Grew Up on Military Bases. Then She Got Cancer

In this episode of Veteran Cancer Talk, Ashton speaks with Heather King — military brat, breast cancer survivor, doctoral candidate, and founder of Rooted Resilience — about the overlooked issue of toxic exposure and long-term health risks facing military families.

Heather shares her experience growing up in military housing and later being diagnosed with breast cancer at 33 despite living a healthy lifestyle and staying proactive with screenings.

Together, they discuss:

•  Military family toxic exposure 
•  Cancer and environmental exposure concerns 
•  Healthcare gaps affecting military families 
•  Early detection and advocacy 
•  Holistic wellness during treatment 
•  Caregiver support and burnout 
•  Nutrition, inflammation, and recovery 

This is a powerful conversation about the questions healthcare systems still are not asking military families.

Learn more about Veteran Cancer Network:
 www.VeteranCancerNetwork.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I definitely, you know, got cancer at 33, which is not normal. Growing up, we always lived on base in, you know, standard military housing.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Are they asking you, you know, have you or a family member ever served in the military? Never.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

I I don't think anyone has ever asked me that.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Welcome to Veteran Cancer Talk by the Veteran Cancer Network. I'm your host, Ashton, and today I'm joined by Heather King, military brat, doctoral candidate, and breast cancer survivor. Heather, welcome. Thank you so much for having me. So uh you grew up in a military family. Go ahead and just tell me how how did that shape your understanding of uh basically service, sacrifice, health?

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Yeah, no, that's a it's a great question. So I I grew up, that's all I knew, right? So my dad was in the military from before I was born, clear up until past when I was in high school. So we grew up and moved lots of different places. Um he was in the military police in the Air Force, and it just seemed like we were, well, we were always stateside. We never went overseas because my mom is like the least adventurous person ever. But one thing that I saw growing up was um, you know, you you start over all the time, right? It's constantly starting over, and you meet a new group of people and it's a new place. Um, and and I feel like it's really a way to define who you are. And and I kind of feel like you either sink or swim, right? So you find your strength with some of the other people that you're with, um, but that's all I ever knew. And so my mom always uh told me that I was her little chameleon, that I could like figure out wherever I was, how to like meet new people and like make new friends and you know, find my spot in those places. And and I I really attribute all of that and where I am now, even in my life, to growing up that way.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Wonderful. Now, what what branch was your father in? He was in the Air Force. Fantastic. We love our Air Force.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Yeah. I just said he was a lifer, so he was he was in until he retired and then went reserves until he retired from that.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

So my goodness. Now, do you think growing up in that type of environment changed how you processed your own diagnosis later, you know, later in life?

SPEAKER_00 2:28

You know, I do just because I take everything head on, right? And um, even when, so a little bit about my diagnosis and when I was diagnosed, so I looked like the pillar of health. Like if you would have seen me, I was running half marathons, you know, I was in great shape. Um, I was a single mom, you know, raising three young girls. And I it just if from the outside, I truly looked like I was the healthiest person ever. But I do have a lot of cancer in my family, and so on both sides of my family, on my dad's side of the family, my grandmother and great-grandmother both passed away from ovarian cancer. And on my mom's side of the family, my aunt had breast cancer in her 40s, my grandmother in her 50s and 70s, my great-grandmother in her 60s, and my uncle had prostate cancer in his 60s. And so that sort of led me down the path of getting into genetics and genomics and understanding a little bit more about all of it. Um, but seeing me as the pillar of health, I still was going and getting my screenings and my checks and doing all my due diligence. You know, I I've gotten screened for every genetic test under the sun that they know of right now, and I don't carry any mutations, but that doesn't mean that I still don't have a risk, right? Because we all have risks of cancer. And so um, when I was diagnosed at with breast cancer at 33, for me it was just a head-on, like I take everything else in my life, um, where I just decided that right then and there, like I'd had so many biopsies on my left breast that I decided I was just gonna go ahead and do a double mastectomy and take care of this. Um, we caught it really, really early. Thankfully, it was still stage zero just because I had been so diligent with everything. Um, you know, in in my mind, my job is to live and take care of my girls, right? And so much of growing up in the military, it was very much uh, you know, you have to make decisions, right? You're you're told, and even though I was not, you know, in the military, my dad's like, you make a decision and you go with it. And so even when I decided to make my decision on what I was doing, which was best for me, right? Everyone gets to make that decision, but um, there was no hesitation. Like I knew I was going to do a double mastectomy, I knew I was not going to choose um doing radiation or chemo, and I knew I was gonna change the way I lived.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

So that's what I did. I love that you just took took charge of that. Not not everybody would. Now, I do want to touch on something that you had said. You said that um you had done all of the the gene testing and everything, and you're you did not have the what was that, the Brat Brachia, what what gene is that for breast cancer?

