Category Archive: Breast Health

  1. A Talk on Living Toxin-Free with Lauri Wakefield

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    Unlocking Better Health- Unveiling Thermographic and Holistic Strategies Wth Patricia Luccardi

    I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Lauri Wakefield, who hosts the Inspiring Journeys podcast, to talk about living toxin-free.

    Our discussion covered a ton of topics related to living toxin-free, and how that can help you improve your breast health, including:

    • How to reduce toxin exposure
    • The importance of self-education
    • Thermography vs. mammograms
    • Practical tips for a toxin-free lifestyle
    • Detoxification and hormonal balance
    • Endocrine disruptors and environmental toxins

    So, if you want to know how to live a toxin-free life, and how that can benefit your breast health, then you don’t want to miss this informative episode, which you can listen to using the player below.

    And if you want to learn more about the benefits of breast thermography, you should read my book, Thermography and the Fibrocystic and Dense Breast.

    Yours in radiant health!
    Patricia

     

    Offering Breast, Upper Body, and Full Body Exams

    Contact me to book your thermography appointment today.

  2. The Link Between Breast Cancer and Iodine Deficiency

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    The Silent Epidemic of Iodine Deficiency

    Every cell in your body requires iodine to keep it functioning properly.

    Iodine is one of the most important minerals for healthy cellular and metabolic function.

    This essential mineral is required throughout the body, especially in the thyroid gland, but also in breast, ovary, uterus, and prostate tissue.

    After researchers discovered that iodine deficiency caused goiters, iodine was added to table salt.

    Today, that often isn’t enough.

    Crops are grown in iodine-depleted soil, iodine is no longer used in commercial baked goods, and studies show that dietary iodine levels have fallen by as much as 50%.

    At the same time, our intake of iodine competitors like chlorine, fluoride, and bromide has all increased.

    These toxic compounds lower the activity of iodine in the body by blocking iodine receptor sites, and all three are found commonly in both foods and the environment.

    Chlorine is now widely used for water purification, fluoride is almost universally found in toothpaste and drinking water, and bromide replaced iodine in commercial baked goods and is common in soft drinks.

    As a result, many experts believe that iodine support can be the missing intervention for optimal health.

    Systems especially reliant on optimal levels of iodine are immune, breast, ovaries, prostate, brain, and perhaps the best known, the thyroid.

    Dr. David Brownstein, the iodine guru, clearly lays out what we would expect to find in iodine-deficient individuals.

    When iodine is deficient, nodules form in key organs leading to pre-cancerous conditions and then eventually to full-blown cancer.

    He says, “Iodine’s main job is to maintain the normal architecture of those tissues. With iodine deficiency, the first thing that happens is you get cystic formation in the breasts, the ovaries, uterus, thyroid, prostate, and let’s throw in the pancreas in here as well, which is also increasing at epidemic rates – pancreatic cancer. Cysts start to form when iodine deficiency is there. If it goes on longer, they become nodular and hard. If it goes on longer, they become hyperplastic tissue, which is the precursor to cancer.”

    I say that’s the iodine deficiency continuum.

    Brownstein continues, “The good thing about iodine is, iodine has apoptotic properties, meaning it can stop a cancer cell from just continually dividing, dividing, dividing until it kills somebody. Iodine can stop this continuum wherever it catches it and hopefully reverse it, but at least put the brakes on what is happening.”

     

    The Emerging Role of Iodine in Breast Health | Iodine – The Great Detoxifier

    Iodine is a breast protector, and it promotes detoxification, lymph flow, and offers protection to the receptor sites.

    But when iodine is deficient, estrogen can become imbalanced and dysfunctional.

    A common link between fibrocystic breast and breast cancer is insufficient iodine and halide toxicity.

    We are seeing an increase in uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, infertility, thyroid nodules, pancreatic cancer, and prostate cancer from iodine deficiency.

    The good news is iodine turns on estriol, which is the positive estrogen that protects against estrogenic cancers.

    As Dr. David Brownstein explained, iodine turns on natural cancer cell death, also known as apoptosis. Think of it as a kind of Pac-Man that eats up renegade cancer cells.

    However, there are three forms of iodine that are the best.

