Busting Through Breast Cancer Myths with Dr. Véronique Desaulniers

Trevor: Hi there. I’m Dr. Trevor Cates. Welcome to The Spa Dr. podcast. Today, we’re discussing how to bust through breast cancer myths and seven essentials to prevent and heal breast cancer naturally.

My guest is Dr. Veronique Desaulniers, better known as Dr. V, and she’s maintained successful practices in the wellness field since 1979. Because of her passion for health and wellness. Dr. V undertook extensive studies in various fields of energy medicine just specializing in chiropractic, bioenergetics, meridian stress analysis, homeopathy, and digital thermography. Dr. V brings a unique approach to health and wellness. After 30 years in active practice, she decided to retire and devote her time sharing her personal, nontoxic healing journey with breast cancer.

Her years of experience and research have ended up as the 7 Essential’s team, a step-by-step coaching program. She’s a number one bestselling author and has number one bestselling book on Amazon, Heal Breast Cancer Naturally. Her personal journey really has touched the lives of thousands of women around the globe. I’m so excited to be able to share her information with you today.

On the podcast, we cover what cancer is and what cancer is not. We cover breast cancer triggers and what Dr. V has found to be the seven essentials for healing and preventing breast cancer, so please enjoy this interview. Dr. V, it’s so great to have you on my podcast.

Veronique: Thanks so much for having me, Dr. Cates.

Trevor: Yeah, I know, I’ve been wanting to have you on for a while and interview you, and you’re, you’ve just been so busy, so excited to be able to finally connect with you, interview you.

Let’s start with your story because I know you have an interesting journey that got you here both professionally and personally.

Veronique: It’s a interesting journey. I started off as a chiropractor back in the early 80s, and as I was practicing, my father developed pancreatic cancer, and that was one of those aha moments where I said, “Wow, what can we do to help him?” but unfortunately, traditional medicine didn’t have much to offer, and he was dead in six weeks, but I knew with the type of work that I was doing that there was something that could’ve been done.

I started doing research, and 1983, no Internet so I went to the library, called different cancer clinics, and I discovered that there were so many things that could’ve been done for my father, but unfortunately for him, it was too late, so I took that fire in my belly, brought it to my practice, started seeing amazing results with my patients, everything from MS to autoimmune to cancer, and all these things being reversed because they were applying the laws of nature and using evidence-based natural medicine, and they were taking responsibility for their health.

Now, one morning in 2004, I’m getting ready for work. I jump in the shower, I do typical breast self exam, and then bam, felt that faithful lump that changed the course of my personal life and my professional life forever.

As I was going through my journey, I chose to do everything outside of traditional medicine, and as I was going through my journey, I mean, I felt the frustration, I felt the confusion, I woke up with the 3:00 a.m. morning sweats, worried and wondering will I really be able to reverse this and heal my body. As I was going through that, I realize if I was feeling that way after being in practice for 25 years, how much morsal would the average feel that anxiety and that confusion and frustration.

It made me think about, what could I do to simplify this for other women that are faced with this journey. That’s when I came up with the 7 Essential System, a very simple step-by-step guide that if you follow, you never have to fear cancer again or really any disease for that matter.

Trevor: Wow, that’s an amazing journey. Tell us more about step by step. How has this been for you, I mean, I’ve really, personally, because I know when people hear your story, they can probably associate it, whether it’s a cancer or it’s something different, I think that when we get some kind of news of, oh my gosh, this could change my life forever, what is that like?

Veronique: You know that diagnosis or that moment when you realize, wow, this is happening to my body, the first thing you think of, of course, when we think of the word cancer, what do we think of? We think of a slow torturous death that ends up in a not very pleasant way, but I’m here to create a paradigm shift because I want people to understand what cancer is and what cancer is not and how you have a large measure of control over how your body reacts because how you’ve lived your life has led up to that cancer diagnosis. If you’re willing to take responsibility for your health and do things differently that brought you to this place and take responsibility, then you don’t have to fear cancer if you really understand what it is.

Trevor: Let’s talk about that. What is cancer and what is it not?

