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| WELLNESS |
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| Join ITC In Supporting Breast Cancer Awereness Month |
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Everyone's breasts are different. Some are small and some large. Some are lumpy, while others are smooth. It is important to know how your breasts normally feel and that they will feel different closer to and during menstruation. They will also feel different after menopause.
What does a breast lump feel like?
Hormonal lumps are smooth and mobile. These change size during menstruation due to hormonal fluctuations. These are normal lumps. Fatty lumps are also smooth and mobile. These form the inner breast tissue and are also normal. Breast cancer lumps are hard, gritty and not mobile. These are not normal and need to be checked.
Will you find these lumps yourselves?
Yes. The more often you perform your breast examination, the better you will know your breasts and pick up any abnormal changes.
Who should examine their breasts?
Everyone. Both men and women.
At what age should you start breast examinations?
From puberty onwards.
When and where should you do breast examinations?
Men: At any time once a month, in a private place.
Women: Five to seven days after a period in a private place.. If post menopausal, the examinations should be conducted at same time each month.
Remember, breast exams must be done every month, forever more.
The best place to be checking your breasts is either standing in front of a mirror or lying down. |
| Cancer facts |
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Interesting facts from the American Cancer Society
Cancer poses a serious global health and economic challenge:
- In 2010, cancer is expected to become the leading cause of death worldwide.
- By 2030, the global cancer burden is expected to grow to 27 million new cancer cases and 17 million cancer deaths per year.
- 70% of all cancer deaths occur in low and middle income countries
- The Economist Intelligence Unit estimated that in 2009, cancer worldwide cost at least US$286 billion, with 12.9 million new cancer cases and 7.6 million cancer deaths.
- Breast and cervical cancer killed 685,000 women worldwide in 2002. Over 80% of cervical cancer deaths occurred in developing countries.
- It is estimated that unless urgent action is taken, by 2030, tobacco's annual death toll will rise to more than eight million.
- The tobacco industry is aggressively marketing their products to women and girls in high population countries.
- Every day, some 80-100,000 young people around the world become addicted to tobacco. If current trends continue, 250 million children alive today will die from tobacco-related disease.
Breast cancer facts
- 9 out of 10 lumps are noticed and found by the woman herself
- Breast cancer presents as a lump and is usually painless
- 9 out of 10 breast lumps are not cancer
- Breast cancer is curable if detected and treated early
- 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime
- 4 000 South African women are diagnosed annually
- More black South African women are diagnosed annually
- Breast cancer is the most common cause of death in women aged between 40 and 50 years
- Men also get breast cancer: 1% of population
The risk factors that may cause breast cancer
- Early onset of menstruation and late menopause
- Not having children or having your first child after 40 years of age
- Previous breast cancer
- Drinking more than two glasses of wine or alcohol daily
- No exercise
- Smoking
- Stress
- Poor diet
- Taking contraceptives and or hormonal replacement therapy for extended periods
- Obesity
- Strong family history/genetics
- Teenage and young girls who have had radiation therapy to treat lymphomas
- Previous cancer of any type
- Chemicals and pesticides
Lize De Jonge
Project Manager
PINK&DRIVE
www.pinkdrive.co.za |
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| Top 7 Ways that Exercise Helps Diabetics |
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Exercise is an important tool in managing your diabetes in order to live a longer, healthier life.
1. Exercise increase insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism. The key problem of Type 2 diabetics is insulin insensitivity, or insulin resistance. By exercising you can improve how well your insulin works; this helps you to control your blood glucose level.
2. Exercise improves your cholesterol levels. Exercise helps by raising the good kind of cholesterol (HDL) and lowering the bad kind of cholesterol (LDL). Exercise can also lower triglyceride levels. This is good news for diabetics as diabetics are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. I myself have had cholesterol problems, but between proper diet and exercise and no drugs, I now have a much healthier cholesterol levels. |
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3. Exercise can decrease blood pressure. Many diabetics also have hypertension or high blood pressure. Exercising can reduce both your resting blood pressure and your blood pressure during effort (including exercise). This is very important for reducing your chances of heart disease and stroke. I also used be on blood pressure medication, and have been able to get off the drugs. Because of the strong genetic component, this took more than just diet and exercise; I take several supplements specifically to help keep my blood pressure in the healthy ranges. I also work on stress management and meditate, but exercise is a key ingredient to lowering it in most people.
4. Exercise can also improve heart efficiency, and help it work less. This also helps with the cardiovascular risk factors. You will be able to exercise harder and it does not feel harder. This will make performing your daily tasks easier. Many people do not exercise because they think they do not have the energy. They need to exercise to get the energy. Your resting heart rate can also lower.
5. Exercise can improve your mood. Diabetes can be a stressful disease, exercising can help you feel better mentally. Exercise can even improve depression which can be an issue with a disease like diabetes.
6. Exercise aids dramatically in weight-loss and maintaining weight-loss. Specifically, the right kind and right amount of exercise aids in fat-loss and preservation of muscle tissue. Losing weight can improve blood pressure, insulin resistance, glucose levels, and cholesterol levels above and beyond what exercise alone does.
7. Exercise helps you to reduce your chances of diabetic complications. Better control of your blood glucose helps prevent serious complications of diabetes, including blindness, neuropathy, and kidney failure.
