Just when I discovered meatloaf
So the headline that jumped out at me today from The Seattle Times is that red meat is linked to breast cancer risk, that women in their 20s to their 40s, premenopausal women, in short, who eat a lot of red meat, can almost double their risk of getting the big C, specifically breast cancer.
We don’t eat much beef at home since I don’t really know how to make good steaks, so this shouldn’t be a problem. However, yesterday I made my first meat loaf. It was a yummy, super easy dish. I literally jumped for joy when the kids and Lokes gobbled like a ton of it down. Which begs the question: Why did I have to go and read the papers today?
While we’re not going to give up red meat entirely, this piece of news really got me thinking, particularly the part about giving women one more thing to do to have some control over BC prevention. I’m sure there are quite some do’s and don’ts on that list. My question is, will it make a REAL difference? When breast cancer survivors think back on the things they did/didn’t do, are they filled with regrets of doing/not doing those things?
Other than doing a regular breast exam, do these studies really empower women to take charge - or do they simply make us more paranoid? Should the media refrain from reporting PASSIVE findings as opposed to ACTIVE findings (such as eating oats to reduce cholesterol)?
Awareness is a double-edged sword, and in today’s ultra-connected world, it can make us retreat further into our shells, with only our computer screens as windows to the real world. And that, to me, is worse than getting cancer from eating red meat.
In other news, the beautiful Karli (literally, just look at her latest SPC shot!) just gave me a crash course on the-day-after-Thanksgiving sales. Wake up at 3am and camp out for the stores to open at 5am?! Holy crap. These guys are serious!
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Posted in Imperfect Everything



November 15th, 2006 at 12:21 am
Recipe for the meatloaf? care to share?
November 15th, 2006 at 6:57 am
okay, that scares the crap out of me, which is because I’m in that exact demographic and eat red meat! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I know you mean about awareness being a double-edge sword… it just depressed me.
November 15th, 2006 at 8:50 am
For me, I go with the motto of “All in moderation”. Too much of everything is no good.
Plus, I know too many people who are doing all the right things and still they get nasty diseases.
So don’t worry too much. Enjoy the food while you can.
November 15th, 2006 at 11:06 am
Yea. Enjoy life. kelantan gal is right. You can do eveyrthing right and then get socked, I should know.
One year we went to Target at 5a.m. on Black Friday with Seb when he was like 4 months old; he’s an early riser so we figured, why not. Now it’ll be more challenging.
November 15th, 2006 at 3:40 pm
I almost forgot about it until I read your post. Here’s some of my shopping tips. The day before, buy the newspaper. There’ll be all sorts of sale flyers. Plan what you’re going to buy, especially if you’re going to hit the electronic/comp store because some stores have limited items. Go with someone. Never alone. One person grab the stuff and one person line up. My first day-after-thanksgiving shopping experience was a nightmare. I didn’t do any research. Turns out some places open at 5, some at 6. I arrived an hour before Best Buy (electronic store) open and the line was around the block. It was so freaking cold. I didn’t bring my mittens or something warm to drink. Worse, I had to line up almost 2 hours to pay for my item.
Anyway, I’m sure you’ll have a better experience. Have fun and keep warm!!!