An Interview With Chris Wark of Chris Beat Cancer
Cancer is scary and it’s running rampant in our culture. Most of us have had some experience with cancer, either we’ve known of somebody that has had it or had a more personal experience. The statistics surrounding this illness are staggering and diagnoses continue to increase. There are steps that can be taken to help improve your odds, but what if you’ve already been diagnosed with some type of cancer? That’s exactly what happened to our guest this week.
Meet Chris:
Chris Wark was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2003 at the age of 26. He underwent surgery to remove a tumor, but decided against the conventional route of chemotherapy. He radically changed his lifestyle and diet and through that hard work his body healed without harsh drugs. This week we talk with Chris about his journey from cancer to healing and the many lessons he learned along the way.
Some Topics We Discussed:
What is Chris’s cancer story? (2:24)
What food was served to Chris after his tumor removal that caused him to really start analyzing his health? (9:30)
What sort of dietary approach did Chris take through his treatment? (16:52)
What is the research on natural remedies for cancer? (23:58)
Building a healthcare team. (37:05)
Key Takeaways From This Episode:
“When you tell a patient, there's nothing they did is you're telling them that they're a victim of disease. Right? Nothing you did contributed to your disease. Therefore, there's nothing you can do to help yourself. You're a powerless victim. Your only hope is medical treatment.” (5:37)
There are thousands of studies that have determined different causes of cancer. (6:54)
Fear can either do one of two things: it can either paralyze you into inaction or it can motivate you into positive, massive life changing action. (19:29)
The money is made in treating the disease, not in curing the disease. (23:06)
You have to take responsibility for your life and health. You're not a victim of disease. Your choices matter. And the choices you make today can create health tomorrow. (28:22)
Products + Resources:
Chris Beat Cancer by Chris Wark
Beat Cancer Daily by Chris Wark
Get Social With Chris:
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Brian Strickland 00:14 Hey everyone welcome back to The Holistic Navigator podcast are we believe in the body's capacity for self healing if it's given the proper nutrients and care it deserves. Thank you so much for tuning in today. My name is Brian Strickland. I'm the producer of the show. And here with me in the studio, as always, is your host, Ed Jones. We are so excited about today's episode, and we're chatting with Chris Wark. And if you're not familiar with Chris, he's a cancer survivor, best selling author and patient advocate. In the last decade, Chris has become one of the most well known cancer survivors on the planet and reaches millions of people per year as a blogger, podcaster speaker and Global Health Coach through his social media and his website crispy cancer calm. We sit down with Chris to talk about his experience with cancer, how he use natural means of healing, and his new book beat cancer daily 365 days of inspiration, encouragement and action steps to survive in thrive. So let's get this episode started. Here is your host, Mr. Ed Jones.
Ed Jones 01:40 Thank you very much, Brian. And again, this is Ed with The Holistic Navigator. Today is one of those podcasts that I've actually kind of dreamed of and look forward to if it ever could come to fruition. I wasn't sure it could. But it did. And so I am honored to have I guess I will call him a real hero because I followed this gentleman for probably 15 years. And many of us know the title of kind of his slogan or his books: Chris Beat Cancer. Welcome Chris Wark from Chris Beat Cancer.
Chris Wark 02:14 Well, thanks a lot. Thanks for having me on.
Ed Jones 02:18 I know that it despite the fact a lot of people know have you heard of you, there's obviously people that haven't. So perhaps give a little bit of history, the fact that you had stage three colon cancer, and what went on because you were a young fellow, when this happened, I think about 26 years old, is that right?
