July 16, 2025 • 32 mins
At 59, after losing 50 pounds and battling aggressive cancer, I'm healthier now than I was a year ago. My journey began 40 years ago when I rejected the medicines that never made me feel better and started exploring natural alternatives. Today, I'm sharing what holistic health truly means—far beyond just "natural" approaches.
Holistic health integrates all dimensions of wellbeing: physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual. Your physical foundation starts with nutrition (food is either helping or hurting you), but there's no universal diet—each person must discover what works for their unique body. Regular movement, quality sleep, and preventative care complete this foundation. Meanwhile, mental health requires stress management through mindfulness, meditation, and breathwork, while cognitive wellbeing demands actively challenging your mind rather than mindless scrolling.
The emotional dimension involves recognizing unhealthy relationships and raising your standards—I've learned that my peace is non-negotiable. Socially, we thrive with strong community connections, as the longest-lived populations worldwide demonstrate. Spiritually, whether through religious practice or simply connecting to something larger than yourself, this dimension provides purpose and meaning.
True holistic health means creating an integrated lifestyle where these elements work together harmoniously. It means becoming your own health advocate, journaling to track what works for you, and designing a personalized program that addresses your unique needs. While some health issues arise from factors beyond our control, most stem from our choices and habits.
Ready to transform your approach to health? Subscribe to this podcast, where we dive deep into these topics with expert guests who share their wisdom and real-life experiences. Together, we're building a community dedicated to true wellness—join us on this journey to complete health.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Well, hello and welcome back to the Healthy
Living Podcast.
I'm your host, joe Grumbine,and today we're going to talk
about holistic and what it meansand how we look at it as an
approach to finding health and ahealthy lifestyle.
But first I've gotten a lot ofquestions that are kind of
(00:24):
reasonable, as this is a podcastthat a lot of new people listen
to, and you know the firstquestion is well, who the hell
are you and why should I listento you?
And so I'm going to introducemyself.
We're coming up on our 250thepisode, so there's a lot of
good content that covers a widerange of topics.
But my name is Joe Grumbine.
(00:46):
I'm a 59-year-old male and Igrew up, raised by a surgeon and
I had a chronic lung diseaseand went through a life of
medicine Western allopathicmedicine and treatments, and
when I hit my 20s I was over it.
(01:08):
I never liked the way themedicine made me feel and I
began a journey studying naturalmedicine and I didn't go to
school.
You know, this is back in the80s, so there wasn't any
internet, there wasn't anycomputers, but I did go to a lot
of bookstores and got a bunchof old books and started reading
and growing plants and makingconcoctions and testing them out
(01:33):
year after year, and that was,you know, 40 years ago.
And, uh, and now I considermyself a bit of an herbalist.
I have a company called WillowCreek Springs that for the last
26 years we've been makingnatural skin care products and
(01:54):
herbal remedies, and I do customwork.
I formulate all different kindsof compounds, including CBD,
cannabinoids and all sorts ofingredients, and I have
ultimately come up with aformula that healed my lung
disease.
(02:15):
And about eight years ago myfather passed away and he was
only 70 and he had heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, he was
overweight, had sleep apnea, hehad a lot of issues that
(02:36):
contributed to his death andfrankly, looking back, I'd say
they were all avoidable.
Um, I believe he'd probablystill be here today if he had
taken care of himself a littlebetter.
And I got that wake up call andI looked at myself in the
mirror and I said, well, I'mgoing to be him if I don't do
something different.
So I went down a journey thatstarted out with weight loss and
(03:01):
diet changed and startedstudying Dr Gundry and his
approach, removed lectins frommy diet and started looking at
what my food eats and pickingbetter food and growing more
food.
So we have a two and a halfacre botanical garden and a
(03:26):
small farm and we grow a lot ofvegetables and more and more.
We have a nonprofit that offerstherapeutic horticulture and
education.
So we're living this life andteaching people and growing the
food and I believe it's makingan impact.
And I believe it's making animpact.
We believe that any therapeuticpractice, if done outdoors in
(03:49):
nature, is going to work betterand that's sort of our whole
concept of therapeutichorticulture.
Anyways, I lost 50 pounds.
That's before I was diagnosedwith squamous cell carcinoma,
very aggressive head and neckcancer.
That went down a horrible roadwith doctors.
I was told by one doctor that Iwas so healthy it couldn't be
(04:12):
cancer.
So I just kept going and toldmyself it'll go away.
And it kept going and I tell mystory through this podcast.
And I tell my story throughthis podcast.
Today the two primary tumorsare gone and I still have a
little activity in my two lymphnodes, but we don't know what it
(04:34):
is and I'm still in the processof solving this problem.
But I've discovered a lot ofgood information and I share a
lot of that here on the podcast.
So that's kind of who I am andwhy somebody might want to
listen to what I have to say.
I've walked the walk, I'velived the life and I'm healthier
(04:57):
today than I probably was ayear ago, and you know that's
after dealing with a veryaggressive, very nasty cancer
that wanted to kill me and cameand took me right to the edge,
anyways.
So today we have a lot of greatguests that come on the show
and we have subscriber content.
