Cancer Center Event - Full Coverage

I would like to start by saying thank you to everybody for joining us. Um we feel we we know that the community knows how important it is uh to take care of our bodies and our minds um in good times and bad when we're healthy before and if god forbid something may come up. Um I'd like to thank the DSN Beach Club for allowing us to use this gorgeous, gorgeous property. and maybe whoever's here that are not members will become members now. Um, I'd also like to thank Rebecca Cohen and Lydia Eison for helping us with this day along with all the staff and the volunteers that are part of the cancer center. We would not be able to do any of this without you. Last but not least, I would like to thank the founder and president of the Mars I Franco Cancer Center, my mother Nancy Sutton. Um, many times people ask me, um, was your mother very close to somebody who did she lose somebody to cancer? Is that why she started this? I said, no, thank God she she didn't. I mean, my grandfather, her father-in-law passed away from pancreatic cancer, but really, I don't think that's why she started this. She just she sees a need for something in our community. She sees people in need and she just steps up and takes takes charge and takes care and she started this beautiful, beautiful organization. Um, and really everything she does is from her heart. So, thank you Um, we're very very honored today to have Dr. Lorenzo Cohen and Allison Jeff with us from Houston, Texas. They came in to speak with us and share the wealth of information that they have. We're going to learn about early detection, risk reduction, and education. just we want to help our community achieve better outcomes against this war that we're we're dealing with with so much cancer and so many people who are sick around us. May they all have a refu uh we know of course that Hashem determines um our lives and how they're going to look. But it's our job to do ouroot. Um, our histad is taking care of our bodies. You know, everyone knows smoking leads to lung cancer. So hopefully none of us are smokers and we don't want that. But there are a lot of other things that are less obvious and need to be dealt with and we should we should learn about them today from our wonderful wonderful guests. I'd like to introduce them. There's a very long list of credentials here. Um, Dr. Dr. Lorenzo Cohen is the Richard E. Hannes Distinguished Professor in Clinical Cancer Prevention prevention and the director of the Integrative Medicine Program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. My mother and I have actually taken uh patients there. It's probably the most renowned cancer center in the world. He is the founding member and past president of the society for integrative oncology and a former vice chair of the academic consortium for integrative medicine and health. Dr. Cohen has published more than 200 scientific articles in top medical journals and has edited two books on integrative medicine for cancer care. Well, Allison Jeff is a nationally board certified wellness coach, author, and educator. She works with individuals looking to make changes in their lives, including people facing a cancer diagnosis and cancer caregivers. Allison has always work also worked extensively as an educator. She works closely with Lorenzo Cohen to foster health in individuals and their communities. The best part is they are married with two children living in Houston. There's a real power couple. Three kids. Sorry, I left someone out. Thank you very much for the kind introduction. >> Hold on a sec. I think you've got a phone. >> And thank you very much for uh having us here today. Uh Nancy Sutton is is somebody who we've just met but clearly a visionary for this community and setting up uh the Morris Franco Center uh for this community is just is critically important and we've just learned a little bit about what it offers but it's it's clear that it has a a deep focus on some of which we'll talk about today and other factors going deeper into the area of integrative medicine acupuncture and other modalities that are critically important seem to be available through uh this great organization. So, so thank you all and thank you for the organizers uh for all the effort in getting us here today. >> So, thank you also and welcome. Give yourselves a big hug because you actually are taking this important time to prioritize your health and to learn more and to recognize all that you are already doing because we often come to these discussions thinking I'm not doing anything. I've got so much to do and the truth is we're already doing a lot and just by showing up today that's one thing that you are doing. So Lorenzo and I we moved to Houston, Texas. Lorenzo started doing this really interesting research in integrative medicine and I was working as a teacher at that point and he would come home and talk to me about what was going on in the field and we started having children realized that we weren't really doing any of the things that he was researching and so we started to make change in our lives first around our kids filling their toolbox then realized we've got to start taking this on more seriously started making big changes in our own lives And within our with our within our friend group, we started speaking to different groups and realized that we had knowledge that uh we wanted to share which was that Lorenzo understood the re the science behind cancer and lifestyle and I was a teacher and a coach and uh that came a little bit later but you know was putting it into practice and what does that look like in a family uh and for an individual and so we decided to write a book called anti-cancer living which wonderfully you have here where we gave the science and the the the how-to. Uh and then the day that we submitted the final draft of our book, Lorenzo was diagnosed with cancer with advanced cancer. And so we went from scientist, educator, husband, wife, mother, father to caregiver and cancer patient. And so we're going to share with you today uh some of you know what we did in that particular instance and what we have been doing for many years. So the overview today is why is this important and what can you do? So why are these different areas that we're going to talk about important and what you can do and also starting and sustaining change which is really the hard part because sometimes we find out this information and then it's really hard to sustain it. So what what what's about what happens when you are able to sustain it and then questions. >> So our our book is of course about first and foremost preventing cancer and for those with cancer improving outcomes after a diagnosis. And so I mean it was literally the day that we submitted the final version of the book is when I got the biopsy and was told that I had an advanced cancer. And at that point we actually didn't even know what kind of cancer which is uh a huge amount of fear more than actually being told you have cancer is like but we don't know what kind it was in a lymph node and they didn't know where it had spread from. Luckily it was if you can call uh having a cancer diagnosis lucky uh it was a stage three melanoma immediately started imunotherapy. You could literally feel the lymph node shrinking. Uh then had surgery in a full year of imunotherapy. Going into this, of course, I knew how to prevent cancer and improve outcomes for myself. So I immediately did the review of all the different lifestyle factors, what we'll be getting into in detail, the mix of six, and looked at these six pillars and see where am I uh in in terms of being able to modify something. I already was, you know, walking the talk uh and so how could I actually improve? And when I looked closely at all of these areas, I was already essentially vegan and exercising on a regular basis, had great sleep, had wonderful love and support, cleaned up my environment, but I wasn't really managing my stress well. And what's interesting is that melanoma is what would be considered an immunogenic cancer. All cancers are controlled by the immune system to some degree, but melanoma even more so than than others. And that's why imunotherapy was discovered to work first in melanoma. And now it's being uh useful in many other cancers. And so I wasn't doing my regular yoga practice that I had learned from my grandmother. I wasn't meditating on a regular basis. And so to really up my game and most importantly to have accountability and some people may see this as a little extreme, uh I enrolled in a a 200 hour yoga teacher certification program that I started very very uh soon after having uh recovered from surgery. So for the whole year that I was undergoing amunotherapy uh I essentially enrolled in a course to become a yoga teacher but most importantly it was for the accountability. I actually when it causes me stress to be able to stand in front of an audience and have to teach yoga and so uh that was not something that I wanted to do but it was that accountability. It was that group to provide me support. Why don't we go and talk about all these different areas? St. take a step back so you can then learn about that stress. Uh so what are we talking about? We're talking about the mix of six. And this is