On the Road Again

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.

-Mother Theresa

Dear friends, a lot has happened since my last post. 

I went to NYC at the end of March for my six month check up.  This was an important meeting to me because we repeated the entire hair sample analysis from August and I was hoping to learn (1.) what’s changed/improved and (2.) why my IGA was increasing.

The results were mixed.  The good news is that I had fourteen improvements in my organs, etc.  I was pretty excited to hear this.  It’s nice to know that so many things are functioning better than they were in August, despite my disease.  It showed that the program is working really well for me.  The bad news is that we confirmed that the reason my IGA was increasing was because my disease was growing.  We weren’t 100% sure about this (or at least I wasn’t) going into the meeting but the hair sample confirmed that my disease was indeed increasing.  Dr. Gonzalez called me about a week before my NYC appointment to review the detailed analysis of my blood work he had received and implied that the results weren’t what he wanted.  I went into the appointment somewhat expecting bad news but it was still hard to take.  Really hard.

So, in summary, my disease regressed significantly my first three months on the program and increased  a little the second three months.  As of March, I was still better than I was when I began the program but I had begun trending in the wrong direction.  Dr. Gonzalez explained that it’s good that I improved so much the first three months because I had room to move; as a result, this trend in the wrong direction wasn’t too damaging.  He explained that it’s important that we not just throw additional enzymes at the problem but, instead, figure out what’s changed and address the issues.

After careful analysis and consideration, Dr. Gonzalez explained that he believed that the change was due to stress.  We spent a lot of time discussing various stressors in my life but there was one that really stuck out to Dr. Gonzalez as a significant problem and that is tooth pain.  Last winter, as part of the Gerson protocol, I had a mouth full of mercury fillings replaced with composites.  As a result of all the drilling, I lost tooth structure and, a year later, began having issues with my nerves.  I can’t chew on one side of my mouth because the pressure is too painful and it’s challenging to chew on the other side due to sensitivity to hot and cold.  Dr. Gonzalez explained that tooth pain can throw the autonomic nervous system (ANS) out of balance and that one of our main goals on the program is to balance the ANS.  It has to be in balance for my organs and systems to work right and for my body to fight the disease.  If I'm throwing the ANS out of balance every time I eat, the protocol isn't going to work.

At the time of this appointment, I had been using special sensitive  toothpaste for a couple weeks and it was helping.  In addition, Dr. Gonzalez suggested I add three new supplements to my regimen to help with the inflammation and pain.  He also suggested that I walk daily to clear my head and wear special glasses at night to block out blue light rays which suppress melatonin production and inhibit sleep (by the way, these glasses are working wonders helping me fall asleep quickly and sleep more soundly through the night www.lowbluelights.com).

Interestingly, Dr. Gonzalez does not recommend that his patients replace their mercury fillings.    He doesn’t believe that anyone should have mercury in his mouth but once it’s there, he says you leave it be.  His patients are able to work around the toxic effects of the mercury with detox and supplements.

So, I responded to the growth of my disease the way that any sane, mature woman would – I panicked, cried and hyperventilated for the next day or so as my mind raced with all the possible “what if” scenarios.  Mainly, “what if” controlling my stress wasn’t enough to turn things around? 

Meanwhile, my husband and sister, who attended the six month visit with me, were confused “um, Theresa, what are you so worried about?  You’re still much better than you were in August.  Dr. Gonzalez seemed pretty confident that you can manage your stress and turn this around”. 

So…..I took a few deep breaths and got rational.  Over the next couple weeks, I remembered three things that helped to keep me calm and sane: 

1.      I am utilizing the single best cancer doctor and cancer protocol on the planet.  (I recognize that some would disagree but I believe this wholeheartedly)

2.      My doctor didn’t seem all that bothered by my results.  In fact, he was totally calm about the whole thing and seemed kind of been there, done that about it.  He said that “patients don’t heal in straight lines” and encouraged me to “be patient”.  He also explained that the important thing in this scenario is that we not just throw more enzymes at the situation but rather understand what has changed and address the issues.  Once we address the stress, things should reverse.  His explanation made perfect sense to me because I was responding so well to the protocol the first few months.  Then, in December, my tooth pain flared up and my IGA increased right along with it.  I also began writing this blog in December and set deadlines and goals which were probably too much for me.  In addition, my oldest daughter started having some problems at school which I found really hard to take.  So, a lot of stress was added to my plate in December that could have affected my results.

3.      God is with me.  Yes, I know I have to show up each day and do my therapy but the reality is that I don’t have complete control over every single thing - not even close. 

