I’m here with Dr. Veronique Desaulniers, or Dr. V, as she is better known, who is the founder of Breast Cancer Conqueror and creator of “The 7 Essentials System,” which is a step-by-step program with the goal of preventing disease and creating naturally vibrant health. Dr. V is a bioenergetic chiropractor who has studied nutrition, homeopathy, and herbology in detail.
We’re going to hear today about her own personal journey with breast cancer, which is fascinating. It also gives her an empathetic perspective to understand other women who are facing the same journey. Having been in the wellness world for 40 years, she brings decades of experience to help other women facing a breast cancer diagnosis.
Episode Highlights With Dr. V
- How Dr. V faced the breast cancer journey, twice
- Tips for conducting a breast exam properly
- Dr. V’s take on whether mammograms are a good idea
- Possible effects of EMF exposure on cancer risk
- Toxins that affect hormones
- How the body metabolizes estrogen
- The 7 Essentials
- Let Food Be Your Medicine
- Reduce Your Toxin Exposure
- Balance Your Energy
- Heal Emotional Wounds
- Find a Biological Dentist
- Optimize Health with Supplements and Herbs
- Get Tested
- The role of fasting in health and cancer prevention
- What to do if you have a genetic predisposition to cancer
- And more!
Resources We Mention
- BreastCancerConqueror.com
- My Breast Friend
- Heal Breast Cancer Naturally by Dr. Veronique Desaulniers
- Ion Gut Health (previously called Restore Supplements)
- Video: Fasting, Cancer Prevention, and Mitochrondia Health With Dr. Nasha Winter
- Mind Over Medicine by Lissa Rankin
- You Are the Placebo by Dr. Joe Dispenza
- You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
- The Metabolic Approach to Cancer by Dr. Nasha Winter
More From Wellness Mama
- 490: Paul Jaminet on the Perfect Health Diet, Carbs, and Cancer Research
- 438: Hacking Chemo: Metabolic Factors That Affect Cancer Recovery With Martha Tettenborn
- 3: How to Improve Your Oral Health
- 86: The Science of the Oral Microbiome and Remineralization with Will of OraWellness
- 169: From Advanced Stage Cancer to Remission in 7 Months on a Quest to Cure Cancer
- 193: How to Protect Your Family From the Rise of 5G & Other EMFs
- 203: Hidden EMF Dangers and How to Mitigate Them With Geobiologist Brian Hoyer
- 205: Everything You Need to Know About GMOs, Glyphosate, and Gut Health With Dr. Zach Bush
- 212: How to Release Cravings and Emotional Eating With EFT
- EFT: How Tapping & Emotional Freedom Technique Work
- Plastic in the Ocean: How We Can All Reduce Single-Use Plastics
- How to Reduce Plastic Use in the Home
- Lion’s Mane Mushroom Benefits for Cognition, Memory & More
- Reishi Mushroom Benefits for Immunity, Longevity & More
- Chaga: King of Medicinal Mushrooms
- My Oral Health Routine (That Stopped My Cavities)
- The $15 Fix to Reduce WiFi Exposure by Half
- Ascorbic Acid: Vitamin C Benefits, Sources & Cautions
Did you enjoy this episode? What other questions do you have about breast cancer?Please drop a comment below or leave a review on iTunes to let us know. We value knowing what you think and this helps other moms find the podcast as well.
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Katie: Hello, and welcome to “The Wellness Mama Podcast.” I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com. And I’ve gotten so many questions about this topic that I cannot wait to dive in with today’s guests. I’m here with Dr. V who is the founder of Breast Cancer Conqueror and creator of “The 7 Essentials System”, which is a step-by-step program with the goal of preventing disease and creating naturally vibrant health. We’re gonna hear about her own personal journey with breast cancer, which is fascinating. It also gives her an empathetic perspective to understand other women who are facing the same journey. Having been in the wellness world for 40 years, she brings decades of experience to help other women. Dr. V, welcome and thanks for being here.
Dr. V: Thank you so much, Katie. I’m so excited to speak to your audience.
Katie: Likewise. I’m so excited to have you here with us. And I always love to start by learning a little bit more about the guest. So you are, from my understanding, a bioenergetic chiropractor by profession. Can you kind of take us through your background and the type of practice you had and how you got into that?
Dr. V: Sure. When I was 16 years old, I realized that I wanted to bring wellness to the world. You know, it was one of those light bulb moments when I heard a lecture from a chiropractor. And so I left Canada at a very young age and went on my quest for learning everything I could about wellness and healing the body naturally. So I became a chiropractor, and not just, you know, the pain relief type of chiropractor, but I guess you could compare me to a naturopath where I really dove into a lot of studies about nutrients, and supplementation, and homeopathy, herbology, energy medicine. So there was, you know, compilation of a lot of things that I did when I was in my practice.
