Hippocrates is widely acclaimed today as the “Father of Medicine”. M.D.s take the Hippocratic Oath when they are about to enter medical practice. We all know the name, but who was the man?

Hippocrates was a physician born in 460 B.C. on the Greek island of Cos. He had an investigative mind and disproved the common beliefs of the day – despite strong opposition from the governing authorities who sentenced him, as a young man, to 20 years in prison. Rejecting superstition, religion, and magic, he taught that disease is caused by transgression of the laws of Nature, that medicine can only be practiced scientifically, based on facts, observation and study. Believing that the body must be treated as a whole and not just a series of parts, he was the first physician to use diet, fresh air, medicinal waters, herbs and exercise in the treatment of disease – and with outstanding success.

Hippocrates accurately described disease symptoms and was the first physician to catalogue the symptoms of pneumonia, as well as epilepsy in children. He was the first to categorize illnesses as acute, chronic, endemic or epidemic, noting that there were individual differences in the severity of disease symptoms and that some individuals were better able to cope with their condition than others. He was also the first physician to hold the belief that thoughts, ideas, and feelings come from the brain and not the heart as others of his time believed.

After years traveling throughout Greece treating the full range of human ailments, Hippocrates founded a medical school on Cos to teach his ideas. This revolutionized medicine in the ancient world, establishing it as a discipline, a respected profession, apart from fields like philosophy or religion that it had traditionally been associated with.

He compiled a list of 400 herbs that he found curative, half of which are still used by herbalists today. Regarding medicine as an art that must be practiced with the utmost integrity and openness to new ideas, he developed an Oath of Medical Ethics for physicians to follow. Today a modernized version of the Hippocratic Oath is administered in the graduating ceremonies of most Western medical schools, serving as an ethical guide to the professional life of the medical doctor.

Though Hippocrates is honored as the “Father of Medicine,” if he were living today, no doubt he would be labeled a Naturopath, and, most likely, he would be disregarded or limited in his work by those who now claim him as their patron saint and swear to the oath that bares his name.

Hippocrates, in his own words:

• Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food.
• Any man who is intelligent must, on considering that health is of the utmost value to human beings, have the personal understanding necessary to help himself in diseases, and be able to understand and to judge what physicians say and what they administer to his body, being versed in each of these matters to a degree reasonable for a layman.
• If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.
• It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.
• That which is used – develops. That which is not used wastes away.
• About medications that are drunk or applied to wounds, it is worth learning from everyone; for people do not discover these by reasoning but by chance, and experts not more than laymen.
• A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses.
• Through seven figures come sensations for a man; there is hearing for sounds, sight for the visible, nostril for smell, tongue for pleasant or unpleasant tastes, mouth for speech, body for touch, passages outwards and inwards for hot or cold breath. Through these come knowledge or lack of it.

Original article from http://www.rethinkingcancer.org/

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

For a cancer patient, yoga helps in releasing stress and improving sleeping patterns. Yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual discipline. According to the definition in Wikipedia, the individual who practices yoga works to attain the state of having a perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while they’re meditating on the Supersoul.

How I Went from Cancer Patient to Ironman Triathletebit.ly/Ln1O25

— Dianne Burnett (@DianneBurnett) July 4, 2012

Just how and when did Yoga started?

Nobody can tell when Yoga started, but it’s without doubt Yoga is literally written in history. People found many stone carvings in the Indus Valley that was approximately 5000 years old. The stones have the figures of Yoga positions which were drawn on the discovered stones.

The tradition of Yoga has always been passed on individually from many teachers to their students engaging in practical demonstrations. The formal techniques that are now being applied by many students are believed to be an assortment of experiences by a lot of individuals many years ago.

The eight well known steps of classical yoga are the following:

1. Yama which means restraint, to refrain from violence, lying, stealing, and the likes.
2. Niyama is observance
3. Asana is physical exercises
4. Pranayama is a breathing method
5. Pratyahara is the form of preparation for meditation and described as withdrawal of the mind from the senses
6. Dharana means concentration, the ability to hold the mind on one object for a specified time.
7. Dhyana is meditation, the ability to focus on one thing that is indefinite.
8. Samadhi which means absorption

Yoga arrived in the United States in the late 1800s but it wasn’t practiced mainstream until 1960s.

Yoga as an alternative cancer treatment

Yoga is a mixture of stretching exercises and deep breathing. In a yoga class, you’ll be placing yourself and your body in various positions which demands bending, twisting of the body and stretching. The main benefit it brings to cancer patients is it gives short term stress relief and long-term stress management benefits. An individual who has cancer is usually stressed in many ways.

a. They could be thinking too much of their disease that they can’t do the things that they would like to do. Which made them emotionally stressed.
b. They could also be physically stressed as a result of pain
c. Lastly, spiritually stress because they might be questioning why these things are happening to them. Asking why God permitted this kind of disease to enter their bodies.

Yoga quiets the mind; the practitioner or patient becomes aware of his emotions and understands to substitute negative thoughts to positive or neutral ones. However, for yoga to be effective, research indicates cancer patients must take part in yoga 2 to 7 times weekly. It’s known to help improve sleep and reduce the fatigue our body amasses everyday of our lives.

Those are just a few of the benefits of yoga for cancer patients. Even so, your doctor’s advice is also required. Yoga is a superb option for everyone not only to people who have cancer. Check out the following article included in a series of alternative cancer treatments.

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Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

Tai Chi is a traditional Chinese body and mind relaxation exercise which consists of 108 intricate exercise sequences carried out in a slow and relaxed manner for a duration of 30 minutes. Tai Chi, when translated to English language, is “The Supreme Ultimate Force”. It is additionally another Chinese concept of Yin Yang.