I found that when I kept these truths in mind, I did pretty well.  I also used EFT, the Emotional Freedom Technique, to manage my anxiety and that seemed to help with the little things that popped up.

Two weeks after my appointment in New York, I had my blood drawn.  Although my IGA moved a small amount in the wrong direction, I had significant improvements in some very important numbers such as hemoglobin, kappa lambda ratio and free light chain.  Dr. Gonzalez thought that things were leveling off and would likely begin to reverse. 

Once I heard that news, I started to feel really good about things.

A month after my NYC appointment, I sent in another hair sample and my CT Mass (cancer measurement) improved by two points.  This was terrific news.  I would’ve been happy if it remained stable and thrilled if it improved by one point, so, to hear that it improved two points was pretty exciting.

The good news continued last week when I had my blood drawn again and heard that I had several improvements in all the important numbers, including IGA which finally moved in the right direction by almost 600 points. 

So, after several months of some bad trends, I am back on track.  I recognize that I hit a speed bump and it served its’ purpose – it slowed me down so that I could take more walks, get more sleep and control my stress and these were all things that I knew I should have been doing anyway.  I was ignoring the little woman inside me who was pointing her finger and shaking her head “tisk, tisk, haven’t you figured out by now that your sleep and stress management have to be your priority?” 

The funny thing is that I’m enjoying these changes.  It feels great to wake up rested and I realize that I am a much happier, balanced person if I take time each day to get outside, breath in the fresh ocean air and clear my head.  I’m a better mom and wife.  When I make wellness a priority, everyone wins.

The other big news I learned at my check up is that I gained twelve pounds.  Twelve pounds.  This wasn’t exactly a surprise.  My five year old saw me changing the other day and scrunched up her cute little face, pointed at my mid-section and said “Mommy, do you have a baby in there?” Um, no honey, Mommy’s just really enjoying eating real food again.  J 

My little Sierra bear….she keeps it real. 

So, all is well here and I’m back on the road to optimal health.  This time, I’m listening to my intuition and driving a little more cautiously….

Test Results

Hello All!  I’ve been so busy living that I’ve fallen a little behind updating you on my health progress.  As I’ve mentioned, I don’t spend much time thinking about my disease any more.

Last week, I had my blood drawn and my results continue to improve.  My white cells, hemoglobin and platelets all increased.  At this point, I think the only number that is out of range is my hemoglobin and each month it continues to move in the right direction.  Why do we care about all these numbers increasing?  We care because these improvements indicate that my bone marrow is functioning and that most likely means that I have less cancer.  If my cancer was growing, there wouldn’t be room in the marrow for these new cells to exist.  That’s what happens with myeloma – the plasma/cancer cells crowd out the good cells such as red and white blood cells.

My IGA, however, moved in the wrong direction again.  It’s not what we want to see but, considering my other improvements, Dr. Gonzalez is optimistic.  We discussed my energy level (good) and a few other things and he thinks I’m fine.  He said IGA will often bounce around on his myeloma patients and he shared the story of another myeloma patient who came to him with advanced disease 18+ years ago whose IGA has fluctuated by several thousand points over the years.  For those of you reading who have myeloma, you may be interested to know that this patient had advanced disease and his oncologist was recommending a bone marrow transplant.  The patient declined and decided to do the Gonzalez protocol.  Almost 20 years later, his hemoglobin remains in the normal range while his IGA jumps around like a ping pong ball.  Dr. Gonzalez has mentioned that my IGA will likely never be in range but it’s not a concern - I can live a long, healthy life with an elevated IGA.  When IGA is elevated it can mean the patient has cancer or it can simply mean that the patient’s existing plasma cells are over-active. 

Next week, I’m heading to NYC for my six month check-up.  I’ve already sent in my hair sample and I am looking forward to seeing if the hair analysis provides some insight as to why my IGA is increasing.

 Wish me luck! (a few prayers wouldn’t hurt either)

Test Results

Hello All!  Wow, time is flying by.  Hard to believe I’ve been on the new regime five months. 

I’m writing to update you on my recent blood draw and to let you know I’m going to take a break from blogging for a while.  I’ll still post my health updates but I’m finding it challenging to find time to execute my therapy, care for my family and write/research.  I don’t want you to worry when you don’t hear from me for a few weeks.  The truth is that I feel better than I have in years, both physically and mentally.  I still can’t get over how dramatic and quick the shift has been.    

As far as test results go, I continue to have improvements.  Hemoglobin increased from 10.1 to 10.3 and hematocrit increased from 32.8 to 33.1, which means it is almost in range.  Red and white blood cells continue to be in range.