And interestingly, I had been in practice for about three years, and my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. You know, other than just the obvious, you know, heartbreak, there was something at the back of my mind that was just gnawing at me because I felt that there was something that could be done for him. But unfortunately, traditional medicine didn’t offer him anything. They just basically sent him home to die, which he did in about six weeks. So that really was a big turning point for me because I went to the library…you know, 1983, no internet back then if you could imagine what that’s like.
Did a lot of research, spoke to a few natural cancer clinics, which were a few and far between back then and realized that there were things that could have been done to support my father in his last moments on the earth. And I went home and that really lit a fire in my soul. So I applied all those principles in my practice and was seeing some pretty amazing things going on with my patients. I mean, people were reversing MS, and rheumatoid arthritis, and autoimmune diseases. Children were, you know, getting better by applying the principles that I was teaching. So, that’s kind of a little bit about my background in what I was doing for many years of my life.
Katie: Wow. And then beyond that, you had your own journey with breast cancer, if I remember from what I’ve read of you. And it wasn’t a traditional one. Can you walk us through your own story of that and what you learned in the process?
Dr. V: Yes. You know, here I was, Dr. V. I was in practice for about almost 25 years, I guess. And I was in the shower doing a breast self-exam, which we definitely need to talk about that, and I felt that lump that changed the course of my life forever, I mean, professionally and personally. And so I knew right away that what I was going to do was going to, you know, affect a lot of people because, obviously, my patients eventually, you know, knew about it. So, as I was going through my journey, I was, you know, just like anybody else. There were fears. There was frustration. There was confusion. There was overwhelms, you know, some moments of doubt. Three o’clock in the morning, there was, you know, midnight sweats. But I realized that it was so complicated.
And even back in 2004, there was, you know, starting to be a lot of information, and, you know, people were confused about which way to go when it came to healing and reversing diseases like cancer. I really felt that if I was going through that, I wanted to be able to simplify it so women, going forward, if they were faced with a situation like mine, that they could have a step-by-step guide that would walk them through and would take away a lot of the frustration, and confusion, and the overwhelm. So that’s when I created “The 7 Essential System.” That really has been a great guide for women. I mean, we’ve coached women in 41 countries, you know, and hundreds and hundreds of women. And so it’s been a real help.
And I just wanna add, too, that I’ve kind of come out of the closet. And not everybody knows this, but I’m speaking about it more freely now. In 2015, I had a recurrence. So talk about devastation, right? Here I was, the breast cancer conqueror. That’s how I was known by then. And I was, you know, teaching on stages and wrote a book called “Heal Breast Cancer Naturally”, and yet I started facing a second journey. So what the heck? What happened? What was I missing? You know, was I a fraud? Did the 7 Essentials not work? What was going on in my life? So I had to really take a step back.
And just like we teach our clients, it’s so important to look at each of the essentials and make sure that you’re applying all the principles and that you’re taking time to heal. And I think that was a big problem for me, is that I was so caught up in taking care of these women and really wanted so desperately everybody to get well. All right, I want to heal the world. But I realized very quickly that that was draining my energy, and I didn’t set proper boundaries. And it just brought me down the spiral of, you know, facing another journey. So, the good news is 2000…well, we’re in 2019 now. You know, by August of 2018, everything was clear, vibrantly healthy again. I’m feeling great, and I learned a lot. So this second part of my journey I’ve included in the second edition of my new book that’s coming out in a few months.
Katie: Wow, that’s incredible. And I wanna go deep on “The 7 Essentials” in a couple of minutes. But first, I’d love to know if you’re comfortable sharing what kind of treatment you chose for breast cancer because I know that’s a question many people have when they get that news. And also, what things during that time regardless of treatment you feel like really made the biggest difference for you and just how you felt?
Dr. V: My first journey in 2004 was a little different than 2015 because I had learned so much by, you know, the time I was coaching women, specifically on breast cancer. And so, there was a lot more research, a lot more availability of different tools. So, basically, you know, 2004, I did a lot of homeopathy and tinctures, high-dose proteolytic enzymes, just really hunkered down, changed my diet, did a lot of emotional work.
I discovered I had a cavitation, which I did… Cavitation is an infection in the bone as a result of an extraction of the tooth that was not properly cleaned out. And that sat on the left breast meridian. Imagine that. And in 2015, I used more blood work, different kinds of tests that are now available, different protocols. One of the things that I did was the RGCC test or the Greece test, as it’s known, and basically found out what natural extracts supported my healing and would really kill those breast cancer stem cells.
