June 9, 2025 • 34 mins
What happens when a veteran CNN war correspondent faces her toughest battle yet, a cancer diagnosis at age 40? For Elina Fuhrman, it became the catalyst for a complete life transformation, shifting from investigative journalism to healing others through the power of food.
When a world-renowned pathologist bluntly told Elina she needed to "change her life" to survive her aggressive cancer, she approached her healing journey like the journalist she was. Researching extensively and questioning everything, she discovered that many of her "healthy" eating habits weren't optimal for her body. This revelation led her to decline chemotherapy and develop her own healing protocol centered around nutrient-dense, properly prepared foods.
This episode strips away the noise and confusion surrounding nutrition, offering practical wisdom from someone who healed herself when conventional medicine offered limited options. Whether you're facing health challenges or simply want to optimize your wellbeing, you'll gain actionable insights about working with food as medicine and the profound freedom that comes from prioritizing your health.
Connect with Elina Fuhrman:
https://www.soupelina.com/
SoupElina on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/soupelinala/
Link for no coconut taste coconut oil:
https://bit.ly/45Kl9GS
Connect with Sabrina:
https://www.instagram.com/Sabrina_Soto/
www.SabrinaSoto.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Redesigning Life.
I'm your host, sabrina Soto,and this is the space where we
have honest conversations aboutpersonal growth, mindset shifts
and creating a life that feelstruly aligned.
In each episode, I'll talk toexperts in their fields who
share their insights to help youstep into your higher self.
Let's redesign your life fromthe inside out.
Welcome to Redesigning Life.
(00:25):
This week's episode is somebodyspecial.
Alina Furman is a friend ofmine and she runs Soupalina, and
I'll let her tell you the story.
But why I think thisconversation is going to be so
beneficial is because Alina wentfrom being a journalist to a
holistic practitioner of healingpeople through food, and I feel
(00:46):
like now there's so much goingon in the media of constant
noise that it's hard tounderstand what's up, what's
down.
So our talk today is all it'sgoing to be about healing
through food, how you canfacilitate that in your own life
and how you could do ityourself and you know I'm a DIY
girl.
So, alina Furman, thank you somuch for joining Redesigning
(01:09):
Life.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Oh, thank you so much for having me.
I'm so excited to be on yourshow.
This is going to be fun.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We have had many hikes and we've spoken about
this exact subject, but I wantedto have you on the podcast
because I feel like, now morethan ever, we are drowning in
information about what's healthy, what's not, and it's confusing
.
Now what I want you to telleverybody is sort of your
background, because you had ajourney shifting from journalism
(01:39):
to a wellness entrepreneur andit was inspiring to me when you
told me the story.
So what motivated you?
I mean, I know the story, buttell my listeners what sort of
motivated that shift in yourlife.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, well, that's right.
I was a journalist.
I was an investigativejournalist, I was an
international journalist, I wasa war journalist.
I did a lot of hard newsstories, worked for CNN for many
years, and it was my cancerjourney that changed my entire
life.
I would have never been where Iam today if not for the cancer
(02:11):
diagnosis that I received now,16 years ago, in 2009.
Still makes me take a breathwhen I talk about it, but where
my entire world just collapsedand I didn't know what was
happening.
It was I was a young woman withtwo young daughters and married
at the time, and all of asudden, you know, I find a lump
(02:34):
in my breast while showering andI immediately knew which is.
You know, this is the testamentto the power of intuition, even
though I have absolutely norisk factors, nobody in my
family has ever had cancer, andI'm 40 years old and just turned
40.
And my intuition immediatelysaid uh-oh, something is going
(02:56):
on.
And even though multipledoctors, initially just from
visits, told me that, oh, it'sprobably nothing, when I went to
do the mammogram, that's thefirst thing the technician told
me.
Before even the doctor analyzedthe mammogram, she said I'm
pretty sure you have cancer, andso that's when my journey
really started.
(03:16):
And you know, and they talk, youknow like there is a
conversation about grief, right,and when you are faced with a
life-threatening disease andhealth condition, you go through
grief, you go through trying tounderstand what is happening
with my body.
Why is this happening?
And first I was in completedenial.
(03:36):
I'm like, nope, they didn'tknow what was happening.
They probably made a mistake,not true?
So then, when I did the biopsyagain, another thing happened,
very similar the technician thatwas actually doing the biopsy
again and it's not looking goodat all and which, since I have,
you know, worked and spoken withso many women and it's not been
(03:58):
anybody else's experience,because nobody, nobody tells you
right there.
But that was my experience.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I was going to say I thought that was even like.
That's not helpful.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's not, it's not.
I can just say the angels, youknow, somebody wanted to tell me
, somebody wanted to give methis information before it was
confirmed.
So I had a moment to sit withit.
So you know, even though it wasshocking, I still had that
moment where I was tellingmyself that no, it's not true.
(04:42):
When they call me withpathology results, it's going to
be clear, because it can betrue.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, I don't have cancer right.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Everything is fine.
I had no symptoms at all.
I was at my healthiest, Ilooked great, I felt great.
There was absolutely nothingwhich is so tricky about cancer.
It's often completelyasymptomatic.
So that was my turning point.
My turning point was cancer andof course I was young.
I was offered, or rather told,that these are your options and
(05:11):
these are the medications.
It's the standard of care, thesurgery, the radiation, the
chemotherapy, the drugs and thenpossible metastasis.
Possible metastasis becausethere are multiple tests now
that they do on your geneticmakeup, where they can tell how
your cells behave and what couldpotentially happen and how soon
(05:33):
that will happen.
Because cancer, the danger ofcancer, is not the initial
cancer, it's the metastasis andit's when it spreads to other
parts of the body and keepsspreading.
That's where the problem begins.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
And at that point you're saying you were in great
health.
So I know that, with all of therecommendations that they gave
you, you decided to healyourself in other ways.
So were you already a veryhealthy person, eating
organically?
Did you already have that inyour routine?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
No, I've always been healthy or I considered myself
healthy.
I always ate well, I didn't eatprocessed foods, but it was
never just that, it was just howI was.
You know, I didn't grow up inthe United States, I grew up in
the former Soviet Union, and sowe always ate whole foods and
that's kind of how I grew up.
But I didn't know even thedifferentiation between organic
(06:24):
and conventional.
You know, you go to the grocerystore and you just want to save
a few bucks, so why would I buysomething that says organic
when you know you can buy aperfectly great stuff that is
not organic?
So yeah, no, it never evenentered my mind.
Now, that said, I've alwaysbeen interested in medicine and
(06:45):
I've taken pre-med classes.
I actually experimented with myhealth back when I was an older
teenager, like 19 years old,when I was in college, I read a
book by an Israeli doctor and Istarted doing enemas and
everybody thought that I wasabsolutely insane.
And I went on this applecleanse and don't ask me, it was
(07:07):
just so long ago, but I wasjust always interested in that.
Completely.
You know, I don't know, it wasjust curious.
And then in school I um back inthe former Soviet union I, I, I
took classes, um, like medicalclasses, for like nursing
classes, and then when I came tothe United States and I was in
college here, I took pre-medclasses and then at CNN I also,
(07:30):
besides my regular job at CNNInternational, I freelanced for
the medical unit and I producedso many different stories on
various diseases and conditionsand things like that.
