Living Your Healthiest Life After a Breast Cancer Diagnosis with Samantha Harris

Hi there, it's Dr. Jen. Welcome back to Keeping abreast. I am so delighted for my next guest, my friend who has an awesome story of inspiration to share with you. And I think she really tells the story that resonates with so many people because for all intents and purposes, you look at her and she is the picture of health. And I know so many women struggle with where their diagnosis came from. And I think that your story, Samantha, will really resonate with people and greatly inspire them to see past their diagnosis for something more greater and more beautiful. So, Samantha Harris, welcome. I'm so delighted to have you.

Thank you. You know how much I love and appreciate everything that you do for so many of us and what you share, and so thanks for having me on.

You know, I remember for so many years just watching Dancing with the Stars and, and seeing you up there and your beautiful smile and your beautiful figure and your beautiful clothes and. And you, like, were seemingly perfect. I mean, I know that, you know, that's. That's a harsh thing to say to some people, but you were seemingly perfect. And then I remember reading that you had breast cancer. And I'm sure that my response was like, everyone's response, probably like your response in that, you know, caught you completely by surprise because again, for all the world to see, you're the picture of health. So can you kind of take us through what that time was like, what that experience was like, and what it meant to you?

Well, you know, you hit the nail on the head, Dr. Jen. I felt like I was the picture of health. I was the healthy one among all of my friends and family, you know, the quote unquote healthy one, because I ate my cheeseless pizzas and my egg white omelette and my, you know, boneless, skinless chicken breast. And, you know, everything was. And I exercised regularly. And so, you know, and I was sort of that size, you know, little tiny body that Hollywood honestly promotes way too much. And it messes up so much for our girls and our daughters. And it's hard. And it's interesting because where I worked out and I ate the way I did because I fell into that trap. I wanted to look good. I wanted to look good on camera. I wanted to look good in a bikini and with my friends. And I didn't ever focus for one second in my 20s and my 30s at all on what can my body do for me? Is it healthy? Am I feeling the best I can? I was living in a high stress world of television where I took every job I Could as it came at me because I didn't know when the next one may or may not come. And so I was working like a dog. I was a new mom. And at 40, I had a 3 year old and a 6 year old and the career I had always wanted. I was working every day at Entertainment Tonight. I had my Dancing with the Stars hosting job. I had on a hiatus. I was on Broadway. I mean, it was like living the life. I did it. This little girl from Minnesota, mommy, Daddy, I did it. And. And then, bam. This breast cancer diagnosis. And I was, as you said, shocked. I couldn't believe it. It didn't make sense. I mean, I was what I thought was the picture of health. And I learned a lot from this diagnosis.

So can you take us through that time when you were diagnosed? Can you tell us, like, what happened?

Absolutely. So, you know, here I was, just swimming along in my busy, busy world. Go, go, go. My two little girls, my busy job, and I was about to turn 40. And of course, every time we hit that next decade, we're like, oh, gosh, what do I need to do? Well, I lost my dad when he was just 50 to colon cancer. His mom was a breast cancer survivor, lived to 95. Amazing. But I thought, okay, cancer's in my family. I should probably go get one of those mammogram things that I hear you get at 40. So I set up an appointment. I had a mammogram clear results, just what I had intended and assumed it would be. And 11 days after clear mammogram results came back to me. I was changing after a workout, and I found a lump. You know how tight those sports bras are? So I was like, literally just doing that, kind of rotate it to the right, rotate it to the left. And as I'm rotating, went, wait a. Whoa, whoa, what is that? And it was this lump that. There was no. Is there a lump? No, no, it was like, there is a lump. What is this? So instead of sticking my head into the sand, which I could have very easily done since I just had those clear mammogram results, I mean, that.

That's a valid point. Like, you just had a normal mammogram. You could have easily said, oh, well, it must be nothing because didn't show up on mammogram.

Right, right.

Yeah.

I don't know what possessed me to call my ob gyn because that was the only doctor who had ever honestly done a clinical breast exam. So I called her, said, you know, just come in, we'll take A quick look, she did a quick peek, she tugged, thought around. She said it was nothing. Said, you know why you're turning 40? It's probably glandular. You get lumpy breasts when you turn 40. That's what happens. And she sent me on my way. And I'll tell you, Dr. Jen. This was the doctor that, from my early twent right out of college, I had been with. She delivered both my kids. I trusted this doctor more than my internist, more than any other doctor I'd ever had. So I didn't second guess her. But a month later, the lump was still there. And I thought, okay, this is weird, not cancer, so I'll get a second opinion, but I'll see my internist now. He did the same thing. Quick clinical exam, felt around, said it was nothing. Sent me on my way. And it was four months later that that pesky freaking lump was still there. And I thought, you know, this is ridiculous. I mean, I said to my husband, I'm right. Like, you can. You can physically see this lump? He said, yeah, no, I. I see that. So that's when I said, okay, I need to live with this, quote, nothing lump for the rest of my life. I need to ensure that it's really nothing. And so I need to go see someone who looks at breasts every day as their specialty. And that's when I realized, oh, well, the only doctors who do that are breast oncologists. And so that's when I went to see a surgical oncologist. She did two ultrasounds in that appointment, a needle biopsy. I even had a subsequent MRI about a week later. Not one of the tests detected breast cancer.

