4 Roots of Optimum Wellness

There are four essential parts to being healthy: Diet, Exercise, Sleep & Attitude.

Vitae Elixxir Healing Herbs

A proprietary combination of ten disease-fighting herbs used for more than 40 years and helping thousands of people with serious health issues.

Books by Author & Health Coach Chris Pedersen

In a world of adventure and imagination, kids’ books in print and digital that encourage a healthy lifestyle.

6 Tips to Lose Weight

Don’t count calories—take a serious look at the food you want to eat, then ask, ”Is this something that will give my body good health?”

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Day Visit To A Cancer Clinic

My dear friend is coming home today from a cancer clinic in Tijuana, Mexico. Lu was diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer mid-August—a mere 6 weeks ago. After much prayer, looking for clarity and experiencing several clarifying signs, she decided to forego the chemo recommended and go to Hope 4 Cancer in Mexico.

I was thrilled!

I know from many people I have met, that going straight to a holistic treatment approach is the best possible scenario to heal the cancer. It is difficult to heal cancer after the body has been compromised via chemo, radiation and surgery. These treatments weaken the immune system and cause permanent damage. Weakening the immune system deals a blow to the body—you need a strong immune system. The body is created to heal itself given the right fuel and environment (diet, sleep, exercise and attitude).

Hope 4 Cancer is my suggestion to anyone looking to heal their cancer. I have met and listened to Dr. Tony Jimenez, MD, ND, CNC, Founder and Chief Medical Officer for Hope 4 Cancer. Check out his bio as well as other doctors at the clinic.

Before going on about my visit and what I learned at Hope 4 Cancer, I'll let you know that Lu experienced an improvement in her test numbers and a 66% reduction in the cancer mass after 3 weeks at the clinic.

My Adventure to Mexico
Turns out my schedule for last week took me to Anaheim. My husband was attending a conference there. When Lu signed up to go down to Mexico for treatment, I immediately began to plan a side trip to go visit her at the clinic. Despite being a bit hesitant to cross the border by myself, everything fell into place to make it happen.

I drove to San Diego from Anaheim and stayed with a friend who lives 3 miles from the border. On Thursday morning she dropped me off at the border pedestrian bridge. I walked across and met Lu's husband and the clinic driver at the other end of the bridge, then was transported to the clinic, which is across the street from the ocean and 1/4 mile from the border.





I got a quick tour of the facility then met up with Lu in her spacious room with ensuite bathroom in time for her next therapy. The Indiba machine is radio frequency-based. In general it accelerates healing and restores the body to health. It generates two different frequencies (one hot and one cold), which are administered one after the other. The hot frequency disrupts the cancer cell membrane (a cloaking mechanism that keeps the cancer cell from being identified by the immune system) and destroys (burns) it. The cold frequency penetrates the cancer cell and destroys it from the inside. This is serious "kick butt" therapy!



Scripture for Lu from a fellow patient.


A vision I had for Lu.


Lu had already done her Full Body Hyperthermia treatment (her least fav therapy) before I arrived. This therapy is nicknamed The Pizza Oven. Can you see why? It heats up to at most 104°F. The extreme heat kills cancer cells... and you sweat a lot, which becomes a good detox.


The next treatment was the Lumen Photon Therapy, used to excite an enzyme in the cell's mitochondria to increase natural healing energy.


And every day Lu saw the in-house therapist to help identify any issues that may be blockages to healing, such as childhood trauma, unforgiveness, anger, etc.


Dr. Tony's 7 Principles dictate the path to healing at the clinic. It's also the emphasis of his new book Hope for Cancer—available on the clinic website.


Hyperbaric Oxygen (HBO) treatment uses high pressure to increase the amount of oxygen a person can breathe, which puts more oxygen into the bloodstream. Cancer does not like oxygen—it grows in an anaerobic environment. One hour in the HBO capsule (See Lu waving from inside?) is another part of each patient's protocol.




I was able to do a few rounds of the Pulsed Electro Magnetic Fields (PEMF) machine—a device that sat outside Lu's room. Each round is only 3 minutes. By stimulating tissue at a cellular level, this machine is used to improve circulation and cell metabolism. PEMF reminded me of my TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) device at home, which I use to stimulate healing when I have tissue injuries. It makes my muscles twitch and jump.


I enjoyed lunch at the clinic. Wow! All organic and very fresh. Lunch was a piece of wild-caught salmon over a bed of perfectly cooked zucchini topped with a turmeric sauce. Plus I made a small salad at the salad bar (lettuces, sprouts, carrots, beets, peppers and pumpkin seeds).


