In MTD chemo, high doses of cytotoxic drugs – the highest doses possible without causing life-threatening levels of toxicity – are administered intravenously to cancer patients. Because it is very toxic to the body, MTD chemotherapy requires prolonged breaks (generally of 2-3 weeks in duration) between successive cycles of therapy. This gives the cancer an opportunity to recover and re-establish itself. This is why cancer cells often seem to quickly become resistant to MTD chemotherapy.

Recently, I learned about a gentle form of chemotherapy with virtually no side-effects called metronomic chemotherapy. Unlike MTD chemotherapy, metronomic chemotherapy involves taking low-dosage cytotoxic drugs orally – in tablet form – usually daily over a prolonged period, without the breaks necessitated by MTD chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy drugs are designed to inhibit or kill cancer cells by damaging DNA. However, cells can employ a number of mechanisms to repair this damage. When cells experience drug-induced breaks in their DNA strands, proteins called PARPs bind to the DNA at the sites of the breaks and recruit other proteins involved in DNA repair. This process can allow cancer cells to continue to survive and grow despite the damage caused by chemotherapy treatment.

With metronomic chemotherapy, the low-dose chemo drugs are administered regularly, without missing a beat, like the rhythmic beat of the metronome. Hence, the cancer is given little time to repair and restore itself, while toxicity and side effects are kept minimal.

Dr. Harold J. Burstein of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who has led several early-stage trials of metronomic chemotherapy in women with breast cancer elucidates that “… metronomic chemotherapy …refers to repetitive, low doses of chemotherapy drugs designed to minimize toxicity and target the endothelium or tumor stroma as opposed to targeting the tumor”.

Low, non-toxic doses of chemotherapy drugs, when delivered frequently for a prolonged period of time, can retard tumor blood vessel growth (or angiogenesis) by destroying endothelial cells. Evidence is growing that more compressed or accelerated schedules of drug administration using much smaller individual doses than the MTD can be more effective in controlling tumor growth, and stabilising the patient’s condition for a longer period of time.

Angiogenesis is the creation of new blood vessels from an existing blood vessel – such as from established blood vessels to a tumor – and tumors use this source of nutrition to grow. This vascular structure is the target of drugs like Avastin. Endothelial cells form the lining of newly-formed blood vessels. Standard MTD chemotherapy destroys the endothelial cells in the small blood vessels but in the usual 2 – 3 weeks pause given before the next chemotherapy session, the blood vessel grows into the cancer again.

On February 23rd 2008, at the 28th annual German Cancer Congress, cancer researcher D. McDonald from San Francisco presented a lecture at a symposium entitled: “Anti-angiogenesis, Therapy for Solid Tumours”. McDonald showed pictures from his research and demonstrated that just one day after anti-angiogenesis treatment was stopped, the endothelial cells start sprouting and sending out growth processes from the basal membrane. One week from stopping the anti-angiogenesis treatment, the blood vessels and the blood supply to the cancer tumor – the tumor’s vascular system – are fully re-established.

The metronomic approach was initially proposed and tested in animal models by Dr. Timothy Browder in Dr. Judah Folkman’s lab at Harvard Medical School. The studies recorded that standard MTD chemotherapy regimens caused cell death of endothelial cells in the blood vessels feeding to the tumor first, followed by tumor cells. However, the long breaks needed between the MTD regimens allowed the damaged blood vessels, and thus the tumor, to recover.

On the other hand, significantly lower doses given more frequently on a prolonged schedule proved to be far more effective, including complete tumor regressions, even in mice that were resistant to the same drug when used in a standard MTD regimen.

Various other research groups have confirmed these findings. Further, studies conducted in cell lines and animal models have reported that combining metronomic chemotherapy with targeted anti-angiogenesis agents seems more effective than metronomic chemotherapy alone.

Italian oncologists documented the long-term responses of patients with metastatic breast cancer to a metronomic regimen involving daily cyclophosphamide (50mg) and two weekly doses of methotrexate (5mg per dose)). 32% achieved either a complete or partial remission, or a stabilization of disease lasting at least 24 weeks. In about 16% of patients, no tumor progression was noted for over a year. Even in the patients in whom progression did occur, it was believed that the therapy slowed the spread of the disease.

