May 20, 2025 • 38 mins
In this episode of the Believe Big podcast, host Ivelisse Page welcomes Dr. Antonio Jimenez—affectionately known as Dr. Tony—renowned integrative oncology pioneer and founder of the Hope4Cancer Treatment Centers. Together, they explore a transformative approach to healing: fasting, and its powerful role in both physical wellness and spiritual renewal.
Dr. Tony unpacks the science behind fasting’s impact on cancer treatment, including how it activates
- autophagy and mitophagy,
- boosts stem cell regeneration, and
- supports the body's ability to repair and restore.
But this conversation goes beyond biology. Dr. Tony and Ivelisse dive deep into the spiritual discipline of fasting, revealing how it can become a sacred rhythm that cultivates gratitude, sharpens focus, deepens our faith, and unlocks emotional resilience in the hardest seasons. With heartfelt stories and practical takeaways, this episode offers guidance for anyone seeking to approach their health—and their spiritual walk—with intentionality and hope.
Whether you’re a patient, caregiver, or simply curious about holistic approaches to healing, this episode offers life-giving insight into how aligning body and spirit can ignite a more vibrant path forward.
Learn more about Dr. Antonio Jimenez
Suggested Resources:
- Hope4Cancer Treatment Centers
- Hope4Cancer Blog
- Seven Key Principles
- BOOK: Hope For Cancer: 7 Principles to Remove Fear and Empower Your Healing by Dr. Antonio Jimenez
- BOOK: Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough by Elmer L. Towns
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ivelisse Page (00:06):
Hi, I am Ivelisse Page and thanks for listening to
the Believe Big podcast, theshow where we take deep dive
into your healing with healthexperts, integrative
practitioners, biblical faithleaders, and cancer thrivers
from around the globe.
(00:34):
Welcome to today's episode onthe Believe Big podcast.
My name is Ivelisse Page and Iam thankful to spend this time
with you.
Today on the Believe Bigpodcast, we are honored to
welcome a true pioneer inintegrative oncology Dr.
Antonio Jimenez, known to manyas Dr.
Tony.
(00:54):
He is the founder and chiefmedical officer of the world
renowned Hope For CancerTreatment Centers with locations
in Tijuana and Cancun, Mexico.
For over 25 years, Dr.
Tony has dedicated his life toresearching and implementing
non-toxic integrative strategiesto treat cancer, chronic
(01:17):
infections, and immunedisorders.
Dr.
Tony is one of the most trustedvoices in the world of
integrative cancer therapytoday.
His seven key principles ofcancer therapy, the basis for
his comprehensive integrativeprotocols are discussed in
detail in his highly acclaimedbook, Hope for Cancer, Seven
(01:39):
Principles to Remove Fear andEmpower Your Healing Journey.
Dr.
Jimenez is one of the sevenphysicians worldwide certified
to treat patients with aGonzalez protocol.
He's known as an avid educatorwho has shared his wisdom with
large audiences in dozens ofcountries across the world
(02:00):
through various media, includinghis free Dr.
Tony's Integrative Healingwebinar series, which has
featured his wisdom every monthfor the past four years.
Today, we're diving into apowerful topic with him fasting,
the physical and the spiritualbenefits, and exploring how this
(02:21):
ancient practice can supporthealing deep in faith and
optimize the body's innateability to restore itself.
Welcome to the podcast, Dr.
Tony.
Dr. Tony Jimenez (02:31):
Oh, thank you.
Thank you for that kindintroduction, and I'm happy to
be with your Believe Bigcommunity.
It's so, so important now morethan ever because having been
working in this oncology fieldfor over 30 years, actually we
are now in 2025 seeing youngerpatients with cancer, more
(02:54):
aggressive cancers, and patientsthat were in remission having
recurrences or relapse.
So today, not manana, as we sayin Mexico, today is a time that
we have to be proactive andstart, you know, doing a form of
integrative oncology,integrative health, actually.
(03:16):
Holistic wellness and we'll talkmore about that.
But I just wanna encourageeveryone listening and viewing
this, that really be proactivebecause we really have to take
control of our health.
Ivelisse Page (03:27):
Yes, absolutely.
And we're so thankful for you tobe here sharing about your
specialty with integrativeoncology.
But before we get into fasting Ialways ask our guests what their
favorite health tip is.
Do you have one that you canshare with our audience today?
Dr. Tony Jimenez (03:45):
You know, I was giving a clue that you were
going to ask me this question,so I thought about it and I
could put it this way, and Iwrote some notes about this, is
slow down and breathe deeply andoften.
Slow down and breathe deeply andoften.
So the question is why?
(04:05):
First, we know that it lowersstress instantly, which that it
impacts your immune system, yourdigestion, your sleep, your
mood, your recovery, all thesethings, and it connects you to
the present moment and to yourbody, because nowadays, you
(04:27):
know, it's go, go, go, go, go.
And and this brings us into asympathetic dominant, which is
the fight or flight, the tigerschasing us.
And if you are going throughthat cancer healing journey,
this is not a good state ofhealing because stress hormone
is elevated, immune system isoff.
(04:48):
Hormones are off.
Emotionally, you're off.
Spiritually, you're out ofbalance.
So it's so important to slowdown.
And I wrote something here and Ithink it was a spiritual
download and I said there's akind of healing that comes only
when we stop and start noticingGod in the quiet, beauty in the
(05:15):
ordinary.
And we take that breath as agift, right?
And so, and if we go a littlefurther in the spiritual aspect
of it, I believe that takingthat breath and stopping is a
form of prayer.
And the breath of life issacred.
It says in Genesis 2:7, when youslow down and breathe, it's like
(05:40):
saying, God I'm here.
I'm here for you.
So.
So important to inhale grace andexhale anxiety.
And you know, this worldnowadays, whether it's a social
media or so many stresses, theanxiety is a big thing, right?
(06:01):
And I know that it happens toall of us at some point in our
life, in our daily walk in thisearthly world.
Ivelisse Page (06:10):
Yes.
You know, you're so right andthat's something that doesn't
cost any money and Right.
You can do it anywhere, whereveryou are.
And one of the things that I'velearned the last two years, I'm
doing a spiritual directioncourse, and with Soul
Shepherding, and they'reteaching about breath prayers,
which it's so easy to do deepbreathing, but breathing in a
(06:32):
portion of scripture andreleasing the second half, or
breathing in, Jesus, I need you.
And releasing all of theanxieties of the day and just
that simple practice of not onlydeep breathing, but also
incorporating scripture orpositive affirmations can really
help to get your mind activatedas well, and to release the
(06:55):
stress that we carry that wedon't know.
And you know, I always say themonks had it right too.
They have something calledstatio, which, they arrive early
to appointments, to meetingsbecause it allows you to be in
that present moment, like youwere talking about, to take that
time to get there ahead so thatyou can breathe and you can be
(07:16):
present without rushing from onething to the next.
So that's another aspect I'vebeen trying to do better at, is
to arrive early and to be ableto breathe.
So thank you.
That's a fantastic tip to sharewith our audience today.
And fasting, we hear it all thetime.
It's everywhere.
Intermittent fasting, fastingbefore protocols, before
(07:38):
treatments to make them moreeffective.
And so I wanted to ask you, asone of the experts in this is.
Let's, I'm gonna ask you a fewquestions about the physical
benefits of fasting, but oneaspect that a lot of people in
our audience don't hear about isthe spiritual aspects of
fasting.
So we'll get into that next.
So to start us off, what roledoes fasting play in improving
(08:03):
the biological terrain?
You know, that supports ourhealing from cancer and other
chronic diseases.