I did a lot of high-dose vitamin C IVs, a lot of emotional work. Did another deep dive in that area and had some more cavitations, so I had to have some dental surgeries and ozone injections. It’s never done, you know, and once-and-done type of situation. Once you’ve developed an issue with your health, I believe that it’s very important to keep a pulse on your health at all times.
Katie: Yeah. I definitely agree with you on that, for sure. To circle back a little bit. So you mentioned you found this during a breast exam, and I know that’s one of those things that we’re always told that we should do. But having actually been through that process and now working with women who are facing the same thing, can you give any tips or advice for the best way, the timing, how to make sure we’re not missing anything?
Dr. V: Well, the great news is there’s more and more research showing how effective a breast self-exam can be if women are properly trained. As a matter of fact, there was a 25-year Canadian study where they compared, you know, mammography and self-breast exam. And they found…and this was on 90,000 women. They found that there was really no difference when it came to mammography and self-exam. They were basically the same. And the mammography did not reduce breast cancer mortality rate at all.
So learning to do a proper breast self-exam is so important. And there’s a new tool that’s coming out that’s called “My Breast Friend.” Now, the foundation, “The MammaCare Foundation,” is a foundation that has trained clinicians for over 30 years on how to do a proper exam on women. And it involves the use of a silicone breast model with…it feels exactly like breast tissue, and there’s little tumors or nodules at different depths and different sizes in this model.
And so the company, “The MammaCare Foundation,” has asked me to bring this product to the general public so that women will be able to have the access to the silicone model and learn how to do a proper breast self-exam. Because there’s a lot of confusion out there about, you know, “Do you do it standing up? Do you do it laying down? Do you lay on your side? When do I do it?” You know, all those questions will be answered with this new training module called “My Breast Friend.” So stay tuned for that because that will be coming out in a few months as well.
Katie: That’s fascinating. And you mentioned mammograms. And that’s a question I get pretty often because people like Dr. Mercola have brought awareness to the fact that mammograms can have their own risks. And so there are now people recommending alternative methods like thermography. I’m curious your take on that and both what you did personally and what you recommend.
Dr. V: Well, I’ve never had a mammogram personally. My belief and research has shown that compression and constant radiation to a sensitive tissue like breast tissue can increase your risk for breast cancer and can spread. You know, you think about it. If there’s a little tumor in the breast and you compress it very hard, and you add radiation to that, that’s not a good recipe for good health. So there are alternatives, and I’m not telling your audience not to have a mammogram, but I’m encouraging them to make informed decisions. So if you choose to do a mammogram, then, yep, get another tool. Obviously, the self-breast exam is great. An ultrasound is also another great way to, you know, assess breast tissue.
Thermography, thermography does not diagnose cancer, but it looks at the physiology and the changes in the breast tissue to see if there’s more heat, if there’s, you know, inflammation, if there’s imbalances in the hormones. It’ll show up as red hot on the image. And so there’s blood tests also that we call liquid biopsies, which can let you know if there’s cancer cells floating around in your bloodstream that you may not even know. And this is very, very early detection. Because when you look at traditional blood work, you know, very, very inaccurate when it comes to cancer markers and, you know, medical doctors will admit that as well. And if you have a PET scan, for example, a PET scan will not pick up anything smaller than four millimeters. So you can still have those circulating cells and, you know, not be aware of it. So the good news is you can really practice a very early detection with all the technology we have available to us.
Katie: Yeah. I’m so glad that there are advances and options for women, and it’s not just a single option anymore. It’s so encouraging to see. And I’d love to now go deep step-by-step on your 7 Essentials because some of them are definitely similar to things that I’ve talked about and my audience will be familiar with. But I love the way you broke them down. So, can you kind of start at the top and walk us through what they are and why you feel they’re so important?
Dr. V: Sure, sure. And feel free to stop me any time because I don’t wanna ride alone for, you know, 15 minutes on The 7 Essentials. So if there’s something that, you know, you wanna interject as I go through them, feel free to do that. So essential number one is let food be your medicine. And I know your audience is very well aware of that. All the research, all the work, the blogs that you’ve written about nutrition and nutrigenomics, and your podcasts are awesome, educating people about how food can affect your gene expression. So for breast cancer specifically, there are specific foods like cruciferous vegetables and lots of greens, minimizing things that may have chemical estrogens in them like don’t drink out of a plastic bottle and some basic things that you’ve talked about as well. So, that’s essential number one. Food is foundational.