If you're interested in reallylistening to some of the juicy
(05:20):
details about real life storiesyou details about real life
stories we also appreciate, just, you know a couple of kind
words.
Share this with somebody, passit along.
I believe community is key inhealthy life and we're building
a great community right now.
If you're interested inparticipating as a guest, in
(05:48):
participating as a guest, get intouch with me, grumbinejoe at
gmailcom or leave a message inthe notes of the podcast.
So we're going to talk aboutholistic and a holistic approach
to healthy living today and alot of people don't really know
what that means and people thinkholistic is like natural or,
(06:09):
you know, not allopathic orherbal or whatever.
But the idea of holistic isthat it is a whole approach to
health mind, body, spirit andtaking into consideration all of
these elements, and so I justwant to walk through kind of
(06:30):
briefly some of the pillars andkey points about the holistic
approach to healthy living, andyou will notice we have many
episodes that go deep into anynumber of these topics and will
continue to do that.
I believe that's really wheregood information comes from
(06:50):
People sharing their real-lifestories.
That's where I've gotten a goodchunk of the good information
that I've gotten about my cancerand solving it.
It's come from groups of peoplethat are sharing similar
experiences.
So let's start off with theelements of a holistic approach
(07:12):
to healthy living.
The first we're going to lookat physical health.
You got a physical body, youhave physiology, you have the
quote unquote real world right.
You have arms and legs and aheart and lungs and all these
things that in the real worldneed to work in order for you to
be alive and be healthy, and sothere are pillars that we look
(07:37):
at that affect your physicalhealth, and again, I'm not going
to go deep into any of these,but I think one of the first and
foremost is nutrition.
Food is medicine.
What we're eating is eitherhelping us or hurting us.
I think there's a principlethat I follow that says it's
(07:58):
either getting you to your goalsor it's keeping you from it.
There really isn't anythingneutral, and food is very much
that way.
It's either helping you or it'sgetting in your way, and I
don't believe there's one dietthat everybody should follow.
We are so different in ourmakeup, in our metabolism, in
(08:20):
the way that we havesensitivities or not.
There's just so manydifferences from one human to
the next.
It's important for each of usto find our way, and that's we
talked about last week, aboutjournaling, and that's one good
way to find your way.
I encourage elimination diets.
(08:40):
So if you have a problem likeinflammation is a very common
problem many, many people have,and there's a lot of
inflammatory foods and you canjust start to remove foods that
are inflammatory, one at a time,until all of a sudden you go,
oh wow, I feel so much better.
It must have been this onething that I eliminated and I'm
(09:02):
sensitive to it.
There's also tests.
You can do blood tests andgenetic work and all kinds of
stuff, and I don't know a wholelot about that.
I'm beginning to explore thosethings, but paying attention and
the elimination diet, I think,is a great way to do that.
Generally, a rule of thumb isavoid processed foods and sugars
(09:25):
.
You know, eat more fruits andvegetables, and some people do
great on nuts and seeds andproteins and others maybe
shouldn't.
If you have cancer, I would sayyou do not want to eat proteins
and you want to be very, verycareful.
And if you have cancer andyou're not sure about a diet,
reach out to me.
I'll consult with you and helpyou and teach you what I've
(09:45):
learned, and I'm here to share awealth of information that has
truly saved my life, and I'mmore than glad to share that
with anybody.
Movement, physical activity,exercise that's definitely
another element.
The human body, I believe, wasmade to be in motion and I think
(10:08):
we rest way too much as a ruleand I think that causes a lot of
problems.
So, again, it's not even somuch of working out hard,
pumping iron, doing the hit,whatever.
It's more about moving, justmoving, and so that's an
(10:29):
important piece of the puzzle.
Again, there is not one answerfor everybody, and and I think
if there's any lesson that thispodcast teaches, is that you can
use the tools that we offerhere that share other people's
experiences and weigh them out,maybe try them.
(10:50):
But you know, don't assume thatbecause something worked for
somebody else that it's going towork for you.
But certainly if somethingworks for a lot of people, it's
worth giving it a try and maybeit will work for you.
But be your own advocate.
Get out there and fight foryour own health and then you'll
start to get it.
Fight for your own health andthen you'll start to get it.
(11:14):
The next one I would say wouldbe sleep.
Sleep is critical for healthand it's been one of my primary
pillars.
When the cancer was at itsworst, I wasn't able to sleep
because this tumor had gotten sobig, it was stretching my skin
to the point of breaking and itwas hurting so bad that I
couldn't get more than an hour,hour and a half of sleep at a
(11:35):
time, and so I was just raggedand it was very difficult and
the sleep was a big part of it.
So now as I'm recovering andgaining my strength back, I take
naps.
Whenever I feel it, I feel alittle tired, I go lay down and
I take a nap.
I believe that that isinstrumental in my body's
(11:56):
restoring itself.
Preventative care that's anotherelement and that can have to do
with you know, going andgetting regular screenings.
Some people it meansvaccinations, other other people
it means an herbal regimen,working with practitioners,
(12:17):
having somebody else look at you.
A lot of times you can't seeyour whole body very well.
Number one and we get used tolittle things.
Number two and we ignore littlethings a lot.