Dr. Tony Jimenez (08:09):
Yes, and this is important because the
biological terrain is, I thinkit's everything, right?
We're born with a healthyterrain, and as we go through
life and we get a little olderand we're exposed to toxins,
that terrain becomes toxic.
And this is why I always saythat cancer is truly.
(08:30):
An opportunistic disease, as aremany other health challenges.
So when we're fasting on aphysical level, biologically,
what we're doing is simply,let's remember three things.
One is autophagy, so that meansthat damage cells are able to
(08:50):
kill themselves.
And that's called program,program cell death.
Right?
Program cell.
That's what happens every secondof every day.
The challenge is when thosedamaged cells do not apoptosis,
which is the medical word,apoptosis, they don't apoptosis.
They can't repair themselves,and then they go rogue, and
(09:11):
that's what a cancer cell is.
So when we're fasting, we'reincreasing the body's ability to
apoptosis, to kill itselfautophagy.
The second aspect, which isrelated is mitophagy and that's
related to the mitochondria.
We might think simply that themitochondria is the energy pack
(09:33):
of the cell producing A P T, theenergy of the cell.
For example, the heart is richin mitochondria.
Thousands of mitochondrias inthe heart, maybe hundreds of
thousands.
The brain, each of the vitalorgans, the liver, the lung, the
brain, the kidneys full ofmitochondria.
Of course the muscles.
(09:54):
So when we are fasting, weagain, are able to apoptosis
those mitochondrias that aredamaged or dysfunctional for
many reasons, right?
Nutritional deficiencies,toxicity, pathogens, parasites,
negative thoughts.
I was quoted as saying yearsago, A negative thought can kill
(10:15):
you faster than a bad germ,right?
So that's so important.
So we have autophagy.
We have mitophagy.
And another very important thatforms that trifecta that I
talked about.
The three points is stem cellproduction.
And so when we're fasting, ourbody is regenerating stem cell
(10:37):
production, and these arehealthy stem cell that help
repair, regenerate, and restoretissues.
And in doing that, we're goingto have a healthier immune
system.
Our endocrine or hormone systemis going to be more optimal.
So then the question is, howlong should we fast?
(10:58):
Right?
And I guess I'm asking yourquestions.
I'm not sure.
Ivelisse Page (11:03):
I was just gonna ask you that.
Dr. Tony Jimenez (11:04):
Okay.
So when we when we fast, let'ssay for eight hours.
And that's when the body turnsto glycogen reserves, these are
glucose is stored as glycogen,mainly in the liver.
So a fast of about eight hours,it turns to that glycogen
reserve to enable the liver andthe muscles to release that
(11:28):
glycogen and get energy.
But the point, the mostimportant part of fasting is
when we're over 12 hours.
When we're over a 12 hour,that's when the body starts
burning excess fat reserves andforms ketones.
And then this is the body's wayto use these ketones instead of
(11:49):
glucose to produce energy.
So we think, wow, I'm fasting.
Am I going to have less energy?
On the contrary, you're gonnahave energy that is more useful,
you're gonna burn fats andyou're going to increase muscle
tone as well.
So it's kind of a lot of thingshappening at the same time.
But for example, in mysituation, I eat with an eight
(12:14):
hour window, right?
I have my first meal at about10, 10:30 AM and then my last
meal about six, 6:30 PM And soI'm intermittently fasting every
day from let's say, 7:00 PM.
To 10:00 AM and that's what,that's 15 hours.
(12:35):
So when you get to 12, between12 and 16 hours of fasting, it's
brilliant.
It's amazing how the body isrecovering, repairing and
regenerating, and seven, eightof those hours you're sleeping
anyway.
So it's a way that we can all,you know, achieve this.
And I might say that fasting ina cancer patient or someone has
(12:59):
a an acute, you know diseaseprocess that they're going to
have time.
We have to be very careful andyou should not do these fast
unless your medical provider,you know, is guiding you and
you're walking through this withhim or her.
And so if that is yoursituation, you know, we could
(13:20):
fast from other things.
We could fast from tv, we couldfast from social media, we could
fast from our spouses.
No, that's just kidding.
But you know, there's other waysthat we could fast to get these
physical and mental healthbenefits.
So we're also supportingdetoxification pathways.
(13:41):
Right.
Detoxification pathways, whichis the skin purging, the
kidneys, the bowels, negativethoughts because that's when the
spiritual aspect of fastingcomes into play.
And I wrote something here thatI want to make sure I mention
that.
(14:01):
It's when we fast, we needself-control.
And we need discipline, right?
And when we do this especiallyin, in, in chronic disease, in
cancer patients wonderful thingshappen.
But I must say, be careful, youknow, be medically guided.
Getting medical guidance isspecifically if you are going
(14:22):
through, you know, an acutephase because we don't want to
deplete nutrients either, right?
So for example, in our stagefour cancer patients or patients
that are very compromised we'revery careful with
recommendations to fast, withrespect to food.
But as I said, right, there'smany other ways that we can fast
(14:43):
as well.
Ivelisse Page (14:44):
Yeah, and you know, and I think it's like you
said it exactly right, that ifyou're listening to this and you
are a cancer patient, that issomething that you have to make
sure you're doing alongside ofyour medical practitioner that's
helping you because yeah, youwanna make sure that you're
doing it at the right times thatis gonna be best for your body.
For someone who's not in acancering process and may just
(15:06):
have a chronic illness, what areyour recommendations as far as
fasting besides the eatingwindow?
Do you recommend, you know, someof, some people are doing those
three day water fasts or thingslike that to once a month?
Or what are your recommendationsfor others?
Dr. Tony Jimenez (15:24):
Yeah, it's always individualized and
personalized.
We're blessed at Hope ForCancer, that we have a
nutritionist on board.
And so whether it's for ourwellness program, we also have a
wellness center in our Cancunfacility.
So, whether it's for wellness,whether it's cancer patients or
other autoimmune diseasepatients, it's really
(15:45):
individualized.
I'm not evading the question,but the general recommendation
is that we have to figure out,you have to figure out what
works for you.
And today, interestingly enough,right?
It's good Friday.
Yes.
And the Catholics, they canconsider fasting today till
Sunday, resurrection day.
And then start with water andtea and see how you do, add some
(16:10):
electrolytes or minerals orlittle sea salt to your water.
And be careful and follow yourbody, right.
Don't push it too much becausethat stress on the body can not
always is beneficial.
With respect to cancer patients,I don't like prolonged fast in
general.
The shorter, fast can be verybeneficial, but always
(16:32):
individualizing listening toyour body and then taking it a
step at a time.
Ivelisse Page (16:38):
Yeah.
What are some of the keyphysical markers, like in blood
sugar or inflammation levelsthat you see improve with
consistent fasting practices?
Dr. Tony Jimenez (16:48):
Yes, that's true.
It's we know that cancer let'smake it simplified, four factors
in cancer.
All cancers are inflammatoryconditions.
They're low oxygen conditions,they are acidic conditions and
low temperature.
So when we're looking atinflammatory parameters like C
(17:10):
reactive protein and somethingcalled sed rate, or we could get
a little bit more complex and dointerleukin 6(IL-6), but C
reactive protein and sed rateare two basic fundamental
inflammatory markers that weshould all h ave periodically,
and if you're in the cancerhealing journey, more often than
(17:33):
not.
And so we see that in fasting,these inflammatory markers
decrease, which is what we wantto see.
And also sometimes we've seencancer markers.
For example, in colon cancer,which you're very familiar with
there's that CEA markercarcinoembryonic antigen.
