Today, I would like to introduce you to my colleague at The UltraWellness Center in Lenox Massachusetts, Dr. Elizabeth Boham. She is a physician who practices Functional Medicine and is a Registered Dietitian.

Among other things, Dr. Boham works every day with women who come to see her to help them decrease their risk of breast cancer. She wrote the following blog to give you some simple steps you can take to substantially decrease your chances of getting breast cancer.

—Dr Mark Hyman

Do you worry about getting breast cancer? Have you already suffered from the disease and are now afraid of a recurrence? I understand why. The incidence of breast cancer is skyrocketing ...

Last year over 200,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 60,000 cases of non-invasive breast cancer were diagnosed. A woman’s risk of getting breast cancer has jumped from 1 in 20 in the 1960s to 1 in 8 today. Tragically, more than 40,000 women died from breast cancer alone last year.

Why has there been such a huge escalation in the rates of this frightening disease? What’s the cause of this epidemic and what can we do about it?

Getting to the bottom of these questions is of personal interest to me. When I was 30 years old, I was diagnosed with an aggressive type of invasive breast cancer. At the time I thought I was healthy ...

Before I went to med school my background was in nutrition and exercise physiology. I was an athlete, an avid exerciser, and was careful with my diet. I was young, had no family history of breast cancer, nor any signs of chronic illness.

So when I was told I should have a mass in my breast removed, the last thing I thought it would be was cancer.

How does an otherwise healthy woman get cancer? What did I do wrong? What can I do to reduce my risk of recurrence?

Looking for answers to these questions sent me on a journey through my medical training and eventually to an education in Functional Medicine.

What I discovered on that journey is what I want to share with you in today’s blog.

"Seventy-five percent of women suffer from headaches, mood swings, bloating, and other problems that threaten their relationships, work life, and well-being."

It's a statement that most of us unconsciously accept without a second thought.

But is it a fact?

No way!

It's true that the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), like mood swings, irritability, depression, anxiety, fluid retention, bloating, breast tenderness, sugar cravings, headaches, and sleep disturbances, affect 75 percent of women. 

In 20 percent of those women, the symptoms are so severe that they need medical treatment.

And about 8 percent have such extreme symptoms that the problem has been given a new name: premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

But just because you're a woman doesn't mean you have to live with these symptoms.

The real fact is that suffering related to menstrual cycles is unnecessary -- and not caused by bad luck, but by bad habits, environmental toxins, and stress.