Veronique: Cancer is basically your body’s way of reacting to certain things. It’s telling us that your immune system is compromised, that there’s a lot of toxicity in your body, that you’re probably eating nutrient-deficient foods, that you’re not managing your stress level very well, and so that also suppresses your immune system.

When we look at the difference between healthy cells and cancer cells, we know that health cells, for example, like a very alkaline environment, whereas cancer cells live in a very acidic environment. Healthy cells use oxygen to breath and to create energy, cancer cells use sugar to create energy and to, quote-unquote, “breath.” Cancer cells put your immune system to sleep, whereas healthy cells work with your immune system, so there’s a lot of differences between healthy cells and cancer cells, and once you understand that your body has created an environment that that cancer can grow in, you can also then create an environment that can reverse that cancer so that your immune system is stronger and the cancer cells are a lot weaker.

You talk a lot about that in your book, for example, about creating that healthy environment because your healthy skin and your beauty comes from the inside out, and it’s no different with any disease.

Trevor: Yeah, and no, here we are, we’re talking about root causes. Again, it’s so important to get back as what’s causing the disease at hand. You know what, I love what you’re talking about, too, because you mention taking, I think you said that taking the fear out of this process. Is that the word that you used, because-

Veronique: Yes.

Trevor: … that is, that’s a bold statement to say to someone that may have been diagnosed with cancer. How do you go from … How do you incorporate that and really eliminate that fear because, and I also think that fear on an emotional level, that will also feed cancer, right? It’s not doing any good to be fearful, but it’s our natural state when we hear about something that’s doom and gloom.

Veronique: Exactly, because you get a diagnosis from traditional medicine that are used to dealing in doom and gloom, and that’s the picture that they paint for you. Instead, our mission and our goal is to empower women so that they can go from fear to confident, and they can feel empowered because we’re going to give them the knowledge, and we’re going to give them the step-by-step process in which they can move towards vibrant health.

I’m not going to say that I can cure or heal cancer. We can’t say that, but I will say that we will give you the tools to move you towards creating vibrant health so that cancer doesn’t have a chance to grow in your body. Cancer cannot grow in a health body, period, so if you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, it’s because there’s something out of balance in your body. It’s that simple. You have to take responsibility.

Traditional medicine makes it look like we’re victims of the cancer, and it just happened to happen to us, and it’s the Russian roulette type of attitude but no, there’s a lot that you can do, and that’s what I love about our system because it takes the confusion out of what to do next.

Trevor: Let’s talk about these seven essentials because I’m sure people, at this point, are like, “Okay, well, I’m … Sign me up. I don’t want to be afraid,” and none of us want to be afraid. Let’s be fearless. Let’s get our control back and our life back or our health back. What are the seven essentials?

Veronique: Essential number one, which you talk a lot about in your book is let food be your medicine. That’s the root and the foundation of everything. If we don’t put the healthy things into our body, our body won’t have anything to work with.

Essential number two is to reduce your toxic exposure, which you talk about as well with all the cosmetics, everything we put on our skin, everything in our environment. If we become conscious of those things, then we can help to reduce that exposure, and especially with breast cancer, there are so many things in the environment that stimulate estrogen productions: plastics, BPA, the aluminum antiperspirant that you put under your armpits. Aluminum’s classified as a metallo estrogen, so you’re driving estrogen into that breast tissue. You look at the pesticides that people use in their homes, many of those can drive and stimulate estrogen.

Essential number three is to balance your energy, and that has to do with balancing your hormones, your sleep, your exercise, your energy, understanding that your hormones don’t cause cancer, that you have to learn to stay away from the xenoestrogens and you have to learn to make sure that you can secret and get rid of the aggressive estrogens in your body. That’s a whole process we talk about.

Essential number four is a difficult one because it has to do with healing your emotional wounds, and that’s a big one. Women that have breast cancer can be real good at doing everything physically, but when it comes to self-nurturing; self-forgiveness; forgiving others; taking time to meditate, which you also talk about; clearing the slate, which means really making a new you because it’s not all about getting rid of that lump or the bump. It’s really, in the end, the cancer diagnosis can be a blessing and a gift if you allow it to be because it’s going to transform your life.