There's another marker thatcross reacts with colon cancer.
(17:56):
It's not typically considered acolon cancer marker as the CA
19-9 and that's typically forpancreatic cancer.
But we have seen in many of ourcolon cancer patients that we
monitor, the CA 19-9, so wecould see shifts in those
markers as well.
That is beautiful.
(18:16):
And when you're fasting,consider, you know, walking a
little bit, doing oxygen thebreathing that we talked about
first.
So this is going to increasethat second factor in cancer
with low oxygen.
We want to increase oxygenstores and then we become less
acidic when we're fasting,right?
(18:37):
And hopefully then if we arecareful and maybe integrate near
infrared sauna.
We could increase temperaturealso because eight out of 10
cancer patients have lowtemperature.
If we consider 98.6 Fahrenheitor 37 degrees Celsius being the
normal body temperature.
(18:58):
We have patients that are adegree, and a half, two,
sometimes even three degreeslower, and this favors a cancer
situation or further metastasisor progression of the disease.
Ivelisse Page (19:11):
Yes.
And what is the average numberyou know, that you want someone
CRP to be or the sedimentationrate to be?
Yes.
What is like a good number toshoot for?
Dr. Tony Jimenez (19:22):
Yeah.
It depends on the lab.
They have different normalranges, but typically a zero to
five.
And if we do the highsensitivity C-reactive protein,
H-S-C-R-P, that could be zero toone.
So ideally and optimally Iprefer one or below.
Right.
Ivelisse Page (19:43):
Okay.
Yes.
Okay.
That's great.
So the spiritual benefits offasting, you know, you've
traveled to over 70 countrieslearning about healing.
How have you seen the spiritualpart of fasting practiced across
different cultures andtraditions?
Dr. Tony Jimenez (19:59):
That's a good question because for example, I
was looking at a book calledFasting for Spiritual
Breakthrough, which I recommendfor anyone is The Nine Biblical
Fasts.
And they talk about theDiscipline Fast.
It's freeing yourself and othersfrom addictions to sin, like
pornography, unhealthy thoughtsand so forth.
There's the Paul Fast and thatthat's to bring clearer
(20:22):
perspective and insight incritical decision making.
And this is interesting becausein two weeks I'm going to follow
the steps of Paul.
I'm going to Turkey and Greece,so I'll think about this Paul
Fast and there's the Daniel Fastand there's many other biblical
fasts.
But if we look at differentfaiths and denominations we know
(20:44):
that every faith, whether it isthe Jewish faith, you know, even
Buddhist and all the differentfaiths, the Muslim fasting is in
embedded in their faith.
So, and why is that?
Is because fasting redirectsyour focus from the earthly, to
the Godly, to the creator,right?
(21:06):
And you gain, you gain like aspiritual clarity of thought,
spiritual clarity of thought.
And what does this mean?
This means that, wow, now Icould hear the voice of God,
clearer, right?
I had a, I have a story.
We had a patient, he wasoriginally from Brazil, lived
(21:26):
now in the LA, California area,and he's in our Tijuana
treatment center.
And the assigned doctor said,Dr.
Tony, this patient wants to talkto you.
And I said, oh, let me see thechart.
And he said, no, he doesn't wantto talk to you about anything
medical.
And I'm like, okay.
So I went to his room and hestarts crying as soon as I walk
(21:47):
in and he says, thank you, Dr.
Tony.
I'm like, what happened?
He said, well, I thought myheavenly father doesn't, didn't
love me anymore, that he hadabandoned me.
And I asked him, why is this?
And he says, well, I've kind ofbeen doing a lot of bad stuff.
And he started to name all thebad stuff he is been doing.
And then he said, here, at thistreatment center, I heard God
(22:11):
speak to me and he said fourwords.
And those four words were, son,I love you.
And that for him maybe this isnot about fasting, but it's a
powerful story when we have thatclarity that clear mind and
we're fasting and then we're, wecould hear God's voice clearly,
(22:35):
right?
Yes.
And for this patient that madeall the difference for him, he
actually told me, you know what,doctor Tony, it doesn't matter
what happens to the canceranymore.
Because now I know that myheavenly father hasn't abandoned
me because he loves me, heforgives me, and I am created in
(22:55):
his image.
And so thankfully he did do wellwith the cancer and became
cancer free, NED.
So that's another aspect, right?
When we are fasting and we're inthat spiritual wellness that the
can see, we're in a highvibratory state.
(23:15):
The resonance, the frequencywhen we're in this fasting and
we're, when we're close to ourspiritual self and our creator,
the cancer's like, oh, you know,this is light.
I'm dark.
I can't coexist in thisenvironment.
So great things happen.
But I did make a list of fourspiritual benefits of fasting,
(23:37):
and number one is it deepens thespiritual connection.
So I'm saying these ashighlights for all your viewers.
Believe Big, right?
So one is it deepens yourspiritual connection.
Two is it cultivates patienceand self-control.
How many times in your life andin your healing, which I believe
(23:58):
now it's been what, 17 years?
Ivelisse Page (24:01):
15, right?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yes.
Dr. Tony Jimenez (24:04):
Of being cancer free and having to have
that patience and self-control,whether it's to fast or get on
the, you know, continue yourgood nutrition program, and I
commend you, and I'm so proud ofyou because you continue to be
proactive and to take care ofyourself in all aspects of that.
And number three of thespiritual benefits of fasting,
(24:27):
it promotes gratitude.
And again, that wordmindfulness, right?
When we're taking that breath,we're having that spiritual
connection.
So, it gives us like a hungerand a thirst that goes beyond
the physical and goes to thatdeeper sense of gratitude, that
deeper sense of peace, and to goto the ultimate source of love,
(24:53):
which is the Lord our God ourcreator.
And if you look at a chart ofenergy and on my on going, let's
say from right to left on theright, we have shame, which is
the lowest frequency emotion.
And as we go from right to left,we're going to the ultimate
(25:15):
highest frequency, which islove, which is God.
And so, and that can only hapnot only, but you know, in
mindfulness and that breath andthat slowing down.
And then number four for thespiritual benefits of fasting is
it encourages reflection andclarity.
(25:36):
Because I see that a lotpatients don't really understand
or people don't understand,like, why did I have this
cancer?
Why does this happen?
Or why me God.
So during this fasting and thespiritual benefit of encouraging
reflection, unity with ourcreator and clarity that God did
(25:57):
not give you this cancer,because, believe it or not, I
have had patients tell me thatwhen they asked their
oncologist, Hey, doc, why did Iget diagnosed with this cancer?
I have a loving spouse.
My kids are wonderful.
I love my work.
I eat good, I exercise, and theoncologist has told some of my
(26:18):
patients, God gave it to you.
And I'm like, oh, really?
That's the furthest thing fromthe truth, right?
So, so those are my four bigtopics or benefits of spiritual
fa the spiritual fasting aspect.
Ivelisse Page (26:32):
So what do you tell patients that have their
oncologists or others have saidthat God gave you this cancer,
you know, what is your advice tothem or what is your insight as
a man of faith as to why thiscancering process was occurring?
If they're eating well and youknow, they have a loving family
and all the things that theymentioned to you.
Dr. Tony Jimenez (26:54):
Yes.
First of all, I have to takethat idea out of their brain
because, you know, the doctorswith the white coats and all the
degrees in their wall, you know,they're, sometimes you patients
believe them, every single word.
So the first thing is to firstassure them that God is all
loving, all good.
(27:15):
And he will never do that.
And disease and cancer is not ofGod, right?
Secondly is that we have to digdeep into what is, what are the
potential reasons.