the basis of a comprehensive lifestyle program. It's very fluid. It's very dynamic. It works with where you are in your life. The most important thing is that you are the expert on you and what's going to work for you and in your family, but also at the same time to being open to thinking about making different changes. So what is the mix of six? Social support, stress management, sleep, exercise, diet, and exposure to environmental toxins. So these are all tools for you to think about to evaluate in your own life and to understand you know how you can bring about change. >> And as we'll get into there's there's tremendous evidence for each of these areas again in the prevention of cancer in the first place but importantly um for improving outcomes after a cancer diagnosis. Alongside these we know that actually a minimum of 50% of cancers could be prevented through appropriate lifestyle changes including the mix of six factors uh but also undergoing uh appropriate screenings uh mimography screening uh in particular colarctal cancer screening. We have really an epidemic of what's called early onset cancer. These are cancers being diagnosed in individuals under the age of 50 which is increasing uh dramatically un under the age of of uh of 30 as well and people into their 20s being diagnosed with advanced colon cancer. Um and we believe and and the evidence shows that if you again you look at the mix of six, these are factors that are coming together to influence this. HPV vaccination is critically important for individuals before they get sexually active so that we could prevent the majority of cervical cancer and now head and neck cancers as well as penile and anal cancers. I'm not going to get too sciency on you, but uh something to know that's critically important is these mix of six factors we know are linked again with risk of cancer and improving outcomes after a diagnosis. And that's through the deep science that is going on in this area. And if we look at how cancer forms and develops, we uh uh look at at putting this into a understanding by looking at physiology and labeling them as cancer hallmarks. So the cancer hallmarks are physiological processes that either allow a mutated cell to grow out of control or to keep things in check. Cancer hallmark for example is our immune system. Uh if immune surveillance is low then that mutated cell which we all have constantly happening in our body will grow and thrive. So the key is to create a landscape within our body that is inhospitable to cancer growth. We're not going to be able to stop the mutations. Again those are happening all the time. But whether a mutation grows and thrives is based on our physiology and our physiology is influenced by our lifestyle choices in the mix of six. So ultimately we want to create a synergy a positive contagion where uh one thing leads to another uh where the sum is greater than the individual areas. So like like um exercise like diet but if you put diet and exercise together you have something stronger and bigger than if it if you look at it as individuals. Very important in thinking about this is realizing that you start from this moment that you're in right now. Blame, shame, guilt, you know, it's those can hold you back. It's important to put them behind you for now. You can circle back and examine things later on, but you are here and you're interested. And so start where you are today because there are plenty of things that you can do, small steps right now to change how your body is responding. And I always think about it that, you know, if you are feeling good on the outside, that is helping the cells on the inside, right? If you're doing things that you know are going to be advantageous actually it has a cellular effect and that's why we're talking here today and what Lorenzo was just saying about cancer hallmarks. So how do we make change and how do we sustain it? We do that by tapping into our core values because if you get a cancer diagnosis funnily enough that's not enough to make you change your lifestyle and sustain it. It might give you the boost start. >> It is absolutely a start. >> We can't make change successfully from a place of fear. So it's that fear that started me into my yoga practice. But to maintain it, there has to be something more important than fear. Living in a state of fear is obviously a very unpleasant emotional state. >> So what what makes you sustain it? Your core values. What's most important to you in life, right? What do you really connect with? What would be some of the things that you might say? Love, family, faith, friendship, you know, commitment to contributing, uh, you know, integrity. Uh, there there's going to be mindfulness. There's going to be a lot of different things that you might identify. And so take some time to think about it and as you're you know listening to us jot those things down because it's important to circle back because when things are difficult that's what allows you to come back and say I am going to stand up and I'm going to walk around the block because I've said it's really important that I'm able to hang out with my grandchildren that I can spend time with my partner that I can feel good and I know that it will I will if I do this. So what is the start and the most important part of the mix of six? Social support. >> Social support as we say in anti-cancer living is the backbone on which all other lifestyle changes will either succeed or fail. Launching into uh the change in in being able to uh up my game for stress management wouldn't have been successful without Allison. It was critical that she was there on those weekends. Uh it was literally almost every Saturday and Sunday uh for weeks on end uh where I had to go to the yoga studio for six hours during the day. Um and so having her there supporting what was going on in the household was important for me to be able to have that that focus on myself. uh there is uh in terms of social support both what we call a direct effect and an indirect effect and Allison will touch on the indirect effect which is having support there to allow you to really achieve goals and be successful but there is also evidence that social support in and of itself will impact our biology and there's there's hundreds of studies uh and there's one I'll just mention that was published last year with over 3,000 cancer patients and they assessed the amount of social support that somebody had um and found that those who were more socially connected with their network lived longer after a cancer diagnosis taking into account stage and age and marital status and even emotional well-being a factor like depression. So social support we know from the evidence actually has an impact on gene regulatory factors that influence the cancer hallmarks. People with more support have lower inflammation. They have better immune function. They have uh lower levels of angioenesis. That's a very fancy word for the ability of tumors to get uh higher blood supply. We know chronic stress increases blood supply. Social support will actually decrease blood supply to the tumor. So it is critical and right here today you have this wonderful support network and of course at the the Franco Morris Cancer Center as well. So thinking about your team, uh obviously you have your health care providers who are experts in their field and can give you the information on your conventional care. Uh and those are the people you want to seek out. So they're a team member, somebody who you can call on to go grocery shopping. That's somebody who you need in your support community. somebody to pick up your kids, to help you with the house, to uh you know, it it's endless. But each of these different kinds of jobs requires potentially a different kind of person because while I could do a lot for Lorenzo, I can't be everything for him, right? He needs a lot of different people to support him and I actually need my own whole support network myself, right? The caregiver is as important as the person who has the cancer diagnosis because together you are the strength to help you manage your families and to work through it to the best of your ability because that's really you want to come through it and we were speaking on our way here with Joy about how important it is that each step of the way even if you have a difficult diagnosis how important it is to live today well and to know that I'm supported to know he for him to know he's supported and we have a group rallying around us so that I can take the day on with you know a smile most of the time. So thinking about that, how can you broaden it if you don't have that support network as wide as you would like? You know, is there somebody at work that you could say, "Hey, let's take a meditation course." So really thinking how can you widen it? And then you have a few people who are your go-to for emotional support that you can tell anything to. So there's lots of different steps and important to think about all of them. So the next area of the of the mix06 is is stress and most importantly stress management. Uh my uh graduate uh degree is was focused in an area that's called psychonuroimmunology the relationship between psychological factors stress hormones and the immune system. And of course you