Health Cafe Journey

If you have cancer, remember this no matter what you decide to do: Your immune system is designed to make you well, but it requires work on your part.  You will NOT do well if you expect to get better by following a treatment plan that is done to you without taking care of your body first. In other words, it's important to make the lifestyle changes needed to support a healthy body. Here is an action plan to get you healthy and give your body what it needs, as well as remove from your environment those things that will hinder your health. Clean House Go through your house and get rid of products that are full of chemicals and likely causing major havoc to your health. For example, the laundry detergent that is mostly filler and chemical perfumes. There are many healthy alternatives you can use to replace them—brands such as Planet and Seventh Generation . If you have a pest service, stop it! You don't need that stuff lingering around harming you while you think it takes care o...

When I first got my cancer diagnosis in 2008, I spent a lot of time researching and learning about my condition, the prognosis and cancer alternatives treatments. I discovered the Annie Appleseed Project , a non-profit organization that brings awareness to complementary and alternative treatments for cancer. Founder Ann Fonfa started the website as a resource for her own cancer treatment some 24 years ago since she found there was little information on the Internet about alternative and complementary treatments. Annie Appleseed Project Mission Statement The Annie Appleseed Project, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, provides information, education, advocacy, and awareness for people with cancer and their family and friends who are interested in complementary or alternative medicine (CAM) and natural therapies from a patient’s perspective. The Annie Apple Seed project has grown to include an annual conference, now in its 11th year. Called the Complementary and Alternatives Medicine (CA...

There are 14 million new cancer cases each year with an expected 70% increase in the next 20 years. But did you know that 90% of cancers are preventable? Natural cancer treatment and prevention is possible. In the post Health Sites You Should Subscribe To , I identified six websites you should sign-up to receive email updates. Here's another to add to that list: Cancer Tutor . The “Cancer Tutor” website is a product of the natural medicine cancer researchers of the Independent Cancer Research Foundation, Inc. (ICRF). Every one of the 350+ articles and chapters was written by a natural medicine cancer researcher. If you are in the throes of dealing with cancer, discover your natural cancer treatment on Cancer Tutor . As background, check out  14 Questions and Answers About Cancer that could save your life.

In a March post Learn How to Heal Cancer Naturally , I outlined what you can expect in the future from this blog to help you be more knowledgable about your health—how you can achieve it and maintain it. Become your own advocate for health. All while feeling amazing and loving the food you eat. Truly! There's nothing more delicious than REAL food—plant-based (fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, intact grains, spices and herbs). ...But I digress. The following are sites that I subscribe to and I recommend you do too: The Truth About Cancer I hope you had a chance to view the 9-part video series The Truth About Cancer: A Global Quest . If you did, you were likely blown away with all the non-harmful treatments and protocols out there that can heal cancer (and BTW often heal any other health issues you might have). Ty Bollinger and his team continue to bring you health articles, doctor interviews and occasional recipes. Subscribe to their email newsletter at The Truth About Cancer  at the...

If you watch any TV, you are continually bombarded with ads for drugs. Did you catch the ad for Opdivo in the barrage? This immunotherapy drug for lung cancer is the first of many to hit the market. It promises to significantly increase the chance of living longer versus chemotherapy. But if you pay attention to the ad, you'll learn that the drug could cause severe organ damage and death. If the patient survives all that, they may only live three months longer . What? Only THREE months? And at what quality of life? Watch the commercial, but don't be distracted by the older folks that look so hopeful, happy and even healthy. Instead read the fine print that appears on the bottom and then listen as they rattle off the side effects. This stuff makes me crazy. I do not understand how anyone would find this good! The commercial finishes with a sick (IMO) tribute to the patients who participated in the trial for approval—some of whom died while others experienced serious reactions or...

Okay, dear readers, here's your first step to being an expert at healing cancer. First, you need to understand your risk of getting cancer. Most people have just a fuzzy picture (at best) of what their personal risk of getting cancer really is. This powerful quiz will give you a much clearer picture... and it takes only 42 seconds! Even better, you'll find out how to best prevent cancer based on your results. Take this quiz that will take less than a minute to discover your personal risk for cancer. What you may be SURPRISED to discover after you take this 42 second quiz is there are now many (non-drug, non-surgery) advances in fighting and preventing cancer. You'll want to know about them, you probably haven't heard of most of them yet, but the bottom line as you'll see is... You can prevent cancer.  And you can defeat it if you have it. It starts with discovering your current cancer risk level, so take this important quiz right now . It may just be the best 42 ...

I've been writing this blog now for 5 years. Occasionally I've tweaked what I cover as time moved along. Many asked for recipes, so I provided recipes... but in protest. I'm generally not a recipe person. I'm a seat-of-the-pants chef. I tend to cook simple meals and draw from what I have in my fridge and pantry. Even if I use a recipe, I'll make changes to fit the ingredients I have on hand as well as the food I eat. At this point I've given you my take on how to be healthy, specifically how to avoid cancer and even heal from cancer even if you have a genetic predisposition as I have. New visitors to Healthy Journey Cafe can use the Start Here tab for great content to help with lifestyle changes that will produce health. Thank you all who subscribe and follow this blog. I hope I have made a difference in your life. This is a very passionate subject for me. My heart aches when I see so many take the medical route, which I believe is harmful. I have seen too many...

Chris Wark , fellow cancer conquerer, cancer killer, cancer whisperer and all around nice guy, is making a difference in disseminating the truth about cancer. He just posted a great resource that everyone should have for themselves or someone they know who is facing cancer. Go to ChrisBeatCancer.com and sign-up for his FREE 20 questions for your oncologist . Asking the right questions is a powerful tool and (as Chris had learned) can save your life. Chris writes, "Most cancer patients have NO IDEA what they are getting into. They have no idea how effective the treatments will be. They have no idea what the real risks are. They have no idea how much suffering is involved. They have no idea about the long-term damage the treatments will inflict on their body... " And oncologists are likely not going to tell you... unless you insist and ask the questions. Getting truthful answers to your questions, may cause you to wonder whether the recommended conventional treatments are wort...