Benefits of Tai Chi
The advantages of Tai Chi are nearly as good as Yoga. It calms the nerves, tones the muscles and levels out one’s internal energy. Research also show that a person who practices Tai Chi may even delay his or her aging process. It also helps maintain your agility and enhance the functions of your internal organs.

Just how and where did Tai Chi start?
Tai Chi is an ancient Chinese martial art which has many variations. People are not certain when Tai Chi began but stories say that it was used during the early 20th century. People have two different reasons why they want to do Tai Chi, 1 is simply to alleviate stress and the other, as a form of martial arts or self-defense.

Tai Chi started out as a health exercise in China. It was initially taught as a style of martial art and longevity exercise. It’s also known as a preventive and wellness workout for those individuals who are into this practice.

Nowadays, there are a lot of people are practicing Tai Chi. There is no doubt that many would love to do this, that’s why it is also recognized an alternative cancer treatment that is available and can be tried by everybody.

Tai Chi as an alternative cancer treatment
As we have examined, Tai Chi is a type of exercise that requires gentle movements and deep breathing. It’s nearly as good as yoga, but the difference is with yoga, it will need you to perform some stretching plus it focuses on physical and spiritual relaxation.

Tai Chi is another form of alternative cancer treatment in a manner that it helps cancer patients relieve their stress and helps someone to have a wonderful sleeping pattern. Cancer patients are always stressed out; a few of the reasons might include the stress of thinking about the pain that cancer brings, or it may be also the stress because of the therapies they are undergoing or the stress about the costs for the treatments and so forth. Tai Chi is one alternative cancer treatment that can be put to use by anyone.

You will find lots of people who’re against alternative treatments and we can’t blame them. They might think why they need to take the risk of practicing these alternative treatments when they can just as easily go to a doctor and ask for their help. We ought to also remember that everyone has different body frames in addition to dna, and whatever works well for others might not work well with you.

Tai Chi is usually safe. Its slow motions call for great physical strength and it can easily be adapted to your own ability. Again, you will probably find this intriguing and exciting but your healing will constantly depend on how well your body adjusts and maximizes its capabilities to get rid of the ailments you might have inside your body.

By Paula Jimenez

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Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

I have come to view cancer as I view all conditions that deviate from optimal functioning, the only real definition of health.  A tumor is a biochemical relationship between blood vessels, connective tissue and malignant (mutated, anaerobic cells).  These three tissue types “talk” to each other and provide mutual support for their maintenance, which is why I have never found it useful to send a blood sample to Greece or Germany where they evaluate the genetic capabilities of circulating tumor cells in an effort to elucidate potential “treatment” options from chemotherapy to natural substances.  It overlooks the epigenetic phenomena and the cytokine relationship between the three tissues.If one were to look at the cytokines and interleukins being secreted by a tumor and a healing wound, they would be found to be the same.  Both produce pro-angiogenic cytokines and tissue proliferation cytokines.

Cancer has been referred to the, “the wound that wouldn’t heal”. These cytokine are all in the inflammatory family, which demonstrates that “cancer” is just one of the many endpoints of chronic inflammation.  Eating only living plant material results in a human biochemical condition, which completely and effectively keep the inflammatory/anti-inflammatory ratio in a harmonic resonance that is necessary for optimal functioning.Inflammation is how the body heals and is the fundamental pathology in all “disease”.

For this reason, going to “war” against “cancer” is an attempt to eliminate what the body is doing to maintain homeostasis is completely antithetical to healing and indicates that allopathy should be put on the shelf forever and under the heading of one of humanities greatest failures.  The underlying premise is that health is impossible and disease is inevitable.  This is so ingrained into our collective psyches that we buy insurance and prepare for disease our whole lives instead of preparing for a life of sustained vigor and a robust old age, well into a second or third century.  This only seems ridiculous because we have come to accept morbidity as normal and premature aging and death as normal.

The truth is that the scientists who study aging (MDs, PhDs, NMDs) cannot explain why it is that we die so young.  It is not “written” into our genes.

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Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

Although breast cancer is currently a pandemic (world wide epidemic) and is thought to be different from colon cancer or pancreatic cancer or lymphomas, etc…, they are all the same in that they are cells and tissues that are adapting to toxic overloads in the body.  It is when oxygen is no longer able to be used by the body in energy production to “burn” glucose (sugar = fuel), for energy that the tissue and cells adapt by changing there internal mechanisms into a “default” mode of energy production called glycolysis or fermentation.  That is when the changes that are required the energy producing functions of the cells result in changes in shape and relative sizes of the organelles (little organs within cells).  It is these morphological (shape and size) changes that are identified under a microscope by a pathologist to diagnoses” (name) the process, “cancer”.

In summary, these apparently different cancers are merely different cells in the body undergoing certain changes to adapt to there new requirements for survival.  In effect, then….all cancers are the same, which is why a single term, “cancer” is used to describe them.

If one understands this, they do not become fearful that they have a “rare” cancer or an unusual cancer or an untreatable cancer….all cancers are basically the same process occurring in different parts of the body.  This is like the changes one sees in the skin whether it is a burn, for example, on the hand, the breast, the back, the face, etc…IT IS THE SAME PROCESS and therefore requires the same approach to deal with it or alleviate it.

Thomas Lodi, MD
Internal Medicine
Homeopathic Physician
Metabolic Medicine
Integrative Oncology
Certified Nutrition Specialist

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Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

The debate is over!  Humans are anatomically and physiologically designed to eat only plant food. Homo sapiens (humans) are classified broadly as land mammals and more specifically as tailless primates.  Our closest cousins, gorillas, bononobos and chimps eat predominantly plant material with a few insects here and there.  Chimps will, on occasion eat flesh foods but is it more “ceremonial” to demonstrate territorial claims and celebrate won skirmishes with other tribes, but this is rare.