could expand it to all the areas of of the cancer hallmarks. And it's clear that chronic stress activates the cancer hallmarks. There is irrefutable evidence that chronic stress can literally through the stress hormones get into the tumor micro environment. That means the place in your body where the cancer is growing and it makes it more hospitable to cancer growth. And there's evidence to suggest that something like a beta blocker that actually I started taking the day I was diagnosed blocks the negative effects of the stress hormones right there in the tumor micro environment and decreases the ability for the cancer to grow and thrive. So clear evidence that that chronic stress, depression, anxiety, those are all factors that lead to worse outcomes. And equally important is how you manage stress. >> So a we had always been meditating with our kids before school. At 7:30 in the morning, we would sit down on pillows for 2 minutes. The kids would go online, choose the meditations, the guided meditations we were interested in doing and we would sit down. I found that a lot of that time I was sort of monitoring them like close your eyes, you know, sit up straight and you know, trying to get them on board. Luckily, now this is actually a tool in their toolbox that they use. But after Lorenzo's diagnosis and he was through treatment, I realized that I was not handling my own stress well and that I was kind of like this all the time because, you know, when you're the caregiver, I've got the binder, I've got the ideas page, I'm, you know, thinking, what aren't we tackling? You know, let's double down on food. You know, you're that this is sort of how you are. And so I signed up for MBSR, a mindfulness-based stress reduction course, and I said to Lorenzo, will you come with me so that we can make this something that we do together? And so we did that together. And that sort of changed, you know, my ability to manage my stress. But really important to think there are, you know, cognitive behavioral therapy, there's tai chichi, there's yoga, there's all kinds of different things that mindbody practices that are evidence-based that we know are going to ha have an biological effect on you. So really thinking about what you'd like to try and also recognizing that you went to the yoga course, you didn't like it, uh you didn't like the teacher, okay, try a different one. Right? it. We often have to try multiple, you know, opportunities to find the one that fits with us and it changes over time and and as Alison was mentioning, the evidence is quite clear here all the way down to a biological level and in fact uh the evidence is so robust for yoga in cancer care that it's on all of the national guidelines. American Canc American Society for Clinical Oncology, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, they write guidelines for uh for for treatment of cancer patients and they also have guidelines for integrative medicine and supportive care. Yoga is listed for helping to control every single cancer related uh symptom. Fatigue, pain, sleep issues, of course, depression and anxiety and importantly it influences the biological factors, strengthening the immune system, decreasing stress hormones, etc. Uh so, so as we say in anti-cancer living, uh when people often ask, well, what's the best way to manage stress? It's unfortunately not something like an antibiotic. You can just do, you know, two week course of yoga and then stop and everything is great for the rest of your life. It's a daily practice. And so the best one is the one that you're going to be able to engage in on a daily basis. >> Also recognizing what empties your cup. I use that analogy because I feel I can sort of feel my levels rising and then I I know that I need to empty my cup. So what are the kinds of things that I can do that I know help me? So does taking a walk with the dog does gardening. So we're starting to recognize what are the things that you know in your life aside from let's say a mindbody practice that help alleviate your stress and tapping into those and and scheduling those into your day. So the next area of the mix of six is uh sleep and and again uh having too little sleep which is primarily the problem in our society. Same is true for too much sleep but that's a different issue. Uh having restricted sleep which would be defined as less than about 6 and a half hours uh of sleep a night uh increases risk of all cause mortality. You could layer on any disease and chronic uh sleep loss is linked as a as an ideological factor as well as worse outcomes cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's, stroke, diabetes and of course cancer. Uh importantly after a cancer diagnosis uh not sleeping enough influences outcomes and we understand this down again at a biological level. modifying circadian rhythm, the immune system, inflammation. Sleep loss actually has an influence on obesity because it changes how we metabolize food. And there's a clear link between sleep loss and uh risk of being overweight. And it's it's harder to lose weight if you're not managing sleep as well as chronic stress for that matter. So there's a a really fascinating study that was just published last year in the journal of clinical oncology looking at the beneficial effects of CBTI, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, which is really the go-to treatment for uh sleep loss and and actually better than uh using sleep medication, which we can get into in the Q&A session. And what they did is they were interested in in improving of course insomnia related issues but seeing how would that influence cognitive functioning because as I mentioned there was a link between sleep loss and dementia and Alzheimer's and of course uh the the first step there is messing with cognitive functioning and they found of course not only did um the CBTI lead to better sleep quality, sleep length in the patients who are in that group compared to a control group. But it also improved their cognitive functioning. So improving your sleep is going to have uh a a positive synergistic effect as Allison was saying on multiple areas of your life. >> So what are some of the things and how can you think about sleep? So if you think uh sleep experts often say that uh and I think we're going to have an expert who will be able to verify this that if you have a problem of three nights a week for three months then there is an opportunity for you to go and speak to a sleep expert to see whether there's something else going on. But where we most of us really need to start is with sleep hygiene which you've probably heard of a lot which is really looking at the habits that you have around sleep and most of us uh can develop some pretty dysfunctional habits. So uh you know thinking about during the day there are things that you can do. So napping is uh can be a real problem for you later on in the night. So 20 to 30 minutes max. You know there are outliers there but generally 20 to 30 minutes then does not interrupt your sleep for the next night. Being out in the sunshine having it in your eyes actually helps you sleep at night. Uh you know uh alcohol and coffee. So you know coffee obviously we've what you've heard after 12:00 uh midday you know you want to be careful how much coffee you're drinking. Alcohol uh you know might help you get to sleep but it actually wakes you up later on in the night by because of the way in which the bo body metabolizes it and it also has actually quite a long life that we uh coffee has a long life as well as alcohol in the system. uh thinking about night. So thinking about visual, you know, what do you need to do so that when you wake up and you open your eyes that you don't come out of sleep, you know, are you wearing a sleep mask? Lorenzo wears a sleep mask. I use a pillow. I've just I'm now trying the sleep mask to see if that helps. Right? Do you need earplugs? Uh do you need uh something, you know, better? Uh curtains. Uh is the temperature right? the slightest difference in temperature can really throw your sleep for the night. Do I need to do some diaphragmatic breathing, deep diaphragmatic breathing before bed to calm me? Do I need to put my phone away? Uh, you know, and separate from electronics. These simple things that you've heard of all the time actually do play a role in how you sleep. Important. Kids need a lot of sleep. Uh, the sleepfoundation.org or is a great website and resource for you to look at the amount of hours that teenagers need, which is a lot. Uh, and being, you know, as strict as you can around that because it does impact their cognitive abilities and their abilities to manage emotional situations and just the same for us. So the next area is exercise and um everyone knows how important exercise is and there is is just overwhelming data that people who are more active have a lower risk of over a dozen different cancers. Um and and it it's just irrefutable the evidence there. And it doesn't actually need to be a lot of exercise. is it essentially needs to be uh moving on average uh walking an hour a day. Uh if you're more vigorous, it could be even less. And independently, even if you're doing that, which is great, um you need to just sit less. So, I'm not going to make you all stand up, but