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Cancer survivor Liana Werner-Gray shares tips from her new book Cancer Free with Food on how to use food as medicine to prevent and fight cancer.
Author of "Cancer Free With Food"
Liana Werner-Gray is the author of Cancer Free with Food, The Earth Diet and 10-Minute Recipes. After five years of eating processed foods and refined sugars for every single meal, she ended up in the hospital with a golf-ball sized tumor on her neck. This wake-up call launched the idea of a blog she called “The Earth Diet” with a concept to eat only natural foods for 365 days. Liana found a way to still enjoy her favorite foods including brownies, cookie dough, burgers and fries, but in a healthier way. Her recipes have been featured on NBC, Fox News, News 12, WABC, and more.
Maria Marlowe: [00:00:35] Welcome back to the Happier and Healthier Podcast. Today we have a repeat guest, my dear friend Liana Werner-Gray. Lianna, who you may remember from an earlier episode, is the founder of the Earth Diet. The Earth Diet started as a blog back in 2009 to document Liana’s journey from switching from a junk food based diet to a whole real food diet. In response to getting a cancer diagnosis. So she’s back today to talk a little bit more about cancer and the power that food has to not only prevent, but even help reverse cancer diagnosis is. So she wrote a book. Her third book is coming out in about a week. It’s called Cancer Free With Food. So she’s going to be sharing tips from the book in terms of foods, supplements and even lifestyle practices that can really help in the fight against cancer. So if you know someone with cancer or it runs in your family or you even want to protect yourself, because unfortunately, the statistics are kind of crazy. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every one and two men and one in three women in America will get cancer at some point in their lifetime. That’s kind of crazy. Of course, cancer is a very complex disease that could have multiple different causes or factors that contribute to it. And while we’re not going to have control over some of those factors, we do have a great deal of control over some of the most important factors, namely our diet, our lifestyle and even our thoughts. So Liana will be here sharing some tips from her book, Cancer Free with Food on How We can cancer proof our diet and lifestyle.
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Maria Marlowe: [00:04:26] So, Liana, thanks so much for being here.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:04:29] Thanks, Maria. Thanks for having me on again. Very happy to be here, though, of course.
Maria Marlowe: [00:04:35] So let’s just jump right into your book. Cancer free with food. That is quite an interesting premise because I know when I was growing up, I just thought cancer was a curse. And if he got it, you just had a really, really bad look. I didn’t understand it any further than that. And I think that’s what something that we’re told. Right. Or is the general belief. So why is that not the case? And how can we use food to help prevent and possibly even reverse cancer?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:05:08] Yes, well, our diet plays a huge part in it, like literally we are an imprint of the foods we eat and the environment that we live in. The thoughts that we think and you know, we are predisposed to certain genetics as well. So all of that plays a factor in getting cancer. So now that we know that these days, you know, there’s a lot of great studies that are out there that sure that our diet actually is a factor of getting cancer and we can take that control back into our hands and start to eat the right foods to reduce our chances of ever getting cancer. And if someone does have cancer, increase the chances of being able to heal cancer and living cancer free for the rest of their life.
Maria Marlowe: [00:05:49] That’s pretty incredible. And I know that you personally have had a run in with cancer. So can you share a little bit about that?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:05:58] Yes. That was definitely a shock in my life. Like, I didn’t grow up thinking, oh, one day I’ll be faced with a tumor and cancer will be in my path. So I believe that that happened because of my diet. So I grew up in outback Australia, which is very natural and can really get more natural than that. So I learned a lot from the Aboriginal people at my school. There was a half white people, half Aboriginal people, and from age five, I remember learning from them that the healthiest way for us to eat was to go out to our own backyard and be able to pick foods straight from the bush or the plant or the tree. And I looked at the Aboriginal people and thought, well, they’re not overweight. They didn’t have any obesity problem. There was no such thing as diabetes in the Aboriginal community or cancer. The cancer rates were zero percent. So I was like, OK, well, this totally makes sense. So I should just eat straight from the earth. And then when I was 17, I moved to Brisbane City to go to university. And when I started to indulge in junk food and that very fast food, processed food lifestyle, it was just so easy, you know, being at university, being away from home, not having any family members to hold me accountable, to eat healthy.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:07:07] So I just grabbed myself from this junk food, vicious eating cycle, became addicted very quickly. And then after five years of that, I ended up with a 3.7 centimeter tumor in my throat. So I was in hospital to did a biopsy and the results came back. And I actually had three different diagnoses. But I had very early stages of cancer. And, you know, this golf ball sized lump was just sticking out of my neck. So that was my wake up call. And personally and intuitively, I knew, OK, I have this in my throat because I have been basically trashing and destroy my body for the past five years. So once I realized that, I was able to say, OK, well, now I need to change my diet, go back to my roots, go back to nature and start to heal my body, which is what I did, and started to drain out the tumour.