As metronomic therapy is directed against endothelial cells, not cancer cells, a metronomic regimen that works well with one type of cancer should work with all types of cancer dependent on angiogenesis for growth.

A well-documented case study of a 36-year old patient with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer who had responded poorly to standard MTD chemotherapy reported that she performed well on metronomic chemotherapy. She went on to live a normal working and social life for five more years, without side effects.

A major benefit of metronomic chemotherapy is that it is essentially free of harmful side effects. Only a mild suppression of white cell count was observed in a small minority of the treated patients.

Yet another interesting benefit of metronomic chemotherapy is that it selectively kills a type of immune cell – T-reg cells – that function to suppress the activity of immune cells capable of attacking the tumor – the natural killer (NK) cells and T-cytotoxic cells. T-reg cells are often found within tumors and secrete hormone-like factors that “turn off” the immune cells trying to attack the cancer. Metronomic chemotherapy is therefore a useful adjuvant to therapeutic strategies intended to boost the tumor-killing capacity of NK and T-cytotoxic cells.

For people dealing with cancer, especially those adverse to aggressive cancer treatment, and particularly those for whom traditional MTD chemotherapy has failed, metronomic chemotherapy is good news. Those seeking a gentler, less-aggressive and less-harmful form of cancer treatment at least now have this option to explore.

In a 2010 ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) report, promising results from administering metronomic chemotherapy with capecitabine to heavily pretreated patients with metastatic breast cancer – including those with HER2 positive breast cancer – were reported. This offers hope even to those with advanced breast cancer for whom standard aggressive cancer treatment like MTD chemotherapy has failed.

Of course, some people feel that metronomic chemotherapy may work too slowly for those with clearly progressive cancer. A hybrid approach may be the answer. In a phase III clinical trial which involved women with locally advanced or inflammatory breast cancer, a presurgical (or neoadjuvant), metronomic-like regimen – using higher doses of cyclophosphamide, given daily; doxorubicin; and growth factor support to ensure the continued production of white blood cells – was found to be superior to a standard MTD regimen at eliminating evidence of invasive cancer at the time of surgery.

This outcome, explained Dr. Robert Livingston, a co-investigator on the Southwest Oncology Group-led trial, generally has been found to predict superior long-term outcome in patients. The idea was to try to expose tumor cells to minimum concentrations of chemotherapy drugs for as long as possible.

“I think it’s fair to call the regimen we have developed a hybrid,” said Dr. Livingston. “It can destroy tumor cells and, at the same time, the continuous exposure, particularly to cyclophosphamide, is having an anti-angiogenic effect.”

The hybrid metronomic regimen delivers chemotherapy more frequently, even daily, at significantly higher doses than those used in most metronomic regimens but less than in MTD regimens. The toxicity might be greater than a “traditional” metronomic regimen, but so might the effectiveness.

If you’re looking for a gentler, less toxic and relatively safe form of chemotherapy, talk to your oncologist or check with your nearest cancer center. Clinical trials utilizing metronomic chemotherapy are also ongoing.

The oldenlandia plant has been used by the Chinese for medicinal purposes for centuries. The book “An Illustrated Guide to Antineoplastic Chinese Herbal Medicine” lists oldenlandia as having the following:

Properties: sweet, bland, slightly bitter, and slightly cold. Clears heat and toxin, activates blood circulation, removes blood stasis, promotes diuresis, and relieves stranguria (urinary obstruction).

Indications: various kinds of tumor, especially tumors of the digestive tract, lymphosarcoma, carcinoma of the liver and larynx. Also for appendicitis, hepatitis, pneumonia, cholecystitis, urinary infection, furunculosis, cellulites, and snake bite.

In an article titled “Oldenlandia and Scutellaria: Antitoxin and Anticancer Herbs” by Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon, USA, it is said that the oldenlandia is from the Rubiaceae family, and is collected from the wild. It is found mainly in the southeastern provinces of China-Guangxi, Guangdong and Fujian-growing at low altitude in moist fields. According to Dr. Dharmananda, Dr. Jiao Shude, in his “Ten Lectures on the use of Medicinals”, says that he “frequently adds about 30-40 grams of this medicinal to an appropriate decoction medicine devised according to the principle of pattern identification” for treating various forms of cancer. He also suggests adding some other anticancer herbs, such as scutellaria.