    For instance, the thyroid gland absorbs potassium iodide best, while breast tissue can better utilize molecular iodine.

    Additionally, there is evidence that using sodium iodide enhances absorption of other forms of iodine.

    Just remember that potassium iodide and sodium iodide are used for hormone balance and immune health, whereas molecular iodine is used for breast, prostate, colon, and cellular health.

    And in my 13 years of working with breast health, I have seen remarkable changes in women’s breasts that were lumpy, cystic, and painful, and seen a reduction in lumps and cysts when women have used iodine as part of their daily supplementation.

    In addition, Lugol’s Liquid Iodine 2% can also be used topically for lumps, cysts, and tender breasts, but it’s best to mix it with a carrier oil.

    Castor oil also has many positive healing benefits, so you can mix the two, if you’d like.

    At this point, you might be wondering, what are some iodine-rich foods?

    For the vegetarians, dried prunes, white potatoes, navy beans, seaweed, and cranberries are a few that provide good sources of iodine.

    Seafood, like canned tuna and salmon, and shellfish, are also great sources of iodine, along with boiled eggs, yogurt, certain types of cheese, and turkey breast.

    However, you should be mindful of the source of the seafood, due to heavy metals.

    Himalayan salt also contains a small amount of natural iodine, but it usually has less iodine than iodized salt, and most sea salt does not contain enough iodine to meet your daily needs.

    For more information on iodine and breast health protocols, please contact me, or send an email to info@patricialuccardi.com.

    And if you want to learn more about the importance of iodine, you should check out Dr. Brownstein’s book, Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can’t Live Without It.

    Here’s to happy and healthy breasts!
    Patricia

     

    Offering Breast, Upper Body, and Full Body Exams

    Contact me to book your thermography appointment today.

  3. Why You Should Get a Breast Thermogram

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    Why You Should Get a Breast Thermogram

    When it comes to detecting breast cancer, the options for women in America are limited.

    Our standard, conventional medical establishment’s over-emphasis on treatment has largely ignored the efficacy and value of prevention, instead choosing to focus on drugs and radiation over safer alternatives like breast thermograms.

    This is a big part of the reason why modern medicine has failed to reduce disease rates, including those for breast cancer.

    With that in mind, this is why it’s so important to educate women about the detection and prevention options they have and empower them to take control of their health.

    As far as I’m concerned, prevention is the cure, and it’s our first line of defense against breast cancer.

    If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of getting a breast thermogram, I’ve included a video from Breast Thermography International below, which should tell you everything you need to know.

     

    Offering Breast, Upper Body, and Full Body Exams

    Contact me to book your thermography appointment today.

  4. Can Mammogram Radiation Cause Breast Cancer?

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    Can Mammogram Radiation Cause Breast Cancer?

    Many women, including some doctors, fear mammograms are causing over-treatment and mammogram radiation is resulting in more cases of cancer.

    According to a study in The New England Journal of Medicine, between 1976 and 2008, 1.3 million U.S. women received unnecessary and invasive cancer treatments, including surgery, radiobiology, hormone therapy, and chemotherapy.

    This is in large part due to routine mammograms detecting harmless tumors.

    Other studies conducted in European countries have concluded that mammograms reduce the risk of death from cancer by less than 10% or not at all.

    But when combined with anatomical testing, breast thermography can reduce the number of false positives and over-treatment of breast cancer by demonstrating whether a tumor is metabolically active or not.

     

    Mammogram Radiation Puts Young Women at Risk

    More than 20,000 cases of breast cancer have been reported annually in U.S. women under the age of 40.

    Unfortunately, when cancer strikes a younger woman, it is typically a more aggressive form and is less likely to respond to treatment.

    But despite this greater risk, younger women have been consistently neglected by traditional breast cancer screenings, and besides mammography, there is currently no other routine screening test for women under the age of 40.

    Thermography, on the other hand, offers an ideal test for this age group, especially considering that it’s radiation-free.

    If you’d like to learn more about the dangers of mammogram radiation, check out the video below from NutritionFacts.org.

     

    Offering Breast, Upper Body, and Full Body Exams

    Contact me to book your thermography appointment today.

