Believe Big Podcast

Summer Replay-17-Dr. Kirsten West - Top Five Cancer Prevention Tips

• Ivelisse Page with Dr. Kirsten West • Season 1 • Episode 17

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Whether you are currently on a cancer-fighting journey today or you have a family history that indicates you may be on that path in the future, you will want to listen to today's episode.

Dr. Kirsten West of the Riordan Clinic's integrative oncology team joins us to talk about things you can do TODAY to prevent cancer.  She shares a wealth of knowledge and practical lifestyle changes through her Top Five Prevention Tips and even goes beyond that with some bonus content. 

Connect with Dr. Kirsten West at the Riordan Clinic:
https://riordanclinic.org/

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Ivelisse Page:

Hi, I'm Ivelisse Page. And thanks for listening to the Believe Big podcast, the show where we take deep dive into your healing with health experts, integrative practitioners, biblical faith leaders and cancer thrivers from around the globe. Welcome to today's episode on the Believe Big podcast. My name is Ivelisse Page and today's episode is on a topic that every person you know needs to hear about. Right now, one in two men and one in 2.4 women will hear they have cancer in their lifetime. It's also been said that by the year 2030, those rates are expected to double. We at Believe Big and the Believe Big Institute of Health are dedicated to changing those statistics. Annual tests like colonoscopies and breast exams are helpful tools for detecting cancer, but they aren't preventing it. It's why I am excited for you to hear from my dear friend, Dr. Kirsten West today on the top five things you can start doing today to prevent cancer. Dr. West is part of the integrative oncology team at the Riordan Clinic. She is a naturopathic doctor with a fellowship with the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians. She also holds a master's degree in Oriental medicine and acupuncture, and is a gifted writer and presenter on integrative medical topics. Welcome Dr. West to the show.

Dr. Kirsten West:

Oh, thanks, Ivelisse it's great to be here.

Ivelisse Page:

We start every podcast and knowing what our guest favorite health tip is. So can you share what your best tip.

Dr. Kirsten West:

You know, I was thinking about this a lot. There's so many great ones out there, and I know that Dr. Tims spoke to the gratitude journal, and I think that's just amazing. So that's probably one of the top, but I think another very important piece is just to breathe. I think that we are so busy in our lives on computers. We get so stuck in our heads that we forget about our body. And I think breathing just stopping and breathing is such an important, powerful thing we can do for our health.

Ivelisse Page:

Oh, my goodness. Just as you were saying that I'm like, okay, Ivelisse breathe.

Dr. Kirsten West:

I know. I think that's why I think about it, cuz I need to tell myself to breathe all the time.

Ivelisse Page:

Such a good tip, and I'm so thankful you shared that one. Many of the physicians I meet that specialize in oncology have a reason or story for deciding to work with cancer patients. And what made you decide to go into medicine and specialize in oncology?

Dr. Kirsten West:

It's a really good question. I grew up in a very conventional medicine background. My mom was a nurse. She ended up being head of patient outcomes at University of Colorado. And was around a lot of medical doctors, nurses, et cetera, in standard of care, and really wanted to become a medical doctor. And then my grandmother ended up getting sick, stage four cancer. She was in New Hampshire. And so we flew her into Colorado to get the best care. And so she came in and I watched her go downhill. I know that they were doing everything in their power to help her. I was so thankful for that and that their hearts were in the right place. But I saw her develop a lot of side effects. I saw the treatments cause a lot of debilitation and I think in the long run, the cancer did get her, but I think that a lot of the side effects in sequelae from those treatments ended up taking her as well. And so after she passed, I was finishing up college and while I was looking into medical school, I was looking into other things and I ended up meeting two naturopathic doctors who practiced in Denver. Cause I was like maybe this is another avenue I should think about. And one of those doctors, Dr. Jacob Schor, who is incredible and I will always attribute so much to him for my path, but, he specialized in integrative oncology. And I learned all of these things that I could have potentially done for my grandmother had I known. And that was such a light bulb moment for me of, this is what we need to be doing for patients. We need to be helping to foster the terrain while the other doctors, her medical oncologist, radiation oncologist are going after the cells, but if we don't work and support the body through all of that, we're not gonna get as far as we could. And who knows who it's so hard to say now what would've happened if I had known what I had known, but I feel like that was a gift for me to start this journey and do what I'm doing.

