103. Why Joy Belongs in Your Healing Plan: What Just 5 Minutes a Day Can Do

104. Feel It to Heal It: What to Do With Fear, Anger, and Grief

When you're facing a serious illness, the pressure to "stay positive" can become one more thing to worry about. You may already be frightened about your diagnosis, angry about what has happened, or grieving everything illness has changed, only to wonder whether feeling those emotions could somehow interfere with your recovery. But healing emotionally does not require you to be happy all the time. In this episode of Renegade Remission, we explore the important difference between feeling a difficult emotion, suppressing it, and becoming stuck in it, and what research suggests may happen inside the body when emotions are continually pushed down rather than allowed to move through us. You'll also hear the remarkable remission story of Di Foster, who was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer after her cancer spread extensively to both lungs and was told she had approximately 12 months to live. Di came to believe that genuine positivity wasn't about avoiding fear, anger, or sadness at all. It was about becoming willing to face those emotions honestly so she could continue living fully alongside them. In this episode, you'll discover: * Why you do not have to stay positive every moment in order to support healing * The difference between emotional suppression and healthy emotional regulation * What happens physiologically when we try to hide or contain difficult emotions * What studies involving trauma, immune function, cancer, and chronic illness have found about emotional expression and acceptance * Why processing an emotion is different from repeatedly ruminating on it * How to recognize when reflection has stopped helping and started keeping your body stuck in the same stress response * A practical process for safely making room for fear, anger, sadness, and grief and then allowing yourself to move forward Listen now to learn how to tend the whole emotional garden, giving the weeds the attention they need without forgetting to make room for the flowers. Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes: https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com [https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com] Disclaimer This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not offer medical advice. Consult your licensed healthcare provider before making any changes to your treatment or health regimen. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk. This podcast explores stories and science around ALS, dementia, MS, cancer, mind body recovery, healing, functional medicine, heart disease, regression, remission, integrative medicine, autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, terminal disease, terminal illness, holistic health, quality of life, alternative medicine, natural healing, lifestyle medicine, and remission from cancer, offering hope and insights for those seeking resilience and renewal.

103. Why Joy Belongs in Your Healing Plan: What Just 5 Minutes a Day Can Do

What if just five minutes of genuine joy each day could change what is happening inside your body while you heal? When you're facing a serious or chronic illness, being told to "stay positive" can feel dismissive—or downright impossible. But making room for positive emotion isn't the same as pretending everything is okay. You can be frightened, angry, grieving, or uncertain and still give your body moments of laughter, gratitude, beauty, connection, and joy. In this episode of Renegade Remission, we explore what science tells us about the physical effects of positive emotion—and why joy may deserve an intentional place in your healing plan. You'll hear the story of Christy Cromwell, who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and began deliberately practicing joy while living with the uncertainty of her diagnosis. Rather than waiting until she was well to give herself permission to be happy, she brought laughter, photography, gratitude, and meaningful experiences back into her life while the tumor was still there. We'll also explore research into the "undoing effect" of positive emotions, cortisol and inflammation, laughter and immune activity, gratitude, sleep, and cardiovascular recovery from stress. In this episode, you'll discover: * Why positive emotions can help your body recover after periods of stress * What joy and laughter may do to your nervous, cardiovascular, hormonal, and immune systems * Why practicing joy does not mean suppressing fear, sadness, anger, or grief * How gratitude can retrain a brain that has become consumed with scanning for danger * Why laughter may be more biologically meaningful than we give it credit for * How to create your own "joy list" and "joy squad" * A simple five-minute daily practice for bringing positive emotion back into your life—even when you're sick, exhausted, or frightened Most importantly, you'll learn why you don't have to wait for treatment to end, remission to arrive, or life to become easier before allowing yourself to experience some of the life you're fighting so hard to preserve. Listen now to discover why joy isn't frivolous during serious illness—and how small moments of positive emotion can become part of the environment you're creating for healing. Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes: https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com [https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com] Disclaimer This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not offer medical advice. Consult your licensed healthcare provider before making any changes to your treatment or health regimen. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk. This podcast explores stories and science around ALS, dementia, MS, cancer, mind body recovery, healing, functional medicine, heart disease, regression, remission, integrative medicine, autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, terminal disease, terminal illness, holistic health, quality of life, alternative medicine, natural healing, lifestyle medicine, and remission from cancer, offering hope and insights for those seeking resilience and renewal.