     

     

  5. Exploring How to Have Healthy Breasts with Valeria T. Koopman

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    Exploring How to Have Healthy Breasts with Valeria T. Koopman

    A few weeks ago, I sat down with author and host of the A Quest for Well-Being podcast, Valeria T. Koopman, to talk about what you can do to ensure you have healthy breasts.

    We had an amazing conversation, which covered many aspects of breast health, including:

    • Your relationship with your breasts
    • The benefits of breast thermography
    • The harmful effects of environmental estrogens
    • How your oral health can affect your breast health
    • Nutrition and supplementation for healthy breasts

    So, if you’re looking to learn more about what you can do to have healthy breasts, including how radiation-free thermography can help you detect potential breast health issues as early as possible, then this is a video you cannot afford to miss.




     

    And if you’re interested in learning more about thermography, and how to have healthy breasts, you should read my book, Thermography and the Fibrocystic and Dense Breast.

    Yours in radiant health!
    Patricia

  6. Can Vitamin D Prevent Breast Cancer?

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    Can Vitamin D Prevent Breast Cancer?

    With summer not too far away, you may think your vitamin D will soon be back to optimal levels.

    But if that’s what you think, you can think again.

    Functional medicine guru Dr. Mark Hyman says, “Unless you live 20 minutes south of Atlanta, and you are outside totally naked for 15 minutes a day in the sun, you need vitamin D.”

    African Americans and other dark-skinned people, along with those living in northern latitudes, make significantly less vitamin D than other groups. The darker your skin is, the less likely it is you will produce adequate vitamin D levels from sun exposure alone.

    That being said, it is important to get vitamin D3 through diet, sunlight, or supplements every day.

    This is because when vitamin D is sent directly to the body’s tissues it is only active for 24 hours. So, to boost our immune system and ward off cancer we need new input every day.

    Vitamin D impacts our bones, regulates calcium and strengthens our immune system. What’s more, researchers have found that vitamin D directly affects the cells in the breast.

    Vitamin D influences virtually every cell in your body and is one of nature’s most potent cancer fighters.

    Inside almost every cell in the body is a vitamin D receptor (VDR). A VDR is a protein that controls the expression of genes. The vitamin D in our blood enters breast cells, binds to the VDRs, and triggers positive change. Vitamin D is also able to enter cancer cells and trigger natural cell death, preventing, slowing, or even stopping cancer growth.

    There have been many studies on vitamin D and breast cancer that demonstrate a 50-80% lower risk of breast cancer diagnosis for women with serum levels of >40 ng/ml versus levels of 25 ng/ml or lower.

    According to Dr. Cedric F. Garland, a professor of family and preventive medicine, “As long as vitamin D receptors are present, tumor growth is prevented and kept from expanding its blood supply. Vitamin D receptors are not lost until a tumor is very advanced. This is the reason for better survival in patients whose vitamin D blood levels are high.”

    Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington D.C. discovered a connection between high vitamin D intake and a reduced risk of breast cancer.

    These findings, which were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research, revealed that increased dosage of the sunshine vitamin was linked to a 75% reduction in overall cancer growth and a 50% reduction in tumor cases among those already having the disease.

    Vitamin D supplementation helped control the development and growth of breast cancer, especially with estrogen-sensitive breast cancer.

    Rochester Medical Center examined vitamin D levels in 155 breast cancer patients in the months before and after surgery. They found suboptimal levels to be highly predictive of the biological markers associated with more aggressive tumors.

    The average level in patients with breast cancer in the United States is 17 ng/ml.

    At any rate, having an optimal vitamin D serum level helps to prevent a wide variety of diseases and other health issues. Vitamin D levels need to be between 50 and 70 ng/ml year round. According to recent findings from the D*action study, adults need about 8,000 IUs of D3 per day to get serum levels above 40 ng/ml.

    If you take high doses of oral vitamin D3 supplements, you may also need to increase your vitamin K2 intake, as vitamin D increases the need for K2 so your body can absorb calcium.

    There is new evidence that vitamin K2 directs the calcium to your skeleton, while preventing it from being deposited where you don’t want it.

    The tricky thing about vitamin D deficiency is that there aren’t any symptoms until you are really depleted. Only a blood test can check vitamin D levels.