Number five has to do with biological dentistry. Look at what’s in your mouth because those silver fillings contain mercury, and mercury is a metalloestrogen, which stimulates estrogen production. Root canals are very toxic, especially if they’re sitting on the breast meridian. All those teeth are connected to all your organs.

Number six, that’s where we get into the crux of the, what we call the cancer killers where there’s specific evidence-based natural medicine, and there’s many published studies, thousands of published studies that show that specific substances can literally kill cancer cells and not harm your healthy cells and boost your immune system, so that’s, wow, a win-win. Let’s learn about those.

Lastly, number seven is keeping a pulse on your health. Our mammograms are really true prevention. Are there are other techniques out there that could be beneficial? There was a Canadian study, a 25-year Canadian study done on 50,000 women, and the conclusion was that mammograms did not decrease breast cancer mortality rate, not by 1%. In fact, it’s been shown that mammograms could actually cause some cancers to progress or cause some damage to the sensitive issues in the breast.

There’s techniques like thermography, which will show you what the physiology of the breast tissue looks like. Is it inflamed, is there hormone imbalances, that sort of thing. There are also blood test that you can do that will detect cancer when it’s the size of a pinhead that will not be caught on traditional blood work, but it can be caught on these kinds of test because they’ll look at the hormones that cancer cells produce and secret, and if it’s in your blood, then you’re producing cancer somewhere.

Trevor: Okay, great. Now, you do, you’ve just covered a lot of information, and I know-

Veronique: I know.

Trevor: … I can’t go into all seven of them in depth today, but there are a few of them, and I would like to delve into a little bit more deeply.

I’m going to actually start with the one that you just mentioned because I think this is kind of, this is definitely controversial topic because mammograms are standard of care. If physicians, and I know as a doctor, if I’m not recommending mammograms to my patients as the recommendations are stated, then I’m actually, I’m not practicing standard of care, which could get me in trouble.

As doctors, it’s just a tough place to be, to recommend anything other than mammograms. I just, I want people to know that because, I mean, first of all, most doctors are not going to tell you to not get a mammogram because-

Veronique: Exactly.

Trevor: … of that. They may even personally believe that you shouldn’t get a mammogram, but because of our license, our standard of care practices, we kind of have our hands tied, sometimes, with this. I mean, I think that’s a tough thing. Thermography, I think, it’s interesting technique. It is, it’s not perfect, either-

Veronique: Correct.

Trevor: … so I would love for you to explain a little bit more on this and just so people understand what doctors are struggling with and what to expect when they go in and talk to their doctor about the different options.

Veronique: That’s a great question. First of all, I should have laid the groundwork. I’m not ever going to tell anybody not to get a mammogram. That’s a personal choice. You’ll find that more and more doctors will, yes, say, “It’s time for your regular mammogram,” however, you may also consider getting an ultrasound or you may consider a thermography. Thermography, like mammograms, are not 100% accurate. Nothing is, and that’s why I do tell women, yes, if it feels right for you, get another opinion, get a second window to look at the body. Yes, it’s not the end-all, cure-all.

As far as the blood work, of course, it’s not approved by traditional medicine, but there are labs out there that are offering tests like the ONCOblot test, and that’s what measures the ENOX2 protein that only cancer cells give off, and they can actually determine what type of cancer. They can determine up to 27 different types of cancers and where it is in the body, just from one blood test.

Now, is that an advantage for traditional medical doctor to use? Well, he or she may not know what to do with it. If you come back with a positive ONCOblot test and it says positive breast cancer, then what do you do with that because you can’t see it on a PET Scan, you can’t see it on an ultrasound or mammogram, but that’s the beauty of this test because it gives you 5 to 10 years notice that there’s something developing, which is why you can, then, get really proactive with something like the 7 Essential System or just talking to an integrative doctor that can really guide you in the right direction.

Trevor: Yeah. Yeah, and I think like you said, if we’re living a really healthy lifestyle, and we’re not providing an opportunity for cancer cells to grow, we may not need to have these tests because they could be, I mean, my feeling is that maybe someone doesn’t need to have the blood work done unless they have a feeling that this could be an issue.

Veronique: Correct.

Trevor: I mean, or maybe you feel like, should everybody have this blood test done? Maybe you do feel that way?

