Steps to Prevent Cancer and Make Treatments More Effective

Welcome to the Living to 100 Club Podcast.

Here's our host, Dr. Joseph Casciani.

Well, hello to everyone joining us today on our podcast. You're listening to the Living to 100 Club, and I'm your host, Joe Casciani. Before we introduce our guests, I'd like to remind everyone that I'm available for public speaking events, particularly to community organizations and senior groups. I love to talk to others about aging well and making it over those hurdles. There's an option on my website to book a call to discuss a presentation for your group. I also offer one-on-one coaching for help bouncing back from set struggles and setbacks. You can see this option as well on my website. And one last item of self-promotion: if you're looking for a consultant or trainer on clinical topics like dementia or depression, this is my wheelhouse, so feel free to contact me if there's a need in your organization. Again, contact options are on my website, livingto100.com. Now on to our podcast. Our guest for this podcast is Ginny Dent Brandt. Ginny is a cancer survivor and a guide to help others with cancer through their journey with lifestyle changes. We'll be discussing many different topics. One of them we'll be talking about is how cancer and latest research— cancer is shown to be only 10% attributable to genetics, while 90% is due to lifestyle factors. We're talking about this and other topics. First, a little background. Ginny Brandt is a speaker and writer who grew up in the halls of power in Washington, D.C. He has battled cancer, ministered around the world, and served on the front lines of American culture as a counselor, educator, wellness advocate, and adjunct professor. She has two master's degrees from the University of South Carolina, one in elementary counseling and another in education and research. Her award-winning book, Finding True Freedom: From the White House to the World, was endorsed by Chuck Colson, and featured in many media interviews nationwide. Her recent book, Unleash Your God-Given Healing: 8 Steps to Prevent and Survive Cancer, was written with commentary from an oncologist and medical researcher and has won 5 awards. Visit Ginny's website at www.ginnybrant.com. Ginny, welcome to our program today.

Thank you. It's great to be here from South Carolina.

Great. Glad to have you with us. I always like to open by asking our guests to tell us a little bit about the journey that brought you to where you are today.

Well, I'll have to tell you, it began when my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and I went through that painful process with him as one of his caregivers for 10 years. That began my research into health and my willingness to change my lifestyle to avoid getting what I would deem the worst disease anyone could get. Then when my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer, we began to look a little bit more closely at our diet because John Hopkins was telling us that this was highly related to diet. And then when I was diagnosed with cancer, I took the deepest dive and realized I had even more to learn and more to change. So it took those 3 health crises for me to wake up and realize that someone like me who was considered a health nut, there was a lot more I needed to do to change my lifestyle. And maybe I wasn't the health nut I thought I was.

Sure. So you've learned a lot through some difficult times, trying times. You've educated yourself about cancer and the different causes, how we can maybe control or manage some of these, uh, events. So you wrote a book, you've done a lot of public speaking, I know, and you've been on other podcasts. Tell us about your book, Unleash Your God-Given Healing: 8 Steps to Prevent and Survive Cancer.

Well, I have to chuckle when I tell you this, but it was the book I never wanted to write. When I was visiting with the chaplain in Chicago where they were treating me for cancer, I made an appointment and I just poured out my heart to to him. And I said, I don't understand how a health nut like me got cancer. And he told me this. He said, Jenny, I don't understand either. Your doctors don't understand it. But I will tell you this, those cancer patients that have healthy lifestyles and keep them through the cancer journey fare better. And then he said something else. He said, I know you don't see it now, but consider this a gift from God for you to help other people. And I looked at him and I said, but you don't understand, I don't want this gift. He said, oh, I can see it now, your next book on helping people to prevent and survive cancer. And the first words of the book are, this is the book I never wanted to write. We later laughed about that when I plopped that book on his desk.

Yeah, so no risk factors, and yet Here you are, you've come up with this condition, and you wrote the book because you've learned a lot. And you, in spite of the fact you didn't want to have to write a book like this, you did, right? And you have a powerful message. So what are, what are some of the main points you'd like to communicate to your readers?