So it's always been kind ofeating, it's always been a
passion In terms of eating.
I ate healthy and I consideredmyself super healthy.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
And so you decided probably your intuition, I would
assume decided I'm going totake all of my journalism
expertise experience and reallydive into the research to heal
yourself.
And that's how Supalina startedExactly.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Exactly so.
I started by just making anassignment out of myself and I
was just going to experiment andsee what works.
And I dove into research.
I wanted to understand cancer.
I wanted to understand why iseverybody afraid of cancer?
Why is everybody telling methat I'm in such trouble where I
feel great.
You know what is actually goingon.
What are my cells doing?
Why is everybody so alarmed?
(08:30):
Every time I walk into anoncologist's office and I
interviewed five differentoncologists they all look at me
with eyes this big and they'retelling me how things are really
grim, Right, Because it was anaggressive cancer, did you, and
I'll fast forward.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
So, from that moment until you were cancer-free, how
long was it?
Two years, and in that yearsdid you do any standard
treatment?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yes, I did, I did, I did surgery, I did lumpectomy
eventually.
Initially I declined everythingand then eventually I did
lumpectomy.
I started radiation as I wasplugging along on my research
and then I stopped and then Ireally and I declined
chemotherapy.
So you never did chemo.
I never did chemo no.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So, during this time you're doing all of the research
, what led you to soups?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah.
So, as I was trying tounderstand my you know
predicament where I'm at andwhat do I do about myself and
how do I heal myself if I'm notgoing to do what the doctors are
telling me to do and alsoanother little nugget of
information is because I wasresearching and trying to figure
out.
I was reaching out to variousspecialists in every field and I
(09:39):
was led to a world-renownedpathologist who examined my
slides from my tissue slides,from my surgery, and he bluntly
told me that the only way for meto survive is to change my life
.
And I remember, on the phone,I'm like, excuse me, this famous
pathologist is telling me thatI need to change my life.
I said what do you mean?
And he said well, I don't knowwhat it means for you, I just
(10:02):
know that the way your cellsbehave, you have to retrain them
.
And I'm like what, what are youtalking about?
And he says you know, if youcontinue on the way, on the path
you've been going, you're, youknow you're not going to survive
, and so change your life.
And so when we hung up, Ireally sat with myself and tried
(10:23):
to figure out what that meansto me.
And so food, it was one of thethings, you know, that was
easier to control because, youknow, I was immediately trying
to see okay, there is air, thereis household products, there's
environmental factors, there'swater, there is just so many
other things.
Right, but food seemed to be amanageable part that I could
(10:46):
grab onto and figure out.
And plus, I could totally.
I cannot control the air Ibreathe all the time.
I cannot control the water Ialways drink all the time.
I cannot always control what Iwash my hands with, but I can
control what I put in my mouth.
And so that became my numberone priority is to figure it out
.
And what I realized is that Iwas far from eating healthy.
(11:07):
You know, there were a lot ofthings in my diet that were not
optimal.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
They looked healthy but they were not optimal.
Give me one example of onething that looked healthy but it
wasn't optimal.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Well, I did not eat as many vegetables in the like
green vegetables I ate a lot oftomatoes and eggplants and
onions and things like that butI did not eat the cruciferous
vegetables, for example, likethe cauliflowers, the broccolis,
the you know, the bok choy, thepak choys, you know all of the.
(11:37):
You know the varieties of thevegetables.
I also eat a lot of salads, andsalads are very hard to digest
and so, which is how Itransitioned into soups and my
gut was not optimal, you know,because even though I was, I
appeared to be eating healthy,my gut and the lining of my
intestines were not absorbingall of the wonderful ingredients
(12:01):
supposedly that I was eating,because I was just passing it
through.
It was just, it was justpassing it through, it was just
cruising through my body.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I had a naturopathic doctor on my show the Sabrina
Soto Show and Dr Nygma and shetold me that salads are not
healthy for your gut biome.
And it shocked me because Iconsider myself a very healthy
person.
So I just thought, when I haveno other, if I have an option of
(12:27):
a sandwich and a salad, alwayspick a salad.
But that's not necessarily true.
Why are salads so hard todigest?
Because it's raw vegetables.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Well, a combination of things, Because, also, what
we consider a salad right In theWestern world, in the United
States, a salad, is a bunch ofleaves, right With a dressing
and maybe like a few slices oftomato, a few slices of onion
and a couple cucumbers.
Perhaps right To me, at thispoint in my life, it's no longer
a salad, it's just a bunch ofleaves and leaves, just scrape.
(12:57):
First of all, you know, youdon't know how they were grown,
you don't know there are so manyvariables when it comes to
salad leaves.
They're not inherently bad,it's just they don't provide as
much nutrient density that youneed.
But also, in terms of digestion, they're harder to digest and
your body is focused ondigesting it and it's taking up
(13:20):
all that energy on digestingsomething, energy on digesting
something.
And if your gut is not optimalwhich most people don't have
optimal guts you're just notdrawing any of the nutrients,
the macronutrients, themicronutrients, the enzymes.
They just don't have that.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And I also have heard a million times.
It's just like getting your gutbiome healthy enough to retain
all the vitamins.
What does that mean in layman'sterms of like taking a
probiotic?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Well, that's another myth.
You know, and I've fallen forit for years.
You know that probiotic issupposed to be like a good for
you, but again, you don't knowwhat bacteria you're actually
missing out in your gut.
You know, unless you've testedit, because you might be taking
a probiotic with the bacteriathat you don't need in your gut
and so it's actually ended uphurting you.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
So how do you get your gut biome to be healthy?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
There are tests out there, there are holistic tests.
There are several labs thatunfortunately are not covered by
insurances, but you can get astool test, which is how-.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
And if you can't get a stool test because you can't
afford it, or whatever the casemay be, what's the next best?
Speaker 2 (14:23):
thing, I think.
Then you just eat healthy, thenyou just assume that your gut
is not optimal, which itprobably isn't, especially if
you've ever taken an antibiotic,which most people have, you
know.
You just assume that it's notoptimal and you and you heal
your gut and but by probablyhave a probiotic.
Don't take no, not, you don'ttake a probiotic in a pill form.
(14:44):
You take a probiotic in theyogurt form, like coconut yogurt
.
You eat the foods that willprovide you with the same
benefits but will not be in apill form, and I'm a big
proponent of whole foods versussupplements.
Now, supplements have a place,but not in a continuous life.
You know you do them when youcleanse, when you try to target
(15:06):
certain issues, but you don'tcontinue taking supplements on a
daily basis.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Even like a vitamin D , where everyone is.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
In my book.
No, you don't need it on adaily basis.
You know.
You do it to get to an optimallevel and then you maintain.
You know with.
You know, with some exposure,with daily walks, with circadian
rhythm, with you know there'sthere's other natural ways to go
about it than popping, poppingsupplements I have in my house,
(15:35):
a cabinet, an entire cabinetfull of supplements.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
It looks like I actually have a vitamin shop in
my house.
The amount of supplements thatI have, and I don't even know if
I just get them to make myselffeel better, but it is pretty
embarrassing how many vitaminsand supplements I have.
So you're, you're, wait, let mego back to the gut biome.
So so it's better for people toeat the green, all sorts of
vegetables, a whole rainbow, butcooked yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
So again, there is.
