WASHINGTON, DC—The Food for Life: Let’s Beat Breast Cancer plant-based nutrition and cooking class series will honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month with classes being held in two dozen states across the country this fall.
The audience for the Food for Life: Let’s Beat Breast Cancer courses are cancer survivors and their families and friends, as well as those who want to prevent the disease.
“Research shows that a low-fat, plant-based diet rich in fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans can reduce breast cancer risk and is beneficial for breast cancer survivors,” says Stephanie McBurnett, a fellow with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. “The Food for Life: Let’s Beat Breast Cancer courses empower participants to use this knowledge to take control of their health with the foods they put on their plates.”
After being diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, or Can’tcer as she refers to it, in 2015, Tiah Tomlin-Harris, a Food for Life instructor in Atlanta, Georgia, had a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation. Not yet 40 years old at the time, she made efforts to lead a healthier lifestyle. However, when cancer resurfaced in 2019, she redoubled her efforts by immediately adopting a whole, plant-based diet, eliminating products that contained toxins or other dangerous chemicals from her home, and introducing other complementary practices into her daily routine. Tomlin-Harris, now 45, credits her dietary changes to the success she’s had in reducing the size of one tumor, riding her body from another and preventing others from forming.
Plant-based diets reduce the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to a study presented at this summer’s annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition. Women who followed a healthy, plant-based diet that included fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains the longest had the lowest risk of cancer compared to women who ate less healthy foods or animal products.
Designed by physicians, nutritionists and other health professionals, Food for Life courses promote a healthy plant-based diet based on the latest scientific research. Each course includes information on how certain foods and nutrients work to promote or prevent disease, cooking demonstrations of delicious and healthy plant-based recipes, as well as practical cooking skills and tips for incorporating healthy eating habits into everyday life.
The classes are held in partnership with the Physicians Committee’s Let’s Beat Breast Cancer campaign, which promotes four simple steps to make breast cancer less likely to occur and come back after diagnosis:
- Choose plant-based foods.
- Do sports regularly.
- limit alcohol.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
Let’sBeatBreastCancer.org includes the science behind the four steps, resources, and a promise that visitors can follow the four steps — and receive a free e-cookbook and four emails with tips, recipes, and support.