Chris Wark 02:36 That's correct. I was 26 having abdominal pain. And hoped I had, you know, an ulcer or something that was, you know, not a big deal. But turns out after a series of doctor's appointments and tests, and eventually a colonoscopy, they found a golf ball sized tumor in my large intestine, which is also known as the colon. And, you know, most 26 year olds don't know what a colon is. I was definitely a part of that group. I thought it was a punctuation mark. But anyway, I learned very quickly. I got a crash course in cancer and what it's like to be a cancer patient thrust into the world of cancer, as most patients are. I had no experience with the disease, no friends or family members that had been through cancer. And so unlike today, you know, it's so strange, you know, now, it seems like we all know, multiple people who've had cancer or have cancer. And at that time in my life, I didn't know anybody. I just didn't know anybody who'd been through cancer. I knew a couple people that had had it, you know, in the past, and, you know, I didn't really know them when they had cancer, that kind of thing. There's a couple men at my church that had it, you know, in previous years. But anyway, so I was a very typical cancer patient in the fact that I had no experience with the disease, didn't know anything about it, and was basically rushed into treatment. And that's what happens, unfortunately, is patients are rushed in to treatments they don't understand, that have, in many cases significant risks of harm, and can even be life threatening. And they're rushed in out of fear. They're told you got to do this right away, you're going to die. And they don't have time to read or research or learn about their disease or take a step back and look at the things in their life that may have contributed to their disease. In fact, the question that most cancer patients ask their doctor, right? It's the number one question, how did I get cancer? What what caused my cancer? And the answer that they get, in most cases is, well, we don't know what caused your cancer, but it might be might be hereditary or genetic, or it may just be bad luck. But it's nothing you did. Nothing you did cause your cancer. So you know, don't get on the internet. And you know. And what that does is that there's an underlying message, when you tell a patient, there's nothing they did is you're telling them that they're a victim of disease. Right? Nothing you did contributed to your disease. Therefore, there's nothing you can do to help yourself. You're a powerless victim. Your only hope, is medical treatment. And we can't even guarantee that you'll survive. But we're the only chance you've got so cross your fingers, say your prayers, and let's get you signed up for treatment as soon as possible. So it's incredibly disempowering, and in my opinion, borderline malpractice, to not educate cancer patients on the known causes of cancer to not help patients understand the diet and lifestyle factors that are causing cancer so that they can change their life. So that they can remove the causative agents in their life that may have, again caused their disease or are contributing to it. So it's really tragic because humans have been studying cancer for hundreds of years. And there are 1000s and 1000s of studies on the known causes of cancer. It's really not a mystery, we know what causes cancer isn't just one thing, there are multiple causes. But when you connect the dots, it's starts to become very clear. If you educate a person on the known causes of cancer, they can quickly identify those things in their life. And, and if they really have a strong will to live, if they want to get well. Some patients don't some patients have a death wish. But if they really want to get well, then they will take action to change their life. And that's what I did. I took massive action to change my life. Because I instinctively understood that I had a role to play in my life and my health, my disease and my healing. I had a part to play. And I just assumed that the way I was living was killing me. And so with that assumption, actually came empowerment. Because it wasn't like I was sitting around feeling sorry for myself, like, oh, this is all my fault. I'm such a terrible person, I screwed my life up. It wasn't like that. I realized if I contributed to this disease to this condition, then maybe I can contribute to my health to my healing. You know, maybe I can turn this around. What do I need to do? I just need some guidance, show me what I need to change in my life. And I was willing to change everything. Now, I didn't come to these conclusions right away. In fact, it took a little time because I was rushed into surgery. This is just a few days before Christmas was my diagnosis and they wanted to get me into surgery immediately. I was able to postpone it about a week and a half. So I went in for surgery on December 30, 2003. Sounds like a long time ago. Then it was 17 years ago. But I went in for surgery. They took out the tumor, they took out some surrounding lymph nodes. When I woke up, they said it's worse than we thought we were hoping it'd be stage two, your stage three. And you're going to need nine to 12 months of chemotherapy in order to prevent a recurrence. And so you know, that was that was tough because there was no talk about chemo up until that point. And so my diagnosis got worse. And a couple things happened in the hospital. One was the first meal that they served me after cutting out a third of my large intestine was a sloppy joe which is probably the worst. The best worst example of industrial cafeteria food right? I mean, nobody likes sloppy Joe's. They don't serve Him in restaurants. No