And so when you have somebodywho doesn't know you and all
your little nuances, with yourskin especially, they might spot
something that you wouldoverlook.
(12:37):
And even checking things likerange of motion and things like
that, or a trainer or apractitioner, a chiropractor,
acupuncturist or a physician,might recognize an issue that
you might just brush under therug.
So preventative care, I think,is important.
There's other minor elements,but I think those constitute
(13:02):
some of the primary pillars.
The next many of us kind ofignore that.
I think we tell ourselveseverything's okay.
I think we tell ourselves thatwe can handle whatever comes our
(13:23):
way more than anything, and wetolerate levels of stress and
issues that might be problematicand might be better looked at,
but we gloss them over and say,oh, I'm okay, I don't need any
help.
So working on reducing stressis critical.
(13:46):
Stress comes from so manydifferent places and there's so
many simple tools to identifyand remove stress.
So things like mindful training, mindfulness exercises,
meditation, breath work,journaling there's so many tools
that can work on reducingstress.
(14:09):
And that's not even gettinginto the use of ethnobotanicals,
plant medicine and ceremoniesand things like that retreats.
That's all part of stressreduction.
So I think that's one of themost important pieces of the
(14:30):
puzzle and remember, that'swhere most people's addictions
come from is, you know, you tryto take the edge off the day.
So you take a drink, smoke someweed, take a little ketamine
whatever your poison is andinstead of looking at the issue
and reconciling it and walkingthrough it, making good with it
(14:50):
or solving it and walkingthrough it, making good with it
or solving it we just kind ofcover it up and brush it over
and keep walking.
The problem with that issometimes the crutch that we use
becomes its own problem.
Sometimes we bury so manythings that they just find their
way back.
There's all kinds of reasonswhy dealing with your stress in
(15:14):
real time, in real ways, isimportant Cognitive well-being.
We get lazy, we get lostscrolling watching videos,
having mindless conversations,gossiping, just brainless shit,
and putting your mind to work isdifficult and a lot of people
(15:36):
don't want to deal with it.
But playing difficult gameslike chess or you know some
strategy type games, or readingnot just listening to audio
books uh, writing, uh working onpuzzles, uh learning something
new there's so many ways toactivate and and keep your brain
(16:00):
moving, but just remember, ifyou don't use it, you start to
lose it.
Um, mental resilience.
I think that sometimes we getbeat down.
We have relationships that areunhealthy and we allow them to
take from us more than they give.
We surround ourselves withpeople that are vampires or
(16:24):
narcissists or you know whateverthe latest term is, but just
toxic people, predators there's,you know.
Good people are generally notaggressive and not toxic, so
they can become easy marks forpeople that are seeking that
(16:45):
kind of prey, if you will.
So, participating in acommunity I think that that's
one of the things that we'redoing here with this podcast,
with Gardens of Hope.
Even Willow Creek Springs iscreating a community where
people have a place where theyfeel safe, people that they can
(17:06):
talk to, that they know they'renot going to be judged, those
sorts of things.
I think that's important and Ithink that and surrounding
yourself with a good group ofpeople, a good family, a good
(17:30):
community, you'll set a barwhere you won't allow anything
less after a while and it can bevery, very helpful, all right.
Next we've got emotional health,and that's a little different
from mental health but it'ssimilar in some ways.
(17:50):
But we are emotional creaturesand we're triggered by emotions.
People make decisions based onemotions.
We start and end relationshipsbased on emotions and I think
(18:14):
it's important to get in touchwith this and realize you know
what they are and the power thatthey might wield or not, and
the power you give them and thatbrings to you know, having
healthy relationships.
I think that a lot of timespeople will prefer to have a
relationship, even if it's apoor one, than no relationship,
(18:37):
and sometimes we lower ourstandards and we pick up
somebody riding the bus or atthe bar or wherever, the person
that reaches out to you quickestand easiest, and a lot of times
those are the most messed uppeople.
In fact, more often than notthey're the most messed up
people and sometimes it worksout great.
(18:59):
But once you get one good,healthy and supportive and just
healthy, you will probably raisethe bar and rather have a few
good relationships than a ton ofmediocre or poor ones.
(19:21):
So I think that's reallyimportant.
Self-care, you know, that wasone of the things that I became
aware of fairly recently is theimportance of loving yourself,
and you know I went my wholelife going.
Of course I love me.
You know I'm a good guy, I knowme and I am.
You know I'm worth it, all thatstuff.
But doing some energy work withFlorina Threehawk six or eight
(19:47):
months ago, six or eight monthsago she cut through some things
that got me to realize that Iwasn't giving myself the love
that I deserved.
And once I became aware of that, I've raised the bar.
I've changed the way things I'mwilling to accept.
I've made my peace the mostimportant thing in my life.
(20:08):
I don't let anything compromisemy peace anymore.
Then we've got social health.
Again, there's some overlaphere Relationships, community.
A lot of people will findthemselves sort of isolating as
(20:32):
we grow or as we are damaged,and we do it to protect ourself
or we just would rather havenothing than something.
That's lousy and there's somehealth to that.