Veronique: That’s an individual choice. If you have, let’s take breast cancer, if you have breast cancer in your family genetics or if you feel you’re just not feeling good or you feel a lump, and you’re not just if it’s benign or is it cancer, that might be a good place to start, and from there, if you get a positive test, then you can choose whatever route you prefer in.

Some women may choose to do traditional therapies like chemoradiation, surgery, lumpectomies, whatever, but we can still support women that are going through that. As a matter of fact, I’m in the process of creating another eCourse, which will deal specifically with that because we work with a lot of women, and we get hundreds of emails every month about, “I’m taking tamoxifen,” or, “I’m having surgery,” and, “What is safe to take and what is not?” We’re creating that platform so women can feel comfortable that it doesn’t have to be one or the other, that they can do what feels right for them and support their bodies.

Trevor: I think that’s really what we’re talking about here. We’re getting into some really nitty gritty details, but the big picture here is that there is more information than a lot of people are aware of. There’s a lot of options, and working with choosing what personally feel rights for you and having a naturopathic physician or a functional medicine practitioner, someone like you, Dr. V, having somebody like that as part of your team of support I think is key because in that way, you get more information, you get more options and ideas, and then … You get to decide. You’re the CEO of your, you’re the person that’s in charge of your health and your body, so you get to choose instead of just being told this is one way, this is the only option, and that’s it.

I think that’s the biggest thing, and it’s great to know about things like ultrasound and thermography, and maybe you do a combination and maybe you do the blood work. I think that all of that’s fantastic, so thank you for delving into that a little bit. Let’s talk something a little bit more that you and I love to talk more about, which is food.

Veronique: Okay.

Trevor: Let’s talk about what are the foods that really help encourage a healthy body, the foods to avoid, the foods to eat.

Veronique: Well, let’s start with the foods to avoid. Basically, Jack LaLanne, I’m sure most people remember Jack LaLanne, he was a chiropractor back in the ’40s and ’50s. He had a TV show, he did exercises, I mean, I remember my mom doing that, and I love this quote because he says, “If man made it, don’t eat it.” It’s that simple.

Anything that’s pretty much packaged and has a list of ingredients that you don’t know what they are, you stay away from. You want to focus on things that come from the earth, the fruits, the vegetables, the things that are more alkaline, the healthy oils, which are so important like avocado oil and coconut oil and olive oil. Stay away from fried foods and the trans fats and all those things. I mean, I read your book, and it’s, we basically agree on everything.

There are some people who do better with a little bit more protein, so as long as they eat grass-fed, antibiotic, hormone-free meats and only two to three ounces per meal, if that, then that’s okay, too. You really, you have to work with somebody to find out what your ideal diet is for you.

Trevor: Yeah, and I think it’s interesting because I think animal protein can be consumed in excess, and with some of the popular diets right now, there can be a tendency to think, “Oh, I just need to eat more animal protein, I need to eat more meat,” and I-

Veronique: Correct.

Trevor: … think that comes to cancer. It’s not particularly the best way to go, unless-

Veronique: Correct.

Trevor: … in moderation or maybe even considering vegetarian diet for a period of time or something could be potentially good, right?

Veronique: Yes, and I’ve worked with vegetarians that didn’t do so well, and when we looked at their blood type and other genetic factors, because we like to do a DNA test to see what kind of genetic factors we’re dealing with, adding a little bit of protein was better for them, and so, and I’ve seen the reverse. They were doing a, let’s say a paleo or a very strict ketogenic diet, but they weren’t able to metabolize the fat or the protein, so we had to shift things a bit.

Trevor: Individualize is best. In-

Veronique: Correct.

Trevor: … general, eating, getting back to nature, okay.

Veronique: Yes, and if somebody says, “This is the only way to eat,” and, “This is the best way,” run the other way because there’s not just one anticancer diet.

Trevor: Right, right, okay. Great. Let’s talk more about the emotional stuff because I think that’s such a big one, and I think that’s an easy one to pass over for people, be like, “Oh, I’m good. I’m fine.”