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Yes, correct. Yes. So I worked for actually a few different genetic testing companies, and so I've had I've had all the testing done, and there are lots of different hereditary cancer genes that lead to various types of cancer. Um, because of my family history, those within the that BRCA, which you know is breast ovarian pancreatic prostate, that would be more of what you see just from my family tree. Um, but just because that's what's in my family tree, you know, there are lots of other genes that also increase your risk of breast cancer as well. So I went ahead and had all of those done. I what we know, you know, science is constantly evolving, and uh what we know as of right now did not cause my cancer. It was more environmental, is what I feel just from what I have learned and also just because I've rolled out a lot of the other testing.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Mm-hmm. Now, growing, I mean, you you said that your dad 30, you know, 30 plus years in the in the military and everything. So, um, what kind of military bases were you around? Did you live off base? Do you think that any of your exposure kind of ties back to, you know, his time in service?

SPEAKER_00 6:39

You know, it very well could have. So I would say when I was growing up, we always were on base. So he was um, we were in California for a while. Uh, we were in DC for a while. Um, but the majority of I would say my junior high, high school years, we were at Wright Pat and we lived off base because that's where my family's from in Northeast Ohio. Um, but growing up, we always lived on base um in you know, standard military housing. And he was an enlisted guy. It's not like he was an officer or anything, so we were in standard military housing. So um it I think that we know more now of what was being dumped and what was going into the groundwater and how toxic that can be for people's health. And and it could very well have tied back into some of that just because I don't carry a genetic alteration, but I I definitely, you know, got cancer at 33, which is not normal. So it it could, there could be a correlation.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

So what do you guess what do civilian health care providers often misunderstand about the military families, especially whenever it comes to um, you know, any type of you know, lasting healthcare diagnosis?

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yeah, you know, it's it's I I hate to have a one-size-fits-all approach to anything, right? There are some that are better understanding, um, and there's some that aren't, right? Now, I can tell you, even when I was getting ready to go to college and you need your shot records, I could not for the life of me find my darn shot records, right? Because you move so much. And even to this day, I have one little piggy bank frog that I have for my childhood, you know, and so if I can't even keep possessions, it you're not going to keep a bunch of your medical records. Now with EMR and some other things, which is good and it's not, you know, um, they don't really talk very well, but there's always a disconnect. And oftentimes from a patient perspective, we know enough, but we're not always going to communicate everything perfectly to the healthcare providers. And oftentimes, from a healthcare provider perspective, you know, you're getting a history that's kind of foggy. So it there's there's definitely a disconnect. And I feel like from a military perspective, there's a lot more of a disconnect because of the moving, because of the um fractured nature of healthcare in general, where you know, maybe they're being seen on base in one state, and then they're being seen, you know, in a tri-care facility off base somewhere else. I mean, there's there's just disconnects, and that's across the board for healthcare for patients, but I feel like for military personnel, it's like tenfold or more.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

So now when you were when you go to a healthcare, you know, uh provider, dental, f you know, physical, whatever, uh, are they asking you, you know, have you or a family member ever served in the military? Never.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

I I don't think anyone has ever asked me that, ever, within a healthcare situation. And it's not something I'm really Yeah, you know, it it is, it's a miss, but it's not something that I even think of. And if I'm not thinking of it, then I'm sure a lot of other people aren't thinking about it as well. But it is that is a gap.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Now I I wanted to kind of switch focus a little bit um and talk a little bit about what you're doing now. For but before we do, you chose a holistic approach paired with uh medical treatment. What did that integration look like when you were going through uh your your treatment and you know, kind of what kind of led you to your business?