Ivelisse Page:

Wow. And I'm so grateful for that. You have helped so many of our patients over the years, I can't even count them. And so we're so grateful for all that you do. And, always feel like God does not waste our pain. And so what you saw and experienced with your grandmother is now being paid for thousand fold for others. And, almost letting her influence you in deciding to go on this side of medicine is gonna impact, has impacted and will continue to impact so many lives in the future. So thank you so much for sharing that.

Dr. Kirsten West:

Of course.

Ivelisse Page:

So from your clinical perspective of working with oncology patients over the years, what would you say are the most common patterns of those that get diagnosed with cancer?

Dr. Kirsten West:

I thought about this a lot, because obviously, and I know so many people are familiar with Dr. Nasha's Terrain- 10, and those Terrain- 10 are big and they are important. In clinical practice we tend to see, at least I've tended to see along with some of my colleagues, about five, that tend to be the most important. And so of those five, I think stress, which also includes trauma, and stress can be from past too. It doesn't just need to be where we are right now. So stress metabolic imbalance, inflammation. And inflammation is, gosh, it's just a cornerstone for everything because everything ties into inflammation. I think environmental toxins. And then I also think about immune function in the microbiome. So those are the five patterns that I think I tend to see those the most in clinical practice.

Ivelisse Page:

I hear that all the time and it's just wow, people don't realize they think it's a fluke thing or it's just a genetical thing. And what you're sharing or will share today, I know is gonna impact so many. I know we're gonna focus on the top five things a person can do to prevent cancer. But before we go there, can you share your best advice for someone who's listening today that has cancer or they just find out they have cancer? What would be your best advice for them.

Dr. Kirsten West:

Breathe. I think, the word cancer has so much behind it and there's so much fear involved when you get the diagnosis and you feel like you have to jump into everything right away and do everything. But we need to remember that this is something that probably took about seven to 10 years to start. And so making sporadic decisions overnight without really having all the information or gathering a support group is probably not the best idea. So that's where taking your time, really breathing, thinking things through is important. So that's my, that's probably my number one recommendation because there are so many resources out there. I think having a really strong team, not just your doctors, but also family and community is imperative. And that's how you get you go through this journey because the diagnosis of cancer can be very isolating and it doesn't need to.

Ivelisse Page:

I completely agree. And with all the things that patients can do to integrate their care, it doesn't have to be the end of life as you know it.

Dr. Kirsten West:

No.

Ivelisse Page:

You can have incredible quality of life going through something difficult. And we see it every day. And so it, it hurts my heart when I see people that aren't incorporating these integrative practices, because they are suffering, they are experiencing cancer related fatigue and the nausea, the vomiting, all those things that can be mitigated by these integrative therapies that you all do at the Riordan Clinic. So I love that you said that. Let's do a countdown on your top five list.

Dr. Kirsten West:

Let's do.

Ivelisse Page:

All right. So what would be number five?

Dr. Kirsten West:

I think number five would be cultivating community. They call it a practice of medicine because it's a practice. I will never forget when I got outta medical school, someone said, medical school teaches you how to be a safe doctor, but doesn't teach you how to be a good doctor. And so it really is the practice of medicine. And as I've worked with oncology patients over the years, I have discovered how important community is. And I think that we have gotten away from that in our social media world. We are social creatures, but it's not, we aren't meant to be social on computer. We're meant to be with other people. And so I think cultivating community is a really large aspect of that. And they have actually done studies on ovarian cancer, breast cancer, that women who have a strong social network specifically with other women. Sorry guys. But it's been with women that they have significantly improved overall survival rates. So there's something there for that. Yeah.

Ivelisse Page:

Wow. I completely agree. And we've also been in a really weird season of everyone having to move inward and I'm sure that even made it even more difficult. But there's a comedian, Sebastian. I don't know if you've ever heard him. He is hilarious. You have to do when he's Italian comedian, he does this skit on this, and it's hilarious and sad at the same time. It's called the doorbell skit and he compares our response to someone knocking on our door today versus 20 years ago. So basically he shares how in the past, when someone came to your door, it was a family event. Everyone rushed the door to see who it was. There weren't phones, cell phones, everyone was checking and texting. And people would just stop by if they were in the neighborhood. And then he's like today people are hiding and saying, wait, did you invite someone over? Do you invite someone over? Who's at the door?

Dr. Kirsten West:

That's so true. It's true.

