Treating the Body Holistically with Dr. Michael Karlfeldt

Welcome to the Wellness Sherpa Podcast, where we engage with passionate leaders, holistic thinkers, and disruptors who courageously share their personal journey, mission and wisdom with you. Together, we create a safe space to empower you to live your best, most vital life. Thanks for being here. Right. Hello, everyone. I am thrilled to be here today. My name is Jen Payer, the Wellness Sherpa.

And.

And I have a very, very special guest today, Dr. Michael Cartfelt. And he is. I had no idea. We just recently met maybe a few months ago. And I wish I would have known you many years ago, but that's, you know, a story for another conversation. But Dr. Cardfeld has been in the cancer world for quite a while. I'll do my best to introduce you and then if I miss anything, please, please throw it in here. He's had a clinical practice since 1987 and he runs the car felt center. Am I saying that correctly?

You're doing good. You're doing great. Yeah, it's one of those tricky Swedish last name, Carl. And he felt something.

There you go. Okay. And he. And the center is in Boise, Idaho. I recently learned that he had a couple of TV shows. One was called the doctor Michael show. The other one was True Health, Mind, Body, Spirit. Do you still have a radio show?

The radio? No. So what I currently do are my two podcasts and then the different summits and then obviously my book that just came out.

Yes. So we'll name the book here in just a second. But your podcasts are focused on integrative cancer solutions and integrative Lyme solutions. Often the two are very connected as well. And your best selling book on Amazon, A Better Way to Treat Cancer. But what I really, really resonate with you is what your mission is. And so will you share with our audience what your mission is and what your belief is about the body's ability to heal.

Well, I'm always fascinated with the body and the amazing intelligence that exists within the body. Just kind of imagine here you have about 30 trillion cells, and each cell they're doing like a million reactions a second. I mean, this is just what we know, and I'm sure it's even more complicated than that. So every second you do 30 trillion times a million reactions, and all these things are orchestrated beautifully within the body. So it just the incredible intelligence, innate intelligence that exists within the body. And so my belief is that our job as healers is essentially support the body's ability to do what it's meant to do. And. And the less we interfere with that Intelligence, the better results we have. And I feel that disease essentially, is that when we have brought in so much stress onto the body that it is starting to deviate. And it's hard for that innate intelligence to function optimally. And we can go in regard to cancer and all of that, but in disease in general, it is all about removing interferences so that the body can do what it's meant to do. And then you just kind of support it with, you know, give it the nutrients that it's needed, give it the tools that it needs. And nature has been around for a long time, and it's evolved with us, and it has a lot of intelligent things around us that really can support us in that journey.

Yes, absolutely. So can you talk a little bit more about what cancer is? And again, what I really love about your work is you are tapping into the body's ability to heal. You are working with nature. And I've heard many times different definitions of cancer. So what is your experience?

Yeah, and obviously, the summits that I do, Cancer summits I do. I love to pick. Other people's brain asks the same question because it's. I think, as we are understanding it more and more, our recognition what cancer is, shifting more towards that. We need to get back to what I mentioned, that innate intelligence. So I feel that cancer is when we've gotten so far that there's certain tissue in our body that the cells within our body are feeling that it cannot function under the regime, the system that exists. So it has to deviate because it feels like it cannot survive appropriately in the environment that it's currently in. So it's having to change genetic behavior. It's having to change how it's producing energy to keep on surviving in the environment that it is in. So it's kind of like a section of the body that's stepping away from the rest of the body, and it's doing its own thing out of necessity. So that's my. And then we can go into the genetics, we can go into kind of the metabolic aspect. But all these things, I feel, are as a result of that, we are not in line. Our whole body is not aligned with who we truly are. And so that is both spiritually, emotionally, physically, nutritionally, all of those components that are so important. So I have patients that come in. They're yoga instructors. They eat the best food, they meditate, they do all these perfect things, and yet they get cancer. And so the question is always, well, you're doing so great. Why are you getting cancer? And so then you have to kind of go through and look at all these components, which includes belief system, which includes your spiritual connection with God, which includes your relationships with your parents, with your husband, with your kids, with relationships. Generationally, all of these components play a role in cellular behavior. And, and so to me, when you look at cancer, it's a complex disorder that when we break away from natural behavior.

So why do some get cancer and others don't? Right, because we all have the great aunt or the uncle who was a lifelong smoker, drank the gin every night, ate creamed corn out of a can, all of that. So can you share a little bit more? And then what's your process? How do you start to pinpoint the origin of the cancer when you're working with your patients?