Maria Marlowe: [00:07:59] But let’s start with the food. So what were some of the foods that you started incorporating into your diet?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:08:06] So I decided to eat real foods for everything that I was craving. So if I was craving chocolate or if I was craving cookie dough or chicken nuggets or burgers, basically I would go and make it using wholesome natural ingredients. So, for example, I would make chocolate bowls with cocoa powder like real cow powder and some almond flour and then some honey or maple syrup. And then I’d sometimes I would add peanut butter or almond butter. And so I was eating a lot of chocolate. Like chocolate was one of my number one foods that I attribute to my healing of eating out every single day because that kind of chocolate was providing my body with so many nutrients and so much magnesium. And it was making me feel happy and excited. So basically just eating real foods a bit. Every single thing that I thought, OK, I want to eat this for the rest of my life. How can I eat this in a really nourishing way? And then I also did a lot of juicing. So I did a lot of beet juice and a lot of green juice. So now that I look back, I can see that the science behind like when we drink chlorophyll from the green juice, how it alkali somebody and how chlorophyll really detoxes our cancer from the cells, I can see that that helped tremendously to really heal my body and my new system. And then the beet juice as well helped to clear up my gut because I had a lot of blockages in my gut, you know, and some doctors believe that all cancers and all disease really stem from the gut. So I knew I had to really clean that out. So I did beet juice every day as well.
Maria Marlowe: [00:09:41] And I love beet juice personally. I drink it pretty often. I love like beet, carrot ginger juice. And I just want to ask this question, because I know there’s certain there’s probably people listening that are thinking this. What do you say to people who are scared to have any sort of a sweet juice? Right. Because the beet is on the sweeter side.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:10:00] Yeah. So the way I look at it is that there’s a natural sugars, those come straight from nature and you might even say that God curse them for us and intended us to eat them. And that’s where we should source our sugars rather than persons refined sugar. So it’s very natural for human beings to crave sugar. And if we just get the sugars from fruits and vegetables, that’s ideal. So even then we can look at honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar that’s even being processed to a certain degree. Those things are certainly a lot better than light sugar. But the most wholesome sugars that our body is able to digest comes from fruits and vegetables. And if we only eat, those were our entire life. We would probably be cancer free for a lifetime. You know, as long as we didn’t have environmental stress, mental stress and stuff in our DNA, that we had to kind of break and change. So I would say, you know, embrace natural sugars. And for me, when I was crossing that bridge from eating the junk food because I was so addicted. Right. My cells for five years got used to eating these refined sugars. And so when I was like, okay, I can’t eat like that anymore. I needed to eat a lot of natural sugars to help me cross that bridge and to not crave processed sugar.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:11:22] So I would eat like up to 20 chocolate bowls a day and I would have six juices a day, all with lots of apple and lots of beet. And they were really sweet juices because that was filling my sugar craving. And that’s how I was not able to crave sugar again or, you know, any other person, sugar cane sugar or corn syrup. So I know a lot of people are afraid of sugar, but if we just source it naturally, then we’re good. But some people want to give up sugar for a while. Just do a detox for a few months, which is totally helpful, but it’s not realistic. I don’t believe to say I’m just never going to eat sugar again, even fruits and vegetables, because the body will eventually crave something. And even if it’s just a little bit of fruit here and there. But that’s a question I get a lot is OK if I have cancer, should I give up sugar? And I interviewed a lot of people for my new book that cancer survivors or even going through treatments now. And one thing is they are craving a lot of sugar, especially when they’re doing chemo and radiation. Their body just feels depleted of energy. So they do have sugar cravings to get that quick energy rush. So when I’m talking to them, I’m like, OK, well, if you’re having sugar cravings, it’s obviously better for you to eat this natural cookie dough sweetened with honey or coconut sugar than you just to go out to Seven Eleven and get the worst type of cookies.