we have the luxury of getting an hour of standing uh by being here in giving this lecture. And there's clear evidence that that sedentary behavior independent of how much you move is actually a risk factor. There was a study just published uh I guess it's now two months ago in the New England Journal of Medicine, the most uh important journal out there. That was the first time that they did a a formal randomized clinical trial, which means that that uh in this case over 800 participants who had advanced colon cancer randomized to an exercise group, essentially what I just described, an hour a day for uh a year, uh a light light form of exercise versus a control group. And then they've tracked them uh over a number of years and found that those who just exercised at that light level had a much higher probability of being alive during the follow-up period compared to the controls. This is the first time that that exercises have been put to the test to that level. Most of the prior data had been these huge cohorts of 100,000 even up to one study 1.4 four million cancer survivors showing those who exercised more did better in terms of survival. But this was the formal randomized clinical trial. The differences in group was not too dissimilar from the differences of of drug approvals uh and and if this had been something that uh could have been bottled so to speak as as a formal cancer treatment, it would have been fasttracked by the FDA. So, in thinking about exercise, uh, like Lorenzo said, it's it's you don't have to run a marathon. You just have to keep moving and you have to dedicate some time to kind of raising your heart rate, challenging your muscles and standing up. And so, you know, pickle ball, uh, tennis, you you we're at a fantastic beach club here. There's probably lots of opportunities. Thinking about dancing. When we had friends over, we always ended the occasion with our kids and our friends and their kids dancing for to three or four songs because we it was a great way to say goodbye and it was really fun and it got our kids moving. It got us moving. Uh you know, are you elliptical walker? Are you uh you know, a jogger? Just walking from here, you know, if if from here to the end of your driveway is all you can do because you're in treatment, that's all you can do. And so it's not really about setting these huge goals. It's just about thinking what small thing can I do that will change uh how much movement I'm getting. So parking your car at the farthest spot and walking back. It's the small things and thinking over the course of the week, right? You don't need to walk every day. I'm going to go to the park with my kids. I'm going to, you know, do the elliptical on Tuesday. I'm going to weight train on Thursday. and realizing that this is an opportunity to bring in your community. Who can I get me to to join me and to help me be accountable because that's the hardest part, right? You decide you want to do it and the next morning you haven't gone to the gym, somebody's celebrating their birthday with cake and it you feel defeated, right? So, it's it's really the smallest step and not getting overwhelmed by all these things that we're talking about. Uh, and I'll come back to this in a minute. So, the next area is diet. Um, and when it comes to diet, there's a lot of controversy. There's a lot of confusion, but we're going to try and cut through all of that and make it as simple as possible. When I was diagnosed with cancer, um, the first thing I did was look at my diet, which was essentially primarily vegan. um which essentially means no animal products including cheese and dairy and uh eggs etc. Um and I thought well how can I improve upon that? There's clear evidence that excess sugar in the diet uh fuels cancer and and and it's really the fructose in and of itself. So that kind of speaks to, you know, fruits and vegetables are super important, but they're not equivalent. And so we do have to have fruit, but not excess amounts of fruit. Um, and so carbohydrates are of course a kind of sugar. And so the concern I had in my diet, which you know, being Italian, you know, pasta was, you know, the staple in my diet. And most pasta that Italian eats uh is is refined flour. So we're not really into, you know, these alternative pastas or certainly not whole wheat pasta. It has to be white and the whiter the better. Uh because it has that great sugar uh flavor that's part of it. Um and so I started cutting out of my diet uh essentially all carbohydrates. So it was almost a you could say a ketogenic diet. Uh but I wasn't loading myself up with a lot of fats, just trying to to even decrease the amount of refined carbs. And because uh I was at MD Anderson Cancer Center and another serendipitous uh thing happened on the day that I was diagnosed, I was awarded a grant from the Melanoma Research Foundation to study lifestyle and cancer. And that was literally on the day I have the email saying, "You're awarded this money." I didn't even know my diagnosis. And of course, it turned out to be melanoma. Perhaps there's no such thing as a coincidence. And as part of the study, we were collecting data from patients with advanced melanoma to ask them about their diet and all the other factors of the mix of six. But in um when I was in the clinic, uh somebody came in and described this lifestyle study to me. Would you like to be part of this lifestyle study? And I looked at the consent form and you know I'm the PI of the study and it's like well of course seems odd to sign my own consent form. Uh but that allowed me to collect my own microbiome sample uh from from uh a fecal sample. And the microbiome essentially are the the bacteria, viruses, fungi that live on and in us. I know that sounds a little creepy, but we are made up more of nonhuman cells than than human cells. And the majority of it is is in our intestines um in our our colon, large intestine, small intestine. And these bacteria will either uh allow us to be healthy and deactivate the cancer hallmarks or they activate the cancer hallmarks. And there was clear data uh from our group at MD Anderson showing that the healthier the microbiome, the more diverse the microbiome, the higher the probability of responding to amunotherapy and patients lived longer. Uh and so I had my microbiome sample before I went and modified things in my diet. And then six months later after doing this sort of restricted carbohydrate eating and essentially vegan um and eating some probiotic foods but not really a supplement. Um my sample was sent back in and one of my colleagues called me who analyzed it and he says I don't know what you've been doing but your microbiome doesn't look as good as it did at baseline. now is undergoing imunotherapy so who knows but uh when we looked at our own data that we were about to publish in the journal science which is the top journal we showed the patients who had insufficient fiber in their diet had worse outcomes and didn't respond as well to imunotherapy didn't live as long and so then I immediately started adding these uh non-refined fibers um uh essentially uh buckwheat and rolled oats and essentially whole foodbased fibers and reanalysis of my microbiome, it was better than it was at baseline. And so it's clear that carbohydrates are important in our diet because that's where the fibers are coming from, but they need to be healthy carbs. So really importantly just thinking about the plate and if this is how I started cooking more vegan in our household. At first I was doing two different meals and then it became too complicated and I just was you know it wasn't working out and so then I said we're all going to eat the same way and then I can bring in things here and there you know as we want because not everybody in the family is vegan. I'm not vegan. I would say I'm about 85% vegan. So, how do we start? We start with your plate. And so, every time when I'm thinking about a meal, I think I need h half of the meal needs to be vegetables and not just a salad. So, I need dishes that I can think about where I've got, you know, half of the plate is vegetables. And I start by planning that and then I bring in a lean clean protein and that carbohydrate. So, is it quinoa? Is it barley? Do uh you know, how do how do I bring it in? But that's a way for me to make sure that at breakfast, lunch, and dinner that half of it is vegetables. So that's just one of the ways in which we talk about it. Uh important to think about nuts and seeds and looking at lean and clean proteins. Uh diet is complicated. Uh and and it's easy to start a meal where you have a piece of toast for breakfast and you have a sandwich for lunch and pizza or pasta for dinner. And when you look at that scenario and you think well in that how much of that is health sustaining food and how much is health depleting and we think about the 9010 rule. So 90% of what you eat needs to be healthpromoting or neutral and 10 or 10% is sort of health depleting or neutral. So what is that what does that look like in a day that 90%. So even just keeping track of what you eat in a day can tell you how how much am I getting? What does it look like? Uh and and engaging people around you to make them change. So we had a friend who would never eat anything green. So, we