"You have cancer," is still the worst phrase a person can hear. It changes your life forever. Sadly, you become a member of a growing class of people who feel the grief and vulnerability of having a disease that not only kills, but the conventional treatment prescribed often harms and leads to death. I'm not going to make this post about my feelings toward the conventional approach cancer patients are subjected to. But I will be firm about what you should do. Remember you are ultimately in charge of your health. Not the doctor. Not your family or friends. YOU! You need to make the decision for YOU. Because you have to live with the disease. It's happening in your body. Not the doctor's. Not your spouse's. Not your friend's. YOU! 1. Don't Panic The doctor will insist you need to get treatment started right away. They will role out the conveyer belt in front of you and urge you to jump on. Enjoy the ride! Don't panic. It took many years for the tumor...

I am continually amazed at the reaction of so many who run out and buy "the next best thing to make you skinny, heal your ills or get you ready when the mood is right." Hello, people—there is no magic bullet.  The magic bullet is over there with the unicorn, the genie in the bottle and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The Magic Bullet Trend Ever since companies started to make food more convenient, quick and easy, Americans have been moving away from preparing fresh foods. Sitting around the family table to enjoy a truly home-made healthy meal used to be the norm, until families began to fill their hours with activities (kids' sports, drama, music, etc). Now a quick visit to the fast-food drive-thru more often passes for the evening meal as taxi-driver-mom tosses nuggets of non-food with accompanying sugar-laden sauces into the back seat on the way to the next activity. On top of that, the trend to vilify oils in our diet and add sugar to enhance favor has led...

Health Tip: More food for thought on the Death By Sugar post. Pass this on to anyone receiving conventional cancer treatments. What do they use to "light up" cancer in the body during a CT Scan? That's right! Sugar! Glucose is used to carry the radioactive material to any sights with cancer. It's known that cancer feeds on sugar. So why would oncologists NOT tell their cancer patients they need to eliminate sugar in their diets to help starve the tumor? And why do they serve sugary treats to patients receiving their chemo infusions? Did you know that most cancer patients don't die of cancer? They die of starvation. Doesn't it all make sense? If you feed the cancer with a diet of sugar (from breads & pastas, products with added sugar, desserts, sodas, etc.) you do so at the expense of healthy cells.

Sugar Will Kill You Sugar can be as addictive as cocaine . It activates the brain’s reward system causing pleasure-inducing chemicals (dopamine) to flood the body. The result is a craving for more… and more. Sugar damages your health  on several levels. For starters we now know that fructose/sugar elevates blood pressure and potentially damages your kidneys. It increases uric acid which leads to chronic, low-level inflammation—the foundation for most disease. For example, chronically inflamed blood vessels can lead to heart attacks and strokes. Let's look at the what happens in the body when you consume a 20 oz soda: Within 20 minutes— Your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning massive amounts of sugar (17 teaspoons full on average) into fat. Within 40 minutes— Caffeine absorption is complete; your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, and your liver dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. Around 45 minutes— Your body increases d...

Vitamin D has been getting some press lately as a growing body of evidence points to the importance of the vitamin. Just how important? It could be a matter of life and death. Let's examine. #1 Vitamin D is an Essential Vitamin Essential means we need it for life itself. Good health and disease prevention hangs on it. The US government long ago classified 13 nutrients , it called vitamins, to be essential for normal cell growth, development and function. Vitamin D is one of those nutrients. #2 Vitamin D Makes Healthy Bones It is key to helping the body absorb calcium for healthy bones and teeth. In addition, Vitamin D helps maintain proper blood levels of calcium and phosphorus (another component for healthy bones and teeth). #3 Vitamin D Influences 10% of Your Genes It impacts over 1,000 genes making Vitamin D critical for disease prevention. Genes tell the body how to behave in a certain way. When genes go awry, problems occur and disease begins. #4 Vitamin D is Effective in Can...

Six months into my cancer-fighting diet and one year after hearing the earth-shattering news I had cancer in my colon and a genetic defect that makes my body produce cancer in my colon, I added a few  targeted cancer-fighting supplements to my regimen. Read  How I Beat Cancer . One was Vitae Elixxir and the other was Amygdalin or B17. You can read about B17 in Cancer Fighting Arsenal Part 2 . A co-worker of my husband, learning of my cancer fight, gave him a small glass bottle containing an herbal extract called  Vitae Elixxir . He said it got rid of the prostate cancer that plagued his father and felt it would heal any cancer I had. I followed the recommended protocol for the extract, taking it faithfully everyday. Gradually I built up the daily dosage to 10 drops in a glass of filtered water taken with food. Looking up the product on the web, I found many people had good results on the product. I read with interest one account of a doctor who used the extract...

Colon Cancer Awareness Campaign It seems every type of cancer has its own month. For colon cancer, the month of March is devoted to bringing attention to the reality of this killer. Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death . And it's the most preventable—in many ways. Is everyone listening now? Throughout the month there are numerous fun runs/races that support awareness of the disease and raise funds for organizations that do research. March 7th provides a visual element with Dress in Blue Day . Perhaps if you wear a blue shirt, your fellow worker may ask you, "Hey, Fred, why are you wearing blue today?" Then you'll have the opportunity to launch into your pitch about scheduling a screening with your doctor—a primary point of prevention for colon cancer. Okay… maybe if a whole lot of people wear blue on March 7th, you'll get a question like that, but otherwise… not so sure anybody will be noticing. Colon Cancer Prevention Okay… enough of t...