My name is Angella Pinkhasova. I was born in the south of Soviet Union in a lovely family of two medical doctors. It was devastating for my parents to find out that I had cerebral palsy after my Mom’s prolonged labor and a forceps delivery. More devastation came after my pediatrician proclaimed that there was no hope that I would every walk or talk in my life. Despite that prediction my parents decided not to give up hope. Since day one they did all kinds of natural healing, including a diet that consisted of fresh organic fruits and vegetables, fresh air, exercise and spending much time in the Black Sea which greatly improved my health. Mud therapies, acupuncture, massage and physiotherapy were simply miracle treatments.

I don’t know what treatment helped me the most but nature did a miracle on me. All treatments together enabled me to crawl, stand up, walk and talk by the age of seven.

Since then my dream was to become a physician, to give people hope and teach healthy living…
In Russia there isn’t a separation between Allopathic and Naturopathic medicine. As a medical doctor one has a right to choose any therapy that he or she feels would benefit a patient.

I was enrolled into the Medical Scholl and experienced 6 wonderful years and was elated to start practicing.

We immigrated to the USA in 1995 and I immediately started finding out the information on how to start practicing medicine in the United States of America. To my great disappointment not only was I required to pass 3 licensing exams in English, but I also discovered that with my MD degree, I was only allowed to practice allopathic medicine. I decided that there is no way that I would ever treat people with drugs, I just didn’t believe in it.

I started searching more and I was so happy to find Southwest School of Naturopathic Medicine. I was fascinated with vitamins, physical therapy, acupuncture, homeopathy and nutrition at first. Then I became confused. I read different books and found different information about the same subject. Every book & every teacher had conflicting opinions on natural healing. What I learned from school, nutrition was accomplished by prescribing minerals & supplements. It was very easy to treat people from books. When I finished school I discovered that it’s not so easy. People were coming back for visits and they showed minor results towards health. I went through major depression. I wasn’t sure that I could be a doctor because I couldn’t treat myself. I went to all the very best naturopathic doctors and their conclusion was that it’s impossible to treat my depression. Their only solution was anti-depressants. As a last resort I took anti-depressants. I felt great on them but very guilty because I always preached a natural approach so I tried several times to wean myself off of the drugs to only fall back into depression.

Then one day I was invited to a lecture about concentrated Chinese foods (Sunrider). It was an eye opening experience. I finally understood why my patients & I were not healing, because the main ingredient to vibrant health is nourishing our bodies with food. It finally made sense why in America with so many differently accepted foods the number of diseases (depression, ADD, menopause, PMS, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, infertility and the list goes on) that are escalating here were very low in Europe. Our soil is much depleted. What we eat is fertilized with chemicals, genetically engineered and filled with hormones and antibiotics.

Sunrider foods are highly concentrated whole foods that are grown in the richest soil and carefully prepared without a loss of wholeness which the body recognizes as tools for regeneration. Within 2 weeks of eating Sunrider foods I noticed a big change in my attitude & energy and realized I wasn’t depressed. It was amazing to feel that free, and without drugs. The next thing I noticed was that in eleven years it was the first time my body had a level of health with the ability to rid itself of an overgrowth of yeast. One of the aspects to my profession involves applying deep tissue massage therapy which in the past, often wore me out, leaving me exhausted and feeling pain in my joints and tendons which stopped occurring. I didn’t have digestion problems anymore. My complexion of skin is at its peak and the appearance of cellulite has disappeared. I was living, not surviving for the first time in my life. Cravings for sugar, chocolate, meat, (which I believed would never happen) vanished.

I recognize that it isn’t just foods that help patients get well, but becoming responsible for our health and caring about our bodies through exercise, and the thoughts we carry in our minds are equal factors in maintaining vibrant health. We need to hold a vision of health on all levels, and not to worry about diagnosis & syndromes since fear can easily inhibit any healing regardless of what we put in our bodies. Accurate education is essential in knowing how our body works and how simple it is to maintain as well as regenerate our health.