There is, there is a pattern tothis.
There are different ways tocook your vegetables.
Right, there are soups, which Iabsolutely love, but again,
soups, you don't boil them, yousimmer them because you want the
vegetables and the roots, andthe spices and the herbs, you
want them to open up and youwant them to release their
(16:23):
medicinal properties.
You do not want to killeverything and just boil
everything to death becausemedicinal properties.
You do not want to killeverything and just boil
everything to death becauseyou're just gently simmering it.
It's kind of like steeping atea, just in a different way,
right?
And so then you can cook withyour hands.
You know hands are verypowerful.
You can massage your salads,and by salads again, not leaves,
you know you can grate a beet,for example.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Now, I know it's red, can put gloves on, but I prefer
doing it with hands.
It can wash off, you know, andyou massage.
You massage really nicely.
You can also smash yourvegetables, like cucumbers, for
example, and it even though itdoesn't cook it, but it puts the
energy into your vegetables andcreates a reaction.
(17:08):
And that reaction is alsotouching it with your hands,
because our bodies are somagical.
It allows your body to infusethem with your energy and, when
you're chewing it, with enzymesthat you need to process them
and extract all the nutrients.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
I know that you have a book, your cookbook but it's
now.
It's out of stock.
So when it'll be back in stock?
And in your cookbook youemphasizing using coconut oil?
And everywhere I go, every postis about seed oils.
I like they're just getting abad.
Are seed oils that bad for you?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Well again.
So, first of all, the seed oilthat I believe started it all is
canola oil, because canola oilhas become a go-to cheap oil in
the United States to cookeverything with and it is highly
toxic and it's not even I don'teven think it's real.
You know there's so many.
Have you ever seen a canolavegetable?
I certainly haven't.
(18:10):
You know, I've looked into thisand I'm like it's just a rabbit
hole I don't want to go into.
I don't need to use it.
But in terms of you know,there's all of these different
seeds.
There are sesame seeds, right,sesame oil is used in Asian
cuisine.
There is sunflower seed oil.
That's been used inMediterranean cuisine, actually
(18:31):
for many years.
There is walnut oil.
There's all of these differentoils that are not as dangerous,
I believe, than canola oil andvegetable oil is.
Which is vegetable oil is?
I don't even know what's inthere.
It's just a byproduct ofdifferent things seeds, and I
don't even know what's in there.
But when it comes to theancient, I always look to the
(18:56):
ancient medicine and to theancient practices to see to kind
of like a reference.
Is that something I wouldconsume?
But also we have to take intoconsideration the way things are
done in today's world, which ishighly processed, and how the
crops are grown.
You know how much pesticide andchemicals and what is the soil
(19:20):
treated with.
So yeah, so there was all ofthese different dangers.
Now there are some dangers witholive oil if it's not properly,
if it's not a really good oilas well.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Right, right.
It's so frustrating, honestly,because I feel like, especially
as a mother, I'm trying to do mybest for myself and for Olivia
and Nate.
And then it's like, okay, I'mgoing to go get olive oil, but
now it's like even the olive oilcould be bad for you because
it's not your olive oil.
And then if you actually haveto look at the back and it could
be a blend of canola oil andolive oil and it's just, I mean,
(19:55):
I feel like, do I have to moveto a cave or you know some farm
and just live off my land?
Speaker 2 (20:09):
It's maddening.
Yeah, you just do the best youcan.
So my rule of thumb, right.
So, when it comes to coconutoil, coconut oil is high heat,
right, so it's easier to cookwith it.
Besides, it has lauric acid,which is really good for your
gut and so, and you just use alittle bit of it, it tastes like
coconut.
It makes my food taste good.
They actually there is acoconut oil where they extract
the coconut taste out of it.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Oh, you have to send that to me Whoever's listening.
I'm going to have Alina send itto me and I'll put it in the
show notes.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Yeah, yeah, I think Whole Foods actually has one
that doesn't have, but there areother brands that have, ones
that don't have the coconuttaste in them, and when you're
cooking those are the easierones.
I agree, because the coconuttaste sometimes gets a little
too powerful.
Yeah, I agree, because thecoconut taste sometimes gets a
little too powerful.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Yeah, which is fine in stir fried, but, like in
other foods, it just doesn'ttaste.
Another thing that you use alot in your recipes is filtered
water.
Yes, I think that when peoplecook, they're like oh, it's fine
to use tap water becausecooking it off and whatever
chemicals are going to be cookedaway, is that not true?
Why is filtered water soimportant when cooking?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Oh boy, water is a whole other rabbit hole, and
especially for us in LA.
Water has so much from drugs tochemicals, to parasites, by the
way you can get parasites fromwater.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Oh, I saw your post the other day with parasites.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I know, I know, but, alina, it was so gross, but it's
so real, it's so real, alina,it was so gross, but it's so
real, it's so real, it's so real.
So filtered water is the bestyou can do.
You know cooking anything.
I even wash.
You know things that I consume,like semi-raw.
For example, when I massage myvegetables, I only wash in
(21:41):
filtered water because I justdon't trust the municipal water,
the tap water, even with theshower and with the bathtub.
You know, I buy the littletablets for the bathtub that
remove the chlorine and all ofthe chemicals, and then for the
showers I have filters.
But now I was actually lookinginto that the other day, to tell
(22:04):
you the truth, and there aresome people that use multiple
filters, you know, because it'snot enough to just remove the
toxic and all the chemicals, youneed to reintroduce the
minerals.
So there is a filter to removeand then there's another filter
to reintroduce and I'm likemaybe I'm behind, I need, I need
to look into that now too.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
I swear the filter.
I have a shower head that has afilter in it in my shower and I
swear by it.
I feel like my hair has gottenbetter, my skin's gotten better
and if anyone's listening, it'sin my Amazon store and it was
like 20, I saw it was like $28.
You just replaced a cartridge,but it's in the link in my
Instagram.
(22:43):
So I do think it's important,especially when you have hard
water.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
A hundred percent.
And also, you know what wasactually interesting?
Some of my clients have told mebecause I never consume soups
outside of the ones that I cook,because why would I right?
But some of my clients havelooked into other the retailers
and places where they make soups, and no soups are made on
filtered water.
They're all made on regularwater.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
So, even so, when you are using tap water, even if
you're boiling it, if you'reboiling it, is it okay?
I'm not boiling the soup, I amsimmering, yeah, yeah, if
somebody is boiling, is it okayto use tap water?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
You can hard boil the water for 10 minutes and then
cool it before having it.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, I guess that's that.
Think about it If you'reboiling your water in order to
kill all of that bacteria, butyou're also boiling your food,
which is going to kill all thenutrients, there you go.
I never even thought about thatbefore.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, that makes a lot of sense,and I do.
I also know like how much rawfood you.
(23:52):
I know you're massaging, likeyou said, the beads and the
smashing, but is there ever atime that you go out and just
have a salad?
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah, I do, I do, of course, of course.
It's not like my whole life isvery regimented.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
It used to be, yeah well, we saw each other two
nights ago.
You were seated at anothertable.
Did you eat the salad?
I did not.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I did not.
It was delicious.
Well, a number of things wascheese on it, you know, and I
didn't know what the dressingwas like, and I didn't feel like
asking them what the dressingwas like, and so it was just
easier for me to just not.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So the dressing?
