Meg Wolff survived cancer -- twice. First she had bone cancer and lost her leg to the disease. Then she had breast cancer and was given little hope from doctors who thought traditional treatment could not save her. Maybe it couldn't. But Wolff found something that did save her -- a macrobiotic diet.

Life is all about balance, says Wolff who authors a website rich in content about the connection between diet and a healthy lifestyle. She offers up-to-date information on her blog, links to recipes and resources, a calendar of events, and a look at her very own book, titled, Becoming Whole, The Story of My Complete Recovery from Breast Cancer.

Wolff says that by changing her diet, she has changed her destiny. She is alive and well and thriving. Give her a visit and see for yourself.

Jacqueline, a clever and crafty breast cancer survivor made this shirt -- pictured at right -- especially for the 2006 Susan G. Komen walk in Central Park. She didn't like the over-sized, over-advertised shirts passed out to the masses, so she designed her own. Notice the songbird stripe on the right side of the shirt? This seamstress renovated the piece to create visual balance for women who have lost a breast and wish to forgo mastectomy and prostheses.

Jacqueline, who has named her clothing line Rhea Belle, had a right-side mastectomy in January 2004. She knew she would leave her body as is, but her existing wardrobe didn't "fit" her new shape. When she realized she could either accept her changed architecture or camouflage it, she chose the former.

I think all the time about how I'm treating my body. Just yesterday, while making a tuna sandwich I wondered if I was using too much light mayonnaise. I considered the fact that tuna contains mercury, that I should monitor how much of this product I consume.

How much is too much anyway?

I worried that my tuna was slathered on white bakery bread, a true diet no-no, and I found solace in only two items -- my hand-picked strawberries and the water I poured in my cup.

Wait, the strawberries were pretty plump, ripe, red, and juicy -- an indication they were possibly pumped full of hormones and sprayed with pesticides before I washed and gulped them down.

How did I do overall at lunch? I think maybe not so good. I did run 2.5 miles and completed 20 push-ups, a bunch of sit-ups, and few core exercises. Maybe I come out balanced in the end. Maybe not.

I think about this sort of stuff every day because of cancer. I've already had it -- and I don't want it again. So I try to eat right. I exercise. I don't smoke. I don't drink alcohol. But here's my dilemma: I did all this before my cancer diagnosis (with the exception of an occasional drink), and the disease still lived in my body -- maybe for many years before I knew it was there. What should I do differently now when I didn't do all that bad before?

Shall I exercise all day long? Eat only the most pure and untainted of foods? Somehow that doesn't seem much like living. So I suppose I'll keep on doing what I do every day -- living in moderation -- with hopes that I've had my one and only brush with cancer and that the bout I had was caused by something other than how I treat my body.

Valerie Monroe, beauty director for The Oprah Magazine, writes a monthly column -- Ask Val -- that appears on the pages of Oprah's feel-good publication. She responds to questions about make-up, skin care, hair care, and overall body care too.

In her February 2007 column, Val writes, "Many of you have written to tell me that you began to be less critical of your body when you appreciated the things it could do." As I read this, I had what Oprah would call an Aha! moment, a moment when something just clicks and makes sudden sense. Aha!, I thought, as I considered all the things my body can do, completely independent of how I look on the outside. So while I was jogging today -- my body can now easily run three miles -- I ran through all of my body's accomplishments, and I stored them in the files of my mind so I could later write them down.

Here are seven things my body can do. As you read them, consider your own body -- its strength, its power, its capacity for greatness -- and remind yourself of your wondrous self the next time you start to criticize the way you look.

• My body can partner in the creation of human life. It can carry babies and deliver them and love them and care for them and raise them. Not all bodies have this power. I am lucky.

• My body can climb an attic staircase, crawl into cramped and dark corners, pull large boxes out of wedged spaces, drag them back to the staircase, and walk backwards down the stairs with goods balancing on my head so that I can fulfill the wish my five-year-old child who wanted so badly in early November to assemble our Christmas tree and decorate our house for the holidays. "Let's wait until Daddy gets home," I told Joey when I found myself crammed into a tiny space in the attic, wrestling with a heavy box full of artificial tree parts. "You can do it, Mommy," Joey said. "You are strong." And so I fought my way through the frustrating feat because I was afraid of the lessons I would teach this little boy if I didn't. In the end, it was Joey who taught me the lesson. I can do it. I am strong.
  