 Lu was finishing her IV Vitamin C drip (3 hours long) during lunch. She also did B17 drips.


I enjoyed a walk outside to the border where a really good band played—it appeared they were filming a music video. A small crowd gathered to enjoy the sounds.


For dinner Dave and I went down the street to the Huerto Urbano Kitchen—an all organic restaurant. I chose the portabella mushroom sandwich on gluten-free bread and a delicious shake with strawberries and cacao. Everything they serve is made fresh in the restaurant.



A few other therapies Lu did every day included:

  • Near Infrared Sauna for detoxing heavy metals, industrial chemicals and even chronic infections.
  • Coffee enemas to detox the liver and gall bladder so they can do a better job of removing additional toxins released from the body tissues during treatments.
  • Near Infrared Heat Lamp, which penetrates 3 inches into the body, heals hard to reach areas of viruses, bacteria, parasites and cancer cells.
  • Sono-Photo Dynamic Therapy (SPDT) works with a non-toxic sensitizer that adheres to the cancer cells thus allowing light and sound of selected wavelengths to instantly kill them. 
I know she had a few other therapies selected specifically for her, many supplements that build the immune system and help kill the cancer cells, plus a personalized diet plan.

Once Lu is home, she will continue therapies she brought back with her. She will go back to the clinic periodically to adjust things and check progress of the healing for the next year.

I am certain that with God's grace and mercy and all the many people praying for her, she will be healed and enjoy a long life.

Have you experienced going to a clinic that offered non-toxic, non-harming healing therapies for yourself or a family/friend? Tell us about them.

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Week 4 March Makeover 28-Day Challenge

Week Four (March 21 - March 28)

We're at the home stretch. Now that you've locked in a new healthy lifestyle doing the Challenge, what do you do when you’re on vacation and eating out? Good news! Over the last 10 years, I’ve seen lots of changes in restaurant menus that accommodate vegan diets.

Besides avoiding fast food, here are 10 Survival Tips to make eating out work for your Healthy Lifestyle:

  1. Plan ahead. Where will you be eating? Consider what meal options are available.
  2. Go online and explore the menu to discover possible selections. Look for a section of healthier choices.
  3. Ask for smaller portions. Restaurant portions are typically too large.
  4. Split your order. Share with a friend or spouse or take half home for another meal.
  5. For a lighter meal, check out the appetizers. I find many a yummy, healthy meal in the appetizer section. Warning! That's where all the fried stuff can be, so be wise.
  6. Order toppings and dressings on the side. Most dressings have added sugar, so drizzle on sparingly.
  7. Don't be afraid to make special requests. Keep them simple. At a 5-star restaurant I asked the waiter to have the chef lightly steam whatever veggies they had. They brought me a huge plate of lovely, assorted veggies.
  8. Tell the waiter to nix the bread or just take one piece and have the rest removed from the table. Remember! Bread is like sugar, especially white bread, and it ends up around your middle in the long run.
  9. If you've eaten healthy for the day (sticking to plant-based, non-processed foods) then don't fret too much over your meal out. It's not the amount of calories you consume, but the KIND of calories that matter. All calories are not equal.
  10. Limit any alcohol to one drink. It's empty calories and tends to increase your appetite.
It's not the amount of calories you consume, but the KIND of calories that matter.
For vacations and other occasions, bring your own food:
  • Bring homemade Trail Mix and healthy plant-based meal bars (e.g. Epic, GoMacro, Amazing Grass) on trips.
  • For potlucks, bring a dish that fits your eating needs so you have at least one thing you can eat.
  • Eat something before going to events so you’re not hungry. You can pick and choose appetizers and plate items that fit your diet.
Do a search for vegan restaurants in your area. You may be surprised to find a few you never knew existed. Then go out and support them.

This is the last step in the March Makeover 28-Day Challenge. If you stuck with the plan, CONGRATULATIONS! If you did this Challenge to make health changes (heal a chronic disease or lower your cholesterol or blood pressure), you might want to make an appointment with your doctor and have your "numbers" checked. The results could make your doctor a believer—Food is Medicine

For further reading and education, you might want to pick up Dr. Greger's book How Not To Die and his cookbook by the same name. Also, watch movies and videos on the subject on NetFlicks, Amazon Prime Video and iTunes. Watch movies like Eating You Alive, Plant Pure Nation, Chow Down and if you have not seen it, the classic Forks One Knives.