If it had seed oil you wouldn'tbe in it.
No, I wouldn't have.
But what if she?
What if it was olive oil andvinegar, and that's it.
I didn't know which olive oilit was my maintenance part.
You know what you missed out?
Because that salad wasdelicious.
Let me tell you.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
It looked really beautiful and the flour on top,
it was just so pretty.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
I took a picture of it.
I feel like I want to do mybest to be as healthy as I can,
but I also feel like if youinundate yourself with too much,
it's almost a detriment to yourhealth in just the stress alone
.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Agree, Agree, 100% agree, and that's why I only
recommend doing those, you know,kind of like really regimented
rituals is when you're cleansing, when you're cleansing, this is
your time to really kind of gowithin, do everything right, you
know, cleanse your body.
It's like taking a long, longshower, except it's obviously
extended, and then you can go onabout your life and you're more
(25:27):
mindful afterwards because youjust, you know, cleaned the oil,
you just cleaned your system,so you don't want to, just, you
know, do things that will harmyou or make you feel unhealthy.
And then there's the othercondition is if you have a
health condition you have achronic health condition or if
you have a life-threateningdisease or something that's
(25:49):
actually impeding your life,something that's not letting you
be the beautiful magneticthoughts, not letting you be the
beautiful magnetic, radiant youthat you know you are, you know
, then it's a whole differentstory than you know.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
So okay, how okay?
Sorry, let's talk about thisfor hours how I have heard from
people that cleansing isn'timportant and obviously you have
built not only your business,but you've helped a million like
a lot of people heal theirbodies.
How often?
If you're not dealing with achronic illness, if you're just
a normie or whatever you want tocall it, you know, like
(26:24):
somebody who's just wants to behealthier but is not necessarily
wanting to heal anything inparticular.
What?
How often should somebodycleanse?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Well, at least once a year, ideally.
You know every quarter, everyseason, because you go into a
season and everything changes.
You know the temperaturechanges, your body needs
different attention.
But in terms of to answer thatpeople don't believe in
cleansing and I know there arestill people, unfortunately,
that don't Our body isself-cleansing mechanism,
(26:57):
technically right.
So why do we take showers andwash our hair?
We can just go along.
If we're cleaning ourselves onthe exterior, why shouldn't we
clean ourselves on the inside?
It makes sense.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
I have to admit I've never done a real cleanse before
.
I mean I tried.
I bought, of course, in mycabinet a candida cleanse.
I've done a parasite cleanse.
I never took the supplements,so but you do, you do believe in
parasite cleansing.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yes, I'm on it right now.
I'm cleansing right now Withsupplements.
You can do it with food as well.
I am a very yes, you can.
It's a little more involvedbecause you have to create those
things on your own Right.
You know specific foods, youknow.
For example, there is papayaseeds that are very bitter.
(27:46):
Papaya seeds are really greatof expelling parasites from your
body.
So also pumpkin seeds.
Raw pumpkin seeds are oil oforegano is so you can actually
create the medicine yourself bygrinding papaya seeds with
pumpkin seeds are oil of oreganois so you can actually create
the medicine yourself bygrinding papaya seeds with
pumpkin seeds.
No one's going to do that.
No one's going to do that.
You know what I mean.
There are ways to do this onyour own, you know.
(28:07):
If you're really motivated, youknow.
But there are ways to shortcutit and there are companies that
obviously you know, putdifferent herbs and make it all
more palatable, but still thenutritional part cannot be
ignored.
Yeah, you can't just do thesame thing you're doing and take
the pills and think you'recleansing your mouth.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, and earlier I said normies, which I didn't
mean to say that, because I dobelieve that, no matter how,
where you live, what you'reeating, what you're doing, we're
all dealing with some chronicissue.
You know, and it's it'sunfortunate, but it's, it's
almost impossible because of theworld we live in, you know,
unless you are going to live ona farm, and just great good for
(28:48):
you, by the way, invite me over.
I'd love to come spend a weekwith you, but it is difficult
and I know that.
You know everyone wants to beas healthy as possible, but you
deal with one-on-one helpingpeople heal from chronic issues.
What sort of transformationshave you seen in your career
doing this?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
now with advanced cancer.
She had a right lung removed,she had metastasis in her
thyroid.
She had surgery, but she wasvery much on the fence of
additional surgery with herthyroid and chemotherapy.
(29:28):
And we embarked on a wholetransformational journey.
And after three months she saidshe went to an oncologist and
her oncologist gave her a cleanbill of health.
And she says I'm crying becauseI just cannot believe that my
nodules and my thyroid are gone.
She's off, completely off hermedications.
And she's not been.
She's been on medications fordecades.
She's not taking any moremedications.
(29:50):
And she said that my oncologistactually wants me to speak to
the Cancer Foundation becauseshe just can't believe that.
I'm just all clear and I say tothis I do believe because, well,
first of all, she put in a lotof her own work in it, because
it's a two-way street, I canguide people and show them the
way, but they have to do thework and it is a very intense
work, especially when you havesomething that is
(30:12):
life-threatening.
And she put in the work and itwas the most incredible
transformation.
She looked different.
You know, I had another clientwho was diagnosed with MS and
was about to be put on verysevere medications and we went
on a journey and completelyhealed.
(30:33):
She never ended up takingmedications and it's been a few
years and she's completely clearand thriving.
A completely different personChanges your life, truly.
Going on an intense healingjourney changes your life
completely, because you knowshe's dating this beautiful man
that she met.
You know, as she healed and herpriorities have changed.
(30:57):
She left her big, high-poweredjob that she thought was her
entire life and then it turnedout that it wasn't.
You know, because you askyourself hard questions and
you're no longer distractingyourself with everything that is
around you.
You're going within and you'rehealing the root cause.
You're healing what actuallybrought you to this place and
(31:19):
very often we don't know what itis.
Some people do and they're justnot willing to jump in.
But some people, and a lot ofpeople, I find, and myself
included, when I was on myhealing journey, I did not know.
I didn't know why I had cancerand so it took me a long time to
figure out why I had cancer.
And those are, you know, very,you know very vulnerable moments
(31:42):
when you have to ask yourselfthese questions and hear
yourself answering thosequestions and then sitting with
that and going, oh my God, Ididn't know that.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
I think that no matter.
You know, sometimes it takesbeing hit by a truck with a
diagnosis to change your life,and it's unfortunate that it
takes that.
But I think, no matter what Ihave found in my own life and in
my friends and family when youfinally put yourself as a
priority and that could be inthe healing of yourself a lot of
(32:13):
things change in your life.
Because when you make yourselfa priority, you no longer put up
with the and I'm going to say acurse word so if there's kids
in the car, just turn it down.
You don't put up with the shitanymore because you realize how
precious life is and how shortof the time we have and we have
to make it count.
And even if you have all themoney in the world but you have
(32:37):
a pain in your side or atoothache, all you care about is
healing that ache.
You don't care about the factthat you have a yacht.
You know it must be nice, butyou can't even go on that yacht
because your tooth is throbbing.
So health is wealth and healthis freedom, and I believe that
in every vein in my body.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
A hundred percent and you said it.
You know it's prioritizingyourself and for many of us,
especially women, that is areally hard pill to swallow,
because we are nurturers bynature and we're always
nurturing and nurturingourselves feels like an anomaly.