Ivelisse Page:

And everything is Amazoned in, instead of ask your neighbor for ingredient you're missing or can I borrow this? We really. Like you're saying need to be intentional about what it means to live a vibrant, full life with those within our community. Even within our five mile radius of each other as author, Jeanie Allen says. And so I truly believe that is so true, cuz we're not meant to do life alone.

Dr. Kirsten West:

We're not.

Ivelisse Page:

And and if someone wants some great ways to build community locally within their neighborhood, get the book, Find Your People. It is great.

Dr. Kirsten West:

That's great.

Ivelisse Page:

Has great ideas.

Dr. Kirsten West:

That's a great, recommendation. I always think I will remember this story. My mom, we had a great neighbor and she never went grocery shopping and she and my mom were really close. So she'd just come over to our house and go grocery shopping in the fridge. So I always laughed at that. I was like, that's hilarious, but there's an example of community.

Ivelisse Page:

So it's so true. And I miss that from my Puerto Rican culture. In Puerto Rico, my grandmother would be cooking for morning to night and she would make these huge pots of rice and beans and everything she was making. And I'm like, why? It's only just us. Why are you making so much? She's we don't know who's gonna stop. So they always made enough for whoever would stop by. So I love that and I love that neighbor of yours so what's number four.

Dr. Kirsten West:

Okay number four, I would say, gosh, when we're doing the countdown, I really do feel like these are all, all just as important. But I think number four would be eating an anti-inflammatory diet. It's so easy for us to have processed foods, and then the other thing that happened, is people get away from peanuts or get away from gluten is almonds tend to become a big part of our diet. And those are super high in omega six and the American diet, and I know you had Jess Kelly on and she talked quite a bit to this, I love Jess, but the thing about the American diet is that we tend to be so overloaded in omega sixes, and we don't have enough omega three. And omega three are anti-inflammatory foods. And if we know that inflammation is one of the largest drivers of cancer, then the first thing we can do is be aware of what we're putting in our mouth. And I think one of my favorite things that I always recommend my patients is fish oil, olive oil. I think we have some really therapeutic oils out there that can be helpful. And then really trying to stay away from unprocessed foods and eating whole foods, going back to being social creatures, we were also meant to eat whole foods. We weren't meant to have processed things.

Ivelisse Page:

You're absolutely right. And I think for the Omega's one thing that I'm always surprised about and is that the bad oils that are out there and in everything, even healthy dressings at Whole Foods, I'm like, oh my goodness, look it's canola oil in there. And so list the omega six, the bad oils so that people should look on the back of a label or know to stay away from.

Dr. Kirsten West:

So canola oil, corn oil, a diet heavy in almonds. I would try to stay away from flaxseed oil. I get a lot of patients who are taking a bunch of flaxseed oil cause they hear that it's very therapeutic, but the problem with flaxseed oil is it can go down the pro-inflammatory pathway. So I would stay away from flaxseed oil too, I think it's easier to really focus on those. I would stay away from cashews. And there's a lot of cashew products out there now, too. So really, I think it's easier to tell people what oils to focus on. And that would be fish oil and olive oil. Obviously you don't need to put fish oil on food. That would be really disgusting, but you can eat your cold water fish, you can take your fish oil supplements. And then I always tell people Ivelisse, olive oil, use it as a condiment. That's how they use in Italy. Put it on the table when you finish cooking, add your olive oil to it, more power to ya.

Ivelisse Page:

I love that. And it's true. And I was told, and you can confirm this for us, that you shouldn't cook high heat though with olive should be with dressings and things like that. What are some good oils that we can cook with?

Dr. Kirsten West:

So what I do is I will spray a light layer of coconut oil down or avocado oil. Those are my two favorites. I'll spray those down just to stop the sticking in, we use stainless steel, so we do that in the stainless steel. Otherwise everything will stick. And then when we get it off the stove, that's when we add a bunch of olive oil to it. And when you get a good olive oil, it is a whole different ballgame. You can, you smell the olive, you taste the olive and it just changes your food and it makes you feel like, gosh, I really am doing something good for myself.

Ivelisse Page:

How do you know you have a good olive oil?

Dr. Kirsten West:

That's a really good question. So interesting, the mafia did get involved with olive oil production in our country, so we can't be sure. We can't be sure that all the olive oils that we're getting are true straight olive oil. So some of them are released with corn oil, canola oil, things like that. You can Google articles that list the best forms of olive oil and no, no joke. Costco actually has some of the best olive oil. It comes in a big plastic. I'm not a fan of plastic containers, but it does come in a big plastic container. And then the other olive oils that are great. The Whole Food's 365 brand, which aren't that expensive either.