Maria Marlowe: [00:12:34] Right. Or to even eat something like an actual piece of fruit or the beets or the beet juice. Something like that, right? Yes. So there has been some debate on whether the best diet to heal cancer is a vegan diet or it includes some animal products. So I’d love to hear your thoughts on that.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:12:56] Yeah. So that definitely is a good debate for both sides. And I just believe that each person should do what they feel intuitively is the best for them. For me, when I first got sick, I tried to fast. And I thought, OK, I’m going to go on a liquid cleanse. Father is going to have soups and juices and I’ll be vegan. And, you know, totally plant based. And I’ll cleanse out my body by the end of day one. I was so drained of energy by the end of day to. The tumor in my neck felt hotter. I felt more swollen. Like I didn’t feel like that was helping at all. So I was like, okay, you know, I need to eat some cooked foods, warm foods and some meat. So I actually was able to heal my body by incorporating meats, you know, here and there and not like every single day. And then the meat that I did, sauces or, you know, organic chicken, good quality, grass fed beef and wild fish. So that really worked for me. However, I do know people who have also healed cancer going vegan.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:13:51] So it’s really just a personal choice of, OK. This feels right for me. This doesn’t. And I also interviewed Anita Moorjani for the book. She’s a cancer survivor and she did the same thing. You know, when she got cancer, everyone told her, OK. You have to go real vegan, raw vegan, real vegan. That’s going to help heal. And she said she did that. And her tumors spread like wildfire and she felt terrible. So for her. And she looked into Ayurveda and she thought, OK, well, my body type and say that I should be eating some meats and some one country. So she incorporated warm cooked foods and meats and she started to feel a lot stronger and feel a lot better. So it definitely is a personal choice. I just encourage everyone who’s, you know, has cancer to say, OK, well, what feels right? Do I want to be mostly plant based, maybe four, five days of the week? I’m completely vegan and maybe two days of the week I have some wild fish or some organic meat.
Maria Marlowe: [00:14:43] Yeah. And that’s a really great example that you brought up, because I think it just speaks to the fact that we’re all different and our body is different. Our biochemistry is different. So the perfect diet for each of us is going to be slightly different. And I can tell you personally that I was. And for a period of time, and I still eat primarily a vast majority of what I eat is plants. But I have, you know, over the years started to incorporate back like you, the organic, high quality animal proteins. And I just find that I feel better and that, you know, for some people going vegan can. Like, for example, Kris Carr is a great example of someone who used the vegan diet to become cancer free. Her cancer is in remission for, what, ten years now, right?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:15:32] Yeah, she’s doing great. Actually, I share her crazy sexy being chili recipe in the book. So I’m very glad that that’s in the book. Yeah.
Maria Marlowe: [00:15:41] Yeah. So is Kris Carr’s great. She’s amazing. And she’s a huge promoter of the vegan diet. And for her, that worked. And, you know, she looks great. She’s glowing. She’s healthy. And that really worked for her. But for other people like for you, you know, you included a lot of plant based organic foods and vegan foods. But you did include a little bit of that animal protein and you still came out the other side with a similar result. Right. Which you’ve been healthy now for probably a decade, too, right? Ten years. Yeah. Yeah. It is crazy. So, yeah, just a great reminder for everyone to listen to your body. And I will say, because I sometimes do get pushback on this on Instagram, like I’d posted something about organic eggs the other day and some people were like, oh, no, you know, you have to go vegan, you have to a vegan.
Maria Marlowe: [00:16:29] And, you know, there are many cases like it depends on your body. So, for example, if you have an autoimmune disease Vegan May, for some people, it might work. But for many people actually, including those high quality animal proteins, is what helps them deal with their autoimmune issues and get out the other side and get and regain their health and get rid of all of their symptoms. So, for example, Dr. Terry Wahls, for anyone who is listening, who may have an autoimmune condition, definitely check her out because she went from having M.S. and being in a wheelchair to adopting a basically paleo style diet, which is mostly plant based, but a little bit of organic animal products. And she is now running and hiking and back her to her health. So just always don’t you know, I really encourage you guys and I think we all know you’d agree not to be dogmatic about anything and just really listen to your body to figure out what works. Yeah. Yeah.
Maria Marlowe: [00:17:23] So that said, let’s go back to the cancer free foods. And I’d love for you to share in the book. You you have, I think, 15 different foods at the top foods for preventing and fighting cancer. So can you share with us the top three?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:17:39] Yes. Oh, my gosh, I was so excited to put this list together because I really wanted to dive into all the research and all the scientific studies that they’ve been doing to show which foods are the strongest and have the best results in actually curing cancer cells and reducing tumors. So in the book there’s like twenty three pages of end notes, like I really, really did a lot of research for the science part of it. So this is what I discovered. The top three basically anti cancer or cancer killing foods on planet earth. Uh-Huh. Well, number one is broccoli sprouts and that’s attributed to the that’s in broccoli sprouts. Number two is turmeric. And number three is blueberries. So that is the top three.