And with that, I hereby claim you are now plant-based certified. Go and spread the word.

Tell me what did you find most difficult during the challenge and what did you find was easy?

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Week 3 March Makeover 28-Day Challenge

By now in the challenge, you should be feeling pretty good. You may have lost some weight. No longer have headaches. Your foggy thinking is gone. That's what happens when you clean up your diet.

If you feel you’ve been bad, don’t beat yourself up. Keep going. Change happens with baby steps and persistence.

If you haven’t already downloaded Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen app on the App Store or Google Play, get it now to help you add more plant-based foods to your meals and snacks. Add one or two more vegetables to your meal and only fruit for dessert. Steam, stir-fry, or roast veggies or use raw in a salad or smoothie.

Example:
If you like avocado, toast a whole grain sprouted or sour dough slice and spread with avocado. Don’t stop there. Add cucumber, tomatoes, greens, sprouts, onion and top with a sprinkle of sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Mmmmmm!

Example:
Have you made a Buddah Bowl? Start with a grain/seed (e.g., quinoa, farro, freeka, teff, barley, millet, etc.), add toppings (grated carrots, beans, chopped peppers, pepperoncini, sauerkraut, anything goes). Drizzle with apple cider vinegar and oil.

What About Smoothies?
Everyone loves smoothies, but do you drink veggie smoothies? Start by adding a handful of spinach to your fruit smoothie. BE CREATIVE. Build up to adding more and different veggies to acclimate your taste buds to more green. Here’s a basic recipe to start with:

Basic Green Smoothie
1 Banana
1 C Berries (frozen or fresh)
Lemon wedge (skin and seeds included)
Spinach (big handful)
1 Tbsp Fresh mint
1 C of ice, cold water or coconut water
Blend all ingredients. Optional: Add 1/2 Tbsp fresh ground flaxseed to thicken.

A note about the detox effect. You may feel pretty bad during the initial phase of your lifestyle change. Headaches, diarrhea, achy muscles—these are all symptoms of your body releasing toxins that have built-up in your tissues. Keep going. You really need this Makeover. You'll begin to feel so good, you'll never look back.

So let's review.

Week 1:
Clean-out your pantry and fridge. Eliminate unhealthy, processed foods. Begin a clean diet by eliminating dairy and meat. Dump household chemicals.

Week 2:
Restock your pantry with organic, healthy basics. Stock your refrigerator with organic plant-based food. Begin adding healthy recipes to your daily eating that include plenty of veggies, beans, nuts and seeds, and whole intact grains.

Keep it going! Your body will thank you with great health.

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Week 2 March Makeover 28-Day Challenge


Welcome to Week Two (March 7 - March 14)

Did you have fun throwing out all that bad food. I would not even use the word "food" to describe anything with artificial ingredients that interfere with your body's metabolism and function plus cause inflammation and weight gain. 

Now that you've cleaned out your pantry, time to shop. Here is a list of items to restock it:

Stocking a Healthy Pantry
Buy organic, no sulfites, non-gmo’s as much as possible.
Artichoke hearts (jarred or frozen)
Beans (dried and canned) black beans, chickpeas/garbanzo beans, kidney beans, navy beans, black-eyed peas, pinto beans, lentils, split peas, and cannellini beans (When buying canned beans look for products without preservatives, such as calcium disodium EDTA, use low-sodium, and without added sugar)
Chipotle chilies in adobo (if you like spicy)
Cocoa powder/cacao (unsweetened)
Dried fruits: dates, raisins, apricots, goji berries, figs, papaya
Flour: chickpea, coconut, almond, sprouted wheat, spelt
Grains: red, brown, or black rice, red or black quinoa, old-fashioned rolled oats/steel cut, millet, barley, bulgar
Miso paste (white)
Nut butters and tahini
Nutritional yeast
Nuts and seeds: raw almonds, cashews, pecans, pistachios, walnuts, flaxseeds, sesame seeds, hulled hemp seeds (hemp hearts), pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds 
Organic veggie broth (low sodium)
Pasta and noodles: 100% whole-grain or bean-based spaghetti, linguine, lasagna, soba
Roasted red peppers (jarred)
Spices and dried herbs
Sauces and Condiments: hot sauce, coconut aminos, tamari, mustard, olives, pickles, sauerkraut
Sweeteners: Pure maple syrup, dates, raw honey
Tomato products: salt-free jarred, BPA-free canned, or Tetra Pak tomato products (diced, whole, puree’, paste, marinara sauce)
Tortillas: 100% whole-grain and corn, sprouted wheat
Vanilla beans/vanilla
Vinegars (apple cider, balsamic, rice)
Superfoods: hemp seeds, maca powder, flax seeds, chia seeds, spirulina