Ivelisse Page:

Seriously.

Dr. Kirsten West:

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. I think we get into this mentality of, I have to spend so much money to get high quality anything, but for olive oil, that's not always the case.

Ivelisse Page:

That's encouraging to hear cuz I would look at Whole Foods. I'm like extra virgin oh it comes from Italy it has to be good. So those are good tips. Yeah. All right. So what is number three?

Dr. Kirsten West:

Number three would be, and I'm so big on this and I, I just find the data on fasting so fascinating. And it makes so much sense when we really think about it, but getting at least 13 hours a night away from food. The key to that's gonna be three hours between finishing dinner and going to bed.

Ivelisse Page:

Okay. What are some things that people can do? Should they start off with 13 hours immediately? Or should they ease into it? What is the best way to do that?

Dr. Kirsten West:

I would say that if they could at least begin the hardest part for people, especially in the summer is getting that three hours between finishing dinner and bedtime. I think that's the hardest piece. So if people can start to focus on that, I think that's number one. if the body's metabolizing overnight, if you don't have enough time, it creates a bunch of oxidative stress when you're sleeping and pushes a lot of growth hormone. And we don't wanna do that. That's not good for risk of cancer. It's not good for disease in general. We also don't sleep well. If our body's still working on digesting food, we're not gonna sleep well. So I would say that would be the number one thing. And then as they extend it longer, when you think about it, another 10 hours, if you go to bed at gosh, 10:00 PM, you could have breakfast at 8:00 AM, right? That's not horrible. It's just really making sure that you're finishing eating earlier in the day before.

Ivelisse Page:

And I was told, and you can tell me this, that women who are premenopausal or menopausal, like you should be careful with fasting. What do you say about that?

Dr. Kirsten West:

I think it depends on the person. I think it depends on stress response, cuz obviously if someone's perimenopausal or going through menopause, hormones are all over the place. This is where testing can come in to see what's going on with hormones and detoxification, hormonal metabolism and cortisol levels. And if we can get a good picture there, cuz if someone is going through perimenopause or menopause and they fast and they have issues, it speaks to something else going on.

Ivelisse Page:

Okay. That's why it's so important to be connected with an integrative doctor like yourself, because it gives you that peace of mind, so many times we think we're doing the right things and we're accidentally harming ourselves more than helping ourselves because we hear someone share this great tip somewhere and we're like, oh, I gotta incorporate that. Meanwhile, for ourselves, it can actually be harming us. So I love that you said that because integrative practitioners are doing that testing each year and really looking at your levels closely and individualizing your care for what is best for you. That's great.

Dr. Kirsten West:

Yeah. Test, assess, address. To add onto that really quick is that I think what happens for women too, is there can be some shame if they try to do something that they feel is right and it's not working for them, they feel like something's wrong with them or, they're not doing what they should be for their health. And a lot of times, like I said, there's reasons for that. And being able to empower them to make changes is important.

Ivelisse Page:

That's great. All right. Number two,

Dr. Kirsten West:

Number two would be to move. I think like you and I, we're sitting here now on a podcast, I do this all day. I'm usually sitting down and I wanna get a standing desk, but being pregnant right now, I have swollen feet, so that's not gonna help me either right now. But we do need to be moving and I'm sure that you've heard this and I'm sure a number of people have heard this, but sitting is considered the new cigarette or smoking. So we need to be getting up. I would say every 45 minutes, get up and move for, even if it's two or three minutes, you're moving your body. You're getting your blood flowing. You're getting your lymphatic system flowing. It's important. We need to be doing that. And we're meant to be moving. Again, going back to ancestors. We weren't sitting at a desk all day. We were hunting, we were gathering food. We were migrating. We need to be moving. I do think that at least 20 to 30 hour, oh my gosh, not 20 to 30 hours, but 20 to 30 minutes a day of some form of routine exercise where you're devoting to that movement is important, but we can't think, oh, we did the 20 to 30 minutes this morning. So now it's fine for us to sit all day. you don't have to keep exercising, but it's important to move. So I think movement is important.

Ivelisse Page:

Good point. And I think, some people think that it has to be like in a gym or it has to be riding a stationary bike or on a treadmill and it could be walking your dog around the neighborhood. My husband and I just started playing disc golf. I love it. Do things that you enjoy, and then that way we always stick to it.

Dr. Kirsten West:

Yep. Exactly. Find something you love, cuz if you don't, you're not gonna stick to it.