    Insurance pays for D testing. But if you’re without insurance, there are independent labs online that will do the test.

    Conventional health experts tell us that a level of 20 ng/ml to 50 ng/ml is considered adequate for healthy people and anything below 12 ng/ml is a deficiency.

    But the truth is those are reckless, risky numbers. Optimal ranges are 50-70 ng/ml. Again, it is best to monitor your Vitamin D levels through a blood test.

    When in doubt, always choose optimal over normal or adequate.

    In any case, whenever you can, try to get out and enjoy the sun, and if you use sunscreen, make sure it’s natural.

    You should also make a point of doing regular breast cancer screening via thermography and/or ultrasound and don’t forget to take your vitamin D!

    Offering Breast, Upper Body and Full Body Exams

    Contact me to book your thermography appointment today.

  7. The Bra Breast Cancer Link

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    the bra breast cancer link

    As a thermographer, I have imaged thousands of women, and one of the most common things I find is lymphatic backup, which can be caused by wearing a bra.

    Every time I see this, it provides a poignant reminder of the fact that wearing a bra can put your breasts at risk of breast disease and even breast cancer.

    It’s these kinds of findings that make me even more grateful for the research of experts like Sydney Ross Singer.

    Singer is a medical anthropologist who has studied the negative impact bras have had on our breasts, and he’s also co-author of Dressed To Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras.

    His findings are crucial for women who want to take control of their breast health, and he was nice enough to let me publish another one of his articles, which you can read below:

     

    Have you or someone you know been harmed by wearing bras?

    If so, then you could become a co-plaintiff in a future class action lawsuit against the bra and cancer industries.

    Product liability applies to garments, as well as other consumer products, and bras are known to cause health problems, including everything from headaches and back pain to nerve compression and tingling in the hands.

    Bras have been shown to affect digestion, breathing, and even menstruation since they also interfere with the sympathetic nervous system.

    Bras can also constrict the lymphatic system, which is the circulatory pathway of the immune system.

    This causes reduced lymph and blood circulation, toxin accumulation, and reduced immune function, which can lead to breast pain, cysts, and even cancer.

    The degree of damage that a bra can cause depends on the bra’s material, its toxic chemical content, how tightly it’s worn, the length of time it’s worn daily, and the number of years it has been worn.

    According to the 1991-93 US Bra and Breast Cancer Study, documented in Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras, bra-free women have about the same risk of breast cancer as men, and the tighter and longer a bra is worn the higher the risk rises, to over 100 times higher for a 24/7 bra user compared to a bra-free woman.

    Since that groundbreaking study, numerous other studies worldwide have confirmed a bra-cancer link.

     

    The Lymph Connection

    Thermographic image of lymphatic drainage

    The lymphatic system consists of microscopic vessels that originate in the tissue space and lead to larger, but still tiny vessels that ultimately enter a lymph node. These nodes are bean-sized filters lined by white blood cells. This is the front line of the immune system.

    Most of a breast’s lymph nodes are in the armpit. If the nodes detect a virus, cancer cell, or other foreign or hazardous substance in the tissue fluid, they begin an immune response by producing white blood cells to combat the problem.

    Once through the lymph node, the fluid works its way through larger lymphatic vessels back to the heart and the bloodstream.

    One important fact about the lymphatic system is that it is a passive drainage system. While the bloodstream delivers fluid under the pumping pressure of the heart, the lymphatic system has no pressure. Its flow is influenced by gravity, breathing, exercise, movement, and massage, and it is kept moving toward the lymph nodes by one-way valves.

    The slightest constriction or compression of the tissue can close down the tiny lymphatic vessels, inhibiting lymph flow and leading to fluid accumulation, cysts, pain, and tenderness.

    This fluid congestion within the tissue is called lymphedema.

     

    Bras + Toxins = Cancer

    ditch the bra

    The toxins that are within the breast tissue include some biochemical products of tissue edema, such as free radicals, which are known to cause cancer.

    In addition, there are toxins in our air, food, and water, including pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, plastics, and other products of our petrochemically polluted world. Many of these are known to cause cancer, and we deliver these toxins to all our tissues each day through the bloodstream.