Furthermore, the China Study by T. Colin Campbell, PhD, a professor emeritus from Cornell University whose career has been dedicated, in large part, to protein consumption and its’ effect on humans has clearly demonstrated what the effect animal protein has on the health and wellbeing of humans.  His thirty-five years of NIH granted research and studies performed by others elsewhere demonstrate a clear causal (cause and effect) relationship between the consumption of animal protein and cancer, cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions found only in humans and domesticated animals fed the human version of “food” rather than what these would consume naturally, out of instinct, had they not been domesticated and left without the choice of what to eat.

If one were to clear away the biases which configure their mind, and hence color and frame its’ perceptions, and engage in a thorough investigation of the subject of human nutrition, it becomes utterly clear that we thrive on plant foods to the degree that robust health is the norm and this phantom, called disease is only the body attempting to maintain balance.

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Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

The word “cancer” was translated by Celsus (28 BC – 50 AD) from the Greek term, “carcinos”.  Hippocrates first developed the word, “carcinos” to describe growths and chronic ulcers and it is not known if what he was describing at that time is the same as what we now call ‘cancer’.

But, “cancer”, like all diagnoses are only names of processes that the body is undergoing to maintain balance and health (homeostasis).  In fact, the chemicals (cytokines) produced by “cancer” and the chemicals produced by healing wounds are basically the same; they stimulate new blood vessel growth (angiogenisis) and tissue proliferation.  That’s a really good and necessary process for healing wounds but it’s not so good if it is a tumor or other forms of cancer.

This is the reason why “cancer” has previously been referred to as, “the wound that wouldn’t heal”.  The only reason that a wound will not heal is if whatever caused the wound to occur in the first place continues to occur or if the body is too overwhelmed to heal because of a lack of energy and raw materials (nutrients) to replace old cells and build new ones OR if there are too many different “attacks” on the body from trauma, poisoning and other environmental conditions.

Clearly, what we call, “cancer” then, is our body’s extraordinary effort to keep us alive.  In fact, all that the body ever does is attempt to maintain balance and function.  With this in mind, one realizes that to “go to war against cancer” is to go to war against our body’s attempt to resolve a problem.  It really makes no sense and, in fact, it is also clear that this method of dealing with cancer is based on the false premise (belief) that “cancer” is a “thing” that is in our body and that we must “kill” it.

What really must happen is that we must eliminate the reasons that are causing the body to go through these processes, provide the appropriate nutrition and eliminate tumor(s) in such a way that we don’t harm the body’s ability to heal.

Thomas Lodi, MD
Internal Medicine
Homeopathic Physician
Metabolic Medicine
Integrative Oncology
Certified Nutrition Specialist

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Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

Although both animal-based foods and plant-based foods in totality may have the same macro-nutrients and even some of the same micro-nutrients, they do differ in both composition and structure. With that being said, it must be understood that there are no nutrients found in animal-based foods that cannot be better obtained from plant-based foods.For example, animal fats are all solid at room temperature due to the fact that they are saturated, e.g. they contain no double-bonds hence their melting points are much higher requiring greater amounts of heat to liquefy them.
Humans, however require specific types of fats, called omega fats (double bonded), which are double-bonded at either the third or sixth carbon atom from the end of the fatty acid. These double-bonded (unsaturated) fatty acids have much lower melting points and therefore are in a liquid form at room temperature.Stearic acid (animals) and oleic acid (olive oil), for example differ only in that oleic acid has a double bond at the nine position and it’s melting point is 4 degrees of centigrade while stearic acid, also an 18 carbon fatty acid, has no double bonds (saturated) and has a melting point of 67 degrees of centigrade. Quite a difference when you consider that normal body temperature is 37 degrees of centigrade!The omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are considered essential, which means that the human body cannot synthesize them and therefore they must be obtained through diet.  Their respective roles in metabolism are fundamentally essential to life and they are produced only by plants.  Animals are not capable of producing unsaturated fats.Similarly, animal proteins are carcinogenic while plant proteins, even in excess are not carcinogenic, as Dr. T. Colin Campbell, PhD was able to prove unequivocally through a multitude of studies over a thirty-year period in the Philippines and in China.All carbohydrates are produced by plants, all anti-oxidants are produced by plants, vitamins are produced by either plants or bacteria found in soil or which inhabit the gastrointestinal tract and minerals (earth) are incorporated into plants and made bio-available to animals.A plant-based diet could include animal products such as certain secretions from mammals that have come to make up the dairy industry however these substances contain certain proteins, such as casein, which fuel cancer growth. In fact, as Dr Campbell stated, casein has been proven to be the “most carcinogenic compound ever discovered.”

A vegan diet is a purely plant-based diet, that excludes products derived from animals such as eggs, milk and perhaps other secretions, which may be unique to certain cultures.  The results of this diet from womb to tomb include but are not limited to extreme mental clarity, a delightful requirement to move about and expend energy (exercise), a happy disposition and continence, compassion, rapid learning and recall, satisfying sleep, absence of degenerative diseases, rapid healing from trauma, a strong desire and ability for sexual activity well into advanced age and an exceedingly long life,  unless severe trauma intervenes.With these advantages resulting from adherence to biological laws, how did this even become an issue and how on earth did it become controversial.