It's not bad luck, it's notgenetic.
Two, only 2.5 to 5% of allcancers are truly genetic in
(27:38):
nature.
So when the oncologist asks youor asks you, well, did your
father, your mother, your uncle,your sister, your aunt have
cancer?
And you say, yes.
Then they tell you that's whyyou had it.
But if you say no, they scratchyour head and that's when things
crazy things comes out like, oh,it's bad luck.
(27:59):
Because now they figured it'snot genetic and so it's bad luck
or God gave it to you.
Or I have patients say, you didsomething to deserve it.
Right.
So it's not about that.
So to answer your question, andit's the topic of my first book,
Hope For Cancer, that youmentioned, Seven Key Principles
to Remove Fear and Empower YourHealing.
(28:20):
And all you have to do is openit.
And on the top here are theseven key principles.
And so we have to dig deep intothis.
One of them is emotional andspiritual, and that's my third
book coming out later this yearis Emotions in Cancer.
And we have a program calledBEST Program, BEST, which stands
(28:42):
for Behavioral, Emotional andSpiritual Transformation.
And so we have to go deep, andlook at the emotional, the
traumas, the conflicts, becauselike, like the question, right?
We have patients that are NFLcheerleaders, they're fit,
they're healthy, they're happy,great relationships, and then
(29:04):
breast cancer, right?
So then we have to look atemotional component and it's
even biblical.
It could be even threegenerations from the person.
And so is it from coming fromtraumas and conflict, we see a
lot of sexual abuse in patientswith breast cancer, for example.
(29:24):
A lot of territorial conflictsin the family with respect to
bladder cancer.
So it depends where the canceris located.
And then we track.
And they do chronology ofconflicts and trauma in life.
And the beauty is when theperson becomes aware of this,
(29:46):
then the letting go process isso amazingly powerful and cancer
doesn't have a reason to be.
And I've seen, I mean, Icouldn't believe it unless, you
know, only when I see it becausethey didn't teach this to us in
medical school when tumors cango away like that.
And I have hundreds of examplesthat I've seen throughout the
(30:08):
years of when we let go of thatunresolved traumatic shock
experience that we did not havea solution to that are still
there.
But when we let go of that.
It's amazing what could happen.
It's almost like miraculous.
And I always say buriedfeelings, never die.
(30:30):
So I encourage everyonelistening to this Believe Big
podcast and others that you'vedone to really do an
introspective analysis and beobjective, right?
Without any bias.
Start writing down in a notepad,not on your computer, an iPad or
tablet.
Stuff in life, we all arecarrying stuff, right?
(30:51):
And we need to remove that.
Forgive, let it go and heal.
And that's when the true healingeven takes like a quantum leap
instead of healing slowly wecould take quantum leaps in our
healing and it's so, it's sogratifying to see that the
patients that do this work.
(31:12):
They reap the benefits.
So you have a tough guy fromMontana or Wyoming or Texas
where I live, or Colorado, whereyou live and you know, you come
in Hope For Cancer with cowboyboots and a hat and say, oh,
this is not for me.
Give yourself that benefit ofthe doubt.
Explore the emotionalcorrelation with cancer because
(31:34):
it's always there.
Believe Big (31:37):
We hope you're enjoying today's episode with
Dr.
Tony Jimenez.
This spring Believe Big is on amission to bring hope where it's
needed most, and with your helpthat hope can truly bloom.
Imagine hearing the words, yourchild has cancer.
For Jason and Melissa Jacobi,that nightmare became a reality
(31:58):
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Ivelisse Page (32:55):
Yes, I agree a hundred percent.
And proof of what you said, youknow, because 15 years ago I did
have stage four colon cancer andI realized that it, during that
season that there are a lot ofspiritual and emotional roots to
disease.
And in that case, for me it wasunforgiveness that I had and
even to God himself, you know,for losing my father and other
(33:19):
things that had happened in mypast.
But, even following my healthand organic foods and PEMF mats
and all the things that I haddone over the last, gosh, 13
years, up to two years ago whenI had gotten endometrial cancer.
Thankfully it was stage one A, Irealized that there was a big
(33:39):
piece missing and I was puttingso much importance into my
physical health that I was notreally focusing on that
emotional side and went toburnout, was burying things that
had hurt me, some betrayals inmy life and other things that I
didn't realize that all thosethings caused my cortisol level
(33:59):
to rise, caused my insulinlevels to rise, which allowed
cancer to have an opportunity togrow once again.
And this last time I really dugdeep into that emotional side
and like that mapping thatyou're talking about.
And it is just incredible todiscover things like you're
saying during this fasting time.
Time of quiet, solitude for Godto speak in and say.
(34:23):
It's time to release that layerof the onion that you've held
onto and let's peel the next oneAnd he's a gentle God, so it's
not like you have to do it allat one time, but I know that was
a huge factor in my healing andwhy I do think so differently
today to make sure that not onlymy physical health good, but my
emotional and my spiritualhealth is in good shape too.
(34:45):
So that we can walk in thatfreedom, we can walk in that
release and renewal each daythat, that the Lord has given
us.
So Dr.
Tony, thank you so much for allof these nuggets of wisdom that
you shared today.
And I wanted to ask you, whendoes your emotional healing book
come out?
Dr. Tony Jimenez (35:05):
That comes out in November of 2025 this year.
So, yeah, look out for that.
And maybe I could close becauseI wanna give everyone a few tips
for fasting.
Yes.
And yes, I would love that oneis plan your fast.
And first of all, this fast isfor you.
It's not something, you know,you have to tell everyone on
(35:27):
social media or Facebook.
This is your time and this isyour opportunity to, to promote
healing and wellness.
So plan your fast.
Consider your schedule, right?
Consider your schedule.
Tell only the people that youmust, like I mentioned.
Wean yourself, if you're acoffee drinker, start weaning
(35:47):
yourself of caffeine.
I believe caffeine is somethingthat we should all consider
stopping.
Interestingly, I was born inColumbia, South America.
And I don't like coffee.
I don't like the taste ofcoffee.
I don't like the smell ofcoffee.
Contrary to my wife, she doesstill have like half a cup in
the morning.
But wean yourself off caffeinebecause again the caffeine gives
(36:10):
brings you to that sympatheticdominant cortisol high, you
know, state.
And then the next is disconnectyourself from distraction.
Even if it's a food fast or youknow you are doing a water fast,
disconnect yourself fromdistraction.
I was blessed two, three weeksago to take a trip with my
family to the Dominican Republicand I said, you know, I got into
(36:32):
the hotel room and I put myphone in the safe.
And I didn't take it out till wewere going to the airport on our
way back home.
So disconnect yourself fromdistraction.
Be aware of your emotions.
So this is a time during fast toreflect and have the clarity and
see these emotions come out soyou could release them, let them
(36:54):
go as you're talking about,right?
And get enough rest.
Don't push the body too much,right?
Your body will tell you and getenough rest and keep yourself
physically active.
As I mentioned before, shortwalks or if it's longer walks
for you, it's very individualand personalized.
And then lastly the tips forfasting.
(37:16):
Again, as we started, be stilland focus on God.
Ivelisse Page (37:21):
I love it.
Thank you Dr.
Tony so much.
And maybe in the fall, once yourbook comes out on emotional
healing, that you could come onand share your wisdom about that
topic as well.
But thank you for taking time.
I know you're super busy and Iknow that this POS podcast is
gonna be a great encouragementto all those who listen.
Dr. Tony Jimenez (37:40):
Thank you for having me, and I look forward to
being back when the Emotions inCancer book comes out, blessing
everyone.
Keep up.
Remember, cancer is not a deathword.
It's an opportunity to stop, bestill, get closer to God and
heal and what better examplethan you and Believe Big.
(38:02):
Thank you so much.
Ivelisse Page (38:10):
If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to
help support our podcast, pleasesubscribe and share it with
others.
Be sure to visit believebig.orgto access the show notes and
discover our bonus content.
Thanks again and keep BelievingBig!
Hi, I am Ivelisse Page and thanks for listening to
the Believe Big podcast, theshow where we take deep dive
into your healing with healthexperts, integrative
practitioners, biblical faithleaders, and cancer thrivers
from around the globe.
(00:34):
Welcome to today's episode onthe Believe Big podcast.
My name is Ivelisse Page and Iam thankful to spend this time
with you.
Today on the Believe Bigpodcast, we are honored to
welcome a true pioneer inintegrative oncology Dr.
Antonio Jimenez, known to manyas Dr.
Tony.
(00:54):
He is the founder and chiefmedical officer of the world
renowned Hope For CancerTreatment Centers with locations
in Tijuana and Cancun, Mexico.
For over 25 years, Dr.
Tony has dedicated his life toresearching and implementing
non-toxic integrative strategiesto treat cancer, chronic
(01:17):
infections, and immunedisorders.
Dr.
Tony is one of the most trustedvoices in the world of
integrative cancer therapytoday.
His seven key principles ofcancer therapy, the basis for
his comprehensive integrativeprotocols are discussed in
detail in his highly acclaimedbook, Hope for Cancer, Seven
(01:39):
Principles to Remove Fear andEmpower Your Healing Journey.
Dr.
Jimenez is one of the sevenphysicians worldwide certified
to treat patients with aGonzalez protocol.
He's known as an avid educatorwho has shared his wisdom with
large audiences in dozens ofcountries across the world
(02:00):
through various media, includinghis free Dr.
Tony's Integrative Healingwebinar series, which has
featured his wisdom every monthfor the past four years.
Today, we're diving into apowerful topic with him fasting,
the physical and the spiritualbenefits, and exploring how this
(02:21):
ancient practice can supporthealing deep in faith and
optimize the body's innateability to restore itself.
Welcome to the podcast, Dr.
Tony.
Dr. Tony Jimenez (02:31):
Oh, thank you.
Thank you for that kindintroduction, and I'm happy to
be with your Believe Bigcommunity.
It's so, so important now morethan ever because having been
working in this oncology fieldfor over 30 years, actually we
are now in 2025 seeing youngerpatients with cancer, more
(02:54):
aggressive cancers, and patientsthat were in remission having
recurrences or relapse.
So today, not manana, as we sayin Mexico, today is a time that
we have to be proactive andstart, you know, doing a form of
integrative oncology,integrative health, actually.
(03:16):
Holistic wellness and we'll talkmore about that.
But I just wanna encourageeveryone listening and viewing
this, that really be proactivebecause we really have to take
control of our health.
Ivelisse Page (03:27):
Yes, absolutely.
And we're so thankful for you tobe here sharing about your
specialty with integrativeoncology.
But before we get into fasting Ialways ask our guests what their
favorite health tip is.
Do you have one that you canshare with our audience today?
Dr. Tony Jimenez (03:45):
You know, I was giving a clue that you were
going to ask me this question,so I thought about it and I
could put it this way, and Iwrote some notes about this, is
slow down and breathe deeply andoften.
Slow down and breathe deeply andoften.
So the question is why?
(04:05):
First, we know that it lowersstress instantly, which that it
impacts your immune system, yourdigestion, your sleep, your
mood, your recovery, all thesethings, and it connects you to
the present moment and to yourbody, because nowadays, you
(04:27):
know, it's go, go, go, go, go.
And and this brings us into asympathetic dominant, which is
the fight or flight, the tigerschasing us.
And if you are going throughthat cancer healing journey,
this is not a good state ofhealing because stress hormone
is elevated, immune system isoff.
(04:48):
Hormones are off.
Emotionally, you're off.
Spiritually, you're out ofbalance.
So it's so important to slowdown.
And I wrote something here and Ithink it was a spiritual
download and I said there's akind of healing that comes only
when we stop and start noticingGod in the quiet, beauty in the
(05:15):
ordinary.
And we take that breath as agift, right?
And so, and if we go a littlefurther in the spiritual aspect
of it, I believe that takingthat breath and stopping is a
form of prayer.
And the breath of life issacred.
It says in Genesis 2:7, when youslow down and breathe, it's like
(05:40):
saying, God I'm here.
I'm here for you.
So.
So important to inhale grace andexhale anxiety.
And you know, this worldnowadays, whether it's a social
media or so many stresses, theanxiety is a big thing, right?
(06:01):
And I know that it happens toall of us at some point in our
life, in our daily walk in thisearthly world.
Ivelisse Page (06:10):
Yes.
You know, you're so right andthat's something that doesn't
cost any money and Right.
You can do it anywhere, whereveryou are.
And one of the things that I'velearned the last two years, I'm
doing a spiritual directioncourse, and with Soul
Shepherding, and they'reteaching about breath prayers,
which it's so easy to do deepbreathing, but breathing in a
(06:32):
portion of scripture andreleasing the second half, or
breathing in, Jesus, I need you.
And releasing all of theanxieties of the day and just
that simple practice of not onlydeep breathing, but also
incorporating scripture orpositive affirmations can really
help to get your mind activatedas well, and to release the
(06:55):
stress that we carry that wedon't know.
And you know, I always say themonks had it right too.
They have something calledstatio, which, they arrive early
to appointments, to meetingsbecause it allows you to be in
that present moment, like youwere talking about, to take that
time to get there ahead so thatyou can breathe and you can be
(07:16):
present without rushing from onething to the next.
So that's another aspect I'vebeen trying to do better at, is
to arrive early and to be ableto breathe.
So thank you.
That's a fantastic tip to sharewith our audience today.
And fasting, we hear it all thetime.
It's everywhere.
Intermittent fasting, fastingbefore protocols, before
(07:38):
treatments to make them moreeffective.
And so I wanted to ask you, asone of the experts in this is.
Let's, I'm gonna ask you a fewquestions about the physical
benefits of fasting, but oneaspect that a lot of people in
our audience don't hear about isthe spiritual aspects of
fasting.
So we'll get into that next.
So to start us off, what roledoes fasting play in improving
(08:03):
the biological terrain?
You know, that supports ourhealing from cancer and other
chronic diseases.
Dr. Tony Jimenez (08:09):
Yes, and this is important because the
biological terrain is, I thinkit's everything, right?
We're born with a healthyterrain, and as we go through
life and we get a little olderand we're exposed to toxins,
that terrain becomes toxic.
And this is why I always saythat cancer is truly.
(08:30):
An opportunistic disease, as aremany other health challenges.
So when we're fasting on aphysical level, biologically,
what we're doing is simply,let's remember three things.
One is autophagy, so that meansthat damage cells are able to
(08:50):
kill themselves.
And that's called program,program cell death.
Right?
Program cell.
That's what happens every secondof every day.
The challenge is when thosedamaged cells do not apoptosis,
which is the medical word,apoptosis, they don't apoptosis.
They can't repair themselves,and then they go rogue, and
(09:11):
that's what a cancer cell is.
So when we're fasting, we'reincreasing the body's ability to
apoptosis, to kill itselfautophagy.
The second aspect, which isrelated is mitophagy and that's
related to the mitochondria.
We might think simply that themitochondria is the energy pack
(09:33):
of the cell producing A P T, theenergy of the cell.
