Every year, when October rolls around, I celebrate two things: my birthday and breast health! That’s right. For years I was so irritated by October being designated Breast Cancer Awareness Month that I simply changed it to Breast Health Awareness Month, starting in my own mind. Now I don’t spend a moment resisting the mainstream breast cancer awareness approach. I just switch it to breast health instead. I’d like to invite you to do the same thing.

I wrote this month’s Members article, “Better Than Mammography,” in the spirit of breast health awareness. In it you can learn the daily habits that help create breast health, find out whether mammography or a newer state-of the-art test offers the best information about breast tissue, and discover the independent risk factors that increase your likelihood for getting breast cancer. Click here to read “Better Than Mammography.”

The Secret Pleasures of Menopause

My latest book, The Secret Pleasures of Menopause is a groundbreaking book that is long overdue! In it, I deliver a breakthrough message that will help millions of perimenopausal and menopausal women understand that at menopause…life has just begun! It’s the beginning of a very exciting and fulfilling time, full of pleasure beyond your wildest dreams!

It’s time for women everywhere to step forward and learn to enjoy the best years of their life! Even though studies show that menopause doesn’t decrease libido, ease of reaching orgasm, or sexual satisfaction, the majority of menopausal women aren’t experiencing the pleasure and sexual satisfaction that is their birthright. It’s a long-held misconception that menopause signals “the beginning of the end,” and nothing could be further from the truth.

Let me guide you toward experiencing life at midlife as the most pleasurable time of your life! The Secret Pleasures of Menopause will be released October 15, 2008. Click here to reserve your copy.

Live Online Special Event

Join me for my first live online event October 21, 2008 called The Secret Pleasures of Menopause: How to Enjoy Them NOW! In this uplifting, joyful, eye-opening, and information-packed online seminar, I share the potent new insights and research that are the basis for my new book The Secret Pleasures of Menopause and teach the crucial importance of pleasure as the missing link for creating joyous and vibrant health on all levels after menopause. This also includes the best sex of your life.

The show takes place from 7:00 to 9:00 pm EST with a pre-show at 6:45 pm EST. Click here to enroll today. Tune in and be dazzled! You don’t want to miss it.

A special note to my Women’s Wisdom Circle members: This live online event is a free benefit to all members. Login to the Women’s Wisdom Circle member’s only area and sign-up for this uplifting seminar.

Soul On Fire Author Tours New England

My friend and colleague Peter Calhoun, author of Soul On Fire: A Transformational Journey From Priest To Shaman will be speaking in New England this fall.

If you haven’t read Peter’s book yet, you’re in for a real treat—it resonated deeply within me when I read Soul on Fire. The stories in Soul on Fire gave me much hope and joy around our current environmental crisis. Help is available. It won’t come from any legislature, but instead from nature herself when we work consciously with her. We’ve been led to believe that people in ancient times (or in the far reaches of Tibet or Nepal) can commune with Nature spirits and bring about miracles, but mere mortals, like those who live in the U.S. and pay mortgages, can’t. Not true! Peter illuminates a path that all people can use to reconnect with the earth and with Spirit.

Peter’s Fall New England Tour, when he will be speaking on these topics and more, includes these and other venues:

• October 24-25, 2008 at Peace of Mind Emporium in Rutland, Vermont
• November 1-2, 2008 at Circles of Wisdom Books in Andover, Massachusetts
• November 7-8, 2008 at Leapin’ Lizards in Freeport, Maine

For more information, go to Peter’s Web site, www.petercalhoun.com.

Vital Choice Tuna

Recently, I tried Vital Choice’s canned tuna for the first time. Boy, is it good! Its flavor and texture are both comparable to fresh—quite a contrast to other canned varieties I’ve tried. Plus, it’s loaded with vitamin D and healthy omega-3 fats due to Vital Choice’s processing methods. (Traditional canning methods remove quite a bit of these important nutrients.) A growing number of studies show the link between vitamin D and Omega-3 fats and cardiovascular health, joint and bone health, breast health, improved mood, a decrease in PMS-like symptoms, and a lessening of the perception of pain.

Vital Choice is committed to harvesting fish in the most eco-friendly way possible, which helps protect the wild fisheries. When it comes to catching tuna, Vital Choice’s policy is to harvest only small tunas, using the troll-caught method of fishing. This explains why their tuna—both fresh-frozen and canned—contains less mercury than national brands. It also earned Vital Choice an additional Marine Stewardship Council certification (for their sustainable, tuna fishing methods).

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT: breast health, the importance of pleasure, environmental clean-up through connecting with nature, and a delicious source of omega-3 fats, vitamin D, and protein. All designed to help you awaken to the joys of harvest and the beauty of October!

With health and pleasure,

Christiane Northrup, M.D.