It feels, you know, you feel somuch guilt, Like what do you
(33:16):
mean, especially at a time whenyou're trying to overcome a
(33:41):
health condition?
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Yeah, Thank you so much, Alina.
I so appreciate.
For anyone listening.
All of Alina's information isgoing to be in the notes,
including the coconut water, andI'll also put a link to that
filter that I love so much.
If you are listening to thisand you love the podcast I hope
you do Can you please do me afavor rate and review it
wherever you're listening,because it helps to get out
(34:02):
there to more people.
Until next time, thank you somuch, Alina, for your time.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Thank you so much.
Welcome to Redesigning Life.
I'm your host, sabrina Soto,and this is the space where we
have honest conversations aboutpersonal growth, mindset shifts
and creating a life that feelstruly aligned.
In each episode, I'll talk toexperts in their fields who
share their insights to help youstep into your higher self.
Let's redesign your life fromthe inside out.
Welcome to Redesigning Life.
(00:25):
This week's episode is somebodyspecial.
Alina Furman is a friend ofmine and she runs Soupalina, and
I'll let her tell you the story.
But why I think thisconversation is going to be so
beneficial is because Alina wentfrom being a journalist to a
holistic practitioner of healingpeople through food, and I feel
(00:46):
like now there's so much goingon in the media of constant
noise that it's hard tounderstand what's up, what's
down.
So our talk today is all it'sgoing to be about healing
through food, how you canfacilitate that in your own life
and how you could do ityourself and you know I'm a DIY
girl.
So, alina Furman, thank you somuch for joining Redesigning
(01:09):
Life.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Oh, thank you so much for having me.
I'm so excited to be on yourshow.
This is going to be fun.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We have had many hikes and we've spoken about
this exact subject, but I wantedto have you on the podcast
because I feel like, now morethan ever, we are drowning in
information about what's healthy, what's not, and it's confusing
.
Now what I want you to telleverybody is sort of your
background, because you had ajourney shifting from journalism
(01:39):
to a wellness entrepreneur andit was inspiring to me when you
told me the story.
So what motivated you?
I mean, I know the story, buttell my listeners what sort of
motivated that shift in yourlife.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, well, that's right.
I was a journalist.
I was an investigativejournalist, I was an
international journalist, I wasa war journalist.
I did a lot of hard newsstories, worked for CNN for many
years, and it was my cancerjourney that changed my entire
life.
I would have never been where Iam today if not for the cancer
(02:11):
diagnosis that I received now,16 years ago, in 2009.
Still makes me take a breathwhen I talk about it, but where
my entire world just collapsedand I didn't know what was
happening.
It was I was a young woman withtwo young daughters and married
at the time, and all of asudden, you know, I find a lump
(02:34):
in my breast while showering andI immediately knew which is.
You know, this is the testamentto the power of intuition, even
though I have absolutely norisk factors, nobody in my
family has ever had cancer, andI'm 40 years old and just turned
40.
And my intuition immediatelysaid uh-oh, something is going
(02:56):
on.
And even though multipledoctors, initially just from
visits, told me that, oh, it'sprobably nothing, when I went to
do the mammogram, that's thefirst thing the technician told
me.
Before even the doctor analyzedthe mammogram, she said I'm
pretty sure you have cancer, andso that's when my journey
really started.
(03:16):
And you know, and they talk, youknow like there is a
conversation about grief, right,and when you are faced with a
life-threatening disease andhealth condition, you go through
grief, you go through trying tounderstand what is happening
with my body.
Why is this happening?
And first I was in completedenial.
(03:36):
I'm like, nope, they didn'tknow what was happening.
They probably made a mistake,not true?
So then, when I did the biopsyagain, another thing happened,
very similar the technician thatwas actually doing the biopsy
again and it's not looking goodat all and which, since I have,
you know, worked and spoken withso many women and it's not been
(03:58):
anybody else's experience,because nobody, nobody tells you
right there.
But that was my experience.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I was going to say I thought that was even like.
That's not helpful.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's not, it's not.
I can just say the angels, youknow, somebody wanted to tell me
, somebody wanted to give methis information before it was
confirmed.
So I had a moment to sit withit.
So you know, even though it wasshocking, I still had that
moment where I was tellingmyself that no, it's not true.
(04:42):
When they call me withpathology results, it's going to
be clear, because it can betrue.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, I don't have cancer right.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Everything is fine.
I had no symptoms at all.
I was at my healthiest, Ilooked great, I felt great.
There was absolutely nothingwhich is so tricky about cancer.
It's often completelyasymptomatic.
So that was my turning point.
My turning point was cancer andof course I was young.
I was offered, or rather told,that these are your options and
(05:11):
these are the medications.
It's the standard of care, thesurgery, the radiation, the
chemotherapy, the drugs and thenpossible metastasis.
Possible metastasis becausethere are multiple tests now
that they do on your geneticmakeup, where they can tell how
your cells behave and what couldpotentially happen and how soon
(05:33):
that will happen.
Because cancer, the danger ofcancer, is not the initial
cancer, it's the metastasis andit's when it spreads to other
parts of the body and keepsspreading.
That's where the problem begins.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
And at that point you're saying you were in great
health.
So I know that, with all of therecommendations that they gave
you, you decided to healyourself in other ways.
So were you already a veryhealthy person, eating
organically?
Did you already have that inyour routine?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
No, I've always been healthy or I considered myself
healthy.
I always ate well, I didn't eatprocessed foods, but it was
never just that, it was just howI was.
You know, I didn't grow up inthe United States, I grew up in
the former Soviet Union, and sowe always ate whole foods and
that's kind of how I grew up.
But I didn't know even thedifferentiation between organic
(06:24):
and conventional.
You know, you go to the grocerystore and you just want to save
a few bucks, so why would I buysomething that says organic
when you know you can buy aperfectly great stuff that is
not organic?
So yeah, no, it never evenentered my mind.
Now, that said, I've alwaysbeen interested in medicine and
(06:45):
I've taken pre-med classes.
I actually experimented with myhealth back when I was an older
teenager, like 19 years old,when I was in college, I read a
book by an Israeli doctor and Istarted doing enemas and
everybody thought that I wasabsolutely insane.
And I went on this applecleanse and don't ask me, it was
(07:07):
just so long ago, but I wasjust always interested in that.
Completely.
You know, I don't know, it wasjust curious.
And then in school I um back inthe former Soviet union I, I, I
took classes, um, like medicalclasses, for like nursing
classes, and then when I came tothe United States and I was in
college here, I took pre-medclasses and then at CNN I also,
(07:30):
besides my regular job at CNNInternational, I freelanced for
the medical unit and I producedso many different stories on
various diseases and conditionsand things like that.
So it's always been kind ofeating, it's always been a
passion In terms of eating.
I ate healthy and I consideredmyself super healthy.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
And so you decided probably your intuition, I would
assume decided I'm going totake all of my journalism
expertise experience and reallydive into the research to heal
yourself.
And that's how Supalina startedExactly.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Exactly so.
I started by just making anassignment out of myself and I
was just going to experiment andsee what works.
And I dove into research.
I wanted to understand cancer.
I wanted to understand why iseverybody afraid of cancer?
Why is everybody telling methat I'm in such trouble where I
feel great.
You know what is actually goingon.
What are my cells doing?