• My body can endure and conquer a 5K run when it once could barely run around the block. With a little extra effort and push, I think my body can accomplish even more.

• My body, once weak and without definition, can lift increasingly heavy weight and can generate muscle tone. It can even do push-ups -- real push-ups. It takes dedication and practice and persistence and mental toughness too. But I see progress. I feel progress. And I want more.

• My body can help others. I can use my fingers to type words on a keyboard that will reach friends and family and people I don't even know. My words can inform and support and encourage and heal. I can use my hands and my semi-creative talents to create hand-made gifts, to cook and deliver very mediocre meals for friends in need, to massage my husband's sore back, to braid my niece's beautiful hair and paint her tiny nails. I can use my arms to hug my little boys with all my might. I can use my voice to communicate, my ears to listen, my senses to feel.
  

• My body can tolerate surgery and chemotherapy and radiation and horrible allergic reactions to antibiotics. My body was badly beaten by a treatment protocol intended to cure me of a disastrous disease. And somehow, in some way, it survived.
  

• My body killed cancer. With the aid of medical intervention and a hopeful attitude, my body overcame the worst and best thing that has ever happened to me. And if it could do nothing else, I would be truly happy for this one thing my body can do.
  

Deep within the pages of ancient texts detailing the remedies used by Chinese medicine practitioners, is there a cure for cancer waiting to be rediscovered? The global pharmaceutical company Merck thinks there might be a reference or two to natural cancer-fighting products used by healers then that is obscurely hidden and not known now in modern western medicine.

Merck has entered into a deal with Hong Kong's Chi-Med to look for evidence of promising products that the pharmaceutical company can research and test in clinical trials. According to the article Merck looks for ancient Chinese cancer cure written by Susie Mesure, "Western pharmaceutical companies are increasingly outsourcing their drug discovery work, with many looking east for the solution to medical mysteries that Western doctors cannot solve."

Traditional Chinese Medicine, TCM, is a practice of medicine that combines medicinal herbs, nutrition, meditation, massage, exercise and acupuncture with an applied philosophy in the harmonious balance of yin and yang for treating illness. In all fairness, because this system of medicine has developed over thousands of years, and my understanding limited by Western educational influence, the definition I have given is a very brief, and possibly incomplete, overview of TCM. If you are interested in learning more about TCM, begin by visiting Traditional Chinese Medicine at Wikipedia.

Chi-Med will be scanning information in a library of 10,000 natural substances for those that might hold potential in a cure for cancer. It will be interesting what they find.

I heard a man interviewed on the news the other night who said the side effects of chemotherapy make him feel so poorly, so unlike he once felt. Recently, however, he discovered a remedy that makes him feel better, more like he did before chemotherapy took its toll on his well-being. His remedy -- reflexology.

Reflexology does not erase the side effects of chemotherapy, but it can provide relief for patients whose lives are altered by chemotherapy-induced nausea, pain, fatigue, and anxiety.

Reflexology, or zone therapy, is the application of pressure, stretch, and movement to the feet and hands in order to break up patterns of stress in corresponding parts of the body. There are many theories about how this practice actually works -- one is that applied pressure signals the nervous system to initiate changes in the brain which promotes inner balance. Still, all theories operate according to the belief that reflexology reduces stress and anxiety and lessens overall wear and tear on the body systems. And many medical professionals are incorporating this therapy into their cancer care programs.

Some doctors are not so quick to embrace this complementary therapy that has no real scientific backing. They believe reflexology is nothing more than a pseudoscience, offering the same benefits as massage.

The enthusiastic man I watched on the news is not concerned with popular opinion on the zone therapy he receives on his feet. It makes him feel better -- and that's all that concerns him.

Beverly called Dr. Jeremy Geffen in a state of panic. She had just been diagnosed with breast cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes, just had her breasts removed, and was terrified of her recent diagnosis -- high grade infiltrating ductal carcinoma.

