The FWD Think Tank

You may already know that mushrooms hold incredible benefits to your health, but did you know the quality of how they grow matters? Meet Baris Sonmez, the owner and Founder of LIfeCap Farms, a mushroom farm in Jersey City. Baris started LifeCap in 2018 with a mission to connect the community through food, and give back to those in need. Baris and his team hold the HIGHEST standards for their mushr...

When you receive a cancer diagnosis, the whole world as you knew it gets turned upside down. There are numerous lessons learns, heartbreaks, moments of weakness and strength and confusion and all the emotions in between. In this episode, I discuss the Top 10 most important life lessons I've learned after receiving this diagnosis. Topics include the importance of trusting your gut with decision...

Healing from surgery is anything but linear. There is both a physical and a mental/emotional aspect to it all, and through it I have had SEVERAL lessons including humility, practicing patience, and listening to my body in the moment to give it what it needs. While everyone heals different from a surgery, I wanted to share my recovery process in hopes it might help someone who needs it. In this epi...

When you receive a cancer diagnosis, it is truly one of the most life altering things that can happen to a person. It rocks your world, leaves you confused and if you're fortunate enough- allows you to reflect on life as you knew it and make some major changes so that YOU can create a life that supports your health. When I first got diagnosed with a thymoma, I was SO BLESSED to find Kali Moyni...

Recovering from thoracic & robotic surgery has been a MAJOR lesson in patience and releasing expectations, to say the least. In this episode, I dive into all of the things I have been doing (or not doing!) to help heal my body during recovery. I touch on topics including sleep hacks and habits to improve my sleep during recovery, how I changed my eating habits to support my healing and tissue...

Have you ever wondered if light can treat tumor cells? What about plant medicine? This week, I bring Dr. Leonard Kaplan to the Think Tank, an incredibly skilled and talented Terrain Doctor I had the privilege of working with on my healing journey. Dr. Kaplan is the founder of OWM Integrative Wellness in Buffalo, NY offering cutting edge treatment for cancer care, pain management, regenerative and...

When it comes to metabolic cancer care, mistletoe therapy is widely used in places like Europe to improve immunity and enhance the cancer healing journey. I am joined this week by Rebecca LaMarca, Functional Medicine Nurse Practitioner and the owner of IV Elements- a functional medicine clinic in New Jersey that provides IV medicine drips and alternative medicine services. Rebecca is trained under...

When I received my cancer diagnosis, I knew it was likely I would need surgical intervention. After interviewing multiple surgeons and being filled with fear over the outcome, I was BLESSED to find Dr. Robert J. Cerfolio, the Head of Clinical Thoracic Surgey at NYU Langone Hospital in NYC. This man is TRULY incredible, and you'll see why he is one of my favorite humans. This man not only champ...

Kicking off Season 2 of the podcast, I share how I prepared myself for major surgery to remove my thymic tumor on a mental, physical and emotional level. This surgery, while very involved and something that had the ability to completely change my life for better or worse, was something I had been mentally preparing for for OVER a year. In this episode, I discuss the journey of finding my beloved s...

Curious about how to support your cancer diagnosis with metabolic therapies? Heard about high dose vitamin C, mistletoe and hyperbaric chambers, but don't know where to start or why they're beneficial? This episode is for you. This week, I sit down with my Integrative Oncologist, Dr. Janet Maendel and pick her brain all about integrative therapies for healing cancer. I have worked with Dr....

Want to become UNBREAKABLE? What if I told you it IS POSSIBLE to COMPLETELY HEAL from a chronic condition like c@ncer? And what if I told you the strongest tools in your toolkit are NOT the drugs or the surgery; it's instead the power that lies within: strength training, mental fitness and the grit to NOT QUIT on yourself? Let me introduce you to quite honestly one of the most influential women I...

We all know fiber is important, but did you know the MAJOR effects it can have on your gut microbiome, cognitive function and heart health if you don't consume it? Meet Michelle Berckes, one of my besties, Natural Food Chef, Dietetic Nutritionist and Founder of Busy Bee Organics. Michelle dives DEEP into nutrition in this episode and the importance of fueling your body with the right foods. Michel...