Why is everybody so alarmed?
(08:30):
Every time I walk into anoncologist's office and I
interviewed five differentoncologists they all look at me
with eyes this big and they'retelling me how things are really
grim, Right, Because it was anaggressive cancer, did you, and
I'll fast forward.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
So, from that moment until you were cancer-free, how
long was it?
Two years, and in that yearsdid you do any standard
treatment?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yes, I did, I did, I did surgery, I did lumpectomy
eventually.
Initially I declined everythingand then eventually I did
lumpectomy.
I started radiation as I wasplugging along on my research
and then I stopped and then Ireally and I declined
chemotherapy.
So you never did chemo.
I never did chemo no.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So, during this time you're doing all of the research
, what led you to soups?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah.
So, as I was trying tounderstand my you know
predicament where I'm at andwhat do I do about myself and
how do I heal myself if I'm notgoing to do what the doctors are
telling me to do and alsoanother little nugget of
information is because I wasresearching and trying to figure
out.
I was reaching out to variousspecialists in every field and I
(09:39):
was led to a world-renownedpathologist who examined my
slides from my tissue slides,from my surgery, and he bluntly
told me that the only way for meto survive is to change my life
.
And I remember, on the phone,I'm like, excuse me, this famous
pathologist is telling me thatI need to change my life.
I said what do you mean?
And he said well, I don't knowwhat it means for you, I just
(10:02):
know that the way your cellsbehave, you have to retrain them
.
And I'm like what, what are youtalking about?
And he says you know, if youcontinue on the way, on the path
you've been going, you're, youknow you're not going to survive
, and so change your life.
And so when we hung up, Ireally sat with myself and tried
(10:23):
to figure out what that meansto me.
And so food, it was one of thethings, you know, that was
easier to control because, youknow, I was immediately trying
to see okay, there is air, thereis household products, there's
environmental factors, there'swater, there is just so many
other things.
Right, but food seemed to be amanageable part that I could
(10:46):
grab onto and figure out.
And plus, I could totally.
I cannot control the air Ibreathe all the time.
I cannot control the water Ialways drink all the time.
I cannot always control what Iwash my hands with, but I can
control what I put in my mouth.
And so that became my numberone priority is to figure it out
.
And what I realized is that Iwas far from eating healthy.
(11:07):
You know, there were a lot ofthings in my diet that were not
optimal.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
They looked healthy but they were not optimal.
Give me one example of onething that looked healthy but it
wasn't optimal.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Well, I did not eat as many vegetables in the like
green vegetables I ate a lot oftomatoes and eggplants and
onions and things like that butI did not eat the cruciferous
vegetables, for example, likethe cauliflowers, the broccolis,
the you know, the bok choy, thepak choys, you know all of the.
(11:37):
You know the varieties of thevegetables.
I also eat a lot of salads, andsalads are very hard to digest
and so, which is how Itransitioned into soups and my
gut was not optimal, you know,because even though I was, I
appeared to be eating healthy,my gut and the lining of my
intestines were not absorbingall of the wonderful ingredients
(12:01):
supposedly that I was eating,because I was just passing it
through.
It was just, it was justpassing it through, it was just
cruising through my body.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I had a naturopathic doctor on my show the Sabrina
Soto Show and Dr Nygma and shetold me that salads are not
healthy for your gut biome.
And it shocked me because Iconsider myself a very healthy
person.
So I just thought, when I haveno other, if I have an option of
(12:27):
a sandwich and a salad, alwayspick a salad.
But that's not necessarily true.
Why are salads so hard todigest?
Because it's raw vegetables.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Well, a combination of things, Because, also, what
we consider a salad right In theWestern world, in the United
States, a salad, is a bunch ofleaves, right With a dressing
and maybe like a few slices oftomato, a few slices of onion
and a couple cucumbers.
Perhaps right To me, at thispoint in my life, it's no longer
a salad, it's just a bunch ofleaves and leaves, just scrape.
(12:57):
First of all, you know, youdon't know how they were grown,
you don't know there are so manyvariables when it comes to
salad leaves.
They're not inherently bad,it's just they don't provide as
much nutrient density that youneed.
But also, in terms of digestion, they're harder to digest and
your body is focused ondigesting it and it's taking up
(13:20):
all that energy on digestingsomething, energy on digesting
something.
And if your gut is not optimalwhich most people don't have
optimal guts you're just notdrawing any of the nutrients,
the macronutrients, themicronutrients, the enzymes.
They just don't have that.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And I also have heard a million times.
It's just like getting your gutbiome healthy enough to retain
all the vitamins.
What does that mean in layman'sterms of like taking a
probiotic?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Well, that's another myth.
You know, and I've fallen forit for years.
You know that probiotic issupposed to be like a good for
you, but again, you don't knowwhat bacteria you're actually
missing out in your gut.
You know, unless you've testedit, because you might be taking
a probiotic with the bacteriathat you don't need in your gut
and so it's actually ended uphurting you.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
So how do you get your gut biome to be healthy?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
There are tests out there, there are holistic tests.
There are several labs thatunfortunately are not covered by
insurances, but you can get astool test, which is how-.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
And if you can't get a stool test because you can't
afford it, or whatever the casemay be, what's the next best?
Speaker 2 (14:23):
thing, I think.
Then you just eat healthy, thenyou just assume that your gut
is not optimal, which itprobably isn't, especially if
you've ever taken an antibiotic,which most people have, you
know.
You just assume that it's notoptimal and you and you heal
your gut and but by probablyhave a probiotic.
Don't take no, not, you don'ttake a probiotic in a pill form.
(14:44):
You take a probiotic in theyogurt form, like coconut yogurt
.
You eat the foods that willprovide you with the same
benefits but will not be in apill form, and I'm a big
proponent of whole foods versussupplements.
Now, supplements have a place,but not in a continuous life.
You know you do them when youcleanse, when you try to target
(15:06):
certain issues, but you don'tcontinue taking supplements on a
daily basis.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Even like a vitamin D , where everyone is.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
In my book.
No, you don't need it on adaily basis.
You know.
You do it to get to an optimallevel and then you maintain.
You know with.
You know, with some exposure,with daily walks, with circadian
rhythm, with you know there'sthere's other natural ways to go
about it than popping, poppingsupplements I have in my house,
(15:35):
a cabinet, an entire cabinetfull of supplements.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
It looks like I actually have a vitamin shop in
my house.
The amount of supplements thatI have, and I don't even know if
I just get them to make myselffeel better, but it is pretty
embarrassing how many vitaminsand supplements I have.
So you're, you're, wait, let mego back to the gut biome.
So so it's better for people toeat the green, all sorts of
vegetables, a whole rainbow, butcooked yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
So again, there is.
There is, there is a pattern tothis.
There are different ways tocook your vegetables.
Right, there are soups, which Iabsolutely love, but again,
soups, you don't boil them, yousimmer them because you want the
vegetables and the roots, andthe spices and the herbs, you
want them to open up and youwant them to release their
(16:23):
medicinal properties.
You do not want to killeverything and just boil
everything to death becausemedicinal properties.
You do not want to killeverything and just boil
everything to death becauseyou're just gently simmering it.
It's kind of like steeping atea, just in a different way,
right?
And so then you can cook withyour hands.
You know hands are verypowerful.
