I'm dizzy, light-headed, over-heated and just plain worn out after my workout this morning. Why? Because I overdid it.

I've been so focused on running from cancer by eating right and strenuously exercising -- research says it take five hours of vigorous exercise per week to keep breast cancer away -- that I drove myself to depletion this morning. It hit me when a wave of dizziness came over me in the midst of my outdoor workout. My body felt heavy, my strength disappeared, and it took every ounce of energy I could muster to put one foot in front of the other so I could get home. I suspect it was a combination of dehydration -- I didn't take water with me -- and heat -- it's really hot here in Florida -- and pushing myself too hard. The fact that I feel a bit under the weather didn't help either, I'm sure.

My body spoke to me today. And it's got my attention.

I'm trying to keep breast cancer away. I've had it once, and I really don't want it again. So I am committing myself to all strategies for keeping the disease out of my life -- like eating right, maintaining a normal weight, not drinking, not smoking, and as of yesterday, exercising strenuously.

New research shows strenuous exercise is what it takes to minimize the risk of breast cancer. Not moderate. Strenuous.

OK, I'm on board.

Now I've been a student of moderate fitness for most of my life. But now I'm embracing this new approach, this new way of pushing my body to its near limits. I figure if my choice is cancer or strenuous exercise, I better take the route that will leave me sweating and huffing and puffing, not sick and weak and bald. And so yesterday I took my first stab at what I will try to do at least five hours per week -- what experts say it takes to make a difference.

It all started with a warm-up lap on my treadmill -- just one lap at 4.5 miles per hour. Then I upped my speed to 5.3 and ran for a mile and a half. I continued running for another half mile at 6 miles per hour and then began walking again. I started at incline 1 for one minute, then moved to incline 2 for one minute, then incline 3 for one minute, and so on until I reached incline 10. My goal was to then continue walking while decreasing the incline each minute for ten minutes -- but I was so out of breath and fatigued, I jumped the incline down to 4 for one minute, then did 3 for one minute, 2 for one minute, 1 for one minute, and then I stopped. The whole process took about 40 minutes and left me soaked with sweat and gasping for air. Then, just in case my workout wasn't strenuous enough, I did 20 push-ups, a handful of sit-ups, and a few other floor exercises before heading to the shower.

So that's my version of strenuous. Now, I don't plan to do this same exact routine for all five hours I must complete each week, but I do intend to sweat and huff and puff just as much as I did yesterday. Because if strenuous is what it takes to ward off evil cancer cells, then I'm game.

Environmental groups claim some children's bath products contain a suspected cancer-causing chemical in amounts that reach or exceed safe limits. The chemical in question -- 1,4-dioxane -- is found in products made by companies such as Johnson and Johnson, Disney, Kimberly-Clark, and Gerber, says David Steinman, head of the environmental publishing company Freedom Press.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calls this chemical, already known to cause cancer in animals, a probable human carcinogen. But there is no real regulation on the petroleum-derived chemical and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only recommends cosmetic companies limit the concentration of 1,4-dioxane to 10 parts per million (ppm).

Studies show Johnson's Kids Shampoo Watermelon Explosion contains the maximum recommended level of 10 ppm. They also reveal that Kid Care's Hello Kitty Bubble Bath contains 12.3 ppm of the chemical. And two adult shampoos have been found to have twice the recommended level of this chemical that is typically a manufacturing by-product.

It's been reported that nearly 57 percent of all baby soaps contain 1,4-dioxane. But Iris Grossman, director of communications at Johnson and Johnson, stresses that all of her products are within FDA limits.

Cancer is not the only risky link to children's bath products. It seems these items are also linked to early puberty development. And this is concerning because a fast-paced growth rate combined with children's porous skin increases susceptibility to toxins that can enter the bloodstream. One breast cancer expert says an increase in breast cancer risk is linked to toxic exposures during the formative years of life.

I have never completely cut a certain food from my diet just because of speculation that it may cause cancer. Because I eat most everything in moderation, I have felt that anything I am ingesting is too small an amount to make any real difference. I have heard recommendations about nixing preserved foods and anything treated with hormones and refined sugar and while I try to eat a balanced, healthy diet -- with a bit of sweet stuff thrown in -- I do sometimes indulge my cravings for foods that are not very healthy. Like chips -- which writer Robert L. Wolke says he is definitely eliminating from his diet.

The chemical acrylamide -- a probable carcinogen -- has been found in fried starchy foods, especially potato chips and French fries. This chemical is not a contaminant that somehow appears in our food but is created by chemical reactions that take place during cooking at high temperatures. It's a chemical that has been used in industry and has been known to damage the central nervous system, the immune system, and the reproductive system. And it may cause cancer. Recently, acrylamide was discovered in foods at hundreds of times the .5-parts-per-billion level that is considered safe in drinking water.

Authorities in Germany have already begun enforcing regulations to minimize the amounts of acrylamide in foods. But the United States has been criticized for dragging its feet on this issue. In fact, the National Uniformity for Food Act (H.R. 4167) recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives, with 94 percent of Republicans supporting it and 64 percent of Democrats opposing. It has gone to the Senate, where it was the subject of a hearing on July 27. The act would prohibit states or local governments from setting more stringent limits on toxic substances.

Each of us can still take personal action with regard to the foods we eat -- despite what the government dictates. We can decide what to eat and what not to eat. In the interest of our health. And our future.

For information on acrylamide levels in hundreds of different foods, click here.

As of today, cancer patients in Britain have a new drug Sutent (sunitinib) available to them in the treatment for advanced kidney cancer and GIST, a rare gastrointestinal cancer. Sutent might become available in the future in the treatment of breast, lung and pancreatic cancers.

Called a smart drug, it offers a two-pronged approach in starving tumors of nutrients and shutting down the signaling of an enzyme that tells cancer cells to multiply.

There is some discussion that because of the cost of the drug, $4,500 a month per patient, the National Health Service (NHS) is planning to limit its availability. Sutent will be prescribed after other more traditional cancer drugs and treatment have failed for kidney and gastrointestinal cancer patients.

In November 2004, my husband I and decided to try to have a third child. But instead of getting pregnant, I got breast cancer. And with the aggressive treatment I would receive -- surgery, dose-dense chemotherapy, radiation, and Herceptin therapy -- becoming pregnant was not an option. Birth control became my only option -- an option that has many limits for premenopausal women surviving breast cancer.