Beverly, age 44, was told by her doctor that she would need chemotherapy and radiation. She had heard horrible stories about chemotherapy. And having never been sick a day in her life, she was scared. So when a friend told her about a caring doctor she heard speak at a conference, Beverly knew she had to locate him. She tracked down his phone number, picked up the phone, dialed, got Dr. Geffen on the phone, and asked him to help. He did.

Beverly was a complete stranger to Dr. Geffen, author of The Journey Through Cancer: Healing and Transforming the Whole Person. Yet she was like so many people he knew -- people with cancer, confronted with the greatest challenges of their lives, seeking more than just physical remedies, grasping for someone who really cares.

Dr. Geffen received calls like Beverly's every day. And the number of calls seemed to increase with time. It's no wonder really. Cancer is a growing presence -- and more and more people like Beverly are confronting the disease. More and more people like Beverly are seeking more than just science to cure their ailments. And in an effort to harness a little compassion in their lives, patients are reaching for alternative methods of healing -- for their minds and hearts and spirits. Yet few disclose to their doctors their secret missions for fear they will be dismissed.

Beverly knew of Dr. Geffen's belief in holistic healing, his desire to treat the whole person and not just the organs and tissues and cells. So when she asked for his guidance on what treatment protocol to follow -- conventional, alternative, or complementary -- she was a bit surprised at his response.

Dr. Geffen told Beverly that conventional medicine was her best line of defense. Science tells us these methods work -- and abandoning them could be tragic. Dr. Geffen told Beverly that chemotherapy and radiation, when used skillfully and sensibly, can be truly beneficial. But he also suggested she pursue complementary therapies related to diet, nutrition, exercise, and stress relief.

Dr. Geffen believes in balance. And he teaches through his Seven Levels of Healing how we all can achieve balance when considering how to scientifically and emotionally heal our bodies.

Dr. Geffen will detail throughout the chapters of his book how Beverly represents all the strengths and vulnerabilities of the contemporary cancer patient, how Beverly is every one of us.

To read previous posts on the same topic, visit:
The Journey Through Cancer: What Is The Purpose Of Medicine
The Journey Through Cancer: Introduction
Sunday Seven: Seven Levels of Healing on Cancer Journey

Stay tuned for:
The Journey Through Cancer: State-Of-The-Art Medical Care

My friend Michelle and I met in college. She now lives in Miami with her husband Pete and daughter Sage. Michelle is also a painter, yoga instructor and Ayurveda practitioner. I asked her to talk to me about Ayurveda and tell me why she thinks it is important for a healthy lifestyle, prevention of cancer and therapy after a cancer diagnosis.

Michelle, what is Ayurveda?

Ayurveda teaches that in order to have perfect health one must be balanced. The human body consists of five elements that work together and correspond to specific organs and bodily systems. The elements are ether (space), air, fire, water and earth. Each element has a unique function and characteristics.

What are the body types talked about in Ayurveda and what do they mean?

There are three body types that describe individuals and their bodily tendencies. Since people cannot be simplified into only three categories, they can either be one body type, a combination of two (with one being dominant), or tri-dosha. (dosha = body type.) The three body types are vata (ether, air), pita (fire, water) and kapha (water, earth). Depending on one's dosha, he or she will benefit from specific types of food, herbs and lifestyle. Each herb, food, drink and even environment contains dosha characteristics so using the opposite to balance out an individual is done in Ayurveda. This is the main difference with Ayurveda and modern medicine - with that, a descriptive saying that fits the idea is "one man's food can be another man's poison".

Ayurveda sees the body as a universe in itself, and in order for this universe to work properly it needs to be balanced. This body universe does not only function through matter and the physical, it also functions through intelligence and spirit.

Author and breast cancer survivor Barbara Delinsky has just released an updated edition of her book UPLIFT: Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors and like her previous editions, this one delivers inspiring real-life stories from real-life survivors -- like Deb Haney, an administrative assistant diagnosed in 1996 at age 48, who reveals her secret to surviving breast cancer in the workplace.

