Did you know that since the war on cancer was declared by Nixon, cancer rates have increased from 1 in 21 people to 1 in 2.5? Clearly, our modern approach just isn't working. To make matters worse, now even children are being diagnosed with cancer. It was these insane statistics that spurred Dr. Kevin Conners to open his clinic. He's been practicing functional medicine since the 80's (way before it was ever trendy!). And he has a different approach to traditional medicine: he focuses on treating the cause of cancer, rather than the cancer itself. Cancer is multi-factorial. You can't point to one single thing and say "this is what caused your cancer". You can't even really just point to genetics, because only around 5% of cancers are due to certain genes. Cancer comes from a combination of issues: diet, nutrition, environment, emotions. These are the epigenetic factors involved - these are the things that change the expression of your genes, and will then either trigger or protect you from cancer and other diseases. And this is why there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Everyone is different, so cancer, ultimately, needs to be treated as such. After all, one person might do great on a raw food diet, while another may not have the digestive enzymes to cope with that. Instead of applying a standard treatment, Dr. Conners treats every single patient as an individual. That's where functional testing comes in, because it helps you work out exactly what's stressing your immune responses, and determines any food allergies, intolerances, deficiencies, which in turn helps you create the perfect anti-disease diet for you. Dr. Conners also works with people with autoimmune conditions and Lyme's disease. Just like cancer, these are multifactorial. And they're on the rise. It's not so much a case of if you get autoimmune, but rather which autoimmune condition will you get. We are constantly damaging our gut walls, which makes us vulnerable to these conditions. Even if you eat organic, we're exposed to many chemicals that damage our digestive system. And that's without mentioning another big topic: vaccination, which can damage the brain, increase inflammation, and lead to autoimmune disorders. So what can you do to protect yourself from cancer and autoimmune conditions? Unfortunately, it's not as simple as drinking green juice, you have to go deeper. Give up sugar, because sugar feeds into cell replication and therefore cancer. Do you have metal mouth? Depending on your health, you can work with a specialized dentist to replace or remove them. Start with healing and sealing the gut to stop undigested particles triggering inflammation. Get functional medicine tests to determine what is triggering your immune response and how your genes are reacting to your lifestyle. Get in touch with Dr. Conners - you can work with the Conners' Clinic whether you're local to Minnesota or not. Check out Dr. Conners' website for free book downloads - if you can't work with Dr. Conners this is the next best thing. You can take this information to your local doctor. Being hailed as "Sex and the City for Food," The Food Heals Podcast brings together experts in the field of nutrition, health and healing to teach you the best-kept natural secrets to being a hotter, healthier, happier YOU! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices