Are we living in a toxic environment? The experts at Canyon Ranch ask us to consider these facts:

• The EPA estimates that 4.7 billion pounds of toxic chemicals are released into the environment annually.
• It's likely that 25 percent of the U.S. population suffers from some level of heavy metal poisoning.
• Fourteen pounds of food colorings, additives, preservatives, emulsifiers, and flavorings are consumed per person each year.

Toxic? Maybe. At minimum, though, we are living in a world filled with chemicals, pesticides, additives, preservatives, antibiotic and hormone residues, and heavy metals. Whether consumed, inhaled, or absorbed, our bodies soak this stuff up. In order to reduce the load, and the toll it takes it takes on our health, there's something we can do. We can eat clean. Here's how:

There's nothing like a little benign news to start the day, nothing like a voice on the other end of the phone saying, "the pathology on your biopsy came back and everything is benign. We'll see you in one year for your next appointment."

While my dermatologist was freezing the pre-cancerous actinic keratoses lesions on my nose last week, she decided to cut out a suspicious chunk of skin on my hand. It was much worse than the freezing. She gave me a shot and numbed the area and then literally dug a hole into the skin just below the pinkie finger on my right hand. For days now, I've been applying antibiotic ointment, bandaging the wound, and whining about the twinges of pain that shoot through my hand.

My hand is still sore today. But I don't have skin cancer. And that makes the pain a whole lot more tolerable.

Chemo is tough stuff. That's what my oncologist told me the day I tracked her down on the phone and told her how awful I felt. I was weak, dizzy, pale, and as close to incoherent as I'd ever been. I was so out of sorts I was convinced I would jump out of my skin at the very moment this doctor implied all I needed was a firm grip on reality.

"Do you have enough support?" she asked. "Yep," I replied. I told her my mom lives right around the corner, my sister just a few miles away. I told her friends were delivering meals and my husband was coming home from work whenever I called for him. Help was just a phone call away, and I had plenty of it. What I didn't have was medical guidance about how my body was tolerating chemotherapy. That's why I needed her.

I hung up the phone that day having accomplished nothing. And I woke up the next morning barely able to walk. I crawled into my kitchen, grabbed a banana, sprawled out on the floor, inhaled some nutrition, and called my mom. I told her I needed to have my blood examined.

My mom transported me to my oncology clinic -- we had a genetic counseling appointment there anyway so it was convenient timing -- and before long, I was hand-delivered a mask and was swiftly escorted to my very own hospital room where I stayed for five days.

The day I was admitted to the hospital, my white blood counts were 700. My body was not tolerating chemotherapy. And I'll never know why my oncologist didn't know this, didn't call me in for an evaluation when so many signs were presenting themselves, didn't offer me more than her steadfast declaration that "chemo is tough stuff."

Yes, chemo is tough. And there are all sorts of expected side effects of the dreaded treatment that patients must endure. But there are many effects patients should not have to suck up, effects that warrant immediate medical attention and can be alleviated with the right intervention.

It took days of antibiotic treatment and a blood transfusion for my body to recover from its chemotherapy attack. I often wonder what would have happened had I toughed it out at home. I suspect the outcome could have been tragic.

If I ever have the occasion to preach about the dangers of chemotherapy, which is what I am doing here, I offer a firm warning about how difficult the treatments can be, how anyone with any string of worrisome side effects should seek medical help immediately, how any oncologist who doesn't respond to an outright cry for help should be fired.

I learned many lessons from my chemo crusade. I learned how to better help myself, and I learned to report right to the emergency room the second time my blood counts plummeted. I learned to demand the care I deserve, and I found an oncologist who is a warm and caring partner in my pursuit of health. And I learned that chemo is tougher than I ever imagined, too tough for some -- like me -- to go it alone.

In laboratory testing, by targeting the FoxM1 gene, a little-known antibiotic has been proven effective as an anti-cancer treatment, according to University of Illinois researchers.

As the researchers explain, the FoxM1 gene is responsible for turning on genes needed for cell proliferation and turning off genes that block proliferation. Uncontrolled proliferation is characteristic of cancer cells. The antibiotic, siomycin A, appears to suppress the activity of the FoxM1 gene.

During the research, the antibiotic was found to be non-toxic and prompted cancer cells into a process called apoptosis, or cancer cell suicide, without damaging surrounding cells. More testing with need to be done before the drug can reach the clinical trial phase. The study will be published in the October issue of Cancer Research.

Strange things have happened to my skin ever since I encountered surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation for breast cancer. I developed an allergic reaction to the Tegaderm tape and latex used during and after my lumpectomy. My entire chest and one underarm were covered in red, itchy, burning, blistery bumps that oozed and then dried up. It took weeks of misery and a bunch of creams, lotions, and drugs to calm my skin and my anxiety too. Then I became allergic to an antibiotic while I was hospitalized for chemo-induced fever and low blood counts. The same horrible skin reaction again covered my chest and this time, my back also. It happened again a few months ago after a trip to the beach and I can only imagine that it was some combination of salt water, sunscreen, and chlorine that prompted this attack. I am still not sure of the cause. But it struck once again recently after a trip to my neighborhood pool. Sunscreen and chlorine were again my possible enemies. So I am staying away from all possible culprits now -- the tape, latex, certain antibiotics, sunscreen, salt water, and chlorine. And of course, the sun too. Perhaps treatment has made my skin even more sensitive than it already was. Perhaps something else is at fault. Regardless, I am now ultra careful about anything I put on my skin. I avoid most everything -- except for Dove soap and sometimes some fruity smelling lotion for my legs -- and I look for anything that is targeted for delicate skin.

So an advertisement in a magazine caught my eye today -- an ad for a hypo-allergenic deodorant that is highly recommended by dermatologists and oncologists. Naturally Fresh Deodorant Crystal Spray Mist and Roll On are both extremely gentle and also very effective. They are 100 percent natural and are fragrance free. They last for up to 24 hours, do not stain, and are good for one year. Like some deodorants that merely mask odor, these actually kill the bacteria that causes odor. Naturally Fresh Deodorant seems like a great find to me -- and it can be found CVS, Target, GNC, Hannaford Bros., A&P, Harmon Stores, Drug Fair, and Kerr Drug in the United States and Shoppers Drug Mart, Jean Coutu, and GNC in Canada.