Maria Marlowe: [00:18:24] Ok, so broccoli sprouts. I love broccoli sprouts. And I’m curious how. I mean, I just saw them on to salads. But are there any other ways that you add them into your diet?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:18:35] Yeah. I love adding them to soups as well. Salads is definitely a good one. And then they’re just a great garnish on anything. You know, even if I make like a chicken tender recipe, I’ll sprinkle some broccoli sprouts on top as well. And juicing is a really potent way to get it. So actually putting it into the fresh juice, that is. Yeah. That’s awesome. Because then you’re getting a huge dose of Sephora Fane, which they’ve done studies in humans and in mice and they’ve injected them their tumors with the or every single tumor dissolves every single one. So I thought that was awesome. And then the other way that I like to incorporate the broccoli sprouts is just to eat about a handful. They’re so tasty like that. So since for the last 10 years since I have healed, I committed to having one green juice every single day just to get that chlorophyll into my body and keep it alkaline. And so I’ve done that.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:19:28] So like, I always opt for a fresh green juice. But on days when I’m not able to do that or from traveling, I have a greens powder and the greens powder. I have actually have broccoli sprouts in it. So I think that’s super cool. Like if someone’s not able to get fresh broccoli sprouts, you can get a greens powder or even just broccoli sprouts supplement as well. But definitely if whoever is listening that has cancer, definitely on a side property, broccoli sprouts like today and just kind of get that support or find in your system.
Maria Marlowe: [00:19:56] Yeah, those are great tips and ideas I didn’t even think of for using broccoli sprouts. Is there a specific amount that people should be aiming to have each day?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:20:06] So the suggested dosage that I found in my research online was to heal cancer. 2.5 ounces of broccoli sprouts a day, which is, you know, is quite substantial but doable. And that’s also good for preventing cancer as well. Like since I found out about the power of broccoli sprouts, like now I incorporate it into my diet just to keep my body super ankle’s and healthy and hopefully never a breeding ground for cancer again.
Maria Marlowe: [00:20:34] Yeah. And what about other sprouts like you know, or Arugula a sprouts or radish sprouts. Are those something that you incorporate or recommend as well? Or it’s mostly you just stick to the broccoli sprouts?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:20:46] Yeah, I mean, all sprouts are typically good because they have a lot of life force energy and a lot of like healthy components, but broccoli sprouts in particular because they are the highest form or support or fan on the planet than any other food like broccoli also has sulforaphane, but it’s much more reduced. So the broccoli sprouts is just so potent and it’s said that on the third day, like when you’re planting broccoli seeds on the third day there, it’s a nice little sprout. So that’s when you want to pick it and that’s when it’s highest in the for fame. The other sprouts on as high into four or five, if any at all.
Maria Marlowe: [00:21:21] Ok. So that’s also a good tip, so for anyone you can find broccoli sprouts typically in most health food stores, definitely in Whole Foods. But for someone who maybe can’t find them, they don’t have them locally for whatever reason. You could try some other sprouts. You could try broccoli and maybe even grow your own sprouts.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:21:39] Yeah. Grow your own sprouts. And then I would definitely recommend just getting a broccoli sprouts powder and supplement as well.
Maria Marlowe: [00:21:46] Ok. And let’s talk about turmeric. So turmeric is my favorite spice. I literally go through a jar of turmeric a month and I love cooking with it. I put it in just about everything. But I’m curious how you use it if you have any favorite recipes with turmeric.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:22:01] Yeah. So turmeric, it’s probably the most studied and talked about food for preventing and healing cancer. So definitely a good one to incorporate. So my favorite way is to make the chicken tender recipe. And we wanted to do big and you could do eggplant and basically you just dip it in some egg and then dip that into some almond flour with some turmeric and some sea salt. If you want to go, not for you, could you tiger nut flour as well? But that combination gives such a nice coating and it’s a great alternative to a breading. So it’s a nice gluten-free bread and those can be baked or cooked in a pan with some coconut oil and they come out so golden and crispy and delicious. And that’s really attributed to the tumeric, sir. That’s delicious.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:22:44] And then also, I just love to add it to a smoothie, like a 6 kick smoothie is one of the recipes in the book. So that orange, grapefruit, lemons and ginger that have kind pepper and some turmeric. So it’s super tasty, but also super potent. So adding it to any smoothies whenever possible. And then also to add to tea or add to some hot water with some lemon and some honey is a great way so you can drink it or make a nice golden milk or like a turmeric latte as well.
Maria Marlowe: [00:23:17] And so when you’re making the turmeric, teas or the smoothies, are you using fresh turmeric or the powder dry turmeric?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:23:25] So I’ll use both. You know, if I always have the powdered turmeric on hand, which is easy to get and have in the kitchen always. But every now and then, if I come across fresh turmeric in the store, I’ll grab it because I do love that fresh element, especially putting it into smoothies and juices as well.
