Navigate Your Cancer Treatment With An Integrative Approach

Antonio Jimenez, MD, ND

Thank you, Michael. Anytime, we could do anything together. It is such a blessing and my honor. Thank you for having me.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Well, it is always such a joy. You always bring such positive healing energy. Just you walking into a room. Yes. You feel better. I can see how you do well in this field. But you did not start there. You started as a traditional medical doctor. Why did you move into this space? What took you there?

Antonio Jimenez, MD, ND

Thank you. Well, there are two parts to the answer to that question. What is one of God’s plans for me? I thought I had my plan, and I thought I was going to be a surgeon. I was going to study at Oxford Medical School, where I got accepted, but God shifted everything. I ended up going to a very prestigious university in Latin America, which has been one of the hearts of Mexico. That is where I got my medical degree, and I was trained as a surgeon. Here I am on my path. Then my dad, who lived in Texas at the time, was diagnosed with pretty advanced prostate cancer. He was young. He was in his early sixties. 

Again, that shifted my focus. My dad said, Son, please help me, so I did. Fortunately, he lived to be 83 and passed away from heart disease. He was cured of prostate cancer. From then on, I was just following what the Lord’s plan was for me and my life because I had a prophecy. My church is in Pasadena, Texas, which is on the outskirts of Houston, and the Lord just directed me into having a center where, as the words that were prophesied to me, you will have a center outside of the U.S. where many will come from healing. You will travel the world. You will treat all types of people from all socioeconomic classes. This is going to be a healing center. Yes, when the Lord speaks and prophesies as were used so powerfully, I just become an obedient servant. and the rest is history, as they say.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

That is the thing: when we, as healers, get out of God’s way, meaning that we just allow him to work through us instead of trying to interfere with our intentions and thinking that this is how things should be done, we are open to allowing him to do his amazing healing work. You are truly doing that. I am so thankful for that.

Antonio Jimenez, MD, ND

Thank you, Michael. It has been such a pleasure. As you said, any time I walk in to see a patient, the first thing we have to do is communicate well with the patient. They must trust us. They must feel the love and the caring. We need to learn how to listen to the patient, not do a five-minute consult. I have succumbed to those five-minute consultations as a patient when I go to, and get seconds with, the cardiologist. It is a different dimension of healing that you are talking about and that you do, as well as being there for the patient and feeling that they are safe. There is hope, and that is so important. That’s the biggest part of the healing process.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

When a person is dealing with cancer, there are some core components—core things—that are important to address and look at on their healing journey. In your mind, what are those core aspects? I know that they are beautifully outlined in your book as well. But for people to gain a grasp of what that is,

Antonio Jimenez, MD, ND

We’ll break that up into two parts. Also, as you said in my book, For Cancer: Seven Principles to Remove Fear and Empower Your Hearing Journey, those three key principles are nontoxic cancer therapies. 70% of our patients come from all over the world and have already had conventional therapy: chemo, radiation, surgery, and immunotherapy. So providing nontoxic, science-based cancer therapy is the key. They are restoring their immune system. That is the second key principle, oxygenation, because we know cancer cells thrive in low oxygen in the gut microbiome. But it is also the microbiome everywhere, or the dental oral microbiome, or the skin microbiome. Now, for example, maybe it is a little change in subject, but we know that there is a brain-spleen connection. 

Our thoughts are connected to our immune systems. That is where the principle of immune modulation stimulation is so important in nutrition. There are some key nutritional components that we teach our patients in detoxification. It starts again with detoxing our thoughts and our negative emotions. I always say that negative thoughts can kill you faster than a bad germ. It is so important. Then, of course, the last key principle, which I think is the most important, is the subject of my next book coming out in late 2023 on emotions and cancer, it is an emotional and spiritual component of cancer.

 These are what we call the seven key principles, Michael. But in addition to that, in the last couple of years and hopefully cancer, we have developed what we call the 11 integrative hallmarks of cancer because, in the early 2000s, there was a group out of Boston College at MIT and Stanford that they would develop what are called the 14 biological characteristics of cancer: inflammation, blood vessel formation of cancer cells, being able to evade the immune system, and so forth. There are 14 of them. Those are more biological, and the 11 integrative hallmarks treat more of the holistic aspect of healing the body, mind, and spirit. If I could say very quickly, the 11 integrative hallmarks are broken down into four categories. One is stomach dysregulation, which is the dysregulation of the metabolism, energetic coherence, and compromised immune system. The second category is, again, emotional and spiritual imbalances. This has to do with chronic stress.

