October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Pink ribbons abound and messages to remind us that early detection saves lives are broadcast from all directions. And thank goodness. Breast cancer caught early can be something a person can overcome – especially given the treatment modalities and improvements for care that have been developed and implemented over recent years.

That said, a question arises inside the heads of most women and girls, especially given that 1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with the disease. The question is: “What can I do to prevent myself (or my daughters) from getting breast cancer in the first place?”

Unfortunately, early detection does not answer that question directly. Clearly then, we need to have as many or more conversations about how we prevent breast cancer in comparison of when to start getting screenings to detect it.

Breast cancer is in my family. My mom’s sister and best friend in life passed away from this terrible disease when she had so much life left inside her. I was a young girl but I can still recall vividly so many of the difficult moments during the time from her diagnosis and through to her passing. Our family lost a wonderful lady to this disease.

Others in my family have fortunately overcome a diagnosis and are cancer-free now. This means that I have a higher risk than others and I am very aware of it, not just when it’s time to get a mammogram but all year-round as well. So this question of prevention is very near to my heart and is truly the reason I started Greener Cleaner LIVING. I want to know for myself, my loved ones and for as many others that I can share with as well.

Through Greener Cleaner LIVING and in presenting a Healthy Home Detox talk to a local women’s organization, I met someone who clearly was on a similar mission. For her, it was personal. As having been diagnosed with breast cancer within the last two years, and on a journey to fully recover, Jackie Totilo was chomping on the bit to find our how she can help her three daughters avoid a similar fate. And getting the message from her doctors that her girls should begin getting mammograms in their twenties just did not cut it for this action-oriented mom.

As I talked about the dangers lurking in our home cleaning products, the beauty products we use and even in our foods & cookware, she was hearing what she knew she needed to hear to get closer to her answers. When I gave some simple yet powerful tips to lessen these harmful chemicals and ingredients at home, she knew she was on the right path.

That night she made the decision to swap out all her home cleaning products, laundry detergents & soaps with safer alternatives. And like that, she was on her way to answering that nagging question.

This is what the act of prevention really looks like.

Now, Jackie, her family & so many in her circle are making these swaps, feeling a sense of relief to have concrete steps to act on, and are inspiring so many others to do the same.

If you want to learn how you can safely & simply make the same household product swaps, here are thre easy steps:

• sign up your copy of the Healthy Home Detox Top 10 list to get inspired & to take action today.

• to get your hands on these safe & powerful home, beauty & nutrution products for yourself, click here.

• to start your own business sharing this opportunity with others, join us for the virtual October 14th pop-up event listed in the News & Events section of my website. Just message me to RSVP.

• to hear the rest of Jackie’s amazing story & how she got to the root-cause of her environmentally-driven type of breast cancer & how she’s inspiring others, join the October 27th open house, or message me to be on the invite list for our next virtual Healthy Home Detox call.

Let’s all make October the month of Prevention!