"Empowering Women by Spreading Breast Cancer Awareness" by Dr. Shabnam Das Kar – Sarala Birla Gyan Jyoti School

FLO NE organized a programme on Breast Cancer prevention through awareness and preventive measures. The presentation was done by Dr Shabnam Das Kar from Mumbai, who is currently doing an advanced Fellowship from the American Academy of Anti-aging Medicine .

Mrs Anubha Goel , Principal of Sarala Birla Gyan Jyoti School very kindly allowed her lady teachers and students of class 11 & 12 attend the presentation in their Auditorium. Smita Agarwal, Vice Chairperson NE Chapter chaired the programme. FLO NE Chairperson, Monisha Baruwa felicitated Dr Shabnam and Mrs Goel. Saroj Khemka, Past Chairperson , NE Chapter introduced the speaker to the audience.

Dr Shabnam talked about the risks associated with products containing BPA’s (poisons leached from plastic containers storing food), harmful radiation emanating from cell-phones and other mobile devices, processed “food-like substances”, aspartame or artificial sweeteners , alcohol, cigarettes ,cosmetic products and an unhealthy lifestyle, all of which are carcinogenic and should be avoided as much as possible.

She described the right kind of food which includes 9-13 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, Green tea, Stevia as a healthy sugar substitute, Omega –3 Fatty acids found in fish oil, flax-seed , walnuts, mushrooms , and of Vitamin supplements, especially Vit. D.

She stressed on the importance of leading a healthy life with plentiful and correct exercise, meditation and good sleep hygiene of at least 10 hours of sleep in “dark cave” like surroundings. Inflammation was something that we need to check through a simple blood test Hs-CRP. Two websites that one could go to are www.ewg.org/skindeep/ and www.breastcancerfund.org/ .

She also touched on the topic of Cervical Cancer in response to audience questions, as well as the recent double mastectomy of Angelina Jolie, which garnered world-wide attention to the dreaded “C” word cancer.

All this was accompanied by audio-visual representations , includingones of breast self -examination in the correct way.

As we all know Indian women , while totally dedicated to the well-being of their families, are notoriously negligent of their own health, putting off visits to the doctor , when they are ill, and feeling strangely guilty . An Awareness Programme like this stressed on the importance of knowing your own body, recognizing when it requires medical attention and then making informed choices about the best possible remedial measures. Hopefully as someone tweeted to Yuvraj Singh, himself a Cancer Survivor, let Cancer be only another Zodiac sign!

It was a very informative, relevant programme and as one of our younger visitors said ” she was really good if she could make facts about breast cancer seem interesting”!

Smita Agarwal gave the vote of thanks