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Leading Kiwi fashion designer and breast cancer survivor Liz Mitchell has backed Trevor Smith's holistic approach to helping fight the disease.
After finding a cancerous lump six years ago, she could find little local material on the subject so ended up looking elsewhere, particularly the internet and Dr Susan Love's Breast Book.
Hailed as "the Bible for women with breast cancer", Love's book advocates combining alternative self-care advice with medical strategies.
"I'm pleased a New Zealand person has got to addressing that [topic]," Mitchell says. "A lot of people, like oncologists, are so busy and caught up with their area of expertise so they are not pushing for some things like that."
Mitchell overcame the disease after three surgeries, including a mastectomy on Boxing Day 2002, and is now coming to the end of drug therapy.
Her healthy lifestyle includes swimming, eating organic foods, and meditation.
She says she enjoys the occasional glass of wine with friends.
"I was at a breast cancer conference last year and they said walking and exercise had the strongest contribution to a positive outcome."
She says not everyone would adopt a holistic approach to cancer prevention and treatment but hopes for wider education on the topic.
"It is better to act early, take responsibility for your health," she says, warning that finding out you have cancer is "terrifying".
"You think you are going to die, it's such a fearful time... it's one of those things where a doctor can't tell you if you are going to survive or not."
