 This is Think Tech Hawaii, Community Matters here. Hello Hawaii, here I am, I'm Wendy Lo and I'm your dear friend as we journey to take your health back. We are coming to you live from downtown Honolulu from the studios of Think Tech Hawaii. Today our topic of discussion will be on a journey towards optimal health and healing. And that's something we all need to take time and learn about again, optimal health and healing. And that happens when we first of all realize it, acknowledge it and then we start directing ourselves in that direction. It is so, so clear for what we need for our bodies once you put it out there. And so we really want to know, let you know that when we embrace all the areas of our spirit, spiritual, our soul and our body that we can obtain this kind of optimal health. Today we are so honored to have a dear friend who's so passionate about health and her journey that she's created and she's a founder of the Health Journey Hawaii that was established for the purpose of providing health perspectives, options and general health principles for our spirit, soul and body. So I'd like to introduce to you Sheryl Toyofuku. Welcome. Aloha Wendy, thank you so much for having me. You're welcome. Thanks for making the time to be with us with your busy schedule. So Sheryl, just tell us a little bit about yourself. Well, Wendy, I love watching Think Tech Hawaii. All the positive things that you have on this program, very healthy and positive. So it kind of resounds with what I do. I'm a, mostly I'm a mom. I'm a grandmother. I'm a daughter, a sister of friends. I am also a registered nurse by trade, a former oncology certified nurse. I also was the founder. I'm the founder for Health Journey Hawaii. And formally as associate director for the foundation for East West Medicine. So I'm a health advocate, I guess you could say. I want people to be on a journey towards optimal health and healing in our spirit, in our soul, in our bodies. So that's basically my background. So you are a professional in the healthcare environment and then you have life experiences because you're a mom and a grandma. So you not only understand what you should do in the clinical environment, but you do and you practice that at home. Is that correct? Oh yeah. As a grandma, I have children from, grandchildren from ages 14, 6, 3 years old and a 1 year old. So you know, to try to keep them healthy and also my daughter and her husband. And I'm just so excited about trying to help them understand how it, what it takes to keep our bodies healthy. And it's not just our bodies, it's our spirit, it's our soul. Because fearfully and wonderfully we're created spirit, soul and body. That's correct. All areas need to be optimally healthy. So on your first slide, I know it has all your little credentials there. So I'd like to pop that up right now. And I just want to just ask you to share a little bit about all your relationships, your experiences, your affiliations that have equipped you for such a time as this. Well in nursing school at the UH Manoa campus, I loved going into nursing because I love helping people. But of course, we only learned one perspective. And my heart is to be able to see the different perspectives. After I graduated, then worked at Coakini Medical Center for a season. And then transferred to Polymomy when Polymomy Medical Center opened up. And at that time I started to think, you know, as a former oncology certified nurse, I started to wonder, there must be other ways to treat cancer. And then I started doing my research. Doing what the word says about health and healing. And see, then started to talk to naturopathic doctors, MDs, but also they had a complimentary view of health. So as I started to learn, I thought, my goodness, there's so much out there that I did not learn in nursing school. That really began my journey. And no fault to you. I understand a lot of students after they graduate from medical school. I don't care. You have medical school, Harvard, Yale, medical, that they don't get or they're not equipped with enough information about the value of fruits and vegetables or just the value of good nutrition according to better quality of health. Is that correct? Yes. So I just, I guess it's just understanding that area of the need to incorporate the whole person, spirit, soul and body, again cleansing our spirit, cleansing our soul, cleansing our bodies. Again, feeding it the right nutrients that the body needs, that our soul needs. So that's the general health principles that I usually share with family and friends. Yeah. And you know, I remember in one conversation that we had, this would be a really good visual for the audience. You were telling me that when you were collecting platelets from the blood samples, maybe just share that little story because that was so clear to me. What we eat is what we are. And so you clearly saw that when you were looking for samples. That made the change in my life. Exactly. Because as a nurse in the hospital, you know, you have donors come in because you have some patients that are on chemotherapy where the blood counts are low. So we ask donors to come in and they come in and we lay them down in a bed and then we're monitoring as we pull out blood from one arm, it goes into this plasmapheresis machine that separates the blood cells. And then the rest of, we take out the platelets which is what the patient needs and the rest of the blood goes back into the other arm. Sometimes a platelet bag would look nice and clear and yellow, but sometimes it would look sticky and gooey and very cloudy. And I would turn to the donor and I would say, well, what did you have for breakfast this morning? And they would say, oh, I had, you