As many of you know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Raising awareness of breast cancer screenings, treatment and support programs is a cause close to my heart. This dreadful disease has affected some of those closest to me. Living with, or living life beyond, breast cancer is never easy—the physical and mental impacts can take their toll.

No matter your age, to keep your breasts healthy it helps to learn what’s normal and what’s not. It will put you on the lookout for changes that could be signs of trouble. Just like any part of your body, find out what to expect at different stages of life. The same way you pay attention to your skin and watch for new moles, you should pay attention to your breasts.

Our two editorial themes this month are Breast Health and Living a Simpler Life. The article “Healthy Breast Basics: Lifestyle Choices to Lower Disease Risks,” in our Healing Ways section, offers a wealth of information. One in eight American women develops breast cancer in the course of her lifetime, yet dietary strategies can sharply curtail that risk. Experts recommend women eat mostly plant-based meals, choose antibiotic-free animal and vegetable protein, minimize dairy or alcohol, and forego refined or processed carbohydrates like bread, white rice and cookies. Cleansing strategies like liver and gallbladder flushes and colonic irrigations can help the body purge toxins, and self-exams of the breasts remain a critical practice.

We also have a local article on thermography—a noninvasive form of thermal imaging that uses an infrared camera that senses heat and records patterns of inflammation and blood flow near the surface of the body. It is used as a risk-assessment tool to detect potential inflammatory problems in the breast, thyroid, neuromuscular and oral health systems. Unlike imaging such as X-ray or mammography, in which a form of radiation is penetrated through the body to detect anatomical lesions, thermography uses infrared technology to determine abnormal physiological changes that could lead to cancer.

This month’s feature article, “Less Stuff, More Joy: Ways to Live Simpler and Lighter on Mother Earth,” will definitely leave you feeling lighter and brighter. With the pandemic teaching us what truly matters, people are increasingly turning to simpler, sustainable, more conscious ways of living. This can mean everything from decluttering a room to moving to a more restful locale, from buying local vegetables to working for sustainable corporate reform. There’s also a sidebar that includes checklists of minimalist, ecological and conscious-living approaches and tasks.

Tying in with the theme of living more simply is the local article “Engaging a Simpler Energy,” which offers some useful tips.

I hope this October, you are able to implement some of the simple-living advice we’ve served up, as I know it will do you a world of good. But please don’t forget to make time to check the tatas and embrace any necessary preventive strategies. And if you happen to know someone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer, please let them know you’re there for them, as I’m sure it will do them a world of good.

Shae