For the second month in a row, IGA moved in the wrong direction.  As I mentioned before, I don’t like it when that happens but I know that we patients don’t heal in straight lines.  Cancer recovery is a bumpy, windy road and both Dr. Gonzalez and my conventional oncologist have informed me that IGA can be fickle and is not necessarily indicative of the truth.

So, that’s all for now, friends.  Take care.

p.s. Thank you for all of your e-mails and comments about my posts.  I know that many of you are enjoying the nutritional pearls that I am gleaning from my conversations with Dr. Gonzalez.  Don't worry, I will be reporting more of this type of information in one way or another down the road.  I am excited and committed to share the truth about good health. 

Eat Fat, Lose Fat

As long as we’re on the topic of dietary myths, I thought I’d write about the one food group that we are all programmed to avoid: fats.  We’re told that eating fat, particularly saturated fat, will make us fat and sick. 

Before we dive into the truth, let’s stop and think for a minute.  Ask yourself, how long have we been advised to eat a low fat diet?  How long have we been told that eating saturated fat will make us fat and sick?  I know I’ve heard this message for the last 25 years; before that I was too young to notice.  Since Ancel Keys (more on him later) first suggested a link between saturated fats and heart disease in the late 1950s, the food manufacturers have jumped on board and produced everything and anything in low-fat, non-fat form: chips, yogurt, chocolate, you name it.  We, in turn, began doing everything we could to avoid fat.  I know there were years when I survived on pretzels, pasta and saltines because they were cheap and low fat; I thought they were healthy choices. 

Now, let’s ask ourselves another question: since we’ve begun reducing fat are we getting skinnier and healthier?  To answer that question I’d suggest you simply look around.  Considering the epidemics of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer, I think it’s fair to say that we are not healthy or thin.    

Which leads me to the point of this post: certain fats, including saturated fats, are essential to your health.  You read it right.  A non-fat diet is not only less than optimal, it’s downright destructive.    

Saturated fats form an essential part of the cell membranes throughout your body.  In addition, these fats partner with cholesterol to compose about 80% of your brain.  Cholesterol is the main precursor to all the major hormones: estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and the stress hormones like cortisol.  The bottom line is this: saturated fats and cholesterol are essential nutrients and you need them to thrive.

Unsaturated fats, on the other hand, are a disaster.  When you eat too many unsaturated fats, like those found in vegetable oils, the fats adversely affect the chemistry of the cell membranes.  Consuming these unsaturated fats will cause your cells to be nutritionally starved and set the stage for chronic disease.    Your energy drops, your nerves don’t fire, your hormones and metabolism quit functioning properly.  You’re tired and hungry and you gain weight. 

Consider the fact that mother's milk, nature’s perfect food, provides a higher proportion of cholesterol than almost any other food.  It contains over 50% of its calories as fat, mainly saturated fat. Both cholesterol and saturated fat are essential for growth in babies and children, especially the development of the brain.  Yet, the American Heart Association is now recommending a low-cholesterol, low fat diet for children! I cringe with concern when I think of all those kids’ brains being starved and how that’s affecting their mental health, not to mention their IQs.

When Dr. Gonzalez reviewed my diet with me, he told me I can eat an unlimited amount of fat; that is, an unlimited amount of natural, saturated fats.  He said “the more, the better”.  Well, I almost jumped up and hugged him right there (I probably would have but it would have embarrassed my husband, not to mention my new doctor might have thought I was a bit strange :) ).  After two years of not eating any fat, he made my day because I love eating fat.  That’s right…..butter, avocados, coconut and red meat.  Bring ‘em on. 

If fat is so good for us, then why are we told to avoid it?

Ancel Keys, a researcher in the 50s, first suggested that a diet high in saturated fat causes heart disease.  When Keys published his analysis, it was discovered that he used data from only six countries and ignored the data from the other 16 countries that were included in the study.   When a country with high fat intake had no heart disease, he excluded the data.        

As a result of Keys’ fraudulent misrepresentation, Americans were soon encouraged to substitute vegetable fats for animal fats, and to avoid red meat completely.  Government agencies began bombarding the public with advice to eat a low fat diet.  In 1960, The American Heart Association changed its position on dietary fat to support Keys’ theory. 

The vegetable and food processing industries were happy to jump on the low fat bandwagon.  After all, they don’t want us eating whole, unprocessed forms of fat such as butter and cream.  If we did that, we’d be so satisfied with our diets, we wouldn’t have any need for their junk.  They want us to stay ignorant and continue eating out of packages loaded with vegetable and hydrogenated oils.  These oils extend the shelf life of packaged foods, so good press about these oils directly impacts the bottom line.