Oh, my God.

Yeah.

You know what? As many times as I've heard you tell your story, I don't think I ever knew this part. Really? That is crazy. That is crazy. You know, I don't know why things, you know, come in groups. I've had three people this week have this same story, negative mammogram, felt alarm, went and saw their doctor. Doctor said, no, no problem, it's nothing. Went and saw their doctor again. It's still nothing.

Go.

Had a needle biopsy, been told that it's inconclusive, which I have to tell you, in my 20 years as a surgeon, I don't think I had an inconclusive biopsy. Like, for the life of me, I don't understand that. But. But keep going with your story.

Well, and you know what? As I've been so vocal about my story for these past nine plus years, I hear Women tell me all the time, the same thing happened to me, Samantha. They missed it. It wasn't on the mammogram, or was it? Now, maybe they didn't have as many diagnostics, but a lot of people have told me the mammogram missed it. However, I still think it's very important that people are really good about getting their annual exams and making sure that they are 3D if they can. Mine was a 2D mammogram. So here's the thing. So the results, about a week later from the needle biopsy came back. The surgical oncologist walked into the room, and she literally said, samantha, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is it's not cancer. The bad news is I don't know what it is, and I'm going to recommend we take it out anyway. So I had a lumpectomy. We woke up from surgery again, told not cancer. A week later, went to get my final pathology results. Told my husband to stay home because why does he need to come with me? It's not cancer. And that's when I found out not only was it dcis, but it was also invasive breast cancer. Because that surgeon listened to her gut, took a sample of what she thought in the room, looked like healthy tissue on the margin, and that was the invasive cancer. Had she not done that, they would have closed me up. We thought. Would have thought it was stage zero or stage one. Dcis and I would have had no further treatment. But instead, my cancer journey truly began that day. Wow.

It's kind of baffling to me that it. It, like, got that far down the road. And I don't know. I mean, I guess you must have asked yourself this a thousand times, but, like, why do you think, like, what was the challenge there was. Was God really trying to make sure that you were paying attention? I mean, you had so many. So many messages that, like, go away, it's nothing. And yet you. You persisted through it. Like, what was the voice in your head?

I think it was a couple parts. One, it was that nagging inner voice that was yelling at me, finally yelling at me to say, go to someone who can look at it with certainty and tell you if it really is nothing or not. It helped that my mom, who's always in my ear, is that lump still there? Is go see somebody, but someone else telling you is a lot different than you actually activating, because we are the ones who have to take the steps, right? So my mom in my ear for the four months leading up to that surgical oncologist wasn't enough, until finally I thought, I've had enough of this. And my inner voice. We have to get quiet enough sometimes to listen to our inner voices. And I think also the fact, you know, the fact that I found the lump and that I could continue to find it is really a testament to the fact that, yes, was I living my healthiest life? No, I thought I was living a healthy life. I realized I needed to live my healthiest healthy life possible. And I made a lot of changes since cancer. And I know we'll go into that, but because I exercised and because at least I paid some attention to what I was eating at the time. Knowing your body is so important, being able to notice when there are changes, because we are with ourselves obviously, all the time. The doctor who we see once a year, four times a year, whatever it ends up being, doesn't know your body as well as you do. So we have to be our own best health advocates. We have to know our body to notice the changes, whether it's a lump or. Or a mole or some sort of gastrointestinal discomfort that are bloating that we weren't feeling before. And so that. And then we have to take action and not stick our head in the sand. But at the same time, I do want to tell people that just because you found a lump and your doctor has said it's nothing and you've had some diagnostics, please don't go down the spiral of anxiety of, well, it must be something, and keep driving yourself crazy to go to 17 different doctors. Two or three, great. But we have to balance that and find where that sweet spot is.

Yeah. I mean, I hear you that sometimes, you know, it's really nothing. Right. I do hear you with that. But it is very important to hear that it's really nothing from someone who is super experienced at knowing what is something and what is not.

Yes.

You know, I was. When I was in practice, I was always of the mindset that if my patient thought it was something, it's something, because I do think that. And you alluded to this a little bit like, we do have that inner voice. We do have intuition. And so often we've been trained to not trust our intuition. Right. We've been trained to kind of farm that out to our physicians because, you know, they know best. And it's that whole paternalistic medical mindset that allows for that. Right. And so we kind of give away our control, we give away our voice, and we're farming out to people who are not necessarily worthy of the trust of that. And so I think it's really important when you're working with someone that you're working with someone that hears you, that sees you, that values your opinion, that is going to respect what you're saying, investigate what you're saying, you know, give it credibility. Because if you're being dismissed, they may be. They may very well be dismissing something that's real. And so I do think that that trust relationship, which was so ever present, you know, 50 years ago, now needs to be earned back because there have been a lot of obstacles been put in the way of the patient physician experience. And you do have to be your own advocate these days.