102. A 5-Minute Forgiveness Meditation to Release Past Hurts and Heal

Can just five minutes a day help you begin releasing anger, resentment, and emotional pain you've carried for years? In this guided meditation from Renegade Remission, you'll practice a simple forgiveness visualization inspired by the Hawaiian tradition of hoʻoponopono, designed to help you gently release old hurts without excusing what happened or reconnecting with those who caused the pain. Using a calming boat visualization and a simple four-line prayer, this meditation helps you loosen the emotional tether that keeps your nervous system tied to past wounds so you can move forward with greater peace, freedom, and hope. Whether you're working toward forgiving someone else or learning to forgive yourself, this short practice can become part of your daily healing routine. In this episode you'll experience: * A calming guided meditation you can return to again and again * A simple visualization for releasing anger, resentment, and emotional pain * The healing Ho'oponopono-inspired forgiveness prayer * A gentle practice for forgiving yourself or someone who has hurt you * A peaceful way to help your mind and body move forward For the science behind forgiveness and how chronic resentment may affect the nervous system, immune function, and healing, be sure to listen to the previous episode, Can Forgiveness Help Your Body Heal? Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes: https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com [https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com] Disclaimer This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not offer medical advice. Consult your licensed healthcare provider before making any changes to your treatment or health regimen. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk. This podcast explores stories and science around ALS, dementia, MS, cancer, mind body recovery, healing, functional medicine, heart disease, regression, remission, integrative medicine, autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, terminal disease, terminal illness, holistic health, quality of life, alternative medicine, natural healing, lifestyle medicine, and remission from cancer, offering hope and insights for those seeking resilience and renewal.

101. Can Forgiveness Help Your Body Heal? What Releasing Old Hurts Does to Recovery

What if an old hurt can continue triggering a physical stress response long after the actual danger has passed? In this episode of Renegade Remission, we explore what happens when anger, resentment, and painful memories are repeatedly relived in the body—and whether forgiveness can help create a different internal environment for healing. You’ll hear the extraordinary story of Evy McDonald, who was diagnosed with ALS at 29 and given approximately one year to live. As her condition worsened, Evy began examining years of anger, resentment, self-criticism, and unresolved hurt. She committed herself to what she called “total forgiveness,” alongside changes in nutrition, faith, service, and the way she approached the life she still had. Her decline eventually stopped, her strength returned, and according to her account, her ALS symptoms never came back. We also look at research examining what happens physiologically when people mentally revisit an injury with anger versus forgiveness, including measurable differences in heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, autonomic activity, emotional distress, and even some markers of immune function. In this episode, you’ll discover: * What forgiveness actually means—and why it does not require forgetting, excusing harm, reconciling, or abandoning boundaries * How repeatedly reliving anger and resentment can reactivate the body’s stress response * What studies involving serious illness have found when forgiveness is intentionally practiced * Why forgiveness may support sleep, emotional well-being, cardiovascular regulation, and a calmer internal state * A simple process for beginning to release resentment, even when part of you is not ready to forgive yet Listen now to understand why forgiveness is not about letting another person off the hook, but about freeing your own body from continuously reliving the injury. Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes: https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com [https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com] Disclaimer This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not offer medical advice. Consult your licensed healthcare provider before making any changes to your treatment or health regimen. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk. This podcast explores stories and science around ALS, dementia, MS, cancer, mind body recovery, healing, functional medicine, heart disease, regression, remission, integrative medicine, autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, terminal disease, terminal illness, holistic health, quality of life, alternative medicine, natural healing, lifestyle medicine, and remission from cancer, offering hope and insights for those seeking resilience and renewal.

100. The Mindset Shift That Helps You Keep Fighting When The Odds Are Against You

What do you do when the prognosis is devastating, the obstacles keep multiplying, and part of you is beginning to wonder whether there is any point in trying? In this 100th episode of Renegade Remission, we explore the decision to keep moving toward life even when you cannot control the outcome. For such a monumental episode milestone, I decided to do something a little different, drawing lessons from the survival film The Edge. I combine this analysis with the Radical Remission story of Glam, a woman diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer and given approximately six months to live, and examine both stories to determine what changes when someone stops waiting for the worst and begins actively looking for a way forward. Glam’s determination did not make her cancer disappear on its own. It led her to seek multiple medical opinions, find doctors willing to approach her case differently, endure and adapt to difficult treatment, and support her body through nutrition, movement, meditation, yoga, and faith. Her story illustrates why mindset is not a substitute for action, but can become the force that makes action possible. In this episode, you’ll understand: * Why the decision to keep going matters even when you cannot guarantee the result * How helplessness, shame, and discouraging medical experiences can cause people to stop looking for options * What research on active coping and patient participation may reveal about resilience and survival * How to identify the specific fear or obstacle currently controlling your decisions * Practical ways to choose one next step, build a survival team, and reconnect with the part of you that is not ready to give up Listen now to learn how to move from helplessness toward active participation and choose one action that carries you toward life today. Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes: https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com [https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com] Disclaimer This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not offer medical advice. Consult your licensed healthcare provider before making any changes to your treatment or health regimen. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk. This podcast explores stories and science around ALS, dementia, MS, cancer, mind body recovery, healing, functional medicine, heart disease, regression, remission, integrative medicine, autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, terminal disease, terminal illness, holistic health, quality of life, alternative medicine, natural healing, lifestyle medicine, and remission from cancer, offering hope and insights for those seeking resilience and renewal.