What about the subsequent studies that connect fat and heart disease?

The problem with the studies that link fat and heart disease is that they do not differentiate between saturated fats and trans fats.  Saturated fats are those whole, unprocessed fats that make everything delicious: eggs, butter, full fat cream, red meat, coconut oil, etc.  Trans fats are the vegetable (think: canola) and hydrogenated oils that are in packaged foods and bottled salad dressings.  Trans fats will clog your arteries and cause diabetes.  They will make you fat. 

There have been several studies that have proven there is no correlation between saturated fats, cholesterol and heart disease but these studies are largely ignored.  The vegetable oil and processed food manufacturers don’t want you to think that their products are making you sick and they spend lots of money on lobbyists to ensure that the studies that support their businesses are the ones promoted.

What actually is linked to heart disease is polyunsaturated fats which became wildly popular during the late 21^st century.  As we decreased our intake of saturated fat and cholesterol, we increased our intake of polyunsaturated fats which are particularly prone to free radical damage and oxidation.  These damaged oils will impair the arteries, lead to inflammation and cause heart disease.  Saturated fats and cholesterol are not the problem; our bodies need these essential nutrients and they are protective.  If you’re like most, you may not know that the majority of people with heart disease don’t have high cholesterol.

If you’d like to read a good book about cholesterol and saturated fats, you could check out “The Great Cholesterol Con” by Malcolm Kendrick.  Or, if you only have a few minutes, go to www.mercola.com and search on “cholesterol”. 

But won’t eating fat make me fat?

The idea that eating fat will make you fat is total nonsense.  If you doubt this, once again, I’d encourage you to think about how fat and unhealthy we’ve become since we began adopting low fat diets several decades ago. 

When we eat a diet low in fat, one of the problems is that we are constantly hungry.  Our brain knows it needs fat so it sends out hunger signals when it doesn’t get enough.  In turn, because people are programmed to not eat fats, they load up on carbohydrates to address their hunger pains.  In fact, the epidemics of obesity, heart disease and diabetes in America correlate with the decrease in the intake of fat and increase in the intake of carbohydrates.    

Lately I’ve noticed that when I eat a substantial amount of fat at a meal, particularly coconut butter and red meat, I feel satiated; I don’t crave sweets and my meals hold me for hours.  What a revelation!  What a gift!  I’ve craved sweets my whole life and to think I may be able to feel satisfied without them is liberating. 

For years we’ve been told to eat low fat this and low fat that.  “Eat tons of carbs, reduce your sugar but whatever you do, don’t eat fat.”  This piece of advice, along with many others, is the result of dogma, not facts.  As Dr. Gonzalez says “So much of science is not science, it’s religion.  The low fat obsession is really a fanatical religion.  When you look at the scientific studies you find that it doesn’t report what the low fat fanatics claim.”

I’m sharing this information to blow out the myths that have become adopted here in the west.  It seems that with all of our technology and our brilliance and our universities, we’ve gotten so much horribly wrong.  Let’s work together to change that, shall we? 

Shopping tips:

1.      Quit reading the fat content on labels.  Fat is great for you; you need it to survive and thrive.  Instead of being so concerned with fat, focus on reducing your sugar intake.    

2.       Don’t buy anything that has hydrogenated oils or vegetable oils in it: canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, sunflower/safflower oil, margarine, shortening, anything with “partially hydrogenated in the ingredients list.  These foods are poison and they will make you fat and sick.

3.      Enjoy saturated and animal fats: olive oil, full fat yogurt, raw full fat milk, butter (especially grass fed), coconut oil/butter, palm oil, ghee, animal fats, red meat, avocados, eggs and red meat and other fatty meats, lard, tallow, nuts and seeds.  Tune into your body, if something makes you feel bad, don’t eat it.

4.      When purchasing animal fats, try to buy organic.  The doses of hormones and antibiotics in the conventional food won’t serve you well.

5.      Try the recipe below made of full fat, organic ingredients.  You’ll be glad you did.

You-Can-Thank-Me-Later Macaroons

2 C almonds

2 C coconut

1/3 c coconut oil

1/3 c honey or maple syrup

¼ t sea salt

½ t vanilla

Process all ingredients in food processer.  Use a small scoop to scoop cookies onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment.  Freeze for 15-20 minutes and store in the refrigerator.

*This recipe makes about 24 cookies and each cookie contains about 2/3 teaspoon of syrup or honey.