In “Pharmacology and Applications of Chinese Materia Medica”, it states that: “The herb at the dose of 30-60 grams is often added to conventional prescriptions for carcinoma.” In “Chinese Medicinal Herbs of Hong Kong”, among the indications for oldenlandia is “early stage of cancer of lungs, liver, and rectum.” It is recommended there that oldenlandia be used in a dosage of 60 grams along with 30 grams of scutellaria as a decoction, taken once a day.

Various laboratory studies of the action of oldenlandia suggest that the herb may contribute to inhibiting growth of cancer cells, promoting cancer cell death (apoptosis), and enhancing immune attack against cancer cells.

In the 2006 report “Evidence for Oldenlandia diffusa-evoked cancer cell apoptosis through superoxide burst and caspase activation” by Yadav SK and Lee SC from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, the researchers concluded that “the ethanol extract of the herb effectively evokes cancer cell apoptosis, possibly through burst-mediated caspase activation.” This study was published in PubMed.gov, the online publication of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health

In another study, the “Apoptotic effect of Oldenlandia diffusa on the leukaemic cell line HL60 and human lymphocytes”, published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Volume 114, Issue 3, 3 December 2007, the researchers reported that their findings“support a cytotoxic action for Oldenlandia diffusa”

Oldenlandia may be used as a preventive health care agent to inhibit mutation of cells by carcinogens. As it also builds up the immune system, this herb may be beneficial for anyone undergoing modern cancer therapies. Fortunately for me, oldenlandia diffusa grows wild here and beverages containing oldenlandia are cheap (the equivalent of 50 US cents per bottle) and easily available where I live. I particularly like one from China which is a sparkling mineral water with oldenlandia extract. It comes in a green glass bottle and the Chinese have been drinking it for decades. You can probably find oldenlandia beverages in most Asian supermarkets and grocers as well as Chinese medical shops.

In Chinese, oldenlandia diffusa is known as “baihuasheshecao” (sometimes written Bai Hua She She Cao). “Baihua” means white flower, “she” means snake, and “shecao” means tongue weed, referring to the long thin leaves of the herb. English-speakers sometimes refer to it as the snake-needle weed.

Cheers to good health!

HER2 positive breast cancer is one of the most frightening breast cancers to deal with and the drug which is typically used to treat it – Herceptin – is very expensive. So the news that phytochemicals in extra-virgin olive oil – an affordable, easily obtainable and harmless food – can shrink certain breast tumors should give hope to many.

The extra-virgin olive oil study was performed at the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Girona, Spain, and reported in the open-access journal BMC Cancer. It focused on tumor tissue in laboratory culture that the researchers exposed to different fractions of extra-virgin olive oil containing various natural phytochemicals. When rats with induced breast cancers were fed large amounts of extra-virgin olive oil, their tumors’ malignancy diminished.

“Our findings reveal for the first time that all the major complex phenols present in extra-virgin olive oil drastically suppress overexpression of the cancer gene HER2 in human breast cancer cells,” said Javier Menendez, who, along with Antonio Segura-Carretero from Spain’s University of Granada, led the team of researchers who determined to investigate which parts of extra-virgin olive oil battle cancer best.

Some past studies have suggested that the olive-oil-rich Mediterranean diet prevents cancer, while other studies have not. So the Spanish scientists theorized that olive oil compounds kill only certain forms of breast cancer. Their research found that the olive-oil polyphenols known as secoiridoids and lignans are highly effective breast-cancer-cell fighters – but only against the 20 percent to 30 percent of breast cancers that express the so-called HER2 gene.

Extra-virgin olive oil comes from pressing olives in a cold state – without the use of heat or chemicals. It contains natural complex anti-cancer chemicals that the industrial refining process destroys. So will eating large quantities of such olive oil actually prevent or cure breast cancer? Sadly, the authors note that “The active phytochemicals exhibited tumoricidal effects against cultured breast cancer cells at concentrations that are unlikely to be achieved in real life by consuming olive oil.”

