8 Signs On Your Breast You Shouldn’t Ignore
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Can you name the 8 signs that may indicate breast cancer? This video discusses them, and also shows what they look like on various different skintones:
Stay abreast:
Dr Simi Adedeji bids us watch out for:
- Inverted nipple: a newly inverted nipple (pointing inward or folded) should be checked by a doctor, especially if it’s a recent change.
- Flaky rash: a flaky, itchy, or red rash around the nipple or areola could indicate an underlying issue and should not be dismissed as just a skin condition.
- Tethering: skin pulling or denting, noticeable when raising your arms, may signal a deeper problem.
- Dimpling: skin resembling an orange peel (po orang sign) with dips and accentuated pores could indicate swelling or thickening and requires medical evaluation.
- Redness or heat: unusual warmth, redness, or tenderness in the breast, particularly if not breastfeeding, should be investigated.
- Nipple discharge: any unusual fluid from the nipple (be it yellow, green, milky, clear, or blood-stained) warrants attention, especially if spontaneous or only from one side.
- Change in size: sudden changes in the size or shape of one breast should not be ignored.
- Breast lump: a firm, irregular, or persistent lump in the breast, armpit, or collarbone area should be checked promptly, even if it’s not always harmful.
The above signs may indicate cancer or something else, but none of them are things that should be ignored (even if you get just one sign).
For more on each of these, plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like to read:
The Hormone Therapy That Reduces Breast Cancer Risk & More
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Buckwheat vs Bulgur Wheat – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing buckwheat to bulgur, we picked the buckwheat.
Why?
First, some things to know up front:
- Bulgur wheat is a kind of cracked wheat product. As such, it contains wheat, and yes, gluten.
- Buckwheat is not a wheat, nor even a grass, but a flowering plant. Buckwheat is as related to wheat as a lionfish is to a lion. It does not contain gluten.
- Buckwheat can be purchased whole or hulled. We went with whole. If you go with hulled, the percentages of vitamins and minerals will be relatively higher, and/but this will be because you lost the fibrous husk, so they’ll be commensurately lower in fiber. If you were to go with hulled, we’d still pick it over bulgur wheat though, just for a different reason (as in that case, the vitamin and mineral contents would be more overwhelmingly in buckwheat’s favor, even though it’d have less fiber).
Ok, now that those things are covered…
Looking at the macronutrients, there’s not a lot between them, except that buckwheat has the much lower glycemic index (this is only the case if you got whole, not hulled—if you got hulled, the glycemic index would be about the same).
In terms of vitamins, buckwheat has more of vitamins B2, B5, B9, E, K, and choline, while bulgur wheat technically has more vitamin A, but the numbers are tiny; a cup of bulgur wheat will give you 0.12% of the RDA. So, an easy win (functionally: 5:0) for buckwheat.
When it comes to minerals, buckwheat has more copper, magnesium, potassium, and selenium, while bulgur wheat has more calcium and manganese. They’re equal on iron and phosphorus, making this a 4:2 win for buckwheat.
Adding up the categories makes this a clear win for buckwheat!
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
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Come As You Are – by Dr. Emily Nagoski
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We’ve all heard the jokes, things like: Q: “Why is the clitoris like Antarctica?” A: “Most men know it’s there; most don’t give a damn”
But… How much do people, in general, really know about the anatomy and physiology of sexual function? Usually very little, but often without knowing how little we know.
This book looks to change that. Geared to a female audience, but almost everyone will gain useful knowledge from this.
The writing style is very easy-to-read, and there are “tl;dr” summaries for those who prefer to skim for relevant information in this rather sizeable (400 pages) tome.
Yes, that’s “what most people don’t know”. Four. Hundred. Pages.
We recommend reading it. You can thank us later!
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The Kitchen Doctor
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Dr. Rupy Aujla: The Kitchen Doctor
This is Dr. Rupy Aujla, and he’s a medical doctor. He didn’t set out to become a “health influencer”.