*The title of this post “Eat Fat, Lose Fat” is also the title of a book by Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon.  Check it out if you’d like to learn more about healthy fats or try out some healthful recipes.

Where's the Beef?

In my last post, I promised you some information on red meat.  So, let’s start by reflecting on what the “experts” say.  We’re told that consuming red meat is the ultimate sin.  “Animal fat is bad”, “It’ll raise your cholesterol”, “It’ll give you cancer!” is what we’re told. 

Many of you know that I have been interested in wellness, particularly nutrition, for several years.  Often times, when the topic of health arises, friends will proudly announce “I don’t eat red meat!”.  It seems that many believe that as long as they avoid red meat and other fatty animal products, they’ll be healthy.  I’ve noticed that many caring, health oriented moms will feed their children corn chips, tofu, goldfish crackers and packaged mac ‘n cheese and think their children are eating healthy because they’re avoiding the devil, otherwise known as red meat. 

The confusion is understandable.  Every few months, a new book is published that tells us exactly how to eat if we want to be healthy.  I have many of these books: The Zone Diet, Atkins, Eat to Live, The China Study, New American Diet, Living on Live Food, and Skinny Bitch, to name a few.  Each of these authors has facts and statistics to back up his case and prove that his diet is the right diet for everyone.  How are we laymen to know the truth?  For that matter, how are the experts to know the truth? These authors can’t all be right as their suggestions totally contradict each other….or can they?

I’ve been telling people for years that red meat can be a healthful option but it needs to come from cows that are humanely raised and allowed to graze on grass that has not had a chemical shower.  I went to great lengths to ensure my children consumed products from clean, healthy animals when they were very young, including raw, unpasteurized milk from grass fed cows.  When I tell people this, I receive a number of reactions: head shaking, eyebrow raising, looks that say “are you crazy? Everyone knows that animal products are bad for you!”.  Some will go so far as to explain that we don’t have the intestinal track of a carnivore, we don’t have the teeth and digestive enzymes necessary to break down meat, so on and so forth.  They quote a never ending litany of facts and statistics and, if I didn’t know better, I’d think that red meat was the devil too.

Fortunately, though, I do know better (thank you, Dr. G). 

Now that I’m using red meat to reverse terminal cancer, I’m hoping you’ll open your mind and reconsider.  At the very least, take a few minutes and read the rest of this post.  The reason I’ve been a proponent of animal products for so long is because I know about a study conducted by a dentist in the 1930s named Weston A. Price.  Now that I know that Dr. Gonzalez uses the findings of this study to reverse terminal cancer, I’m convinced that this information is fundamental to optimal health.                     

Weston A. Price                                                                                                                       

Dr. Price was a dentist in Cleveland, OH who set out to travel the world and study the epidemiology of dental decay.  Back in Price’s day (1930s) and today, medical and dental students are taught that we are extremely fortunate in the western world to have high tech dentistry to help treat all types of dental disease.  Those poor, primitive people who didn’t have access to dentists would supposedly get dental decay and commit suicide from the pain.  This theory, although widely accepted, has never actually been proven.  

Price recognized that no one had ever done a study to analyze the epidemiology of dental disease and determine if these theories about the primitive cultures were true.  So, he and his wife set out on a seven year journey.  Price traveled the world to live with and study 14 isolated cultures including but not limited to the Eskimos, the Incas, the Masai, the Pygmies, the Polynesians and the Aborigines. He was an impeccable researcher and kept meticulous records that he backed up with thousands of photographs.  He studied the peoples’ dental arches and decay and would interview these people and speak with  doctors or health officials  that were available.  He also reviewed any medical records that existed.  Although he began the expedition with the intention of studying dental health, he eventually became interested in other diseases.    

In addition to studying these isolated cultures, Dr. Price traveled to the westernized towns and villages and observed their descendants; people who initially lived in an isolated region and moved to adopt a more western way of life.

What Price discovered was that these isolated cultures didn’t have dental decay.  In fact, they had perfect dental arches and no need for orthodontics. 

He also studied the incidence of other health issues and he found that they were in excellent health.    There simply was no asthma, allergies, arthritis, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or hypertension.

Equally shocking is the fact that these indigenous peoples didn’t suffer from mental illness.  When asked about depression and life’s challenges, the Eskimos would break out laughing.  They said “with all the bounty of earth, how could anyone feel like that?”  Note that these were people living in the Arctic with ten months of darkness and no vegetation; yet, there they were, celebrating “bounty”.  They had a word for mourning; when someone died, they grieved.  But when feelings of depression and despondence were described to them, the Eskimos just couldn’t relate.    