Yeah. One of the things that I wrote about in my you're healthiest healthy book was about how to talk to your doctor. First of all, how to know your body, and then also how to talk to your doctor. Because a lot of the times, you know, everything is about. And I feel for them. I really do. Everything is about what is insurance going to pay and how long are you in the room with that person. Because we got to get the next patient in so we can make enough money, because now we're getting paid less as doctors, so we need to get more patients in the door. So I do have a heart for that. At the same time as a patient, when you. And if you're listening, please take this one to heart. It's so important when you are in the room. That is your time. That is your time to get the questions answered. So first, be prepared. Make sure you are jotting down whether it's. You know, I like to keep a pad of paper and a pen by the bed, especially when you're going through the cancer journey, because so many questions are so swimming around in your brain and it's hard to remember them all. So jot them down and then be organized so that when you do go to that appointment, you have your list of questions with you. Always helpful to bring someone with to have that other pair of ears, because it's really overwhelming. But don't let that doctor leave the room until he or she has answered every last question on your list. Any question that pops up in the moment. And to me, the best doctors have been the ones who, on their own, just say, any other questions before I leave? Is there anything else I can help you with? Because a lot of them don't, and that's very frustrating. So keep that doctor in the room or go find another one.

Yeah, that's a really Valid point. So, you know, we started off by saying that you were seemingly the picture of health. So what did you learn about yourself with your diagnosis? What, what became apparent to you that maybe, I mean, I don't, I don't know that you can pinpoint, like this is what caused my breast cancer. But what kinds of things came up for you with that when you, when you went to really do a deep dive and evaluate your life?

Well, first of all, because I'm a journalist and because I know that only 5 to 10% of breast cancers are here hereditary, which I did not know when I was diagnosed. I assumed because of my dad and colon cancer, and there's a colon breast connection and his mom with breast cancer, I figured it had to be hereditary. So when those genetic tests came back and I was negative, thank goodness, because for my daughters and for my future health and all the genetic testing that we have so far, and I did another follow up panel with I think 150 or 180 different genes, everything is still negative. Wonderful. Knocking on lots of wood. However, part of me was, I remember part of me, and I'm not disappointed anymore, thank goodness that was the case. But part of me was a little disappointed because I just wanted the answer that it wasn't anything within my control, that it was nothing that I was doing, that it was just, again, genetics happens to you, but our health happens for us when we take care of ourselves. And with only 5 to 10% of breast cancers being genetic, the journalist in me said, I need answers now. I need to know why I got breast cancer. I'm the healthy one. What's happening? So I began to research and speak to everybody I could and read everything that I could. And what I determined is that it is truly what we put in, on and around our bodies that affect our overall well being. It is the epigenetics of it. Right? How our lifestyle and our environment, those factors turn on or leave off potentially dormant DNA structures that can trigger a cancer. And this, by the way, the changes that I began to make systematically, in slow, manageable steps to go from being what I thought was healthy to living my healthiest healthy life possible, were all things that we can do that will also help our future risk of not just breast cancer, either risk or recurrence, but, but also heart disease, still the number one killer of women, and diabetes and neurodegenerative disorders. So thank goodness we don't have to pick or choose which disease we want to limit, right? Yeah, yeah.

I mean, you know, I always say that Breast health is health, right? So the same things that you're going to do to create healthy breasts are also going to create a healthy heart, healthy mind, healthy bones, healthy skin, healthy gut. Like, it's all. We're all one system. So health is health, and when you're creating health, you're creating health.

Yes.

So I'm wondering, as you were going along this kind of educational journey, was there blame shame? Did those things come up for you?

It's a really good question. First of all, it is so common, and as I speak to so many breast cancer survivors, a lot of you who are listening may not know that I pivoted my career from tv, and I still have a TV show on a game show, and I do still work in tv, but I really pivoted my career from television host to certified health coach. I went back to school. I've been a certified trainer for years because it was one of my pre TV world jobs. And I kept that up. And I love fitness. But I became a certified health coach because I wanted to be able to help others reach their healthiest healthy life possible. And that's what I love doing and talking about and sharing and how to get the toxins out of what it is. It's these toxins that are in, on, and around your body, Right? So from the foods you're eating to how you're stressing and managing stress or not, how you're sleeping, are you getting seven to nine quality hours of sleep a night? And then what about the skincare, the makeup, the cleaning supplies, the cookware, the food storage? Where. Right. How do we make all these changes without being overwhelmed? So when I. So I talk to a lot of women who I'm guiding, who I help through those feelings of frustration and shame. And I think there were definitely moments where I thought, what the heck was I doing? I mean, all the animal protein that I was eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and the turkey bacon, which is class one carcinogen, and I was eating seven strips of it in the E. News newsroom every single day for lunch. I, you know, so. But I think What I did, Dr. Jen, is instead of lamenting on the past, I knew that I had this incredible opportunity to change what I did going forward for not just me, but from our little girls as well, and even for my husband's health. And so I was so focused and still am, on how can I continue to elevate my wellness, how can I continue to level up my nutrition and all the other elements? And so the shame is something that is there. And, and I think, well, and there were days that I curled up in a ball on my bed, especially in those first weeks after my diagnosis, and I cried hard and I was that roller coaster ride. It was. Those dips were really, really hard.