one's ever asking, you know, the chef, like, can you look me up a little something special on the back? How about a sloppy joe? And up to that point, I just assumed the only place you could get a sloppy joe was the summer camp. The military and prison. Surprise, also, you can get one in the hospital if you have cancer. Special treat. But the wheels were turning because I just remember thinking like, this is horrible and why the serving is horrible food to sick people. I knew what healthy food was right fruits and vegetables, like everybody knows that. And so that got the wheels turning. And then a few days later, when they told me I was free to go home and recover, you know, finish my recovery at home, my surgeon came in to check on me and we were just talking about what was going to, you know, what was next for me and, and in the course of the conversation, I asked him, are there any foods that I need to avoid? Because again, they just cut my stomach open, cut out a section of my guts, sowed it back together. And I'm thinking, okay, you know, I'm trying to make sure like hot sauce isn't a problem or whatever, right? Everything I eat is going on through there. I don't want to melt the stitches with hot sauce. So yes, so I just asked him this sort of like a is there anything I need to eat or avoid or whatever. And he was like, no, just don't lift anything heavier than a beer. So I was like, okay, you know, and that's was all the nutritional advice I got from my surgeon. So, I go home, and I'm recovering. And try, you know, weaning myself off the pain medication. And as I sobered up, I really started to think seriously about my life and my future and what my future the future had in store for me. And the future was chemo. The future was me becoming a full fledged chemo patient. Right, losing my hair, losing more weight, I was already very thin. I was I mean, I was already under, you know, basically underweight, it was very, very thin, and weak and sick. And I just thought I, this idea of poisoning my way back to health did not make sense to me. And I grew up in a house, you know, I grew up in a family with a mother who was very naturally minded. She wasn't on any prescription drugs. You know, we never really went to the doctor, you know, had a few checkups as a kid but like, we weren't like some families where you're just constantly at the doctor's office, and everybody's taking some medications. And you know, we just weren't like that. And so and she was very much in a natural health and healing and had read tons and tons of books we were she was a voracious reader. And, you know, like to shop at the local hole in the wall health food stores. And I was always had, you know, cabinets, a cabinet full of supplements of all kinds. And wheat germ and sprouts in the fridge, stuff like that. And so, you know, I grew up around that kind of healthy, healthy kind of eating and healthy living stuff. But she wasn't that hardcore, like, you know, we ate at McDonald's. You know what I mean? Like, my first birthday was at McDonald's, like, we ate fast food a lot. You know, it was just a part of life in the 80s and 90s. And in there, I think there was a lot of there was a lot of ignorance back then, as to how terribly unhealthy fast food was. Right? And no one was really asking these questions or talking about it. And so, you know, most people just assumed like, oh, it tastes good, and it's quick and easy. This is great. You know what I mean? And, and we saw my generation was the first generation really the fast food generation because fast food restaurants exploded across the US in the 80s and 90s. Right, Taco Bell, Subway, Burger King, McDonald's, Arby's, Wendy's, you know, and then all you know, Domino's Pizza, Pizza Hut. I mean, you just on and on and on, right, just every street corner in a major city like Memphis. Yeah, yeah, there's just fast food everywhere. And so I'm thinking about my life and my health and you know, what I wanted to do next. And I just didn't want to do chemo. I didn't want to do it. And I think most cancer patients don't want to do it. Most cancer patients know, they've seen what it's what it does to people. They know how highly toxic it is. And they can imagine how brutal and miserable the suffering is that accompanies most chemotherapy drugs. And so I didn't know what to do, you know, I just had this internal resistance to it, like my instincts, my intuition, were telling me like, don't do that. You don't need to do chemotherapy. This is not going to this is not for you. But I didn't have I didn't have any other plan. And you know, I didn't have resources. I didn't know anything. And so my wife and I prayed about it. And I just said, God, if there's another way, besides chemotherapy, please show me. Help, right. I'm a Christian. We're believers. You know, one of the first verses that came to mind when I was diagnosed as Romans 8:28, which says, we know that God works all things, for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. And so I chose to believe that that he was going to work this for my good. But I also believe that faith without works, is dead. This is what it says in the book of James. Well, what is works? Works is action. Right? So you believe something that's it's one thing to believe, but it's another thing to actually take action, to put your belief into action. And so I knew I had to do something. I just felt like I can't just sit here and do nothing. So anyway, I prayed and asked for guidance. And two days later, I got a book by a man who had healed his colon cancer with a raw food diet, raw fruits and vegetables, and juicing. And it just blew my mind. I was I just knew it was an answer to prayer. And as I