Christina Applegate has battled breast cancer and come out the other side, and in an interview with Today the former Married… With Children star opens up about an additional step she’s taken to prevent another cancer diagnosis.
Applegate, who underwent a double mastectomy in 2008 after being diagnosed with breast cancer, isn’t leaving anything to chance now that she knows she carries the BRCA1 gene mutation, which carries with it a higher risk of cancer.
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“If you’re BRCA positive, it’s highly possible you’ll develop cancer in your lifetime,” Applegate explains. “The first thing is to be really diligent about what you’re putting into your body, as far as what kind of food you’re eating. Organic is expensive. I get that. I don’t want to alienate anyone who can’t pay for that. But maybe skip your morning latte and get organic vegetables for the week. Try to stay away from the foods that are filled with chemicals. Be a little more diligent and carve out as much of the bad stuff that you can.”
In addition, Applegate says she tries to avoid stress, but admits it’s not always easy. “The other big killer is stress,” she adds. “That’s a hard thing to say to people especially right now. We’re living in a bizarre time. We’re bombarded by what’s going on in our world. Breathe deeper. That’s a big one for me. I used to be a stressed out person. I’m not anymore. I try to find the lining in everything in life.”
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However, Applegate admits that she worries about her six-year-old daughter, Sadie, and she’s taking a pre-emptive approach.
“The chances that my daughter is BRCA-positive are very high,” Applegate says. “I look at her and feed her the cleanest foods. I try to keep her stress levels down. I’m doing everything I can on my end knowing that in 20 years, she’ll have to start getting tested. Hopefully by then there will be advancements. It breaks my heart to think that’s a possibility.”
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