But at at the end of the daywe're social creatures and the
most healthy people, the mostlong lived people have a strong
(20:54):
sense of community, and so, aswe're looking at healthy living,
we're not really designed to beloners and hermits.
Having a network of people,people that you can count on,
(21:18):
people that you can count onjust to talk to, or people that
you can count on to help youmove a couch if you need to, or
people that you can count on tojoin you if you're going to be,
you know, doing a thing and youwant there to be people there,
all of those things areimportant.
Next, we're going to get intospiritual health, and you know
(21:39):
this is a big word, right?
Spiritual it doesn'tnecessarily mean religious, and
you know I have a lot of peoplein my life that are very strong
opinioned about religion andspirit and God and names and
ways things have to be, andfrankly, I see a lot of it as
(22:00):
pretty judgy because we can'tunderstand our creator.
You know creator, you know, andmaybe when you get to yourself,
to a place where you go, Idon't know why anybody would
tell me that I have to do athing, a certain way in order to
get a certain thing, whennothing in life is that way and
when, if, if indeed, there is acreator which I certainly
(22:25):
believe there is, and thisCreator created everything,
including dimensions we can'teven see or understand or
participate in.
How on earth could we thinkthat we can know how we have to
be?
I'm not that arrogant myself,and so I have a lot of
(22:50):
understanding and I welcome alot of different spiritual
beliefs and I have my ownpersonal experience with my
creator and a very closerelationship, in my opinion.
So I won't judge you.
Maybe you don't judge me.
I think that would be great.
But also part of spiritualhealth comes down to values, and
(23:12):
I think that's where a lot ofthis really matters.
You know, I've seen a lot ofChristians and a lot of Muslims
and a lot of people of primaryfaiths that are just shitty
people and judgy people and justhypocrites and I think to
myself wow, if that's what yourreligion represents, I'm not
(23:36):
interested.
And so I'm probably not goingto ever fit anybody's mold of
the perfect Christian or theperfect Buddhist or the perfect
whatever, because I'm notperfect number one and I don't
necessarily find myself in aplace where I say, well, it's
this and not that, and I know myexperiences have been profound
(24:01):
and deep and I'm just going toconsider my walk with my creator
as my own spirituality, goingto consider my walk with my
creator as my own spirituality.
I think those spiritual health,if you really are dealing with
(24:22):
a healthy spirit, you're goingto be involved with mindfulness
and presence.
You know you walk around and alot of people are just spaced,
they're busy thinking aboutsomething else, they're not
engaged, they're not present,and I think that that's
indicative of all kinds ofthings and, first and foremost,
priorities.
And you know, if you can't bebothered to even look me in the
(24:44):
eye when you're talking to me ornot be doing something else
when we're having a conversation, then why are we doing it?
And I think that there's anelement of spirituality to that.
You know, honoring arelationship and being present
in a relationship's presence.
I think that's important.
I think a connection to naturetends to be a spiritual gift, a
(25:12):
spiritual tool.
I think nature providesconnection to spirit, to the
creator.
And you know people go oh, youcan't worship the creation.
Well, you don't have to worshipanything, but you can find
beauty and joy and healing inthe wonders of the natural world
(25:34):
and I believe that's importantand good.
And again, I really don't carewhat you think.
It's not for you to judge me.
You don't know me.
There's nobody knows me the wayI do, and especially not my
relationship to my Creator.
(25:56):
Lifestyle choices is anothertool for holistic approach and I
think a lot of that has to dowith choices about substances
that people ingest or putthemselves in contact with and
(26:18):
that could have to do with, youknow, living in a smoggy place,
alcohol and drugs, bad foodchoices, you know, I think
lifestyle choices hanging outwith people you know that are
toxic.
There's all of these lifestylechoices that we have a decision
(26:39):
over and I think that thataffects your overall well-being
and health.
Well-being and health, mindfulconsumption we are constantly
giving and receiving and we'regiving our thoughts and ideas
(27:04):
and opinions and we're receivingothers' thoughts and ideas and
opinions, and I think that a lotof times we squander, um the
content that we're receiving.
I think, you know, again,social media and scrolling and
endless videos and mindless shit.
Um, gossip again, I'll keepcoming up with it because I hate
gossip um all of these thingsthat a lot of people spend so
(27:27):
much time just watching tv.
For god's sake, you know, payattention to what you're putting
in your brain, what you'reexposing yourself to maybe limit
some of the negative newscoverage that you listen to,
maybe decide to read somethingdifficult and positive, maybe
(27:52):
engage in a conversation that isdeep and meaningful.
Those are things that you'llfind to be very rewarding and
very helpful in a holisticapproach.
(28:12):
A holistic approach and, finally, things like integrative
practices.
This has to do with alldifferent sorts of healing
modalities and it can beanything from you know massage,
acupuncture, herbs, yoga all ofthese things we're talking about
, but doing it with some kind ofa plan and creating a program
for you.
You know people that get lockedup.
(28:32):
They get with their program andit's sort of a routine or
politics of how things work andit allows them to function in a
very toxic and difficultenvironment.
But in real life, a program isalso helpful.
And creating your own programand being mindful about creating
(28:54):
your own personalized healthplan this is where journaling
comes in and really like decidewhat you want to do, make
choices that are going to affectyou the way you want to be
affected.