read his story, I just thought, you know what, this guy can do it, maybe I can do it. I asked for something this showed up, this is what I'm gonna do. I'm going to radically change my life. I'm going to go eat this raw food diet, which was a very strange proposition. I mean, it's strange, even today, because most people don't eat raw food diet, right? But in 2004, January 2004, there was no YouTube, right? There was no social media. And so there was no way to kind of find out more about the raw food diet. It wasn't like, there were a bunch of raw food celebrities, right? Beautiful, you know, people on the internet espousing the virtues of raw food, or a plant based diet, like it wasn't the thing we're selling. And so it was mainly just a fringe diet for sick people. Right? That's what the raw food community it was mostly people who were sick, and trying to get well or people who had, you know, used to be sick, and then got well doing that. And so I was really encouraged by that. And as I dug deeper, I found more and more books and doctors and influencers, who were, you know, raw food evangelists, I guess, you could say, in the health and wellness community in the holistic health community. So I overnight converted to a raw food diet and bought a juicer and just decided, okay, I'm going to overdose on nutrition, I'm going to put so much good stuff in my body every day, I'm going to give it an abundance, more healthy stuff than it has ever had. And, and let's see what happens. So it wasn't like, I wasn't like doing it begrudgingly. I was excited to do this. This was an adventure for me. And I was also fearful, right? Because cancer was real. And I was afraid I was gonna die. So I was channeling my fear, into action, positive action, to help myself because, you know, fear can either can do one of two things, it can either paralyze you into inaction, right? Or it can motivate you into positive, massive life changing action. And so that's what it did for me. I wish I could say it was easy. The diet was the easiest part. The hardest part was the fact that nobody around me understood what I was doing. And there was a lot of opposition from people that I cared about a lot are very close to me, who told me, this is a mistake, this isn't gonna help you, you've got to do what the doctor says you've got to do chemo. And that made it increasingly difficult emotionally, mentally, to realize that all the people who I need the support from the most are not able to support me, because they don't believe in what I'm doing. They don't understand it. And so, this is a journey that I'm going to be taking alone. So I'm fortunate in the fact that I'm an only child and was, you know, kind of entrepreneurial, and I was accustomed to doing things my way, you know, Frank Sinatra style. And so it did not dissuade me, it made me sad. And it gave me a source of stress, for sure, to have people telling me I was wrong. And that my answered prayer was just, you know, not an answered prayer. It was just, I was just making a mistake. But I just knew this is I prayed, I got something and I was like, I'm putting my faith in this, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna take care of myself, in a way I never had before. And I'm gonna do everything in my power to support my body's ability to heal. Because my body created this disease, I think my body can heal it too. And I was finding more more and more encouraging testimonials. And from going from book to book, and realizing, okay, you know, other people have healed cancer to cancer can be healed. And so that was very encouraging. And, you know, it took, it took a lot of diligent effort. But I created a simple routine for myself to follow, which, of course, I talked about, in my book, Chris Beat Cancer, I talked about the whole journey, you know, not the mental, emotional and spiritual journey, everything I did physically. And also, there's a deep dive in the book about the cancer industry, and the pharmaceutical and medical industries and how much corruption is in those industries, and how patients are misled by bad policy. And not necessarily bad people in the industry, but by an entire system that is created to generate as much revenue as possible off of the sick people. And there's no real incentives to cure cancer, right? It's a nice idea. But the money is made in treating the disease, not in curing the disease. And so when you talk about an industry that's making billions of dollars every year treating cancer, there's not a whole lot of incentive to change, right? The incentive is, can we make a develop a drug that works a little better than the current drug, and then we can steal all the market share from the current best drug for x type of cancer. That's incentive. We just have to be a little bit better than the one they're using right now. And then billions of profits are going to flow through the door. So and it's got to be a patented pharmaceutical, right? And that's why there's no research. Well, let me back up there is research. There's mountains of research on nutrition and natural therapies, diet and lifestyle therapies, non toxic therapies, what some people would call alternative therapies on cancer, right? And numerous healing benefits of nutrition, natural, non toxic therapies for cancer. But the problem is, this research is done. It's published, and there that's where it dies. Because it is not picked up by the medical industry, or doctors or the pharmaceutical industry. It just stops it usually at the university level. Right? There's so the the most powerful anti cancer food is garlic. There's more studies on garlic and cancer than you can count. Why they don't recommend cancer patients eat garlic? There's