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Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

The war on cancer began with the National Cancer Act of 1971, a United States federal law. The act was intended “to amend the Public Health Service Act so as to strengthen the National Cancer Institute in order to more effectively carry out the national effort against cancer“. It was signed into law by then U.S. President Richard Nixon on December 23, 1971.
The “war on cancer” was declared around 40 years ago, billions of dollars have been spent on research and trillions of dollars on treatment.  In spite of this, we are witnessing an increase in both the incidence and death rate from cancer.  Obviously, not only are the causes of cancer not being addressed, but the concept of “war” against the “cancer” (the body) must be abandoned.

A seed requires fertile soil to sprout and to grow, mature, bear fruit and reproduce and, unfortunately at this time in the history of mankind,  the “seeds” of cancer are in abundance.  It is, therefore imperative to insure that one’s body is not “fertile ground”.  Cleansing the colon, eating a diet of fresh, organic vegetables, nuts, seeds and low glycemic fruit, along with plenty of sound sleep, regular exercise, hormone balancing, honest relationships and prayer/meditation are what turns the human body into an inhospitable host for the development and growth of cancer. Instead of this morbid consequence, what is produced, is a body in which health reigns supreme.

Alternative medicine methods are diverse in foundations & methodologies.

Acupuncture · Anthroposophic medicine ·Herbalism · Homeopathy · Naturopathy ·Orthopathy · Osteopathy/Chiropractic

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Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

When men dressed like Franciscan monks, wearing sandals and brown hooded robes belted with a rope, appeared in Kathleen O’Keefe-Kanavos’ dreams in 1999 and told her she had breast cancer, she didn’t ignore them although her recent mammogram, Pap smear and blood work had revealed no abnormalities.

Listening to her dreams, or what can better be described as nightmares, she badgered her doctors for different tests but instead was given three more mammograms and four blood tests over a four-month period. Still, no health issues were discovered. Her doctors repeatedly told her to go home, that she was healthy. While most of us might be happy to receive a clean bill of health, it was unsettling to O’Keefe-Kanavos because her nightly nightmares told her otherwise.

“I did want to believe (that I was healthy),” said O’Keefe-Kanavos, who today proudly calls herself a two-time breast cancer survivor. “But my guides were saying, ‘No, don’t even go there.’ ”

Neither her mother nor her mother’s doctor had been as diligent about the mother’s health. Her 80-year-old mother’s diarrhea was so severe that she couldn’t leave home. Her doctor’s solution was prescription drugs. The diarrhea continued for six months, during which time the doctor told her that she was free to change doctors if she didn’t agree with him.

“She was scared to change doctors,” O’Keefe-Kanavos said of her mother, who was like her best friend after growing up an only-child Army brat and changing schools frequently. “That generation worships their doctor.”

Eventually, there was blood in her mother’s stools. Severe colon cancer was detected and six months following surgery, her mother died.

With her mother’s passing having just occurred several months earlier, O’Keefe-Kanavos was determined not to be a sideline player with her own health care. She insisted to her doctor that further examinations were necessary to find her breast cancer.

“Not everyone has that much energy,” said the daughter who wouldn’t give up.

Dreams do come true

O’Keefe-Kanavos convinced her doctor, against his and his hospital’s policy, to perform exploratory surgery, which, to no surprise to O’Keefe-Kanavos, revealed Stage II breast cancer.

“You have to learn how to play the hospital policy game,” she advises. “Hospital policy is not made for the patient. It’s made to make sure the hospital gets their money. You can be complacent. You have to watch out for yourself.”

Four chemo treatments over as many months, 36 radiation treatments and oodles of doses of tamoxifen, which interferes with the activity of estrogen, later, MRIs showed her cancer was in remission after a year.

During that time, she used her dreams to decide which course of treatments to take and, against the wishes of her doctors, took high doses of vitamins to bolster her immune system, drank Kombucha tea to combat the shingles she developed due to the stress, juiced celery, carrots and other vegetables to pull the toxins out of her body and practiced Reiki. But still, that wasn’t enough.

“What I didn’t realize at the time is there are a percentage of women who the drugs stop working for after two years,” she said, “and unfortunately I was one of them.”

Doctors had stopped her periodic MRIs after no cancer was detected. Now back to mammograms, that test revealed no cancer either. Although she had blood tests every six months, she says her hormone levels were never checked. O’Keefe-Kanavos wanted to resume MRIs but was unable to get in to have that test done. Meanwhile, the nightmares with Franciscan monk-like men telling her she had breast cancer returned with a vengeance. She fought even harder for an MRI.

“I went up against the doctors (at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston) and had to be aggressive,” she said. “I said, ‘I am not letting go of your desk. I am going to scream like a two-year-old. You are going to have to call security to drag me out of here.’ ”

Finally they relented and she had an MRI. Almost exactly five years to the day after her initial diagnosis, she received startling news: Stage IV breast cancer. This time, a different chemotherapy was used to combat a different type of cancer and she was treated with radiation as well. While her Boston doctors wanted to do a lumpectomy, she preferred a double mastectomy and ended up going to New York to have the procedure done. Cancer in her other breast was detected following the double mastectomy, validating that O’Keefe-Kanavos had made the right decision.

Listening to your guide

By now a Reiki master, she continued practicing that Japanese technique, soaked in Epsom salt and baking soda, meditated nightly (and sometimes during the day) and drank a half a glass of red wine nightly, which she said counteracted the radiation and stimulated her salivary glands to allow her to eat. She applied aloe vera where she had radiation, crediting that for leaving her with nothing more than a sun burn while other women who didn’t use aloe vera were burned all the way through to their backs.

She credits incorporating a holistic approach into her mainstream treatment for being able to call herself a recurrent cancer survivor today.