Essential number two is to reduce your toxic exposure. Now, we live in a toxic world. We can’t live in a bubble. It’s obvious we’re going to be exposed no matter how clean we try to eat. And I was listening to a podcast the other day with Zack Bush. He’s the developer of Restore, which helps to heal the lining of the gut. And he said that 75% of the Earth’s rainwater has glyphosate in it. So that means even if you buy organic food, the possibility of it being tainted with glyphosate is still there, which is, you know, very sad and frustrating at the same time. But the good news is there are things that you can do to reduce your exposure.
You know, Be aware of the chemicals that you use in your home. Look under your sink and see if you’re using things that are toxic, the things that you put on your skin because everything you put on your skin is directly absorbed into your body. Look at EMF exposure. I know you’ve done some podcasts on the dangers of EMF. And that’s something I’m really passionate about because I am very electrosensitive. And that was one of the key issues back in 2004 when I had no idea with all of this radiation was that was affecting us and affecting our sleep. And so being aware of the EMFs and minimizing that as much as you can. You know, little things that you can do. Put, you know, the glasses that shield the blue, the green, and the purple lights, especially at night.
You know, watch what you’re…you know, as far as your laptops and your electronics, don’t have them too close to your body. Don’t have your cell phone in your bra. Women who have had their cell phones in their bra for many years sometimes developed tumors in the shape of their cell phone. I mean, that’s been documented. So really become aware of EMF and become aware of things that you can do to detoxify on a regular basis. You know, infrared, near-infrared saunas, coffee enemas, colonics, doing a liver flush, liver cleanses. I mean, there’s lymphatic drainage, rebounding. You know, there’s just a lot of things that you can do to reduce your toxic exposure.
Essential number three is to balance your energy. Now, we are one billionth physical matter. The rest of us is all energy. If we could imagine, we’re basically one big laser light that, you know, has a few molecules of carbon in it that makes us more physical. So, how do we keep that energy balanced in the chaotic world that we live in? Well, there’s basic things. You know, chiropractic, very important because it balances your nerve system, which is the master computer, excuse me, for every single cell in your body. Acupuncture, exercise, you know, moving your body is so important.
The American Cancer Society has said that if you just move your body 30 minutes a day, it can increase longevity for women who have had breast cancer. Massage, reflexology, you know, just basic things, making sure you’re getting proper sleep. I mean, sleep is one of those things that, unfortunately, 35% to 40% of Americans suffer from sleep deprivation and are on some sort of medication for sleep. If you don’t have proper sleep, it can turn on cancer-causing genes and turn off cancer-protective genes. You know, you don’t detoxify. You don’t heal as well if you’re not sleeping. So really, work on creating that sacred space in your bedroom, so to speak, by getting rid of all your electronics and getting to bed early and not looking at your phone and iPad at 10 o’clock at night. You should turn all those things off by 9 o’clock at the latest.
And then lastly, when it comes to balancing your energy, hormones is a big, big deal. I know women have been told that their hormones are driving cancer, right? If they have an estrogen-positive or progesterone-positive cancer, they’re told by their doctors that they need specific drugs to suppress their hormones. So if we try to reason on this for just a minute. You know, just think about it. We need our hormones for vital health. We need our hormones for brain health, bone health, cardiac health, immune health. And if our hormones were driving cancer, every 20-year-old on the planet who’s a raging hormone would be driving cancer. So the question is, what is driving those hormone-driven cancers? Two things, number one is your exposure to chemical estrogens or we call them xenoestrogens. So look at your environment. You know, pesticides, herbicides can drive and mimic estrogen.
Metals. So if you’re using an antiperspirant, aluminum is classified as a metalloestrogen. It can mimic and stimulate estrogen production in the body. Mercury, if you have silver fillings in your mouth, they’re 50% mercury. Mercury is a metalloestrogen. It can stimulate and drive estrogen production in the body. So parabens, you know, things that are in cosmetics as paraben’s a preservative. That can mimic estrogen. So look at those chemical estrogens that you may be exposed to and do everything you can to minimize them, plastics, BPA, all of those things, dry-cleaning fluid. I mean, the list goes on and on.
And then the second thing you need to look at when it comes to balancing your hormones is to find out if you have a problem in metabolizing or methylating your estrogens. I know, Katie, you’ve talked about…you’ve had podcasts about, you know, proper methylation. And that’s such a key principle because if you’re not metabolizing or breaking down your estrogens properly and excreting them from the body, yes, then you will have those aggressive estrogens. So, you know, suppressing your hormones is not necessarily the answer because we know there’s so many side effects to those drugs but looking at your exposure to chemical estrogens and finding out if you can metabolize estrogen properly. Any thoughts on that, Katie?
Katie: Yeah. I think you’re right. I think that’s so important and so overlooked. And I’m so glad you’re shining light on these topics.