And that is always a fascinating thing. I think a lot of it comes from what we're learning from blue zones. And when you think blue zone, then we look at, well, what are they eating? What are they? Yeah, but the biggest factor when we look at the blue zones, I believe is generational, and I'm not general. It's relational. The relationships, the community, how they feel about themselves, how their place in the world. Do they feel they have a purpose. And it doesn't have to be a purpose that I'm going to change the world and I'm going to do this grand thing, but just feeling that I have a place in the world and that it's an accepted place. And so I think that is a. Almost a bigger factor than chemicals, toxins, and doesn't mean that the other ones don't play a role. You know, they, they have a huge impact. But I think the, the core aspect is kind of where we feel that we're in the world, our place in the world. And, and it's funny, I mean, some, some patients, you know, or some people, you kind of look at them and their children say, oh, my. My dad is too mean to die. You know, it. Not even death wants them. And, and I, and I. And I think it plays a little role in that. And, and that, you know, they're just kind of okay with where they're at. And they, you know, they don't have that care really as much.

Right. They don't have that mind tape that keeps going. Right.

Yeah.

The belief system and the, and the thoughts that really don't serve us.

Yeah, exactly. So. And then whether they're a good individual or bad individual, that, that's, you know, neither one of us is the ones that to judge that. But you Know, I. I think that plays a huge role in how we perceive ourselves. And, you know, whether we feel like we're doing a good job in life or not a good job, you know, we should just be okay with who we are and the place we have in the world.

Right. And so a lot of people will say, I felt great, and I was shocked. I was diagnosed with cancer. Can you talk a little bit about that? Because I hear this a lot of, you know, I felt fine. I don't understand. So making that connection between that statement and the cellular health. Right. That's kind of gone awry inside the body.

Yeah. And exactly that. I frequently patients say, well, other than cancer, I'm perfectly healthy. I haven't. I haven't been as. I haven't been sick in a day in my life. You know, I do everything. I feel great. Energy is great. Yeah. Unless, you know, I had the diagnosis, I wouldn't have known. You know, I still exercise, I still do all the things that I do, and I feel amazing. And yet I have cancer. And so I think it has a lot to do with that. We can function. It's kind of like a computer where we have, you know, we can do all these tasks and we can do them very well. But there's some programs that's running in the background that we. It's not enough to drain our ability to do our daily functions. And the body is amazing and compensating. So even though, you know, their stressors are taking place, it will then kind of shift energy so that you can continue your daily functions and continue to do everything well, even though there's this section of the body that's almost kind of like walled off and that. That program that's running in the background. And so our. Our job then as a. As a provider is to kind of. To. It's like defrag the computer in a way that you. You have to kind of see what, what is, what is running, what's kind of sucking out the energy somewhere, even though it's not enough to interfere with your ability to do daily life and then start to address that. And it can be anything under the sun. I mean, it can be a root canal, it can be some infectious agents, it can be a belief system. It can be some heavy metal chemicals that the body didn't want to deal with, and it just stored it somewhere, and then that tissue becomes, you know, the prisons in society where we just kind of push unwanted people and then we create a wall around it, and then we go on with our Daily lives. And we pretend that there's. There's nobody that's bad in life. You know, everyone is just happy and nice, and we do, you know, feel good, but yet there's that. That prison in town, and then we would just tend to forget about it.

Right. And so how do you approach a patient? What are some of the therapies that you offer in the clinic? I'm assuming you included these in your book as well, so.

Yes. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, the key is kind of going back. First, you want to kind of assess to see what's going on in the body. So we want to do the investigative. I do a lot of applied kinesiology or muscle testing, and that gives me a huge amount of understanding. So that is looking at the body through the autonomic nervous system to see. Because we know that there are changes in the autonomic nervous system way before it takes place chemically. So before you're able to see something in the blood, the nervous system will respond to it. And the nervous system is connected. That way you get that whole perspective in regards to what's going on in the body, because the nervous system obviously connect to every part of the body that relates to every cellular function, every tissue. And so you can gain a huge amount of understanding. And you can use little vials that we have. We have little cancer vials, and we have Krebs cycle vials and endocrine vials. And so. And these little vials, they hold an electromagnetic signature that obviously it's not the substance in itself, but it is the frequency of the substance. And the body will recognize that as you are then doing the applied kinesiology. And you can then gain a huge amount of understanding. If it's genetic, is it emotional, is it kind of mitochondrial, is it, you know, so you can gain a huge amount of understanding there and then create a protocol based upon that. And so let's say we see, like, colon cancer, maybe there are a bunch of parasites there. And then the parasites are interfering with the body's ability to heal itself. So then you put together protocol to address those underlying factors that are promoting the cancer, and you clear those parasites out in addition to then obviously, you know, working on the cancer in itself. But you. If you don't address the root causes, if you don't address what is the underlying factor, then you're not going to be able to really. Yeah, you can kind of shrink the tumor with, you know, whether you traditional or natural. But if the root causes are still there, you know, the cancer is still going to rear its ugly head. So that's why it's so important to do these assessment tools to kind of have an appropriate protocol for the individual, make it very kind of individualized, unique. And then you can support that with different labs. There are different labs where you can check for heavy metals, chemicals for pathogens, whether it's Lyme, whether it's mold parasites, check nutritional status, check genetic SNPs, genetic weaknesses. You can also check for. There's certain labs where you can check the circulating tumor cells, and you can also see what are some of the natural or even repurposed drugs you can use that impact that specific tumor in the individual. So there's a huge amount of information that you can gain to make the program very, very personalized than. As a first step, you know, even before bringing in the. The big guns that we do here at the center as well.