started doing kale that we steam and then we chop it up. It's an Italian dish. You put a piece of multigrain underneath, rub it with garlic, you know, put drizzle olive oil and a little salt and it's a dynamite dish and you've gotten a big mound of kale in it and all our kids eat it. All our kids' friends eat it and we slowly converted our friend. So, it's that three bite rule which we also talk about. The first bite, nobody ever likes it. The second bite, third bite. Okay. And then what you notice is you finish it up. And the fact is that you keep trying things and putting things in front of yourself or your loved ones until you figure out a way that it's cooked or presented that they like. Uh because it's possible to absolutely change your pallet. >> So uh two other things to mention about diet. One is and we're just the messengers here. uh alcohol is a carcinogen. That means alcohol we know is a causitive factor in cancer and MD Anderson actually just just this week made the decision that they will no longer serve alcohol at any social events. Alcohol will not re be reimbursed if we take a colleague to dinner etc. So really trying to to walk the talk here in in that regard. alcohol is linked with over 15 different cancers and we understand the whole biology now of of why that's the case. Does that mean you shouldn't have, you know, a glass of wine with dinner? Not necessarily. But dose matters. Um, but understand that it is a carcinogen. Processed meats are also carcinogenic and we are supposed to avoid them. red meat. Uh the recommendation is to limit exposure to red meat. There is a a positive uh linear correlation between red meat consumption and risk of colarctal cancer. For some cancers, it's it's more relevant than others, but it is not a health food. Now, the if you follow the Japanese diet, they have animal protein as part of their diet, but you've probably all been to Japanese restaurants. It's not a lot of protein, right? It's it's it's three little pieces of beef or of of fish uh etc. So it's it's about the dose of exposure as well. I was just going to say Lorenzo me mentioned something really important which is dose because you're you know don't get overwhelmed and think you need to throw out everything or not never eat the things that you enjoy because it's really about bringing in more of the good which kind of pushes out the stuff that's not so healthy. But it doesn't mean you can't have it. It just means that you're careful and that you acknowledge that this isn't great for me and I'm not going to have it every day, but when I have it, I'm going to enjoy it because that's really important. It's not about taking all of these things out of your diet. It's just about bringing in a lot of new good stuff as you can, as it as time allows, as you're, you know, it it's possible for you. uh and then looking at that dose because that's really important and that's important in what the next section in the environmental exposures >> and the key is uh fiber and and fiber really only comes from the plant-based uh world when it comes to dose of our exposures. Um, we are we are living in a chemical soup. And there was an article that just uh a very long important op-ed that was published in the New York Times just a couple of days ago outlining all of these toxins we are exposed to. We have found now microplastics in human brains. Uh, and this is no doubt one of the reasons why we're having these early onset cancers because there are toxins in the OAM. there are toxins in the sperm before uh the the egg is even fertilized. Uh let alone all the toxins that a fetus is exposed to before uh a child is born. So people are are coming into this world riddled with over a hundred different chemical exposures at the time of birth, let alone what we're putting on and in our bodies from from birth onward. We look at the environment in in two different areas. One is the carcinogens like I mentioned alcohol or asbestous uh or benzene factors that that we know cause DNA damage that have a direct link with cancer. More in incipius is the uh hormone disruptors. So these are substances like phalates like BPA uh the forever chemicals the PAS chemicals that are is in 40% of m municipal drinking water uh that disrupts how hormones function and of course this is happening from birth and so during early adolescence when there is these modifications and surges in hormones with all this chemical exposure and disruption ion those endocrine disruptors we now know are linked with cancer and there are some steps being made and hopefully more to be able to clean up our environment. So what can you do right now? The precaut is adopt the precautionary principle which is that you uh limit what you are going to put on and in your body until you know that is as safe as it can be. Uh so that you approach everything uh with caution because you cannot rely on anybody to have done the research or companies to be acting in your best interest or government. So the environmentalworkinggroup.org org. EWG.org is the gold standard. They review, they talk about different things that are out there and can give you knowledge that you can rely on. Uh it's an excellent resource. Um so I strongly encourage that you can then use apps like Creia uh shop uh think dirty shop clean uh uh yuka. There are a number of different apps that you can have on your phone. So when you go to the drugstore and you want to buy that shampoo, you can see what the toxins are in it and what you need to do. Don't think that you need to go home and, you know, throw out everything in your house. As you finish something, you buy something new. If you have a friend or a loved one that you would like to help, this is a great way. Instead of bringing food to them, you can say, "Hey, let's rally around and let's clean out their house and everybody will buy a product that's clean." I mean, these are lowhanging fruit, but they do add to the burden on your body. And so, while I can't control the air that I'm breathing right now, I can certainly control everything that I'm putting on my body to the best of my ability, understanding that things change. So, really, it's about creating that synergy uh between the parts to create positive contagion. uh building one step at a time and a really small step >> and there is evidence around synergy. I described the one study of of exercise, but there is in in the areas of each of what I described to you more limited evidence. But there was a study published two years ago in the journal of clinical oncology that took a cohort of breast cancer patients who were undergoing chemotherapy prior to surgery and they enrolled half of them in a diet exercise program and the other half were in the control group. Then at the time of surgery, they looked at who had what's called a pathological complete response, meaning there was no more cancer. And of course, chemotherapy was having an influence on that. But how much more could diet and exercise have? And the patients who were in the diet exercise group uh only 25% of them uh had cancer at the time of diagnosis versus over 50% in the control group. So this isn't just about feeling better. This actually has an impact on important clinical outcomes like whether the cancer grows or shrivels in the body. And just to kind of close about sustaining this change, I don't know if you're familiar with smart goals. These are S is uh I'm they they differ in different places, but so what we're talking about is specific, measurable, actionoriented, realistic, and timed. So today you've heard a lot of information from us. You've gonna think about your core values when you get home. Do you have time to write down 20 things that you think are important to you and to really focus in and bring that down to five? What are the five most important things about the way in which you live your life and the way in which you want to live your life? And then you tie any change to those five things because those are the things that really matter to you. And so you have your core values, you've got the smart goals. And so if I want to start, let's say, exercising more, that's where I'm going to start because I'm not going to start on all six. That's too much. I'm going to pick one thing. And maybe I'm going to have a discussion in my family about what are the important things that we change in this house. And we're not going to do it all at once, but I want to I want to make change. I want you to be healthier and I want to be healthier myself. So you have it as a group meeting. You come up with things and then you pick one area that you're going to do. And maybe it's we're gonna move more together as a family or as an individual. So, what could we do? Okay, I'm gonna set a goal for next week um that we want to do more things together as a family and have fun. Okay, what could we do that would be outside and having fun? We're going to walk together after, you know, Friday night dinner. We're all going to take a walk around the block together. And that's the one thing you're going to do and you're going to set the goal to do it maybe once in the next month because people have plans or things change or we're going to somebody else's house. So you think about what can we do that's one small thing. Uh I want to learn um