We hear that all the time, health stresses of the emotional terrain, the weakness of the spirit at one point, and that weakness of the spirit. These are things embracing sin, inability to forgive, excessive self-pride, and low self-esteem—all these things that affect the spirit and therefore affect the development, progression, and metastasis of cancer and any other disease for that matter. Because, Michael, in medicine, it is more about managing disease than getting rid of it. We have to shift that thought and the work you do to the work we do. Another colleague says it is not about managing; it is about bringing the body back to balance and homeostasis. It starts first in the emotional and spiritual aspects and then downregulates the body. We heal from a downward position with the spirit, the mind, and then the body. To finish with the four main categories of the 11 integrative hallmarks, there are habits and behaviors, and that talks about physical activity. 

I was reading before the poll that the American Institute of Cancer Research wrote that eating right, staying active, and maintaining a healthy weight will decrease the risk of cancer by 30 to 40%. That is part of the fourth category. Habits and behaviors are physical activities. The second one is nutritional imbalances and addictions that we have to correct. The third part of that category is sleep. How important is that? I know approximately 25 million Americans have sleep apnea. How many millions more have inadequate sleep? That is, when our body heals, regenerates, and repairs, typically between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. That is the time, ideally, that we should be asleep so that the body can repair itself, heal itself, and get ready for another beautiful day. I got to governance.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yes. That is, when we secrete more of the growth hormone melatonin, which is crucial for our tissue regeneration, detoxification of the brain is one of the most powerful antioxidants that we have. I would go back to forgiveness. I would love for you to talk a little bit more in regards to how important forgiveness is regarding cancer because I have seen a strong correlation between holding on to two old toxic hurts and the need and inability to heal. After all, you are doing it. By releasing that, we can see how the immune system responds and how the body heals, and we can resolve some of the most serious issues.

Antonio Jimenez, MD, ND

Yes, and I have segway to the answer to that question are my thoughts about that question of what I call the viewers to think about this and meditate on this, pray about this, about forgiveness. I say you will know you have forgiven someone when you see them and you no longer have an emotional reaction. Because then, God is truly forgiving. Forgiving and forgetting are two different things. We can forget about something, but we have not forgiven that person or even forgiven ourselves, which often makes time more important because when we forgive ourselves, then we have more self-love. Self-love is so lacking nowadays in society. We need to hug ourselves. We need to hug our neighbors and our friends. We need to hug trees. Forgiveness is so crucial because when we have that unforgiveness, it secretes a different type of emotional field for the rest of the body. 

Maybe secreting an emotional feeling is not quite an adequate word. But I think it is understood. Because all emotions have energy. They have resonance, they have frequency, and they have vibration. Knowing that we are truly information feels like communicating with each other. We are communication pathways. Imagine if we had that unforgiveness. This is downstream for every cell, every tissue, and every organ in the body. So then cancer, chronic disease, even infections—what we are living now and in society with viruses and so forth—resonate at a low frequency, and unforgiveness resonates at a low frequency. It makes us more susceptible to cancer and any pathology.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yes, and I used to look upon cancer as a frozen energy in a way. Which is exactly that. Frozen with vibrate at a very low frequency, very slow. When you have that, you are not able to open up for that stream of love and then creation and an active immune system that is more effective and supports your health, your vitality, and your intention and connection to God. When you are holding on to some of that toxic energy.

Antonio Jimenez, MD, ND

I am sorry, if someone has a challenge with forgiving someone and they do not want to face that person face-to-face, ask for forgiveness, discuss, or maybe one step is to write a letter to that person, a letter that you do not necessarily have to give to that person, but a letter where you can express all the thoughts, feelings, and hurts of that unforgiveness or that trauma, whatever that other trauma. Fear; maybe you grew up in a household where you were not valued. Maybe you are an orphan. You may have had sexual abuse in the family. Any of those that lead to unforgiveness should write a letter, even if that person is deceased. This is a technique that we use a lot in our best program for behavior, emotional, and spiritual therapy at home for cancer. The person writes the letter. It could be a page; it could be 100 pages; it could be a book.

But express everything in that letter, and then take it to a place where you are comfortable, maybe the park, the lake, the woods, or your bedroom, wherever it is. Then read that letter out loud. Create your own space of comfort, safety, and love. Maybe you could put in a little relaxing music if you want to read that letter out loud. Once you have done that, get it out, rip it up, or burn it, and that is letting go. it, you claim it, and you dump it; you let it go. When you let it go and dump it, that is the resolution. That’s where forgiveness comes from. So another little, maybe simple, but very powerful technique that we could all do to help us let go of traumas and forgiveness, or lack thereof.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

I love it. Yes. It seems like a simple technique that is so powerful. People say that time heals all wounds. But when we look at cancer, it sometimes develops over a very long time. Even though you mentioned it, you may have forgotten about it, but you have not forgiven. So you may not remember events, or you may not be consciously aware of them, but energetically, you are still holding on to that unforgiveness, even though it may have happened 30 or 40 years ago. It is then important to look at that and address it. You say when you can look at it without any charge or emotion and feel at peace, and then you finally get to that point where you are forgiven.