And it's hard not to think, like, what did I do to deserve this? It is hard.

Yeah.

And I thought, well, what's hard not to.

What was the point of exercising every day if I'm still just going to get cancer? Screw that and excuse my French. And. And then I realized, and this is what the change was too. I. Something switched to me one day because I thought, I can't feel this incredibly overpowering anxiety that I'm feeling right now that is draining my body when I should be focused on healing and getting healthier and focusing on my surgeries and recovery and whatever it was in me that day said, I'm switching my perspective, I'm flipping it around and I'm going to focus on the positive parts of this journey. And so it was in that moment that I started to make lemonade and I said, okay, yes, I have cancer. And what's good about it? Okay, well, what's good is that I have a really slow growing, best case cancer I could have. I've got a great surgical team I put together. Okay, Samantha, keep talking to yourself. What else is good? Okay, what else? Well, you know what? The exercise didn't keep me from getting the cancer. However, it is going to help me reduce chances of complications in surgery. It's going to help me. The fact that I've exercised regularly for the last past 10 years or more since college is going to help me. Okay, I was out of college a little more than that, but for the last 20 years, it's going to help me to recover faster. It's going to reduce my chances of recurrence if I keep it up. Exercise is so important for reducing breast cancer recurrence. And so learning these things helped me. The positive self talk helped me. This positive mindset. Not rose colored glasses, but a positive mindset made a huge difference. And so when I started to make the methodical changes in how I was approaching my diet, okay, let's reduce the amount of animal protein. And if I'm going to have animal protein, let's make sure it's grass fed or pasture raised or organic and making sure it's more limited and there's more fruit and veggies, tons of veggies. That was the biggest change I made. Adding healthy fat in my life, which I Was afraid of fat because, well, I mean, fat was like the F word, right? It was, yeah.

Oh, my God.

Yeah. So, you know, instead of having my rows of Snackwell's cookies and Red Vines that were possibly killing me, I switched. Not once in a while, but I had a lot of them, let me tell you. I would eat their entire row. I would buy a vat of Red Vines with the red dye 40 and the high fructose corn syrup because they were fat free.

Fat free. I'm telling you, I would eat a whole bag of Twizzlers when I went to the movies. Right. Scot free.

Yeah, yeah.

A sleeve of Snack Wells. No problem. Fat free.

Down in five minutes. Oh, yeah, right.

No problem. And it's, you know, it's scary that we, we actually believed that these things were okay to do. We even, like, kind of thought that they were healthy, that we were making good choices.

Our marketing gurus told us they were healthy because they slapped those labels on that made, I mean, you walk down the cereal aisle today and it'll say heart healthy or improves immunity on things like Fruit Loops and, you know, Cheerios.

Whole grains. Whole grains. Right, right on, on cereal boxes. It's just, it's mind blowing. But people don't know. People really don't know.

I didn't know.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you really had a whole educational process that led to this shift. I mean, you talked about the fact that you really walked away from your show business career, which is so interesting because I could really see you in that role that Rose Byrne plays in Physical.

Oh, my gosh. Yes. I can't wait. I just heard that.

Absolutely could have been you. Have you watched that show yet?

No, I just started DVR again. I can't wait.

I mean, I love, love, love her anyway. It's fabulous. But I could have totally, 100% seen you in that role.

Oh. I was like, I mean, the cardio, you know, queen. Cardio queen. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so funny. I, you know, the changes, I have to say, the, the changes could have been really overwhelming if I thought I had to do them overnight. And so that's one of the things I really like to share with people is that I spent 20 some years leading up to my cancer to get my cancer, right? So there are things that we can just start to undo. It's like that knitting ball that gets all tangled, right? We just have to slowly start to pull it apart to have that nice long string again.

What's interesting for you is that because this was an educational process. You didn't change everything overnight. No, because you change things as you learned about them. So just because people are confronted with all the information at once doesn't mean that you don't have to. That you have to, like, do everything at once. So, you know, for people who are just feeling overwhelmed, and let's face it, when you get a breast cancer diagnosis, you are overwhelmed. You feel the weight of the world on your shoulders. Yeah. But I know that your message is that you have so much more power than you think. So how do people tap into that power? Like, where do they start?