no money in garlic. There's no money in blueberries or broccoli or onions, mushrooms. There's no money in food. There's no money in exercise. There's no money and stress reduction, in detoxification. There's no money in natural therapies. And so they're just ignored. And that's the reality, right? It's not really a conspiracy. It's just the the way that the medical system and the cancer industry makes money is on patented drugs. So they're only interested in what is what is the next compound, we can patent and sell for billions of dollars. And so that's a huge, that's a huge issue. The cancer patients have no idea, hawwhat's happening behind the scenes, right? They have no idea that like the incentives that are driving the cancer industry, in the medical industry, when they get sick, they're just told, oh, this is what you have to do show up for this treatment, that treatment, this is your your only hope. And then they just, they get put on the conveyor belt. And a lot of times, it just doesn't end well, right. They don't, they're not cured, they suffer a lot. And then at the end, they're told, you know, we've done all we can do, and we're sorry. So my mission, after I got well, in 2010, I started a blog called Chris Beat Cancer. And that ended up becoming the name of my first book, and I just, once I got well, which was about six and a half years later, I realized, you know, I've learned so much, I just need to share what I know. I need to share what I've been through, I want to encourage people and give them hope and inspiration and education, like practical information that they can use to help themselves survive. And so I just started blogging, it was just a little part time passion, to share what I've been through. I was in real estate, like it was not any in any way, you know, attached to my business. But little did I know, there was just there were 1000s and 1000s of people every day searching for information on healing cancer, on nutrition for cancer, on juicing and cancer, right? All these topics that I was talking about, on YouTube and on my website and on social media. And so people just, they found me, you know, I was I was talking about what they wanted to what they wanted to learn about and so my audience grew, and it's really been a really fun, you know, all over 10 years as a public, patient advocate, and health and wellness enthusiast and survivor. It's really remarkable to think you know, about how many people I mean, there's no way I'll ever know, it's too many, too many to count, but millions of website visitors, millions of YouTube channel views and all this kind of stuff. It just has turned into this giant snowball that took over my life. After five years of as a part time, you know, cancer survivor and patient advocate, it took over my life, and now it's my full time passion and profession. And so it's been it's been incredible. I mean, it's been a really incredible journey. And we've seen so many people heal, in our in our private community and people that follow me, we get testimonials constantly. I mean, every day, every week, I mean, they're just coming in all the time. It's so wonderful and remarkable. And the big message is that, you know, you have to take responsibility for your life and health. You're not a victim of disease, right? Your choices matter. And the choices you make today, can can create health tomorrow. And your choices add up right over time, when you consistently make good choices, you will produce a harvest of good results. Right? It's like, the simplest explanation is like, you know, if you save money every week, over a year or two or 10 years, you can have a lot of money saved up. Right, just by being diligent and saving a little money every week, right in the savings account. And your health is the same way if you're investing in your health every day, if you're making healthy choices every day, there's a snowball effect, right? And you're increasing your health over time. And so this is, you know, that's the core of my message. And then the practical side of this just showing folks how to do it, which I talked about in my book and a course called Square One that's more in depth for folks that really want to take massive action and change their lives and and then a new book just came out late last year, called Beat Cancer Daily. And I wrote that book as a daily devotional and daily inspiration. Daily inspirational book, it's like you read one page per day, and it's 365 days of inspiration, encouragement and action steps to survive and thrive. And I just had, I don't know, I just had a burden to encourage people every day. Like I wanted to be able to do that. And we even have an email series that we email, they get a daily encouraging email every day, the beat cancer daily email series, that was really what were the idea started with an email series, and then it became a book. But cancer is you know, it's an everyday journey, right? All you can do is make good choices today. Right? You can't fix yesterday, you can't do anything about tomorrow, right? The only thing you can do about tomorrow is you can make some plans. But the action happens right now, right in this moment, and today, and between the time you wake up and the time you go to bed, what what can you do to increase your health can to help your body heal? Like what can you put in your mouth that can help your body fight cancer and heal cancer? How can you use your body in a way that will increase your strengthen your immune system will exercise? Right? That's it works. Exercise strengthens your immune system. Like if you don't do it, you don't get the benefit. But if you do you get it. And it's like such a beautifully simple thing.