You can massage your salads,and by salads again, not leaves,
you know you can grate a beet,for example.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Now, I know it's red, can put gloves on, but I prefer
doing it with hands.
It can wash off, you know, andyou massage.
You massage really nicely.
You can also smash yourvegetables, like cucumbers, for
example, and it even though itdoesn't cook it, but it puts the
energy into your vegetables andcreates a reaction.
(17:08):
And that reaction is alsotouching it with your hands,
because our bodies are somagical.
It allows your body to infusethem with your energy and, when
you're chewing it, with enzymesthat you need to process them
and extract all the nutrients.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
I know that you have a book, your cookbook but it's
now.
It's out of stock.
So when it'll be back in stock?
And in your cookbook youemphasizing using coconut oil?
And everywhere I go, every postis about seed oils.
I like they're just getting abad.
Are seed oils that bad for you?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Well again.
So, first of all, the seed oilthat I believe started it all is
canola oil, because canola oilhas become a go-to cheap oil in
the United States to cookeverything with and it is highly
toxic and it's not even I don'teven think it's real.
You know there's so many.
Have you ever seen a canolavegetable?
I certainly haven't.
(18:10):
You know, I've looked into thisand I'm like it's just a rabbit
hole I don't want to go into.
I don't need to use it.
But in terms of you know,there's all of these different
seeds.
There are sesame seeds, right,sesame oil is used in Asian
cuisine.
There is sunflower seed oil.
That's been used inMediterranean cuisine, actually
(18:31):
for many years.
There is walnut oil.
There's all of these differentoils that are not as dangerous,
I believe, than canola oil andvegetable oil is.
Which is vegetable oil is?
I don't even know what's inthere.
It's just a byproduct ofdifferent things seeds, and I
don't even know what's in there.
But when it comes to theancient, I always look to the
(18:56):
ancient medicine and to theancient practices to see to kind
of like a reference.
Is that something I wouldconsume?
But also we have to take intoconsideration the way things are
done in today's world, which ishighly processed, and how the
crops are grown.
You know how much pesticide andchemicals and what is the soil
(19:20):
treated with.
So yeah, so there was all ofthese different dangers.
Now there are some dangers witholive oil if it's not properly,
if it's not a really good oilas well.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Right, right.
It's so frustrating, honestly,because I feel like, especially
as a mother, I'm trying to do mybest for myself and for Olivia
and Nate.
And then it's like, okay, I'mgoing to go get olive oil, but
now it's like even the olive oilcould be bad for you because
it's not your olive oil.
And then if you actually haveto look at the back and it could
be a blend of canola oil andolive oil and it's just, I mean,
(19:55):
I feel like, do I have to moveto a cave or you know some farm
and just live off my land?
Speaker 2 (20:09):
It's maddening.
Yeah, you just do the best youcan.
So my rule of thumb, right.
So, when it comes to coconutoil, coconut oil is high heat,
right, so it's easier to cookwith it.
Besides, it has lauric acid,which is really good for your
gut and so, and you just use alittle bit of it, it tastes like
coconut.
It makes my food taste good.
They actually there is acoconut oil where they extract
the coconut taste out of it.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Oh, you have to send that to me Whoever's listening.
I'm going to have Alina send itto me and I'll put it in the
show notes.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Yeah, yeah, I think Whole Foods actually has one
that doesn't have, but there areother brands that have, ones
that don't have the coconuttaste in them, and when you're
cooking those are the easierones.
I agree, because the coconuttaste sometimes gets a little
too powerful.
Yeah, I agree, because thecoconut taste sometimes gets a
little too powerful.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Yeah, which is fine in stir fried, but, like in
other foods, it just doesn'ttaste.
Another thing that you use alot in your recipes is filtered
water.
Yes, I think that when peoplecook, they're like oh, it's fine
to use tap water becausecooking it off and whatever
chemicals are going to be cookedaway, is that not true?
Why is filtered water soimportant when cooking?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Oh boy, water is a whole other rabbit hole, and
especially for us in LA.
Water has so much from drugs tochemicals, to parasites, by the
way you can get parasites fromwater.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Oh, I saw your post the other day with parasites.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I know, I know, but, alina, it was so gross, but it's
so real, it's so real, alina,it was so gross, but it's so
real, it's so real, it's so real.
So filtered water is the bestyou can do.
You know cooking anything.
I even wash.
You know things that I consume,like semi-raw.
For example, when I massage myvegetables, I only wash in
(21:41):
filtered water because I justdon't trust the municipal water,
the tap water, even with theshower and with the bathtub.
You know, I buy the littletablets for the bathtub that
remove the chlorine and all ofthe chemicals, and then for the
showers I have filters.
But now I was actually lookinginto that the other day, to tell
(22:04):
you the truth, and there aresome people that use multiple
filters, you know, because it'snot enough to just remove the
toxic and all the chemicals, youneed to reintroduce the
minerals.
So there is a filter to removeand then there's another filter
to reintroduce and I'm likemaybe I'm behind, I need, I need
to look into that now too.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
I swear the filter.
I have a shower head that has afilter in it in my shower and I
swear by it.
I feel like my hair has gottenbetter, my skin's gotten better
and if anyone's listening, it'sin my Amazon store and it was
like 20, I saw it was like $28.
You just replaced a cartridge,but it's in the link in my
Instagram.
(22:43):
So I do think it's important,especially when you have hard
water.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
A hundred percent.
And also, you know what wasactually interesting?
Some of my clients have told mebecause I never consume soups
outside of the ones that I cook,because why would I right?
But some of my clients havelooked into other the retailers
and places where they make soups, and no soups are made on
filtered water.
They're all made on regularwater.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
So, even so, when you are using tap water, even if
you're boiling it, if you'reboiling it, is it okay?
I'm not boiling the soup, I amsimmering, yeah, yeah, if
somebody is boiling, is it okayto use tap water?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
You can hard boil the water for 10 minutes and then
cool it before having it.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, I guess that's that.
Think about it If you'reboiling your water in order to
kill all of that bacteria, butyou're also boiling your food,
which is going to kill all thenutrients, there you go.
I never even thought about thatbefore.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, that makes a lot of sense,and I do.
I also know like how much rawfood you.
(23:52):
I know you're massaging, likeyou said, the beads and the
smashing, but is there ever atime that you go out and just
have a salad?
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah, I do, I do, of course, of course.
It's not like my whole life isvery regimented.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
It used to be, yeah well, we saw each other two
nights ago.
You were seated at anothertable.
Did you eat the salad?
I did not.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I did not.
It was delicious.
Well, a number of things wascheese on it, you know, and I
didn't know what the dressingwas like, and I didn't feel like
asking them what the dressingwas like, and so it was just
easier for me to just not.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So the dressing?
If it had seed oil you wouldn'tbe in it.
No, I wouldn't have.
But what if she?
What if it was olive oil andvinegar, and that's it.
I didn't know which olive oilit was my maintenance part.
You know what you missed out?
Because that salad wasdelicious.
Let me tell you.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
It looked really beautiful and the flour on top,
it was just so pretty.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
I took a picture of it.
I feel like I want to do mybest to be as healthy as I can,
but I also feel like if youinundate yourself with too much,
it's almost a detriment to yourhealth in just the stress alone
.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Agree, Agree, 100% agree, and that's why I only
recommend doing those, you know,kind of like really regimented
rituals is when you're cleansing, when you're cleansing, this is
your time to really kind of gowithin, do everything right, you
know, cleanse your body.