Veronique: My famous last words, yes. I really stress the emotional aspect, essential number four about healing the emotional wounds because I was the perfect candidate. “Oh, I’m fine.” I was superwoman, had three beautiful children, I had a very successful practice and was go, go, go, go, go, but I was a good stuffer. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” I never dealt with the things that I needed to deal with, and that was a big eye opener for me, and I really, for years, and I still do a lot of emotional clearing and work. I find that women who are, especially in the business mode who are professionals, it’s very easy for them to overlook all those things.

At our retreat, for example, the Healing Diva Retreat, we spend a lot of time in delving into that. It’s a safe space for women so they can share their feelings, share their heart. We have lots of Kleenex boxes everywhere and lots of emotional breakthroughs.

In our coaching program, for example, we recommend several books that women should read to help them have those breakthroughs. One of my favorite books of all times is Louise Hay, You Can Heal Your Life. I mean, she’s like a nurturing mother/grandmother figure, and she really helps you to look at your life and realize your parents are probably wounded children just like you are, so forgive them and let them go and heal that little girl inside of you and learn to have fun and be playful and love yourself and love the world. I mean, there’s so many great things about it.

Trevor: It’s really an ongoing journey, I think. We never stop healing our emotional wounds. There are so many layers of it. I mean, we can get, dig in deep and get some great release that anybody that says to me, “Oh, yeah, I’ve worked on that stuff. I’m good now,” …

Veronique: Right. I’m good.

Trevor: [crosstalk 00:25:05].

Veronique: I don’t need to go there. Yeah, they’ve got stuff.

Trevor: Yeah, there’s still things there. It’s an ongoing journey. Then-

Veronique: Yeah, totally.

Trevor: I mean, one of the things I see with emotional stuff is anything that really triggers me, that’s beyond what a normal response would be, like, I just can’t let that go. Somebody said something, I’m like, I can’t let that go. Why can’t I just let go of that? Usually there’s something in there that’s still is, it’s like the little trigger that needs some healing. That could be-

Veronique: That’s exactly.

Trevor: Yeah.

Veronique: Yeah.

Trevor: … big opportunity.

Veronique: Yes.

Trevor: Good. I definitely want to talk about the biological dentistry stuff, because this is something that not many people are talking about. When I hear about some of the things that go wrong with dentistry, and it can have a huge impact on your health, and oftentimes, it’s like this small little thing that, then, turns into a big thing. Let’s talk more about that. What’s been your experience?

Veronique: Well, it’s been my experience that women who don’t deal with the dental aspect, essential number five, they plateau, and they don’t get better. Once they dive into that and they really take it seriously, I mean, within four to six months, we see their numbers dropping, and they’re thriving and getting much, much better.

The problem with what’s in your mouth is that your teeth are connected energetically to all of your organs through the acupuncture meridian system. Then you have to look at the chemical component, so for example, if you have an amalgam that’s sitting on a breast meridian, well, that amalgam is 50% mercury, and it’s releasing methylmercury into your body every time you chew, every time you drink something warm.

Having to work with a biological dentist, now, you have to make sure that they’re certified and they’ve done the training because more and more dentist are saying that they’re natural dentist. You have to take precautions when you’re removing that mercury. Since it’s a deadly toxin, you have to have special mercury vapor filters, you have to have a rubber dam, I mean, the dentist has to protect herself or himself, has special filters, all of these things.

Removing those components, and then there’s the root canal issue. Root canal is like having a dead gallbladder or dead appendix in your body. No matter how aseptic they try to make it, there is always, always a pocket of infection at the root of that canal. I’ve spoken to endodontist who’ve pulled root canals and didn’t believe me who had 50 root canals analyzed, and they all ended up with infections in that tooth.

Removing the root canals, removing the amalgams, and working with a biological dentist is very important to healing and creating vibrant health.

Trevor: The alternative to root canal is having a tooth extraction, right?

Veronique: Correct, yup. You extract the tooth, and the next step is, in my opinion, I’m not a dentist, don’t put an implant, whether it’s ceramic, whether it’s titanium, because you’re creating the same environment. There are now biological dentist that use something called flippers. It’s just basically a little false tooth that connects to the other tooth and you can take it in and out. It’s not toxic, and it does the same thing as an implant without the toxic exposure.

Trevor: Interesting. How does one go about finding a biological dentist? That’s something that I get asked a lot, and it’s not always easy to find them.