Ivelisse Page:

All right, I'm doing the drum roll. Number one, tip for preventing cancer.

Dr. Kirsten West:

Okay. I'm coming right back to the beginning. Breathe. I thought there's so much more to this than just breathing. And the thing is that first of all, breathing gets us in body, it helps to root us again. But it also helps us to be in our true nature. And I think that we're like I said, heady or busy doing other things that we get out of that we forget what our true nature really is and there's other things that we're defining ourselves by, and there's something so special and sacred about just being with ourselves. And so breathing enables that to happen. Meditation is another avenue there. And then not only being in our true nature, but also being in nature. There's been studies showing that trees put off something called phytoncides, which actually improve our immune function. And that's why in Japan, so many people go forest bathing and forest bathing means that they're just essentially out in the trees.

Ivelisse Page:

Wow.

Dr. Kirsten West:

So breathing has so much involved in it, but that is the number one. Let's get back to our true state.

Ivelisse Page:

I love that. And is there a certain way we should breathe?

Dr. Kirsten West:

I've been reading a lot about trauma work and how we store trauma in the body. And one thing that we need to think about when we breathe is that when we inhale, that's a sympathetic response. And when you do it, if you ever got a stethoscope and listen to your heart, when you're breathing, you'll notice that when you take your in breath, your heart starts beating faster. And that's sympathetic, that's fight or flight response. Not that we're in a fight or flight, but that's, those are the two different ends of the sympathetic versus parasympathetic. When you exhale that's parasympathetic. So what you wanna try to focus on when you breathe is try to make your exhalation longer than your inhalation, because that's gonna tell your body that everything's okay. And that you're at peace and that you're grounded.

Ivelisse Page:

Wow. That's a great tip and that's easy to do anywhere.

Dr. Kirsten West:

It gets you focused and present. If you're paying attention.

Ivelisse Page:

I love it. I don't know if you've heard, it's called the one minute PAUSE and it walks you through those breathing exercises, but it also helps you, walks you through a meditative prayers and reflection. It's wonderful to set your mind in the morning and at night, right before you go to bed. My husband, Jimmy's doing their 30 day challenge and he said, it's really transformed, not only his ability to handle what's happening in the world, but also his faith. That's a great tip for someone who just wants someone to help guide them through that. Yeah. That is a great app. Do you have one that you've seen that is helpful?

Dr. Kirsten West:

I use CALM? I've been using CALM a lot. There's so many out there and INSIGHT TIMER has, there is a woman on there and she has some beautiful mantras. Mantras that have put me in tears at some points. You can go for someone guiding you through it. Some of the mantra meditations are really powerful just like prayer, and it can help us in a lot of ways as well.

Ivelisse Page:

As we close, I know we shared our number one, but we're gonna share a little bonus for everyone. I would love to hear from you, what tests you recommend for every person to have done every year? I know most conventional doctors only do the basics like a CBC or vitamin D levels and only when something's wrong. But what are the essentials?

Dr. Kirsten West:

Gosh, that's such a great question. Obviously. CBC MP, which is your complete metabolic panel. I think the three inflammatory markers, which a lot of people refer to as the trifecta, which is your CRP, LDH, and ESR are important. They represent different types of inflammation, chronic, moderate, acute. So if you get all three, you get a really good idea of where the body's at. And then I think we forget a lot about the metabolic piece. Where's your hemoglobin A1C? Where's your blood sugar on an average basis? What about IGF one? IGF one is a growth factor. Vitamin D you spoke to that obviously important. I think looking at a simple ANA, which is an autoimmune marker is really good because I, I can't even tell you the number of times that'll come up positive on labs and people have no idea. And isn't it good for us to see? Geez, the immune system might be focused on some things that shouldn't be focused on. Let's get it back to doing what it needs to be doing. Gosh, there's so many others Fibrinogen is a great one. Ferritin is a big one looking at iron storage, especially in menstruating women.

Ivelisse Page:

Why is that?

Dr. Kirsten West:

Because Ferritin is your iron storage, so for women who are menstruating monthly, especially if they're not eating red meat or more vegan or vegetarian Ferritin can dip quite a bit and don't want Ferritin to be too low. Cause if Ferritin is too low, it can promote anemia and decreased oxygenation of cells. It can cause depression, it can cause fatigue and low stamina. And so a lot of times when women come and they have chronic fatigue or they're depressed, or they're not sleeping, it's as simple as gosh, your Ferritin levels are too low and you're anemic.