“Obviously it was important or my guides would not have told me to do it,” she says of her treatment route. “We all have guides. We all have angels. Every single person on this earth has them. They just don’t listen to them. All you have to do is retrain yourself to remember your dream — open that door, pick up that phone and communicate with the other side.”

She used dream therapy as a treatment modality and worked one-on-one with a spiritual guide.

“The chances of your dream finding cancer once when the medical community has missed it is like winning the lottery,” she said. “To have it happen twice is like winning the lottery back-to-back. It just doesn’t happen.”

But it did to O’Keefe-Kanavos.

“We have a purpose,” she said. “We have a mission and my mine is to do exactly what I’m doing now, spread this information and teach doctors to listen to their patients. My story is a bridge story. It bridges holistic and conventional and that’s OK because there’s more than one way to skin a cancer. You have to find out what’s right for you.”
Kathleen O’Keefe-Kanavos authored three forthcoming books: SURVIVING CANCERLAND: The Psychic Aspects of Healing, SURVIVING RECURRENCE IN CANCERLAND: The Dream World & Healing and THRIVING AFTER SURVIVING CANCERLAND: Putting Our World Back Together Again. For more information, visit Surviving Cancerland.

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Kathleen O’Keefe-Kanavos videos:

The Day I Found Out Project

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

Survival is nothing new for Ethan Zohn. But with the return of his Hodgkin’s lymphoma the winner of Survivor Africa in 2001 faces a different challenge these days. He recently underwent a stem cell transplant from his brother and is hospitalized until his immune system is fully functional, which could be about five weeks.

Adult stem cells, essentially blank cells that can become another type cell in the body, can be used as a natural solution to replace and heal damaged tissues and cells in the body. For years they have been used successfully in human therapies.

“Today I leap into a healthy new body,” he wrote on Twitter. “Today is the start of the rest of my life. Thank you to my bro Lee & all who have supported me. Love!”
Always the competitor, Zohn is still showing his fighting spirit.

“Ethan asked the doctor what was the record time for getting out of here, so he wants to beat that,” Zohn’s longtime girlfriend Jenna Morasca told People.

“His doctor said there was no prize, and Ethan said, ‘Yes, there is. You’re going to tell the other patients that I made it out in three weeks.’”
Zohn, 38, was diagnosed with a severe form of Hodgkin’s lymphoma back in 2009.

“When you’re diagnosed with cancer, your first thought is, ‘S—, I’m going to die,’” he told the New York Daily News last October.

But that negative thought didn’t last long. Zohn is remaining positive throughout his latest battle. He and his girlfriend started a Twitter account @Ethansbubble, in reference to his hospital room, where visitors are allowed to visit from time to time.
“We don’t know who is actually writing the tweets, so it makes it really fun,” Morasca said of the account, which is open for their friends to write posts. “It’s all about thinking positively.”

For more about stem cell therapy.

Watch three stem cell success stories:

Survivor‘s Ethan Zohn: “Keeping up with the Kardashians is curing cancer!”

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

The list of cancer fighting foods is long with things like mulberries, teas with flavonoids, cruciferous vegetables and ginger. But the most powerful anti-cancer tool comes from within, says the notable Dr. Valerie V. Hunt, best known for her pioneering research in the field of bioenergy.

The 95-year-old dynamo, a research scientist, author, lecturer and Professor Emeritus of Physiological Science at UCLA, recently visited the home of Dianne Burnett to talk about cancer and what she calls the new health paradigm.

“As long as we have to treat (cancer) with something extra, we’re on the wrong track,” Hunt says. “Certain things will help the body to withstand and handle cancer but it never cures cancer. Cancer is created by the human being from lacks in his energy field and his emotional orientation. That’s my premise.

“Some things are better than others because they improve the health of the person. And when the health of the person is better, they endure cancer better. But that does not cure them because nothing cures them. It is a self-induced problem related to energy fields.”

Bioenergy is also the expertise of Dr. Janet Hranicky, Founder and President of the American Health Institute and a member of the Board for Joan Valentine  - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. For 25 years she ran the longest-running Psychological Intervention Program for cancer in the world with Dr. O. Carl Simonton, a radiation oncologist best known for his pioneering insights and research in the field of psychosocial oncology.

Hranicky says, “Sometimes with these wonderful things, whether it be the mulberry or other marvelous things that we see that have come out of the jungles in different areas of the world, we will often see people improve and get better with their symptoms. And we will even see, from all clinical evidence, cancer go in remission and not even be picked up on any of the scans. But it doesn’t mean that the field has changed. If the field has not changed in this way of thinking, the person would still have a cancer field and that’s when we see a recurrence of disease often.

“It might be a year or two or three. The typical way to treat it has been to take the cancer out, to radiate the cancer, to use drugs to kill the cancer. While those can be very effective, what we know is there is not a not a shift in the field that Valerie is talking about. You’ve only short-termed cured it.”

That’s something Burnett knows all too well. When her mother, Joan Valentine, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer it basically came with a death sentence.

“They told my mother right from the beginning that she didn’t have a chance to go and get her stuff in order,” Burnett said. “You’re giving her radiation. You’re giving her chemo but you’re not giving her the hope and the chance for her to get better so she quickly declined and passed away nine months later.

“I was there every two weeks giving her that hope, and of course the family (was too) but when you’re seeing a doctor who she put all of her trust in is saying, ‘You don’t come back from Stage IV esophagus cancer,’ where is her hope and faith in getting better?

That, Hunt says, is why the responsibility falls upon the patient – not the doctors.