Well, there were things that I was learning along the way, and once I learned these things, I said, you know, the average person doesn't know this because I don't know this, such as You know, our bodies were created with self-healing mechanisms that work best when we do the right things. So while we're having this interview, our body is doing all these self-healing mechanisms, whether you and I are paying attention to it or not. But when we engage in deep sleep at night, those miracles and self-healing mechanisms go up exponentially. Melatonin is a hormone that goes off in our body, and it's a major immune builder for COVID and flus. And it's a major cancer fighter. So, you know, it's important that if we want to prevent cancer, that we get deep sleep on a consistent basis. And if we're in the cancer journey, as my doctors told me, you know, you've got to engage in deep sleep, or you're not going to make it too well through this this journey to recover from what we're having to do to your body to kill the cancer. So deep sleep is critical. And, you know, in America, we kind of live on the run. And I used to do things like— I did— I was interviewed for my first book at the Crystal Cathedral. I flew out there, left work, flew out there, was interviewed, and flew back overnight on the red-eye special. Got into Atlanta airport at 5 AM and got to work by 7 AM. I don't do that anymore, but that's kind of the way I lived my life. And when I realized what important work in our body happens when we sleep, I've now changed how I do things and I make sleep a priority.

So deep sleep is a, is a chief contributor to enhancing these self-healing mechanisms. It goes on overdrive when we're in that, right? Keep sleep.

Yeah, that's right. That's when our body detoxes, cleanses, heals, and repairs itself. And so when we're living on the run, that is not happening.

So what other— obviously you learned a lot and you put a lot of your book, but yeah, we could be here all night.

But, uh, I also learned that 70 to 80% of our immune cells are in our gut lining. And so that care and nourishment of our gut is critical for us to have good health and have a strong immune system. Now let's be honest, we know that when we take antibiotics, which can save your life sometimes, uh, that gut lining gets destroyed by the antibiotics. So each time we use an antibiotic, we must be cautious about conscientiously trying to rebuild that gut. And when we go through something like chemotherapy, which is the worst thing you can possibly do to the gut, worse than antibiotics, you have to realize that once the chemotherapy is over, you've got to rebuild that gut lining if you want to have a strong immune system. And when I finished chemo, Number one, I was protecting my gut with certain things I was doing, but it was still damaged. But I completely rebuilt it. And so this suppressed immune system that chemo patients have for 2, 3, up to 5 years, or maybe the rest of their life, I did not have. At the end of chemotherapy, 6 weeks later, my red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets were back within normal ranges. My doctors called me their rock star cancer patient and said, We, we just don't, don't see this. This is unbelievable. But the point is, if you're actively involved and you're going to the best doctors who are up on the current research and the current ways of fighting cancer, and then you're doing your part too, then you're going to complement what they're doing to get a better outcome.

When we talked, you mentioned you cited that research or announcement from the MD Anderson Cancer Center. I alluded to this in the intro, where 10% of cancers are due to genetics and 90% really attributable to lifestyle factors. I mean, that's huge. I mean, I was shocked to hear that, pleasantly surprised that there, there is so much of that under our control. It's really similar to NIH's research showing that our longevity is only due to maybe 30% genetics and 70% is due to lifestyle factors. So really good parallels between avoiding cancer and living longer, all, all due to proper lifestyle factors.

Here's a quote from the American Cancer Society right from their website. They say 80% of cancer can be prevented through positive lifestyle behaviors, and they promote eating more fresh fruits and vegetables drinking plenty of water, exercising regularly. So you got 80% from the American Cancer Society. You've got Cancer Research Center saying 90%. Years ago, the American Cancer Society was saying the opposite. But they have changed their song and dance as more research has come out and as more people are getting cancer each year, more than the year before.

Are there differences of different types of cancer that are more genetically based, external lifestyle issues, or does it just cut across the board in all types of cancer?

