Healthy eating, alternative medicines and finding balance in one’s life will be the focus of the Natural Lifestyles Expo, coming to the Cape Coral Yacht Club and Tony Rotino Senior Center.

The free event, being held from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 18, will feature upward of 50 exhibitor booths and three workshops with guest speakers.

Workshops include “Outlive Your Cancer,” presented by Benjamin Holston, “Understanding Energy Work,” with Karen and Neil Kagan, and “What Does It Take to Create Good Health,” presented by Dr. Robert Murdoch.

Event organizer Lynda Mastronardo said previous lifestyles expos only feature exhibitors, and she thinks the time is right to expand on the format to include workshops.

“They’ve done a health and wellness expo in the past but not to this level,” Mastranado said. “Exhibits are wonderful because it lets people know what’s in their very own backyard. But I thought, let’s take it one step further, because you can learn more in a workshop than spending five or 10 minutes at an exhibit booth.”

Another facet of the expo will focus on breast cancer, as October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Even in today’s culture of the information accessibility, Mastronardo said people would be surprised about the lack of understanding women have toward the awful disease.

“A lot of women think, ‘It can’t effect me,’ and then all of a sudden they get diagnosed and they are leveled,” she said.

The expo will also focus on changing one’s diet utilizing raw foods, which is the consumption of uncooked, unprocessed and often organic foods.

A cooking demonstration centering on this steadily growing movement will be another centerpiece of the expo. The workshop will be headed up by Dr. David Dyer and Lynette Novelli Pritchard from Back to Nature, an organic market in Cape Coral.

Even with the recent closing of Ada’s Natural Market, Mastronardo said the time is right to bring the community together to celebrate health and the human body.

“We don’t have the major names coming in but we’ll eventually get there. Right now there’s some great opportunities right here in your own backyard,” she said. “People should really come out. Just bring your open mind, and have time to wander, try some food. We just want everyone to please remember that it is all in the small steps we take each day that create the big difference in ourselves and our families.”

For more information, contact Mastronardo at 541-1735.