how to how to do yoga. So I'm going to spend the next two weeks researching programs and finding out what's offered in my neighborhood. Then the following week I'm going to say I don't have anything to wear to go to a yoga class. So that's something else I'm going to set as a goal is to find something that I can wear. Then maybe I need somebody to go with me. So each of these things takes time. It doesn't happen tomorrow. I don't accomplish all of these goals to even get started and you know until I've worked through it. So really important in thinking about the sustaining of of what you want to take on is that you go to it and you are successful because you have planned for it. You have seen, you know, what could get in my way? How can I be accountable? Uh who do I need to involve to talk about it? So really gathering your community, involving your family, telling them that you're serious about making change and wanting to find out what they'll participate with you on. So, it's it's it's like it's it's thinking about the big picture and then taking the smallest of steps and then you find that you and your family are walking after dinner three days a week, right? And that it's a 10-minute time and it's a way of to be able to talk to each other and it bring brings down your glycemic load or your your levels in your body >> and and success breeds success. So you know having small successes allows you to feel good and then you move into another area and once you're successful in exercise it's going to indirectly be helping your sleep it's going to change your metabolism etc. >> Because the truth is that we want to feel successful in taking that step. That is critical to be gentle with ourselves to recognize all we're doing that you're even spending time thinking about this means that when you're ready to take that first step and when you're ready is different from every for everybody in this in this audience. So harness your your support team. Think about a mindbody practice like meditation, yoga, taichi that's going to work for you. Uh sleeping 7 to n hours a day. exercising uh seven a night exercising six five to six days a week. Uh thinking about that 9010 rule for food and how I can bring >> fiber fiber fiber >> and how I can bring in more good foods and engaging your kids and your family and your grandkids and really watching your environmental exposures. Uh doing what you can so top of your head to the tip of your toes thinking about what you're putting on in each room of your house. What kind of products are you using and what can you limit and how can you teach your kids and grandkids about this area? Sephora has, for instance, lots of different products that are classified as green and you can go and take a look at those and and and put them in and look at them at environmentalworkinggroup.org. >> And what we've been sharing with you is is hard. You know, this is something that that actually takes a practice. It's called the yoga practice. It's called a mindbody practice. Uh and each day is a new day that you can start a new and not look back and as Allison was saying earlier always looking forward. Um and there's a lot of information of course in our book uh in in particular our editor was um luckily allowed us to have a huge appendix which has work work kind of book materials and exercises that you can do. Allison of course is is a wellness coach as well for those who are interested. There's the Morris Franco Center most importantly which has incredible uh resources for all of you in in the community. Um >> and the book is also available in over 10 languages. >> Yeah. Spanish being the one most secondary in in the US. Uh so we we thank you for for this time. We know we've gone over a little. Uh we have a huge program that is coming on after and but we'll be available for questions as time permits. Uh Nancy and the team also put together this wonderful brochure essentially the cliff notes uh from our Barkin. So this is a wonderful place to start with your prescription for anti-cancer living. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and expertise and your own experience. It's a really unbelievable story and there's a lot for us to learn. You should know in our community I think we consume more kale than the rest of the United States. I if I look at one more kale salad, I don't know. Um I would like to introduce our own team. I'm going to call them, instead of calling them the mix of six, I'm going to call them the magnificent six. Uh, we're missing one very pretty blonde one. Erica, is Erica there? Oh, there she is. Okay. Um, so each of these women in our community, um, I know many of them personally. Many of them have been through cancer themselves or have family members who've been through cancer. So they have a lot of experience um and they've taken their experience and they've brought it to our community in healthy ways in with food, with exercise, with physical. We're going to hear from them. Um I'd like to introduce our first magnificent six. Is it okay if I steal your line? I'm going to call them. Okay. Okay. We're going to start with my very good friend, Linda Levy, who I don't know if anyone doesn't know her here. I don't think that's possible. She's a party extraordinaire. This can't even describe you. Um, that was great. Um, an Instagram personality, a fitness Zumba instructor, and a cancer survivor, and one of my very close friends. I love you. Should >> stand here. >> You could just stand if you >> Okay. They want you up there. naturally. >> Hi everybody. Thank you for coming. Um it's so nice to see how many people really care about their bodies and their health and their well-being. Uh my name is Linda Levy. 23 years ago I was diagnosed with Hodkins lymphoma. I'm not going to make this heavy at all because that's not my personality. But um basically after I did chemotherapy and um I underwent some surgeries, my doctor basically told me if you don't keep a healthy lifestyle, you are at greater risk to get sick again. And I it it scared me. So I started doing all different types of exercises and then one day I went to the center and I was introduced to Zumba and I fell in love. My instructor actually told me, you know, I see something in you, go get certified. So, I went to get certified. I started teaching. And what I could say is that exercise doesn't have to be waking up at 7:15 and going for a jog and going to the gym and lifting weights and killing yourself. It could be going for a walk. It could be dancing in your kitchen while you're cooking. It could be weight training with a friend. It could be going on the treadmill. It could be anything. You don't have to feel pressure. Just release some endorphins. You know, I sometimes I I put the music on in my kitchen. I dance with my kids. Um it's just a wellbeing state of mind. And I'm here to tell you that anybody could do it at any age. You could dance, you could go to the gym, you could take a friend, you could go walking. Um I'm actually gonna make everybody stand up right now and we're gonna all do a little dance together. If anybody wants to come join me on stage, I would love it. Um, Rael, if you want to come, anybody, Esther, unless just do it in your seats. Okay, DJ, play the music and everybody watch what you could do. No, it has to be much louder. Everybody clap. [Music] You can't [Music] sing. [Music] As you can see, you could just get up wherever you are with your friends, with your family, and have I don't know who you are back there screaming, but I appreciate it. I can't see all the way far. Um, but I think that exercise is a very general term. You could make it your own. You could take something that you love and turn it into something fun or turn it into something that you could do every day. It doesn't have to be an hour. You could set your alarm. You could go for a walk. You could walk your dog. You could walk with your husband. Make it fun. Make it sustainable. Remember, you don't have to kill yourself for it to be exercise. Take care of yourself. Listen to your body. I remember the year I got diagnosed, I was playing tennis. I was walking. I was very fit. But I remember something that I was very out of breath. I'm getting out of breath now thinking about it. But um I was out of breath and I was ignoring it. I was ignoring it. And then one of my aunts looked at me and she goes, "Your coloring is off." And I was like, "Yeah, you think so?" And then when I got my diagnosis, everything really made sense because I wasn't feeling myself. So another thing is listen to your body. Listen to your body. If you don't feel good, if something's bothering you, go to the doctor, talk to people. We have an amazing organization. At the time that I was sick, the cancer center was not in fruition yet. It was just beginning. Of course, Nancy still helped me with everything. I love you, Nancy. Um, but my goal here is just have fun, sweat a little, enjoy it, enjoy your family, and thank you so much for everyone who came. And let's have fun today and hear the next speaker. See, she's always always a party wherever she goes. Okay, our next is Renee Zarif. This is our love and support team. She Renee works as a pediatric physical therapist focus focusing on early intervention both privately and in schools. When