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Sure, absolutely. So, you know, when I went through, I think I told you um, you know, I was diagnosed um at stage zero and I had the ability to decide am I going to do chemo radiation? Am I going to be on, you know, tamoxifen for five years? You know, what am I going to do from a medical management perspective? And because I had been in the industry and the field for so long, I felt like I had a good grasp on things. Plus, I feel like we know our bodies better than anyone else, right? And no one has a crystal ball and can see into the future and determine whether you do really aggressive care, if you're gonna have a better outcome versus not doing aggressive care, right? But you have to, you have to, I always say knowledge is power in all things. So if we have a good baseline, if we trust our team, and if we trust ourselves to know, you know, what we're feeling in our bodies, that that's the most important thing. So for me, my choice was to go ahead and the tumor margins were good when everything was removed. So I felt comfortable not doing chemo radiation or going on any sort of you know therapies. Um, I chose to completely and totally live differently. So before, I mean, I'm a single mom working full-time with three young daughters, and so just like everybody else, I'm just sometimes trying to get it together and feed my kids, right? And so don't get me wrong, I was going through the Chick-fil-A line or some other fast food line like anyone else. And I just decided I'm going to do things differently. So I started going to school for holistic medicine, and and I decided I didn't know if that was something that I was just going to use for myself and my friends and my family, or if someday I was going to actively be seeing patients. And I started down that path and just found ways to live differently. And it is amazing how much better my body feels in general, where things that I didn't even really realize that weren't great. Um, they really transformed by just really focusing on detoxing, you know, my environment that I live in, you know, simple things like candles, making sure the water that we drink, you know, is clean. Um, and then really doing whole foods. So everyone says, you know, hug the corner of the grocery store and not eat the stuff in the middle. I mean, there's a lot of truth associated with that. Um, so I just started living very differently and pursuing that path of education.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

So, can you give some examples of I guess some of the dietary changes? Obviously, you said you don't go to Chick-fil-A anymore, you try to limit that. Um for somebody that is going through cancer, you know, currently, or maybe a caregiver that's listening in, uh, what are some things that they can do, you know, to be able to kind of make some of those small changes? You know, I know and I'll give an example. My husband, you know, his nutritionist told him to eat whatever he wants because they just needed the calories. Um, so he ate Taco Bell every single day. Um, and and that obviously is very frustrating, you know, when you're seeing all the sodium coming into the body, all the sugar coming into the body. Um, but what are some small changes that people can make, you know, right now?

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Yeah, I there's so many things that you just said that I I love and I want to unpack because um what there's so many things where science just really does give us the information that we need. And so working on my doctorate, I have really dug in to all of these peer-reviewed, published, you know, journal articles that sometimes they're snoozers that no one wants to read, but honestly, there is some really great info in some of these. Um, over and over again, the Mediterranean diet, so fish and you know, increasing our vegetables and in, you know, adding olive oil, um, that Mediterranean diet really does decrease inflammation in our bodies, whether we're actively going through cancer or we're just trying to create longevity in our life. Um, when I was going through training, they always used the little acronym GERF, J-E-R-F, just eat real food. So if it grows out of the ground, if you can pick it off a vine, you know, that is what our body wants and craves. Our body doesn't want whatever you use, Taco Bell, you know, whatever is rolled up in this, you know, tortilla that is sprayed with who knows what type of chemicals, and then whatever is actually inside of it. I mean, you know, it's it's not real food. So we have to control our controllables, you know, there are times when we don't have a caregiver, like, you know, you were his caregiver, and and those people are just trying to survive. I don't ever want people to feel as if they're less than or they're not doing everything that they can. Sometimes it is survival mode. But if you have someone there, if you feel up to it, you know, eating whole foods is always going to be the way to go. And that doesn't mean you know you can't eat red meat, that doesn't mean you can't eat chicken, that doesn't mean it just the majority of what you eat, if you can consume things that are real and that that grow, that is the way to go to just decrease inflammation in our bodies.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

So, how do you ensure a holistic practice that complements what the oncology care team is doing rather than just replacing it all together?

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Yeah, so it so the program that I've created is called Rooted Resilience, and it was not meant to, you know, take over what the medical team is already doing and providing. It's meant to complement it. And so, you know, when you're going through cancer with chemo or radiation, there are so many common side effects. Nausea, you know, lack of appetite, all of the headaches, right? There's so many different things that sometimes it's layered with additional medicines on top of medicines, on top of medicines to control those side effects. And there are additional ways to control some of those things. Example, ginger is amazing for nausea. Um, you can get ginger chews, you can even slice ginger and put it in your belly button. It sounds crazy, but it works. There are pressure points, like we have acupressure points that are specific for nausea. Um, so I have videos that take you through the acupressure points, you know, just to be able to support your body holistically. Uh, we talked a little bit about detoxing, right? Your body is working so hard to fight the cancer. And so, you know, if you're on chemo, if you're doing radiation, all of your body's energy really needs to be focused towards that, right? And then just resting and healing, period. So if we're adding other things that are burdens, toxic burdens to our body, you know, if we're burning candles in our house, if we're not filtering our water appropriately, um, there's so many things that add to that burden that we don't even really realize that we're doing. And, you know, on top of that, layered, the the mental side is so important, right? Like being able to find a way to mentally stay focused and strong. Um, my program is a faith-based program because I don't know how I would have gotten through what I got through without my faith. But that is not the only thing that's in the program, you know, that's just a piece of it.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

So, what does faith-informed support actually look like in practice?

