Top 5 Science-Backed Strategies to Naturally Conquer Cancer

Can a plant-based diet significantly reduce your risk of cancer? What if the secret to beating cancer lies in your daily habits? 

In this enlightening episode of "me&my health up," host Anthony Hartcher is joined by Dr. Dominic Brandy, a renowned expert in holistic cancer care, to unravel the complexities of cancer and discover practical strategies to beat it. This episode delves deep into the heart of what it means to not just survive, but thrive in the face of cancer

Dr. Brandy, with his unique blend of professional expertise and personal experience, sheds light on the power of plant-based nutrition, the importance of quality sleep, and the transformative effects of fasting and autophagy in cancer management. He emphasises the importance of exercise, not just as a physical activity, but as a key component in enhancing sleep quality, managing stress, and directly contributing to cancer prevention. 

Moreover, the discussion takes a compassionate turn towards the emotional aspects of a cancer journey. Dr. Brandy shares his insights on the importance of emotional well-being and support, highlighting how managing stress and fostering positive relationships are integral to creating a healing environment. 

This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking to understand the holistic approach to beat cancer. It's packed with actionable advice, backed by scientific research, and presented in a way that resonates with everyone, whether you're a cancer patient, survivor, or simply someone interested in preventive health. 

Tune in to me&my health up and embark on a journey of discovery, where beating cancer is not just a possibility, but a reality achieved through informed choices and holistic lifestyle changes. Remember, beating cancer is not just about treatment; it's about transforming your life. 

About Dr. Dominic Brandy:  

• Expertise: Founder of Natural Insights Into Cancer, with 42 years in medicine, focusing on plastic surgery, medspa, and anti-aging. 
• Authorship & Speaking: Authored 76 scientific articles, 9 textbook chapters, and delivered over 200 international medical lectures. 
• Cancer Journey: Diagnosed with multiple myeloma, his personal battle shapes his health and wellness approach. 
• Background: Lifelong study in diet, exercise, and supplements, with a deep passion for health and nutrition since age 10. 
• Natural Insights into Cancer: Shares research on natural cancer combat methods through his website, and social media platforms.  
• Book Author: Wrote Beat Back Cancer Naturally, featuring 5 natural, plant-based strategies for cancer prevention and management. 
• Online Consultations: Offers virtual consultations and 24/7 cancer coaching. 

Connect with Dr. Dominic Brandy:
Website:  https://www.naturalinsightsintocancer.com/
LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-dominic-brandy-md-b7a4481a4/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dominic.brandy.5 
Instagram:

Podcast Disclaimer
Any information, advice, opinions or statements within it do not constitute medical, health care or other professional advice, and are provided for general information purposes only. All care is taken in the preparation of the information in this Podcast. [Connected Wellness Pty Ltd] operating under the brand of “me&my health up”..click here for more

Transcript

Anthony Hartcher: 0:08

My next question is, what can the listener do to reduce and eliminate that exposure to toxins?

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 0:14

Well, one of the things I tell all of my patients is to get some kind of a filter on their tap water. You know, people would be amased if they called their water authority and asked for a list of all of the toxins. In fact, I did that when my mother was diagnosed with AML, back 30 years ago was three pages of double columns of arsenic, heavy metals, contraceptives, prescription drugs, you would not believe what is in the water supply. So I think it's a great idea to for everyone to get some kind of a reverse osmosis water filter on their, on their tap. The other thing is, really, when in your most people don't realise that on a typical day, you actually inhale by 20 milligrams of dust in a typical day inside of your house. So one good thing to do is you know, open the windows once in a while people don't realise that the toxin level inside of your house is way higher than what it is outside.

Anthony Hartcher: 1:18

So that was Dr. Dominic Brandy, and you've landed on the me&my health podcast. I'm your host, Anthony Hartcher. I'm a clinical nutritionist and lifestyle medicine specialist. The purpose of this podcast is to enhance and enlighten your well being. And today I brought Dr. Dominic Brandy on the show to enhance and enlighten your well being in how to prevent, survive and thrive with cancer. That's what he does. He is a physician of 42 years, and he specialised in plastic surgery and anti aging. But then he was struck down with a multiple myeloma, and that really sent him for six. And so he went into deep down into evidence based research around natural ways to beat back cancer. And you wrote a book on natural ways to beat that cancer. And he's got five scientifically proven ways to help beat back cancer so that you can not only survive, but thrive with cancer. So without much further ado, I'd love to welcome you into this insightful discussion with Dr. Dominic Brandy. Welcome on the me&my health up podcast. How are you, Dr. Brandy?

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 2:35

I'm doing great. I'm glad to be here.

Anthony Hartcher: 2:38

Where are you joining us from?

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 2:39

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania United States.

Anthony Hartcher: 2:42

Yeah, fantastic. So great to have you on the show. We're talking about a very important topic not only to you, but also to the listeners, we're certainly seeing rising rates of cancer, everyone, a listener or you know, the general public just tuning into this will have some sort of connection with cancer, whether it be a family member or friend. But we all have been affected by cancer in some way. And I'm really glad to have you on the show to share your expertise with the listener in terms of how they can prevent, survive and thrive with cancer. So thank you, Dominic, for putting aside your time.

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 3:21

I'm glad to be here. Glad to share some good information with you today.

Anthony Hartcher: 3:25

Let's start with your journey, how you've arrived at what you're doing today.