I think so many of us.
We find that we have a healthissue and sometimes we figure
(29:18):
out why.
Sometimes we don't.
But I think generally we are toblame for most of our health
issues.
Occasionally it's just a thingyou can't do anything about, or
a genetic problem, or you getbit by something or whatever.
But I think most of the time,our actions and practices and
choices affect the total outcomeof our health, and I believe
(29:40):
that is what a holistic approachis all about.
So this is just kind of a quickoverview, but I welcome anybody
who wants to come in and divedeep into any of these topics
and let's continue theconversation.
Thank you for everybody whosupported this and if you think
(30:00):
it's a good show, share it withsomebody and we will talk to you
next time.
Well, hello and welcome back to the Healthy
Living Podcast.
I'm your host, joe Grumbine,and today we're going to talk
about holistic and what it meansand how we look at it as an
approach to finding health and ahealthy lifestyle.
But first I've gotten a lot ofquestions that are kind of
(00:24):
reasonable, as this is a podcastthat a lot of new people listen
to, and you know the firstquestion is well, who the hell
are you and why should I listento you?
And so I'm going to introducemyself.
We're coming up on our 250thepisode, so there's a lot of
good content that covers a widerange of topics.
But my name is Joe Grumbine.
(00:46):
I'm a 59-year-old male and Igrew up, raised by a surgeon and
I had a chronic lung diseaseand went through a life of
medicine Western allopathicmedicine and treatments, and
when I hit my 20s I was over it.
(01:08):
I never liked the way themedicine made me feel and I
began a journey studying naturalmedicine and I didn't go to
school.
You know, this is back in the80s, so there wasn't any
internet, there wasn't anycomputers, but I did go to a lot
of bookstores and got a bunchof old books and started reading
and growing plants and makingconcoctions and testing them out
(01:33):
year after year, and that was,you know, 40 years ago.
And, uh, and now I considermyself a bit of an herbalist.
I have a company called WillowCreek Springs that for the last
26 years we've been makingnatural skin care products and
(01:54):
herbal remedies, and I do customwork.
I formulate all different kindsof compounds, including CBD,
cannabinoids and all sorts ofingredients, and I have
ultimately come up with aformula that healed my lung
disease.
(02:15):
And about eight years ago myfather passed away and he was
only 70 and he had heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, he was
overweight, had sleep apnea, hehad a lot of issues that
(02:36):
contributed to his death andfrankly, looking back, I'd say
they were all avoidable.
Um, I believe he'd probablystill be here today if he had
taken care of himself a littlebetter.
And I got that wake up call andI looked at myself in the
mirror and I said, well, I'mgoing to be him if I don't do
something different.
So I went down a journey thatstarted out with weight loss and
(03:01):
diet changed and startedstudying Dr Gundry and his
approach, removed lectins frommy diet and started looking at
what my food eats and pickingbetter food and growing more
food.
So we have a two and a halfacre botanical garden and a
(03:26):
small farm and we grow a lot ofvegetables and more and more.
We have a nonprofit that offerstherapeutic horticulture and
education.
So we're living this life andteaching people and growing the
food and I believe it's makingan impact.
And I believe it's making animpact.
We believe that any therapeuticpractice, if done outdoors in
(03:49):
nature, is going to work betterand that's sort of our whole
concept of therapeutichorticulture.
Anyways, I lost 50 pounds.
That's before I was diagnosedwith squamous cell carcinoma,
very aggressive head and neckcancer.
That went down a horrible roadwith doctors.
I was told by one doctor that Iwas so healthy it couldn't be
(04:12):
cancer.
So I just kept going and toldmyself it'll go away.
And it kept going and I tell mystory through this podcast.
And I tell my story throughthis podcast.
Today the two primary tumorsare gone and I still have a
little activity in my two lymphnodes, but we don't know what it
(04:34):
is and I'm still in the processof solving this problem.
But I've discovered a lot ofgood information and I share a
lot of that here on the podcast.
So that's kind of who I am andwhy somebody might want to
listen to what I have to say.
I've walked the walk, I'velived the life and I'm healthier
(04:57):
today than I probably was ayear ago, and you know that's
after dealing with a veryaggressive, very nasty cancer
that wanted to kill me and cameand took me right to the edge,
anyways.
So today we have a lot of greatguests that come on the show
and we have subscriber content.
If you're interested in reallylistening to some of the juicy
(05:20):
details about real life storiesyou details about real life
stories we also appreciate, just, you know a couple of kind
words.
Share this with somebody, passit along.
I believe community is key inhealthy life and we're building
a great community right now.
If you're interested inparticipating as a guest, in
(05:48):
participating as a guest, get intouch with me, grumbinejoe at
gmailcom or leave a message inthe notes of the podcast.
So we're going to talk aboutholistic and a holistic approach
to healthy living today and alot of people don't really know
what that means and people thinkholistic is like natural or,
(06:09):
you know, not allopathic orherbal or whatever.