For example, the heart is richin mitochondria.
Thousands of mitochondrias inthe heart, maybe hundreds of
thousands.
The brain, each of the vitalorgans, the liver, the lung, the
brain, the kidneys full ofmitochondria.
Of course the muscles.
(09:54):
So when we are fasting, weagain, are able to apoptosis
those mitochondrias that aredamaged or dysfunctional for
many reasons, right?
Nutritional deficiencies,toxicity, pathogens, parasites,
negative thoughts.
I was quoted as saying yearsago, A negative thought can kill
(10:15):
you faster than a bad germ,right?
So that's so important.
So we have autophagy.
We have mitophagy.
And another very important thatforms that trifecta that I
talked about.
The three points is stem cellproduction.
And so when we're fasting, ourbody is regenerating stem cell
(10:37):
production, and these arehealthy stem cell that help
repair, regenerate, and restoretissues.
And in doing that, we're goingto have a healthier immune
system.
Our endocrine or hormone systemis going to be more optimal.
So then the question is, howlong should we fast?
(10:58):
Right?
And I guess I'm asking yourquestions.
I'm not sure.
Ivelisse Page (11:03):
I was just gonna ask you that.
Dr. Tony Jimenez (11:04):
Okay.
So when we when we fast, let'ssay for eight hours.
And that's when the body turnsto glycogen reserves, these are
glucose is stored as glycogen,mainly in the liver.
So a fast of about eight hours,it turns to that glycogen
reserve to enable the liver andthe muscles to release that
(11:28):
glycogen and get energy.
But the point, the mostimportant part of fasting is
when we're over 12 hours.
When we're over a 12 hour,that's when the body starts
burning excess fat reserves andforms ketones.
And then this is the body's wayto use these ketones instead of
(11:49):
glucose to produce energy.
So we think, wow, I'm fasting.
Am I going to have less energy?
On the contrary, you're gonnahave energy that is more useful,
you're gonna burn fats andyou're going to increase muscle
tone as well.
So it's kind of a lot of thingshappening at the same time.
But for example, in mysituation, I eat with an eight
(12:14):
hour window, right?
I have my first meal at about10, 10:30 AM and then my last
meal about six, 6:30 PM And soI'm intermittently fasting every
day from let's say, 7:00 PM.
To 10:00 AM and that's what,that's 15 hours.
(12:35):
So when you get to 12, between12 and 16 hours of fasting, it's
brilliant.
It's amazing how the body isrecovering, repairing and
regenerating, and seven, eightof those hours you're sleeping
anyway.
So it's a way that we can all,you know, achieve this.
And I might say that fasting ina cancer patient or someone has
(12:59):
a an acute, you know diseaseprocess that they're going to
have time.
We have to be very careful andyou should not do these fast
unless your medical provider,you know, is guiding you and
you're walking through this withhim or her.
And so if that is yoursituation, you know, we could
(13:20):
fast from other things.
We could fast from tv, we couldfast from social media, we could
fast from our spouses.
No, that's just kidding.
But you know, there's other waysthat we could fast to get these
physical and mental healthbenefits.
So we're also supportingdetoxification pathways.
(13:41):
Right.
Detoxification pathways, whichis the skin purging, the
kidneys, the bowels, negativethoughts because that's when the
spiritual aspect of fastingcomes into play.
And I wrote something here thatI want to make sure I mention
that.
(14:01):
It's when we fast, we needself-control.
And we need discipline, right?
And when we do this especiallyin, in, in chronic disease, in
cancer patients wonderful thingshappen.
But I must say, be careful, youknow, be medically guided.
Getting medical guidance isspecifically if you are going
(14:22):
through, you know, an acutephase because we don't want to
deplete nutrients either, right?
So for example, in our stagefour cancer patients or patients
that are very compromised we'revery careful with
recommendations to fast, withrespect to food.
But as I said, right, there'smany other ways that we can fast
(14:43):
as well.
Ivelisse Page (14:44):
Yeah, and you know, and I think it's like you
said it exactly right, that ifyou're listening to this and you
are a cancer patient, that issomething that you have to make
sure you're doing alongside ofyour medical practitioner that's
helping you because yeah, youwanna make sure that you're
doing it at the right times thatis gonna be best for your body.
For someone who's not in acancering process and may just
(15:06):
have a chronic illness, what areyour recommendations as far as
fasting besides the eatingwindow?
Do you recommend, you know, someof, some people are doing those
three day water fasts or thingslike that to once a month?
Or what are your recommendationsfor others?
Dr. Tony Jimenez (15:24):
Yeah, it's always individualized and
personalized.
We're blessed at Hope ForCancer, that we have a
nutritionist on board.
And so whether it's for ourwellness program, we also have a
wellness center in our Cancunfacility.
So, whether it's for wellness,whether it's cancer patients or
other autoimmune diseasepatients, it's really
(15:45):
individualized.
I'm not evading the question,but the general recommendation
is that we have to figure out,you have to figure out what
works for you.
And today, interestingly enough,right?
It's good Friday.
Yes.
And the Catholics, they canconsider fasting today till
Sunday, resurrection day.
And then start with water andtea and see how you do, add some
(16:10):
electrolytes or minerals orlittle sea salt to your water.
And be careful and follow yourbody, right.
Don't push it too much becausethat stress on the body can not
always is beneficial.
With respect to cancer patients,I don't like prolonged fast in
general.
The shorter, fast can be verybeneficial, but always
(16:32):
individualizing listening toyour body and then taking it a
step at a time.
Ivelisse Page (16:38):
Yeah.
What are some of the keyphysical markers, like in blood
sugar or inflammation levelsthat you see improve with
consistent fasting practices?
Dr. Tony Jimenez (16:48):
Yes, that's true.
It's we know that cancer let'smake it simplified, four factors
in cancer.
All cancers are inflammatoryconditions.
They're low oxygen conditions,they are acidic conditions and
low temperature.
So when we're looking atinflammatory parameters like C
(17:10):
reactive protein and somethingcalled sed rate, or we could get
a little bit more complex and dointerleukin 6(IL-6), but C
reactive protein and sed rateare two basic fundamental
inflammatory markers that weshould all h ave periodically,
and if you're in the cancerhealing journey, more often than
(17:33):
not.
And so we see that in fasting,these inflammatory markers
decrease, which is what we wantto see.
And also sometimes we've seencancer markers.
For example, in colon cancer,which you're very familiar with
there's that CEA markercarcinoembryonic antigen.
There's another marker thatcross reacts with colon cancer.
(17:56):
It's not typically considered acolon cancer marker as the CA
19-9 and that's typically forpancreatic cancer.
But we have seen in many of ourcolon cancer patients that we
monitor, the CA 19-9, so wecould see shifts in those
markers as well.
That is beautiful.
(18:16):
And when you're fasting,consider, you know, walking a
little bit, doing oxygen thebreathing that we talked about
first.
So this is going to increasethat second factor in cancer
with low oxygen.
We want to increase oxygenstores and then we become less
acidic when we're fasting,right?
(18:37):
And hopefully then if we arecareful and maybe integrate near
infrared sauna.
We could increase temperaturealso because eight out of 10
cancer patients have lowtemperature.
If we consider 98.6 Fahrenheitor 37 degrees Celsius being the
normal body temperature.
(18:58):
We have patients that are adegree, and a half, two,
sometimes even three degreeslower, and this favors a cancer
situation or further metastasisor progression of the disease.
Ivelisse Page (19:11):
Yes.
And what is the average numberyou know, that you want someone
CRP to be or the sedimentationrate to be?
Yes.