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 3:30

Well, a little bit of background about myself. I had a plastic surgery slash Med Spa slash anti aging center for over 40 years. And three and a half years ago, I actually sold it to a Venture Capital Group. So the last three and a half years I dedicate my life to doing cancer Lifestyle coaching for people that are really battling with cancer. But my cancer journey actually started about six years ago, I was diagnosed with an incurable blood cancer called multiple myeloma. And what's interesting about my story is the different avenues that I use in giving advice to patients and coaching them actually started two months before I actually got diagnosed. It was kind of weird the way that had happened. My wife and I were on a cruise was a two week Viking cruise we were going across the Atlantic Ocean. And because I've always had this anti aging center, I've always been interested in health and nutrition. So I've read well over 300 books on health and nutrition. So when I'm on a vacation, the first thing I do is I get on Kindle and I look for some kind of a health and nutrition book. So on this trip this book by Michael Greger pumped up "How Not to Die" and to say the least the title was quite intriguing. And for anybody in your listening audience that's ever read the book if you get the hardback It's literally about two inches thick and about an inch of that are scientific references. And being a medical doctor, as I was reading this, that was the thing that was really intriguing to me is that the science was just showing over and over again that research cohort groups, cultures that ate more plant based, seem to have a much lower incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, really all cause mortality. So I'm a couple of days into this cruise. And I tell my wife, I'm going to start eating whole foods plant based. And she thought I was out of my mind, but I've been eating whole food plant based ever since then, that was September of 2017. So then I came home. This was like the last week of September, and I'm doing a surgical case. And I feel a little pop in my right clavicle. And I didn't think a whole lot of it. I thought maybe it was a tendinitis or something like that. And it just kept getting worse and worse. And then I remember by the end of October, so this is like about a month and a half later from the cruise. It was starting to keep me up at night and the pain in the right clavicle. And I remember telling my wife, I said, Trina, you know what, I think I have bone cancer. And she said, Oh, you're the healthiest person I know. You don't have bone cancer. So I kind of fluffed it off and in the pain just kept getting worse and worse. So one day we were watching television, it was November 10. I remember the exact day 2017, I had a container of water, and I accidentally knocked it over and when I launched to catch it, my bone just cracked right in half. So I went to the urgent care center. They did an Xray, I had a totally displaced clavicle then went to a friend of mine, he's an orthopedic doctor. He did an MRI and he called me the Friday after the Sunday that this happened. He goes, he goes Nick, that's my nickname. He goes, Nick, I got some bad news for you because you either have a metastatic tumor in there or you have multiple myeloma. And you can imagine I was totally devastated. My brother came over my sisters. I mean, they were crying. It was like really pretty traumatic, and anybody that been diagnosed with cancer, they know what it's like your whole world is completely rocked. So anyway, I had to then go get testing. They did a biopsy a bunch of different blood work, and they came up with this diagnosis of an IgA kappa chain myeloma. And for your listeners, just so they know there's there's basically three types of myeloma, there's IgA, IgG, IgM. And mine was an IgA, which is if you go on the internet, that's the most aggressive type of multiple myeloma. So when I went to my oncologist, he wanted to start me on this triple regimen, it was to oral medications. And then there was a shot that I would have to get into my abdomen every week. And the more I was reading about this shot, it's called Velcade, it's proteasome inhibitor, almost everybody gets a pretty severe peripheral neuropathy, which is a kind of a destruction of the nerve endings of the feet in the hands. And because I'm a surgeon, that can concern me, so I told him, I wasn't going to do the valve kit. The other reason I told him that is I had already been eating whole foods plant based for two months, and I felt confident that that was going to help me. So anyway, he wasn't happy to say he just didn't think I was going to be able to get into any kind of a remission, just doing these to oral medications. So at that point, I kept eating whole food plant base, and then I went on a deep dive into the scientific literature, I just wanted to find every single herbal supplement, I could take lifestyle changes that I could do that enhance my chances of getting into a complete remission. So every month, my numbers just kept getting better and better. And when I got the six months, I was in a complete remission. To say the least the oncologist was totally blown away, didn't even think I was going to get into a complete remission, but to do it in six months, he was just as I said, he was really blown away by that he was obviously happy. But at that point, I kept doing research. And when I did in my med spas, I started to have monthly meetings with with people that showed up at a large. I did a seminar. It was about a year after I was diagnosed, I rented a hotel room, and I advertised that I was going to give a lecture on cancer prevention. And what you could do if you had cancer, lifestyle changes that you could make. And I thought I was going to maybe get 50 people there. I got 125 people that showed up at this lecture, and it was supposed to be about an hour it ends up being a two hour lecture. At the end of it, I'd had a standing ovation which I have never had a standing ovation for anything. I think it was because I don't think the lecture was that great. I think it was because there were a lot of cancer patients out there that really felt that they were at the mercy of the radiation, the chemo, the surgery, and there wasn't anything that they could do to enhance their outcome. In fact, after I gave the lecture, there were quite a few cancer patients that came up to me and I remember one specifically, she had what I have multiple myeloma, and she told me that she was definitely overweight, I wouldn't say she was even obese. She told me that she asked her oncologist if she should change her diet, and anyway, and he said, Oh, no, just keep eating, the way you're eating, you're gonna do just fine. And she looked me right in the eye. And she said, I knew that couldn't be right. And I had other people that came up to me. And it was the same kind of a scenario where, you know, in college just really didn't give any recommendations on lifestyle changes, dietary changes that they can make, and so forth. So after I gave this talk, I decided every month I was going to have a meeting at my one of my med spas, it was one of my larger med spas. And I would bring in guest speakers, we would, I don't even know how we path these people. And we were getting about 75 to 100 people like packed into these monthly meetings, and they were really very, very excellent. And then people started asking me, you need to write a book because I had all this knowledge. So it was Memorial Day, I remember 2018, every morning, I woke up, and I wrote for an hour, I had actually a writing coach. And she told me, I never knew this. She said, If you wake up every morning and you write an hour, an average person can write about 700 words in an hour. She said, You can get a short book done in one month, a medium book done in two months, and a long book done in three months. So every morning, as soon as I woke up, I wrote for at least an hour. And then obviously, I had to do a lot of research in between. But I had the book completely done by Labor Day. And then I had it on Amazon, the first week of November. And then we had a book launching like the second week of November. So that's kind of how and then I obviously I had I developed a website, I have an Instagram site, it's called@cancerveggiedoc, I have over 97,000 followers on that Instagram site. In fact, right before we did this podcast, I did a post, what I do now is basically I do cancer Lifestyle coaching for patients, you know, they go on the internet, they sign up either for a one or two hour virtual consultation, I really prefer two hours fact most time they run about two and a half hours, I kind of really go over all the different aspects of what I think they need to be doing to augment either the treatment they're getting, or if they're in a remission, you know, keeping them in a remission. And I can I can tell you, I had somebody on a podcast asked me one time, if you ever had any of your patients that were in remission come out of remission. And I really could not think of one that was following the protocol that actually came out of remission. So if they follow these lifestyle changes that I recommend in supplements, and so forth, there's a really good chance that they're going to be able to stay in remission. Now, some of the patients are stage four, they're kind of at the end of the road. In those kinds of cases, I often refer them to clinics that do IV vitamin C treatments, ozone treatments, even hyperthermia treatments. So when you start getting you know, in the like a stage four, where the cancer really has taken off, then you really have to get more aggressive with some other type of treatments. But one thing that I don't do and I want to make this clear to your listeners is I do not tell patients to not get conventional treatment. In fact, I've run into some situations where I've had some very young patients I have one in particular she's 32 years old, when she was 29, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she tried the Gerson therapy for about 10 months and it kept getting worse. And then she went to a clinic in Texas I think she did methylene blue with ozone mistletoe and it just kept getting worse. And then she finally came to me and I told her listen, you need to do an integrative approach. In other words, you need to do conventional therapy plus all these different supplements that I'm going to recommend dietary changes exercise, good sleep, stress management, detox and so forth. And she's doing really, really well now, but I run into a lot of patients that try to go the alternative route without doing conventional and they really a lot of them really get themselves into major problems. So I one thing I want your listeners to understand is that I do not recommend just trying to treat cancer with food on alternative treatments, I think you need a combination of everything.

Anthony Hartcher: 15:03

Thank you for sharing your story very inspirational in terms of having, I guess, got the diagnosis, and then really looking into everything possible that you could do to not only help you, but it seems to be helping everyone else. So every one that you touch around your coaching, so it's having a profound impact in terms of what you've learned through your journey. And now you're inspiring others that they can do a whole lot more they can actually take their hands into, you know, along with, as you said, conventional treatments, but they can do something around in terms of doing something as opposed to thinking that it's reliant on someone else, they can actually take some ownership and do things around diet and lifestyle. So my next question for you, Dominic, is around the myths of cancer. And I think one of them is certainly around like you were saying that you're doing a lot around your health, and then you come into this, you know, you've got this diagnosis around cancer. And so, you know, like, I'm sure there's a myth around that, you know, like, healthy people are susceptible, just as much as unhealthy I'm not sure but I'd love you to share the myths around cancer.

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 16:17

Well.

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Dr. Dominic Brandy: 17:05

First off, I do think that lifestyle does have a big part of whether or not you get cancer. I mean, we do know the National Cancer Institute in the United States, they recommend nine servings of fruits and vegetables for the prevention of cancer. And the reason they came up with that recommendation is as Dr. Greger showed in his book, when you look at cultures, and you look at research cohort groups that eat more plant foods, they tend to have much less cancer. If you look in the United States, it's probably similar. In Australia, the average person in the United States, there was a CDC study that I read eats on average 1.8 servings of plants, and that's counting french fries and ketchup as a plant food. So we are severely deficient in the amount of plant foods that we're eating, if you look at fiber, and fiber is one of the things I really try to focus on, especially when you look at fiber and its relationship to the microbiome. And we can get into that a little bit later, if you want. But if you look at the United States, for example, only 3% of the population is hitting 25 grams of fiber in men between 30 to 50 0%, or hitting 25 grams of fiber, just myself, I eat plant based I eat about 60 to 70 grams of fiber per day. And I think I think we need to focus if you focus more on the fiber. And you get away from all of these, you know, arguments on social media, you know, carnivores versus vegans versus, you know, Ketos, Paleo, I think if you focus more on the fiber, and quit arguing about what diet is the best, I think people will start eating more plants automatically, because that's the only place really that you can get fiber is from plant foods. So I really do think in the United States, one of the reasons we've had a rise in cancer is we don't eat enough plants. But I think the other problem is and I'm sure it's this way, in Australia, about 70% of Americans are either obese, or overweight. And we definitely know that when you are overweight or obese, your propensity toward cancer goes up dramatically. You know, for a couple reasons, first off, that extra visceral fat creates a lot of pro inflammatory cytokines that are very pro carcinogenic. But the other thing most people that are overweight are diabetic or pre diabetic. And when you're diabetic, you have higher insulin levels and you also have higher sugar levels in your bloodstream. And I think most people know and all my cancer patients when I tell them they can eat fruit. They're like ecstatic because they always hear that cancer loves sugar. So they think, Oh, I can't eat fruit. But when you're diabetic, your sugar levels are high and your insulin levels are high. And what most people don't realise is that insulin is one of the most powerful cancer growth stimulators in your body so that when you have that constant insulin level that is elevated, and if you let's say you have a DNA mutation that has occurred, that is pro carcinogenic, that could be a trigger for cancer growth. So you really have to keep your insulin levels down. And you really need to keep your weight ideal because when you are obese, you definitely have a much higher propensity toward getting cancer. I think one of the other things in the United States, a lot of people drink alcohol. I'm sure that's the case in Australia. I know the Aussies like the drink their beer, right. But alcohol consumption, there's a lot of studies that are coming out that show that alcohol consumption, even moderate is correlated with just about every type of cancer. So that's another area that I think at least the United States were drinking alcohol is just kind of almost like drinking water, it's just become just part of the culture. So I think that's another issue and why we're seeing an elevation and and I think the other thing is, we're exposed to so many toxins nowadays. I mean, let's just face it, when you're eating your food, there's so many pesticides, even in the drinking water, one of the things that I do recommend all of my patients to do is get a reverse osmosis water filter on their tap, my mother was diagnosed with leukemia back in 1990. And I remember we had a filter company come in, and they put two electrodes in the tap water. And literally 33% of the water precipitated out. I mean, it totally freaked me out. So I called the water authority. And I said, Hey, can you send me a list of what's in the water, and it was like three pages of two columns. I mean, there was arsenic, there's contraceptives, prescription drugs, you can't believe all the stuff that's in the water supply. So that's one of the things I tell all of my cancer patients, you need to get some kind of a filter on your tap water, because you really don't want to have all of those carcinogens in your body, especially when you're trying to fight cancer. I mean, you're trying to fight and then you're exposed to all these carcinogens. So I think that's the other reason why there's been a significant rise in cancer, I think it's a lot of the toxins. In fact, I've read one article, that by the time a woman leaves her home, when she puts her skin creams on and her makeup, she's already introduced 168 different chemicals into her body. And an average man already has introduced about 85 different chemicals into their body before they've even left the house. So I just think we're exposed to a lot of carcinogens, also.