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Yeah, no, that's that's a great question. So, you know, even when I'm working with my um the the people that I'm working with one-on-one, uh, we are going to pray first. Um, but I go back to the the the basis that I really believe God's given us everything we need to live well and be well. And it goes back to those, what are we putting in our body, right? Are we eating those real foods that that He gave us? Um, and then really understanding how our body works. And there is a little bit of this traditional Chinese medicine that comes into play with those things and really understanding our body and how it works, uh, the more that I can sit down and have conversations with people and really understand the side effects that they are experiencing, the more that I can give them different ways to be able to overcome that. And it is not one of those things that I just think, you know, you you pray past the nausea. Sometimes that's all you got, right? But you try all the other things first with the acupressure, with the ginger, with, you know, different herbal teas, you know, there are different ways to do things. And because I do believe that God's given us all of those things to be able to live well and be well.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Now, what do you say, or what would you say to someone whose faith has been shaken by their diagnosis? That's a fairly common thing that happens.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Yes, you know, I think one of two things happens, you know, either you question everything, um, or that's when people also find their faith, right? When you have some sort of a chronic diagnosis. So what I would say is, you know, I don't think my and my thoughts are that God never gives us things that we truly can't handle. And everything is a learning experience. And, you know, even from your situation, right? Like you wouldn't be here today if your family would have not gone through some of the things that you have gone through. And I feel like God sometimes does place certain things in our path to be able to help us use that to help other people. I mean, I never thought I would get breast cancer, you know, and I never thought that honestly I would be where I am. Even I'm the first person in my family to even go to college, let alone graduating with my doctorate in December, right? So these are all things that if certain things did not happen, then I don't know that I would be where I am and the ability to be able to help other people as well. And so I don't think anything is ever wasted. Um, even the heartache and the hard stuff, I don't think any of it's ever wasted.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

I love that. Now, switching focus, I I do want to talk a little bit more about the training that you are providing. So it's not just for those that are currently going through cancer or have gone through cancer, it's also for caregivers correct. Is that is that right?

SPEAKER_00 21:47

Yes. Yeah, that's that's a huge part. I mean, you know, being a caregiver, sometimes you're giving all of yourself and it's extremely exhausting.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

So, what are I guess, what does that training look like? What are Some of the things that you offer for the caregiver versus those that are going through cancer, or is it all the same training?

SPEAKER_00 22:06

Yeah, so there are actually 10 different modules to go through. You know, some of them are food is medicine, basics, detoxing principles. Um, within each of those, there's a caregiver section, and then there is a separate module for caregivers that talks a lot about just making sure they're filling their own cup every single day so they can pour out into others. Because oftentimes, whether you're you're caregiving for someone who is elderly or someone who has cancer, or even mamas caring for their littles, right? Like you're constantly pouring out. And so even without the cancer part, it's so important for all of us to make sure we're taking care of ourselves so that we can take care of others. I told my girls that always growing up, like they would see me exercising and doing things, and they would be like, Mom, mom, and I'm like, nope, this is mom's time, you know, if I don't take care of myself, I can't take care of you. And so there's a lot of that built into it throughout the entire program. But then there are specific sections that are just for caregivers, and that can be devotionals, you know, it can be very practical tips and you know, steps. Um, the way that each of these modules are built out is they're videos of me. So, and it's mobile optimized. So people can just look at it and be able to, you know, if they're sitting and waiting for an appointment, if they're sitting on their couch at night, instead of aimlessly scrolling through TikTok and Instagram with all these people that don't have any credentials and don't understand, you know, um, I'm not diminishing any of that, but this is a proof source where they'll get good credible information and short little video snippets, and then there are different handouts that they can print off and actively work together.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

Now, how is the healthcare community as a whole reacting to this? Because I believe you also offer continuing education for providers as well, is that right?