Maria Marlowe: [00:23:43] Ok, great. Yeah, I love I’d definitely use both, but I find whenever I whenever I buy the fresh turmeric, it ends up all over my kitchen, all over my hands. So it stains a bit. I think then the powder, OK, and the third food was blueberry. So those are pretty easy to incorporate into the diet. But I’m curious. Yeah. If you can share a little bit more about the power of blueberries and how you incorporate them into your diet.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:24:09] So blueberries are a superfood and basically there’s been a lot of tests and studies that are all the fruits in terms of healing cancer. And blueberries came out the number one for healing cancer out of all the fruits. So I thought that was awesome. You know, there are some very indigenous fruits that haven’t been studied a lot, especially in Australia, like the Kakadu plum, which is said to have 50 times more vitamin C, then oranges. So, for example, like those might be able to heal cancer as well, be very powerful, but they just haven’t been studied and they’re not as common. So blueberries are the number one most common fruit for healing cancer and preventing cancer. And it’s just because they’re so high in antioxidants, like really, really, really high in antioxidants, which is just awesome. And they also have vitamin C. So boosting the immune system.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:24:58] So I love to just eat them as a snack. You know, I’ll eat an entire like little bucket of them, especially in the summer. It’s so nice and filling. And just to get that big dose of antioxidants. So I would definitely say like one blueberries in season, you can eat like a lot of them and just get that into the body. And then I also love to put them in the freezer so that they’re nice and frozen. So if especially in the summer craving like an ice pop or an ice cream type situation, just going in and grabbing like a frozen blueberry and eating that nice frozen treats. And then I also love to put it in a smoothie like I make a chocolate berry smoothie. So I just put some pro-cal powder and some blueberries and presumably berries and some strawberries with some almond butter or some fluorescent butter and a bit of honey. And it’s like this delicious chocolate very smoothie.
Maria Marlowe: [00:25:49] That sounds really good. Yeah. And I also I’m not putting them in smoothies and I even put them in salad sometimes, too. In the summertime when they’re super fresh, it’s it’s really gotten. So let’s talk some of the supplements, because you do talk about supplements in the book and there are a few things in there that maybe people haven’t heard of or are not familiar with. So one of them that I’d love you to talk a little bit more about is astragalus. So what is that and how could it be helpful? Why should we add it to our diet?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:26:24] Well, astragalus is a root. So anything that’s a root and going back to the indigenous education. So we look at how the fruit grows and how it might be healing through our body. So in terms of the indigenous aspect of astragalus as it’s a root and so that is very grounding for us and can heal us for on our core and he’ll really heal our gut. So and other things like onions and garlic and potatoes, you know, those are all root vegetables so that, you know, that has a healing element in itself. And then astraddle, this is basically just known for boosting immunity. And a lot of doctors, you know, the functional progressive doctors will recommend astragalus to anyone that needs to take care of their immune system. So it’s something that’s been more referred to for people who do have cancer. And it’s basically a plant and it belongs to the legume family. It’s very traditional in Chinese medicine as well.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:27:21] So it’s basically has a really good history of being a herbal remedy there. And they say that it helps to reinforce that cheat, that life force energy. It definitely has just such good, good vibes to it as well. Like, I love I take the supplements because, you know, you can do it in a powder as well, but or a tea. But I love taking the supplements and just having that feeling like, OK, it’s so my gut, you know, it feels feels really good. Yeah. So some people like to make it into a Tea though it tastes very earthy and very dirty like dirty and in a good way dirty.
Maria Marlowe: [00:27:55] Like dirty. Yeah. Yeah. So when people are making teas, is it typically like can you find a stragglers tea like an actual tea like in a little sachet or they. Can you find the root at a health food store and then chop that up and put that in your hot water.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:28:13] Yeah. You can find both of those and then you can also find a struggling powder. So you have a few different few different options. But yeah.