Anthony Hartcher: 22:54

That was incredible in terms of what you just shared Dr. Brandy around the amount of toxins were exposed to on a daily basis. And so my next question is, what can the listeners do to reduce and eliminate that exposure to toxins?

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 23:09

Well, one of the things I tell all of my patients is to get some kind of a filter on their tap water, you know, people would be amased if they called her water authority and asked for a list of all of the toxins. In fact, I did that when my mother was diagnosed with AML. Back 30 years ago, it was three pages of double columns of arsenic, heavy metals, contraceptives, prescription drugs, you would not believe what is in the water supply. So I think it's a great idea to for everyone, to get some kind of a reverse osmosis water filter there on their tap. The other thing is really, when in your most people don't realise that on a typical day, you actually inhale by 20 milligrams of dust, and a typical day inside of your house. So one good thing to do is, you know, open the windows once in a while people don't realise that the toxin level inside of your house is way higher than what it is outside. So it's not a bad idea. In our house, for example, we have an air filter in every single house. And I think that's especially important when you're sleeping, the bedroom is actually one of the most toxic rooms in a house. So it really would be a good idea to a minimum at least have an air filter running in your bedroom at night. And then I think the obvious thing that most people knows if you can eat organic, I think that is a good idea. I mean, we exposed to so many pesticides, and also a foods that have high glyphosate levels. So I would recommend when you buy foods, at least try to get ones that have a non GMO label on them. And one of the things people don't realise is that when you eat meat, for example, 85% of those animals are actually fed GMO soy products and plant grain products. So when you're reading q lot of animal products are actually getting a lot of glyphosate. So you know, just cutting back on your animal products. As you know, I'm more into whole foods plant based, but if you are going to eat animal products, you know, make sure it's grass fed. And if you if there's a way for you to find out if those animals are not fed any kind of GMO grains, for example, the other thing that I learned when I go to a, for instance, a Chinese restaurant, I typically ordered tofu with vegetables, for example, steamed vegetables, but I never even thought about this. I read about it in an article one day I asked, Is your soy non GMO? Because you would be surprised how many Chinese restaurants actually serve you GMO type soy. So it's always good to ask about those different types of things. The other thing I think people need to know is that it's impossible to totally eliminate all of your exposures. I mean, people don't realise since World War 2, there have been 81,000 different chemicals that have been developed and 71,000 of them are actually endocrine disruptors. So it's almost impossible to totally eliminate your exposure. So one of the, there's several things that I really recommend to my patients to really eliminate or decrease the amount of exposure. And number one is, you really have to understand the way that your body detox is. So your liver is your main detox Organ. So you have phase 1 enzymes, you have phase 2 enzymes. The Phase 1 enzymes basically take the toxin, and they make it into a polarised chemical. And then the Phase 2 basically take it from a polarised chemical into a water soluble chemical molecule. So from that point, we basically can get rid of it through our kidneys. So drinking a lot of purified water would be the best way to help get rid of a lot of those toxins. The other way you get rid of it is through sweat. So when you exercise, make sure you exercise to the point where you are actually sweating. And I strongly recommend that my patients really think about getting a portable infrared sauna, my wife and I, we basically get infrared sauna. Every night, we watch typically some kind of a TV series, and she gets in for 30 minutes, we pause, she takes a shower, then I get in for about 30 minutes, but it gets you up to about 175 degrees Fahrenheit. And when you sweat like that, the science does show that you get rid of a lot of these endocrine disruptors, so they They basically come out through your sweat. So that's something that I strongly recommend people think about, you know, getting. And then the third way is through your intestine. So studies show that the higher your fiber content, the more you are going to get rid of a lot of these toxins fiber actually binds to a lot of heavy metals. So I recommend for my patients more of a whole food plant based diet. So they're getting typically anywhere from 60 to 70 grams of fiber per day. So they're really getting rid of a lot of these heavy metals and toxins through the feces, so So they're basically the things that you can do, like I said, you're never going to totally eliminate your exposure. So the best thing to do is minimise it. And then do whatever you can to help your body get rid of as many toxins as possible.