Ed Jones 31:25 Well, let me see if I can let me interject one second here. I cannot believe how impressed I am by your delivery, your information. And I personally and people who have listened to me over the past two or three years on The Holistic Navigator, or spoke to me personally. You know, in 1972, Richard Nixon announced the war on cancer at that time, we had one in 30 people who were diagnosed today, it's one in two, maybe one in three at best. So we're losing that war. We're also losing the war somewhat of social media and censorship. Because three years ago, I could have typed in the word natural cures for cancer and your site would have popped up. Well, due to the algorithm change, you have to look for your stuff now. But the thing is, this world is needing people like you who speak the truth and set personal examples for hope. I talked to I've talked or you know, comp counsel, so many people with health and 1000s of people I have watched go through the cancer journey as you have, and they're desperate for hope, because what you said about your family and people who are you know, I don't know what word I would use, you know, more devotional to physicians and the medical community. It's like polarizing. It's a black and white issue. You either go the doctor or you're you're nuts. And you know, I've ever heard this same thing from so many people and they give up because they don't have a support system. And I want to empower people. And I always say this, any health issue that's significant, we need to put a team together a team of maybe a naturopathic person and nutrition person, a spiritual person. People like you, Chris, that can can do the daily kind of work. And when I looked into your new book I loved I just looked at a few of the chapters like the one cancer is a divine tap on the shoulder. Yes, because I always have said this often. Usually we get whispers about our health, we don't listen, then we get a slight knock at the door, we still don't listen. But eventually a sledge hammer was going to come down if and that will make us pay attention. And hopefully it's not too late. So I love your new book Beat Cancer Daily. And I also looking on your Facebook post and the fact that you know, you have like 300,000 people on your Facebook, I think and you are world wide. And you know, I'm really inspired by your story. I'm also inspired by your your faith and the fact that you don't look for a single cure. You know, it's like an orchestra playing that we have to put together the whole approach and one of those would you believe in as I do. Well, many everything we believe in together, which is food is medicine, food is powerful. I'm huge into supplements, too, which is basically concentrated food, but also the emotional state. I did a podcast on German New Medicine, which has to do with why people get cancer based on trauma in their life. Well, there's so many parts to this puzzle. And I also love the fact which I totally agree that the system today has wonderful people in it, but the system is broke. So they don't have any choice of how they participate by trading. But the thing is, the classification of any of us in a medical community is a victim. Guess what happens when you're a victim? You look for a rescuer and that rescuer is not in the mirror. It's somewhere outside of you. You have turned that around, and you have empowered people with your story, your words and your information. They're not the victim anymore. They can be part of the guiding force. And I just, and I love the thing that you said that is, you know, how common sense is it to poison our way back to health poisoned our way back to health? It doesn't make any intuitive sense. So I just have to say, Chris, gosh, thank you for the wisdom that you are projecting on The Holistic Navigator, because this will be shared across the United States and actually in several countries. So at this point, and also loved and I downloaded about several years ago, the thing on your website, the 20 questions to ask your oncologist is pretty strong questions, I will have to say. But if you did, at least anyone who's just been diagnosed, I want them to download that questionnaire, because I'm not saying good actually take it in there, but at least know this different perspective. And then lastly, I will shut up and let you finish this. But I tell people this all the time, they seem to be shocked, I said, you realize that the doctor is buying chemo at a wholesale price and selling it at retail, don't you? So when you walk in that room with those 14 recliners and everyone has an IV, they actually have $1 sign on their forehead of at least $100,000 and sometimes much more. And they're like, really? I said, Yes, they're buying it and reselling it at massively inflated prices. So how would they honestly tell you that garlic is gonna be a good food, just like you said, Chris. So I'm gonna be quiet here about it. But tell people maybe more how, you know, they can empower themselves of course, downloading or buying your two books, Chris Beat Cancer and Beat Cancer Daily two of the best ways to do that. But what other advice would you have here as we start closing down?
Chris Wark 36:54 Well, thank you so much for that endorsement, it really means a lot. And I know you've been in this industry a long time, and it probably seen a lot of people come and go and you know, I think it's really, we are up against a very, you know, a massive, right massive billion dollar industry, right, multi billion dollar industry that has no incentive to change. And that industry is built on disempowering patients, right, turning them into victims, desperate victims, who just go along with treatment, and do nothing to change their lives. And again, I'm not faulting the doctors, because the doctors are trapped in this terrible, like, maybe you know, a person goes into med school, they have no idea what they're signing up for, when they go into med school. And physicians have the highest rate of suicide of almost any profession. Why is that? Because it's such an awful profession. It's so mentally emotionally just exhausting for physicians, right? I mean, they're, they're seeing patients like cattle, they're just herded through, they're like cattle, they're not able to establish meaningful relationship with their patients, they're not able to really affect real change in their lives. You know, it's just like, get them in, get them out to keep the