Maria Marlowe: [00:28:21] Ok. Yeah, but probably the supplement is probably the easiest to take and probably the easiest to swallow. Yeah. Exactly. And what about bentonite clay?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:28:33] Oh, my favorite supplement. Yes. So bentonite clay, volcanic ash. And I first heard about it when I had my tumor. I did a live blood test and I saw it on the screen, my blood like in lifetime. And I recommend everyone doing this. It’s fascinating to see what’s going on with your blood like right now. And so I basically saw that my blood was riddled with parasites, which was so disturbing, as you can imagine. And they were just like all these little worm things like in my blood. It was like it was repulsive. And I felt like they were invading my body and I want to get them get rid of them ASAP. And they also say that most people with cancer have way too many parasites.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:29:12] So that’s why bentonite clay come in handy. And so the naturopath who did that my blood test, said, if you start drinking bentonite clay, it will absorb the parasites and lock them into the vents and clays antibodies and take them out of the body. When the clay leaves the body. And so immediately I thought, wow, OK. That totally resonates with me. And that’s what I’m encouraging people to do in this book is because there are literally thousands of different super fruits and superfoods and supplements and natural cancer treatments that are out there that are old tools for us to use. But it doesn’t mean we have to use every single tool. It’s about finding out about majority of them and then whichever ones we feel most empowered to use, those are going to help the most.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:29:53] So I heard about bentonite clay was like, well, yes, I could see how that would be really effective for me. I did my research and I learned that it’s volcanic ash and it’s formed from sixty thousand years even to two million years to get to this powder. And it has strong magnetic properties. So whenever we drink it or put it on the outside of our skin, it straightaway starts to draw impurities into the bentonite clay. And so I started to drink that daily. And the Indians here in America actually use bentonite clay to purify the body. So it’s really great for purifying and helping to detox the body. And so you started your drinking and then I also made a paste out of it and put it on my neck to draw toxins out of the tumor. And then I also used to bathe in it as well as to draw toxins out of my skin. My whole idea was like, okay, I’m really toxic right now. Like, I have way too many toxins in my body, way too many parasites. So I need to drain it all out and detox. And so bentonite clay was a major factor in helping me do that. And I’ve incorporated bentonite clay for the last decade. And we’ll continue to you know, if I feel a build up, especially in living in New York City, if I feel like a heavy metal build up, I’ll drink the clay to really help to absorb all of that. So I definitely recommend every one looking into it more and seeing if it’s a good fit for you.
Maria Marlowe: [00:31:14] And how often now that you’re healthy, now you’re using it just as a sort of preventative or once in a while thing. So how often would you say that you take it?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:31:24] So every three months I’ll drink it for a week or two and I’ll just add a teaspoon of bentonite clay into a water bottle and just shake it up and then I’ll just drink that throughout the day for a week or two. And I always just feel like, oh, wow, I feel really cleansed and my body feels, you know, really purified. So then I stop. Yeah. Every few months to keep drinking it, just to maintain health and to keep the environment of the cells in the body inhospitable to cancer.
Maria Marlowe: [00:31:55] And you had a great tip in the book about bentonite clay because one of the things that drives me crazy about it is that when you put it. You mix it with the water. It doesn’t fully mix like it stays very clumpy, which is not very appetizing. But if you just let it sit for 30 minutes and then you swish it around, it actually will suspend throughout the liquid a lot more evenly and you’re not left with all those clumps. So it’s a lot easier to drink. And I can attest to that because I actually did it today. And it worked beautifully. So that was a great tip from book. That’s awesome.
Maria Marlowe: [00:32:28] OK. So let’s talk about some of the most toxic foods. And I think that we we all kind of know that our processed foods and junk foods aren’t really great for us. But can you explain a little bit why or if there are any certain things that we really need to look out for and make sure that we’re avoiding?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:32:47] Yes, so you know, obviously, we need to go back to nature any more foods that actually provide the body with high amounts of nutrition and antioxidants and vitamins and minerals and stay away from all the process, manmade foods as much as possible. But in this chapter there, I really wanted to do a little research to find out if there are actually studies that link between certain processed foods and cancer. And I was sort of surprised and shocked to find a lot of studies. So I put together the list of the top 50 most toxic foods. And, you know, you and I properly, when you recall these foods like Franken foods or they just like these crazy things that we call foods, but the first one is refined sugar. So white sugar, brown sugar and corn syrup. So that is the top one to cut out. And, you know, it’s also one of the easiest as well, because we have so many sugar alternatives these days. We have coconut sugar, maple syrup and honey and fruits and dates and stevia. So it’s just so much easier to cut white sugar and the body just can’t break that down. So it just takes it into the cells and it creates a perfect environment for disease and for cancer to grow.
Maria Marlowe: [00:33:56] Yeah, no, sugar is definitely a big one. And I’ve even had one of my I think it’s episode three with Dr. Vincent Poedre, who is a gut health expert. He was talking about there’s been some research on sugar and they found that it actually impairs the immune system for a certain amount of hours after you ingested. I want to say it’s six hours, but I’m not certain. But anytime you eat white sugar, it actually impairs your immune system for a certain amount of hours afterwards, which is kind of crazy to think that. So, yes, sugar is definitely something that we should really be limiting or avoiding completely, ideally. And I think you make a great point. It is so easy to get that sweet taste from natural foods. So while you probably feel like a lot of people have real sugar cravings, so you don’t have to give up sweet foods, you can still eat sweet things, but just you have to upgrade where that sweetness is coming from. And there are plenty of natural alternatives that can satisfy your sweet tooth. But in a healthier way. So I’m sure you have plenty of dessert recipes in your book.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:34:59] Yes, of course. Like the chocolate brownies, chocolate sun butter cups cookie dough, ice cream made with cashews, plenty to satisfy the sweet tooth in a healthy, safe way. Yes, OK.