Fertility issues that are so common today weren’t an issue for these indigenous peoples.  They  produced healthy offspring with ease, generation after generation.  (When I asked Dr. Gonzalez about the possibility of me having another baby, he said we’ll have to get rid of my cancer first and then we can talk about it.  He mentioned, though, that I have plenty of time; women on his program don’t go into menopause until they’re in their 50s.  Wow.  I hear that conventional doctors these days are telling women that it’s “normal” to begin menopause in their thirties.  Once again, I find myself so grateful for this opportunity to optimize my health.)

When Price studied the groups of people from these isolated cultures who moved into “civilized” towns  and adopted a westernized way of eating loaded with canned goods, preservatives, chemicals, additives and white foods such as flour, sugar and rice, he noticed a catastrophic change in health within only one generation.  Dental decay became rampant; gingivitis and periodontal disease became epidemic.  There were epidemics of asthma, allergies, arthritis, heart disease and diabetes.  Cancer, too, exploded, even in the 20s and 30s.  Mental illness such as depression, bi-polar disease, and schizophrenia became very common amongst these isolated peoples who adopted a westernized way of living but these diseases simply didn’t exist in the isolated cultures. 

If you read Price’s book “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” you’ll see, in mind-boggling photos, how healthy, disease-free primitives look; the ones who have been subsisting on their own diets for generations have beautifully formed faces, palates, jaws and teeth that are totally devoid of cavities (these people weren’t even brushing their teeth, let alone flossing).  Then there are pictures of these same peoples where white man and their modern foods have taken over.  Children (and the adults they become) with birth defects, deformed palates, rotted, missing teeth and ill health.

So, what are these healthy people eating?  

Because each of these isolated cultures was living off the land, each had its’ own unique diet.  The Polynesians consumed lots of fish and fruit while the African Masai lived on raw cow milk and cow blood.  Although they all ate differently, there are some similarities that can be summed up in the following six principles:    

1.      No human group ever lived on one diet that all humans followed.

Each group ate what was available.  For the Eskimos, that meant whale blubber, seals and fatty red meats.  They lived on an all meat diet that was 80% saturated fat and 20% protein with no vegetation.  The traditional Masai lived on raw cow milk and cow blood; all animal based, about 70% fat, yet completely different from the Eskimos.  The Pygmies in the Congo had more of a plant based diet although they did eat animal products when they could catch them.

2.      No traditional group followed a vegetarian diet nor did any of these groups think that made sense.    

Even the groups that thrived on a diet that was largely plant based saw value in eating animal meat and fat. 

3.      No traditional group followed a low fat diet.

Some of the groups ate animal fat while others thrived on plant based fats but none consumed a low fat diet.

4.      The diets were natural, local and whole.

There was no access to processed foods of any kind, including white products (rice, flour, sugar and pasta) and canned, preserved and chemical “food”.  Is it necessary to mention that their produce wasn’t sprayed with pesticides?  Now, when people eat this way, they are such standouts that we have a special name for them: locavores.

5.      All traditional groups consumed some raw food.

The amount of raw versus cooked foods varied from group to group but all had some raw food that they thought was health promoting.  The Eskimos would take raw fish and bury it.  Eight weeks later, after it had fermented, they would dig it up and feast.  Not only did they enjoy it, they actually considered it dessert!

Note: Initially, I was a little nervous to try Dr. Gonzalez’ program.  What if I had to eat raw meat three times a day?!  Bluck!  When I first met with him, he asked me a couple of times if I was willing to eat red meat 4-5 times a week.  I had no problem with this but after he asked a second time, I said “may I cook it?”  He laughed and said that was fine.  Whew.  (LOL)

The truth is that I would’ve eaten my arm if that’s what it took to get well but I’m glad I didn’t have to. J

6.      Traditional diets produced enduring good health.

No matter what the diet, as long as these groups stuck to their traditional diets, they  experienced excellent health for the rest of their lives. 

Modern “food” choices constitute a radical change from the way man has nourished himself for thousands of years.  As a result, each generation is getting progressively weaker.  Dr. Kelley (who created my therapy) said that he would rather treat an 80 year old man than treat a 20 year old one because each generation is getting weaker and the younger man may not respond as well.  Dr. Gonzalez says that he finds this to be true; in his practice today he receives calls from people in their 20s who have very aggressive cancers that used to be reserved for the elderly.  Multiple myeloma, my disease, used to affect mostly elderly men, especially those who were African American.  Somehow I, a white female under the age of 40 (when diagnosed), was able to contract it.  It seems to be gaining prevalence because I continue to hear about more and more people who are diagnosed with this disease.