bills paid. And, you know, there's a drug for your condition, here it is, there you go. And, and by the way, I just want to say cuz I don't know if I said this when I was telling my story, but I did work with a medical doctor. I built a team, like you talked about, I found a naturopathic doctor, I found an integrative oncologist, who supported me, I never did chemotherapy, but actually, he gave me IV vitamin C. And this was a man who had spent his whole life giving chemotherapy, he was in his 70s, whole life, giving chemotherapy to cancer patients. And in his later years, he just became more and more interested in natural, non toxic compounds that could assist the body in healing. And vitamin C is an incredibly powerful one, especially in IV form. And so, you know, but the first oncologist I saw told me, I was insane if I didn't do chemotherapy, and he was credibly rude to my wife and I and intimidating in the sort of talk down to us, intimidated me and tried to bully me into chemo. And I never went back to him. And so there's there's definitely a an important part of my story there, which is, you have to find, you have to build your team, as you mentioned, and it might take a little time to find the right people. The first doctor you see doesn't need to be it doesn't have to be the doctor you work with. Most patients, they get a referral to a doctor and they're just like, okay, this is a doctor now. You know what I mean? And, but the best doctors, the ones that are actually holistically minded, that care about their patients and really care more about their patients than some of the other doctors out there. They're not the ones that are advertising, like you have to ask around, you got to, you got to kind of beat the bushes a little bit to find these folks, because many of them are concerned that they'll be labeled a quack right, that they'll be blackballed, that they'll lose their reputation, or whatever, just for incorporating nutrition into their practice. And it's crazy, but there is there is a silver lining to this, which is the number of doctors like this is growing. There's a new movement, that is building of holistic integrative physicians, and who are focused on diet and lifestyle therapies to reverse disease. First before drugs come into the picture, right? Like, let's change your life, let's figure out what's causing your disease. Because if it's if it's the food you're eating, and your lack of exercise and your stress, we need to fix that first because the drug isn't going to fix it. So there's a lot of, you know, I'm very hopeful, I'm very encouraged because I'm meeting and I've interviewed many doctors like this on ChrisBeatCancer.com, on my podcast, and on my YouTube channel. So I'm constantly meeting more and finding out about others and interviewing them and sharing you know, what they do, how they help patients, I've interviewed a lot of people who've healed all types and stages of cancer. So there's that informations on my website, too, for folks that are looking for help and encouragement if you go to chrisbeatcancer.com. And you type in, in the search bar type in breast cancer, you'll find a bunch of articles and interviews with people who've healed breast cancer. Type in lung cancer, type in thyroid cancer, type in lymphoma, type in lupus, type in multiple sclerosis, got some incredible interviews and people who feel diseases besides cancer with a natural approach. And so you know, that's what I get excited about. I just love sharing these stories, stories of healing, you know, my story is just one of many, many 1000s. It just so happened that I, I kind of rose to the top of, I guess the top of the pile, because I was really aggressively trying to share my story, right. And I have been for 10 years. And so I'm more well known, but my story is not any better. In fact, there are much better stories than mine. People who have healed cancer after all treatments failed them. People who've healed advanced stage four cancers with no treatment at all. And no conventional treatment, I should say. So that those are the kind of things that get me excited that I will just keep keep discovering and keep sharing with my audience and with the world. And I think, you know, the more information we can gather together, the more that just your average folks like me, and you and people out there will realize like, okay, this is real, you know, this isn't fantasy, it's not quackery, it's not, you know, some pipe dream or whatever, like people really are healing, they're getting well. Sick people are getting well.
Ed Jones 43:22 You are so right. And the thing is, luckily, that we still have the ability people like you who are so well spoken. And, and and we're able to put together platforms that not only inspire people, which is critical, give them hope. But give them a game plan. Give them a starting place where like when you woke up after your surgery. Oh, you were you know, you were clueless at that moment. You had to have some divine intervention to know what's my next step? Well, we're lucky and you said it right. And, you know, to 2021 we've had, you know, the world's has changed in some parts have been most certainly chaotic and cumbersome. But the fact that we can access your information along with other people is is miraculous. In fact, you know, I'm hugely invested in the emotional and trauma state of causing disease in your podcast number 276, toxic emotions suppresses immunity and gratitude is the secret. I mean, we have at our fingertips, more available information than all the public libraries had in the world when I was in 17-18 years old. There, there would be no way to access it. We're in a state of magic with this knowledge and with people like you who are brave explorers. So I mean, I can't thank you enough Chris. I guarantee you this will be listened to by many, many people, and it's going to inspire people who I personally and I have 23 actual employees at my nutritionw.com the business and 17 practitioners. But this is the kind of podcasts that when we speak to a client who is who was spiraling down and is that fearful state, and it's like the doctor said, you're, you know, walking time bomb, that's one of the words they love to use. You have helped people come to some peace with that to make a decision not in the fearful, spiraling place, but in a wisdom, intuitive place, which is the only position to put yourself in to make those kind of decisions.