“When someone else is doing it for you, you’re not involved,” Hunt says. “You’re waiting on them to get it done. When you know you’re part and parcel of doing it, then it’s your responsibility and the doctors should say, ‘This is what we can do about it. You have to do this kind of thing.’ That’s an entirely different approach. When the doctors don’t do it and it doesn’t get better, what happens? Depression. They go downhill fast. But when there’s opportunity and there’s a little change, look what happens to a human being. As Jan said, responsibility now comes back to the human for their health. It comes back to them for assisting and that is the new medicine. That is the new health paradigm.”

(From left) Dr. Valerie Hunt, Dr. Janet Hranicky and JVF Founder Dianne Burnett discuss fighting cancer using one's spirit and energy.

Hranicky attends conferences around the country and notes that while there has been a shift in the desirable direction to substitute better, healthier external things to take and do than from the previous old model, people are still on an external-based platform and approach cancer with the thinking that something outside is going to change and cure them. She says it’s important to go back and re-educate the masses.

Burnett stresses that it is necessary to educate people to the benefits of alternative and integrative treatments that can help build their immune systems and not to rely solely on the poison of radiation and chemotherapy, surgery and drugs.

“More people will be living,” Hunt says. “More people will be happier and therefore that permeates the world that cancer is not death. Cancer is a process by which we are going to evolve.

“We have to start the education in elementary school so people assume responsibility for who they are. The new model of the human being gives us opportunities and capacities which we have never imagined. With those opportunities and capacities, we don’t ever have to have cancer. Ever. It starts early in life. It should be a part of all schooling. Not cancer, but what is the nature of the human being and what is our highest level and what is the greatest capacity that we have to live and to enjoy life and to experience the wonders of life. That’s the approach that we need in schools.”

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

When it comes to her health, actress, anti-aging expert and best-selling author Suzanne Somers doesn’t hesitate to reject conventional treatments. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer 11 years ago she chose alternative therapies that stunned the mainstream medical community.  Once again, she’s taken the revolutionary route by undergoing an experimental procedure using her own stem cells and body fat to rebuild her withered breast.

Somers detailed her alternative journey and boasted about her quality of life to Dr. Oz on his show last Friday.

“Look at me,” she told Dr. Oz. “Eleven years later, I am so healthy. I’ve had this incredible quality of life all of these years.”

After she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 it took about two days for her to recover from the shocking news.

“I woke up, looked at my husband and said, ‘I can handle this.’ And then it was like I went to war and I was going to do it my way,” she said.

And so she did. She was offered the standard of care: a lumpectomy, radiation, chemotherapy and after-care drugs and told to give up bioidentical hormones, which she refused to do despite her doctor telling her she would die if she didn’t. She believed keeping her hormones balanced would help her prevent a cancer recurrence following the lumpectomy.

But she did agree to radiation, which she was told would be a “walk in the park.” Hardly. She vomited daily throughout each day and spent much of the time curled in a fetal position. The radiation eventually left her with a “withered, nearly pancake breast on the right side (barely a B cup) and my full natural breast on the left side (a D cup),” she writes on her website.

“Here I am a sex symbol and I have one and one-third breasts,” she said to Dr. Oz. “…I could write a book, What They Don’t Tell You about Radiation.
After researching chemotherapy and being dissatisfied with its success rate, or lack thereof, she rejected that treatment. “Looking back, it was the best thing I ever did,” she said.

To help prevent a recurrence of cancer, she was injected with Iscador, which is extracted from mistletoe, for eight years. She also “ate as if my life depended on it” and still does. She grows her own food, buys organic and when she can’t get organic she loads up on antioxidants to kill free radicals.  She also continued taking her bioidentical hormones and opted against reconstruction because she didn’t want an implant.

“As an avid participant in anti-aging and alternative medicine, I instead searched for another option. I heard about Dr. Kotaro Yoshimura who has been performing stem cell breast reconstruction in Japan, but it was not legally available to women in this country. After years of research and international travel, I was able to assist a remarkable group of doctors in having an IRB (International Review Board) set up at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in California. I considered going to Japan for the surgery, but I wanted to help open the door for women in America. I am proud to say I am the first person in this country to initiate the clinical trial for a stem cell breast reconstruction at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Joel Aronowitz (who trained with Yoshimura in Japan) was the lead surgeon, along with Dr. James Watson. This procedure used my own adult stem cells, harvested from my fat, then reinjected into my breast to “regrow” my breast to its original size. While I don’t yet have long-term results, I can say the initial results are nothing short of miraculous.”

If ever there was a poster child for alternative therapies and being in control of your own health, it is Somers, who says, “It is so wonderful for all people to know how your body works and to understand the fuel, which is in good nutrition, and to know the questions to ask when you are having any kind of procedure so that you can be in charge of your body because nobody will care as much about your body as you.”

Mistletoe Extract as Cancer Therapy

Benefits of Stem Cell Breast Reconstruction

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

Swami Parthasarathy, an internationally eminent philosopher widely acclaimed as the greatest living exponent of Vedanta, has spoken at the Aspen Ideas Festival and  addressed leading institutions such as the World Economic Forum, The World Bank, NASA, and Harvard Business School. Recently, Swamiji, as he is popularly known as, shared words of wisdom at an intimate gathering at the Malibu home of Dianne Burnett, founder of Joan Valentine — A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc.

“Without having met him or attending any of our programs in the past, she offered her home to introduce Swamiji to her friends, which says a lot about Dianne,” said Joseph Emmett, who made the connection. Emmett, a native of Houston, recently relocated to Topanga after 15 years studying with Swamiji in India. “He speaks to huge audiences and at very high level. This is quite a rare event but maybe that’s Dianne’s karma.”