Dr. V: That was essential number three, balancing your energy. Now we’re gonna move on to essential number four, and that’s healing the emotional wounds. Now, that’s a very touchy subject, and it’s a very deep one for anybody who’s on the healing journey. Whether it’s, you know, cancer, or MS, or an autoimmune disease, there is always an emotional connection to a disease. And why is that? Because we know that our thoughts literally create proteins, neurotransmitters that speak to every single cell in our body. And so, if you’re sending negative thought patterns and low-frequency thoughts, then guess what, your body is going to pick that up and translate it into physical energy.
So very important to look at, you know, stuff from the past, the present. How are you managing your stress? What is your lifestyle like? Do you have a lot of anger? Do you live your life with joy, and gratitude, and feelings of abundance and vibrant health, or are you a Debbie Downer? You know, really take an honest look at your life, and there’s so many great books out there that can help you. One of my favorites is Louise Hay, “You Can Heal Your Life.” I mean, she was a rebel back in the ’80s, talking about mindfulness and having positive attitude and affirmations. You know, it’s so important to look at the things that you dealt with.
And for me, specifically, you know, I didn’t realize until my late 40s that I had been sexually abused by a convicted pedophile from the age of three to five. It was one of those stories you hear about suppressed memory. And after many years of therapy, and counseling, and, you know, troubled marriages and relationships, it finally surfaced. My mother and my sisters confirmed it, but nobody ever talked about it because this was, you know, the late ’50s. You know, not that everybody’s gonna have some deep dark secret that’s gonna surface, but it’s really important to take the time to manage your life and to calm your heart. If you have your foot on the accelerator, so to speak, you know, the pedal to the metal, you cannot heal your body when your body’s in the fight-or-flight mode. It’s like being chased by a saber-toothed tiger and thinking about meditating and healing at the same time. It just doesn’t happen. So you have to learn to create boundaries and to learn to say no and to learn to do things for yourself because that is where the real healing begins.
Katie: Yeah. I so agree with you on that. I think the emotional side is so underestimated. And I’m so glad it’s being talked about more now. But I know that was something I had to address. I thought for so many years that I could just push through. I’m very type A and I could just power through everything and finally realized just how big that emotional key is. And for me, that process involved things like working through past traumas but also learning gratitude and making that a part of my day. And more importantly for me even was finding community, finding people around me every day that I loved that I could spend time with. I think that’s so underestimated, and I love that you’re bringing awareness to that as well.
Dr. V: That’s such a good point. I’m glad you brought that out, community. There was an 11-year study done on women with breast cancer. And they found if they learn to manage their stress, and number two, if they had community support, they had a 79% decreased risk of dying from their disease. So that shows you how important community and, you know, managing your emotions can…you know, how important those two aspects can be.
Now, essential number five has to do with biological dentistry. Now, I talked a little bit about, you know, my experience. And basically, a biological dentist is going to understand that your teeth are directly related to your organs through the acupuncture meridian. I mean, your teeth are basically separate little organs. And if there is a hunk of metal in a tooth as a silver filling, for example, that can affect the flow to that meridian, which if it’s sitting on a breast meridian, guess what, that can block that healing energy. And from a chemical point of view, we know that fillings are 50% mercury plus a hodgepodge of other toxic metals. And so those chemicals are being released in your body every time you eat, every time you drink.
Now, I often hear the statement, “Well, they’ve been in here for 25 years. I guess the mercury is all gone.” That’s the furthest thing from the truth. If you go on YouTube and you google “smoking tooth,” you’ll see a dentist rubbing an amalgam on an old filling. It was 25 years old, and you can see the methyl mercury vapors just being released from that tooth. So I don’t care how old that filling is. If you have fillings, those need to be replaced in my opinion. So consult with a biological dentist and, you know, talk about root canals as well. It’s very important that you understand that a root canal is just a dead organ. It’s like having a dead appendix or a dead gallbladder in your body. It’s infected. And no matter how aseptic or clean they try to make it, there’s always a pocket of deadly bacteria that are giving off lots of toxins and suppressing your immune system. And again, if it’s sitting on a breast meridian, that’s one of the first areas that I would certainly encourage you to address with your biological dentist.
And then the last thing when it comes to dentistry is something called cavitation. Now, not a cavity but a cavitation. A cavitation occurs when a tooth is extracted and the pocket is not cleaned out properly. A lot of the ligaments are left behind. And when it heals and closes up, that creates a potential site for infection in the bone. And interestingly, in my second healing journey, I discovered that I had basically a dead tooth sitting on the top left breast meridian. It was called root resorption where basically my body attacked my tooth. I had no idea, and there was an infection in the root. And it was just a really strange thing that rarely happens but, you know, something new that I learned about. And it was definitely sitting on that left breast meridian. So make sure that you work with a biological dentist that really understands and knows your objectives and your goals in getting well.