Still, the scientists say, “These findings, together with the fact that that humans have safely been ingesting significant amounts of lignans and secoiridoids as long as they have been consuming olives and extra-virgin oil, strongly suggest that these polyphenols might provide an excellent and safe platform for the design of new anti breast-cancer drugs.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m still going to add more extra-virgin olive oil to my salads.

Scientists In Singapore have reported that chemotherapy concentration and costs for advanced breast cancer patients can be halved by incorporating the use of an anti-fungal drug, ketoconazole, which costs around Singapore $12 (about US$7). The drug, which is normally used to treat ordinary infections such as dandruff and athlete’s foot, complements chemotherapy treatment as it blocks an enzyme in the body from breaking down docetaxel, a drug used to treat breast, stomach, lung and prostate cancers.

Each cycle of docetaxel, given once every three weeks, can cost between S$1,800 – S$2,500. A typical course can involve four cycles. By pairing ketoconazole with docetaxel, researchers from the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore were able to lower the concentration level of the chemotherapy by 40%, thereby reducing costs as well as chemotherapy side effects, while still achieving the desired results.

The results of this clinical trial were published in the April 2010 Annals of oncology, the official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology and the Japanese Society of Medical Oncology.

Principal investigator Lee Soo Chin and her colleagues conducted the trial between July 2005 and September 2006. The anti-fungal treatment was administered to 31 patients in advanced stages of breast cancer or with large tumors for three days before chemotherapy cycles started. 51 patients treated with the conventional method of 100mg to 140mg of docetaxel between April 2002 and July 2005 formed the control group.

One breast cancer patient who participated in the “cocktail” trial was 58-year old housewife Gladys Goh. In June 2006, she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and went through four cycles of the anti-fungal and chemotherapy drugs. “After the first cycle, my tumor was greatly reduced and after all four I was able to go for surgery to have it removed”, she said.

Said principal investigator Lee: “With this finding, this would make an expensive treatment like docetaxel more affordable”. She also said: “these two drugs are existing ones, so doctors can apply them to their patients suffering not only from breast cancer but also from stomach, lung and prostate cancers. But they have to be mindful their patients may be on other medication and our study here is on only two singular drugs.”

Yeah for lower cancer treatment costs and fewer side effects!

1. They eat foods native to their territory, whether it be plant or animal in origin. Don’t forget that the Mongolians and Eskimos eat a predominantly meat and fat based diet, with hardly any plant food. The Mongolians, in addition, eat plenty of dairy foods. Many traditional European, Middle-Eastern and Indian diets also feature dairy products and meats.

2. Each native group obviously adapted to their respective diets, eating whatever was naturally available in order to stay alive. This is why a diet abundant in meat and fat was not harmful to the Eskimos or the Mongolians. In fact, it was protective for them, living in their harsh, wintry environments.

3. The foods they ate and beverages they drank were organic, unprocessed, unrefined and free from artificial additives like chemicals, hormones and antibiotics. Meat and dairy were completely natural and uncontaminated.

4. Foods were generally eaten fresh, freshly harvested or freshly killed. Any food preservation or storage was usually limited to salting, fermenting, drying or pickling. Modern societies tend to eat food which has been canned, packaged in some way or frozen for quite some time.

5. Cooking methods were completely natural. Nothing strange like microwaving or “nuking” in any way.

6. Kitchen utensils, cookware and materials used were also completely natural (clay, leaves, wood etc). Certainly no plastic.

7. Condiments, spices and flavorings were kept simple and natural. Nothing artificial.

8. In Asia, if oil was used for cooking, it was what was indigenous to the territory eg. peanut oil, coconut oil, soya bean oil, ghee (clarified butter), or lard (made from animal fat). “Healthy” fats like olive oil or grapeseed oil were unheard of.

9. If a sweetener was used, it was natural eg. cane sugar, palm sugar or honey.

10. Carbohydrates were fine and even essential, but they were usually natural, unrefined and free from artificial additives eg. tapioca, sweet potatoes, corn, beans, nuts, seeds, potatoes and other tubers.