But the idea of holistic isthat it is a whole approach to
health mind, body, spirit andtaking into consideration all of
these elements, and so I justwant to walk through kind of
(06:30):
briefly some of the pillars andkey points about the holistic
approach to healthy living, andyou will notice we have many
episodes that go deep into anynumber of these topics and will
continue to do that.
I believe that's really wheregood information comes from
(06:50):
People sharing their real-lifestories.
That's where I've gotten a goodchunk of the good information
that I've gotten about my cancerand solving it.
It's come from groups of peoplethat are sharing similar
experiences.
So let's start off with theelements of a holistic approach
(07:12):
to healthy living.
The first we're going to lookat physical health.
You got a physical body, youhave physiology, you have the
quote unquote real world right.
You have arms and legs and aheart and lungs and all these
things that in the real worldneed to work in order for you to
be alive and be healthy, and sothere are pillars that we look
(07:37):
at that affect your physicalhealth, and again, I'm not going
to go deep into any of these,but I think one of the first and
foremost is nutrition.
Food is medicine.
What we're eating is eitherhelping us or hurting us.
I think there's a principlethat I follow that says it's
(07:58):
either getting you to your goalsor it's keeping you from it.
There really isn't anythingneutral, and food is very much
that way.
It's either helping you or it'sgetting in your way, and I
don't believe there's one dietthat everybody should follow.
We are so different in ourmakeup, in our metabolism, in
(08:20):
the way that we havesensitivities or not.
There's just so manydifferences from one human to
the next.
It's important for each of usto find our way, and that's we
talked about last week, aboutjournaling, and that's one good
way to find your way.
I encourage elimination diets.
(08:40):
So if you have a problem likeinflammation is a very common
problem many, many people have,and there's a lot of
inflammatory foods and you canjust start to remove foods that
are inflammatory, one at a time,until all of a sudden you go,
oh wow, I feel so much better.
It must have been this onething that I eliminated and I'm
(09:02):
sensitive to it.
There's also tests.
You can do blood tests andgenetic work and all kinds of
stuff, and I don't know a wholelot about that.
I'm beginning to explore thosethings, but paying attention and
the elimination diet, I think,is a great way to do that.
Generally, a rule of thumb isavoid processed foods and sugars
(09:25):
.
You know, eat more fruits andvegetables, and some people do
great on nuts and seeds andproteins and others maybe
shouldn't.
If you have cancer, I would sayyou do not want to eat proteins
and you want to be very, verycareful.
And if you have cancer andyou're not sure about a diet,
reach out to me.
I'll consult with you and helpyou and teach you what I've
(09:45):
learned, and I'm here to share awealth of information that has
truly saved my life, and I'mmore than glad to share that
with anybody.
Movement, physical activity,exercise that's definitely
another element.
The human body, I believe, wasmade to be in motion and I think
(10:08):
we rest way too much as a ruleand I think that causes a lot of
problems.
So, again, it's not even somuch of working out hard,
pumping iron, doing the hit,whatever.
It's more about moving, justmoving, and so that's an
(10:29):
important piece of the puzzle.
Again, there is not one answerfor everybody, and and I think
if there's any lesson that thispodcast teaches, is that you can
use the tools that we offerhere that share other people's
experiences and weigh them out,maybe try them.
(10:50):
But you know, don't assume thatbecause something worked for
somebody else that it's going towork for you.
But certainly if somethingworks for a lot of people, it's
worth giving it a try and maybeit will work for you.
But be your own advocate.
Get out there and fight foryour own health and then you'll
start to get it.
Fight for your own health andthen you'll start to get it.
(11:14):
The next one I would say wouldbe sleep.
Sleep is critical for healthand it's been one of my primary
pillars.
When the cancer was at itsworst, I wasn't able to sleep
because this tumor had gotten sobig, it was stretching my skin
to the point of breaking and itwas hurting so bad that I
couldn't get more than an hour,hour and a half of sleep at a
(11:35):
time, and so I was just raggedand it was very difficult and
the sleep was a big part of it.
So now as I'm recovering andgaining my strength back, I take
naps.
Whenever I feel it, I feel alittle tired, I go lay down and
I take a nap.
I believe that that isinstrumental in my body's
(11:56):
restoring itself.
Preventative care that's anotherelement and that can have to do
with you know, going andgetting regular screenings.
Some people it meansvaccinations, other other people
it means an herbal regimen,working with practitioners,
(12:17):
having somebody else look at you.
A lot of times you can't seeyour whole body very well.
Number one and we get used tolittle things.
Number two and we ignore littlethings a lot.
And so when you have somebodywho doesn't know you and all
your little nuances, with yourskin especially, they might spot
something that you wouldoverlook.
(12:37):
And even checking things likerange of motion and things like
that, or a trainer or apractitioner, a chiropractor,
acupuncturist or a physician,might recognize an issue that
you might just brush under therug.
So preventative care, I think,is important.
There's other minor elements,but I think those constitute
(13:02):
some of the primary pillars.
The next many of us kind ofignore that.
I think we tell ourselveseverything's okay.
I think we tell ourselves thatwe can handle whatever comes our
(13:23):
way more than anything, and wetolerate levels of stress and
issues that might be problematicand might be better looked at,
but we gloss them over and say,oh, I'm okay, I don't need any
help.
