Lifestyle medicine program at AdventHealth helps patients fight breast cancer

What you eat and how you treat your body can help fight (and prevent) breast cancer right along chemotherapy and radiation, according to Dr. Amber Orman, AdventHealth radiation oncologist and board-certified lifestyle medicine specialist.

According to a study published by Dr. Orman in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, up to 40% of all cancers could be prevented with a "plant-predominant diet combined with other aspects of lifestyle, specifically physical activity, avoiding tobacco and alcohol, and maintaining a healthy body weight," she told Fox News Digital.

"Some of the most powerful anti-cancer foods include dark leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, mushrooms, beans including soy, berries, unpeeled apples, ginger, garlic, turmeric, ground flax, and green tea with lemon," Orman said.

Besides nutrition, Orman discussed with WESH 2 News Anchor Nancy Alvarez, herself a breast cancer survivor, the direct connection between our stress levels, how we sleep, how we eat and even social interaction and a recurrence.

“It’s profound. We can reduce risk of recurrence anywhere from 30 to 50 percent depending on which lifestyle factor we’re talking about,” Orman told WESH 2 News.

Because of these staggering numbers, Dr. Orman created an 8-week interactive virtual program with opportunities throughout the program to meet in person called the HEAL Program, which stands for Healthy Living, Active Lifestyle, designed to teach lifestyle medicine to cancer patients to help them in their fight against cancer. The program helps patients through every step of their health journey – from treatment to survivorship – to learn how to incorporate healthy habits into their lives.

“When you get a diagnosis of cancer, you immediately think, 'What did I do?'” Terri Schon, HEAL Program alum, told Spectrum News 13. She adds the HEAL Program empowers you to be an active participant in your cancer treatment and by making these lifestyle changes it’s helped her with her sleep and emotions.

The HEAL program is currently offered to the patient populations with a diagnosis of breast and ovarian cancers, however, the goal for HEAL is to expand this to other campuses and other tumor sites in a phased approach in 2024. Learn more about the HEAL program and sign up here.