One of the most important things we can take away from this study is that, although it’s extremely common to be sick in one form or another, it is not our normal state.  Our bodies are wired for health but it seems that we have forgotten that our normal state is one of balance and vitality.  If we’ll just feed ourselves whole, organic food and detoxify, we’ll dramatically increase our odds of living a life of excellent health.  All of the chronic diseases that are so common are diseases of a civilized world.  Unknowingly, it  seems we are participating in our own demise.      

There’s some truth in all of the nutritional books.   The reality, though, is that everyone has different needs.   I’m not suggesting that everyone eat red meat.  I am, however, proclaiming that some of us need it.  If you don’t like the taste of it or if it sits like a rock in your stomach, then you should avoid it.  But, if you’re like me, and you love it and feel good eating it, then you could begin including it in your diet because you probably need it to thrive.  Dr. Gonzalez always says that your body is smarter than any doctor, including him.  Some of his patients need red meat three times a day while others are vegetarians.  The moral of this story is this: listen to your God given body, not the academic "experts", to tell you the truth about what diet works best for you.

Red Cells and White Cells and Hematocrit, OH MY!

Another month down.  It is amazing to me how time is flying.  On my last therapy, time went so slow that it felt like it was moving in reverse.  I’d think to myself “Ok, I’ve been on the therapy four months, two weeks, three days and 12 hours.  Only 20 more months to go!”  Sigh.

This time around, I’m just living my life and my therapy is floating around somewhere in the background.   I’m still a little limited.  I can’t quite head to Disney for the week, but we did manage to squeeze in an overnight trip to Nantucket in December, and those of you who have been to Nantucket know it doesn’t get much better than that!  Yesterday, my cell phone rang and I ran, actually RAN, up the stairs.  When I picked it up and said “hello”, a huge grin spread across my face as I realized I wasn’t winded.  Wow, what an accomplishment!  I felt like celebrating on the spot.  It was only a few months ago that walking up the slightly inclined paved driveway to pick up my daughter at pre-school was a cause for heavy  breathing.  Two years ago I could barely climb the stairs.  Suffice it to say, I’ve come a long way.

In fact, the therapy is such a small part of my life that I forgot about my blood results!  I had my blood drawn last Monday and I knew it was likely that Dr. Gonzalez would call me on Tuesday evening with results.  On the nights that I expect his call, I walk around glued to my cell phone and avoid leaving the  house between 5:00 and 7:00 because I don’t want to risk driving through a dead zone and missing the call.  I suppose this just goes to show that we attract what we fear because I have missed the call at least three times when I’m doing everything I can to ensure I hear it ring.  This time, when I forgot about the call, I heard the phone ring loud and clear. 

So, last Tuesday night, I’m running around like a crazy woman trying to make carrot  juice, eat dinner, feed my little one and run out the door to pick up my oldest from dance class, when my cell  phone rang.  I was planning to skip it but took a peek to see who was calling and it was Dr. Gonzalez.  It took a second before I remembered that I’d had my blood drawn the previous morning.  Normally, on the day I’m expecting lab numbers, I walk around fidgety and antsy, nervously awaiting my results.  Now that I’m doing well, I am so relaxed that I actually forgot about them.

I learned from our call that I continue to have significant improvements in several numbers while one went in the wrong direction.  Dr. Gonzalez began the conversation by saying that blood work after the holidays is often off due to the stress his patients experience during the season.  When he asked if my holidays were stressful, I said that they were not.  I had my best holiday season ever!  My girls are at fun ages and I’m getting better.  What more could I ask?  Things are just plain wonderful.  However, what slipped my mind at the time, is that I had recently learned that my best buddy from Gerson died.  I’ve been so sad.  When I’m alone, I tend to walk around shaking my head “no” as if I can shake the bad news off of me and bring her back.    

Celia was a biologist from Calgary.  An admitted health nut, she was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside (and that’s saying a lot).  Two years prior to our meeting in Mexico, when she was only 30, she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer which her doctors had easily removed with surgery.  She’d always been health minded and, after her surgery, she began to follow a strict raw foods diet.  She planned to live a long, healthy life. 

In 2009, the cancer returned and her doctor told her it was incurable.  At most, she had two years to live if she did chemotherapy.  She even flew from Calgary down to the world renowned MD Andersen in Texas thinking that they might have a more effective treatment and optimistic prognosis.  No luck.  After speaking with an acquaintance whose life had been saved on the Gerson Therapy, she told her oncologist she was going to try the alternative route and her oncologist got angry.  “You are going to die if you do this!” she yelled.  Well, the way Celia saw it, she was going to die anyway, so why not take a chance on something that could save her life rather than pursue the conventional track that was guaranteed to be a failure? 