Ivelisse Page:

What about magnesium levels? I've been hearing so much about figuring out what your levels are because they can cause everything from migraines to different sleeping.

Dr. Kirsten West:

Absolutely magnesium is so big and it is the one nutrient that we tend to be most efficient in this country because we've really lost it from the soil. That's one of my main recommendations for patients aside from fish oil is to take magnesium. There's also been some data showing that people with low magnesium it's correlated with low glutathione and glutathione is our master antioxidant so here we go. There's this big web, right? Like everything's interconnected.

Ivelisse Page:

Yes, I go in monthly because especially when I'm traveling a lot, I go get a Myers and it has with a glute push because I've found that really helps me to stay strong and keep my energy in consistency in knowing that I'm getting those essential minerals and vitamins, especially when I know heavy travel is coming ahead. So those are some easy people can do that. I I've heard that walk-in labs that you can actually, self-pay.

Dr. Kirsten West:

Walk-in labs you can self-pay. I really do recommend working with a practitioner who's gonna outline the best labs. Because they're gonna be the ones to go over them with you and just to reiterate, and I know that this has probably been spoken about before. Those ranges on labs are not the ranges that we really wanna pay attention to. We wanna pay attention to optimal ranges because those ranges are based on the standard American population of whatever area you're in. And we know that the standard population in America is not the healthiest. So really getting labs optimal, that's what I always tell my patients. I'm like, I wanna make your body as inhospitable to disease as we can. And that's by looking at the labs, it's a way for us to monitor and make sure we're moving in the right direction.

Ivelisse Page:

I'm so glad you said that because that's even one when I was going through my cancering process, that my oncologist would look at my labs after I was NED no evidence of disease, and he would say, oh, everything's in a normal range. You're good to go. And I would take those same labs and take it to my integrative doctor and he would look at'em and he goes, oh, Ivelisse this one is on the very low side of normal, and I need that to be on the high side, and this is gonna affect the lymphocytes and all these, he sees the whole picture of the puzzle of how that works and how they really integrate everything to make us the best version of ourselves.

Dr. Kirsten West:

Ivelisse you spoke to that when you finish, when you are declared disease free and remission, that's usually the time where you want to feel as empowered as you possibly can. This is not gonna happen again. Or do everything you can to make sure that it doesn't happen again. So that's where testing can be really important.

Ivelisse Page:

For those listening who are post cancer, it's really important for your physician to continue to monitor those cancer markers. Every year I get my CEA my CA 125 and the others just to make sure that nothing is brewing, that we can't take care of. And it's so important to know that.

Dr. Kirsten West:

Yep. Yep. And one last part, one last part, now that my brain's going is the epigenetics. Epigenetics are also a really big, and nutrigenomics is becoming a big field and nutrigenomics is tying in by looking at epigenetics and I'll just speak to epigenetics really quick.

Ivelisse Page:

Can you explain to people who aren't sure what epigenetics are?

Dr. Kirsten West:

Yeah. So epigenetics, I know cuz it's a big word. It's basically you think about your genes as the blueprint and epigenics are like the contractors. So you've been given gene from your parents and epigenetics they can be turned on or off to express certain genes. So it's important for us to look at epigenetic pictures because that can also help us to evaluate what do we need to be more concerned with for a given person. And I spoke to nutrigenomics, which is basically putting together, looking at epigenetics and which nutritional aspects may be more important. You have people who are like, I wanna do full blown keto, or I'm gonna do completely vegan or vegetarian. And really if you put the epigenetics together with labs, you get a better picture of actually, this might be better for you than that.

Ivelisse Page:

Thank you for adding that. Is there anything else that I didn't ask that you think would be helpful in the prevention of cancer before we close out the episode?

Dr. Kirsten West:

I don't think so. I think those are the big ones, I think if we wanted to add one more like a baby six onto the list of things to prevent, would be watching what you're putting on and in your body. That's a big one. And to make that, one, one great resource is ewg.org, which is the environmental working group, easy website for anyone to get on. And man, you can put in your cosmetics, your household cleaning agents, and just see where they are on the list of toxic or non-toxic.

Ivelisse Page:

That's a great tip. Thank you Dr. West so much for taking time out of your very busy day to speak with us today. We are so grateful for all that you do.

Dr. Kirsten West:

It's been a pleasure. It's been wonderful. Thank you.

Ivelisse Page:

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