Fighting Cancer through Alternative Therapies with Tonya Kay
Apr 27, 2022
Watch Episode 175 with Tonya Kay:
Our guest today is an actor, dancer, film-maker, and director, activist, and so much more. Tonya Kay is a brilliant and vibrant artist whose rebel personality and compassion easily shines through her work.
Today on the podcast we get to sit down with Tonya to learn what makes her tick. When dancing burlesque, acting in popular films, or talking about her raw vegan lifestyle, it is clear to see that Tonya is a dedicated and authentic leader. Today we have the honor of discussing her roots and learning about her passion for the arts at a young age. We also talk about what drove a girl from a small town, who had an experience in her family’s slaughterhouse, to living a vegan lifestyle and spreading the message.
Tonya gets intimate with us and shares what it was like receiving a cancer diagnosis during the pandemic, and goes even deeper to talk about what that experience was like as a health-conscious raw vegan. Tonya is breaking the rules and paving her own path, fueled by her huge heart and incredibly artistic spirit. Let’s learn all about Tonya!
Listen to Episode 175 with Tonya Kay:
[Tweet “Just like a spiritual journey, the alternative medicine path is about the journey. Just the path of seeking has been helpful. That is the journey – the seeking is the journey for me.”– Tonya Kay]
What we discuss in this episode:
How Dotsie’s 22-day wine challenge is going
How Alexandra is working with her cholesterol challenges
Why Tonya Kay decided not to go to college, despite being her class valedictorian
What different US cities taught Tonya about theatre, arts, and life
What Tonya’s experience was like growing up in a small-town community and working in a slaughterhouse
Why she ended up going raw vegan and how that intertwined with her mental health and relationships
How Tonya reworked her relationship with “mental illness”
What it was like to get a cancer diagnosis during the first quarantine of the pandemic
What trying alternative cancer-fighting practices are like and what the options are
What it was like receiving a cancer diagnosis as a raw vegan and how the community reacted to this news
A plant-based diet has so many health benefits: reduced inflammation, a stronger immune system, and improved gut health, just to name a few. But can plant-based eating also have an impact on addiction and recovery? Could it prevent relapses and increase your resilience to cope with life? These are the questions that today’s guests, Dr. Tara Kemp and Adam Sud, set out to answer in The INFINITE Study, which researches if there are any benefits to plant-based eating in addiction recovery.
On a summer morning in 2001, today’s guest, Michael O’Brien, had what he refers to as his last bad day. While out on a morning bike ride, an SUV traveling at 40 mph crossed into his lane and struck him head-on, forever altering his life as he knew it. Doctors were shocked that he survived and told him that he’d likely never ride again or even walk with comfort. Yet, in 2022, Michael completed a 41-day, 3,600-mile bike ride across the United States, proving all of them wrong.
Today’s guests are on a mission to empower patients and accelerate change in the way medicine is practiced. They are husband and wife practitioners of functional and integrative medicine and experienced huge improvements in their own health by switching to a whole-food, plant-based diet. Dr. Micah Yu is an integrative rheumatologist and he has a unique perspective as both a physician and a patient because he was diagnosed with gout—a form of inflammatory arthritis that’s extremely painful—at the age of 17. Dr. Melissa Mondala is a triple specialist in family medicine, lifestyle medicine, and primary care psychiatry. She’s one of the first and youngest nationally recognized lifestyle medicine fellows and has devoted decades of volunteer work in underserved communities throughout the world.
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