When it comes to Breast Cancer and our health in general, we know that hormones play a vital role in our well being. We as a western society are most definitely being infused with many environmental estrogens that come in many forms. It is thought that one of the largest influencers on our hormone systems is pesticides which mimic estrogen once entered into our bodies, and secondary is our meats such as chicken, beef etc pumped full of growth hormone for faster development. Each of these (and many more toxins) enter our bodies...and what is happening after that is likely not in our best interest. Girls are developing and experiencing puberty several years earlier than the previous generation and male sperm count is thought to have reduced up to 50%.
There are steps that can be taken to reduce the amount of xenoestrogens introduced to our systems. Xenoestrogens are non-natural hormones entering our bodies from outside sources. One thing that I recently started doing is soaking my veggies in a bowl of water containing 1/2 tsp of aluminum free baking soda. Baking soda is alkaline and will neutralize the pesticides. There are other options for cleansing veggies you could research including apple cider vinegar, alkaline water and food grade hydrogen peroxide.
Another step I take is to purchase AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE natural meats. Our chickens recently died, so now I am buying free range organic eggs, its a bit more expensive but worth the cost. We grow our own grass fed beef (don't buy organic beef, in order to be marked organic it must be grain fed...not good for you, I'll post more on that later,) and I try to buy chicken free of hormones (chicken is harder to find hormone free.) Most milk these days (including Costco's) are marked hormone free...the farmers *pledge* not to feed their cows hormones....but I would love to see a brand "certified" hormone free. One item I haven't found anywhere to be hormone free is cheese, I guess sour cream, yogurt and cottage cheese fall into this category too. I hope, as people become demand more pure products, we will be able to find them more easily.
So....how does all this tie into sprouting?
A diet rich in phytonutrients is thought to be protective to our hormone system. Phytoestrogens are natural plant based substances found in soybeans, licorice, yams and alfalfa (and lots of other foods,) that are thought to bind estrogen cell receptors and protect them from accepting the more damaging xenoestrogens (which come from our environment like pesticides, hormone infuse meat, milk and eggs.)
One good reason to sprout and eat a cup a day of alfalfa sprouts!!! The possibility of protecting our delicate hormone system...potentially avoiding hormone fed cancers (breast, ovarian, testicular etc) and other hormone balanced functions like the metabolism and thyroid.
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