Vedanta is derived from two words Veda – Knowledge, and Anta – End. Vedanta means the end of knowledge. This ancient philosophy presents the eternal principles of life and living. It programmes a life of mental peace combined with dynamic action in the world. Equips one with clarity of intellect to deal with the challenges of life. Above all, it’s philosophy leads one to the ultimate goal of Self- Realization.

Swamiji, 84, was in the U.S. for his annual visit. He spoke to Dianne’s group and took questions, he answered a few questions for JoanValentineFoundation.org:

Q: You come here every year. What’s the biggest change you see with Americans, who are usually viewed as so materialistic?

A: I find them receiving the knowledge that I am imparting. I wouldn’t say there is much of a change. From the beginning they were receptive to the idea. In fact, I’ve been asked in India, “Why do you go and preach the philosophy in America? I say, “Why do you think it’s materialistic?” They say, Well, it’s all dollars and dollars and dollars.” I say, “Do you realize that no other currency in the world has what the dollar has ‘In God we trust?’ And you call that materialistic? No pound, no rupiah, no yen has it. They all trust in their currency. Americans trust in God.’ They are very active and dynamic people. I find them extremely open to ideas. There are no biases or prejudices. In other countries they are not so open and definitely not as dynamic as the Americans. That’s why I find that it’s a haven for the knowledge that I’m imparting in this country.

Q: Do you find that more Americans are visiting India?

A: That’s for a different reason. People from all over the world are coming for business purposes because they believe that India is progressing now.

Q: Aren’t more people going for spiritual reasons and visiting ashrams?

A: Because India is a land of spirituality and land of ashrams, when they come there they have to visit that. We don’t have Disneyland. We have ashrams. When we come here we visit Disneyland. When they go there they visit ashrams.Q: You don’t go to Disneyland, do you?A: The day before yesterday I went to Disneyland after 40 years. Probably my first visit somebody took me there. I’ve been here every year for 40 years. It was very unusual that I’m free for the day. It was wonderful. It’s an extraordinaire piece of art, which I admired.

Q: Did you get on all of the rides?

A: A few of them. I’m 84.

Q: You’re absolutely amazing. What’s your secret?

A: No worries of the past. No anxieties for the future. Everybody’s worried about what happened in the past and anxious about what’s going to happen in the future. If you can cut these two and live in the present, you don’t age. That applies to anybody. Some of the American children of my followers here ask their parents find out from Swami what cream he uses on his face. I don’t use any cream.

Q: Is living in the present one of the biggest challenges for people today?

A: It is. Worry and anxiety create fatigue. Work never tires you. I’ve been working constantly and have never taken a holiday. I’m not a model. It will happen to any one of you who don’t bother about the past or the future. That’s the secret. But it’s easier said than done. I can tell others but the question is how to do it. It’s a process. I’ve written 11 books.

Q: Do you mediate daily?

A: Not any more. I passed that stage. Meditation is not meant for an average person. It’s misconceived in this country and Western countries in general. I wouldn’t recommend mediation. It’s like jogging to an invalid. I jog three kilometers every day. I’ve been jogging all my life. If there’s an invalid suffering from heart problems or something else and you ask him to jog — jogging in a good exercise. The question is for whom? Similarly, meditation is meant for people who have calmed their minds and in that last stage they need mediation to get enlightenment. But you don’t start with meditation. It can harm you. No one has really understood the effects of meditation for the unprepared mind.When you’re calm, you meditate. You don’t meditate to get calmness.  You’re putting the cart before the horse. When your mind is calm then you’ll be able to meditate. That’s the last gateway to enlightenment, not before. I’ve trained hundreds of students. It’s a three-year course in India and none of them is fit for meditation. They are very advanced students compared to the average person but still they have to go a long way before they can sit down and meditate.

Q: Any final words you’d like to share?

A: I’ve been telling people to serve and sacrifice is the secret of peaceful life. The secret of harmony in the world is to learn to serve and sacrifice.  A meets B. He must think in terms of “Can I be of some service?” When I come here, I don’t know you all. I must have the spirit of serving and sharing not what can I get out of you. That’s a very negative approach to life. That’s what I tell my colleagues, friends and listeners – learn to sacrifice and that’s the best thing that you can do.

Swami Parthasarathy (left), Dianne Burnett and Joseph Emmett

Swami Parthasarathy with his group and Dianne Burnett

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

MALIBU FILM FESTIVAL, SPONSORED BY JOAN VALENTINE FOUNDATION

Joan Valentine, A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc., is proud to sponsor the 12th Annual Malibu International Film Festival, taking place October 6-8, 2011 at the Hollywood Theaters Malibu and Malibu Lumber Yard. For more information, visit malibufilmfestival.com

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

December 29, 2010
By Beverly Hills Times Magazine

The day we met…two strangers; by the time the interview was finished …fast friends. Burnett is a warrior—my kind of woman—actually every woman’s kind of woman.

She inspires with her talent, offers encouragement with her wisdom, and maybe most important, she is an advocate for spiritual growth and change.

As she says, moving forward requires that we overcome our fears to face what isn’t working, and then do something positive with it.

No doubt Burnett has had her share of dark times with a high-profile divorce from a well-known reality show producer. But as she tells her story, it’s clear that she not only came out stronger, but emerged more certain of who she is as a woman, mother (she has two sons), and she inspires us to never give up on our dreams.

Now more than ever she is determined to help other women overcome challenges and move forward to new beginnings. One of her new beginnings was going from blonde to brunette.