11. No leftover food was kept. Everything was made fresh and finished in one sitting, so food did not have a chance to deteriorate further.

12. Usually, native people ate only what they needed, or even starved at times for a while. Excess was a luxury, and generally reserved for special occasions. Modern people are literally indulging themselves to death.

13. With the exception of people living in harsh environments like the Mongolians and Eskimos – where meat and fat was more readily available than plant foods – most native diets are dominated by plant foods. Meat was considered a luxury item to be eaten sparingly or reserved for special occasions. If seafood was available, that was eaten more often than meat. Modern societies consume far more meat than our forefathers did, and the meat we eat today is mostly adulterated and contaminated.

14. Almost all native societies have some fermented foods. These foods are rich in anti-cancer properties. Think sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, tempeh and yoghurt.

15. Almost all native societies have a rich tradition of using herbs for food, healing and beauty. The Chinese, for instance, have a vast variety of herbal teas, using herbs, flowers, roots, tree bark, fungi etc. I grew up drinking herbal teas and soups, but switched to Western concoctions and drugs and soda pop from my early teens. Now that I’m older and (hopefully) wiser, I’m beginning to rediscover Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and learning how to use traditional herbs at home.

16.The true native lifestyle is physically active, even rigorous, on a daily basis. Exercise was a way of life. People living in urban societies are very sedentary, and obesity has become an epidemic.

17 The environment and air was clean and pure. There was no exposure to modern contaminants like chemicals, radiation, electrical currents, vehicle and industrial emissions etc.

18. Furniture, building materials, fabrics etc was all organic.

19. There was no obsession with cleaning or enhancing body or home with products saturated with chemicals, unlike today.

20. People slept early and woke up early. Their sleeping environments were completely dark and quiet, except perhaps for the sounds of nature. No night lights, street lights, blinking lights, TV etc. Perfect for melatonin production.

These are just a few of my observations. As I said in my opening paragraph, the people who adulterate this “formula” are the ones who start getting all kinds of sicknesses, including cancer. Of course, observing a strict native diet and way of life is challenging in an urban society. But I believe we need to try our level best, in order to be cancer-free, even if it means re-locating. Major miracles often require major changes.

So, should we consume green tea, or soy, or turmeric, or flaxseed, or berries, or cruciferous vegetables, or iodine, or dark chocolate etc. or load up on more supplements? I think we know by now that each in itself CANNOT defeat cancer. Diet alone won’t cut it. Even vegetarians and exercise fanatics get cancer, right? A radical, holistic approach is required, and this may include some medical intervention. To keep cancer and other diseases at bay, it’s back to basics, back to our roots.

GO NATIVE, as far as it makes sense. In other words, if you’re a Mongolian working in a nice, cushy office in New York, the traditional Mongolian diet may not be healthy for you in this context. Adapt it to your present living environment, eliminating elements which are harmful (eg. unnatural foods, high-fat diet, chemicals, being sedentary) and adding those which are protective (eg. daily exercise, lots of plant foods, natural foods, fresh foods, safe personal care and household care products, conducive sleeping environment and times).

As long as your foods are natural and your way of life is as native as possible, a little dairy food or meat or dessert once in a while is not going to kill you. Just make sure it is pure, unrefined, unprocessed and fresh. Food which has travelled a long way to get to you is often “preserved” in some way to make it last the journey and storage. They also lose their nutritional value with each passing day.

Avoid anything artificial or unnatural, eat fresh, don’t over-indulge, lose weight, learn how to use herbs for everything, eat some fermented foods regularly, live in a pure and uncontaminated environment, sleep well and exercise everyday. GO NATIVE!

Angiogenesis inhibitors are not cytotoxic, meaning that they do not attack and kill the tumors per se. In conventional cancer treatment, they are normally used together with other therapies, such as chemotherapy and even aromatase inhibitors, to fight the cancer. It looks like the goal should still be to kill the tumor outright, rather than just deprive it of its blood network and food supply.

Most cancers remain about the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen, one critical reason being that they are unable to grow further without a blood supply. Tumors need to grow blood vessels in order to feed and spread. However, healthy bodies have natural antiangiogenic mechanisms which regulate angiogenesis, the process through which our bodies create new blood vessels.

Angiogenesis is an essential part of a normal, functioning body. In healthy people, new blood vessels grow only under specific conditions, for instance as part of the healing process for an injury, or during pregnancy. Healthy individuals have a natural system of checks and balances – known to scientists as angiogenesis stimulators and inhibitors – to regulate the growth of blood vessels.  Explains Dr. Li, “The stimulators act as natural fertilizers to get vessels to grow, and the inhibitors prune back extra vessels when they’re no longer needed”.

Forty years ago, Dr. Judah Folkman – Dr. Li’s mentor – presented his thesis in the New England Journal of Medicine that a growing tumor could be “starved to death” by cutting off its blood supply. That theory was initially met with scepticism. Today, every major pharmaceutical company has an angiogenesis program. The first FDA-approved antiangiogenic cancer drug, Avastin, is well-established.There are 12 antiangiogenic drugs on the market for cancer treatment, with some 26 more in the final stages of human testing and another 100-plus behind them in human trials.

You can boost your body’s ability to produce angiogenesis inhibitors. Natural antiangiogenic food sources or angiogenesis inhibitor food sources include:

Green Tea
Strawberries
Raspberries
Blueberries
Blackberries
Oranges
Grapefruit
Lemons
Apples
Pineapple
Cherries
Red Grapes
Red wine
Cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, brussels sprouts, bok choy, kale etc.)
Soy beans
Ginseng
Licorice
Turmeric
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Artichokes
Lavender
Pumpkin
Sea Cucumber
Seaweed
Tuna
Parsley
Rosemary
Thyme
Oregano
Basil
Mint
Garlic
Ginger
Tomato
Olive Oil
Grapeseed oil
Omega 3s (salmon, tuna, trout, mackerel, cod, sardine)
Dark chocolate
Walnuts
Hazelnuts
Pecans
Mushrooms (Maitake, Reishi, Agaricus subrufescens also known as Agaricus Blazei Murill Mushroom or Almond mushroom or Himematsutake /Japanese “princess matsutake”, Trametes versicolor or Turkey Tail in the United States or Yun Zhi in Chinese, Phellinus linteus or Japanese “meshimakobu” or Chinese “song gen” or Korean “sanghwang”).

This list is not exhaustive, but it’s a good start. I hear a bar of dark chocolate calling to me right now and, for my own good, I should give it my undivided attention!

The study appears online in “Annals of Surgical Oncology”. Two different cryoablation – or cryosurgery – techniques were employed in the study involving mice with breast cancer, and the results were compared to results from mice whose tumors were removed with surgery. One method involves freezing the tumor rapidly, in about 30 seconds; the other freezes the tumor slowly, taking a few minutes.

The breast tumor was successfully killed with both cryoablation techniques. The mice treated with the rapid freeze had fewer tumors that spread to the lungs and improved survival compared to mice treated with surgery alone or mice treated with the slower freezing technique. The study showed that the benefit from the rapid freezing is likely due to changes in the immune system that help to kill the tumor. The immune system did not seem as able to kill the tumor when the slower freezing technique was used.

A clinical trial using cryoablation in patients with breast cancer is now underway. In this trial, researchers use the rapid freezing technique. Cryoablation is currently used routinely for prostate cancer, kidney cancer and a variety of cancers that have spread to the liver and bone.

“Cryoablation has strong potential as a treatment for breast cancer. Not only does it appear effective in treating the primary tumor with little cosmetic concerns, but it also may stimulate an immune response capable of eradicating any cells that have traveled throughout the body, reducing both local and distant recurrence, similar to giving a breast cancer vaccine,” says lead study author Michael Sabel, M.D., associate professor of surgery at the U-M Medical School.

“What we learned in this study is that all cryoablation is not equal. The technique used to freeze the tissue can have a significant impact on how the immune system responds. The system we use today appears to be ideal for both destroying the tumor within the breast and generating an anti-cancer immune response,” Sabel says.

University of Michican (U-M) researchers are participating in a national clinical trial to evaluate using cryoablation for early stage breast cancer. Participants will undergo rapid freezing of their tumor, and their blood samples will be analyzed to assess changes in their immune system. All participants will be treated three to four weeks later with standard surgery to remove their tumor.