Well, first of all, knowing that you have the power, I think is the first step. Knowing that you can control so much more than you even realize, and then taking a deep breath and say, okay, what is one area of my food that I can start changing this week? What is one area of my makeup routine or my period routine that I can change starting this week? So when it comes to makeup, look, our skin is our biggest organ. So I recommend just change out your foundation, change out your, you know, maybe your night cream. Right. Just one little thing at a time. Also, look, we all, as ladies, we spend a lot of money on our makeup and our skin care. So I'm not suggesting that you have to go dump it all in the garbage tonight. If you want to do that, great. But that's a big financial endeavor to have to repurchase everything in one fell swoop. So. And I, by the way, I love sharing with everybody I have, not just on my own time at home, but on my TV show. We shot 65 episodes of the game show that I have. It's called Tug of Words. It's on Game show network, and we shot 65 episodes in three weeks, six shows a day. And so I basically said to my girls, my hair makeup team, who I've been with forever, and my really good friends said, I'm tasking you guys with this. I only want clean products. Everything has to not just clean, because like, Target sells them, they say they're clean. Or Sephora has their clean label because those aren't even my level of clean. I want to go even higher level of clean. And then I need to let's try them and let's make sure they work on a 12 hour shoot day under hot lights. Because if that works for me, then for every mom who wants to put on a little bit of makeup before she runs to her appointments, her driving, the kids, or your power meetings or whatever you're doing, we all have a Long day where we want our products to last and work. So I vetted so many different brands of makeup and of skincare and of hair care. I put together a list of things that I love that work. So anyone who reaches out to me on Instagram, just say clean beauty, and I will send it your way. Because I love sharing. And so foundation was a great way to start and then building up from there. It took me, honestly, till I was on that show, so nine plus years after my diagnosis to finally find a mascara that lasted and didn't make my eyelashes wilt.

Wow.

Because I was using drugstore brands still because they're. And waterproof on top of it, which is even more. Yeah, right.

But I mean, that's. That's what the industry uses. I mean, that's the. That's pretty much the industry standard.

Yes, right, exactly. So finding these products that work and are good are really important to me that. The point is, everybody, there are the products out there. We just also have. It's a little bit of a mind shift. Right. We are so used to grabbing our whatever, our Maybelline, our l' Oreal or whatever, you know, from the Lancome, whatever is from the department store, the drugstore. There are so many great products. And by the way, when I started this journey, there were not that many brands on the market. It was pretty limited. And now it's robust. So. It is, it is.

I love it.

It's awesome.

The possibilities are it's really plentiful now. Right. And you don't have to sacrifice. And I think you learned that recently that like these products can be healthy and durable and flattering and all of those things, whereas that was not the case 10 years ago. Like, the landscape has really changed. So there is still a lot of greenwashing out there.

A lot.

Yeah. And so people do still need to be careful. Tell me, what do you look for? Like, what are the kinds of things that you look for that make you embrace a product? Or conversely, say, this is not for me.

Fragrance. No, fragrance. I mean, if a brand has fragrance, I need to know that that brand is also disclosing what's in the fragrance. Fragrance oftentimes. So you guys, fragrance is a catch all term. It's proprietories, proprietary. So brand that has the word fragrance on their label, they're getting it from a third party that's basically adding, gosh, it can be up to 400 different chemicals within one fragrance. And so they're oftentimes contaminated or full of phthalates, which are known carcin or known endocrine disruptors which mess with our hormones. And so as well as a ton of other things in them that are also like 1,4 dioxane, which is also carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting. And so the point is that unless a company is going to say, all right, we have a fragrance, it's all organic essential oils. And they've been made sure that they've been tested for any harmful contaminants as part of those oils. Great. So there are plenty of brands that smell amazing. The scents are fabulous because I know that they're doing it with care. The other thing, you know, parabens, which I think most people now at least are aware of and try to get out of their products, are also one of the things that I make sure we try to get formaldehyde, talc. I mean, the list goes on. I have a list, I mean, I put in my book, but I also have updated lists, so I can always send you guys that. But I think the greatest thing is that we have some wonderful free resources out there. So the Environmental Working Group is a wonderful nonprofit. First of all, they have a list of ingredients or even products that have a 1 to 10 rating, 1 and 2 being in the green clean zone and then 9, 10 being red. Stay Away Fragrance is a 9. Just an FYI. They also have a verified program. So you know that they've really gone through the list. You know, the European Union bans more than 1600 different chemicals because they're known carcinogens or endocrine disruptors, and the US bans 11. So we have to be advocates for our own health to know we are.

Not doing very well in that case.