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Yes, so um the course has been made into a continuing education course. Um and and I'm I'm excited because everything actually launched this month. So we're seeing how all of that, thank you. You know, we're seeing how that goes and the pickup associated with it. Um there is, you know, licensure, and we do have a healthcare system in the Carolinas that is starting to integrate this into what they're doing as well. Um, and then I do have some future meetings for some other health systems across the country. Um, you know, as I said, this is this is never meant to, you know, supersede anything that the healthcare team is providing. It's just meant to support people because you know, going through this, you know, you hear you you go in and you hear the C word and your brain shuts off. And then everything else that's after that, it's like muffled mumble that you don't remember. And then you're put into these timelines of you have to be here, you know, at this time for this procedure or this time for this therapy or this time, it's not your timeline anymore, right? And you're just going through the motions of everything that the healthcare team tells you that you're supposed to do. And so this is something that people can do to fill their cup and find ways that they have control over, right? You don't have control over the timeline and all the stuff that you have to do, but this empowers them to be able to take some control of their health and be able to do something that is beneficial, but they they choose to do it on their own. So I'm excited about it.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Now I'm excited for you. Now, are you receiving any type of misconceptions, whether it's from the healthcare providers regarding integrative cancer support or maybe from those that are in the community currently going through it, or has it been pretty easy kind of pushing forward?

SPEAKER_00 26:03

I would love to say that it has been really easy, but it's not. Um, you know, I have less pushback from patients and caregivers. I think that they're all in. The healthcare community has that has been a little bit more of a struggle. Um, I actually had a meeting yesterday with the head dietitian and at a healthcare system, and they are all about insure and boost and all of these, you know, process protein drinks that are filled with lots of synthetic things that our body is unable to absorb, digest appropriately, um, that causes a lot of inflammation in our bodies, and you know, it's the last thing that we want to do. And so it has been a little bit of a battle with certain sectors within the healthcare system, um, specifically the dietary route, because everyone, you know, everyone knows that, you know, eating real food is best, and obviously sometimes we get lazy or we don't have the financial means to do it, and so there's this really fine line between in in their minds making people feel like they're less than or not doing what they should be doing, or they're just failing. And and I don't ever want any of this to be perceived that way. I want it to be perceived as we're all doing the best we can every single day. But if you have the opportunity to grab a salad instead of a Big Mac, grab the salad, right? So it's just it's it so I would like to say that that it was seamless and easy. It has it has not been.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

Goodness. Now I I find that interesting because when Casey was going through his uh cancer treatment, we had all the salty snacks and you know, little sugary, you know, little sugary things right there, you know, in the uh in the oncology unit. But then the resources that were coming and offering free meals, you know, I remember the first meal that came through was fried chicken and and french fries, you know, which obviously can be counterintuitive to, you know, the whole, you know, like I said, the whole health. But what would you like to be able to see with some of these? Because there's so many people out there, you know, calling and and wanting to be able to give support. What would you suggest, you know, to those that are really wanting to be helpful, you know, in those type of situations? What kind of snacks do they need to be dropping off? You know, what kind of you know, meal prep, you know, plans, you know, can they do? Is that all included in your, you know, in your app, in your training?

SPEAKER_00 28:49

Yes, there's so many different meal plans, recipe guides. There's so much that's in there. You know, it's it is such kindness when people help support you with different things like bringing food when that's some of the last things that you actually want to do when you're either going through treatment or you know, helping a loved one through a treatment. But all I can say is, you know, look at it is is this food nourishing? Is it truly nourishing, or is it just checking the box with calories? Like you brought up fried chicken and French fries. You know, we should not consume seed oils ever, right? Like seed oils are all the things that things are fried in. Peanut, vegetable, you know, they sound like they're healthy because they come from a vegetable or a peanut. They're not. Canola, all of these, you know, all of these things increase inflammation in our bodies. Um, are there ways to do healthy fried chicken and french fries? Absolutely. Use an air fryer, you know, um, use avocado or olive oil instead of these seed oils. But when you're bringing stuff, just think: is this something that is nourishing or is it something that is going to increase that burden to the body? And sometimes people know, sometimes they don't, but healthier is better. So it goes back to that jerf, right? Just eat real food. Um, so I I really truly feel like sometimes something is better than nothing. But when you can, and if you're bringing somebody something, bring them something healthy.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Mm-hmm. Now I do want to kind of circle back to the the veterans and the whole person care. So I will say this about my own personal military experience, and I go on base somewhat frequently. Um, the amount of you know, unhealthy options that our service members are, you know, easily consuming from energy drinks to smoking to being, you know, at the chow hall and that that new report that came out saying that the uh even the chow hall food isn't isn't the best for you, same with the MREs. Um but veterans just they often carry that those that toxic exposure history and and chronic stress just from service. So how how do those layers compound uh, you know, during a health diagnosis, such as cancer or you know, other issues?