Stock your refrigerator with plant-based food:
  • Use Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides and Produce from EWG to pick healthy produce.
  • If you eat meat (I recommend that you go 100% plant-based for at least a month), buy meats that are 100% organic and grass-fed. Buy fish that is wild-caught (not farm-raised).
  • Buy ingredients for basic juice: 
    • Carrots
    • Kale, Cabbage or Broccoli
    • Celery
    • Apple
    • Ginger (optional)
  • Buy veggies for making healthy, chunky salad:
    • Cucumber
    • Zucchini
    • Beans (black or garbanzo)
    • Red onion
    • Cilantro
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Healthy Chunky Salad

Ingredients:
Carrot
Cucumber
Celery
Kale
Cabbage
Onion
Black or garbanzo beans (rinsed and drained)

Prep:
Cut veggies into bite-size pieces. Add beans. Dress with Apple Cider Vinegar and Olive Oil and your choice of spices—optional: add lemon juice and/or Balsamic Vinegar. Mix together and ENJOY!

Add walnuts, quinoa, pumpkin seeds, apple or pear chunks for variation. BE CREATIVE!

Make a healthy Super Food Green Smoothie. Click here for the recipe.

Prepare juice drinks, big veggie (Healthy Chunky) salad and Super Food Green Smoothie to eat/drink as you adjust to a plant-based, clean eating routine. Note: do not juice fruit—it concentrates the sugars. Juice vegetables then add to blender and add fruit if you find the taste too green. This will help you adjust your palate as you eat more veggies.

There are plenty of recipes to explore on this site for your new healthy lifestyle. So start exploring.

Continue your healthy makeover and see you here next week.

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Week 1 March Makeover 28-Day Challenge

Boy have I been busy. I recently moved to a 55+ retirement community and since many baby-boomers live here, I figured I must share my passion for health. Last summer we kicked off a club called Healthy Lifestyle Living and many people came to find out what keeps me healthy. After all they see me running on the trails in the community—I'm one of only a few residents who run.

My brother and sister-in-law moved to the community as well. Last year they went through a detox program with a naturopathic doctor and as those programs have a tendency to do—they lost significant weight and look amazing now. That fact has not been lost on the other residents of the community. My sister-in-law, Marion, is my team partner in the Healthy Lifestyle Living Club.

We've had many who come to out meetings, but only a few have taken our teaching to heart and changed their lifestyle to get healthy. Wanting to up the game, I decided to create a challenge for the month of March.

I'm sharing this with you in case you wanted to take the challenge and get healthy too. I'll post the action guide for each week and you can comment with questions and achievements.

Welcome to WEEK 1!

Week One (February 28 - March 7)

  • Clean-out your pantry and fridge. Eliminate unhealthy, processed foods. Here are 11 unhealthy food additives to look for:
  1. Artificial Sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, etc.), generally food called Diet…
  2. High Fructose Corn Syrup
  3. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)oftentimes masked as "natural flavors"
  4. Trans Fats/Hydrogenated and Partially Hydrogenated Oils
  5. Food Dyes
  6. Sodium Sulfite
  7. Sodium Nitrate/Sodium Nitrite
  8. BHA and BHT
  9. Sulphur Dioxide
  10. Potassium Bromate
  11. Sugar 
Here’s a post on my website to help you — Eliminating Unhealthy Food

  • Begin a clean diet by eliminating dairy. No cheese, milk, cream, etc. Don’t panic! Often dairy causes a number of issues especially gut problems and inflammation. You may find you feel better in a short time. After a month without dairy, you could begin to add it back, but ONLY organic, grass-fed dairy. However, you’re better off without the dairy.
  • Dump household chemicals.Throw out any cleaning products that have harmful ingredients. You may need to take them to a hazardous waste disposal facility. Replace with more Green products (brands like Planet and 7th Generation). Don’t forget white vinegar mixed with water is a good all-around cleaner. 
Re-stock with healthy items. For good prices, shop Thrive Market (https://thrivemarket.com). They offer free shipping and free gifts.

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Let me know how Week 1 is going in the comments below.