What is like a good number toshoot for?
Dr. Tony Jimenez (19:22):
Yeah.
It depends on the lab.
They have different normalranges, but typically a zero to
five.
And if we do the highsensitivity C-reactive protein,
H-S-C-R-P, that could be zero toone.
So ideally and optimally Iprefer one or below.
Right.
Ivelisse Page (19:43):
Okay.
Yes.
Okay.
That's great.
So the spiritual benefits offasting, you know, you've
traveled to over 70 countrieslearning about healing.
How have you seen the spiritualpart of fasting practiced across
different cultures andtraditions?
Dr. Tony Jimenez (19:59):
That's a good question because for example, I
was looking at a book calledFasting for Spiritual
Breakthrough, which I recommendfor anyone is The Nine Biblical
Fasts.
And they talk about theDiscipline Fast.
It's freeing yourself and othersfrom addictions to sin, like
pornography, unhealthy thoughtsand so forth.
There's the Paul Fast and thatthat's to bring clearer
(20:22):
perspective and insight incritical decision making.
And this is interesting becausein two weeks I'm going to follow
the steps of Paul.
I'm going to Turkey and Greece,so I'll think about this Paul
Fast and there's the Daniel Fastand there's many other biblical
fasts.
But if we look at differentfaiths and denominations we know
(20:44):
that every faith, whether it isthe Jewish faith, you know, even
Buddhist and all the differentfaiths, the Muslim fasting is in
embedded in their faith.
So, and why is that?
Is because fasting redirectsyour focus from the earthly, to
the Godly, to the creator,right?
(21:06):
And you gain, you gain like aspiritual clarity of thought,
spiritual clarity of thought.
And what does this mean?
This means that, wow, now Icould hear the voice of God,
clearer, right?
I had a, I have a story.
We had a patient, he wasoriginally from Brazil, lived
(21:26):
now in the LA, California area,and he's in our Tijuana
treatment center.
And the assigned doctor said,Dr.
Tony, this patient wants to talkto you.
And I said, oh, let me see thechart.
And he said, no, he doesn't wantto talk to you about anything
medical.
And I'm like, okay.
So I went to his room and hestarts crying as soon as I walk
(21:47):
in and he says, thank you, Dr.
Tony.
I'm like, what happened?
He said, well, I thought myheavenly father doesn't, didn't
love me anymore, that he hadabandoned me.
And I asked him, why is this?
And he says, well, I've kind ofbeen doing a lot of bad stuff.
And he started to name all thebad stuff he is been doing.
And then he said, here, at thistreatment center, I heard God
(22:11):
speak to me and he said fourwords.
And those four words were, son,I love you.
And that for him maybe this isnot about fasting, but it's a
powerful story when we have thatclarity that clear mind and
we're fasting and then we're, wecould hear God's voice clearly,
(22:35):
right?
Yes.
And for this patient that madeall the difference for him, he
actually told me, you know what,doctor Tony, it doesn't matter
what happens to the canceranymore.
Because now I know that myheavenly father hasn't abandoned
me because he loves me, heforgives me, and I am created in
(22:55):
his image.
And so thankfully he did do wellwith the cancer and became
cancer free, NED.
So that's another aspect, right?
When we are fasting and we're inthat spiritual wellness that the
can see, we're in a highvibratory state.
(23:15):
The resonance, the frequencywhen we're in this fasting and
we're, when we're close to ourspiritual self and our creator,
the cancer's like, oh, you know,this is light.
I'm dark.
I can't coexist in thisenvironment.
So great things happen.
But I did make a list of fourspiritual benefits of fasting,
(23:37):
and number one is it deepens thespiritual connection.
So I'm saying these ashighlights for all your viewers.
Believe Big, right?
So one is it deepens yourspiritual connection.
Two is it cultivates patienceand self-control.
How many times in your life andin your healing, which I believe
(23:58):
now it's been what, 17 years?
Ivelisse Page (24:01):
15, right?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yes.
Dr. Tony Jimenez (24:04):
Of being cancer free and having to have
that patience and self-control,whether it's to fast or get on
the, you know, continue yourgood nutrition program, and I
commend you, and I'm so proud ofyou because you continue to be
proactive and to take care ofyourself in all aspects of that.
And number three of thespiritual benefits of fasting,
(24:27):
it promotes gratitude.
And again, that wordmindfulness, right?
When we're taking that breath,we're having that spiritual
connection.
So, it gives us like a hungerand a thirst that goes beyond
the physical and goes to thatdeeper sense of gratitude, that
deeper sense of peace, and to goto the ultimate source of love,
(24:53):
which is the Lord our God ourcreator.
And if you look at a chart ofenergy and on my on going, let's
say from right to left on theright, we have shame, which is
the lowest frequency emotion.
And as we go from right to left,we're going to the ultimate
(25:15):
highest frequency, which islove, which is God.
And so, and that can only hapnot only, but you know, in
mindfulness and that breath andthat slowing down.
And then number four for thespiritual benefits of fasting is
it encourages reflection andclarity.
(25:36):
Because I see that a lotpatients don't really understand
or people don't understand,like, why did I have this
cancer?
Why does this happen?
Or why me God.
So during this fasting and thespiritual benefit of encouraging
reflection, unity with ourcreator and clarity that God did
(25:57):
not give you this cancer,because, believe it or not, I
have had patients tell me thatwhen they asked their
oncologist, Hey, doc, why did Iget diagnosed with this cancer?
I have a loving spouse.
My kids are wonderful.
I love my work.
I eat good, I exercise, and theoncologist has told some of my
(26:18):
patients, God gave it to you.
And I'm like, oh, really?
That's the furthest thing fromthe truth, right?
So, so those are my four bigtopics or benefits of spiritual
fa the spiritual fasting aspect.
Ivelisse Page (26:32):
So what do you tell patients that have their
oncologists or others have saidthat God gave you this cancer,
you know, what is your advice tothem or what is your insight as
a man of faith as to why thiscancering process was occurring?
If they're eating well and youknow, they have a loving family
and all the things that theymentioned to you.
Dr. Tony Jimenez (26:54):
Yes.
First of all, I have to takethat idea out of their brain
because, you know, the doctorswith the white coats and all the
degrees in their wall, you know,they're, sometimes you patients
believe them, every single word.
So the first thing is to firstassure them that God is all
loving, all good.
(27:15):
And he will never do that.
And disease and cancer is not ofGod, right?
Secondly is that we have to digdeep into what is, what are the
potential reasons.
It's not bad luck, it's notgenetic.
Two, only 2.5 to 5% of allcancers are truly genetic in
(27:38):
nature.
So when the oncologist asks youor asks you, well, did your
father, your mother, your uncle,your sister, your aunt have
cancer?
And you say, yes.
Then they tell you that's whyyou had it.
But if you say no, they scratchyour head and that's when things
crazy things comes out like, oh,it's bad luck.
(27:59):
Because now they figured it'snot genetic and so it's bad luck
or God gave it to you.
Or I have patients say, you didsomething to deserve it.
Right.
So it's not about that.
So to answer your question, andit's the topic of my first book,
Hope For Cancer, that youmentioned, Seven Key Principles
to Remove Fear and Empower YourHealing.
(28:20):
And all you have to do is openit.
And on the top here are theseven key principles.
And so we have to dig deep intothis.
One of them is emotional andspiritual, and that's my third
book coming out later this yearis Emotions in Cancer.
And we have a program calledBEST Program, BEST, which stands
(28:42):
for Behavioral, Emotional andSpiritual Transformation.
And so we have to go deep, andlook at the emotional, the
traumas, the conflicts, becauselike, like the question, right?