Anthony Hartcher: 28:30

And what do you recommend about the exposure to chemicals through the application of skin creams and makeup? And yeah, so what's your thoughts on that and what people can do about to minimise their toxic?

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 28:42

Yeah, there's a good website, I don't know if you're familiar with you probably

are, it's called https: 28:46

//www.ewg.org/. And they basically when you go on there, you hit different categories, for instance, you get skin creams, and it will have all the skin creams that they've done analysis on the fact nowadays, and I don't know if it's this way in Australia, but they actually have in the EWG verification on a lot of these skin creams, sunscreens and so forth. So I think the EWG.ORG is a good place to go. You know, they have different shampoos that are safer soaps, etc. So that's something that I would highly recommend. And then even for cleaning products, my wife actually makes her own cleaning products. She she uses like essential oils and vinegar to clean a lot of our tabletops and so forth. So, but on EWG.ORG they also have different cleaners that you can use in your house that are a lot safer.

Anthony Hartcher: 29:38

Fantastic, and you just spoke about the fiber and the importance of that and eliminating toxins binding to heavy metals and taking them out through our bowels. You mentioned before that much earlier in the episode around the importance of fiber linked to the microbiome. I'd love to explore that with you and the importance of having increased fiber to support a healthy microbiome?

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 30:02

Yeah, as we kind of talked before we started the podcast on social media, there's all of these diet wars, I call them, you know, vegan vs paleo vs. keto, carnivore. I mean, it starts getting absurd to be quite frank with you. But when I'm approached with that, I always divert the conversation to fiber in America, I'm sure it's probably like this in Australia, only 3% of Americans are even getting 25 grams of fiber. And really, in my view, you really should be getting anywhere from 30 to 50 grams of fiber for optimal health. And the reason it's important is that fiber is what feeds the 37 trillion bacteria in your large colon. Most people don't realise you have about 37 trillion cells in your body, and you have 37 trillion bacteria in your large colon. And the other thing that's fascinating is only 1% of the DNA in your body is actually from your human DNA. 99% is from your, your gut microbiome, it is totally fascinating. And the reason it's so important is that these bacteria in the large colon, when you eat fiber, the fiber goes down to large colon and then the the the beneficial bacteria feed on that fiber. And they form what are called short chain fatty acids. The short chain fatty acids are propionate, acetate, and butyrate. And these are the most powerful anti inflammatory anti cancer chemicals I have ever studied. They inhibit some of the most inflammatory chemicals in our bodies, interferon why nuclear factor, Kappa Beta, tumor necrosis factor, and what is really fascinating fact, I did a video today that I'm gonna be posting on my Instagram account in the next few days. But these gut bacteria actually control 70% of your immune function in the way they do it is they send signals across the single lining of colon cells, and they basically conduct the immune system, they tell the immune cells where to go, how hard to fight. If the inflammation is getting out of control, they tell the immune system hey, you need to back off. That's typically what happens with autoimmunity, the immune system starts getting out of control. And these bacteria basically conduct the immune cells and tell them Hey, guys, this inflammation is getting out of control, you really need to back off on this. The other thing that these gut microbe biome do is they actually release 90% of your serotonin, and 50% of your dopamine. And for those that don't know, serotonin, is your happy hormone, when they give you an antidepressant that's basically a serotonin uptake inhibitor. So if you look at most studies, people that eat more plant based, seem to have better cognition, and they seem to have better mood. And as I've studied the microbiome, it's really helped me tie in the whole idea of why people that eat more plant foods tend to have better health outcomes, you know, not only from a cognition and mood perspective, but also from cancer perspective, diabetes, you know, Alzheimer's disease, really all cause mortality. So the gut microbiome is really like a critical aspect, a scientific study. And one last thing that I think is totally fascinating is that when you do a fecal transplant, if you take identical twins, one is fat, and one is lean, and you do a fecal transplant from the obese twin into a lean rodent, that lean rodents will get fat. And conversely, if you have a fat twin, and you transfer the feces into a lean rat, it will get fat. And they've they've done this study hundreds of times they've repeated it over and over and you get the same outcome. And one of the reasons that that happens is that the gut bacteria actually send a signal through the short chain fatty acids to the colon cells to release what's called glp-1(glucagon-like peptide). You're probably familiar with semaglutide. I don't know if it's popular and I'm sure it is in Australia would go these it's really creating a lot of weight loss in patients with side effects, however, but those are GLP 1 receptor agonist, a way that you can do it naturally is by eating more plant foods because as you eat more plant foods, you increase your beneficial bacteria, the GLP 1 goes up, GLP 1 decreases your appetite. It slows gastric emptying, it makes you more insulin sensitive. So I encourage my patients that I'm doing counseling for to eat more plant based. And typically they all lose weight even without trying because plant foods tend to be very calorically low, but nutritionally dense, as opposed to what the typical American Australians eatingultra processed foods, which are calorically dense, and they're nutritionally low in nutrients.