So working on reducing stressis critical.
(13:46):
Stress comes from so manydifferent places and there's so
many simple tools to identifyand remove stress.
So things like mindful training, mindfulness exercises,
meditation, breath work,journaling there's so many tools
that can work on reducingstress.
(14:09):
And that's not even gettinginto the use of ethnobotanicals,
plant medicine and ceremoniesand things like that retreats.
That's all part of stressreduction.
So I think that's one of themost important pieces of the
(14:30):
puzzle and remember, that'swhere most people's addictions
come from is, you know, you tryto take the edge off the day.
So you take a drink, smoke someweed, take a little ketamine
whatever your poison is andinstead of looking at the issue
and reconciling it and walkingthrough it, making good with it
(14:50):
or solving it and walkingthrough it, making good with it
or solving it we just kind ofcover it up and brush it over
and keep walking.
The problem with that issometimes the crutch that we use
becomes its own problem.
Sometimes we bury so manythings that they just find their
way back.
There's all kinds of reasonswhy dealing with your stress in
(15:14):
real time, in real ways, isimportant Cognitive well-being.
We get lazy, we get lostscrolling watching videos,
having mindless conversations,gossiping, just brainless shit,
and putting your mind to work isdifficult and a lot of people
(15:36):
don't want to deal with it.
But playing difficult gameslike chess or you know some
strategy type games, or readingnot just listening to audio
books uh, writing, uh working onpuzzles, uh learning something
new there's so many ways toactivate and and keep your brain
(16:00):
moving, but just remember, ifyou don't use it, you start to
lose it.
Um, mental resilience.
I think that sometimes we getbeat down.
We have relationships that areunhealthy and we allow them to
take from us more than they give.
We surround ourselves withpeople that are vampires or
(16:24):
narcissists or you know whateverthe latest term is, but just
toxic people, predators there's,you know.
Good people are generally notaggressive and not toxic, so
they can become easy marks forpeople that are seeking that
(16:45):
kind of prey, if you will.
So, participating in acommunity I think that that's
one of the things that we'redoing here with this podcast,
with Gardens of Hope.
Even Willow Creek Springs iscreating a community where
people have a place where theyfeel safe, people that they can
(17:06):
talk to, that they know they'renot going to be judged, those
sorts of things.
I think that's important and Ithink that and surrounding
yourself with a good group ofpeople, a good family, a good
(17:30):
community, you'll set a barwhere you won't allow anything
less after a while and it can bevery, very helpful, all right.
Next we've got emotional health,and that's a little different
from mental health but it'ssimilar in some ways.
(17:50):
But we are emotional creaturesand we're triggered by emotions.
People make decisions based onemotions.
We start and end relationshipsbased on emotions and I think
(18:14):
it's important to get in touchwith this and realize you know
what they are and the power thatthey might wield or not, and
the power you give them and thatbrings to you know, having
healthy relationships.
I think that a lot of timespeople will prefer to have a
relationship, even if it's apoor one, than no relationship,
(18:37):
and sometimes we lower ourstandards and we pick up
somebody riding the bus or atthe bar or wherever, the person
that reaches out to you quickestand easiest, and a lot of times
those are the most messed uppeople.
In fact, more often than notthey're the most messed up
people and sometimes it worksout great.
(18:59):
But once you get one good,healthy and supportive and just
healthy, you will probably raisethe bar and rather have a few
good relationships than a ton ofmediocre or poor ones.
(19:21):
So I think that's reallyimportant.
Self-care, you know, that wasone of the things that I became
aware of fairly recently is theimportance of loving yourself,
and you know I went my wholelife going.
Of course I love me.
You know I'm a good guy, I knowme and I am.
You know I'm worth it, all thatstuff.
But doing some energy work withFlorina Threehawk six or eight
(19:47):
months ago, six or eight monthsago she cut through some things
that got me to realize that Iwasn't giving myself the love
that I deserved.
And once I became aware of that, I've raised the bar.
I've changed the way things I'mwilling to accept.
I've made my peace the mostimportant thing in my life.
(20:08):
I don't let anything compromisemy peace anymore.
Then we've got social health.
Again, there's some overlaphere Relationships, community.
A lot of people will findthemselves sort of isolating as
(20:32):
we grow or as we are damaged,and we do it to protect ourself
or we just would rather havenothing than something.
That's lousy and there's somehealth to that.
But at at the end of the daywe're social creatures and the
most healthy people, the mostlong lived people have a strong
(20:54):
sense of community, and so, aswe're looking at healthy living,
we're not really designed to beloners and hermits.
Having a network of people,people that you can count on,
(21:18):
people that you can count onjust to talk to, or people that
you can count on to help youmove a couch if you need to, or
people that you can count on tojoin you if you're going to be,
you know, doing a thing and youwant there to be people there,
all of those things areimportant.
Next, we're going to get intospiritual health, and you know
(21:39):
this is a big word, right?
Spiritual it doesn'tnecessarily mean religious, and
you know I have a lot of peoplein my life that are very strong
opinioned about religion andspirit and God and names and
ways things have to be, andfrankly, I see a lot of it as
(22:00):
pretty judgy because we can'tunderstand our creator.