Antonio Jimenez, MD, ND

Yes. Just a little thought there: Buried feelings never die. We have to bring them to consciousness and awareness, as you mentioned, and then let them go, because, as you say, they are buried there. They are crawling on you and affecting you on an unconscious level. A younger, famous philosopher and psychoanalyst said, What doesn’t come up? I believe the word doesn’t come up, and consciousness returns as destiny. We have to bring it to conscious awareness. That is freedom—the liberation of that toxic emotion.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

That is, for people to recognize the power of these tools you have quoted—exercise, nutrition, and keeping your weight down—that they have cut down on your risk of getting cancer by 30%. There is no medication out there that can outperform that. By bringing these types of tools into your life, you are drastically improving the outcome and your ability to succeed and live a long, healthy life. I am curious. I know you have gotten to the point where you follow a lot of statistics regarding traditional care and what they can perform concerning cancer. Then and your center, the integrative care, because people always question, saying, Well, that is not proven science. Well, we do not know if it works. It is really important then that we can show with hard numbers that, when we implement these types of therapies, this is what we are seeing. Can you tell me a little bit more about the statistics that you are seeing with integrative care?

Antonio Jimenez, MD, ND

Yes, this is a very important question, Michael, because, especially in holistic alternative integrative care, there are not that many centers in the world, I believe, that have statistics. We know the statistics from the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, and so forth. But what about what we do? Because we are clinicians and we are not trained in statistics, we are there helping patients where we cannot do double-blind placebo crossover studies. We can give a piece of the placebo. To that end, we realized several years ago, for cancer, that we needed to work on this area of statistics and data. We created what we call the Research and Educational Division of Hope for Cancer. 

We have a double sciences department, and what we have done in recent years is do three types of statistical analysis. One is five-year survival data, which is the cream of the crop. We did this for seven types of cancer, and we compared that to the National Cancer Institute data for five-year survival. We have to realize that when we compare our results or our data to them, it is not comparing apples to apples because we see patients who have failed conventional therapy—I said, about 70% of our patients.

We are starting behind in April if you will. Their data starts on day one, when the patient is diagnosed, and their data does not include stage 4 cancer patients. That being said, there are five-year survival data for seven types of cancer. It was all I was. I see it, but seeing it on paper in my or any team presenting this, I am Dr. Schubert, and can you double check because, for example, in pancreatic cancer, we know that the five-year survival rate is 2.5% and the hardest is in the low thirties (34, 35), which is amazing. Across the board, Michael, with colon cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lung cancer, we do very, very well with lung cancer. In summary, the statistics were at least 2 to 4 times better than the conventional NCI data. As I said, taken into account, these are more advanced cancer patients. 

We were proud of the number two and very important data point, which is quality of life. Quality of life because, of course, not all the patients are going to have the outcome that we designed for many factors. The previous treatments dealt with immune status, their emotional and toxic relationships, and so many other factors that come into play. They do not adhere to the nutrition plan. so many of them. We looked at quality of life. We looked at four parameters: quality of life, physical function, social function, and a few others. We saw that there was between 70 and 80% improvement in the quality of life, and that was within the first 3 to 4 weeks of coming total for cancer. That was beautiful because I always say that if I am to live another year or another 50 years, I want to live with the best quality of life. The third type of data or statistics that we have, Michael, is what we call a longitudinal study. I learned from a professor at Harvard that I happened to sit next to her on a flight from Atlanta to Boston. She said, I have heard about Hope4Cancer, but where are the statistics? Why do you not do a one-year longitudinal study? If you do prove that she said that your patients live three months longer, it is good to know.

I am three months longer. We did a one-year longitudinal study for several different cancers, and again, we were proud to see those results. We did three months, as she suggested. We did it for six months, nine months, and 12 months. The results were compelling in terms of survival. A longitudinal study is how many patients in a population—a random population of patients that we make statistically significant or a certain number based on that—need to be included to make us statistically significant—that lived three, six, nine, and 12 months. That does not mean they passed away after 12 months. That means that this is the end of the so-called longitudinal study. We have five-year survival data, quality of life data, and longitudinal study data, and we are very proud of what we are doing. It is a family. The work you do—the work we all do in integrative, holistic medicine—is a community. but to have this data is so powerful for all of us.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yes. I appreciate you taking that step toward quality of life. When you think of cancer therapies, the last thing you think of is quality of life. Because of the impact that a person going into chemotherapy or radiation has, you seldom talk about quality of life at that point because of tumor shrinkage. It is incredible to have a 70–80% increase in quality of life when undergoing cancer care. Yes, that is incredible.

Antonio Jimenez, MD, ND

Having praise and worship, hugging the patients. Oftentimes, we have medical professionals that visit our center, and then, rarely, in my out-of-place cancer patients are smiling and laughing. I want to tell a quick story from the other day, a few weeks ago, at our center, where we have praise and worship every morning to start the day. But everyone started to dance. The patients, the staff, and the companions started to dance at the end of the praise and worship because the music was still going on. Then a couple of the ladies started crying, and we went up to her and said, What are you feeling? She said This is the first time in our lives that I danced with my husband. Thank you. 

It was, wow, she never had the physical health. These are the events and things that bring healing to a higher level. As you said, America is not about the vitamin C drip and the coffee enema and the human ivory and the hyperbaric and the hypothermia, and all that is very important on the physical level. But what are we doing collectively on an emotional, mental, and spiritual level? That is where the healing takes off. then instead of seeing healing happening, I am in the room longitudinally. It is more of a quantum healing or increases exponentially. It is beautiful to see the results.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

I think none of us have figured out the cure for cancer. That is a journey that we are all on and that we try to understand. That is why, with your books and the work that you do, you have become so important. But I think in that journey if we can then work on healing the soul at the same time, and what tremendous work we are doing, if that is the case, increasing their connection with God, increasing their connection with their loved ones, letting go of toxic emotions, and then just supporting the body and the individual at all these levels, yes, you can do it from the perspective that this is to improve healing, support the body, and clear out cancer. But also, looking at it from an internal perspective, how important is it to be able to have these services?

Antonio Jimenez, MD, ND

A quick story about that: a few years ago, in our Tijuana treatment center, the doctor said that my patient wanted to speak to you. I said, Okay, please bring me the chart so I can reduce the medical situation. He said, No, he doesn’t want to speak to you about anything medical. Okay. I went to the room, and I saw the patient, a tall guy, six feet, and he just started crying. He is a doctor. Thank you. I have been healed. But I thought, as a doctor, the medical doctor, he was not here because he was white. I said, Well, how have you been, him? He said I heard God speak to me.

He said, I love you. Why was that important to this patient? Because he had been in the central lifestyle for years, he thought that his Heavenly Father had abandoned him and did not love him anymore. When he heard those words, I love you, he realized, No, I am love; I am worthy; my heavenly Father loves me. As you said, Michael, now I have eternal life. For him, he was healed, and he told me, It does not matter what happens to my cancer anymore. That’s it. We are working on that. We hugged each other, and he went on and did great for many, many years. That was the key.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yes, I love that. Do you mind sharing a couple of stories of some patients that stuck out to you? Yes, you mentioned that the dad and the Cancer Institute do not include stage four cancer. Still, they had poor results. Can you share some stories? Yes, I am proud. a couple of people that stick out to you so people can understand how powerful this type of medicine is.

Antonio Jimenez, MD, ND

They can understand how powerful this medicine is and know that no matter what your situation is or what your intelligence has told you, you can heal. An example of that is our patient, who is from Australia. Her name is Kate. She came to us as a young girl in her early forties, and she had a three-year-old daughter. The husband abandoned her suddenly, and he went to the streets. He did not even know. He just left her and her daughter there. Shortly thereafter, she developed a lung tumor, and it was a non-small cell lung cancer. They biopsied it, and they looked at the rest of the body. She had metastases to the liver and 70% of her bones. So they said, We expect 3 to 6 months, maybe six months. They gave her palliative radiation for the lung tumor, but that did not do anything. She decided to come forward with cancer. Kate is now in her fourth year of being cancer-free. 

The turning point for Kate was to fight for herself—a fight for her daughter to forgive her husband, who had abandoned her. They found him on the streets later. He was a drug addict, but that relationship never came back together. then to be committed to the treatment program for cancer. She kept coming back for a follow-up. I remember Michael, that, one follow-up, and returning home. We were at the beach together on a Sunday with my wife, her, and a few other people. She said, Dr. Tony, I will race you. I am. Well, you will still have some bone metastases, because by this time the liver was clear, the lung was clear, and the immune system had treatable bone lesions. She said, No, I feel great. “I said, Well, okay, I would, but I do not want you to beat me.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

I thought.

