How Eating Plant-Based Foods Can Heal the Root Cause of Chronic Illness
- Brainz Magazine
- 17 hours ago
- 6 min read
Cynthia Blancaflor is a lifestyle medicine expert helping people who are done managing symptoms and ready to heal inflammation and gut issues at the root. Cynthia healed herself of sciatica in just 2 weeks over 18 years ago & has stayed well since, now guiding others to use food as medicine with her lifestyle program "Self-Care Blueprint."
I met Dr. Lisa in the community at a dance party in Oakland, California in early 2024 when she was 47 years old. She was interested in buying my book, “21st Century Handbook,” which documents my own self-healing journey using ancient wisdom backed by scientific and historical evidence to address modern-day challenges.
Our lunch brought us together to discuss health, where I shared that I also coach people to heal illness using “Food as Medicine.” Inspired, Dr. Lisa quickly joined my wellness detox program, “Self-Care Blueprint: Become Your Own Healer.”
Living with chronic illness as normal
Even though Dr. Lisa had been medically trained, her mother, a nurse, was a believer in natural medicine, so the seed had been planted. Dr. Lisa had been suffering from six chronic illnesses and had been sick for most of her life. At birth, she was diagnosed with eczema and asthma, likely linked to being born into a family of smokers.
She recalls being taken to the hospital for asthma treatments five times during her formative years. She was still suffering from asthma along with other illnesses when we met. By her mid-twenties, she developed high blood pressure and was put on medication to control the symptoms for over 20 years. By her thirties, she was diagnosed with endometriosis and fibroids, which were managed by birth control pills.
In her forties, she was having difficulty conceiving a child, so she went through 3 rounds of IVF shots over 5 years, which consisted of hormonal injections, despite the low success rate for women her age and the potential side effects.
During this time, Lisa noticed that her digestion had drastically changed, observing that certain foods were not completely digested when they exited her body.
For Dr. Lisa, navigating medications, frequent hospital visits, medical procedures, and insurance paperwork became routine. Despite spending nearly $100,000 on medical expenses, her chronic illnesses remained unresolved, affecting her quality of life.
“Enduring chronic illnesses over the course of my lifetime has put a lot of strain on my body physically, caused a lot of grief and sadness emotionally, at times depression, and limited the activities I was able to partake in,” Dr. Lisa recalls in one of our conversations.
The body can heal itself
Fast forward to April of 2024, Dr. Lisa and I collaborated to heal her body at the root with my 8-Week Anti-Inflammation wellness program, “Self-Care Blueprint: Become Your Own Healer,” to bring her body into balance naturally, using food and lifestyle.
My program consists of a 4-Step Path to Wellness, which includes a customized detox addressing her specific issues and personal goals by using plant-based foods while incorporating movement and meditation to restore balance.
In just eight weeks with a personalized “Self-Care Blueprint,” I guided Dr. Lisa to reduce her symptoms by 60-90%. Eczema and asthma, which she had since birth, were undetectable.
Dr. Lisa states, “I am grateful for Cynthia’s knowledge and the tools she has provided, allowing me to give my body what it needed to heal itself from long-standing chronic illnesses, ulcerative colitis, eczema, asthma, allergies, high blood pressure, and endometriosis. In 8 weeks, my skin became more vibrant, and I lost 16 pounds. I was also able to reduce my blood pressure medication and was no longer dependent on my asthma and allergy medication.
Over time, this shift allowed me to live a more comfortable, enjoyable, and fulfilling life. It brings me peace that I now know what it takes to get my body back to a state of homeostasis and equilibrium.”
Like Dr. Lisa, many of my clients see the value my program brings to their lives as priceless. No medical doctor could achieve these results in 47 years. Why? Conventional medicine does not believe the body can heal itself. Allopathy is only designed to treat the symptoms with drugs.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over two-thirds of Americans suffer from chronic illness. To punctuate this, a study from John Hopkins stated that medical error is the third leading cause of death in the US.
As in Dr. Lisa’s case, drugs never resolved the root causes of her issues, but instead created an acidic environment for more illness to develop over the years. As a naturopathic healer, I understand how to transform your lifestyle, which can either contribute to illness or heal the root cause naturally. This is where I educate and empower people to shift their mindset to foster healthy daily habits that create wellness.
Dr. Lisa and I rebuilt the foundation of her house, shifting her lifestyle one day at a time. I empowered her so she’s now informed how to lead a healthy lifestyle on her own, to become her own healer.
I healed sciatica in just two weeks
Our health is the sum of our daily choices, our habits. Unfortunately, health is not just about taking a pill. Not only do I know that the body can heal itself, but I learned firsthand from my experience with a renowned Chinese Tibetan medicine healer, Master Wang, who had worked with celebrities like Jessica Simpson.
This ancient medicine acknowledges that the body can heal itself given the proper nutrients and natural practices to achieve homeostasis from within.
Master Wang led me on my first plant-based detox at the age of 30, which allowed my body to heal itself of acute sciatica in just two weeks. That was over 18 years ago, and I have maintained a vibrant state of health, practicing lifestyle medicine.
Today, I meet many people who suffer from chronic sciatica, which was once an acute case like mine, but developed into a long-term illness lasting years or decades. This is the case with most people I meet, given that the only option for them, which is drugs and surgery, only exacerbates the issue, without any real resolution. I was fortunate to understand how to heal sciatica at the root, and it has never returned since.
I now pass on this ancient wisdom, using your lifestyle to heal yourself. Nature provides a deeper, more effective, and long-lasting resolution like Dr. Lisa discovered working with me.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), lifestyle medicine is over 80% more effective at healing illness than drugs and surgery.
Today, I am happy to say that I have guided 100% of my clients to heal illness at the root cause, ranging from gut health issues, chronic illness and chronic pain.
Even after decades of illness, Dr. Lisa’s body knew exactly how to balance itself given the proper nutrients and lifestyle practices. It is truly a beautiful transformation to witness and help facilitate.
Because I understand the body’s own healing capacity and can empathize with those millions suffering from chronic illness, I have led a free webinar called “Food as Medicine: Become Your Own Healer” since early 2025 on Eventbrite to help educate and empower people to take their power back and use ancient wisdom to heal themselves at the root.
Now, hundreds of people from all over the world attend my webinar every month to learn. I love encouraging people to listen deeply to their own body and to their own intuition, guiding them back home to themselves.
As Hippocrates says, “If you are not your own doctor, then you are a fool.” I ask my global community, “What did our ancestors do to heal before we had all this ‘fancy stuff’?”
We have more power than we’ve been led to believe. And the medicine we seek lies in improving our daily habits. Discover just how powerful you are when you tap into your own body’s innate ability to heal itself. Join us at Food as Medicine to learn how to become your own healer! Visit here.
Read more from Cynthia Blancaflor
Cynthia Blancaflor, Lifestyle Medicine Expert, Author & Speaker
Cynthia Blancaflor is an award-winning Filipino American artist, author, healer and speaker, dedicated to modeling holistic wellness through eating clean, meditation, mindset and movement. She overcame acute sciatica in just 2 weeks at the age of 30 under the guidance of renowned healer, Master Wang, over 18 years ago. After losing her family to chronic illness, she was inspired to write her first book, “21st Century Handbook,” documenting her self-healing journey with timeless practices based on ancient wisdom and proven science. From the book, she developed “Self-Care Blueprint: Become Your Own Healer,” a lifestyle program that has dramatically transformed the health of 100% of her clients, within two months or less.