But then, a significant heart condition changed his life. Having a stronger motivation to learn more about nutritional medicine, he did a deep dive into the scientific literature, because that’s what you do when your life is on the line, especially if you’re a doctor!
Using what he learned, he was able to reverse his condition using a food and lifestyle approach. Now, he devotes himself to sharing what he learned—and what he continues to learn as he goes along.
One important thing he learned because of what happened to him, was that he hadn’t been paying enough attention to what his body was trying to tell him.
He wants us to know about interoception—which isn’t a Chris Nolan movie. Rather, interoception is the sense of what is going on inside one’s own body.
The counterpart of this is exteroception: our ability to perceive the outside world by means of our various senses.
Interoception is still using the senses, but is sensing internal body sensations. Effectively, the brain interprets and integrates what happens in our organs.
When interoception goes wrong, researchers found, it can lead to a greater likelihood of mental health problems. Having an anxiety disorder, depression, mood disorder, or an eating disorder often comes with difficulties in sensing what is going on inside the body.
Improving our awareness of body cues
Those same researchers suggested therapies and strategies aimed at improving awareness of mind-body connections. For example, mindfulness-based stress reduction, yoga, meditation and movement-based treatments. They could improve awareness of body cues by attending to sensations of breathing, cognitions and other body states.
But where Dr. Aujla puts his focus is “the heart of the home”, the kitchen.
The pleasure of food
❝Eating is not simply ingesting a mixture of nutrients. Otherwise, we would all be eating astronaut food. But food is not only a tool for health. It’s also an important pleasure in life, allowing us to connect to others, the present moment and nature.❞
Dr. Rupy Aujla
Dr. Aujla wants to help shift any idea of a separation between health and pleasure, because he believes in food as a positive route to well-being, joy and health. For him, it starts with self-awareness and acceptance of the sensory pleasures of eating and nourishing our bodies, instead of focusing externally on avoiding perceived temptations.
Most importantly:
We can use the pleasure of food as an ally to healthy eating.
Instead of spending our time and energy fighting the urge to eat unhealthy things that may present a “quick fix” to some cravings but aren’t what our body actually wants, needs, Dr. Aujla advises us to pay just a little more attention, to make sure the body’s real needs are met.
His top tips for such are:
- Create an enjoyable relaxing eating environment
To help cultivate positive emotions around food and signal to the nervous system a shift to food-processing time. Try setting the table with nothing else on it beyond what’s relevant to the dinner, putting away distractions, using your favorite plates, tablecloth, etc.
- Take 3 deep abdominal breaths before eating
To help you relax and ground yourself in the present moment, which in turn is to prepare your digestive system to receive and digest food.
- Pay attention to the way you sit
Take some time to sit comfortably with your feet grounded on the floor, not slouching, to give your stomach space to digest the food.
- Appreciate what it took to bring this food to your plate
Who was involved in the growing process and production, the weather and soil it took to grow the food, and where in the world it came from.
- Enjoy the sensations
When you’re cooking, serving, and eating your food, be attentive to color, texture, aroma and even sound. Taste the individual ingredients and seasonings along the way, when safe and convenient to do so.
- Journal
If you like journaling, you can try adding a mindful eating section to that. Ask questions such as: “how did I feel before, during, and after the meal?”
In closing…
Remember that this is a process, not only on an individual level but as a society too.
Oftentimes it’s hard to eat healthily… We can be given to wonder even “what is healthy, after all?”, and we can be limited by what is available, what is affordable, and what we have time to prepare.
But if we make a conscious commitment to make the best choices we reasonably can as we go along, then small changes can soon add up.
Interested in what kind of recipes Dr. Aujla goes for?
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Aspirin vs Cancer Metastasis
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Aspirin is a bit of a mixed bag.
In the category of things in its favor, it’s a modest analgesic with few side effects from occasional use, so it’s a good option if you have a headache, for example.
Unless you’re already on blood thinners or having a bleeding disorder, in which case, aspirin is not the thing to reach for.
