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Gracious Living Adventures in a Florida Hospital


Grace Van Berkum-MD Anderson Cancer Centre

October 31, 2012

As many of you know I am currently here in Orlando working closely with a well known cancer surgeon. I have been teaching my Gracious Living Nutrition Workshops and Yoga classes to the cancer staff, nurses, doctors, surgeons, and cancer patients for the last month and a half. It has been an amazing experience to see how much this information is needed and how grateful people have been to receive it. I have realized how much REAL FOOD nutrition is needed in the world and at hospitals, especially for cancer survival and cancer prevention. (Read more about lessons learned from my dad’s cancer survival and his story click here).

Grace Van Berkum-MD Anderson Cancer Centre

I made nearly 400 raw, vegan chocolate squares packed with antioxidants, magnesium, fibre, omega 3 fatty acids, and most of all Gracious Living love! Together with the cancer prevention health educator we walked through all the cancer units at the MD Anderson Cancer Centre handing out my samples to anyone who would take them. I sang about the ingredients and how they help to heal the body. I shouted out how they were refined sugar free. I bellowed about how they were raw and all you had to do was mix the ingredients and stick ’em in the freezer! I exclaimed they were vegan and there was no dairy. I cried out how it came with a free recipe! People were perplexed. People were amused. People were interested. People were curious. people were grateful.


Grace Van Berkum-MD Anderson Cancer Centre-Gracious Living raw, vegan chocolates

I tried to make people laugh and smile. One old man nearly fell on the floor laughing because he thought I said “would you like to try a caca ball?” instead of “cacao ball”. That was pretty hilarious.

We ended off our day in the kids cancer floor. My raw, vegan chocolates were definitely not a hit. 2 kids had no problem spitting it out of their mouths in front of me. One girl nearly started crying. I bent down and tried to wipe her chin and said “I am so sorry sweetie. I was just trying to make something healthy!” and then she smiled and ran away. Yay, I was forgiven.

Grace Van Berkum-MD Anderson Cancer Centre-Gracious Living raw, vegan chocolates

Hallelujah! My heart melted like coconut butter. Someone was listening to my rants about antioxidants and enzymes and if he was the only person that heard me from the 400 I saw yesterday I don’t care. Just affecting one person everyday means it is a great day for me.

Thank you MD Anderson Cancer Centre for allowing me to do this. I can’t wait to do it again. Need to think of something really good for next time, especially for the kiddies. I can’t watch another kid spit food out in front of me!

Nov 15, 2012


Grace Van Berkum-Sunwarrior Ambassador

As the day ended, I sat in the Cancer Prevention Office waiting for my ride and picked up the book most often given to patients going through treatments from the National Cancer Institute.

To my horror and shock, I saw things recommended like ice cream shakes with butterscotch sauce, sports drinks (loaded with sugar), and carbonated beverages (loaded with sugar and chemicals).

¿Qué???!!!

These are the things that contribute to cancer!!  I can’t believe this information is being distributed in hospitals and is being recommended to cancer patients during and after treatments.  Blows my flippin’ mind.  What is going on in our world?! Things need to change. RAPIDLY.

I am thankful I have had this opportunity twice to hand out my Gracious Living samples and recipes throughout the MD Anderson Cancer Centre Hospital while here in Orlando. I hope that from the hundreds I saw both times that someone learned something, someone tried something new, someone is starting to question where there food is coming from and how it is affecting their body and healing.

I am also so grateful that I got to teach at the American Lung Association support group for lung cancer patients 2 days ago. As I stood up in front of a group of people and spoke about the healing benefits of plant based smoothies, I noticed that most of them were drinking diet pops and eating puffed pastries dripping with icing. YIKES! DOUBLE YIKES!! People so badly need to be educated on what to eat. People are eating chemicals and poisoning themselves and don’t even realize it!!  I knew this before, but now, more than ever, this just ignites the fire in me to keep pressing on singing the virtues and healing powers of foods that come fresh, right from the earth, to nourish our bodies, our brains, our hearts.

WE ARE LIVING BEINGS. IF YOU WANT TO BE FULL OF LIFE, EAT FOODS THAT ARE ALIVE!

PROCESSED FOODS, CHEMICAL FOODS, SUGAR FOODS, OVER  COOKED FOODS, GMO FOODS ARE DEAD FOODS!

A LIVING BEING NEEDS LIVING FOODS TO FUNCTION BEST. CHOOSE:

FRESH FOODS…

WHOLE FOODS…

REAL FOODS…

THAT COME FROM THE EARTH AND START NOTICING HOW YOU FEEL. I GUARANTEE YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY START NOTICING HOW YOUR ENERGY INCREASES!

PLEASE STOP EATING FOODS THAT CONTAIN NO LIFE. THEY DRAIN YOU OF ENERGY AND THIS LEADS TO DISEASE OVER TIME.


Gracious Living

I taught at a “Forks Over Knives” event last weekend, too, which was so much fun and lots of people showed up! 3 people came up to me after and told me they had cancer and wanted to heal their bodies with fresh, life giving, nutrient dense foods.  There is definitely a health revolution beginning to happen.  I love it.

If you have read this far, thank you.

You are amazing. you are here for a reason.


Here’s a goodie for YOU: “FORKS OVER KNIVES” life-altering documentary. MUST SEE! click: here. 

++HUGE thank you to Sunwarrior wholefood, healing powders, Ergogenics Nutrition Organic Whole Greens, Canadian Tonic Yoga Wear, Anjaly Organic Yoga Wear, Superfood Mila Chia Seeds for supporting Gracious Living Nutrition & Yoga Events.++







You are what you eat. You are what you think. ~Gracious Living Lifestyle  XO

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