I think it pretty much cuts across the board because they can even tell you that, I mean, colon cancer, prostate cancer are highly related to diet. And John Hopkins told us that when my husband had prostate cancer and Colon cancer, it's no secret. The standard American diet is the reason for so, so many colon cancer diagnoses in this day. But what's interesting is there is genetics for that. There are genes that make you more likely to get colon cancer, and those genes do run in my family. And my uncle and grandmother had colon cancer. My father got it at age 50. My mother, 2 years later at about age 50. 50, was diagnosed with colon cancer. And the doctor sat down and told me at 30 years old, you will have colon cancer in your lifetime. If you don't do what we're recommending, we can tell you what will be on your tombstones. That's what I was told at 30 years old. That's how serious the genetic factor was for colon cancer. And really, it scared me into getting those colonoscopies. And I got my first at 30. And of all things, I'm the one person in my family who has not gotten those colon polyps. So everyone around me is getting them and I have not gotten them yet, but in a few weeks I'll find out at age 66 whether I have a polyp. But it shows you that what we call epigenetics, that if you change your lifestyle, even these genes that you have for certain cancers and certain things may not come into play.

Yeah, that's, that's just fascinating. I mean, it sounds like there is some genetic loading or maybe a predisposition to certain types of cancer, but it doesn't make it inevitable, right?

Right.

You, you may have that in your family and you may be predisposed toward that, but it's not inevitable. And certainly it's not inevitable that it's a terminal condition either, right?

Is that right? Because you can catch it early, as other people in my family have done. They knew to look because it's in the family, and knowing to look, they catch those polyps at an early stage so that they don't get into a stage 2, 3, or 4 where their life is threatened in a stage 4. So everyone in my family has had colon cancer in some way, shape, or form, but my siblings have caught it at a very early age and taken care of business just like that doctor told us. And, you know, no one's had a problem with it like my parents who had to have major surgery to remedy the situation. So it— there's definitely genetic factors, but they play a smaller role than people would normally anticipate.

Yeah, that's, that's really startling, stunning news. I mean, I'm sure many people are very much aware of that, but it's really very useful information. I mean, this whole field of epigenetics and how we can really influence how our bodies heal and, you know, manage these different medical conditions based on our lifestyle factors, diet being maybe the chief factor, but other, you know, physical activity, fitness, and hydration, and a lot— so many factors that really play a huge role, bigger role than ever.

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's a big role. And what motivated me to really get into this research was that As you mentioned, I didn't have any of the risk factors for the breast cancer that I got. There are 8 risk factors listed. I didn't have one of them. And then they did extensive genetic testing at Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Chicago for the genetic factors related to my breast cancer. I didn't have those either. And so that's what sent me on a quest to find out what caused my cancer and what I could do to help my doctors beat it lessen the side effects, and keep it from coming back.

You also talk about not only do these factors maybe influence our susceptibility, but when we can put the right factors in place, we can also make the other more traditional treatments more effective—chemo or whatever else is going on. With these other changes, we can make the treatments more effective.

