I would like to share with you that I have recently made a big change at work. After many years in general internal medicine, wellness, and prevention-based care, I will now be applying my passion for prevention to the community of patients at increased risk of breast cancer. Lest you think this is not such a big deal, it turns out that breast cancer affects approximately 12% of women, or 1 in 8, over their lifetime. In other words, it’s a public health emergency. And the research has clearly demonstrated that obesity is a significant risk factor for breast cancer.

I knew that preventive medicine had broad implications for the prevention of diabetes, heart attacks, and strokes, but I did not realize that health and wellness had another big chapter under the heading of cancer prevention. Healthy behaviors may prevent up to half of all cancer deaths and diagnoses (including endometrial, gallbladder, lung, colon, pancreatic and renal cancers), according to a study from Harvard’s Chan School of Public Health. In women, about 40% of cancer diagnoses and 60% of cancer deaths are thought to be potentially preventable. In men, those numbers rise to an estimated 63% and 67%, respectively. This is a lot, a very lot, and certainly a lot more than I would ever have guessed. So there’s a lot of work to do, and I’m going to be busy doing it.

Here is what I read: “As a society, we need to … embrace the opportunity to reduce our collective cancer toll by implementing effective prevention strategies and changing the way we live.” Well, yes, we need to move more and eat more vegetables. But you already knew that. My goal has always been not to repeat what we already know, but to think about how to get there from here. Recipes, perspective, positive reinforcement, small changes, and lots of self-love are my stock-in-trade. 

You may not be able to change the hand that you’ve been dealt, but you can certainly play it to your best advantage. And it looks like your best advantage is much better than we could ever have imagined. I am taking questions…