We have patients that are NFLcheerleaders, they're fit,
they're healthy, they're happy,great relationships, and then
(29:04):
breast cancer, right?
So then we have to look atemotional component and it's
even biblical.
It could be even threegenerations from the person.
And so is it from coming fromtraumas and conflict, we see a
lot of sexual abuse in patientswith breast cancer, for example.
(29:24):
A lot of territorial conflictsin the family with respect to
bladder cancer.
So it depends where the canceris located.
And then we track.
And they do chronology ofconflicts and trauma in life.
And the beauty is when theperson becomes aware of this,
(29:46):
then the letting go process isso amazingly powerful and cancer
doesn't have a reason to be.
And I've seen, I mean, Icouldn't believe it unless, you
know, only when I see it becausethey didn't teach this to us in
medical school when tumors cango away like that.
And I have hundreds of examplesthat I've seen throughout the
(30:08):
years of when we let go of thatunresolved traumatic shock
experience that we did not havea solution to that are still
there.
But when we let go of that.
It's amazing what could happen.
It's almost like miraculous.
And I always say buriedfeelings, never die.
(30:30):
So I encourage everyonelistening to this Believe Big
podcast and others that you'vedone to really do an
introspective analysis and beobjective, right?
Without any bias.
Start writing down in a notepad,not on your computer, an iPad or
tablet.
Stuff in life, we all arecarrying stuff, right?
(30:51):
And we need to remove that.
Forgive, let it go and heal.
And that's when the true healingeven takes like a quantum leap
instead of healing slowly wecould take quantum leaps in our
healing and it's so, it's sogratifying to see that the
patients that do this work.
(31:12):
They reap the benefits.
So you have a tough guy fromMontana or Wyoming or Texas
where I live, or Colorado, whereyou live and you know, you come
in Hope For Cancer with cowboyboots and a hat and say, oh,
this is not for me.
Give yourself that benefit ofthe doubt.
Explore the emotionalcorrelation with cancer because
(31:34):
it's always there.
Believe Big (31:37):
We hope you're enjoying today's episode with
Dr.
Tony Jimenez.
This spring Believe Big is on amission to bring hope where it's
needed most, and with your helpthat hope can truly bloom.
Imagine hearing the words, yourchild has cancer.
For Jason and Melissa Jacobi,that nightmare became a reality
(31:58):
when their 2-year-old son Lucawas diagnosed with leukemia.
It's a moment no family shouldhave to face alone.
And because of supporters likeyou, they didn't.
Thanks to your generosity,Believe Big was able to stand
beside the Jacobis providingfinancial support, vital
education, and access tointegrative therapies that
(32:21):
brought light into their darkestdays.
This season, you can help HopeBloom again.
Your gift today becomes alifeline to families facing
cancer, bringing relief,healing, and strength when they
need it most.
To give simply text BELIEVEBIG(no spaces) to 5 3 5 5 5 on your
(32:43):
smartphone.
That's BELIEVEBIG to 5 3 5 5 5.
Thank you for Believing Big andhelping families like Luca's
find hope again.
Ivelisse Page (32:55):
Yes, I agree a hundred percent.
And proof of what you said, youknow, because 15 years ago I did
have stage four colon cancer andI realized that it, during that
season that there are a lot ofspiritual and emotional roots to
disease.
And in that case, for me it wasunforgiveness that I had and
even to God himself, you know,for losing my father and other
(33:19):
things that had happened in mypast.
But, even following my healthand organic foods and PEMF mats
and all the things that I haddone over the last, gosh, 13
years, up to two years ago whenI had gotten endometrial cancer.
Thankfully it was stage one A, Irealized that there was a big
(33:39):
piece missing and I was puttingso much importance into my
physical health that I was notreally focusing on that
emotional side and went toburnout, was burying things that
had hurt me, some betrayals inmy life and other things that I
didn't realize that all thosethings caused my cortisol level
(33:59):
to rise, caused my insulinlevels to rise, which allowed
cancer to have an opportunity togrow once again.
And this last time I really dugdeep into that emotional side
and like that mapping thatyou're talking about.
And it is just incredible todiscover things like you're
saying during this fasting time.
Time of quiet, solitude for Godto speak in and say.
(34:23):
It's time to release that layerof the onion that you've held
onto and let's peel the next oneAnd he's a gentle God, so it's
not like you have to do it allat one time, but I know that was
a huge factor in my healing andwhy I do think so differently
today to make sure that not onlymy physical health good, but my
emotional and my spiritualhealth is in good shape too.
(34:45):
So that we can walk in thatfreedom, we can walk in that
release and renewal each daythat, that the Lord has given
us.
So Dr.
Tony, thank you so much for allof these nuggets of wisdom that
you shared today.
And I wanted to ask you, whendoes your emotional healing book
come out?
Dr. Tony Jimenez (35:05):
That comes out in November of 2025 this year.
So, yeah, look out for that.
And maybe I could close becauseI wanna give everyone a few tips
for fasting.
Yes.
And yes, I would love that oneis plan your fast.
And first of all, this fast isfor you.
It's not something, you know,you have to tell everyone on
(35:27):
social media or Facebook.
This is your time and this isyour opportunity to, to promote
healing and wellness.
So plan your fast.
Consider your schedule, right?
Consider your schedule.
Tell only the people that youmust, like I mentioned.
Wean yourself, if you're acoffee drinker, start weaning
(35:47):
yourself of caffeine.
I believe caffeine is somethingthat we should all consider
stopping.
Interestingly, I was born inColumbia, South America.
And I don't like coffee.
I don't like the taste ofcoffee.
I don't like the smell ofcoffee.
Contrary to my wife, she doesstill have like half a cup in
the morning.
But wean yourself off caffeinebecause again the caffeine gives
(36:10):
brings you to that sympatheticdominant cortisol high, you
know, state.
And then the next is disconnectyourself from distraction.
Even if it's a food fast or youknow you are doing a water fast,
disconnect yourself fromdistraction.
I was blessed two, three weeksago to take a trip with my
family to the Dominican Republicand I said, you know, I got into
(36:32):
the hotel room and I put myphone in the safe.
And I didn't take it out till wewere going to the airport on our
way back home.
So disconnect yourself fromdistraction.
Be aware of your emotions.
So this is a time during fast toreflect and have the clarity and
see these emotions come out soyou could release them, let them
(36:54):
go as you're talking about,right?
And get enough rest.
Don't push the body too much,right?
Your body will tell you and getenough rest and keep yourself
physically active.
As I mentioned before, shortwalks or if it's longer walks
for you, it's very individualand personalized.
And then lastly the tips forfasting.
(37:16):
Again, as we started, be stilland focus on God.
Ivelisse Page (37:21):
I love it.
Thank you Dr.
Tony so much.
And maybe in the fall, once yourbook comes out on emotional
healing, that you could come onand share your wisdom about that
topic as well.
But thank you for taking time.
I know you're super busy and Iknow that this POS podcast is
gonna be a great encouragementto all those who listen.
Dr. Tony Jimenez (37:40):
Thank you for having me, and I look forward to
being back when the Emotions inCancer book comes out, blessing
everyone.
Keep up.
Remember, cancer is not a deathword.
It's an opportunity to stop, bestill, get closer to God and
heal and what better examplethan you and Believe Big.
(38:02):
Thank you so much.
Ivelisse Page (38:10):
If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to
help support our podcast, pleasesubscribe and share it with
others.
Be sure to visit believebig.orgto access the show notes and
discover our bonus content.
Thanks again and keep BelievingBig!
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