    It is the job of the lymphatic system to remove these toxins, but bras can inhibit this process by compressing and constricting the breasts.

    This is how bras cause breast cancer.

    Cancer-causing toxins are delivered to the breast tissue by the bloodstream and are kept there by the bra. The toxins are the bullets, and the bra holds them in place, pointed directly at the breasts.

    In addition, cancer cells that spontaneously develop in germ cells of the breast tissue cannot be properly removed from the breasts when the lymphatics are impaired. This means the body cannot effectively kill these seeds of cancer, allowing cancers to develop.

    The breasts are the most clothing-constricted of any organ, and this explains why women have more cancer in the breast than anywhere else in their bodies.

    It also explains why women have more breast cancer than men, and why breast cancer is only a problem in cultures in which bras are worn.

    Where there are no bras, there is virtually no breast cancer.

     

    If you feel you have been harmed by wearing a bra, please reach out to Sydney Ross Singer at sydsinger@gmail.com.

     

  8. If Your Breasts Could Talk

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    If Your Breasts Could Talk

    When you get home, after you take off your shoes, what’s the next thing you take off? Probably your bra.

    But if society didn’t dictate wearing a bra, would you? Are you at a loss to find a comfortable bra? And if your breasts could talk, what do you think they would say?

    I had the good fortune to be in dialog with Sydney Ross Singer, medical anthropologist, and co-author of Dressed To Kill: The Link between Breast Cancer and Bras.

    He has studied the health impact of wearing bras around the world. Please enjoy this article, which he has given me permission to share:

    Of all the body parts, the breasts would probably have the most to say, if they only could. But even if breasts could talk, would women listen?

    In modern Western culture, breasts have taken on more than their biological role as mammary glands to feed babies. Breasts are cultural icons, sexualized and fetishized through the use of a special garment constructed to alter the shape and position of the breasts on the chest wall, to limit breast movement, and to hide the nipples. The garment, of course, is the brassiere, or bra.

     

    How Do the Breasts Feel in a Bra?

    Are they comfortable being compressed, constricted, and reshaped? When a bra leaves marks on the skin, it is from compression. This interferes with circulation in the breasts of blood and lymph. The result is pain, cysts, and ultimately, breast cancer.

    Woman has had bra removed to 15 minutes

    This woman has not been wearing a bra for 15 minutes prior to her thermography exam. The red in her upper torso is lymphatic backup.

    Of course, most women are introduced to bra usage when they reach puberty, as a rite of passage into womanhood and a future of needing to manage their breast appearance.

    The “training bra” breaks the girls in, as they get used to the discomfort of having a tight band around the chest. After that, girls don’t think about the discomfort so much, or at least they learn to subordinate their breast discomfort to the mandates of fashion and society.

    In other words, girls become desensitized to the feeling of their breasts through the use of bras. The chronic constriction of daily bra usage, however, does take a toll on breast health, leading to lymphatic stagnation, or lymph-stasis, with associated tissue toxification and eventual deterioration.

    You can’t have healthy breasts if you have poor circulation from wearing tight bras daily. Circulate or deteriorate. The choice is each woman’s, although the fashion industry would like to make that choice for all women, turning breasts into fashion accessories.

    Meanwhile, the breasts are crying for help, but are told to just shut up and put up with it.

     

    Culture Has Usurped the Breasts for Fashion

    Women are culturally compelled to wear bras to be socially accepted.

    A fetish garment for the breasts that serves no biological purpose, and can also cause harm, is the standard of dress for women, even for professional women whose work has no relevance to a breast fetish.

    The cultural programming needed to achieve this remarkable commitment to breast obsession has resulted in a cultural blind spot to the hazards of wearing tight bras.

    As a result, the bra has become the leading cause of breast disease. Circulation of blood and lymph is essential for health, and any tight garment interferes with circulation. Women wear bras daily, often for 12 or more hours and sometimes 24/7. Over time, the constriction takes its toll.

    And since bra use is universal throughout the culture, it’s hard to find bra-free women with whom to compare breast health with those who use bras. In order to see the problems caused by wearing bras, you need to have a comparison with bra-free breasts.

     

    How Can You Tell if a Bra Is Causing Harm?