Now, I did not know that when I was going through chemotherapy. I was told by my nutritionist at the cancer hospital to increase hydration. And yes, that was making sure the chemo got to every cell. And then once the chemo does its job, you have to keep hydrating, increasing that hydration so that your body can excrete all of the, all the damage done to your body that needs to be removed, all those cancer cells that have died. And so yes, hydration nutrition is key. But one of the steps in my book that I would have to say probably had the greatest benefit was exercise. And I used it from the first moment I was diagnosed. I came home from work, my husband threw his arms around me, he prayed over me, and we went for a walk to relieve stress. So exercise and walking was a key part of my getting through the cancer journey. I did it to relieve stress. But when I got to the first surgery, and I had come out of the, you know, surgery, surgery room, and they took me back to a regular room. And I had all these tubes coming from my body. And I do not like that at all. And I said, what do I got to do to remove these tubes? And the nurse said, if you can walk 4 rounds around the hospital floor tomorrow morning, we can remove the catheter, the other tubes will be there for several weeks, and you will go home with them. And so I got up that next morning. And I did it to get the catheter out. I did 4 rounds around the hospital floor. And then I looked at the guy, said, this feels so good. How many to a mile? And he said, I don't think you can do that. I said, don't say can't. He said, 18. Well, I did 18 rounds and the nurses were cheering me on. And then I looked at him and I said, I feel good enough to do another mile. And he said, wait, let me call your surgeon. So he called my surgeon and she said, as long as she has the energy and the balance, It'll only promote healing in her body and pump out all the anesthesia, prevent blood clots. Well, it did a whole lot more than that. When my surgeon came in that afternoon, I got released early. And here's the deal, these tubes I was supposed to go home with had already taken care of business because of the exercise. I'm one of the first patients they've had to go home after a breast cancer surgery with no draining. Tubes. So all these things. So then I get to the chemo part, and I'm nervous about it. So the hospital has a park outside. So I walked 2 miles in the park before chemo, did the chemo, which was 8 hours long. And if I was able, I was going to walk home the same way through the park with my husband after chemo, if possible. I felt good enough, I walked 2 miles home and 2 and 3 miles every day in between. I was doing it to relieve stress. After the chemo journey was over, several years later, one of my doctors said, "Did you see the new research in Australia?" I said, "No." They said, "It's showing that exercise is the best thing a cancer patient can do, and we now believe that's why you did so well during chemotherapy and came out with such good outcomes." So I looked at the research. It's definitely now included in my book. And they said, if exercise were a pill, it should be prescribed to every cancer patient. Then recently, in like the last year or two, MD Anderson did a study with mice, and they said that the mice that were on a moderate exercise routine— they weren't running a marathon or anything— did better with the chemo efficacy-wise. The chemo worked better in those mice. And so now The news in the cancer world for people that are paying attention is those patients after chemo, before chemo, as much as they can, they do what they can when they can, because if they're too sick and nauseous and too weak, then they don't need to be up walking. They need to be cautious. But the point is, if they can, they do what they can when they can. It's going to be to their benefit to keep moving instead of lying in bed all week.

Yeah, and that's an important point that we cannot compare ourselves to what somebody else is doing. Only to where we are, and we start where we're at, right? If we're not able to walk, you know, around the unit once, that's okay. But we do what we can, and we push ourselves to what's tolerable, what's manageable.

Yeah, that's right. And I'm helping some cancer patients now that cannot leave the house, and we got, uh, you know, stationary bikes in their house so that they can cycle, you know, inside the house. And again, you do what you can. If you don't normally walk a mile, don't expect to walk a mile after surgery or half a mile. I mean, you— if you don't normally walk, you're going to have to build up to something like that and do something that's comfortable for you, whether inside or outside. The important thing is you need to get moving if you can and when you can.

Yeah, yeah, that's important. That's an important message. The hydration and the physical activity helps to mitigate the effects of the chemo and maybe push someone further along on their recovery plan. Yeah, that's huge. Definitely. Yeah. Are there other, other nuggets that people don't know that can help them prevent cancer?

Well, one thing we began learning when my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer is that 60 to 70% of the products we put on our skin get absorbed into our bloodstream and circulate through our body. Our skin is like a sponge. And so when you start looking at what we put on our body, a lot of things we put on our body that are sold in America are not allowed in European countries because of the chemicals in them. And some of these chemicals are endocrine disrupting chemicals, which mean they can mimic estrogen. And estrogen is what drives some men's cancers and many women's cancers. And so there were no— I didn't have high estrogen levels when I was diagnosed with estrogen-fed aggressive breast cancer. So nothing made sense about my case. But when I tested my body further afterwards, we found high levels of endocrine disrupting hormones, many coming from many different sources that had accumulated in my body, which would add to my estrogen load. So then that made more sense. So what do we do today? We watch what we put on our skin. If I want to moisturize my skin, I'll use coconut oil. There's no chemicals in it. You know, you just simply substitute what you're using for a safer and, uh, safer choice that doesn't have these endocrine disrupting parabens and phthalates and and chemicals. So a lot of cancer has to do with chemical load. And if you start researching— when people call me because they have a certain cancer and I start researching, I'll see on the Mayo Clinic and some of these top cancer sites risk factors for that cancer.

And a lot of them are starting to list high toxic load, the chemicals that are in these different products that we apply to our skin. Yeah, yeah. Can you give other examples besides the moisturizer? What else? Shampoos? So, oh yes, shampoos and soaps.