"My boss at the time was my brother. He suggested I go for radiation treatment in the morning, work a few hours, then go home and rest in the afternoons. That is what I did, because even though I looked great, I was unbelievably tired. When illness comes, we need to listen to our bodies and give them the time to rest and recover. I hadn't anticipated it, but those afternoon hours became a truly peaceful, nurturing time to read and rest and enjoy quiet time."

Delinsky offers a chapter in her book called A Workplace Manual -- it's a place where survivors like Haney share strategies that helped them maintain the crucial balance between cancer and work.

Delinsky writes, "What works for one woman may not work for another. What works in one job may not work in another. The thing is, you need to take a step back, think about yourself and your situation, then speak up about what may work for you. In every situation, you have choices, and the choices are all good. What pleases one woman may not please another."

And so the women featured in UPLIFT share their individual choices. And their choices become options for the millions of women surviving a disease that throws everything off balance.

Rosamary Amiet, a program manager diagnosed in 2000 at age 48, shares, "I juggled cancer and work by just giving up some things, like housework. I discovered that the house could go for weeks without being vacuumed or dusted -- and not only did the sky not fall, it didn't even crack!"

UPLIFT is not all about the workplace. It's also about chemotherapy and losing hair and losing breasts. It's about family and humor and men. It's about religion and exercise and diagnosis. It's about help. It's about hope. It's about sisterhood -- plain and simple.

A new line of pomegranate-based supplements, called Pomology, will be revealed this weekend at the 2006 Expo Trade Show in Baltimore, Maryland. According to leading nutritionists and fitness experts, "each product contains a premium blend of proven ingredients that consumers can utilize for immediate relief and long-term health benefits." Target shoppers are those seeking a boost in heart health, prostate health, antioxidant health, joint health, and menopause.

Pomegranates, known for anti-inflammatory effects and high levels of antioxidants, have been used medically for thousands of years and have recently been making headlines for their power to knock out all kinds of health problems, including cancer. Pomology was founded in 2005 by a team of nutritionists and athletic performance experts who created formulas that meet varying lifestyle needs. This product line is promoted as one of highest quality and efficacy.

The information detailed above came directly from a press release.

A few days ago, I wrote a post about Richard Morris of www.breadandmoney.com who argued that sensational press releases about miracle products and potions often land in the hands of the media who broadcast them to the public in a this-will-fix-all-your-problems fashion. Morris states that no one product will fix what ails us without the proper balance of a handful of other practices -- like relaxation, stress reduction, and exercise. It's just not likely that Pomology supplements will result in "immediate relief and long-term health benefits." It's just not. Yet that is what we might gather from this press release. And unless we take on a full-scale lifestyle overhaul, what we gather from taking supplements such as these might just be a whole lot of nothing.

Writer Richard Morris of www.breadandmoney.com coins the word nutritainment in a recent article about foods that are hyped to magically make us healthy -- foods that can cancel out cancer and wipe out heart disease. Nutritainment is nutritional news delivered in entertainment-like fashion, designed to urge consumers to buy into the latest, greatest super foods. Yet making small changes in diet -- what most consumers will do -- to incorporate these so-called powerful products is unlikely to do much good, Morris says. And he offers some thoughts on why the media continues to force this news down our throats and why we continue falling for their tactics.

Morris says human nature and marketplace economics motivate those engaged in nutritional sciences to strive for media attention and exposure. As a result, bits and pieces of nutritional studies make their way to medical journals and then land in media's lap through press releases. Some will even ghostwrite nutrition articles to promote products. These articles end up in the hands of the media and spread like wildfire to the public, in as-is format. Consumers may be left with the notion that these bits and pieces are important, relevant, non-biased research -- when this is not the case.

Morris says knowledgeable health experts who have the time to accurately report on important nutrition news are scarce. And when they do have time to share words of wisdom that really do matter, the packaging of the news is often technical and not so sensational. A headline that reads, Pomegranate juice packs power to prevent cancer will bury a scientific -- yet more accurate -- headline. Catchy headlines grab readers, and readers buy products. But headlines can be misleading -- and pomegranate juice alone is not likely to have many health benefits.