It's like taking a long, longshower, except it's obviously
extended, and then you can go onabout your life and you're more
(25:27):
mindful afterwards because youjust, you know, cleaned the oil,
you just cleaned your system,so you don't want to, just, you
know, do things that will harmyou or make you feel unhealthy.
And then there's the othercondition is if you have a
health condition you have achronic health condition or if
you have a life-threateningdisease or something that's
(25:49):
actually impeding your life,something that's not letting you
be the beautiful magneticthoughts, not letting you be the
beautiful magnetic, radiant youthat you know you are, you know
, then it's a whole differentstory than you know.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
So okay, how okay?
Sorry, let's talk about thisfor hours how I have heard from
people that cleansing isn'timportant and obviously you have
built not only your business,but you've helped a million like
a lot of people heal theirbodies.
How often?
If you're not dealing with achronic illness, if you're just
a normie or whatever you want tocall it, you know, like
(26:24):
somebody who's just wants to behealthier but is not necessarily
wanting to heal anything inparticular.
What?
How often should somebodycleanse?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Well, at least once a year, ideally.
You know every quarter, everyseason, because you go into a
season and everything changes.
You know the temperaturechanges, your body needs
different attention.
But in terms of to answer thatpeople don't believe in
cleansing and I know there arestill people, unfortunately,
that don't Our body isself-cleansing mechanism,
(26:57):
technically right.
So why do we take showers andwash our hair?
We can just go along.
If we're cleaning ourselves onthe exterior, why shouldn't we
clean ourselves on the inside?
It makes sense.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
I have to admit I've never done a real cleanse before
.
I mean I tried.
I bought, of course, in mycabinet a candida cleanse.
I've done a parasite cleanse.
I never took the supplements,so but you do, you do believe in
parasite cleansing.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yes, I'm on it right now.
I'm cleansing right now Withsupplements.
You can do it with food as well.
I am a very yes, you can.
It's a little more involvedbecause you have to create those
things on your own Right.
You know specific foods, youknow.
For example, there is papayaseeds that are very bitter.
(27:46):
Papaya seeds are really greatof expelling parasites from your
body.
So also pumpkin seeds.
Raw pumpkin seeds are oil oforegano is so you can actually
create the medicine yourself bygrinding papaya seeds with
pumpkin seeds are oil of oreganois so you can actually create
the medicine yourself bygrinding papaya seeds with
pumpkin seeds.
No one's going to do that.
No one's going to do that.
You know what I mean.
There are ways to do this onyour own, you know.
(28:07):
If you're really motivated, youknow.
But there are ways to shortcutit and there are companies that
obviously you know, putdifferent herbs and make it all
more palatable, but still thenutritional part cannot be
ignored.
Yeah, you can't just do thesame thing you're doing and take
the pills and think you'recleansing your mouth.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, and earlier I said normies, which I didn't
mean to say that, because I dobelieve that, no matter how,
where you live, what you'reeating, what you're doing, we're
all dealing with some chronicissue.
You know, and it's it'sunfortunate, but it's, it's
almost impossible because of theworld we live in, you know,
unless you are going to live ona farm, and just great good for
(28:48):
you, by the way, invite me over.
I'd love to come spend a weekwith you, but it is difficult
and I know that.
You know everyone wants to beas healthy as possible, but you
deal with one-on-one helpingpeople heal from chronic issues.
What sort of transformationshave you seen in your career
doing this?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
now with advanced cancer.
She had a right lung removed,she had metastasis in her
thyroid.
She had surgery, but she wasvery much on the fence of
additional surgery with herthyroid and chemotherapy.
(29:28):
And we embarked on a wholetransformational journey.
And after three months she saidshe went to an oncologist and
her oncologist gave her a cleanbill of health.
And she says I'm crying becauseI just cannot believe that my
nodules and my thyroid are gone.
She's off, completely off hermedications.
And she's not been.
She's been on medications fordecades.
She's not taking any moremedications.
(29:50):
And she said that my oncologistactually wants me to speak to
the Cancer Foundation becauseshe just can't believe that.
I'm just all clear and I say tothis I do believe because, well,
first of all, she put in a lotof her own work in it, because
it's a two-way street, I canguide people and show them the
way, but they have to do thework and it is a very intense
work, especially when you havesomething that is
(30:12):
life-threatening.
And she put in the work and itwas the most incredible
transformation.
She looked different.
You know, I had another clientwho was diagnosed with MS and
was about to be put on verysevere medications and we went
on a journey and completelyhealed.
(30:33):
She never ended up takingmedications and it's been a few
years and she's completely clearand thriving.
A completely different personChanges your life, truly.
Going on an intense healingjourney changes your life
completely, because you knowshe's dating this beautiful man
that she met.
You know, as she healed and herpriorities have changed.
(30:57):
She left her big, high-poweredjob that she thought was her
entire life and then it turnedout that it wasn't.
You know, because you askyourself hard questions and
you're no longer distractingyourself with everything that is
around you.
You're going within and you'rehealing the root cause.
You're healing what actuallybrought you to this place and
(31:19):
very often we don't know what itis.
Some people do and they're justnot willing to jump in.
But some people, and a lot ofpeople, I find, and myself
included, when I was on myhealing journey, I did not know.
I didn't know why I had cancerand so it took me a long time to
figure out why I had cancer.
And those are, you know, very,you know very vulnerable moments
(31:42):
when you have to ask yourselfthese questions and hear
yourself answering thosequestions and then sitting with
that and going, oh my God, Ididn't know that.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
I think that no matter.
You know, sometimes it takesbeing hit by a truck with a
diagnosis to change your life,and it's unfortunate that it
takes that.
But I think, no matter what Ihave found in my own life and in
my friends and family when youfinally put yourself as a
priority and that could be inthe healing of yourself a lot of
(32:13):
things change in your life.
Because when you make yourselfa priority, you no longer put up
with the and I'm going to say acurse word so if there's kids
in the car, just turn it down.
You don't put up with the shitanymore because you realize how
precious life is and how shortof the time we have and we have
to make it count.
And even if you have all themoney in the world but you have
(32:37):
a pain in your side or atoothache, all you care about is
healing that ache.
You don't care about the factthat you have a yacht.
You know it must be nice, butyou can't even go on that yacht
because your tooth is throbbing.
So health is wealth and healthis freedom, and I believe that
in every vein in my body.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
A hundred percent and you said it.
You know it's prioritizingyourself and for many of us,
especially women, that is areally hard pill to swallow,
because we are nurturers bynature and we're always
nurturing and nurturingourselves feels like an anomaly.
It feels, you know, you feel somuch guilt, Like what do you
(33:16):
mean, especially at a time whenyou're trying to overcome a
(33:41):
health condition?
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Yeah, Thank you so much, Alina.
I so appreciate.
For anyone listening.
All of Alina's information isgoing to be in the notes,
including the coconut water, andI'll also put a link to that
filter that I love so much.
If you are listening to thisand you love the podcast I hope
you do Can you please do me afavor rate and review it
wherever you're listening,because it helps to get out
(34:02):
there to more people.
Until next time, thank you somuch, Alina, for your time.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Thank you so much.
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