Veronique: Correct. There are different organizations, and they’re probably in my book, and I’m sure they’re on my website if you just Google that. If not, if anybody that’s listening wants to know, we can send them the certified organizations that we’ve worked with before.

Trevor: Okay. Okay, good. I mean, I think that’s valuable information, and I hope that more dentist will start practicing this way because we’re looking, I get, it’s the whole picture where everything’s connected, everything’s related. Our mouth is, it’s an important part of our health and our teeth, and like you said, there’s so much connection with the meridians and so many toxic ingredients in dental and dentistry.

I don’t think anybody’s putting mercury amalgam fillings in anymore, so younger people are probably even wondering, maybe wondering what the heck is that because you’re just not using them much anymore, but there’s still a lot of people walking around our age and older that still have them, so something to look into getting those replaced, even if you don’t have the mercury amalgam fillings, like you said, there are a lot of other issues that can happen with dentistry.

Thank you for covering that. Lastly, I know there’s so many therapeutic plants and things that we can do to help support the body. Would you say there are maybe one or two that are some of your favorites?

Veronique: Oh, that’s tough because there’s so many, and it really depends on the individual, but some that we’ve used in the past, so for example, bloodroot is an herb that you can take internally but you have to work with somebody because it can be an emetic. You have to have proper dosage, but there’s a compound in there that has been proven. You can just Google bloodroot or go to pubnet.org and put in bloodroot and cancer and you’ll see hundreds and hundreds of studies. It literally acts like chemotherapy. It kills the cancer cells, but it does not affect healthy cells.

There are other products. One of them is called Poly-MVA, which is basically, they’re concentrated alpha-lipoic mineral complex, and it changes the electrical charges of the cells, and it really helps to stimulate the mitochondria. Cancer cells have a very low electrical charge, healthy cells have a higher healthy electrical charge, so it affects that electrical charge in the cells and boosts your healthy cells and weakens the unhealthy cells.

Medicinal mushrooms, those are great because they really help to boost your immune system.

Vitamin D. Vitamin D is so simple. If you have your vitamin D levels checked, and they’re not in the optimal range of about 60 to 80 to 100, you want to make sure that you take your vitamin D because that, alone, will slash your breast cancer risk by 83%, and women who take vitamin D while they’re on a healing journey or even if they do chemotherapy have much better results as far as survival and longevity.

Trevor: Perfect. Those are, I mean, I think that’s a great place to start, and I know that there’s a lot of information on those things that you just mentioned, and I know that there are a ton of more natural substances that can help people support them and-

Veronique: [crosstalk 00:32:53].

Trevor: … be a part of healing/recovering from cancer. Of course, we’re not saying that any of this is intended to necessarily treat, but you need, treat cancer, but work with your doctor, talk to your doctor about this. I think just looking at this holistically, looking at your options is what this is all about.

Dr. V, thank you so much for your information today. Tell everybody how they can learn more about you, learn more about your 7 Essentials, yeah, find out more about you.

Veronique: Okay, well, they can go to breastcancerconqueror.com. That’s our main website, and there, they’ll learn about the 7 Essentials, they can sign up for newsletter, free mini eCourse, seven-day eCourse.

We also have a new online course that we just launched called Never Fear Breast Cancer Again, and that’s been an amazing help. We’ve got really good reviews from women who’ve gone through it and have enjoyed it.

Lastly, if you’re looking for a community of women that you feel will really get you, the Healing Diva Retreat at the end of September of this year, 2017, and we have them every year. It’s a great place to connect with women who will understand your journey, what you’re going through, and it’s a lot of fun.

Trevor: Fantastic. We’ll put all of those links up on the website below your interview. Thank you, again, Dr. V, so much for coming on and giving people their power back, getting rid of this fear, giving them solutions and answers in that kind of community that we, we all appreciate having community and thank you for setting that up for everyone.

Veronique: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me on your podcast.

Trevor: I hope you enjoyed this interview today with Dr. V, got some great information that you can start implementing today. To learn more about her and the information that she shared today, you can go to thespadr.com. Go to the podcast page with her interview, and you’ll find all the information and links there. You’ll also find the transcription.

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