For more information about the study, contact the U-M Cancer AnswerLine at 800-865-1125. To read the source article  about how freezing breast tumors helps stop cancer spread, visit the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center website.

Exercise is particularly important with hormone-dominant cancers like estrogen-positive breast cancer. Fat cells harbor estrogen, so the more weight you lose, the lesser your estrogen load. Having a “spare tyre” is dangerous for people with estrogen-sensitive cancer. Exercise also helps to alleviate many side-effects associated with drugs prescribed for cancer like aromatase inhibitors.

Since I started on the aromatase inhibitor Letrozole (Femara) a couple of months ago, I have been putting on weight, a common side-effect of AIs. This is not good for someone with my condition. I had actually been losing weight steadily over the last couple of years, until Femara came along. Now, it seems to me that no matter what I do I just can’t seem to lose weight. It’s so frustrating.

So I bought myself a pedometer last week, to help keep track of the number of steps I walk daily. The recommendation is to take at least 10,000 steps each day. Not counting the steps I take when I’m indoors, this translates (for me) to two hours of brisk walking. Each time I walk my dog, Ginger, it takes 25-30 minutes, and I do this twice a day. Either I walk her four times daily (ha! ha!) from now on, or I’ll just have to find some other way to get the other 5,000 steps in. So far, by taking an additional long walk each day, I’m averaging 9,000 steps. At least the pedometer reminds me to walk at least 10,000 steps everyday.

I’ve also been looking at other things I can do naturally to help lose weight, like drastically reducing sugar intake. I already hardly consume any sugar, so I’ve just switched from drinking “reduced-sugar” soy milk daily to “sugar-free” soy milk. Hopefully, that will help. I’m also thinking of taking virgin coconut oil daily, as my research shows that it assists weight loss, besides providing many other health benefits.

Weight-bearing exercises are supposed to help burn fat too. I used to have a pair of barbells. Wonder where they are now? Must look for them. Meanwhile, I bought an exercise band yesterday, so I can do some resistance-based stretching and pulling, even while sitting at my computer. I spend hours working at my desk, so every bit of exercise I can work in helps.

If you have any other ideas to help me lose weight safely and quickly, please share. I’m not doing this for vanity’s sake, but for my life.

After following the Budwig protocol for 14 months and consuming large quantities of flaxseed oil combined with cottage cheese daily, as well as ground flax – an essential part of the program – I’ve come to the conclusion that flaxseed is harmful for my estrogen-sensitive breast cancer. Tumors as large as oranges developed during that time and covered my breast, bleeding profusely. That was a horrifying period. No more flaxseed for me!

Soy, on the other hand, seems to have helped keep the cancer under control for several years since I was first diagnosed. I drank soy milk daily and used it in my cereal until my husband and I sold our house and moved in with his folks for almost a year while we were looking for a new home. During that interval, we could not use the kitchen freely, so we did not buy groceries or prepare our own meals and beverages then. Not only did I stop consuming soy milk daily, I even stopped my daily juicing routine. Whether it was due to these changes in my diet or to the stress of living with the in-laws, the cancer started getting active and the small tumor I had then bled for the first time ever. Shortly after moving into our new home, I started on the Budwig protocol and the breast cancer grew exponentially thereafter.

I’m back to consuming soy daily now. I love drinking fresh soya milk every day, the natural, clean-tasting type which Asians have been drinking for generations, not the additives-loaded fake substitute for dairy milk sold in the West. I also enjoy cooking with soy products like tofu and tempeh, a fermented pressed soy cake. Interestingly, my oncologist suggested I consume more soy products to counter the side-effects of Femara (Letrozole), an estrogen inhibitor. I blend my own fresh vegetable and fruit juices daily too. I even make sauerkraut regularly and eat it daily for its cancer-fighting and estrogen-regulating properties. When I can find space in my fridge, I also make a big batch of coleslaw, one of my favorite salads which also happens to have cancer-fighting properties.

I know what flaxseed did to my body and I also remember how soy protected me against breast cancer so, as phytoestrogens go, my vote is for soy.