About aspirin and heart disease
This is actually a complicated one, and we covered it at length in a dedicated main feature. If you want a one-line summary, it’s “chronic low-dose aspirin use can lower overall CVD risk, but does not reduce CVD mortality or all-cause mortality, and you may pay for it with gastrointestinal bleeding, and increased risk of ulcers“.
For a more nuanced explanation, see: Aspirin, CVD Risk, & Potential Counter-Risks
On the other hand, if you are having a heart attack and are waiting for the ambulance that you already called, and have aspirin to hand that you don’t have to go looking for, then it can be good to take a dose then.
For more on that, see: How To Survive A Heart Attack When You’re Alone
There are more problems
In the case of chronic use of low-dose aspirin, not only does it increase the risks of bleeding, especially gastrointestinal bleeding, and ulcers, but also it increases the risk of anemia. Given that anemia also gives the symptom “dizziness”, this is also a significant threat for increasing the incidence of falls in the older population, too, which can of course lead to serious complications and ultimately death.
For the science about this, see: Low-Dose Aspirin & Anemia
Now, about aspirin and cancer metastasis
This one’s a point in aspirin’s favor.
Cancer is, in and of itself, obviously a big problem. In terms of when it’s most likely to kill someone, that is usually when the cancer becomes metastatic, that is to say, it has spread.
So, while preventing cancer and, failing that, killing cancer are very important goals, there is a third axis to cancer care, which is preventing metastasis in someone who has cancer.
And that’s what aspirin does. How, you ask?
Scientists found this one out by accident!
They were doing genetic research in mice, to find genes that had an effect on metastasis. In the process, they found a certain gene that instructs the creation of a certain protein, and mice that lacked that gene (and thus its associated protein) had less metastasis.
The protein in question suppresses T-cells, which are programmed to recognize and kill metastatic cancer cells (amongst having other great jobs; they are an important part of the immune system in general, and one that declines with aging; most people in their 60s or older are producing very few T-cells).
About that, see: Focusing On Health In Our Sixties
Tracing the cell signaling, the researchers found that the protein is activated when T-cells are exposed to thromboxane A2 (or TXA2 to its friends).
And TXA2? That’s produced by platelets, and aspirin works by inhibiting TXA2 production, effectively making platelets (and thus the blood as a whole) less sticky.
So, that’s quite a few steps in the process, but ultimately:
- Aspirin inhibits TXA2 production
- Lower TXA2 levels mean ARHGEF1 (that’s the protein) isn’t activated
- ARHGEF1 not being activated means T-cells are free to do their thing
- T-cells are now free to kill metastatic cancer cells
You can read the paper here:
Aspirin prevents metastasis by limiting platelet TXA2 suppression of T cell immunity
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A New, Smarter Wearable That Fights Joint Pain
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…and other items from this week’s health news:
The Wearable “Goldilocks” Heater
If you’ve ever used a heating pad to combat joint pain, chances are you ran into two problems:
- Getting it to be and remain where it needs to be
- Getting it to a therapeutic temperature without the heat then building up to the point that it needs to be switched off after a short while
Scientists (and engineers) have now tackled this:
❝Our goal was to make thermal therapy truly wearable—not just portable, but adaptive and intuitive. By integrating precise sensors and closed-loop control into a stretchable format, we’re giving patients the ability to receive therapy in real time, tailored to their specific environment and condition.
This technology reflects the future of personalized medicine, where treatment moves with the body and responds as needed. It’s not just engineering—it’s empathy through innovation.❞
This flexibility and adaptiveness was found to be durable throughout testing (including more than 1,000 use cycles), and even remained accurate during exercise:
Read in full: Flexible smart heater delivers real-time thermal therapy for joint pain
Related: 10 Tips To Reduce Morning Pain & Stiffness With Arthritis
How Likely is not recovering from covid now?
After the initial lockdowns in what is now the increasingly dim and distant past, numbers were crunched, and it was decided that it was best to lift anti-COVID measures, and that hopefully the deaths would be mostly confined to minorities such as the very young, the old, the chronically ill, the disabled, and so forth.