Right? Yeah. And I think it's. You know, you and I talked about this the other day when I went through my own journey. You know, I did all of the physical things, but it took me several years to start delving into what I think was probably the cause on the, you know, old, old traumas and things like that that hadn't been fully resolved. And so when you put a protocol together for a patient, how do you prioritize? Because, you know, when I look back at my own experience, I had a lot of things going on. Right. And I could have treated 50 things at one time, but then you confuse that innate intelligence in the body. Right. It's too much. So how do you prioritize with your patients? And I'm assuming you're doing some education, based on what I know about you, that that's a big piece of, of what you offer to your patient.

Yeah, education is huge, you know, because if the. At the end of the day, the patient is the one that is driving the healing, that's doing the healing, and they, they need to be empowered and be kind of the quarterback of their own journey. You know, so we are there as, as guides, but they are, you know, the, the heroes, so to say. And the hero's journey, you know, we're. We're just the guides they're supporting. But the, the person, the patient, the individual that comes, they are the ones that. That is. Yeah, kind of helps the healing takes place within them, so they need to be part of that. And you're absolutely right. I mean, you know, each individual, there, there are gazillion things that we can do, you know, to start to detoxify this, you know, kill that, you know, build this, repair that. And so there's a huge amount of things that can be done. And so it depends a little bit on where the patient is at. Let's say you have a patient that's very strong and they're kind of early on their cancer journey, then you have more options and you have more time, and you can start to kind of peel things off a little bit more. If you have somebody that's very kind of late in their cancer journey, maybe they've been kind of traditionally oncology treated out, you know, they've done a lot of chemo, radiation, surgery, and their body is quite a wreck, you know, so then obviously you would prioritize things differently for them, you know, versus the other one that has not gone through a lot of that. So it becomes a lot just from kind of seeing where the body's at and what it's able to do, you know, what are the resources that the body has? And let's say you have somebody where you have a little time, you know, and so where do you go first? Well, to me, the body knows a lot. So there are certain ways to prioritize to see what's. What's going on in the body. To me, working on the emotional, the trauma is always a priority. And working with the spiritual connection, all of that is always a priority. Changing lifestyles, changing diet becomes very. So these are very foundational components and movement, exercise, making sure that we have that in place, making sure they're sleeping okay, that good sleep hygiene, making sure that they clean out first. The best toxin is the one that you're never exposed to clean out. You, you know, yes, you have all these toxins inside of you, you know, but let's not add more, you know, so then you do an assessment and see, you know, what am I eating? What do I got in my house, what do I put on myself, what do I brush my teeth with, you know, what's my makeup, what's my, you know, what do I shampoo, you know, all of these. You just do all that assessment and. And clean all of that out. And. And then when, in regards to the next step for active treatment, you always want to make sure that your detox pathways are open. So if a lot of people, they get so tumor focused, they start to just go after they want to kill and shrink the tumor, not recognizing that there's a reason the tumor exists, and there's a lot of toxic debris within that tumor. So now. So it's kind of like before society is ready, you're shooting down the wall of the prison and just want to let go of all the prisoners immediately. Yeah, it's serving a function. And so you need to respect that function and appreciate that function because it's holding a lot of things that the rest of the body doesn't want to deal with.

Yeah, in many ways it's protecting you. Right, from having it go everywhere.