know, Portuguese sausage, eggs, the shake. And I could see it in the blood. And I start to think, okay, what does my blood look like? And that's when I started to make the changes. And each time I did that procedure with the donors, that's what happened. So that, I wanted you to share that with the audience because immediately that they had that quality of food, it affected the quality of their platelets. And so that's exactly the greatest visual I always keep in mind whenever I have choices to make. And now if I kept eating this apple, my best friend, my platelet bag would be clear and probably transparent translucent versus eating the other choice where you said it was cloudy and not of the best choice. Right? Well, it's a matter of going back to the garden and eating the phytonutrients and other nutrients that have been placed here on earth in its natural form to help this body to heal and to be optimally healthy. And like I said, the best, the fastest food ever. So this is your best food. Apple a day. Keeps the doctor away. And let food be thy medicine and let medicine be thy food. And so those are such profound statements that we heard as a kid. And as we grow up, we hear that so cliche. But you know what? If we just follow those simple rules, our quality of life could improve a lot. That's correct? That's right. Right? So on the next slide about health and healing with aloha. That I want you to share with us as a woman of faith living in Hawaii has this affected your personal world view in life and health choices that you have made for yourself and for others. It definitely has. You know, it's all about choices regarding your health, your life. And if it depends on your world view, how you see things, so it's going to depend on what you take in through reading and what you're watching, what you're learning and what you're actually believing. And so living here in Hawaii, we are so blessed because there's such a calling and destiny for Hawaii and we're called to live life abundantly. So if you think of aloha, aloh, face to face in his presence, ha, the breath of life. So when we were created, created from the dust to the ground, the earth, and then blew his breath of life into us and we became a living being. Man became a living being. So it's health and healing with aloha. Right. Right. And so no one knows. In fact, it was voted to be the healthiest state in the nation. And by looking at us, you would think we are the healthiest state because the sky is so blue. The air is so pure. The water is, again, different shades of blue and it's just gorgeous. But there are so many different health challenges that people don't see. And so just tell me some of the more obvious ones that are so apparent to the locals. Well, we're really facing a health care crisis, actually, in our country. Yes. Hawaii, if you think of the olden days, how healthily they ate the poi, the kalo, the bananas, the coconuts. But right now, we're seeing a tremendous amount of pharmaceuticals in our bodies. Our bodies are becoming polluted with all the food, some of the food we eat, the beverages we drink that makes us more acidic, just the electromagnetic frequencies that's all around us. So our bodies are becoming a little bit more toxic. So that's what's causing, I believe, the health care crisis. So what do we need to do is we need to look at some of the causes that are causing these health challenges and try to start to detoxify from some of these things. And there's ways to be able to do that, to detoxify. Again, it's not just our bodies, but there's strongholds in our minds, whether it's anger or unforgiveness, bitterness. Those need to be cleansed. That's toxic. So in our soul, those are some of the things that need to be cleansed. And then, of course, in the spirit, there's so much corruption and evil sometimes around us. So we need to really be strong spiritually in order to counter some of these things, these health challenges that we are facing in this hour. So I'm so excited that you're here and sharing your heart. And that's what it is. You're sharing your heart with the people that are listening, that there are so many issues and challenges on the outside. And I think the key, as well, is awareness and education. And so, yes, the audiences of Think Tech of Hawaii and with this show, as well, entitled Take Your Health Back, they're going to be privileged to hear how we can make a difference in our own world, in our own health, because we have only one body or one temple that we should steward it well. And some of us are not doing the best job, but by coming and listening to these types of shows and getting the information, the wealth of knowledge from people like you who want to share, I think that's pretty much one of the first steps. And then taking into action what they learn here on the station. So I'm so excited that you're here just sharing that. So on our next slide, it's entitled Health Consequences. Well, because of the health challenges, these are some of the consequences where polluted our bodies becoming more toxic. So what's happening is you see the increase the rise of heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, cancer, autism. And it seems to be that there is such, I guess, a perspective or a worldview that this is what we do. Go to the doctor, go to the hospital, get all the pharmaceutical medications. But that's my passion is to share that there are other options to the consequences that we're facing. Are we getting at the root cause of the diabetes or the cancer or the high blood pressure, whatever the condition might be? We need to get at the root cause and not just treat symptoms, but also try to find the solutions and deal with the root. Get rid