There are also issues with advertising and editorial content, according to Morris, who compares overall good nutrition to car maintenance. "Just like changing the air freshener in your car won't prevent a breakdown if the car desperately needs a tune-up, adding one item of magical food to your diet won't protect you from a breakdown either," he says and shares that a complete dietary makeover is what's necessary for good health -- that and stress reduction, physical activity, emotional balance, and life fulfillment. A quick dose of pomegranate juice may not do the trick. But a steady, consistent dose of these items will.

For cancer survivor and Tai Chi, Yoga and Lebed Method teacher Dawn Stasko, her classes lead to more than a physical improvement in balance, a relaxing means of reducing stress, a boost to the immune system and increased energy for participants. It is a place for newly-diagnosed cancer patients, cancer patients undergoing treatments and cancer survivors to bond and find group support. Stasko accepts the initial non-belief of newcomers that Tai Chi and Yoga could possibly make a difference in the quality of their life, and is touched when they discover the classes do help.

"For me it is pure joy to have someone come into my class and say how can this help," she said with tears in her eyes and in a broken voice. "They listen to me and they are kind of hesitant and skeptical, and at the end of the class I get a 'thank you' and that makes the biggest difference in the world."

Valerie Cutshall features the benefits cancer survivors feel they have received by participating in Stasko's classes in Yoga, tai chi classes help cancer patients survive.

Tai Chi is referred to as a graceful form of exercise and described as meditation in motion. Yoga, when used as a form of alternative therapy to enhance flexibility, relaxation or stress relief, is a combination of breathing exercises, physical postures, and meditation. The Lebed Method focuses on healing through a therapeutic exercise and dance movement program designed for women who have had breast cancer, for all cancer patients who have undergone cancer treatments and for lymphedema. For more information, visit the Lebed Method.

The Mayo Clinic has created the Complementary & Alternative Medicine Center that publishes articles about Yoga, Tai Chi and other alternative therapies that can be incorporated to complement conventional cancer treatments.

You can find Tai Chi and Yoga classes in cities throughout the United States. To locate a class in your community, contact the local hospital, community center, community college, the YMCA or YWCA, health club or wellness center.

I really do believe deep down in my gut that I will survive breast cancer -- that I will witness the wonder of my children growing up, that I will be married long enough that the years blur together, that I will live to a ripe old age. But I still have moments of doubt -- moments powerful enough to make me think I should not have a third child, just in case cancer comes back. To combat these moments -- that seem to surface more now that my treatment has stopped -- I try to keep busy, keep my mind occupied, keep living. My steps for surviving in the short-term include writing, journaling, exercising, relaxing, and spending time with family. But I also follow some steps for long-term survival -- steps that transcend the moment and give me purpose and direction. And here are seven of them.

10.18.2006: We are deeply saddened that Miriam Engelberg has lost her battle with breast cancer.

Our favorite cartoonist, Miriam Engelberg, who blogs Cancer Made Me A Shallower Person, and publishes the weekly Cartoon of the Week, titles her latest post Bad News. The lack of balance she has been experiencing has been confirmed to be due to a brain tumor, and she will be entering hospice home care.

Miriam Engelberg was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 43 and decided to chronicle her breast cancer journey in a series of comic strips that have now been collected in the book, Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person: A Memoir in Comics. Engelberg, mother of a then four-year-old, used cartooning as a way to cope with the shock of diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, support groups, and a second cancer diagnosis.

She has made arrangements with her web designer to see that her cartoons still appear each week. Engelberg warns they might be in black and white. Normally she colors them in on her computer. Here is her latest cartoon.

Cancer just sucks.

Cancer has helped me slow down -- a little. I am more patient in the moment without racing to the next task I think is waiting for me. I can better manage my priorities and can offer the most important things the majority of my time. I am better at passing on opportunities that are low on my wish list. And I can typically say "no" if I don't have the time or energy to devote to a request. I know that I have to be healthy and happy and fulfilled in order to operate effectively and joyfully in this world. So I try to enjoy peaceful moments and put priorities first and not overextend myself and slow down. I'm not completely there -- yet. But I plan to keep practicing. And I'm going to try these seven strategies -- offered by a freelance writer, wife, mother of two, and reformed over-committer -- in an article I stumbled across in a local family magazine I picked up this week.