    Bras are known to cause health problems, from headaches and back pain to nerve compression and tingling in the hands.

    Bras have been shown to affect digestion, breathing, and even menstruation since bras also interfere with the sympathetic nervous system.

    Bras constrict the lymphatic system, which is the circulatory pathway of the immune system. This causes reduced lymph and blood circulation, toxin accumulation, and reduced immune function, which leads to breast pain, cysts, and cancer.

    The degree of damage from bras depends on the bra material and its toxic chemical content, its tightness, the length of time it is worn daily, and the number of years it has been worn.

    Stop wearing a bra and see how it makes you feel. If bras have been harming you in some way, you will feel better when you stop wearing them.

    If you feel you have been harmed by wearing a bra, please reach out to Sydney Ross Singer at sydsinger@gmail.com.

     

    According to the 1991-93 US Bra and Breast Cancer Study, documented in Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras, bra-free women have about the same risk of breast cancer as men, while the tighter and longer the bra is worn the higher the risk rises, to over 100 times higher for a 24/7 bra user compared to a bra-free woman. Since that groundbreaking study, numerous other studies worldwide have confirmed a bra-cancer link.

    Bras are also used as medical devices, worn tightly to stop lactation. And while a tight bra can cause breast lymphedema, bras are also used as a compression garment to manage lymphedema. Clearly, bras have an impact on breast function and circulation.

    Despite the fact that bras affect the health of the breasts, bras are sold without any wearing instructions or warning labels. While manufacturers provide sizing charts, these do not mention the problems with wearing ill-fitting bras. In addition, many styles of bras are constrictive and tight by design, such as push-up and strapless bras, even if worn at the recommended size. There is also no mention of the maximum recommended wearing time for these garments.

    Some bra manufacturers have responded to the consumer demand for more comfortable and healthy clothing, developing less toxic materials and more comfortable, less constrictive designs.

    However, the lingerie industry may still be found liable for the harm caused by its products, and bras may eventually be required to have instructions about tightness and limiting the time that they’re worn.

  9. Breast Massage: Taking Matters into Your Own Hands

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    Breast Massage: Taking Matters into Your Own Hands

    The complicated issues women often face with their breasts, from oversexualized belief systems and femininity to the range of emotions they face following breast surgeries like biopsies, lumpectomies, and mastectomies, remind us of the need to address this vital organ in a healthy and comfortable way.

    Luckily, breast massage can help you to do this, and by instituting breast massage as a regular health practice, you can prioritize preventative breast care and encourage a healthy and open connection to your breasts – free of shame, innuendo, or societal taboos.

    At any rate, breast massage is an incredibly useful tool for maintaining the health of your breasts.

    According to the Texas Institute of Functional Medicine, breast massage is the act of slowly kneading and stroking the breasts, using varying amounts of mild to moderate pressure through gentle lifting and compressive movements.

    With that said, you can perform a breast massage on yourself or with the help of your partner.

    Its primary purpose is to rid your body of the harmful toxins that interfere with your health; however, there are many cosmetic and therapeutic breast massage benefits, as well.

    For example, breast massage can help you to maintain the shape of your breasts and make your breasts firmer and less likely to sag, with the result being a more attractive bust line.

    According to Ayurvedic wisdom, the practice of breast massage aligns with centuries-old healing practices, which teach that in order to maintain a state of balance, the whole person must be addressed, and that includes the breasts.

    Unfortunately, in many healing practices, the breast area is often overlooked. Breast massage addresses this gap in treatment to meet the needs of all women – healthy women, women who have been diagnosed with or are survivors of breast cancer, women who have fibrocystic breasts, and women who are recovering from breast augmentation, reduction, or cardiac abnormalities.

     

    Preventative Benefits of Breast Massage

    As nice as it is to have a healthy, attractive bust line, there are much more serious issues to consider, aside from how your breasts look and feel.

    That being said, it’s important that you familiarize yourself with the shape and feel of your breasts in order to detect any abnormalities. Early detection could be the key to saving your life.

    With breast cancer still being one of the most common cancers among women in the United States, it is crucial that you do not neglect this important aspect of your health.

    Fortunately, regular breast massage, coupled with monthly self-examinations, is a good way to check your breasts for changes or irregularities.