of the root problem so that we can have the health and healing that we still long for. And we all on this journey myself too, I've gone through a journey to really try to cleanse my body and nourish it with the proper nutrients. I had to learn this after I graduated from nursing school. So it's not just gloom and doom, there's hope, right? Yes, definitely, there's too much hope. Okay, and that's why we're here. We're giving people hope as they take their health back, right? And so I'm so excited to hear that because sometimes you just, no, what are we gonna do now? Everything is so against us, whatever we breathe, eat, and whatever we do is so not in our favor. But you're here to give us some solutions, right? Okay, so on their next slide, it talks about some health solutions. And what we wanna share with all of you is that we need to take our health back. And that's why I chose that title for this, because we can take it back. Once we have the right tools, the tools of knowledge, the tools of health and finding out some solutions to the problem. But again, first, like you just did with us, explain to us the problem. And then we're gonna find a solution to what we're needing to solve. So what are some of the solutions that you may help us with on this journey to? Well, if you think of the challenges is that we've given, abdicated our responsibility for our health to someone else. Whether it's the doctors, nurses, hospitals, and all that. And then we wait till we get, we are sick. And then we start taking care of our health. And we've turned to the widespread use of pharmaceutical drugs and chemicals and we don't get at the root cause. So those are the challenges. But now we have the solutions. If you think about the causes, then what are the solutions? It's be proactive, take responsibility for your health. That's why I love ThinkTek Hawaii and what you're doing on your show. Let's take our health back. Right, and it's right there on the slide. I mean, you have sick care versus health care. And so what do you want? I mean, my ice box, my cupboard looks like the one on the right. I don't have anything on the left except olive oil. And I put actually coquina oil for my face and for remedies. I gargle with, if I do need to, I gargle with coconut oil to extract all the toxins out of my mouth. And so all these things, I already practice. So I'm like on track with you, girl. So health care reform begins with you. Because again, it's all about choices. And we need to take the responsibility and don't wait till we're sick to do something about it. And think that there is natural nutrients that have been put here for this body to heal. So again, that's the whole basic things about helping to take our health back. Right, and the whole key on that, like you just said, it's easier to maintain health and to fix us when we're broke. And so we're here to just give you some tools and some solutions to guide you towards that journey so that we can just enjoy life. And I always tell people as we age, okay? We can't do anything about numbers. I mean, I'm 60 years old, loving it and going full speed. But it's a choice I made because I want this quality of life. So I'm doing everything possible in my heart and mind to have that quality of life. And I want others and same for you, Cheryl. You're a grandma and you look fabulous and you look and you feel fabulous, but it doesn't just come, we're working at it, right? So we're gonna take a 60 second break right now and when you come back we'll share more about tips on how to look and look and feel as good as we do. So join us in 60 seconds. Mahalo. Mahalo. Aloha, my name is Mark Shklav. I am the host of Think Tech Hawaii's Law Across the Sea. Law Across the Sea is on Think Tech Hawaii every other Monday at 11 AM. Please join me where my guests talk about law topics and ideas and music and Hawaiiania all across the sea from Hawaii and back again. Aloha. Aloha and Mabuhay. My name is Amy Ortega Anderson, inviting you to join us every Tuesday here on Pinoy Power Hawaii with Think Tech Hawaii. We come to your home at 12 noon every Tuesday. We invite you to listen, watch for our mission of empowerment. We aim to enrich, enlighten, educate, entertain, and we hope to empower. Again, Maraming, Salamat Po, Mabuhay, and Aloha. Aloha and welcome back. Here we are at the Think Tech Studio, Hawaii with our dear friend Cheryl Toyafuku. In the first half, we just talked a little bit about gloom and doom, about the health crisis in Hawaii as well as the world. And so I was like, oh my gosh, what's going to happen to all of us? But there's hope. And so what we're going to learn more about is the solutions. And we've already dealt with some of the solutions. And she had a slide there showing us, what does your home look like? Is it a lot of greens and vegetables in your ice box? Or is there a lot of pills in your medicine chest? And so I attested that mine looks like the one on the right. And so it says, health care reform begins with you. And so if you want more of this information, just continue to stay tuned. And also share this video with others because there's hope at the end of that rainbow. There's a lot of hope, but we just have to take that step towards that direction. So on the next slide, we're going to be talking about health and healing options. And so there are so many health care options, mainstream medicine and alternatives. What do you do for your own health and what do you recommend for others? Well, thank you, Wendy. Well, every morning when I wake up, again, it's all about choices. I can choose to have this big donut and coffee or a shake or something. Or I can choose to have a healthy smoothie, a healthy shake. So that's why, again, it's