Please talk to your doctor and start exercising! You will feel so much better!
Written by: Katrina McKenna http://www.metamorfitness.com |
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| Eat Well Live Well! |
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It is so important to keep you and your family healthy, but where do you start? If you aren’t a nutritionist, it’s almost impossible to figure out how good or bad some food really is for you.
With our Eat Well Live Well programme, we’re taking the guesswork out of healthy eating. When you see the Eat Well Live Well stamp of approval, you know you are making a healthier choice for you and your family.
But let’s take it one step further. Every Eat Well Live Well product provides you with an easy-to-read and easy-to-understand GDA table. This table shows what percentage of one’s daily guideline amount of nutrients is in each product. Now you can calculate your GDAs, and keep a check on the nutrients that you need to monitor. GDAs are guidelines and an individual's nutrient requirements vary depending on age, gender, weight and physical activity. This has resulted in three GDA's that have been scientifically devised: adult men and women, and one for children aged 5 to 10 years of age. |
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The Big 5
Kilojoules:
Energy is measured in kilojoules (kJ). Kilojoules are used during various activities, whether it’s shopping, sitting at your desk or even sleeping. To maintain a balanced lifestyle, be sure to substitute the same amount of kilojoules we use up in a day with nutritious food. An adult’s GDA for Kilojoules is 8 400kJ. This varies depending on the amount of activity one does during the course of the day.
Sugars:
Sugars give your body energy. Many of us tend to have a sweet tooth, and food often tastes better with added sugar. It is very important to keep the amount of sugar intake during the course of the day below the recommended GDA to maintain a healthy balance of energy.
An adult’s GDA for sugars is 90g.
Fat:
To have a balance diet, cutting out fat completely is not a good idea. Although you should aim to stay below your fat GDA, eating the necessary amount of fat will give you much needed energy to go about your day. Fat may also assist in absorbing the vital vitamins your body essentially needs to stay healthy.
An adult’s GDA for fat is 70g.
Saturates:
You and your family should try to keep saturated fats to a minimum. Consuming too many Saturates can increase your cholesterol level in the blood, which can also heighten one’s risk of developing heart disease.
An adult’s GDA for saturates is 20g.
Salt:
Salt gives food flavour. However, too much salt in your diet can increase the risk of certain diseases, such as high blood pressure and heart disease. This is why it is recommended to keep your salt intake below that of the GDA to help reduce any unnecessary health risks.
An adult’s GDA for salt is 6g.
Source: www.eatwellivewell.co.za |
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| Working mom? The pressure can kill |
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The day we, as women, first exchanged our aprons for tailored suits, few things could have shattered the bliss of our new-found independence. But at the time no-one could have guessed how severely the added stress would affect us.
A few decades down the line, we seem to have become expert jugglers, managing demanding careers and family life with apparent ease.
In fact, the Female Nation Survey 2007, conducted by Women24.com, found that 75% of urban South African women are employed full-time. Among women who are the main breadwinners in their households, 87% are also the primary caregivers.
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But when one is faced with the reality that heart disease now accounts for a third of all deaths in women worldwide, it’s clear that we’ve lost part of the plot somewhere along the way.
Maybe it’s time to realise that these multiple roles, and the resultant stress, come at a cost?
Work/family balance a myth
Sam Wilson, working mom and editor of Women24.com, knows what it’s like to keep several balls in the air.
Speaking at a Go Red for Women Wellness Workshop in Cape Town, Sam noted that a paradigm shift regarding our thoughts on this balance should be made: we should realise that work/family balance is a myth, that other women aren’t necessarily any better at achieving this than we are and that we should be brave enough to ask the men in our lives to help.
Sam feels that the roles in a woman’s life can’t be segmented into a pie chart made up of equally-sized portions for work, family, friends, exercise etc. There’s just too much overlap – a fact that we should accept and incorporate into our lives.
“We seem to be thinking that we should be balancing our lives better: that we should be exercising more, be better groomed, be spending more time with our children, be progressing further up the corporate ladder, be earning more money, be having more sex and, my personal favourite, be less stressed,” she says.
Looking at the situation from this perspective, it’s small wonder that the pressure is taking its toll on our hearts. Trying to excel at all of these things, and segmenting them into separate chunks, is clearly impossible.
But what’s the solution?
According to Sam, there’s no such thing as dedicated work and family time – a concept that, incidentally, stems from a male perspective. Ask any working mother: she’ll tell you that while she’s trying to prepare for a budget meeting, she’s also organising a lift from the school for her kids and trying to break up a fight on the phone.
Thanks to our remarkable ability to multitask, most women can manage to do work and parenting at the same time. But trying to separate the two in an effort to be “professional” can just cause undue stress, Sam says.
For many women, working from home or working flexible hours can be a solution.
On the other hand, however, there’s little point in trying to always do everything perfectly. One should also avoid doing too many things at the same time. For this reason, it’s important to swallow your pride and ask for assistance. “We need the boys to come and help,” Sam says.
Ultimately, we should try to find a new paradigm: one in which parents are partners in providing a steady income and holding the family together and one in which the pressure is shared between the partners.
Health24 www.health24.com |
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