Antonio Jimenez, MD, ND

I would take it down. But the point is that her attitude, her strength, and her commitment to therapy for stage four lung cancer with metastases to the liver have been removed by 70%. To this day, she has cancer. For years, she has been a big influencer and encourager for other patients who have come to her for cancer and have gone to other centers around the world. That is a really powerful story. Her daughter is now eight years old. She was three when she came to us. Kate is cancer-free and still taking care of herself. This is important, as I hope to continue on the path of wellness. Embracing those seven key principles. Another quick story I want to tell you is that a patient is named, and she is from the Long Beach, California, area. She had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. They went in. They did the Whipple procedure, which is one of the most aggressive surgeries possible. They remove the pancreas, part of the liver, the gallbladder, part of the small intestine, and lymph nodes. It is a devastating surgery. So they say you are good to go. We got it on. We did the Whipple. 

Three months later, she started having abdominal pain, and she went back to Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, a pretty famous hospital in that area. They said, No, you are good. We just had the surgery three or four months ago. You’re good.  She insisted because the pain was there, and she said this was not normal. Finally, they did another CAT scan, and they found a recurrent tumor in that surgical bed, in that area where the pancreas was. then they found liver metastasis. At that time, they told her, We could try chemo, but it was probably not going to do anything. So she researched her, and her daughter told her they ended up coming to her for cancer, and that was over ten years ago, and she is cancer-free. 

She had been cancer-free, and let me tell you that I believe that her healing force was from a spiritual perspective and then from a physical perspective. Why do I say that? She is a Bible scholar. Because she is Jewish. She teaches the Bible from a Jewish perspective and also from a Christian perspective. She has written books. That gave her so much strength. Her faith. I must say, and I tell this to her, that you were not the most compliant patient I have had. Because of her diet. Yes, she did it. Maybe 70%, I think. But her faith, spiritual strength, and her emotional strength were, I believe, the turning points for her. It has been over ten years—maybe 12 or 13 years now. It cancer-free. 

Those are two very aggressive cancers: lung cancer, metastatic to the liver bone, and then recurrent pancreatic cancer after a Whipple procedure with metastases to the liver, and I give those stories, Michael, as we said earlier, so that, as you listeners or viewers knows, that no matter what type of cancer you have, these aggressive cancers know and believe that knowing is the most important thing. Believing is sometimes there is some margin of disbelief, but when, no, you can heal. Those are two examples. Of course, there are many more. But those are the ones I give them; they are aggressive blood cancers.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Those are powerful stories. I agree with you. People need to recognize that medical doctors and medical colleges say they are not gods. They do not know the time when the person is to leave, and they come from the point where the only intervention is the medical type of intervention, and if you then bring in integrative therapies where you bring in the spirit, you bring in belief, you bring in self-empowerment, forgiveness, and nutrition, you bring in all these other things, you operate outside of the paradigm of a medical oncologist, and the rules change and become different than these. You only have three months left to live, or six months left to live. As you mentioned in your first example, it is important to understand that cancer is a chronic disease in a way, meaning that if you do not continue with the pattern that you have established for healing, you are then setting yourself up again for reoccurrence. So it is important to continue with the commitment that you have made. It is not just about getting rid of the cancer. It is about continuing to live that life of healing.

Antonio Jimenez, MD, ND

Michael. That lifestyle.  Remember that it is all about balance? It is all about bioregulation and medicine. We call it homeostasis, although I do not use that word that much. I prefer balance and equilibrium regulation because when we get out of balance, we are more susceptible to disease and cancer. Following the lifestyle choices that you are now making in your healing journey, this is for all of us because, unfortunately, as we know, cancer is increasing. incidence in the state of Texas, where I live. This is where we have most patients, so cancer, is rare, but with the incidence of cancer, it is about 469 people per 100,000 population. 

Imagine that, and this is in most states in the U.S., especially in rural communities where maybe access to healthy food is not as easy and there are other stress factors and so forth. But we have to be proactive and happy about your educational summit and your work, Michael, because now is the time. We cannot wait to see if one develops cancer. It is now that we need to work at this, all of us, to change our lifestyle and embrace holistic healing. Go to your integrative, functional, and nutritional practitioners for prevention. That’s the name of the game. If you have cancer, seek out people—us and others, Michael—that are a whole integrative, whole body experience. This is where the healing comes in. I am sorry. Just all. To be proactive, we need not be part of those statistics.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Love it. Well, Dr. Tony, it is always such an honor and pleasure to chat with you and your family. Yes. I appreciate you taking this time. Thank you so much.

Antonio Jimenez, MD, ND

Thank you.