Chris Wark 45:30 Thank you. Let me touch on that. Because you're right, a fear based decisions are almost always the wrong decision. Almost always the wrong decision. And when we make important decisions in life, they need to be based on facts and faith, not fear. And if you don't have enough facts, then you need to press pause and say, wait a minute, I don't, I'm not comfortable going forward until I fully understand. Right? What's happening? Right? I'm not comfortable going over treatment until I fully understand the risks and benefits of treatment, which most patients don't do, right? They just, they just rush in just saying, Well, okay, Doc, whatever you say. And they hope for the best, right? And having faith in your decisions is so important, too. And believing that what you can do will help you believing you can get well is really the foundation of every person I know who has healed against the odds, they all have multiple things in common, which I talked about in my book. But the number one thing is they believed that they could get well. Right? They had that spark of hope, and belief that they could get well, that they're not a victim, that they had the power to change their life. And they took full responsibility for their situation. And like me, they just said, You know what, I'm gonna do everything in my power to get well. I'm gonna do everything I can do. So what do I need to change in my life, and they just, they just said about this process of radical life change. And you can't do it all in one day, it takes time to change your life. You can change your diet in one day, though, that's pretty easy. But it takes time to kind of work out all the things like the toxic relationships in your life, the sources of stress that need to be dealt with and removed. The people you need to forgive. These are all things I talked about my book, because I know we're running out of time. So folks are like, wait, what do you tell? What do you mean? It's in the book. These themes are in both books. But there's a lot more to it than than just diet or just supplements or treatments. Right? It's total life change. And, again, this is a message of hope, and empowerment, that you if you're listening right now, you have the power to change your life, your decisions today, will create your tomorrow, right? You are creating your tomorrow with your decisions today. And when you make good decisions, you produce a good harvest. If you don't make good decisions, guess what? You're probably gonna have some results tomorrow in the future that you don't like. But we have power and agency and authority over our lives. God has given us free will to choose. And so choosing life and health is never, never a bad decision.
Ed Jones 48:32 Well, what an inspirational message. I feel like we've been in a holistic church or something, we've had a great sermon here. And I cannot thank you enough, Chris. And, and again, I hope that you can come my way someday, and we can meet and have have some time together. And again, anyone who's listening and wants to access the two books, the Beat Cancer Daily, which I just read, part of extremely impressed, and Chris Beat Cancer, which is his original book. But do access all the free information on his website, or the social media, the blog, you have put together the kind of platform that makes it pretty darn easy for people to access. And I say this almost every podcast and the ones listening get tired of it. I separate the world into two classes of people: learners and non learners. When you have a disease of significant consequences, you got to be a learner. And I love what you said Chris about, you know, faith without work is dead because we both have seen people who have some faith but they think that the magic wand is going to be waved either by their regular doc or something up in the sky. And they just stay kind of still. They don't make much movement toward figuring out why did I get it to begin with, which is still one of the keys of what you and I both believe in. We have to look into our life, look into our interior, look into our psyche and start really being a detective of oh, okay, so this I got to put all this together about what my past was to help me to have a better future. And you have just put the pieces together at probably as well as I've ever heard anyone, Chris. So, again, thank you so much for being here with The Holistic Navigator.
Chris Wark 50:16 It was my pleasure, thank you again for the opportunity just to share my story and share what I've learned and I'm passionate about I just appreciate that so much and glad to be on the same team with you. We need more we need more people in Tennessee on the holistic health team. So Tennessee boy is trying to change the world right?
Ed Jones 50:38 That's right. Hey, we can do it brother, I believe what you and I can. We both have the passion for that I'm quite a bit older than you but I'm gonna hang around for a lot more years to make a change, even if it's small amounts daily, it adds up hugely in the long run. And the thing is because we're in a place with social media, we are making a change throughout the world, not just in Tennessee. So with great regard and great blessings to you, Chris, and everyone listening. Thank you for taking your time for another exciting episode of The Holistic Navigator. Have a great and fearless day.
Brian Strickland 51:18 The information on this podcast and the topics discussed have not been evaluated by the FDA or any one of the medical profession and is not aimed to replace any advice he may receive from your medical practitioner. The holistic navigator assumes no responsibility or liability whatsoever on behalf of any purchaser or listener if these materials the listing navigator is not a doctor or does he claim to be please consult your physician before beginning any health regimen.