Anthony Hartcher: 35:26

Wow, that's phenomenal in terms of what you shared there around fiber and the importance to the microbiome and how it conducts the immune system and how that's really important to preventing cancer in my work. Next question is around probiotics. So you've mentioned the importance of fiber as a prebiotic to the microbiome. What are your thoughts on probiotic?

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 35:47

Yeah, I really think you're better off with prebiotics and plant foods are prebiotics. When I make a recommendation for probiotics, basically, I go to

https: 35:58

//www.consumerlab.com/. In fact, when I make any recommendations for supplements, I go to that website, and your audience should know about that website is called https://www.consumerlab.com/. What they do is they go through all these different supplements, and they actually analyse what's in the supplement. Just kind of give you an example, I was using an olive oil that I thought was really good cure repellee. And then when I went on consumerlab.com, I found out that 25% of it is rancid. And it was interesting. A lot of the olive oils didn't even have all of them. The one that I recommend to my patients is Lucini. That was they always have a top pick. So when I have I do microbiome testing, through my website, natural insights into cancer, and when that test shows that there's some dysbiosis, sometimes I will recommend a probiotic and and the one I've recently been recommending I think it's called Vizbiome was consumerlab.com's top pick, it does have a very, I think it had like 250 billion of colonies in there. And it did require to be refrigerated. So I do think they can be beneficial. But I don't think it's the cure all. And some studies show that really, even after a couple of weeks, a lot of those bacteria like weren't even there. I mean, they've basically been destroyed either by the stomach acid, where they just haven't pulled it for rated in the in the large colon.

Anthony Hartcher: 37:28

And in your book, you talk a lot about supplements that are really supportive in terms of preventing cancer. What are those top supplements that you would recommend to the listeners?

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 37:39

Well, when I tell patients if they're gonna take three supplements, I take 30 Plus herbal supplements, I mean, I've highly researched them. And in they're all in my book, I have over 500 references in my book beat back cancer naturally but not everybody is going to do that or can even afford that. But all the supplements that I do recommend they can get on Amazon I tried to get the ones that are high quality, but also not that expensive. But the three supplements that I think everybody should take, even if they don't have cancer. One is turmeric and in turmeric has been studied in over 12,000 different clinical studies and over and over again, it shows that it has very powerful anti cancer activity alone it has been shown to affect at different cancer signaling pathways just to show you the power of turmeric. And what I typically recommend patients to do is find the turmeric supplement that actually is not standardised to 95% curcumin, most of the turmeric supplements are and the most expensive ones. The one that I currently recommend is through Carlisle and basically it's almost all just turmeric root, the one that I recommend through Carlisle each cast was one gram so the studies show that you need about eight grams if you have cancer going back in their group, in fact that they're in Australia, they did some major work on MGUS which is the precursor of myeloma, which is the type of cancer that I have. And what they found was that people that were taking turmeric actually had all of their MGUS myeloma biomarkers decreased by by 33% their M spike, their cap and chains significantly came down. So that's one supplement that I strongly recommend. Really everyone to take if you're just taking it preventatively I would do gram the morning gram the evening the thing that all patients should take when they take turmeric is a black pepper extract studies show that you get a significant increase in bioavailability when you take a black pepper extract so typically with cancer patients, I recommend four of those Carlisle turmeric and then two of those it's called bio Perine, the black pepper extract and then I also recommend fish oil. The one that I recommend is it's through New Age, it has about a gram each capsule has about a gram of EPA and DHA. And the reason I recommend that is that for turmeric to be properly absorbed, you need fat so the fish oil provides that. But the other thing to fish oil, the EPA DHA is extremely anti inflammatory. And when you're battling cancer, you need to keep the inflammation down in the cancer micro environment. So when you take three in the morning and three in the evening with the turmeric, in the black pepper extract, that combination is very powerful against cancer. And one of the things I do in my practice is I do strongly recommend people to get their Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio checked, I try to keep that about two to one. Most people that I check in for your audience that are familiar, the Omega 6 and Omega 3 are both essential fatty acids, the Omega six tend to be more pro inflammatory, the Omega three tend to be more anti inflammatory. So what I typically recommend is to get that ratio checked. Most Americans that I check, it's anywhere from 10- 1 up to 20 - 1 I mean, it's ridiculously high, because of all of these ultra processed foods that we're eating, I mean, they are loaded with these Omega 6 fatty acids. So typically when you decrease your ultra processed foods, and then you up your omega 3s, through foods, walnuts, for example, chia seeds, flax seeds have high omega 3 levels, but I really think by doing a supplement, it really helps get that ratio down to that two to one level that I really prefer my cancer patients to have.