Exactly, exactly. So you need to then support the body's ability to deal with whatever's inside of it. So you want to open up then your detox pathways. You got four ways out to eliminate toxins. You got your colon, got your kidneys, you got your skin, you got your lungs. Those are your four ways to be able to move things out. So you want to make sure that they're open and able to kind of move toxins out there. Then we have the processing plants that are able to, that need to kind of process whatever it is that is coming that's being released. You know, so you got the liver, you know, it's the one that is going to have to process whatever it is that, that you're releasing from that tumor. And then obviously you got the lymphatic system that's got to be able to move things from the tissue towards the liver, you know, and then being able to eliminate them through those pathways and, and then you got to see what, how are the cells doing? Yeah, so. So you got to go from the outside in, essentially. Yeah, you got to go big and then go too small. And a lot of people, they jump in. Well, I want to clean out the cells and I do all these fancy things to clean up the cells, but they're not pooping, they're not drinking, they're not sweating, they're not breathing fresh, clean oxygen. You know, they, you know, so now they're kind of cleaning things out in the cell, but they have no way to get, get, get out. Yeah, get it out. So when you have that in place now you can start to hack away at the tumor. When you feel that you're able to move, you know, those, those toxins out of the system. And then you can use, you know, more powerful strategies for that. And there, there are lots, lots of tools and we, we do a lot of them here. You know, we do like the photodynamic, we, you know, vitamin B17, you do mistletoe, you know, you know, you can do the high dose pancreatic enzymes to repurpose drugs if you want. And then, you know, hydrogen, ozone, artisanate, you know, there's so many amazing tools that, that's available that we do.

Yeah. So you talk, you talked about personalized medicine, which is really the opposite of the standard of care. How do you integrate work with, not work with standard of care with your patients versus, you know, a unique approach, which we're all unique. So just. Yeah, if you could share a little bit more about that.

Yeah. And that's. I always feel that being integrative is always a better. So the standard of care, it does play a role. And so there are times when it is needed, there's times when it's overdone, and it's times when it's done prematurely. But it has saved lives, many people. And to give people time. So traditional oncology, it's important to understand it's not a be all, end all. And they have not solved cancer yet. You know, we as integrated, we haven't solved cancer yet either. You know, we, we're, we're all still working on it. It's a, it's a, it's something that we're. But I think we're getting better and better and I think kind of looking at all the options is very important in order to be able to, to come to a solution. And patients frequently ask me, you know, what if, if you were me, you know, would you do chemo or would you do this or would you do that? And, and I, and I tell them it's, it's, you know, I know what I would say now, you know, when. But I don't have cancer now, you know, and I'm, I'm not in your spot right now. So it is something that I feel. It's, it's a very personal decision whether somebody, you know, feels that this is something they want to bring in, if they want to bring in chemo, radiation, surgery or immunotherapy or, you know, hormone deprivation, I can kind of guide them in regards to whether it is a good choice or not. But ultimately it's a patient's choice what it is that they want to do after kind of listening to all the information and then what feels right and resonates within them. Because some people, they feel like, let's just do natural therapies and they do great and they feel very confident in that. And then other people, they don't have the belief system quite yet. They don't feel they're not quite there to do that. They feel more secure to do some traditional oncology, and that's perfectly fine. And for them then to Step out of what they feel secure with and feel okay with. I don't think that's appropriate. I don't. So when patients come to me and they do chemo or radiation, then what I do is that I work with them in regards to, you know, I learned what type of chemo they're doing. And then we build a program around that to make sure that the chemo is as effective as possible. And there are a lot of tools that you can use as, like quercetin for a lot of chemos. You know, it stops on what's called the chemotaxy, you know, where, you know, the cancer cells are spitting out the chemo. So it interferes with that process, which, you know, they've seen, makes the chemo like 30% more effective, you know, which. Which is huge. So, so obviously if you're going to put chemo in your body, you want to maximize the effect. And then you have a lot of, you know, you know, like different, the different platins, you know, they, you get the cardiac issues, you get the obvious liver, you got the kidney issues, and you have the neurological issues, you have the gut issues, you know, so then you put together a protocol to, to address and support those, to minimize and the, the negative effect from those. And then if you do radiation, then, you know, obviously you have a strong tissue damage in an area. So then, you know, what do you need to do in order to, in addition to maximize the radiation, to make sure it increases. But also then how do you protect the healthy cells? Because we want to make sure that our healthy cells stay as vital and strong as possible through this whole journey.

Right. And so for our audience, what can folks do to prevent cancer? We know that rates are accelerating. Our environment's kind of a mess right now as our stress levels and everything else. So what can folks do to minimize their chances of getting cancer and prevent it all together?

Yeah, and that's really, really important. So it is, I think it's good to go to somebody like myself and to go through, evaluate to see what is in my toxic bucket, you know, and run those type of labs. We, we do something else is called hair mineral analysis, you know, which is not just looking at the heavy metals, but looking functionally at the different minerals in, in the hair. And that becomes like a. It's a cellular biopsy, you know, that you can look at it. There are other labs also where you can check and see, you know, what is the mitochondrial activity, what, you know, how, how. What is the energy production within the cells. Because at the end of the day, you know, when the mitochondria starts to shut down, you know, when it's not as effective, then you are more prone to cancer. So you want to make sure your mitochondria is as efficient as possible. And you can also run. There are certain labs where you can check them for circulating tumor cells, you know, and, and that is a good way to assess and see where you're at. Also in my book, I talk about some other labs where you can kind of easily through like a CBC and, and some other labs that you can kind of. Yeah. Monitor once every six months or year, depending on where you're at, you know, health wise and, and see how you're doing there. Inflammation always precedes cancer. So if you are dealing with inflammatory conditions, then those have to be addressed. If you feel tired, that needs to be addressed. So it's assessing to see what's in your bucket and then working on cleaning that out and knowing that this is a lifetime journey. It's not something that you do for a week or two weeks. I did colonics, 10 colonics, and I did a little three day fast and now I've detoxed. No, detoxification takes place every day and we want to support that. And then, so then you bring in the lifestyle habits that promote health. You know, like what am I eating? Am I eating a nutrient dense food? Am I sleeping? Well, to have good, you know, seven, eight hours, you know, in a dark room, no noise, I'm unplugged. I'm exposed to a lot of wifi. Exactly. Turn off WI fi, get rid of the phone, you know, while you're sleeping and really, you know, make sure that time is a, it's a holy, sacred time. And then go through and analyze and see what is my belief system about myself, how do I feel about myself and kind of analyze that and move through those things. So I think it's important that we just include self care in our daily habits. And by doing that and we are less likely to develop cancer.

Yeah. One of the questions I ask the clients that I work with, you know, what brings you joy and it's, it's interesting how, you know, technology as it's come along has separated us more and more. I mean, there's some great things about it, obviously, but it has separated us more and more from nature and from ourselves. And I think that's such an important. It's our state of being. Right. What is our state of being and being able to work with that. Because I Think that's such a huge part of the healing journey, like you said.

I agree. Exactly. And it's important when you connect with the self because as we, because we're in a kind of technological environment where we are naturally disconnected from nature. And so as we are then connecting with ourselves, I think it's good to use nature as a, as a kind of. To correct our course. You know, we, we have that, we talk about that, that when you're flying an airplane, you know, one degree deviation, you know, can, can get you into completely wrong place. You know, so it is good to continually check your course, you know where you're going. And, and I think nature helps us with that. So to be out in nature, connect with the wind, connect with the water, connect with trees, connect with, walk barefoot, just feel that connection. And I think that brings us back so that we have that correction course continually. And with that, what brings us joy becomes more in line with who we are in nature. Yes.

I love that. So what's your legacy? What do you want to be remembered by?

That's a very good question. I, I love when people do well. Yeah. So I, I, when I think, when people, I want, when people think of me, I want to think of them as feeling empowered and feeling that they have the tools that they need to live a full, happy life. You know, that, that's kind of, that's, that's what I would like. I love education. I love bringing tools, you know, to assist people on, on their journey in that way. You know, So, I mean, yes, you know, you have book, you get center and you can, you know, take care of patients and you've got, you know, webinars and do all these kind of educational things where you're, you're, you're visible in that way. But at the end of the day, I want to be known as the one that, that brought empowerment and made people feel connected.

So you are a true guide and healer in every, every part of it.

Well, thank you. That, yeah, that, that's why I, I want to, I want to be in, in flow with the power that already exists and so that that can be enhanced through us.

Yes. Well, thank you so much for being here. I'm so grateful. It's wonderful to get to know you more. And where can people find your clinic? Yes, you said in Boise, but if you can just give a little bit more information of where people can find your clinic and then where they can find you.

Absolutely.

In the ethers.

In the ether somewhere. Yeah. So the best is to go to the carlfoldcenter.com our website. There's a huge amount of resources there. You can always give us a call at the center 208-338-8902 for people that are battling with cancer. I do offer a free 15 minute discovery call, you know so that we can see if we are a good fit. Our center is a good fit for, for a person's journey also. Yeah, my book is it's a 500 page plus resource on how to kind of empower yourself through the journey but also the best cancer is the one you never get. So it's, you know, it gives you the tools in order to be able to reduce those risks and prevent cancer from occurring. And that's so and my book is available on, on Amazon.

Perfect. And it's called A Better Way to Treat Cancer.

Yes. Yes.

Fabulous. Well thank you again and I look forward to seeing you in the near future.

Likewise. Thank you so much and this has been amazing.