ST: Some events inspired you to make certain changes… explain.
“A lot of changes were taking place in my life (she recently she lost her mother to cancer, a devastating blow that prompted her to start a non-profit, education and preventative cancer research foundation in her mother’s name: Joan Valentine-A Foundation for Natural Cures). I think most women going through a difficult period, emerge, look in the mirror and decide to re-do something about themselves to reflect the change they feel inside.” Born of humble beginnings in a modest suburb of Long Island, she got a first hand look at the true meaning of faith and determination from her mother. Burnett’s mother worked multiple jobs to make ends meet, and independently raised four children on her own. Looking back, she credits her mother for instilling in her a strong work ethic and the determination to move through adversity. Those values heavily influenced her determination to excel at every stage of her life.

ST: Growing up what lessons did you learn from your mother?“She worked three jobs to keep us going. There were times when it was so bad that she almost lost the house we lived in, but then some how things would pull through and we would be okay. I remember so many things she did to make our lives better.” Burnett has produced TV, theater, and film projects; acted on TV and in theater, and she has been involved in many philanthropic endeavors that are close to her heart. She recently completed an autobiographical book, The Road to Reality, which charts her existential quest through life so far.

ST: All women have a different story—then again it seems we all have the same story.
“Our lives take many turns through heartache, disappointment, regret, growth and change. That’s another reason I decided to chronicle my journey. It’s an intimate look at my own life, but I believe that other women will relate to these experiences as well. That’s how we learn; by experiencing the journey, failures and success of others. That’s why it is so important that women stick together and help one another. The Road to Reality is about women’s empowerment, a journey through self-realization and awareness of inner strength.
As if Burnett doesn’t have enough projects on her plate, she will soon launch TheOtherSide.com, a unique social networking site combining the best of Twitter and Facebook. She has brilliantly tapped into the cyberspace connection offering members around the globe a people-to-people interactive hub filled with tools to nourish the mind, body and soul.

“TheOtherSide.com is like having your very own inspirational team: a community of alternative medicine practitioners, psychics, mediums, forward thinkers, and astrologers with a running debate on all worldly topics. There are interactive discussion rooms for members to share views and it serves as a bulletin board of national and international events of interest to the community. TheOtherSide.com empowers people by offering wisdom and enlightenment.”
Burnett supports many organizations; one being Children Mending Hearts, of which she is a board member, among several others. “All of my projects are important, but the Joan Valentine-A Foundation for Natural Cures is a top priority. Cancer affects many people, and too often treatment options are limited; people don’t know where to turn. I went down this path with my mother during her illness. Not many choices were given to us, but options do exist that we don’t know about.”

For additional information or get involved in the Joan Valentine Foundation: www.DianneBurnett.com.
Visit: www.TheOtherSide.com to learn more about the incredible networking opportunities and how to become a member; the site launches in January.

Also on www.DianneBurnett.com you can learn about Burnett’s book, The Road to Reality.

If you’re interested in The Joan Valentine-A Foundation for Natural Cures and becoming a sponsor at its First Annual Charity Benefit this summer, check in with Burnett’s web-site for updated information.
“Our lives take many turns through heartache, disappointment, regret, and ultimately growth and change. That’s another reason I decided to chronicle my journey… It’s an intimate look at my own life, but I believe other women will relate to these experiences as well.”

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

Dianne Burnett’s new foundation will raise money and awareness for preventative and integrative cancer treatments.

The Malibu home of actor, producer, author and philanthropist Dianne Burnett played host on Wednesday to a luncheon for the top names from the field of integrated medicine, which combines conventional medical treatments with alternative approaches. It was a gathering for those involved in the recently formed Joan Valentine- A Foundation for Natural Cures. They are planning for a major event in the spring that will raise money and awareness for preventative and integrative cancer treatments.

The foundation was formed in 2009 when Burnett’s mother, Joan Valentine, was battling esophageal cancer. She was by her mother’s side until her mother died on April 20 of last year. “We’re all touched by cancer in some way—through a loved one or friend,” Burnett said. “When my mother got it, it was just a blow. [The cancer] was in her esophagus, in a hard-to-reach place, and was already Stage 4. We were all told it was a death sentence. Even so, the [doctors proceeded with] chemotherapy and radiation, and this went on for 10 months.”

Burnett said the foundation will “build awareness that there are other approaches” to treating cancer. It will also raise money to conduct scientific studies of promising new cancer treatments that are unlikely to be pursued by pharmaceutical companies.

The luncheon included people from various backgrounds, including a local psychiatrist that specializes in helping cancer patients and a person with a doctorate in nutrition who scours the earth for indigenous plants with medical value.

“The typical medical model doesn’t offer everything people need to be well,” said Dr. Gabriel Cora of Miami Shores, Fla. Cora has a medical degree and an MBA. She integrates traditional and alternative medicines in her practice.

Burton Goldberg, author of 18 books on alternative medicine, said pharmaceutical companies, the FDA and even many physicians have little interest in exploring, studying or recommending alternative approaches. They prefer, he said, to stick with the status quo.

Goldberg keeps up with cutting-edge cancer treatments and methodologies that include alternative ways to administer chemotherapy and radiation, genetic testing and even changes to diet. Dr. Janet Hranicky is a pioneer in psychoneuroimmunology, or PNI, which involves studying the emotional impact of treatments on cancer patients. She said it has been proven that a positive attitude helps the immune system.

“It is important for a patient to look forward to getting better, improve their will to live, be able to see their cancer as a challenge and strengthen their belief that they can get well,” Hranicky said. She co-directs a psychological intervention program for cancer patients. Hranicky also trains other physicians and nurses and is developing “standard of care” guidelines for mind/body medicine and cancer.

Misty Woodward attended the luncheon as a representative for the Washington D.C.-based nonprofit Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine, which includes “doctors and laypersons working together for compassionate research [without animal testing] and plant-based diets.”

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.