I only buy natural soaps and shampoos that are made with, you know, plant chemicals, because all of these things, when you start looking at— in my book I have 3 pages that goes through the typical day in the life of a typical American woman. And everything she uses during that day and puts on her body, on her hair, on her nails, whatever. And I show every chemical that exposes her body to— by the end of the day, it's 75 chemicals in one day. So when you look at that, you begin to realize, oh, we carry a chemical load. Now, you know, when my chemicals came back high, of course I tested my husband. His did not come back high. His were more in the green zone. We all have chemicals in our body. It's whether it's in the green zone, the yellow zone, or the red zone. And I had 15 in the red zone. He had maybe 1 or 2 in the beginning of the red zone and a few yellows, and the rest were, were green. That's what my profile looks like now. I'm all in the green zone. But it took me a while to get there. And I had to look at that. And I said, okay, we're two pigs. Eating out of the same pigpen, you know, same trough in the same pigpen. Why would I have such a high chemical load when he's the one that does the yard work, exposed to the gasoline and the plant chemicals? I don't understand. But I had— I finally realized from further research that his filtering systems in his body worked better than mine. If we go for a walk, 1 mile in, he's sweating. I don't sweat till the end, if then, you know. So I now make myself sweat by getting in a sauna twice a week.

Sure, sure. You know, what were these measurements? What were you measuring when you found you were high or low? What are these, the antioxidants in the, in the body?

No, what I— what we were measuring— well, let me go back. My integrative doctor at home, after chemo was over, She said, you know, Jenny, you need to really look at how you can get these chemicals out of your body, you know, more hydration, walking, sauna. She recommended that I get a sauna. So I bought a sauna. The sauna arrived and the company called me I bought it from and said, we're doing a clinical trial on these saunas, would you like to be a part? And I said, sure, because what they were going to do was test me and I could see the— what chemicals were in my body and what as I got in the sauna, how the chemicals were hopefully coming down. So I thought they were going to test heavy metals, which I already knew I had some of those in my body. Oh no, they were testing chemicals I didn't know you could test. They were testing glyphosate, they were testing Agent Orange pesticide, parabens, phthalates, benzene from gasoline, all kinds of things, and flame retardant from clothes. And when I saw it, I was like, oh, I didn't know all these things were in my body. So that was just happened by the providence of God that I realized those things were in my body and they needed to come out. But through sweating— and it doesn't come out overnight, it took several years to get those toxic loads down gradually over time. Increased hydration, certain foods you eat, sweating, exercise. It's— it, it wasn't easy, but it makes me feel a lot better to know that my chemical load, it's not overloaded. You know, it's when the bucket gets full that your immune system cannot do the daily activities that it was designed to do to prevent cancer and disease. Yeah, being really handicapped.

Yeah. So what were they measuring? Like, do they look at perspiration or urine or your—

it was urine. It was a urine test. Okay. Yeah, yeah, sent to, sent to Great Plains Lab. They have several interesting tests that can be ordered by doctors. What, as a matter of fact, when I told the cancer center about it, they said, well, when you finish with your sauna and get on down the road, we'd like to redo the test again. You know, once that company was what was finished. And they did. And that's when I got the last result showing that I was in pretty much the green zone on everything. Well, but it didn't come overnight.

I have these thoughts sometimes that, you know, 5 years from now we're going to look back and we're going to say, you mean people 5 years ago were really using these products on their skin? Or they were really eating these products? Because like the news is coming out now and it's it's finally being processed and distributed, disseminated to the public. But, uh, we're probably making so many poor choices these days, and, uh, years from now we're going to say, wow, you were really making some bad choices back then.

Yeah, well, I got to tell you an interesting story. After I finished chemo, we celebrated, and I went on a riverboat cruise with Viking Cruises. And I was concerned because here I controlled what I ate and ate clean food and ate organic and did all these things now. And so the chef Joseph Casciani called me that was going to be on our boat. And he said, you're in countries, we're going through countries that do not allow glyphosate to be sprayed on the foods and do not allow a lot of these things. So he said, you really don't have anything to worry about on the cruise. And when I got on the cruise, he showed me the kitchen and showed me everything and how they made their breads and how they made them differently. And, and I was like, You know, we could learn a few lessons from other places in this, in this world. But, you know, glyphosate was one of the things found at high levels in my body, and, you know, I don't ever want to let that glyphosate level get that high again.

