What a natropathic oncologist brings to the mix
Tumor Fighting and creating a hostile micro-envirnonment for cancer
When I told people I had breast cancer, the supplement advice started immediately.
Take turmeric. No, don't - it interferes with chemo. Or it helps chemo. It depends!
Megadose vitamin C. Depends on oral vs IV - it can help or it can be contraindicated
One friend sent me a celebrity 60 Minutes interview: Elle MacPherson "cured her cancer with supplements." No, she didn’t.
I wanted to scream: How am I supposed to know what's real?
If you've felt caught between your oncologist's treatment plan and well-meaning loved ones pushing natural therapies, this week's episode will give you the framework you've been missing.
Dr. Lise Alschuler is a naturopathic doctor board-certified in naturopathic oncology. She's also a breast cancer survivor. And she's spent 30 years helping patients navigate exactly this confusion.
You want this episode of Kicking Cancer’s Ass.
Audio - https://joellekaufman.com/episode-14-how-to-make-your-body-inhospitable-to-cancer/
Video -
The breakthrough concept: create a hostile tumor microenvironment.
Conventional treatments - chemo, surgery, radiation - kill tumors. That's what they're designed to do, and your oncologist is an expert at wielding these tools.
But they don't address the conditions in your body that allowed the tumor to grow.
Tumors co-opt the tissue around them, creating an environment characterized by inflammation, compromised immunity, new blood vessel growth. And conventional treatments often make that environment worse.
Natural therapies - diet, supplements, stress management - change that microenvironment. They make your body less hospitable to cancer growth.
You need both.
Not either/or. Both/and.
In this episode, Dr. Alschuler also covers:
✅ How to spot snake oil vs. legitimate integrative therapies
✅ The vitamin C confusion (why oral vs. IV matters)
✅ How to talk to your oncologist about natural approaches without them shutting you down
✅ The financial toxicity conversation nobody wants to have (but you need to have early)
✅ The #1 myth about cancer she wishes would disappear
Listen now: https://joellekaufman.com/episode-14-how-to-make-your-body-inhospitable-to-cancer/
Read the articles with more details from Dr. Alshculer’s episode - become a subscriber.
If this episode helps you feel less overwhelmed and more empowered, would you share it with someone who's navigating treatment right now? That's the best way to support the movement to re-write the story on cancer.
You've got this,
Joelle
P.S. - The celebrity who claimed she "cured her cancer with supplements"? She'd had two lumpectomies first. She casually mentioned that in the interview but she and 60 Minutes focused on her supplements. Dr. Alschuler walks through why those testimonials are so misleading - and dangerous.