Easy Tips to Reduce Your Toxin Exposure and Help Prevent Breast Cancer

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but for this post, I want to think of every month as Breast Cancer Prevention Month! It’s predicted in 2022 that 28,600 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. This represents 25% of all new cancer cases in women in 2022.

When I started to really learn about holistic living, I realized how much of our lifestyle is a determining factor in our health. Our genetics are only 10-15% of whether we will be diagnosed with the same disease that our parents or grandparents had. The remaining 85-90% is determined by us, what we eat, how we eat, our air, water & sleep quality, what we put on our skin, and so on.

One of the things that surprised me was that our exposure to toxic chemicals, beginning even before conception, influences the possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. So I started to really look at my lifestyle…and this is why Rain Natural Skincare was born. I couldn’t find good clean skincare products, so I decided to become educated and make my own!

I thought I would share with you some things that can help with your healthy lifestyle choices, to not encourage diseases, including breast cancer, but instead, help to prevent them. When you start to look at toxic products in your household, it’s sometimes overwhelming. Below are some easy recommendations to follow:

10 Tips to Help Prevent Breast Cancer

1. Number one on my list is eliminating fragrance in your skincare and cleaning products. Fragrance (or perfume) in products is often a ‘secret recipe’ by each company. They can use nearly anything they want in their formulations, which could contain toxins that can cause breast cancer, birth defects, skin issues, asthma, allergies and more. Look for products that use essential oils for their scent, or purchase products that are fragrance-free.
2. Eat organic fruits, veggies and locally sourced foods. It’s good for your health, and when you buy local foods, it reduces the distance from farm to fork. Shop at your local farmers’ market, or join a local food co-op. Buy organic food to protect your body and the environment from toxic pesticides by supporting farmers who work to grow these healthy choices.
3. Look at your cleaning cabinet & laundry room. Replace your conventional cleaning products & laundry detergent with ones that contain environmentally responsible ingredients. This will limit your family’s exposure to hundreds of very toxic chemicals & volatile organic compounds. Or better yet, make your own cleaning supplies.
4. Take off your shoes at the door. Keep your home clean by avoiding toxic chemicals tracked in by your shoes. Pesticides, dirt, chemicals, bacteria, dust, lead, coal tar from asphalt & other substances can get tracked into your home on your shoes. Leave them by the door & enjoy a cleaner, healthier home.
5. Ditch plastic! Plastics can leach harmful chemicals like BPA and phthalates into your food and beverages, and then, into you. Use glass, ceramic, and stainless-steel food storage containers and reusable glass for water bottles. Rather than plastic saran wrap, use reusable beeswax wrap.
6. Pass on printed shopping receipts that are coated in BPA or BPA-like chemicals. Handling them can result in toxic chemical exposure.
7. Choose personal care products free of added hormones. Estrogen-mimicking ingredients can be found in hair and skin products which can increase the risk of breast cancer later in life. 
8. Also, check your beauty, dental, home, and menstrual care products for hormone-disrupting chemical ingredients, like parabens and phthalates. Over time, these can affect several hormone systems in your body.
9. Ditch toxic air fresheners and candles. Exposure to these can contribute to an increase in lung disease & increase your odds of developing asthma. The fragrance used is typically very toxic and contains harmful phthalates. Look for clean and safe candles made with plant-based waxes, like soy, coconut, and beeswax. Toss your highly perfume-scented candles and choose either unscented or ones with essential oils.
10. Read ingredient labels so you know what you’re putting on your body and breathing in, that way you can make safer choices! Check out this list of Dirty Dozen Endocrine Disruptors, which contains 12 hormone-altering chemicals and how to avoid them!

Don’t get overwhelmed by this list! When I started to learn all of this, I looked around my house and thought, I have to switch out almost everything. But you don’t have to do it all at once! Use your products, and when you run out, find something cleaner and safer to bring home and use.

One of the best things you can do for your breasts is to switch your conventional deodorant for a much healthier clean natural deodorant. My Natural Deodorant is free from harmful aluminium and sweat blockers. Made with natural ingredients to keep your skin fresh without loading your body with harsh chemicals.