Which may have a bit of a Lord Farquaad “Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I am willing to make” feel to it (if you know the meme), but it’s certainly become “the new normal”. Of course, the reports on incidence rates (and thus, mortality rates) have gone down a lot since testing was discontinued, so it’s difficult to know certain parts of the statistical background to COVID in the US in 2025.
What we can know, however, is that of those that are recorded, and who survive initial infection (which, one bit of good news, does at least seem to be most people nowadays), there is approximately a 20% chance of not recovering fully within a year. That doesn’t mean “it’ll take a year to recover”, by the way, that means “it was 12-month study” so what happens to those people in the future after those 12 months is not yet known.
However, it seems fair to say that even at the very best if it’s been a year and you haven’t recovered, it’s not exactly “just a cold”.
Read in full: One in five never fully recover quality of life after COVID-like illness
Related: Why Some People Get Sick More (And How To Not Be One Of Them)
It’s time for diabetes prevention
Intermittent fasting is a common tool used with the intention of improving metabolic health, and there has been much discussion about how much it matters what time of day (in the context of the rest of our circadian rhythm) we eat.
To this end, researchers investigated how the timing of lifestyle habits (eating, sleeping, moving) affects metabolic health and risk for type 2 diabetes, using wearable tech and real-time tracking. They found:
About meal timing:
- Eating more between 14:00–17:00 was linked to lower fasting glucose.
- Eating more between 17:00–21:00 was linked to higher glucose, more time in hyperglycemia, and worse next-day glucose levels.
About the meals:
- Carbs from non-starchy vegetables were linked to better glucose control.
- Carbs from starchy vegetables were linked to higher fasting glucose and HbA1c.
About sleep:
- Greater variability in sleep efficiency led to higher night and next-day glucose.
- Irregular wake times were linked to worse glucose tolerance and lower incretin effects.
About links between diet and sleep:
- More legumes, fruit, potassium, and fiber = better and longer sleep.
- Early energy intake (especially 8:00–11:00) correlated with longer sleep duration.
About physical activity:
- More steps between 8:00–11:00 improved glucose control in insulin-resistant individuals.
- More steps between 14:00–17:00 improved glucose control in insulin-sensitive individuals.
- More steps after dinner but before midnight reduced nocturnal hyperglycemia.
- Nocturnal activity (00:00–5:00) worsened glucose regulation for all.
Also, longer sedentary periods at any time were linked to greater hyperglycemia.
Read in full: Meal and sleep timing play key roles in diabetes prevention
Related: The Circadian Rhythm: Far More Than Most People Know ← our expert insights feature on Dr. Satchin Panda, author of The Circadian Diabetes Code
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Play Bold – by Magnus Penker
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This book is very different to what you might expect, from the title.
We often see: “play bold, believe in yourself, the universe rewards action” etc… Instead, this one is more: “play bold, pay attention to the data, use these metrics, learn from what these businesses did and what their results were”, etc.
We often see: “here’s an anecdote about a historical figure and/or celebrity who made a tremendous bluff and it worked out well so you should too” etc… Instead, this one is more: “see how what we think of as safety is actually anything but! And how by embracing change quickly (or ideally: proactively), we can stay ahead of disaster that may otherwise hit us”.
Penker’s background is also relevant here. He has decades of experience, having “launched 10 start-ups and acquired, turned around, and sold over 30 SMEs all over Europe”. Importantly, he’s also “still in the game”… So, unlike many authors whose last experience in the industry was in the 1970s and who wonder why people aren’t reaping the same rewards today!
Penker is the therefore opposite of many who advocate to “play bold” but simply mean “fail fast, fail often”… While quietly relying on their family’s capital and privilege to leave a trail of financial destruction behind them, and simultaneously gloating about their imagined business expertise.
In short: boldness does not equate to foolhardiness, and foolhardiness does not equate to boldness.
As for telling the difference? Well, for that we recommend reading the book—It’s a highly instructive one.
Take The First Bold Step Of Checking Out This Book On Amazon!
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