Book Review

Breast Cancer? Breast Health! the Wise Woman Way
by Susun S. Weed, www.wisewomanbookshop.com

Finally, a non-threatening book about breast cancer

Can women do more than submit to a yearly examination to insure the health of their breasts?
According to Susun Weed, the highly-regarded author of Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way, there are many simple ways for women to increase the health of their breasts. Unlike most other books on the subject of breast health and breast cancer, which are clinical and frightening, Weed speaks from a place of warmth, sensitivity and compassion, giving comfort, reassurance and extremely practical advice. She gives the positive message that every cell of a woman's breasts can be nurtured, rejuvenated and healed by the energies of touch, pleasure, love, whole food, and green, healing plants.

Ms. Weed suggests a two-fold approach to breast health: increase the foods and lifestyle choices
that are known to prevent cancer, and decrease or eliminate those things that are known to increase cancer risk. Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way, explains all the risk factors for breast cancer, from excess hormones (especially estrogen) to tobacco smoke, radiation to poor diet. She sets out simple, pleasant, affordable ways to create your own anti-cancer lifestyle, including the best foods and herbs to add to your diet.

But what if a lump is found or, worse yet, if the diagnosis is cancer? Ms. Weed's book gives
thorough information that helps women move through the tangle of possible options. She offers
advice that deals not only with the physical aspects of treating lumps and cancer, but also the emotional, relational, and spiritual factors involved. Weed argues against taking action immediately, offering strong support for her opinion that women must give themselves time to make wise decisions that are not based on fear.

After a woman has chosen her treatment options, Susun continues to offer her support through
the use of complementary medicines -herbal and home remedies that are proven to moderate the
side effects of surgery, radiation, tamoxifen, and chemotherapy, without interfering with their effec-
tiveness. For instance, she cites statistics showing that women who attend regular support groups
double their survival time after diagnosis, that women who exercise regularly similarly increase their longevity, and that standard Heroic cures, including fasting, enemas, and high-dose supplements, actually increase morbidity and should be avoided.

Ms. Weed does not avoid the difficult questions surrounding breast cancer, but discusses them without engendering fear and guilt. She writes, "So many of our modern healers, alternative and orthodox alike, fear death. When a diagnosis of cancer is made, death becomes the enemy. Fear of death -- rather than love of life -- then becomes the basis from which treatments are chosen." Ultimately, Susun urges women to find ways to love their life without clinging, and to learn to honor their death. Doing so can open many doors, including those to a longer and richer life. Metastic breast cancer, she acknowledges, is curable only by "miracles"...which definitely do happen!

Christiane Northrup, author of the best selling Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, writes in the introduction that she learned the importance of breast health fourteen years ago when she developed a large breast abcess while nursing her first child. Due to her demanding schedule of work and devotion to the healing of others, she neglected her own self-care, resulting in the complete destruction of the structure of her breast duct. From that experience she became aware that we cannot nurture others fully or well unless we also nurture ourselves. "Our breasts know this. And they will not be silenced in their attempts to bring this to our attention," she states.

Susun agrees. She writes that women have a wise healer within that has been silenced, ignored, and ridiculed for the last several millennia. Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way gives explicit instructions for reconnecting with this inner wisdom, as well as detailed information about the herbal remedies mentioned in the book. An Herbal Pharmacy section contains instructions on making specific preparations (such as infusions, tinctures, oils, and vinegars) for those who want to do it themselves. All of Weed's recipes and suggestions are extremely easy to find, buy, make, or do, and do not require the fanatical extremes that are often recommended in other cancer treatment books. Her advice and wisdom can easily fit into the life of every woman who is concerned about good health.

Supporting women and their body wisdom unconditionally, Weed makes the process of main-
taining or regaining breast health into a magical journey of transformation and offers women the
opportunity to become healthy /whole/holy. Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way

Visit www.breasthealthbook.com for excerpts, articles, and more!
Visit the Wise Woman Bookshop

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