It’s never easy to watch someone go through the trials and tribulations of cancer. It’s no longer only the fight of the afflicted person, but their friends and family as well. In this episode, Jeff Cade shares his personal experience in dealing with the disease. He makes it the inspiration for his book, Battleground Cancer: Managing Your Mental, Physical and Spiritual Well-Being for The Fight. He teaches us that healthy living involves the balance of diet and exercise while also reminding us that no one has to go through cancer alone.
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Listen to the podcast here:
Battleground Cancer With Jeff Cade
My guest is Jeff Cade, a healthy lifestyle specialist and author of the book Battleground Cancer. Jeff, welcome.
Good day, Emmalou. How are you doing?
I’m doing great and I’m glad that you’re here to tell us about your book. This is an important issue for a lot of people. Tell us about your journey to writing this book.
Thank you so much, Emmalou. First, I would like to applaud you and thank you for allowing to be part of this. What we have to talk about, the topic of cancer, is a relevant topic. It’s a global topic and it needs to be shared not just with the audience, but with the world. My book Battleground Cancer: Managing Your Mental, Physical and Spiritual Well-Being for the Fight has been a personal journey and a revelation as it relates to the years of the obstacles I’ve had and roller coaster rides and the loss of my parents.
The personal journey or the battleground of life is when my father passed of pancreatic cancer in 1991 and my mother passed of breast cancer in 1997. I’ve internalized this for a long time and being able to go through life with these ups and downs. Within the last years, I’ve wanted to put my message from the head or brain, from the heart to the paper and put everything out there. I want to be transparent about how this has been an internal struggle. Hopefully, my message and my mission will be able to add value and impact others who have gone through the same situation. It may be a loss of life from a loved one, loss of life with their parents or circle of influence. People react differently in terms of engaging this global disease.
It’s a personal journey but didn’t it also intermingle with your professional life?
I’ve been in the hospitality industry for over fifteen plus years, specifically in the health and wellness space. I co-owned a healthy franchise restaurant for about three years. Over time, I became more intrigued and knowledgeable about what’s going on around us in terms of proper food and beverage consumption. It relates to what companies are doing and not doing and what the FDA has done and not done. With the FDA, a lot of legislation has been passed. I still think America needs a wakeup call because some consumers don’t know what they don’t know. Some of these food and beverage products can be potentially harmful in the long-term.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel. It starts with our choices and it ends with our habits. Click To TweetI wanted to get some more research and more knowledge about what’s going on and what’s changing with people’s diets. There are a lot of things as it relates to chemical substances, toxins and things that are in our food. Sometimes, the FDA is not required to reveal as much. You have to become educated in that process not just at the grocery store, but understanding processing, manufacturing, distribution. It’s almost like the farm to fork method. It’s prevalent now in what’s going on with the ingredients within our foods.
We’re more concerned. Cancer is becoming more prevalent. I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t have a family member or a close friend who is battling cancer. We know we need to read our labels, but we don’t know what exactly are we looking for.
There are some things that I share in my book. I definitely want to let you know that my book is intended to help everyone understand that you can achieve better or optimal health in your life. By choosing healthier food groups and alternative holistic support and by exploring the labeling on package goods, you are empowering and educating yourself not to compromise your health standards. In fighting cancer, that could be essential for longevity. Let me break it down in terms of some things that I talk about. One, everyone is familiar with and that’s the big letter S, which stands for sugar. It’s all about being able to keep away from that or limiting consumption. Another is high fructose corn syrup. According to the Mayo Clinic, it should be avoided at all costs because it does destroy our bodies and metabolism. It is also linked to diabetes, obesity and heart disease. There are a lot of things within that substance that is made from cornstarch. There are a lot of products that we consume that already have high fructose corn syrup in it.
High fructose corn syrup and sugar have been shown to drive inflammation which is associated with an increased risk of obesity and cancer. I would try and stay away from that as it relates to any type of package goods. Also, there are nitrates and nitrites. Those are chemical compounds and substances used in the preservation of processed meats. Overconsumption can lead to health problems. When you see nitrates and nitrites, you want to be able to stay away from brands that have those particular chemicals and substances.
You’re mentioning ingredients that are common. We’ve accepted that sugar and corn syrup are part of our diet. It’s good to know that they shouldn’t be.
Most people might be aware of this, but we have to understand what GMO stands for. It stands for Genetically Modified Organisms. We have a lot of foods out there that have been re-engineered for processing. I have a small list of what these GMO foods are and we should be consuming non-GMO products.