Now essential number six is the one that many people have questions about. That’s, you know, what can I take? It has to do with therapeutic plants, and herbs, and supplements that can really affect the cancer and boost my immune system. In short, if you go to pubmed.org and you put in the search bar “Breast cancer vitamin C, breast cancer selenium, breast cancer magnesium, breast cancer bloodroot, breast cancer corseted,” I mean, you’ll see literally thousands of publications and studies that show beyond a shadow of a doubt that these things have a huge impact on how your body can heal.
The beauty of these supplements, and foods, and nutrients is that they can kill cancer cells, you know, cause apoptosis, but they also affect the breast cancer stem cells or the baby cancer cells that nobody’s really…you know, traditional medicine doesn’t really know how to approach or how to touch. You know, you have to look at, you know, what are these substances doing to your immune system as well. I mean, there’s so many things like I know you’re very fond of and supportive of nutritional and medicinal mushrooms, which are awesome because, you know, lots of clinical studies and medicinal mushrooms are actually part of traditional medicine in Europe, you know, in Germany in clinics that work with cancer patients. The good news is that there’s so many things available to you that you can support your body with, weaken the cancer, and boost your immune system.
And then lastly is essential number seven. We made it to seven. So seven has to do with keeping a pulse on your health with really early detection, and we touched on this a little bit, using tools outside of traditional medicine. Obviously, use your tools with traditional medicine. Those are the things that you choose, the blood work, the, you know, regular CBC panels, thyroid panels, liver, all of those things. But there’s thermography. There’s ultrasound. There’s liquid biopsies.
You know, one test that I really like is called the IvyGene. So Ivy like the plant, I-V-Y, Gene, G-E-N-E, is a blood test that looks for free circulating cancer DNA in your bloodstream. And they’ve identified four different types of cancers. One of them is breast cancer. And if you’re in the green zone, that’s great. That means, you know, you’re good to go. If you’re in the red zone, that means that you need to be a little bit more aggressive and really pay attention to your lifestyle and change some things so you can, you know, get into the green zone and, you know, simple inflammatory markers. So there’s three different tests that you can get.
And this is Dr. Nasha Winters. She’s a genius. I attribute this to her. She calls it the trifecta. So three inflammatory markers that if you do, on a quarterly basis, let’s say, if you’re on an active healing journey and then perhaps on a yearly basis if all as well but high sensitive c-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate or ESR and then LDH, which is lactate dehydrogenase, which if you look at those three markers and they’re all low, then more than likely things are good in your body, and there’s not a lot of inflammation going on. So that’s it. That’s one through seven. I made it.
Katie: You did. I love that. So I’m curious for people who…most of my listeners are already on board with them, like, most of the steps at least the food and the non-toxic living. But I’m curious if, just based on all the women that you’ve worked with, is there like a most important starting place? Should people go in order, or where do you recommend people actually start?
Dr. V: The first thing is to breathe, and to calm your body, and to know that you’re okay. I mean, that’s really…you know, when women first reach out to us, majority of them are in a panic mode. And so that’s the first thing we tell them. You know, you really have to calm things down and know that this is not a life-threatening situation and that you’re dying of a heart attack, right? It is life-threatening, but it’s not critical at that very moment. So you have time to look at your options, and you have time to, you know, talk to people like us or, you know, a functional medical doctor.
You know, work with your oncologist if that feels right for you but also include other people on your healing team. Out of the seven, they’re all so important, and that’s why we like to walk women through the action steps. You can’t get it all done in one day, but it’s a journey. It’s something that you have to pace yourself. It’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon. So recognizing that it may have taken 8 to 10 years, or 20, or 30 years for you to be where you are today, it may take some time for you to reverse those patterns, not just emotionally but also physically.
Katie: Yeah. That makes complete sense.
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Katie: Another question I get a lot in relation to cancer, in general, and one that I’ve researched quite a bit myself is the potential for fasting to help. I know that there are a couple of doctors who have kind of pioneered that research. It’s mainly top of mind for me because I’m in the middle of my yearly leg start of the year off right fast just for my mental clarity and the spiritual, emotional side. But I’m curious if that’s something that you’ve personally done or if you’ve seen the research on.
Dr. V: Absolutely. I’m a huge proponent of fasting, intermittent fasting, and, you know, fasting in general. We know that women, for example, who fast 48 hours before chemotherapy have fewer side effects, have more benefits from the chemotherapy, you know, bigger die off and tumor shrinkage, and that’s a simple thing that anybody can do. We know that fasting can kill off unhealthy cells, boost your immune system, natural killer cells. I mean, there’s so many benefits to it. And we do encourage our clients to look at fasting, especially intermittent fasting.