Want a technology that can heal you from a CELLULAR level? The Energy Enhancement System has been one of the most enjoyable and fascinating tools I've used this year on my healing journey. It uses Scalar Wave technology to raise the vibration of every cell in your body, "tuning it up" in a way that promotes healing and reduces inflammation. And the best part? All you have to do is sit and enjoy! I...

Happy New Year's Eve, Friends! In this episide, I recap my year in review, highlighting the MANY blessings despite the challenges and setback that I was grateful enough to be surrounded with this year. Between the love and support of my family and best friends, my healing community of business owners here in Jersey City and access to their healing therapies and modalities, the connections I have m...

Looking to heal a cancer diagnosis or manage a chronic disease with a naturopathic approach? Maybe you've heard about the ketogenic diet and its benefits to managing cancer or a chronic illness, or perhaps you've thought about diving into fasting to help reduce your blood sugar or manage disease symptoms. In this episode, I dive deep into the theory of understanding cancer and chronic illness as a...

When you're on a healing journey, whether that's from a cancer diagnosis, autoimmune disease or another chronic health condition, it is NECESSARY to focus on finding your inner peace, and that means prioritizing your emotional healing, your spiritual healing, and finding ways to tap into your inner peace. Spiritual growth has been a journey for me over the last decade as I've dabbled in things lik...

Putting coffee up your bum to detox your liver, entering a Hyperbaric Oxygen chamber to increase oxygen to my cells, injecting mistletoe plant to help shrink tumor cells, using heat therapies to sweat out toxins and increase lymphatic drainage... these are just a few of the "WEIRD" things I have incorporated into my routine under the guidance of Naturopathic Oncologists this year to help heal my c...

When it comes to healing cancer, nutritional ketosis can have a BIG impact! While personalized nutrition for cancer patients can vary case by case, examining your diet is an important piece of the puzzle, as is metabolic health. Studies have shown cancer cells can NOT survive on ketones. In this episode, I dive into my experience with nutritional ketosis, tips for maintaining a keto diet while hea...

Want a better life? Start by asking yourself BETTER, EMPOWERING QUESTIONS. If you are struggling to make change in your life, feeling like you’re in a negative autopilot mindset, or find yourself feeling stuck in unsupportive patterns- this episode is for you!  Transformative thinking, self-development, and using the power of conscious thought, changing your state with movement and physiology, and...

Does hearing "So, what's the plan?" stress you out? Have a hard time saying "No" to events or people in your life while navigating a cancer diagnosis? This episode is for YOU! Setting emotional boundaries has been one of the biggest lessons on my healing journey. While they aren't easy, they are CRITICAL for your emotional wellbeing. A cancer diagnosis can stir up so many feelings for you and your...

This episode gets into the scary side effects of chemo on an autoimmune diagnosis of myasthenia gravis: something neither my Oncologist or I saw coming. I go into a bit of detail on why I took a hiatus from recording last week because the MG symptoms got to a point where it affected my breathing, which landed me in the hospital. I also dive into my mindset on the path forward, and why it's so impo...

In this episode, I sit with my conventional Oncologist, Dr. Ashish Saxena from New York Presbyterian in NYC for a conversation discussing the rare diagnosis of a thymic tumor, conventional chemotherapy medicine, navigating a diagnosis from a conventional chair, and more details about my specific (and unique) case. You'll learn that while this may not have been my first choice in the healing journe...

In honor of World Mental Health Day (which was a true coincidence and magical alignment of this episode drop) I am talking all about my own journey with mental health, a topic SO near and dear to me personally and professionally. People often ask me how I'm staying so mentally strong or positive in this situation and the truth is-it's not always easy. The foundation of my strong mentality has been...

In this episode, I have a very special first guest interview with my husband Nick. Here we share the journey of going into the ER leading up to our diagnosis, as well as discussing the mindset and things that help keep us grounded in times of uncertainty, like my husband's unwaivering faith and our belief in something bigger than ourselves that helps provide peace and calm amidst the storm. Thank...

In my second solo pod episode, I dive in deeper into some of the underlying things happening in both my health and my life over the last decade, connecting the dots with my current diagnosis. SO often I get asked what I think caused this. And while we may never know with 100% certainty, the work I have done over the last year with my naturopaths to assess my Metabolic Terrain and look under the su...