Living a healthy lifestyle — eating real food, exercising regularly and happily — can reduce your risk of breast cancer. This isn't news. But what will be news to many women is that eating just 2 ounces of red meat a day can significantly increase their risk of breast cancer, especially if they are finished with menopause. Eating 3 ounces of processed meat a day (i.e. cold cuts) was even riskier, researchers found.

This blow to pastrami-lovers everywhere was published in the prestigious British Journal of Cancer, a careful study that involved over 35,000 women ages 35-69. Does it merit careful consideration? Absolutely.

Eating garden-variety red meats (i.e. steak, hamburger, roasts) is still a confusing issue for most women: Is factory-farm, force-fed beef safe? If all those hormones, chemicals and antibiotics aren't good for us humans, why is it sold to us? (And cheaply, too.) Should I eat less of it?

I've done my homework. Allow me to help you decide: stay away. Make other choices. Cut way back, or stop eating red and processed meats. Steer your kids clear too. At the same time, be sure you all get enough protein. (Preferably, from plant sources, including beans, legumes, whole grains)

To continue educating (and scaring) yourself about the vital role that diet and exercise play in your battle to avoid or beat breast cancer, go to www.breastcancer.org

EN/X MAILBAG: A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR SQUARE DANCING!

How many times must I tell you? One secret to staying active and feeling alive is to find a physical activity you love and do it as long as you can. Here's an email from Lou who feels I gave short shrift to his favorite sport of square dancing. Go Lou!

Dear Marilynn: In a recent column, the sub topic was 'Dancing is Hot'. In this paragraph, you neglected a very important type of dance enjoyed by millions around the world — square dancing.

Web MD says: "With all its moving, twisting and turning, square dancing provides more than the daily dose of heart- and bone-healthy physical activity. Remembering all the calls — from 'do-si-do' to 'alemand' — keeps the mind sharp, potentially staving off age-related memory loss, experts say. And the companionship that regular square dancing offers is an antidote to depression and loneliness … ." Please give us an even break and mention square dancing.

— Thanks, Lou

Promenade all! I'm a big fan. Not only is it wonderful exercise, it's a very good excuse for wearing gingham. Thanks for sharing, Lou.

MINDSHIFT 101: CHANGE THE WAY YOU LOOK AT FOOD

What will it take to change the way you look at food — so that you stop the dieting, end the whining and start eating in a delicious new way that brings you better health, more energy and greater consciousness?

Beth Aldrich is a mother of three, a former marathon runner, and a health and nutritional counselor who is in the business of teaching all of the above. She is the founder of For Her Information Media, which includes online magazines, newsletters, and TV and radio webcasts. (www.forherinformation.com)

Her world is an audience of men and women who are hungry to lose weight, reduce sugar cravings and boost their immune system. Beth believes that the path to all of that, and more, involves reframing how you look at food. Here to open your eyes and spark new understanding are some of Beth's uncommon insights into some very common foods:

— A sliced carrot, with its pupil, iris and radiating lines, looks just like a human eye. Science now shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to your eyes, and helps them see better too.

— A tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is also red and has four chambers. Research shows that tomatoes are all about pure heart and blood flow.

— A walnut looks like a little brain: a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles look just like the neo-cortex. Walnuts help develop over three dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

— Kidney beans actually heal and help kidney function, and they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Is this coincidence? Or creationism? "Take another look (at your food)," Beth says, "and fill your plate with health."

ENERGY EXPRESS-O! YES, YOU CAN.

"If you take care of yourself, you can then cultivate others and together, nurture the Earth." — Beth Aldrich, www.restoringessence.com

Marilynn Preston — fitness expert, personal trainer and speaker on healthy lifestyle issues — is the creator of Energy Express, the longest-running syndicated fitness column in the country. She welcomes reader questions, which can be sent to MyEnergyExpress@aol.com. To find out more about Preston and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 ENERGY EXPRESS, LTD.

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