all about choices. And so I start the day off with a healthy smoothie, plant-based protein, along with some kale, and adding in some other things, some other things that are in my refrigerator, like on the right-hand side of that last slide and not in the left. But adding these things into the smoothie, again, with that plant-based protein powder to help. And so that's one choice that I make every morning. And then there's other choices, too. Again, cleanse my body, cleanse my spirit, cleanse my soul, and then nourish it with the proper nutrients that it needs. So it depends. So when you go to a lunch, what are you going to choose? When you have your dinner, what are you going to choose? And it's very challenging. It's challenging for me also. So when you go out and you have to make your choices, but we can do that. We can learn what it takes to keep our body healthy and help each other. That's the key. It's educating ourselves, making those lifestyle adjustments, and then helping one another. And I think hanging out with like-minded people. And that truly helps, because in the beginning of my health journey, I hung out with all my local friends, and they're still my friends, by the way. But they would say, Wendy, just eat it. It's just another burger. Wendy, just eat it. It's just another chicken wing. Just eat it. Just eat it. And they didn't realize that I was having many meals, and everyone's telling me, just eat it. So I had to make a decision. And it's not an easy one. I mean, because I call it like the Delvo or the bad choices are all around us. It's so easier to take the bad choice, because it's tastier. It's what we're used to with this comfort food. But I'm speaking to myself all the time, Cheryl. I'm like, OK, what should I eat? Oh, of course I want that prime rib. But yes, I'll have the salad, and I'll have less or no bread. So I'm making a lot of choices consistently. I tell people, if God can change this, take a chick from mine, He can change you. Because I grew up with spam and rice, and Vienna sausage, and canned corn, and all that great white rice. But you know what? In my home at this point for the last 10 years, I don't cook meat, pork, beef, or chicken. When I go out, I might indulge, or I might say, hey, can I have a slice of your steak? But I cut it back a lot. And I'm talking to myself all the time. Don't eat it, don't eat it. And yes, in the morning, I start off with a shake, just like you. So like-minded people, girl. Anything that's green in my fridge, I'll throw it into the blender and drink it. If I don't start my day off like that, and if I start my day off the way I used to, the whole day is naughty. Because that starts the day off on that foot, the wrong foot. So I purposely make my smoothies every day, cutting my kale from my tower, putting it in my blender and drinking it up every morning, starting off my day on the right foot, and it makes life so much easier. Right, yes, so you're right. It's all about choices and options. And there are options out there. Hey, if I get into an accident and I need my leg sewn back to it, then take me to the hospital. There's a mainstream medicine. There's medication sometimes we need. But there's also alternatives or complementary things that can help, especially if you have a chronic degenerative disease. There's things that can help. Besides whole nutrient dense foods, you have the homeopathics. You have the herbs. You have so many things out there that can help this body. So many options. Yes, and then of course, again, options in spirit, soul, and body. So again, our spirit, there's supernatural healing. I'm a believer. I've been healed supernaturally many years ago that I developed a physical ulcer because I was going through a very difficult time. And I went to a naturopathic type of doctor, and I got better, but then it came back because I wasn't dealing, again, with the root cause, the root issue of pain or unforgiveness or whatever it was. But once I was healed supernaturally, that all changed. And I'm so grateful and blessed. So it's also spirit. And that powers you up. I think that's why the good Lord put you through that experience so you can speak from your heart and you can share your heart with others. And in fact, I've heard you speak many, many times. And your audience is just like taking notes and just talking to you afterwards because they really, they can relate to you because you were there and you're healed. And look at how great you look and how great you feel. And so people want that as well. And they think it's a secret, but you're not keeping it a secret. You share it with so many others. So on the next slide, it tells us that it shows us a picture of you in your talks and I just wondered if you could please share with our audience the health principles that you share at these gatherings. Yeah, well, we need to keep it, try to keep it as simple as possible. So I just share pretty much general health principles. First of all, personally for myself, I pray and fast to see what's going on with myself. And then secondly, try to cleanse and detoxify whatever's going on in my body or my soul. And then nourishing and strengthening. Once I cleanse, then it's time to nourish and strengthen the immune system and then renewing and restoring, renewing our minds, renewing our bodies, our cells, our tissues, our organs, and then educating and adjusting our lifestyles, educating each other and making those lifestyle adjustments that we need. Very good, very good. So the first principle you mentioned is pray and fast. So could you just elaborate on that? I mean, what do you do? Do you fast for 40 days? What do you do? Well, again, it's who is your healer? Who do you pray to for