I don’t think we know all of the foods that have been genetically modified. This is an issue that has been around since I was in high school. At that point, it was just corn. I understand it has been extended. You’ve done the research to put all this in your book.
I have, and I’ll list a couple. You said the important one which is corn, that is correct. That is the top GMO. Others include tomatoes, potatoes, squash and papaya, to name a few. It’s important that we pay attention to non-GMO and possibly natural and organic foods.
In addition to this valuable information you have in your book, what other services do you offer?
At this point, my mission or crusade is about educating and impacting one consumer at a time for a healthier lifestyle and creating awareness for longevity. It is about proper exercise and diet. My recommendation is you can’t have one without the other. You can’t eat properly day in and day out and live a sedentary lifestyle and be a couch potato. On the other spectrum, you can’t work out which is good for you in terms of blood flow and then eat garbage like fried foods that are bad for you. That’s why you have to have a good balance of diet and exercise. Some of the research that I would like to point to in terms of what I’ve done, they can find more in my book. AmericanCancerSociety.com is a reliable and educational site. My favorite ones are TheTruthAboutCancer.com and Prevention.org. Those are a couple of key websites that people can get more information about what’s going on around the world as it relates to cancer and how we can have some remedies that are important.
We know there is a lot of information out there and it’s phishing to the internet. It sounds to me you have already done that extensive research and put it together in your book. How do people find your book?
It’s on Amazon. The name of the book is Battleground Cancer: Managing Your Mental, Physical and Spiritual Well-Being for the Fight. People can connect with me at JeffCade360.com and that is a site that you can connect with me socially as it relates to the book. I also have another website and it’s called BattlegroundCancer.com and people can purchase the book that way. I’m also going be doing book launches here in the windy city of Chicago.
JeffCade360.com provides access to you. I’m assuming you take questions.
It’s a social site that allows me to connect with people. BattlegroundCancer.com is a more in-depth site as it relays to my personal journey and everything about the book. They can go to a contact area where they are able to not only connect with me but also ask questions. I can be booked for speaking engages. I’m able to present to different segments, different stages, and this allows me to share my message. Hopefully, to inspire others to bring their message forth and their story. It’s always good for engagement purposes to understand what others have gone through or going through. This is all about people who have been diagnosed, people who are fighting, and people who are survivors. Even everyday individuals who have their loved ones diagnosed with this disease. It’s for the entire audience.
When we hear the word cancer, we automatically think of inevitable death. Learning how to prevent it and how to reduce our cancer risks is definitely critical and also learning more about it, so it’s not so fearful.
There have been many cases from stage I to stage IV, reversal blood type, family tree DNA. It depends on a lot of components, but I would like to share a couple of things that can assist the process. One is drinking a lot of water in terms of hydration. My favorite type of water that I recommend is alkaline water. Also, certain type of teas like black tea, green tea, red tea, white tea, those are teas that detoxify the body. They cleanse the toxins and flush them out of your body. Obviously non-GMO fruits and vegetables. I personally love broccoli, asparagus, kale, spinach and they all have different vitamin components within the type of vegetables. It is about proper dieting and making sure that they are in your bloodstream. There is a lot of things that Western medicine provides. I’m not against Western medicine. However, their alternative holistic support methods once merged with this Western medicine can be beneficial to people who are going through this process.
Having a healthy lifestyle is about proper exercise and diet. You can’t have one without the other. Click To TweetThis is good information. I’m glad you are sharing it.
It’s all about spreading the message and hopefully adding some value and impact to others. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s important that we understand that, but it does start with our choices and it ends with our habits.
They can follow you on JeffCade360.com and later on BattlegroundCancer.com. You’ll have information on your book tours and speaking engagements.
Yes, I will.
Jeff, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us. I wish you all the best in your endeavor. You’re doing good work.
Emmalou, I appreciate the time you allow to share with your audience. Hopefully, we will be able to have more of these conversations and engage more people so they can be aware of what’s going everywhere, especially with their food and beverage consumption.
Thank you.
Thank you, Emmalou. You too. I appreciate it. Take care.
Important Links:
- Battleground Cancer: Managing Your Mental, Physical and Spiritual Well-Being for the Fight
- JeffCade360.com
- AmericanCancerSociety.com
- TheTruthAboutCancer.com
- Prevention.org
- BattlegroundCancer.com
- Contact tab – Battleground Cancer
About Jeff Cade
Jeff Cade shares hope for our battle with cancer.
He shares information on prevention in his book.
Connect with him at jeffcade360.com