Category are we are not as a, as a country, but as individual consumers. We can do fantastically well. You can reach out to again, the EWG has a free app called Skin Deep, so you can put things in there. I still even take that with a grain of salt because I still want to read what is in it. Just to make sure there are some great. There are also some, some really great online retailers that vet and make sure they ban more than, you know, the 1600. I use a company that I love for my skin care and some of my makeup, like my BBC cream. And they ban more than 2500 different chemicals and they do third party testing for contaminants. And so you guys can always reach out to me is the bottom line. But EWG is a great resource and it's a free. It's a nonprofit.

Yeah. So I'M sure people are curious, though, like, what.

What do you use?

Like, what are your.

What are your goals? So this. Look, if you guys are watching this, I don't know if we. If you. If this is also.

They're watching, they're watching.

So I don't know. So if you're seeing this and not just listening on audio, and if you're.

Just listening on audio, she looks stunning.

Okay. I was fishing for compliments. No, no. But. Well, Jen and I will post. Dr. Jen and I will post pictures from this. But. But all the makeup that I have on, I'm gonna take it really close to the screen. All this is, is clean, vetted. The mascara is the one I finally found from a brand that also sometimes there's a product with a brand that's clean. Like this mascara is a brand called Joy Lorraine. It's a brand actually of cosmetics catered to the African American community. And not all the products are my level of clean. They're not. That's not their jam. But this particular one on the EWG website had like, maybe a three rating. I have to look back, which was the cleanest I could possibly find because I was using the drugstore brand of waterproof. Then I have Crunchy, which is one of my favorite makeups for my foundation and my shadow and my liner. So I use that Crunchy for a lot. And you guys can just again, reach out to me if you want a link for that. Oh, the BB cream I love using is by Shackley, Shackley's bb. So Shockley is the company that I was talking about that has vets everything they make sure they have. There's 2500 different chemicals they don't use in any of their products for their skin care in there. They don't have a lot of makeup. It's mostly the BB cream and they have a mascara as well. But I love their. For their night serums and their day serums and their lotions and potions and all of that. I love. And they're deodorant, too. I love. What else do I use for makeup? Oh, I also really love a brand that you can get at Sephora called Ilia, which is very clean. And Kosas, which is another really clean brand. Some of the sparkle I have is Kosas K O S A S. What else do I love? Rms. If you're looking for something that's a little bit more natural looking, but a little bit of glow, that one's nice. So, I mean, like I said, there are so many for hair I love this. So I put some curls in today, but I got the volume from a couple of different brands. One is called Hair Story, which is kind of cool. And another one that I love is called Ceremonia. And talk about a clean brand that smells really great. Ceremonia has some really wonderful products. A great leave in conditioner. Innersense is great. I use their volumizing mousse. So that's Innersense. Again, if you guys DM me for my clean beauty list, all of these will also be on there as well as a lot more. So again, small steps. So start with your foundation. Start with maybe your night cream or your day cream. Then when it comes to food, the one thing I say is get rid of the high fructose corn syrup. If that's all you do today or this week or this month, go through your pantry, go through your fridge, turn those labels around, read the ingredients. If it has high fructose corn syrup, do one of three things. If it's unopened, you can donate it, you can finish it up and vow to never use it again, or you can just chuck it right there and then into the trash. Because there are so many easy swaps to not have the high fructose corn syrup. I'm not saying they're going to be healthy swaps, but they're at least not going to have that, which I call liquid.

You're right. It is. And you know, beyond the high processing. Right. Is the fact that all of that corn that it's made from is GMO corn.

Right.

So you're getting a highly processed, genetically modified, highly sprayed product. Right. So it is like the quintessential chemical soup that you are using. And it is everywhere. It's ubiquitous.

Yes, yes. And the things you don't even think of as sweet, like your bread and your pasta sauces.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, really, truly, when you. When you start to look at processed foods, it's in nearly all of it.

It's very. And it's very palatable. And also it's very highly addictive. I was actually just listening to Dr.

Very Sweet. It's very sweet. Yeah. It's very intentionally engineered to be highly addictive. And they. They want you coming back for more. And the best way I find to deal with that is just what you're suggesting, like, get rid of it. Because once you get it out, you don't really want it anymore.

It's amazing. And the same thing with sugar. So I started to work with a nutritionist right after my Diagnosis who. Because I was still learning, right. I wasn't a certified health coach yet. I hadn't gone to all my schooling and, and she specializes in breast cancer. And the first thing she had me do was reduce the amount of sugar in my diet. And I said, well, I have a huge sweet tooth. And I look, by the way, I did, I had Cold Stone ice cream last night. Okay. So it's. And maybe that was a cheesecake night. Yeah, Cold Stone was too nice before. So I, but that's not great. It's not like we all have to level up, we all have to find our, where we, where we can make those changes. But what I was doing was I was consuming sugar and the hidden sugars that didn't necessarily say sugar on the label, but one of the other 75 synonyms for sugar like maltodextrin or malt barley. And I had sugar in things that I didn't realize I was consuming. So it was in my morning yogurt because this is before I was having my daily awesome smoothies. It was in my or my cereal, which I would alternate with. It was in my breads and my pasta sauces and all. So what I started to do is when I started to read the labels and reduce the amount of sugar and at least we now have, which we didn't have back then when I was diagnosed, the added sugars label on our nutrition facts. It's very helpful so you can see how much extra sugar is being put into the product you're having. So ideally you really want to go for as near to zero as possible, if not zero on that. And then the other thing is I started to reduce the amount of meat out of 21 meals a week. Having 21 animal protein filled meals was not great, whether it was eggs and yogurt in the morning or a turkey or a fish or something. So reducing the amount, the size, and then I'm not saying you have to give up your meat. I grew up in Minnesota, land of cows, ate every part of it. So just making sure that the source and the amount we really don't need more than about 2 or 3 ounces in a serving. No 8 ounce steaks needed. And then the other big thing was instead of thinking about what I can't have to live your healthiest healthy life, think about all the things that you can have that are filled with nutrient density that are going to give you the nourishment that your body needs, that your body craves, that are going to fight disease, fight aging, and help you have a better, more vibrant life. And that means how can I, at every meal, when I sit down or every snack, get more vegetables into this? What can I do to get more variety of color and more vegetables? And filling your plate half full with veggies at every meal is an ultimate goal and aim. And that was a. That and adding healthy fats. So nuts, seeds and avocados. A game changer. A game changer. It helped me drop weight that I wasn't trying to drop, but it whittled my waistline to a place where my body finally found it. And I know I get criticism sometimes for people who think I might be too thin, too muscular, blah, blah. My body, you guys found where it wants to be. It is so happy where it wants to be. I'm not saying everybody has to look like me. We all have to look like ourselves and be ourselves and find our true body, but find our healthiest, healthy body. And that's what I found through diet. Eating and not diet. I even hate nutrition. Through proper nutrition.

Yeah, nourishment.

Nourishment through a sustainable way of living and regular physical exercise, you know, and then you level up. I love my infrared sauna. I love my, you know, my daily yoga, you know, when I can get it, get it in, or even if it's a few minutes of stretching. Right. So whatever it is makes a big difference.

I think a lot of people, even if they want to make these changes, they're in situations and circumstances where it's not that easy. So I'm curious, how did your husband take to all of this? How did your family take to all of this? I mean, my children tell me not to feed them my cult food, so.

So I'm just curious as to how.

Your, your family has adapted to all of this.

Well, first, I'm really happy that you shared that because now I don't feel alone on my. Literally my 12 year old from the time she was 10 would mock me and say, oh, you're so healthy. Yeah, I am. And I'm going to celebrate that. Thank you very much. Yeah, you know, the kids, it's definitely hard. They're 12, almost 13 and almost 16. And so it is much more challenging because I am a broken record with them. And the amount of sugar that kids are consuming today from their, you know, big brand coffee shop that they have to go to on a regular basis, that kills me with the sugar bomb in the morning and to, you know, to whatever else they're consuming. So I would say they're the biggest Challenges, they are definitely eating well, especially my 16 year old. I think she's starting to get it a little bit more now. So I will see that she now, instead of sitting down with guac and chips, she'll sit down with guac and veggies. She may still have some chips later, but she understands like, okay, I need to get the veggies in. So that's a win for me as a mom. My husband has figured that out that the path of least resistance is best for longevity in a marriage. And so he basically says, whatever she puts in front of me, I eat or I put on my body. The only thing he felt bad back at was that he felt like my deodorant, that we had no aluminum in it was making him stink too much. And so he went back to his, you know, whatever, Old Spice, something, whatever, which kind of killed me. But I also feel like, okay, at least he has hair kind of blocking a little bit more than women do. And maybe, you know, I don't know, hopefully it's not as bad.

But I think that that's a valid point in that, like, you can't fight every battle, right? And if that's one that you're going to give up, better that than like he's taking in Wendy's and while you're eating dinner, right, like that. I think that that is a decent compromise. And it's hard.

I have, you know, I have a handful of private clients. I really, for the most part, work with groups, but. And I've had that challenge where someone is really trying to change their, especially their nutrition lifestyle and, and the husband's like, yeah, but I need my slab of meat every night and I need my, you know, my fast food. And so that is really hard. And I feel so much compassion when we don't have the support around us because there's the saying of we are the sum of the six people who are surrounded with or something like that. And it is very true, you know, if your girlfriends are always, you know, socializing over alcohol because it's, you know, it's time to go do happy hour three nights a week. And that's how you get to be with them. It is hard when we know alcohol is a known carcinogen. We know that there's no safe amount of alcohol when it comes to breast cancer risk. So what can you do to still have that social situation which is really important for longevity, but not feel like you are being judged or less than because we have a societal pressure to drink and it's a whole other conversation for a whole other project.