Maria Marlowe: [00:35:11] So sugar is number one. What are some of the other top foods for us to avoid?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:35:16] Well, also on the list, I’ve got microwaved food, which some people are surprised about, but crude from microwave is technically being radiated. So that is something we definitely want to cut out. And a lot of it will just get rid of microwaves from their home completely because it does change the molecules of the food. And it was the World Health Organization classifies microwave radiation as a class to be a possible carcinogen. So I think that is fascinating. As soon as we put foods in there, even if that were healthy, you know, a lot of people heat their water to make coffee or tea in the microwave like it really makes the food or the water a carcinogen. We want to avoid anything from the microwave for sure.
Maria Marlowe: [00:36:03] It’s really easy. I haven’t used the microwave in probably 10 years. I stay far away from it. If I didn’t live in a rental. I would not have like if I designed my own kitchen, I would not even include a microwave in there. But yeah. So how I heat up my food is I will just put a dry pan on the stove top and just heat it up over a low or medium heat. You just put your food right at it literally heats up in two or three minutes. So that’s really easy. Same thing with water. You can either get one of those like if you want an electric kettle, you could get that or you can literally just put a small pot on your stove top, put the water in there and it heats up so quickly. So you don’t even need the microwave at all.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:36:43] Yes. Yes. Exactly. It’s worth us spending the extra time to make sure we’re putting only good things into our body and not just throwing it in the microwave and eating that. And then another one that’s on the list is like food additives. So artificial sweeteners like aspartame and also stabilizes preservatives like benzonate. So I found a lot of studies on this and it got me thinking, wow, why are these things still allowed in our food system, which is just crazy. But, you know, if we look at Europe, a lot of these things are banned in Europe. They’re just not acceptable in their food industry. So it’s really just in the Western world that we need to look out for these preservatives and mostly in America. You know, we definitely need to stay away from them and just eat as natural as possible because they do weaken the immune system and create a lot of toxicity in the body. So, we want to avoid. That’s for sure.
Maria Marlowe: [00:37:36] And where does alcohol fall?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:37:40] Alcohol. I was surprised about because, you know, I like to enjoy a drink here. And but a lot of studies show that excessive alcohol can create cancer, which totally makes sense, you know, because it weakens the liver and we can see immune system. So excessive alcohol is does increase your chances of getting cancer. But during a lot of studies, that’s for sure. If you drink like a glass of red wine every now and then, like it’s actually healthy and beneficial to you. So you definitely want to keep alcohol in moderation and a health hack that I love to use if I’m drinking is I’ll take activated charcoal supplement before I’ll have a drink and then I’ll take one after as well. It’s not just helps the liver to absorb the alcohol and digest it out the body so that the liver is not having to do all the work on its own.
Maria Marlowe: [00:38:27] That’s interesting. And do you feel like do you still get buzzed and everything or how does that affect anything else? Yeah.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:38:35] Like you still get sort of the buzz from the alcohol, but you don’t get like a hangover or the aftermath of it. So it doesn’t affect the enjoyment of it, but it just helps. Like after. Yeah. It’s a great health hack. I lot of people love that one.
Maria Marlowe: [00:38:51] So beyond food, though, can you share a little bit about some of the non-food factors that you think have contributed to your health and to get regaining our health after we’ve been sick? Because I know with you and this is something I mentioned on the last podcast. One thing that sticks out about you is that you are so positive and so happy. Whenever I see you, you’re always in a good mood. And even if something’s not going your way or whatever the case may be like, you always maintain that positive attitude. So can you speak a little bit to that and why that’s so important?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:39:28] Yeah, I mean, it’s it’s healing all of it with cancer. It’s healing the mind, the body and the soul. And I mean, I do other than through it, like that was a first step for me was I needed to heal with food and nourish myself with food. And then after that, I needed to heal some emotional stuff and some mental stuff and then had that spiritual connection. So I actually did write a whole chapter on this, the spiritual path to Healing Cancer, which wasn’t able to be in the book because I ended up with one hundred and forty thousand words, which is just a huge book. So that is a bonus material for anyone who’s preordering the book right now. They’re getting that chapter.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:40:05] In that chapter, I go in two different affirmations that you can use for your mind if you have cancer, because I found that like myself and others who have cancer, there’s a certain mindset and certain emotional status with cancer. You know, it’s obviously not enjoyable. It’s not you know, it’s not a good diagnosis at all. And it can create a lot of depression and anxiety. So I give a lot of affirmations for that and different healing modalities that people use. And I actually do a lot of spiritual warfare. So, you know, my beliefs reside on the Christian side of things. And so a lot of prayer and, you know, just asking God for help. Like in every single moment that you might feel despair, it’s just like, oh, God, please help me. Please help me. Like, guide me with what I need to do today to help heal my body and help me heal cancer. And just to realize that it was it’s not actually God’s plan for anyone to get cancer and then to suffer and die from it. I really just don’t believe that’s what we were designed to do. And I believe where we’re designed to be happy and joyful every single day and really enjoy our life every single day. So if we look at it from that way, it’s like, OK, this is just a dis ease. Let’s heal this and just asking for guidance and help from God to be guided throughout the day of like, OK. Eat this food or, you know, talk to this person and heal that situation or forgive this person. And all of that definitely is involved in the healing process as well.