Anthony Hartcher: 41:52

So that's to make six parts per one part of omega 3, right?

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 41:58

Yeah, exactly.

Anthony Hartcher: 41:59

Fantastic. And just in terms of exercise, because we're covering all aspects of your book here or, you know, parts or parts of your book, but just getting a synopsis. So what do you recommend around exercise?

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 42:12

Well, exercise is extremely powerful. In fact, in my book, I have a study that's really quite mind blowing, to people that have had cancer, and one group walked briskly for 30 minutes per day, and they decreased their relapse rate by 24% than another group, they had kind of run two thirds of a mile per day. And they actually decreased their relapse rate by 40%. And then the final group ran 2.3 miles per day, and they decreased their relapse rate by 95%, which is really, I'm not even sure chemo drugs can even do that. So exercise has an extremely powerful effect on your immune system effect, there was a recent study that just came out, that showed just five minutes of exercise actually increases your natural killer cell activity. They're the cells that actually kill cancer cells by about 50%. So you don't have to do a lot. You know, a lot of my patients will tell me, Hey, I don't have time to exercise. And I say you got five minutes. I think everybody does. In fact, I have a little band routine that I send to my patients, I made a video of it. And it takes me about 15 minutes to get through that. And I usually do about four reps, I hit every muscle group. And I just tell my patients, hey, listen, do 20 reps, you'll get through the whole thing and seven and a half minutes, you're out the door, you jacked up your natural killer cell activity. So you put yourself in a really, really good position. So exercise is really the kingpin of the lifestyle changes that I recommend, you know, the other two in my book one is sleep. I really think you need to get at least eight hours of sleep per night. One things I started doing. I don't know if you've ever heard of the Oura Ring there it is right there, that it's asleep app it's I tell you what, it's really helped me a lot because I've been able to like figure out some of the things I was doing it properly. And I'm getting very consistent sleep now. And one of the things that really fascinated me when I got the sleep tracker was if I was in bed for nine hours, I was actually only sleeping seven hours. You know, most people think if they're in bed for eight hours, they got eight hours of sleep, but you really aren't getting eight hours of sleep, you're probably getting like maybe seven, six and a half hours asleep. And then the Oura Ring tells you how much you're in deep sleep, how much REM sleep you're in, which is very important. And then they kind of make recommendations if you're kind of deficient in certain areas and everyday they give you kind of a readiness score. So that's something that has really helped me but people need to realise when you are sleeping, that's when a lot of your tumor surveillance is going on. That's when a lot of your DNA repair is going on. And most people don't realise this but by the time you get diagnosed with cancer, you have about 5000 DNA mutations in that cancer cell. And by the time you relapse, you're up to about 12,000. So that's one of the reasons I strongly recommend a plant based diet, because it's very high and antioxidant power helps keep those DNA mutations down. And when you get adequate sleep, you really need to prepare that DNA. I mean, typically, in a day, you get about 19,200 hits to your DNA. So you really need to give your body time to repair a lot of that DNA. The other thing is, if you increase the fasting state that occurs during sleep, most people sleep about eight hours, you know, if you can increase the time that you're not eating, they call that time restricted eating, that gives your body more time to repair a lot of that DNA and also do what's called a autophagy, where it's actually cleaning up a lot of unwanted protein cells that have been destroyed through through cell suicide. So So sleep is really important. But one of the things that I always say about exercise is when you're exercising, you tend to sleep a lot better. And then when you're exercising, you have better stress management. I mean, how many people have felt really stressed went for a jog, felt a lot better. So I always say that exercise is really the kingpin of the lifestyle changes, because in itself that has very powerful anti cancer activity, but it really does help the sleep. And it also helps the stress management which I think is critical battling this formidable disease.

