Instead, eat every dark-purple berry you can (freeze those you can’t).

While all berries are good cancer fighters, black raspberries are all-stars. They’re so good at preventing the Big C on the cellular level (eat more, eat more!) that in the lab, scientists have also made them into a skin gel that takes the sting out of sunburn, slows the growth of squamous cell skin cancer, and squelches inflammation from UVB rays.

The black raspberry contains high levels of nutrients and chemopreventive vitamins and phytochemicals, including Beta-Carotene, Coumaric Acid, Ellagitannins, Anthocyanins, Ferulic acid, Ellagic Acid : source

Toss fresh or thawed frozen berries into everything from salads and smoothies, or just eat them right off the vine.

You can’t do your body anything but good.

Calcium in Ice Cream?

How much calcium can be absorbed from ice cream?

Ice Cream manufacturers say that it’s no different than from low-fat milk. Well they would of course. There’s a lot of money in ice cream and there’s a lot of money to be made from women seeking advice about calcium.

There will be a big push on advertising for ice cream and ice lollies this year. The big manufacturers will be hustling for our custom.

Fair enough. We’re a captive market and we know we need calcium. But the idea of getting my daily calcium intake from ice cream hadn’t occurred to me before.

When I looked at the research from just one of the major ice cream manufacturers, I saw that it had been conducted on 16 healthy volunteers aged between 25 and 45. Not really an earth shattering number of subjects.

We need our Calcium
As we become older, we lose muscle mass and bone density and with menopause, the change in our hormone levels makes us prone to osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and other bone-related ailments.

Get Calcium!
Include calcium in any form as a regular part of your diet. Low fat dairy foods are your best sources but eat fresh, green leafy vegetables like broccoli, spinach and kale for your daily dose of calcium.

Calcium Supplements
We used to be hesitant about adding calcium to our daily food in case it built up in our arteries. But calcium is used very quickly in our bodies, it doesn’t get much of a chance to build up in women. And menopause is the time we need it!

Remember calcium supplements need to be taken with food. Best to speak to your medical professional if you believe you need calcium supplements.

Low Fat Ice Cream
Go on and eat ice cream from time to time, it tastes good and as long as you don’t overload on sugar and saturated fat, it doesn’t harm you.

If you can manage to read the tiny print on packaging, you’ll see that low-fat ice cream has twice the calories and half the calcium of nonfat plain yogurt.

So what are you looking for? Low fat or calcium? How much ice cream would you need to scoff down in a day?

It’s up to you.

Breast health factors we can influence

• Performing regular self-exams
• Finding our healthy body mass
• Raising vitamin D and calcium intake — while studies of the nutritional benefits of vitamin D and calcium are not crystal clear, research links higher intakes with lower risk of developing breast cancer
• Eating soy and leafy greens from the Brassica family — a good nutritional start for many women
• Getting plenty of sleep in a dark room
• Getting regular exercise and body movement
• Lessening or (even better) eliminating alcohol and tobacco use
• Healing negative emotional patterns that create stress and anxiety