We have them look at their blood sugars, their fasting insulin, their HBA1C, you know, their fasting glucose that looks at the 90-day average. And if it’s high, then we definitely wanna break that down because those high numbers are an indication that there’s things that are turned on, you know, one of the pathways, the mTOR pathway, that’s going to stimulate cell growth and cellular production. And so using fasting is a very simple thing that you can do, and it’s so effective in so many ways.
Katie: Yeah. I love that. Fortunately, I never had to experience a cancer diagnosis, but I know just from my own research just the many benefits of fasting across the board for health and how it can help with, like you mentioned, blood glucose and so many things. It’s something I incorporate regularly in various forms, and I love that you’ve worked with it as well. Another thing often related to breast cancer that has been in the news a lot because of celebrities choosing to get pre-emptive surgeries is genetic predisposition or people who have the BRCA gene. I’m curious. Do you have any specific advice for people who have been told they already have a genetic predisposition to get cancer?
Dr. V: Well, that’s a great question. I’m glad you brought that up because I know that the Hollywood hype with Angelina Jolie, and I’m not judging her. I feel very sorry for her because she saw her mother die a horrible death because of cancer. You know, she basically jumped the gun and felt that removing breast tissue and female organs would prevent her from developing cancer. Well, we know that less than 5% of women who have breast cancer actually have the familial genetic trait. If you have that trait, there are many things that you can do to support your health and prevent that because women don’t realize that the BRCA gene is a good gene. It’s a tumor suppressor gene. We want it to be working. So how do we turn that gene on?
Well, there was an interesting study. I forget exactly the name of the study, but just simply eating a cup and a half of whole edamame beans every day actually reversed the BRCA gene mutation. And I believe it was in vitro, not in a live person but in vitro. So it shows you the potential for food. It’s like having a predisposition to type 2 diabetes, for example. You may not develop type 2 diabetes if you do everything you can to avoid sugar, your carbs, you exercise. You know, you do everything right, diabetes will never show up for you. And it’s the same with breast cancer or any disease.
If you have the genetic predisposition, lifestyle can change so many things. Dr. Dean Ornish did amazing studies with men with prostate cancer. And just by changing their lifestyle, you know, 400 and something genes were turned on and, you know, 500 and something genes were turned off just by modifying their stress, their lifestyle, their food. You know, your DNA is not your destiny. You have a tremendous of power, you know, at your fingertips if you take the time to work with somebody who is knowledgeable in that and you have a proper mindset about it.
Katie: Yeah, such an important point to remember. I think with all of the awareness of genetic testing and the ability, which I’m so grateful for, to get our genes and to strive to understand them. It’s also so important to realize we still have so much to learn. We certainly don’t know everything about all of these genes and how they interact. And there’s now theories, for instance, that, you know, people who have MTHFR, which when we first sort of hearing about that was such a bad thing. It actually is a mutation that serves a purpose because it helps mitigate something else. And so I think that’s such an important thing to remember is that we’re still learning. And also, this is such a complex area, but we do have the ability to some degree to change it. Our genes are not our destiny.
And our past podcast guest, Eric Remensperger, talked about his own recovery from prostate cancer and using similar treatments to what you’ve mentioned and how he saw those changes in his body, in his genes and everything. And even to like the lesser degree, I have a friend in the wellness world who is literally the picture of health. He’s one of the most fit people I know. He walks around all the time, extremely muscular and low body fat. And his genes, he has a predisposition to obesity, diabetes, early heart attack, everything. So our genes are certainly not our destiny, and I love that you reminded us of that. Such an important point. And as we start to get close to the end of our time, which I can’t believe has already started to fly by so quickly, there’s a few questions I’d love to ask. And the first is a somewhat selfish question because I’m an avid reader. I’d love to hear from guests any book or books that have been really influential in your life and that you would recommend and why.
Dr. V: Well, there’s so many. I’m like you. I’m an avid reader. I would say my first book of choice, which I mentioned is Louise Hay, “You Can Heal Your Life.” You know, she talks to you like a loving mother or a loving grandmother. And she really helps you to understand that there’s that little person, that little girl, or that little boy inside of you that may be wounded and you just wanna learn to nurture that person, and love them, and just help them find joy and happiness. You know, think of a child just being carefree, and playing outside, and giggling, and laughing.