she's not working or with her family, she spends time volunteering at our very own cancer center, something that means a lot to her. Hi. Hi. My name is Renee. Um, so I'm here to talk about the support system and the love and connection. Um, so when we think about cancer in general, I think that immediately we think about the medical treatment, doctors, where am I going to go, who's going to help me, chemotherapy. Um, but what I've come to learn through my own experience is that healing is really deeply rooted in the support system, in the love and in the connection. The kind of social support, this kind of social support is at the heart of the mix of six, which is what we heard about today. So, oh, okay. Um so although a lot of it um has to do with the medical side of things, the environment, the food, the exercise, a very big foundation is the social support and the love and connection for someone facing cancer. Having people around them and creating that anti-cancer team can really shape the outlook of their experience and their prognosis. And it really can in many cases, as we heard with a lot of the research, it could affect their outcome. And I'm not just saying this because I've seen it, but because I've lived it. I came to the Marvis Franco Cancer Center as a client. And I was just looking for help. I was looking for guidance. I really didn't know where to go or what to do. I needed emotional support. I needed logistic support for myself, for my family. And what amazed me is that the cancer center, the cancer center didn't just offer support. They really knew what I needed before I needed it. They offered support groups, yoga, reiki, activities for my kids, activities for myself, for me and my husband to go out for dinner. They just thought about everything before I could even think about what I needed. The team at the cancer center always has a way of meeting people right where they are and it really just changes the entire outlook and the entire experience. That shift from being someone who receives support to now being someone who actually gives the support has been one of the most transformative parts of my life. I now am a volunteer at the cancer center and as a client I learned how powerful it is to be helped by others. But as a volunteer, I now find a sense of purpose and connection that helps me live my life with meaning, gratitude, and a deeper understanding of what community is, especially our community. There's something really healing that happens on both sides. When you give, you heal, too. So, not only did I gain so much as being a client, but I now have the ability to give back to the clients as being a volunteer. This is what the Mars Franco Cancer Center does so beautifully. They build a space of support, kindness, and human connection. And it's just part of their culture. It's part of their everyday. They help patients through so much more of the practical stuff. And don't get me wrong, they help through all the practical things, the doctor appointments, the meals, setting up your kids with a mother's helper, any kind of support that you could possibly need. but they also offer the emotional, the social and the personal support that really just makes you feel seen and cared for. So when we talk about survivability and quality of life and emotional strength, we really can't leave out this concept of the support system. It really is such a foundation. I'm incredibly grateful to be part of this support system through the cancer center. First as someone who needed help and now as someone who's here to give back. I'm honored to share my journey today and it's a reminder that healing isn't about just the treatment and just the medicine. It's really about that connection connection, the purpose and the showing up for one another. Thank you for listening and I'm excited to hear the rest of the panel. >> Thank you. That was beautiful and we love having you. Next up, we're going to discuss diet with Claudia. Claudia is a certified holistic health coach and the founder of Claudia Alexis Health, where she helps people feel their best through anti-inflammatory, hormone balancing, and gut supportive recipes. Today, she'll be sharing with us how to use simple, nourishing whole foods to make a real difference in our everyday lives and help us feel better. >> Okay. Hello everybody. I'm Claudia Mimi, a certified holistic health coach and founder of Claudia Alexis Health, where I share tons of healthy recipes, not just for entertainment, but also to explain why certain foods matter and what they actually do for your body. Because once you understand that, healthy eating stops feeling like a chore and starts feeling more empowering and exciting. So today I'm going to talk about the food you eat, how it has the power to completely change your energy, your mood, digestion, and long-term health. Now, we all know that vegetables are healthy. But let's talk about why. When you eat real whole foods, especially colorful veggies, herbs, fruits, spices, spices, and healthy fats, you're not just feeding yourself, but you're actively fighting against inflammation, balancing blood sugar, supporting your gut, and helping your body fight disease at the root. Inflammation is your body's natural way of reacting when it feels attacked. It can be helpful when you're fighting off infection or an injury, but when it's triggered by things like consistent sugar, alcohol, processed food, or stress, it never shuts off and becomes actually dangerous, leading to chronic inflammation, which can result in things like fatigue to cancer. Now, here's the good news is that food can actively fight back. Cruciferous veggies like broccoli, arugula, cabbage contain compounds that literally help your body break down toxins, clear out excess hormones, and suppress tumor growth. Garlic, onions, mushrooms do the same. They help your immune system find and destroy abnormal cells before they turn into anything dangerous. This is real science, but it's also very simple. On the other hand, foods like sugar, white flour, alcohol, and anything ultrarocessed do the exact opposite. So they spike your blood sugar, damage your gut lining, cause inflammation, confuse your hormones, and over time leave the door wide open for disease and inflammation. The most researched and protective way of eating, especially in this book, states that it looks a lot like the Mediterranean diet, which I'm not sure if many of you have heard of it or you have, but it basically just means lots of vegetables, fruits, herbs, whole grains, high quality proteins like fish, minimal sugar, and minimally packaged foods. So essentially whole foods. This way of eating is anti-inflammatory, gut supportive, heart protective, and actually makes you feel good. When you eat foods that come from the earth, your body knows what to do with them. You stay fuller longer, your mood stabilizes, your digestion improves, and your metabolism functions better. Our bodies have been trained to eat packaged foods without thinking twice. And a lot of these foods, even the ones we've been eating for years that we never thought to look at the package, are filled with hidden sugars, inflammatory oils, gums, artificial flavors, and other ingredients that keep you hungry, craving more. And that's why it's so important to read labels, even with things that you know you've been using for years and might just be fine. If you're going to eat something from a package, at least know what's in it. Start asking yourself, "Do I recognize the ingredients? Is there sugar listed in the top three? What kind of oil is this cooked in? When you go out to eat, don't be afraid to ask questions. I am known for this. I'm like the worst, but like um what oil is my food being cooked in? Is there sugar in the dressing? You're not being annoying. You're allowed to care for your body. And it becomes a point where it's like I asked the waiter like, "Can you just put it on the side? Can you put the dressing on the side?" And everyone around me is like, "Okay, Claude." I'm like, "No, it's not okay. I want to know what's in my food. I want to know that I'm eating healthy and I'm fueling my body in the correct way. So, just know that if you feel like you're annoying, just think about me because I'm worse. Highly processed foods are literally designed to make you want more and crave more even when you're full. So, if you feel like you can't stop after one bite, it's not that you don't have willpower to do so. It's the food that made you. It's the food that basically manipulates your brain into wanting more and craving more. So once you realize that and once you understand that, you could stop blaming yourself thinking like, why can't I stop eating this bag of chips? It's not you. It's really not. It's the food and the industry that you know creates it. Now, you don't have to change your entire life overnight and just start basically by adding in more good stuff. So, things like leafy greens, colorful veggies, clean proteins, good fats, and naturally you'll end up eating less of the other stuff. For example, if you make a big salad and you want to put like protein on it and maybe put like something for crunch, maybe like a healthy chip or something, that's fine as long as you're getting in tons of the