some practical tips and daily habits to get into um uh related to uh breast protection? Um as we've kind of already gone over um eating the rainbow, you know, get as much of those uh different kinds of foods, uh different fibers and uh different phytonutrients. Uh those are going to be all huge. If you're on the standard American diet and having a difficult time coming off of it, um just pick um one animal-based meal a day and replace it with a plant-based one. And if you can get to that point, uh maybe pick one day a week.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, and physicians committee has a 21-day how to how to become a vegan, you know, how vegan jump start. And it's like, you know, just tell yourself, I'll give myself 21 days. Don't don't make you yourself feel and just see how you can do those first 21 days. Yeah. Because we we've seen it firsthand in the classes when people commit to that, they're like, wow, I had no idea I could eat carbs like this. I had no idea I could eat and be full. Like my lunch was so full filling today. And it's like, you know, people don't realize that they're starving themselves on the standard diets just to be able to stay within calorie count.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And uh good point, Amy, that that there's a number of ways to go about this, uh, you know, to try to to change and become, you know, more plant-based. Um, another uh big helper would be just as simple as adding one to two tablespoons of ground flaxseed to anything you're eating, whether it's a bowl of cereal or whatever, you know, ground flaed is is easy to definitely need a ground, like you're saying.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. If if people aren't catching that, because it's like it goes right through you if you don't.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah. If you don't break up the the little tiny flaxseeds, um, your body's not gonna break through that husk and and uh achieve all the omega-3s and other phytonutrients that it has in it. Um here's one that we kind of alluded to earlier: swap sugary drinks for green tea. That'll be tough.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, okay, I don't know. Or water. Yeah, water. I'll do water, yeah. A little bit of lemon juice.

SPEAKER_01:

But reminder, catechins are in green tea, and I don't know if we get catechinals.

SPEAKER_00:

If you're in a healing part of, you know, if you're really needing to heal your body, then drink that green tea. Yeah, absolutely. Like it's it's so motivating when you know that you can change your future.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I will tell you that that has been part of the change in my taste buds is knowing, oh, this is really good for me.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, like I really want people to know that it's not us just being so disciplined and then and just so deprived. It's like we don't think about the the way we used to eat, really.

SPEAKER_01:

We are not deprived.

SPEAKER_00:

And it does not, short of me, I don't want to see raw meat, kind of grosses me out, but it, you know, it's it does. I'm not like, oh my gosh, I'm going to a party, you know, but it's not a problem. Right. I I want people to know if you can just open your mind to it and and and kind of t close those myths and those misperceptions that you have from your history and just you know, be open to it because it's not what you think.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, I don't think it is anyway. That's uh you're I think absolutely you may have a better attitude than I did at first, but yeah, at first I was like, oh man, I can't. My friend that was eating this way, I was like, no, why could I do that? Right. Yeah, I can.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Sure enough.

SPEAKER_01:

Just take some years now. Well, and to your point, um, one of the comments here that I I was reminded to make um is that small, consistent changes are uh gonna be what makes the biggest difference. Right. Okay. It's easy to get overwhelmed if we've been living the standard American life on the standard American diet, and all of a sudden think, oh my gosh, I've got to change everything.

unknown:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, that's not what we're talking about. Talking about here. Small sustainable changes. And I was talking about that with a kid today in a checkup. It's you know, uh we can't dive into this headfirst at the risk of, you know, okay, doing this for two days and figuring, oh, this is overwhelming. I can't do it anymore.

SPEAKER_00:

Just like exercise.

SPEAKER_01:

Just like exercise.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, don't make it so overwhelming.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right. You just gotta do what you can do on a daily basis. Smart changes of the case.

SPEAKER_00:

If you want more changes fast, I always say if you do it gradually, that's fine. Don't blame the diet. Don't blame and don't blame this way of eating, however, you want to say it. But also if you're ready to go, then just do it.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely right. Yeah. I'm not saying don't just jump.

SPEAKER_00:

That's how I did it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I do, because I was like miserable with fibromyalgia. So and blood pressure and all those good things.

SPEAKER_01:

So well, and the last thing that I'll say about practical tips and daily habits is just as we had mentioned under the exercise category, just find a way to move your body for a half an hour a day. Or if you can't make a half an hour, 15 minutes or whatever is sustainable for you, and just make that a habit. Yeah. You know, because these small daily things that we do, we make those habits and just make it a small thing. And then it becomes, oh, I can do more the next time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And like atoma atomic habits, I think said, I forget how they say it, but pair it up with another habit. Like when you're brushing your teeth, if you need to do jump and jacks before you're, you know, do something where it's, okay, I do this, I pour my coffee, and I do this. You know, they say to pair it up with something else you're already in the habit of to where you can start it.

SPEAKER_01:

Most definitely. Well, I want to thank everybody for tuning in. I hope you found this informative. Um, just a brief recap um in recognition of how important the uh nutrition and lifestyle medicine principles, to include exercise and sleep and everything else we talked about today, is to maintaining not just good breast health, but um just general overall health for whatever issues we're dealing with.

SPEAKER_00:

It's the diet for Alzheimer's.

SPEAKER_01:

The diet for disease. Yes, exactly. And and even if you have none of those things, it's a diet to stay this way.

SPEAKER_00:

That's right. That's right. I mean, my class is really not only for breast cancer survivors, it's for people who don't ever want to get it. It's for prevention, you know. It's empowering to know that.

SPEAKER_01:

Extremely empowering. Yeah. So you got more control over this than you realize. That's right. There's hope. That's the big issue with all of that.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't care what the doctors have said. And this is not somehow to say that there's a a medical miracle in in one, you know, bout of it, but there's hope in this.

SPEAKER_01:

There is hope in this. And I, you know, I've kind of joked around with a few people. Yeah, you know, I'm getting into uh hopefully uh uh an education uh platform for um physicians in the state of Arkansas regarding opioids. And I was kind of joking with one of the people I was talking with and saying, it's not quite like that I'm telling everybody, eat your fruits and vegetables and you'll get over your addiction. But it almost is.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, and the thing about opioids that breaks my heart is having had chronic pain and having dealt with it some, even as I went plant-based, you know, people aren't aren't really what they just want to be rid of the pain. And it's there is no question that it helps with that. There's no question it can, I mean, like to see someone who had stage four kidney disease in her 20s and had lupus and now has no markers for lupus, no kidney disease. Now come on. I know. Like it's it's it's absolutely empowering. And that's what I do want someone out there, if they're really discouraged, I want them to find hope. I want them to know that there is hope in this because um I was very sick and I was very miserable. And, you know, I could have had I taken what the doctors were trying to give me, I could have gotten into that same cycle. So it really is uh a way to take that inflammation out of your body.

SPEAKER_01:

You bet. Again, thank you all for tuning in and we'll catch you on the next episode. Alrighty, take care. Thank you.

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Amy Keever

Co-host

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