Yeah, this is such valuable information to be sharing. I really appreciate— thank you for, you know, sharing your insights, your experiences. You've learned a lot, and it's been a tough road, I know.

A lot through the school of hard knocks.

Yeah, of course. How about the virus here, this pandemic that we're going through, the coronavirus? Are there things that, you know, have been uncovered in your journey that kind of explain where we are with the virus?

Well, the virus is like an exaggerated flu, a really, really, really bad cold, and it is dangerous, and it is highly contagious. And because it's highly contagious, one doctor said at the very beginning on the news in the pandemic, he said, "Everyone's probably going to get this in time." And I did not believe him. I wish I had written down his name because he was right. We now know more people that have had it than have not had it. And what I've learned from the coronavirus is from listening to doctors— I follow about 25 medical doctors and scientists from around the world. Is that if you have a strong immune system and you've got your immune system working on all cylinders like it was created to work, then when approached with something like, like this, you might not catch it as easily. But if you catch it, you're not going to get severe symptoms. You get severe symptoms when you have comorbidities and when your immune system is weak. And even if you get the vaccines, I've seen a lot of doctors say clearly, and nutritionists and people that specialize in health and wellness, that if you're not exercising, if you're not hydrating, if you're not eating healthy foods, that vaccine's not going to work as well. If you're not getting deep, deep sleep. So if you want the vaccine to, you know, have a better rate of working in you, whatever the vaccine is, You want to have healthy habits. So my husband and I, the first year, did not get COVID. We were exposed so many times. We got the phone call, the people you were with, you know, because we work in ministry, you know, my husband's in hospitals a lot, he's in prison sometimes, he's in all the wrong places for COVID. We kept getting these calls, uh, you have been exposed, go get tested. So for a year we kept getting tested, never got it. But then we got it when we least expected it, and it was so mild we didn't know we had it. It was like a little sniffle and a little cough you take a cough drop for. And the one main symptom we had was we lost appetite, which was not on the CDC website. But the point is, if your immune system— and the whole time we had it, we were walking 2 to 3 miles a day. And exercising and doing all the things we normally do, just not in with other people. But the point is, uh, we were able to do that. Now it doesn't work that way for everybody, but it is a, it is a common thread that basically if you have a strong immune system and you don't have comorbidities, you're not as likely to get a severe case of COVID Sure.

It reminds me of a very similar process. I had a guest on just a few weeks ago who talked about strength building for seniors, uh, people over 60, and really doing, uh, exercises that are aimed at keeping your muscles as strong and as vibrant as possible. And he said people who have that strength and that muscular endurance fare much better when they have some kind of a physical event like a fall or, you know, tripping, breaking your hip or whatever. And you get through the rehab much faster when you have that. It's almost like a prophylactic effect that you can reduce the effects when you are faced with a hit like that. So, what you're talking about is the same. When we have good lifestyle and good habits, health, healthy habits, we fare much better when we are hit with some heavy-duty event.

Yeah. And I do believe that COVID, because of especially the first COVID and the Delta that, that came out, that if you're over a certain age and you know you have comorbidities and you know you're high risk, even though you hate to tell people, they, they are going to have to take more protection and stay away from people, even though that's hard. You know, thank goodness for Zoom. Thank goodness for other ways of keeping up with family. If you know you're high risk, this is not something you want to get, especially when it was Delta and it was the regular COVID that, that first year. The Omicron does not have as high of a death rate. It's not putting as many people in the hospital, but it's more, more contagious. So You know, as people get older and they're seniors, and my husband and I are in that category now, you know, there are times I'm sure we'll have to be cautious about not getting the yearly flu when it comes around. And, you know, I think COVID has taught us things about washing our hands more often. And there are times when you might want to wear a mask. And, you know, I was in Hong Kong after SARS, believe it or not, and everybody was wearing masks. This was like a year and a half after SARS. Everybody was still still wearing masks. And I thought, why are they wearing masks? Now I know why. But I think we'll always, you know, some of the lessons we learned from COVID we will, we will take with us. And when you realize that, that gut, nourishing that gut, many times something we catch goes in through our mouth right into the gut. And our own gut, if that lining is healthy, can take care of it many times. You know, and we have a mucus lining in our sinuses and our nose that helps to fight disease. And sometimes it goes into that mucus lining, and that mucus lining takes care of it. So you want all those, but if you're not properly hydrated, you know, and you're not properly nourished, you don't even have the hope that that might happen. So really, the key to getting old is keeping that immune system as strong as you can for as long as you can. And as you age, yes, it's going to, it's going to get weaker. It's going to get weaker. But there are always things you can do to enhance it so that you don't have to be just totally out there at, you know, 65 with no immune system, you know. So even if you're older, hydration, sleep, exercise, eating immune-building foods is always going to at least help. Might not help as much as when you're 18, but it's going to help.