You know creator, you know, andmaybe when you get to yourself,
to a place where you go, Idon't know why anybody would
tell me that I have to do athing, a certain way in order to
get a certain thing, whennothing in life is that way and
when, if, if indeed, there is acreator which I certainly
(22:25):
believe there is, and thisCreator created everything,
including dimensions we can'teven see or understand or
participate in.
How on earth could we thinkthat we can know how we have to
be?
I'm not that arrogant myself,and so I have a lot of
(22:50):
understanding and I welcome alot of different spiritual
beliefs and I have my ownpersonal experience with my
creator and a very closerelationship, in my opinion.
So I won't judge you.
Maybe you don't judge me.
I think that would be great.
But also part of spiritualhealth comes down to values, and
(23:12):
I think that's where a lot ofthis really matters.
You know, I've seen a lot ofChristians and a lot of Muslims
and a lot of people of primaryfaiths that are just shitty
people and judgy people and justhypocrites and I think to
myself wow, if that's what yourreligion represents, I'm not
(23:36):
interested.
And so I'm probably not goingto ever fit anybody's mold of
the perfect Christian or theperfect Buddhist or the perfect
whatever, because I'm notperfect number one and I don't
necessarily find myself in aplace where I say, well, it's
this and not that, and I know myexperiences have been profound
(24:01):
and deep and I'm just going toconsider my walk with my creator
as my own spirituality, goingto consider my walk with my
creator as my own spirituality.
I think those spiritual health,if you really are dealing with
(24:22):
a healthy spirit, you're goingto be involved with mindfulness
and presence.
You know you walk around and alot of people are just spaced,
they're busy thinking aboutsomething else, they're not
engaged, they're not present,and I think that that's
indicative of all kinds ofthings and, first and foremost,
priorities.
And you know, if you can't bebothered to even look me in the
(24:44):
eye when you're talking to me ornot be doing something else
when we're having a conversation, then why are we doing it?
And I think that there's anelement of spirituality to that.
You know, honoring arelationship and being present
in a relationship's presence.
I think that's important.
I think a connection to naturetends to be a spiritual gift, a
(25:12):
spiritual tool.
I think nature providesconnection to spirit, to the
creator.
And you know people go oh, youcan't worship the creation.
Well, you don't have to worshipanything, but you can find
beauty and joy and healing inthe wonders of the natural world
(25:34):
and I believe that's importantand good.
And again, I really don't carewhat you think.
It's not for you to judge me.
You don't know me.
There's nobody knows me the wayI do, and especially not my
relationship to my Creator.
(25:56):
Lifestyle choices is anothertool for holistic approach and I
think a lot of that has to dowith choices about substances
that people ingest or putthemselves in contact with and
(26:18):
that could have to do with, youknow, living in a smoggy place,
alcohol and drugs, bad foodchoices, you know, I think
lifestyle choices hanging outwith people you know that are
toxic.
There's all of these lifestylechoices that we have a decision
(26:39):
over and I think that thataffects your overall well-being
and health.
Well-being and health, mindfulconsumption we are constantly
giving and receiving and we'regiving our thoughts and ideas
(27:04):
and opinions and we're receivingothers' thoughts and ideas and
opinions, and I think that a lotof times we squander, um the
content that we're receiving.
I think, you know, again,social media and scrolling and
endless videos and mindless shit.
Um, gossip again, I'll keepcoming up with it because I hate
gossip um all of these thingsthat a lot of people spend so
(27:27):
much time just watching tv.
For god's sake, you know, payattention to what you're putting
in your brain, what you'reexposing yourself to maybe limit
some of the negative newscoverage that you listen to,
maybe decide to read somethingdifficult and positive, maybe
(27:52):
engage in a conversation that isdeep and meaningful.
Those are things that you'llfind to be very rewarding and
very helpful in a holisticapproach.
(28:12):
A holistic approach and, finally, things like integrative
practices.
This has to do with alldifferent sorts of healing
modalities and it can beanything from you know massage,
acupuncture, herbs, yoga all ofthese things we're talking about
, but doing it with some kind ofa plan and creating a program
for you.
You know people that get lockedup.
(28:32):
They get with their program andit's sort of a routine or
politics of how things work andit allows them to function in a
very toxic and difficultenvironment.
But in real life, a program isalso helpful.
And creating your own programand being mindful about creating
(28:54):
your own personalized healthplan this is where journaling
comes in and really like decidewhat you want to do, make
choices that are going to affectyou the way you want to be
affected.
I think so many of us.
We find that we have a healthissue and sometimes we figure
(29:18):
out why.
Sometimes we don't.
But I think generally we are toblame for most of our health
issues.
Occasionally it's just a thingyou can't do anything about, or
a genetic problem, or you getbit by something or whatever.
But I think most of the time,our actions and practices and
choices affect the total outcomeof our health, and I believe
(29:40):
that is what a holistic approachis all about.
So this is just kind of a quickoverview, but I welcome anybody
who wants to come in and divedeep into any of these topics
and let's continue theconversation.
Thank you for everybody whosupported this and if you think
(30:00):
it's a good show, share it withsomebody and we will talk to you
next time.
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