But that is something that is really valid that I feel like a lot of women struggle with because when they get a breast cancer diagnosis and now they are in the thick of it and they know that there is no safe amount of alcohol because of people like you and I that say it over and over and over again and then they're forced to make a decision like, do they need new friends? And sometimes that is the case, unfortunately. And it's scary. I know for me, I evolved into a different person. And there are some people that delight in that different person, some people not so much. And my friends have changed since I went on my health journey. I don't know if that's true for you or not.

I get so happy when I meet someone who loves to hike, when I meet someone who loves a nice big salad because I'm like, great, here's somebody who's not going to judge me and think I'm super weird or annoying. You know, I have. I know when I go to a coffee shop with someone, I am going to literally say, okay, what alternative milks do you have to dairy? And can I see them? Because I want to find out if you're almond milk or oat milk or soy milk, which one has the least amount of added sugar so that I can make my educated decision on what I'm going to choose. Okay, thank you. And I even apologize to the barista. I'm like, I'm really sorry that I just have. Usually they're pretty nice about it, you know, but sometimes, and if it's a long line, I try to be better about it. But it is easier to live the way we want to live with our healthful changes when we can have people around us who are like minded. And so sometimes there is that shift in friendships or sometimes it's a matter of putting up certain boundaries where maybe you don't spend as much time with that one friend who does always want to go out and drink and party and have, you know, McDonald's or whatever it is. I think one of the hardest things I have is. And Jen, I'm sure you do this as well. It's so hard. I don't feel like I judge, but I want to make, I want to help, I want to help someone.

So when I find I knew exactly.

Where you were going, I just want to offer that change, that suggestion. And it can be really annoying, really annoying to people. So I have to have self awareness, which I'm really working on, which is to not pounce and be like, oh, okay, cool, but you need to have this instead. Well, I never say you need. I offer suggestions, but they're, they're pretty strong suggestions. So it's, I have to be better about that.

Yeah, just, I remember I was at, I, I have a football playing son and we were at a training camp over the summer and one of the other boys on the field is 16 and just got diagnosed with diabetes. And there are his parents on the sidelines with his snack, a yogurt, a banana and a Gatorade. And I'm, you know, all I can think of is they couldn't have made worse decisions for this boy and his snacks with diabetes. And like you, I couldn't resist. And I went up and introduced myself and, you know, made some what I thought were extremely helpful suggestions and they were like, yeah, we have a doctor. And, you know, so it's, it's those times that come up again and again and again where I want to help myself. Sometimes I can't. But like with my friends, I just have to remember that, like, not everyone wants my help.

Right. And I think anyone who's listening to you has chosen to be here to elevate their wellness, to be able to try to take even better control of their health as they continue on through a new diagnosis or a friend or family member who maybe had one, or living well into their post cancer diagnosis life. But even so, sometimes it can be really overwhelming. So again, as Dr. Jen always says, and I share, one step at a time, one day at a time, one tiny change at a time. They're all going to help move you in the right direction. So when you're feeling overwhelmed, that's the time to take that breath. And if you had that cheesecake last night like I did, I'm not going to beat myself up about it because today's a new day and I got some, you know, my kickboxing in this morning and I'm going to go have my smoothie when I break my intermittent fast right after this. So you're right back on board and you just get back on it and one little step at a time. And you've got a lot of support here with Dr. Jen and so many of us who love to help.

Yeah. And what you say is true. You don't have to be perfect. Right. We are not striving for perfection. And it's what you do most that matters. And if you have a day that was less than perfect, the wonderful thing is that you have tomorrow you have tomorrow to do it again. And for as many tomorrows, we have the opportunity to do it better and do it better. You do not have to be perfect. It's what you do most that matters.

I couldn't agree more.

Yeah, Samantha, where can people find you?

Well, I'm most active on my Instagram amanthaharristv, like television, but also same one at Facebook. Samantha HarrisTV trying to build up the TikTok. My little one's trying to help me. But maybe don't go there and judge quite yet. It's, it's pretty, it's pretty raw. But otherwise you guys can also get lots more info from samantha-harris.com so samantha-harris.com but yeah, Instagram has all the links for everything.

Wonderful, wonderful. And I'm sure everyone will really value that list of your clean, your favorite clean beauty products because people really do want to know what is tried and trusted and true. So I know that that's going to be really valuable. I thank you so much for spending time with me today.

And you know what else, you guys, if you guys have not checked out Dr. Jen's courses, she, she offers, as you know, because you're listening, so much value. So check out her course. I have a thriving after breast cancer course that kind of elaborates on my book. And just know you have a lot of support. And thank you for having me.

Yeah. Oh, my pleasure. And my book actually came out today, so super excited about that.

Definitely check it out.

Yeah. So we will definitely get you a copy of the Smart Person's Guide to Breast Cancer. And until next time, I'll see you later.