SPEAKER_00 31:15

Yeah, you know, everything that we do either increases that toxin burden or it, you know, starts reversing it, right? And there's it it goes back to the control and the controllables. You can't control that you're eating MREs, you know, out in the field. You can't control what you're being fed. You need to eat what you're given and keep your energy up, right? But all of those things, when you do get out or when you do have the option to make your own choices, you just have to try to start going a little bit of a different way. Um you can reverse all of those things. Like there are studies after studies after studies showing that even if I carried a BRCA gene, if I live differently, which is called, you know, BRCA is hereditary cancer genetic, you know, alteration. If I live differently, which is epigenetics, so if I'm living differently, my environment, what I'm putting into my body, I can I can override that BRCA mutation just by living differently, right? The food that I eat, the things that I'm exposing myself to and putting in my body. So it's the same with that, where even if, you know, I grew up meat and potatoes. I mean, honestly, we had government subsidized cheese and milk, and who knows what was in that stuff that came, you know, like I don't even eat dairy anymore because I know it causes inflammation in my body. So, you know, but maybe all that led to why I was diagnosed so early. But the reality of it is, is now I'm just doing the best that I can to just live differently and incorporating small changes consistently, right? Adding in something new all the time. I just started making my own yogurt at home, you know. I have the my dehydrator going out there. I'm gonna make some granola bars for my my daughter's track team. You know, there's all these things that we can slowly do that it's not going to completely override everything from the past, but we're controlling our controllables. We're just moving forward in a healthier way.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

Now, any any plans on uh making a cookbook for you know the future, uh, you know, anything like that? Because I I'm definitely interested. I know my husband off the, you know, he's often looking for you know advice on that too.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Sure. I don't know. I haven't even thought about it, but I would love to. I mean, people always ask me recipes. I'm actually putting one out on my social media feed for the granola bars I'm making uh later today when we're done. So who knows? I'll keep an eye out for it. Tons of recipes, tons of recipes in um in the course throughout. I mean, everything from if you decide you're dairy-free or gluten-free, or you know, you want to do the Mediterranean diet, there's anything that you can think of, it's in there with even appropriate swaps for people that can't tolerate certain foods.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

So now, if someone that's listening is newly diagnosed, what is the one thing that they should focus on first?

SPEAKER_00 34:25

One thing to focus first. Um honestly, like just try to stay positive. Like it is a scary process and it it's a hold on tight, right? And there's lots of decisions that need to be made, and and so much of this is mental. I mean, I can tell you over and over again, if you can stay as positive as possible mentally, then that helps your body fight what needs to be fought. Um, but if there's one thing, whether they're diagnosed or it's somebody that just, you know, is out there listening that is worried about cancer or any other chronic diseases, honestly drink half of your body weight in water in ounces. So half of your body weight in ounces of water every single day. We don't do enough to hydrate our body with actually clean water. And so much of our body's functioning, whether we're talking about cancer, whether we're talking about our GI system, our brain health, you know, being able to think all of it has to do with clean water. So I have charcoal filters, you know, charcoal filter systems. You can do Berkey or Boro in my house. They sit on the counter. That's what I give my dogs, that's what I cook with, you know. Um, but half of your, I always tell people, I'm like, get some sort of a, you know, container, and then you know how much you drink, you know. I I need to drink X number of these a day. Um but I that is like a health foundation that people just forget about. It goes by the wayside, and people tell me that they have headaches or constipated constipation, and I'm like, how much water did you drink today? And they're like, I don't know, maybe a bottle of water.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

So water. Great advice. Well, Heather, thank you so much for joining us today. We appreciate having you on the uh on the show, and I look forward to future collaborations. Now, before we, you know, before we head off, how can people reach out to you? How can uh those that are interested in taking your training, what what do they need, you know, need to talk to you?

SPEAKER_00 36:36

Yeah, so my website is just holistichealthmama, m-o-m-m-a dot com. Um, you can find everything on the website. I'm also on TikTok and Instagram and Facebook. Um, so any way that they want to reach out to me, um, if they choose that they want to go through the course, you know, I I want to do something special for all the veterans, and we talked about that. Um, so that that will play out. But if you are just seeing this and you just go to holistic health mama.com, then you'll find everything about the course. And it's called Rooted Resilience.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

Thank you so much, Heather, for joining us. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure.