Battle With Cancer Leads Couple to the Natural Way

Farbia Chang started on the "natural way" 15 years ago, when his wife, Jennifer, was diagnosed with cancer.

"We wanted to do everything to make her well in addition to the medical treatments," said Farbia, who owns Natural Way Café in Fair Lawn.

Farbia enrolled in the Optima Health Institute in San Diego and began to learn ancient spiritual disciplines that promote healing. Some scientists have linked processed foods and other aspects of the contemporary American lifestyle to a number of ailments, including diabetes and cancer.

In an almost monastic setting, Optima students learn a holistic approach to health and wellness.

The primary principles include:

• Purifying and detoxifying the body through diet, fasting, cleansing and exercise.
• Quieting the mind with journaling and meditation.
• Strengthening the spirit with study, prayer and celebration.
• Creating sacred spaces to devote the time to healing with like-minded people.

Farbia said that first the body is purified with a raw live organic vegetarian diet in preparation for colon cleansing using certain juices, followed by lymphatic exercises and the consumption of wheatgrass juice.

"You have to try our wheatgrass juice. It helps the body and immune system, not only with cancer, but it can heal many things," Farbia said of the anti-oxidant rich hybrid derived from regular wheat.

He said wheatgrass is believed to have many health benefits from promotion of general well being to cancer prevention and heavy-metal detoxification.

After Jennifer regained her health, the couple, who came to America from Taiwan as newlyweds a quarter century ago, opened the café at 23-25 Broadway, near Grunaver Place.

Natural Way Café is a peaceful space housed in a red and lime green storefront. Verdant green wheatgrass grows in the windows. Two crimson benches grace the front steps between a potted palm and a bin for recycling earth. Inside, there's new age music and the gentle fragrance of incense.

The shelves are lined with interesting products from sundry extracts to fresh fruit and vegetables. Four bistro tables, conducive to quiet conversation are placed near the entrance. The ambience of the café speaks to the essence of the Optima approach.

"The mind is also detoxified and quieted so that people can reach the alpha level, release negative emotions, and determine what matters most in life for each person," Farbia said.

Natural Way is known for its variety of juices, fresh healthy food and teas.

"The white tea is good for weight loss," said Jennifer, as she prepared a tall cup of black tea. "Green tree promotes wellness."

The tea menu also includes ginger tea, loose tea, Feugreek Tea and Green Breeze, which is made from ground whole organic green tea leaves.

Over the last few decades, some scientific and medical studies have suggested regular green tea drinkers have lower chances of heart disease and developing certain types of cancer.

While advocates of the holistic approach often point to wellness benefits, Farbia addressed another significant aspect of  eating healthy.

"We believe that eating healthy doesn't mean eating tasteless food. In fact, we care about the taste so much that we have chosen every ingredient in its best quality available," Farbia said.

"From the heat-safe grape seed oil that we cook, the rich mineral PanGu salt that we add, the cleaner reverse osmosis water that we boil, to the all-natural or organic food that we use, we make our food much healthier yet it still tastes great," he said.

The menu includes appetizers (sushi rolls, dumplings and Brown tofu stuffed with steamed potatoes); sandwiches; signature salads including veggie ham, mountain and sea salad and citrus chicken to name a few; soups; vegetarian entrees (Taka Shrimp, Crazy Mushroom and Gogi Tofu) and wraps. The roast chicken wrap is moist and tasty.

Prices range from $3.95 for the veggie ham sushi roll to $8.95 for the organic kale platter with a wide assortment of wraps $4.45 - $5.45. All prices exclude taxes and the menu changes frequently.

There's also an assortment of nutritious drinks.

"We use filtered water and ice to create optimal taste without diluting the power of our juices," said Farbia.

Some of the extractions include Cold Fighter ($6.50)–wheatgrass juice, ginger, apple; Vitamin C Boost ($4.95)–a tangy mixture of orange and lemon juice; and Ginger Bay ($4.95)–a blend of apple, ginger and carrots.

The Specialty Blends menu includes a number of smoothies made with fresh, organic ingredients. These range from The Blend ($4.95), with its pineapple, cranberry, apple and honey, to the Summer Dream ($5.95), with pineapple, blueberries, banana, apple and honey. The juices are squeezed to order.

Natural Way Café is open Monday through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m to 6 p.m. Visa, Master Card, American Express and Discover are accepted.

Visitors can eat in the café or get their orders to go. Natural Way also has a full line of specialty supplements, and gluten-free and organic groceries.