    Couple this with yearly thermography, an ultrasound, and a healthy lifestyle, and you will be promoting healthy breasts.

     

    Health Benefits of Breast Massage

    As you can see, there are many health benefits associated with massaging your breasts.

    Breast massage is a way to nourish and maintain healthy breast tissue and musculature before potential issues arise, and to heal physically, emotionally, and spiritually after a life-changing disease, such as breast cancer.

    Most breasts are confined to a bra all day, but releasing its constrictive nature around the lymph nodes on the outer quadrants of the breasts can give your breasts a chance to breathe and let the lymph flow.

    Massaging your breasts also stimulates circulation, which is necessary for keeping your breast tissue healthy.

    Moreover, massage helps break up benign cysts in breast tissue (cysts are rampant in breasts these days and are one of the leading reasons for biopsies), relieves tension in the muscle tissue of the chest, and builds resilience in the ligaments.

    Breast massage is also a good healing technique for aching breasts, and because it employs a soft, gentle touch, breast massage can be quite therapeutic. Simply rubbing an area can have a demonstrable analgesic effect.

    Among other things, breast massage eases soreness in the tissues, reduces pain and swelling in the breasts, relaxes tightness or tension in the ligaments, and it’s particularly useful in soothing the pain associated with breast scarring.

    According to the Texas Institute of Functional Medicine, breast massage is a reliable means of flushing out toxins from the body through the lymphatic system.

    Because toxins impede healthy circulation in the breasts, toxic buildup could account for an increased chance of developing cancer. But breast massage stimulates drainage of the breasts and the lymphatic system, which helps to eliminate harmful waste products and encourages nutrient-rich blood to travel to the breast tissue.

     

    How to Massage Your Breasts

    breast massage

    Sit in front of a mirror and cup your breast from underneath while you massage with the other hand, working in gentle but firm strokes from the outer breast to the nipple.

    Make your thumb and middle fingers into a “V” shape and press from the outside edges to the center, systematically massaging the entire breast.

    Lift your arm up toward the ceiling and take the opposite hand to the outer chest where it connects to the arm. Massage the lymphatic area of the upper chest and inner armpit with gentle strokes. Then massage under the neck and on the sides of the throat up to the base of the ear.

    Try spending five to ten minutes just gently stroking.

    There are also many essential oils and creams that support lymphatic flow and are beneficial for lumpy and dense breasts.

    The citrus family of essential oils is notable for its lymphatic effects. These essential oils include sweet orange, lemon, tangerine, and grapefruit, and are popularly thought of as cleansing.

    By stimulating the lymphatic system, these oils can help to relieve stagnancy and help the lymph to move.

    Additionally, citrus oils are known to have diuretic properties, which can further assist the body in ridding itself of lymphatic waste via the urinary tract.

    But if you’re going to use these essential oils, make sure to always mix them with a carrier oil. Start by mixing one ounce of carrier oil with 10-15 drops of a single oil, or five of each for a combination oil.

    When it comes to carrier oils, I recommend using organic almond, coconut, jojoba, or olive oil.

    One of my favorites comes from Barbara Rogers of Simply Divine Botanicals. She has the most delightful and fragrant breast massage cream infused with 15 botanicals that also encourages lymphatic drainage.

  10. A Conversation on Breast Health with Julie Ann Meyer

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    A Conversation on Breast Health with Julie Ann Meyer

    Back in November of 2021, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Health and Vitality Coach and host of Own Your Wellness, Julie Ann Meyer, to talk about breast health.

    We had quite an interesting conversation, covering several topics related to breast health, such as:

    • Breast cancer
    • Dense breasts
    • Lymphatic drainage
    • Breast thermography
    • Environmental estrogens

    So, if you want to learn more about breast health, including why thermography offers the earliest detection of breast health-related issues, factors that are linked to breast health problems, and how to maintain the health of your breasts, then you’ve got to watch this video.


    Patricia Luccardi video
     

    Interested in learning more about breast health and thermography, including the healthcare decisions you can make to improve your chances of keeping your breasts healthy? You should read my book, Thermography and the Fibrocystic and Dense Breast.

    Yours in radiant health!
    Patricia