Anthony Hartcher: 46:33

I'm just thinking, in terms of, you know, as you said, when you were diagnosed with cancer, hit you for six emotionally and I'm thinking that's obviously, you know, putting a stress on the body. So how do you help your clients and patients through this emotional rollercoaster so that they can better manage their stress and help, I guess, with their fight against the cancer? Well, one of the things I do is through my website, I have after I do a one or two hour virtual consultation, I usually recommend that they do I have a 24/7 access to me through emailing texting and phone calling. And, and I really help a lot of patients through this emotional rollercoaster. In fact, this past Sunday, I mean, I was literally texting with one patient for about an hour, because she was just so anxious, and I was just trying to allay her, then I finally had a caller what I typically do when they get to that point, I have a psychologist that I recommend that specialises in cancer patients. In fact, that's one of the things that I did initially, when I got diagnosed, I had a friend of mine that also had multiple myeloma. And she recommended that I see a psychologist, just to help me deal with the emotional turmoil finding out you have a cancer diagnosis. And that helped me tremendously. I only had to see her three times. I think when you get diagnosed, it's the fear of the unknown. So one of the things I always tell my patients is, listen, I wake up every day, live that day to the fullest. Try to do something fun every day, try to eat healthy, and don't focus on what's going to happen down the road. Am I going to have pain? What's it going to be like, you know, I mean, you might be down the road the next day and get run over by car, and you spent all this time worrying. So I just tell them, Listen, you know, really try to enjoy the day, you know, pray, have a spiritual life, do something fun every day, before I came on this podcast, I went out for a bike ride, you know, so I do that just about every single day. But I try to do something fun every day. And I really encourage my patients to do that. Really try to enjoy your life to the fullest. And don't be thinking too far out ahead. Because it'll just totally freak you out, you're going to be thinking about pain and possibly having suffering and so forth. And that may never even happen to you. In fact, what's interesting about 20 to 40% of cancer patients actually don't even die of cancer, they die of a cardiovascular event. And that's one of the reasons I really try to I always check their lipid profiles and so forth, because cancer patients are definitely more prone to cardiovascular mortality. So you know, all that worrying you did, you might go to sleep one night, you have a heart attack, hold things over. So but I think the 24/7 coaching that I do really does help patients, you know, get through this emotional turmoil because well, obviously, we all know we're going to die. But when it's right in front of your face, it's a totally different animal. You have to get your spiritual values in check. You have to get your you know, your finances. One thing that I did any individuals that I had was maybe a disgruntled relationship, I called them I went off to lunch with them and I said, Hey, listen, I'm sorry, if I said this or that or whatever. So I just think it's a good time to kind of get get everything in order and if you have any, any areas in your life where you know, maybe you've crossed someone it's a good Trying to maybe meet with them and just, you know, apologise and kind of get things squared away. That's part of the recovery, I'd say, given that, you know, those sort of, I guess, resentments or dislikes or arguments that you're quite haven't got over or made up or forgiven the person, that that would also be carrying some emotional trigger within you. That could be, you know, exacerbating or worsening the, you know, the likelihood of cancer spreading faster. So, I could say that,

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 50:27

I mean, for sure. I mean, that definitely has a negative effect on your immune system. 100%,

Anthony Hartcher: 50:32

I really, really appreciate the insight you shared Dr. Brandy, it's been terrific in terms of covering that holistic approach to tackling cancer, but as you said, doing it in parallel with conventional treatment, or at least getting some advice as to which conventional treatment will help in, you know, in I guess, parallel with a holistic, plant based whole foods, lifestyle, exercise, sleep, stress management, supplementation. So I really appreciate all your insights, you've added so much value to the listeners, because I'm sure they can share this with anyone they know, that is, you know, experiencing the challenge of cancer or know someone who has cancer. So how can the listeners best reach out and connect with you?

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 51:17

Well, they can follow me on my instagram site, I have over 96,000 followers on that. It's called @cancerveggiedocs. And I've been posting for over six years now, and I do a post every single day. But every fourth day, I do a recipe video, which I think you know, when you're trying to eat plant based, that can be a struggle. So I make sure that I'm always putting recipes on there. And then typically, every fourth or fifth, I actually do a video on a different topic. So that's a good way that they can follow me on my website is

https: 51:51

//www.naturalinsightsintocancer.com/ If you go on there, if you need a one or two hour virtual consultation, I do those and then the 24/7 access to me through texting and emailing. And then I have different testing that I do. As I mentioned microbiome testing, there's different toxin testing that I do. And then I have a 70 plus biomarker test that I do requests. I don't know if you guys have that in Australia, you guys have quest labs in Australia or that I'm aware of, yeah, you probably but that's primarily for people in the United States. So they basically go to quest, they handle the sheet that I print out for them, I get sent the results and then I make recommendations to get different deficiencies in order and one thing I will mention to your listeners is I have never had one single patient ever have their mineral profile, come back completely normal. I mean, it's amazing how I've never had a molybdenum level ever come back even detected. Which is which is interesting. A lot of these patients have low chromium levels, low iodine levels, low copper levels, cobalt levels. So when I see that I make recommendations for various supplements that can use but if somebody just wants to try to keep their mineral levels to proper dosage, if you go on Amazon, the brandNOW they actually have a con global mineral supplement that you can kind of add to your drink every day. And that should keep most your minerals in a good position so but natural insights into cancer and then cancer Benji doc and then my book beat that cancer naturally, they can get that on Amazon or they can get that on my website. If they do get it on my website, I do send them a signed copy and it is about the same cost as if they get it on Amazon so fantastic.

Anthony Hartcher: 53:40

And to the listeners all include all those links that Dr. Brandy shared in the show notes so just go directly to the show notes you'll find those links. And again Dr. Brandy, I just like to thank you for your time sharing such great wisdom and insight with the listeners and to the listeners thank you for tuning in to another episode of me&my health up. Please share it with those that you know that could benefit from this episode in terms of getting some natural insights as to how to complement their chemotherapy or the radiation or whatever medical treatment they've getting for cancer. Please pass this episode on to them and I'm sure this will be of benefit and will certainly aid them in their hopefully recovery journey. So thank you Doc, Dr. Brandy once again.

Dr. Dominic Brandy: 54:26

It was great. It was a lot of fun and absolutely

Anthony Hartcher: 54:29

Definitely get you back Dr. Brandy really appreciate it thank you

Podcast Disclaimer: 54:43

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