veggies, all the fiber, like they said before, and that'll actually end up making you eat less of the other stuff because you're already full from your meal, right? So, make healthy eating easy. prep things ahead of time, roast a tray of vegetables, and double your dinner so that you have leftovers. So, I always make like dinner and then the next day I'll eat the same exact thing for lunch. Like, you don't have to think so much about it. It becomes second nature when you truly care about it and it's when it's something that matters to you. I know that a lot of people say like, "I don't have time. I don't have this or it's it's just too much for me." But when you think about it, it's something that is taking over your life. Like the food that you eat is should be the number one priority. Your health, the way you feel every single day. You want to be able to feel your best to play with your children and play with your family and hang out and go for dinner and do things that you love. And to do that, it all starts with like what you eat and the mix six, all of that stuff. Um, so the the one question I would say other than like cooking everything and like making sure that you're eating healthy, keep always keep water at, you know, right next to you because that's the one drink that you should be continuously drinking like no sugars, sugary sodas, things like that. If you are thirsty, water is going to hydrate you. You can put a little Celtic sea salt in there to like add minerals and hydration. um look at your plate and ask yourself, is this fighting inflammation or feeding it? Because that one question can truly change everything. So when you do your research and realize how powerful food is, not just for energy, but for protection, every meal becomes an opportunity to nourish yourself and fight inflammation with food that truly loves you back. So, when you look at your food as is this nourishing me or is this actively causing inflammation, it makes it much easier for you to know if your plate is healthy and if this is going to make you feel good. And if it's something that's going to make you feel good, then go on and eat it and live your best life. So, thank you so much. >> Beautiful. >> Thank you for all that very helpful information. And on that topic, we will be selling very healthy salads over there. And we will also be selling this wonderful book, anti-cancer living. And you have an opportunity to get it signed by the authors. Okay. Now, next up, we have stress. Atara Schweki is a meditation and yoga teacher. She works at the Marsai Franco Cancer Center with our clients. She does meditation and yoga which is so important to their health and well-being especially during the cancer journey just hi everyone thank you so firstly 22 years ago I was diagnosed with cancer and no doctor in the No hospital in New York or the US would touch me except MD Anderson Cancer Center. So a very special place in my heart for there where I lived for two summers in Houston while I underwent first surgery and then radiation. So I know firsthand the medical aspect of cancer. But I've made it my life to teach yoga and meditation as a longevity practice. Like Dr. Cohen said, it's not a oneandone. It's the practice of a lifetime. And some days it might feel more accessible and some days it might feel totally inaccessible. And that's kind of how life is, right? One day we wake up and we're like, I got this smooth sailing. I'm good. And then life happens and takes us for that whirlwind where we're like, how did I go from that to this? So that's really what yoga and meditation are all about. And I don't want to speak too much because more than speaking, I want you to feel the shift. Um, and feel that it's accessible for everyone and it doesn't need to be complex. And you don't have to have 200 hour training. You don't have to be a meditation teacher. You can literally just feel what's happening in your body minuteto minute dayto day. Um, when normally we're running around being unconscious to what our breath is and our body is. When we slow down enough, your whole nervous system shifts. We go from that fight orflight that we are all running around in the go go go which causes inflammation which causes stress and anxiety and cancer and we rebalance the nervous system to balance out into rest and digest. So we are literally hacking our brain. And the same way we've spoken now about food and we worry about our hygiene and cleaning our bodies, meditation and yoga are a literal cleaning of our brain. And that's what's happening. So I just want everyone to be able to feel that today. I've never taught meditation standing up. So I'm going to sit down right here. And first I want you to just look around and see the beauty visually around us. Take in vision. And then whenever you're ready and you feel comfortable, you can start to heavy your eyelids. Close your eyes and just start to feel what your own physical body feels like in this moment. Not five minutes ago, not what's going to be, but with your feet on the ground. You can uncross your legs if they're crossed. Just feel the ground beneath you. and feel this physical body that we have, this house that we get to live in, one house, and start to just think of two things in your life that you are grateful for. You don't have to go very far. So gratitude is the first step at rewiring our brain. And next I want you to notice all of the sounds. So when the eyes start to close, sound kicks in a little clearer. Touch kicks in a little clearer. So you might start to feel a breeze on your face. [Music] And start to just notice your breath. Don't even try to change anything about it. Just notice where it's sitting in your body. Maybe for the first time today, actually stopping to feel the inhale, to feel the exhale. [Music] Feel your physical body here. and take a little scan to just notice where in your body you might be holding any tension, any stress, any anxieties. Maybe it's the pit of your stomach. Maybe it's your chest or your jaw. And see if you can just feel a softening. So release any clenching or holding that you might be doing. [Music] And just feel the inhale and exhale leave your nose. [Music] Beginning to focus on lengthening your exhale. Just slowing down the exhale and emptying out even more and more with each exhale. Making room for fresh new breath to happen naturally. When your body and your brain get the signal that it's safe, your inhale can naturally fill up. A little deeper. [Music] Take a few more rounds of this lengthened exhale. When you think you're done exhaling, see if you can get a little bit more air out. And notice that the inhale will deepen on its own. See if you can trace the inhale breath down into your stomach into the sides of your ribs and even feel the back body fill up with air. So our breath fills us up 360° around ourselves and you can feel that physically in your own body. [Music] Start to notice the mind without trying to stop any thoughts. Just start to hear them and notice what the mind is worried about or thinking about. So you become the watcher and the observer of your thoughts. You're not someone taken for a ride. You are conscious. [Music] We're blessed to have a brain that works. Thank you. [Music] And then slowly, whenever you are ready, you can begin to peel your eyelids open, but only halfway so that you don't flood your brain with all of the visuals and the stimulation around. Just notice as you begin to open your eyelids and your sense of sight, how the surroundings might look, might feel, and if anything shifted, maybe yes, maybe no. Know that you did that. And it doesn't take very long. But the goal is to go from living in a state of surviving to living in a state of thriving. And that's what all of these lifestyle changes can do. They take us into thriving. Our bodies are not machines and we treat our machines and our devices better than our bodies. Worrying about when we recharge our phones. So this is that same recharge but of our bodies a drop more important. Thank you all. I don't where do we sign up for beach meditation because I'm in is who's relaxed. Okay, next up we have the sleep. Erica Dwek is a licensed acupuncturist, herbalist, and founder of Erica's clinic, where she provides compassionate, personalized care rooted in Chinese medicine. She holds degrees from NYU and Pacific College of Health and Science, including a doctorate in acupuncture and Chinese medicine. >> Thanks. Thank you so much, Tara. That was fabulous. Learned so much today. So, I'm here to talk about sleep. Hi. So sleep is something that we all plan to do every night. We prepare for bed. We turn off our lights. We get cozy under our blankets. We say shimma. And we hope for the best. And we hope for the best. But things don't always go our way. We spend many nights unable to fall asleep with our thoughts and worries swirling in our heads, overthinking about things that are often not important. Sometimes we might even fall asleep only to wake up multiple times, tossing and turning, getting frustrated. We get out of bed, we get back into bed. Sometimes it seems like though our eyes are closed, our eyeballs are wide open. It seems in the end that it's all a gamble. We have no idea if we will get the sleep we need for our next day ahead.