health and healing? And what do you read to help with your health? And I read the word that shows me, OK, these principles will help in your process of healing. And then finally, there are hindrances in our own life. You might know the story of David and Goliath. We all have Goliaths in our lives. Maybe it's really in-stage diabetes or cancer or something that's terminal. We all have giants in our lives. Or it's something financial or something going on with a relationship that's toxic. So I tend to depend on someone besides myself. Right. And that's good. That's your strength. And that's the blessing that you have that you can count on him to guide you through these times and take him to the prayer, the healing garden, where you can just go and cleanse that way. The second principle you talked about was to detoxify and to cleanse. And it is so important to begin with that. So how do we start to detox and cleanse? Great, thank you. The slide does show the body part. But again, it's cleansing and detoxifying spirit, soul, and body. Again, it's all connected. So there's maybe things you need to cleanse in your soul, strongholds of the mind or whatever. But then actually cleaning the body, you start with the colon. There's a colon. The microbiome of the intestinal tract is so important to keep healthy. So your gut is so healthy. There's a brain-gut connection, actually. So when your gut is not healthy, your brain is foggy. So it's important to cleanse the colon. There's many different detoxification programs. I personally take one that's called intestinal formula number one and number two. Of course, fruits and vegetables help to clean. But sometimes you need extra help. And I try to do it seasonally, what actually vacuums out the stuff in there and helps the peristalsis, the movement goal better. I get it. You do it regularly to get regular. And that's so important to detox and to cleanse that way. You mentioned the word microbiome. That's like a buzzword. Everyone's talking about microbiome. What is microbiome? And then they also said that your second brain is in your gut. And I actually think almost to the point where your first brain, that's your gut. Because your gut governs a lot of your well-being of your body. It kind of just guides your whole health journey right here in your gut. And people don't realize that. And so to be able to detox and to cleanse regularly, it really, really matters for your quality of life. Is that correct? Correct. Yeah. Because your intestinal system, you have your reli there. You have the way your nutrients are absorbed. First you digest, and then you start absorbing the nutrients into the rest of your whole body. So the microbiome is so important that when you take too much antibiotics, for example, antibiotics, antibiotics. So you want to be able to take probiotics. Because you, again, want to heal your microbiome and make sure that you have the good bacteria as well. So there's so many things that we can learn from each other and how we eat to keep our microbiome healthy. The things that supplements we need to take, digestive enzymes, or probiotics, prebiotics. So there's things that we can learn from each other. And I share some of this at some of the health seminars that I share. So later on, if anybody needs to, they can get in touch with us. And we can guide them to your talks because it's usually a full room. Everyone, and the sad part, though, that I feel is half the room has some issues that they're dealing with. And they've come to hear some solutions. But the good part is that they hear the solutions, and now they need to take action. So I always say success is not just being at the right place at the right time. But success is when you're at the right place and at the right time, but you take action. And so that's why when people come to hear you, I think it's very key. On slide number 12, we're going to jump ahead a little bit on slide number 12. It tells us about your journey. So what is a final reminder that you would like to leave with us on this health journey, Cheryl? I think we're all in a journey. And I believe that the good Lord who created us really wants us to live life abundantly. And so on this journey, it's a matter of not just principles of keeping your body healthy, but your spirit and your soul healthy. And that area we all need help with. So I try not to depend only on myself, but I depend on friends like you, but also on the good Lord to help me during times, especially in this hour, we're facing that health crisis we talked about and the doom and gloom things we talked about health. But then there's so many solutions, there's help, there's hope, there's healing. And so thank you, Wendy, for allowing me to share this. So you're on point right there. And so I listened to you so many times. So I gotta let the audience know that what I've done to kind of remedy my health journey or help my health journey is I'm going line dancing, okay? And so that means I'm laughing my butt off, I'm having a good time physically. I'm sweating, I'm detoxing, but I'm laughing and I'm having so much fun. And I think that's the key. And I look at all the people in that room when I'm dancing with them, they're doing the same thing. And I'm there to share with them some of the answers by making healthier choices and laughing and just being a positive mind, body and spirit and of course, asking for blessings from it all that we receive by doing this. So Cheryl, thank you so much for spending the afternoon with us today, we've learned a lot and we're gonna continue to learn more as we hang out with positive, like-minded people like yourself. So mahalo, Cheryl, for being here. Mahalo, Wendy, thank you so much. You're welcome.