You know, you’ve got six children. I have five grandchildren now so, you know, we see they’re so happy all the time. You know, really get in touch with that. You know, books like “Mind Over Medicine” by Lissa Rankin, “You Are the Placebo” by Dr. Joe Dispenza. I mean, that was a big game-changer for me to really understand the power of my mind and my thoughts and how it literally can turn on those healing genes and turn off those cancer genes. You know, there’s such a huge list of them that we recommend to our clients.
Katie: Great recommendations. Thank you. And secondly, I’d love to ask, what are a few areas that you feel like are misunderstood about your area of expertise and why?
Dr. V: Well, you know, when it comes to breast cancer, one thing that really I find difficult sometimes is especially The Pink Movement. And I know, on some level, they’ve done some good. But there was this image of women in pink and running for the cure, and, “We’re gonna find the cure one day,” when really the cure is here and now. I mean, we see people and, you know, you’ve seen, you’ve met people that have reversed cancer. We’ve worked with, you know, clients all over the world that have reversed breast cancer and helping women to understand that there’s so much fear.
We think about a breast cancer diagnosis as such a traumatic event, which it is. But, you know, the first thing we think about when we’re diagnosed with cancer is what? No hair, lying in a bed, being sick, you know, and dying. It’s a horrible way to go. It doesn’t have to be that way. And I’m so passionate, you know, about letting women know you don’t have to fear breast cancer or any disease for that matter. There’s so much available for you now that you can do that you can learn about, that you can be proactive about. So, really taking the fear out of breast cancer. I mean, I’ve got an online course called “Never Fear Breast Cancer Again.” It really helps women to understand that they can do this.
Katie: That’s so important. And I share your concerns about The Pink Movement. I think the intentions always are very well-intentioned. I think people truly care about other women, care about finding a cure, and especially women who have been through a similar journey to you. My heart goes out to them. But I always get a little cynical when I just see football players in pink cleats that are gonna get worn one time and thrown in a landfill to create more plastic waste or, you know, pink plastic water bottles. It’s just funny to me some of the ways that that shows up. And you’re right. I feel like it focuses more on the fear than the empowerment and the fact that we can do things right now that actually can reduce our risk or even help once we have received a diagnosis.
Dr. V: Yeah. It’s a billion, multi-multi-billion dollar industry that uses a lot of smart marketing techniques to instill fear in people about the word cancer.
Katie: For sure. Lastly, if there was a piece of advice that you could spread to all women far and wide, what would it be and why?
Dr. V: I would have to say that learn to master your mindset, especially if you’re on a healing journey to master the healing mindset, and to understand the power that you have in your brain to create physical changes in your body. If you envision your body moving in the direction of “Oh, the cancer is spreading,” or, “What if I get sick,” all the what-ifs, then where your energy goes, energy flows. And we know that if we take time to meditate, to pray, to get still, and to visualize our bodies in vibrantly healthy form and really feel what it feels like to be healthy, and strong, and have that energy, and clarity of mind, and see yourself, you know, rolling around in the grass and feeling great, that’s what you have to really focus on, is learning to master your mindset. And that can be very difficult in the midst of a lot of the negativity surrounding cancer.
Katie: Yeah. I totally agree. I think we’re only starting to scratch the surface of understanding just how important mindset is, and I appreciate your work and all the women you’re helping. Where do people find you online to learn more?
Dr. V: Our website is called breastcancerconqueror, C-O-N-Q-U-E-R-O-R.com. We also have a presence on Facebook and Instagram. And as I mentioned, we have an online course called “Never Fear Breast Cancer Again.” Oh, I have my book, “Heal Breast Cancer Naturally,” which is a number one bestseller in Amazon for over four years now in nine different categories including oncology and nursing oncology, which is quite surprising, but it’s great to see. Second edition of the new book’s coming out in a few months in the spring of 2019, so it’ll be definitely updated information.
Katie: Wonderful. And I’ll make sure all of that is linked to my show notes to wellnessmama.fm. So if you are running, driving, or otherwise occupied, don’t worry about it. You can check out the links there and find all of the resources we’ve mentioned in the episode. And, Dr. V, thanks so much for being here today and sharing your mission and your passion with us.
Dr. V: Katie, thank you so much for having me on your show. I really love the work that you’re doing. I admire your tenacity and your desire to help all those women out there that, you know, are trying to do it all. Thank you for all the work that you do as well.
Katie: Thank you. And thanks, of course, to all of you for listening and for sharing your most valuable asset of your time with us today. We don’t take that lightly. I’m very grateful for you, and I hope that you will join me again on the next episode of “The Wellness Mama Podcast.”
If you’re enjoying these interviews, would you please take two minutes to leave a rating or review on iTunes for me? Doing this helps more people to find the podcast, which means even more moms and families could benefit from the information. I really appreciate your time, and thanks as always for listening.
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