Maria Marlowe: [00:41:29] Yeah, I think it really makes a huge difference. Your outlook and just your perspective on things. Because no matter what. Like everyone’s life is going to have downs, right. And stressors. It’s really up to us to maintain that positivity, because that’s really the only way to stay healthy and to stay, you know, moving forward, because I think when we just get stuck on like a victim mindset. Right. Because you could have been like, oh, I got cancer and that’s it. My life is over. I’m not going to change anything. I’m not gonna do anything. This was my fate. Or you could be like, no, OK, I’m gonna fix this and have that positive mindset and outlook to actually try and try and change things. So I just think that positivity and having some sort of spiritual practice is just really so integral and healing.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:42:22] Yeah. And it’s not we’re not meant to feel bad from it, too. That’s one thing I learned is that, you know, if we have cancer or health crisis, it’s so easy to be stressed about it and feel stressful all day. But that’s actually not going to help. So we just have to kind of come outside of ourselves and be like, okay, well, this is a diagnosis, but I’m not going to feel stressed about it all day because this doesn’t help. And, you know, they’ve done some great research on how stress does weaken the immune system and can cause disease. So we know that. So we definitely don’t want to be like stress all day. Like I have cancer or cancer. It’s gonna get worse. We have to still enjoy our life and take care of the things we know we have to take care of to increase our chances of hearing it. And yeah, I mean, some person dying of cancer I think is is not good. And, you know, I’d love to see a cancer free world and it’s possible. So we do still have to do the steps to make sure that our body just can’t grow the cancer and we can just stop killing those cancer cells. Yeah.
Maria Marlowe: [00:43:22] Yeah. So anyone who is interested in preventing cancer or maybe you’re struggling with cancer and you want some help in the healing department and some guidance in terms of food and lifestyle. Definitely. I highly recommend Liana’s book Cancer Free With Food. It’s so good on the recipes. She has a ton of recipes in there. Actually, she has one of my recipes in there which shows how many recipes are there. There are a ton.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:43:50] Yeah. There’s over 150 recipes. I also had a lot of them. So there’s also be bonus material for people who pre-order me. I was over one hundred and fifty and it’s for every type of eater. There’s a lot of vegan recipes and a lot of meat eater recipes as well.
Maria Marlowe: [00:44:05] Yes. And the book is coming out April 23rd. So you can pre-order it and you’ll get the bonuses. What do they do if they want to get the bonuses?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:44:14] So just pre-order from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. I would definitely encourage Barnes and Noble. You know, we want to keep bookstores alive, but I understand if people have to get it from Amazon quickly, so then just email your receipt to [email protected]. And then you get a video course and you get all of these bonuses. And this is just while it’s been preordering time. But after that, you know, I’ll still offer bonuses as well. So just check in on cancerfreefromfood.com That’s the website for the book. So you’ll be all updated with everything there.
Maria Marlowe: [00:44:47] Excellent. And one last question I want to ask you, which I did ask you last time, but maybe you’ll have a do answer if there is just one tip or piece of advice that you could leave our listeners with to live a happier and healthier life. What would that be?
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:45:04] Would be to have chlorophyll every single day in the form of a greens powder or a green drink or eating broccoli sprouts. And that chlorophyll just helps us to be so much happier and more positive because it just puts so much oxygen in the body and it analyzes the body. So when the body feels good, it’s much easier for us to be thinking more positive thoughts and just feeling better. So one green drink with chlorophyll every single day. That’s what I would say.
Maria Marlowe: [00:45:31] And I love that. Yeah, I think I’m going to start implementing that as well. Well, thank you so much, Liana. If you want to learn more, definitely check out her book, Cancer Free with Food. You can also find her at theearthdiet.org and on Instagram, @theearthdiet. So thank you, Liana. And I look forward to seeing you in New York soon.
Liana Werner-Gray: [00:45:50] Oh, thank you so much for having me.
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