“Ms. Cobb, if you don’t have surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, within six months, you will be dead.”

In 1999, Brenda Cobb was no stranger to cancer. Several family members had fallen ill with it, undergone surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, then lost their lives after much suffering. Now Cobb sat in her doctor’s office receiving news of cancers of her breasts and cervix.

Cobb made a deal with her doctor. She said that if she was still alive in six months, she would come back. If she was dead, she wouldn’t.

Six months later, Cobb returned to her doctor, reminded him of their deal, and asked to be tested again. All signs of cancer were gone, Cobb says. Not only had the cancer gone into remission, but Cobb says her rheumatoid arthritis, allergies, migraine and sinus headaches, depression, age and liver spots, and poor eyesight had all been corrected. Cobb was the picture of good health, and her doctor wanted to know how she did it.

During and after the initial prognosis, Cobb felt divinely guided to make her own decisions about her body.

“God created the body to heal itself, and it will when it is given what it needs to do the job,” Cobb writes on LivingFoodsInstitute.com.

Being informed involved more than a belief system, so she turned to books to educate herself on what she needed to heal. How I Conquered Cancer Naturally by Eydie Mae, and the works of Dr. Anne Wigmore, creator and developer of Living Foods Lifestyle, were essentials in her journey to health.

Cobb says what began as a personal quest to heal herself became a divine calling to help others. As she immersed herself in information about the body, the ways in which it holds toxic waste, and the ways in which it receives and absorbs nutrients, she knew she had to share her knowledge.

That she did by founding the Living Foods Institute 18 years ago. Today, Cobb continues to teach others how to prevent disease and heal their bodies.

Donna Fraser, of Lilburn, gives credit to Cobb’s institute for bringing her increased awareness.

“Brenda and the staff and volunteers of Living Foods Institute have provided a beautiful healing center that allows each student to experience the power and miracle of fruits, seeds, nuts, grains and vegetables,” Fraser says on LivingFoodsInstitute.com. “The living expression of taking in these foods in their most powerful and potent state unquestionably heals the body, mind and spirit.”

At Living Foods, each client starts with a health scope scan, a swabbing of tissues that is sent to a lab and tested. When the report containing information about allergies, sensitivities, heavy metals, mold, yeast and more comes back, an exact protocol is designed based on the needs of the individual.

“What may be good for me may wreak havoc on your system, and what your body needs may be a terrible idea for someone else,” Cobb says. “Avocados are supposed to be good for you, but what if your body has a sensitivity to avocados? Inflammation is an enemy to the body. The key to success is to design an exact nutrition program for the needs of the individual.”

Armed with personalized information from the health scope scan, Cobb promotes five elements to healing.

First, she teaches how positive thoughts and words produce positive results, and how negative thoughts and words feed disease.

“Mental thinking is the most powerful thing one can do to heal the body,” Cobb says. She uses words that are positive in nature, and teaches clients how to do the same.

Emotional health is the second area of focus. Cobb teaches that emotions such as anger, fear, and unhappiness are stored in the organs, and express themselves as disease. She treats emotional wounds using individual and group therapies, based on the studies of Dr. Edward Bach.

Stress is the third element. Cobb says stress is a source of high blood pressure, heart attacks and skin issues. Cobb teaches how to use stress as a tool to thrive.

The fourth element in her protocol focuses on toxicity of the body. The center uses colonics, massage therapy, and other modalities to help the body cleanse, with the belief that the cleaner the tissues of the body, the more readily they can absorb nutrients.

Finally, the fifth element is nutrition. The Living Foods Institute provides individual nutritional counseling, group coaching, cooking classes, and more, so clients receive ongoing support in this area. The store at the institute offers food, herbs and cooking supplies.

Cobb’s mission in life is not to cure, but to empower people to command their own health.

Robyn Nolen, of Florida, states on Cobb’s website that she went to the Living Foods Institute to help strengthen her immune system after chemotherapy, but she came away with something else.

“What I learned was so much greater than that,” Nolen says. “I came wanting to learn how to heal cancer, but what I learned was how to heal my fear of cancer.”

Brenda Cobb’s column Living Foods, is featured monthly in Natural Awakenings Atlanta. For this month’s column, see page 2.

For more information on the Living Foods Institute, visit LivingFoodsInstitute.com.