It's always going to help. These are ingredients that we hear time and again, right, for all different aspects, and even for living longer and healthier and staying, staying fit and keeping our mind sharp. It's all of these same ingredients: good sleep, deep sleep, the plant-based diets, the physical activity. I mean, it just keeps coming back again and again. These are the ingredients for living well. It doesn't—

I want to say this because I think it's important. You know, my goal in life is health-wise is to prevent Alzheimer's and dementia because I've lived with it and it's horrible and I don't want to go there. And to prevent cancer and heart disease. But the plant-based diet hits all three. And really, the lifestyle changes in my book hit all of this. And so there are foods that you can eat that actually prevent cancer. Blueberries cut off the blood supply to cancer tumors just naturally. And so anybody who's in the cancer journey or been through the cancer journey and not wanting it to come back, I recommend they eat a cup of blueberries every day. And Dr. Vincent Fordineschi at UCLA, a neurologist and Dr. David Perlmutter and Dale Bredesen, who's a Duke University neurologist, they all recommend to prevent Alzheimer's and dementia, eat a cup of blueberries every day. What do the heart doctors recommend? Eat a cup of blueberries every day because of what it does to the endothelial lining of your blood vessels. So a lot of your longevity is based in how healthy you keep the endothelial lining of your blood vessels.

Yeah, the superfoods, the magic ingredients. That's important. Tell us about your website and blog, Jenny.

Well, I have a cancer prevention and wellness blog, and it's at www.jennyginnynybrant.com. It's just simple. Jenny Brandt and anyone can sign up to get my post. Last week I posted about plastics and the week before about how we're getting plastics in through our coffee and tea by the way we are brewing them. And so we have to do things differently. And so, you know, today's post is about hydration, all the benefits of proper hydration. So anyone can sign up for that, and I do have information about my book. I have some of my interviews that have been nationwide are on that website, but they can find out a lot of information just by going to jennybrant.com. Great, great. Thanks for that. And I do answer emails that are sent from that blog site.

Okay, so people can contact you that way as well. Yes, they can. Great. Well, I'm sorry to say it looks like we're out of time for today, Ginny, but before we wrap up, I just want to remind our listeners about a co-sponsor for my program, A Mighty Good Time. Are you looking for ways to engage and stay active? Check out amightygoodtime.com. It's a one-stop shop for events and activities for those 50 and over. It's free to search and it's free to post. amightygoodtime.com. And be sure to visit the Living to 100 Club website to sign up for weekly podcast announcements and monthly newsletters. And while you're there, be sure to download a copy of my 9 Tips for Living Longer. Lastly, pick up a copy of my book, Living Longer Is the New Normal. It's all about maintaining a positive mindset in all we do. It's on Amazon. We've been talking with Ginny Dent Brandt today. Again, Ginny's website is GinnyBrandt.com. Thanks so much for being a guest on our program today. Thanks for having me, I've enjoyed it. Great, it's been great valuable information. I know my audience will appreciate it, and thanks to everyone for tuning in. Hope to see you next time.

Hi, this is Suzanne Newman, host of the Answers for Elders podcast and radio show. We are the North Star that guides you through the complicated journey of senior care with trusted experts in money, law, living solutions and more. So join us on this station, your favorite podcast channel, or just go to answersforelders.com. Meet the wayshowers who will help your journey go a lot easier.