I met about 25 late stage cancer patients at the Gerson clinic in Mexico, and I always felt confident that Celia would be one of the few who would make it.  During my visualization exercises over the last two years, I pictured us meeting in Vancouver for a celebratory hike and herbal tea toast.  She was young, vibrant and determined.  She had a wonderful family and they were committed to her success.  Her parents sold the family business and their house to move several hours away and live with Celia so that they could care for her on the therapy.

When Celia didn’t return my last couple of emails, I began to worry.  It didn’t take long for me to do some research and learn that she had passed away.  Given the 50%+ chance of success she would have had with Dr. Gonzalez, I can’t help but wonder if she would be alive today if she had pursued his therapy.  I’ll never know but it’s frustrating to me that she didn’t have the chance to evaluate The Gonzalez Therapy because she didn’t know it existed.

At any rate, once I hung up the phone from discussing test results with Dr. Gonzalez, I realized that the last month has been an emotional roller coaster and that may have affected my blood work (why is it that I always remember the important comments after we hang up?).

Regardless of the recent emotional ups and downs, I continue to be thrilled with my results.  To start, for the first time in well over four years, my red blood cells are IN RANGE!!  This month, they increased from 3.61 to 3.88.  My white blood cells stayed consistently strong at 4.8.  Dr. Gonzalez says he’ll be happy with 4.8 if they stay there for the next fifty years.  I love that comment.  I encourage anyone reading this to tell a myeloma patient or oncologist that you know someone who has IGA myeloma and is planning to live another fifty years and see what he says.  He’ll either want to read my blog asap or won’t believe you.  Sadly, it will probably be the latter…..but I digress.  Hemoglobin continued to increase from 9.7 to 10.1.  This is not surprising to me as I can feel myself getting stronger.  For better or worse, I can stay up very late without feeling too tired.  Hematocrit also increased a significant 1.8 points from 31.0 to 32.8.  So, three important numbers improved and I’m delighted.  The other number that we evaluate on a monthly basis is IGA, which is my tumor marker.  Unfortunately, it went in the wrong direction.  It’s never fun when that happens but I’m okay with it for the following reasons:

1.      I’ve had my blood tested for the lasts consecutive 30 months and know that, on any given day, it can fluctuate.  We don’t evaluate blood work based on one test, we look at the trend.  Since I’ve been trending in the right direction, I feel pretty good about it.  Dr. Gonzalez says that patients never heal in a straight line.

2.      Dr. Gonzalez said he finds hemoglobin to be an accurate measurement of success.  Most cancer patients are anemic and if they’re not getting better, their hemoglobin just doesn’t improve.  My hemoglobin has consistently improved over the last several months.

3.      Dr. Gonzalez says that he finds the hair test analysis to be far more accurate than any conventional tumor marker.  If you read my last post, you know I had a huge improvement in my hair sample results.

4.      Three important numbers including red blood cells, hemoglobin, and hematocrit improved!

As I told Dr. Gonzalez, I am thrilled.  I didn’t know if I would ever see the day when my white and red blood cells moved into range.  To see so many numbers continuing to improve makes my day.   I know that IGA can be unpredictable.

So, dear friends, that’s all for now.  Expect a new post from me in a few days where I’ll discuss why you should consider eating red meat.  (yes, you read it right)    

Hair Sample Test Results

A few weeks ago, I had my hair sample tested again.  I was planning to include the results in the next post when I share my blood work results but, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this health update warrants its own entry. 

If you’ve been following my blog, you know that the hair sample analysis provides information about what is going on in my body.  It tells us exactly how well all my organs are working as well as how much toxicity and cancer my body is harboring.  At my initial appointment and every six months thereafter, Dr. Gonzalez runs the entire test but at the three month mark, he ran only a spot check of my “CT Mass” which represents the amount of cancer I have.

 During my initial exam, I learned that the normal range for CT Mass is less than ten while my CT Mass was 27.  Dr. Gonzalez explained that the test is extremely precise and accurate, so much so that each point of movement is significant.  In his typical patient, the CT Mass decreases about one point every two months.  So, if that number decreases one or two points at my three month test, he said he would be ecstatic. 

First, it’s worth noting that I’ve never heard a physician say whether she cares one way or another about my health, let alone use the word “ecstatic”.  I’d like to think that my past doctors have cared but who knows.  Dr. Gonzalez’ patients rave about him because they know he cares.  I thought it was just really nice that he mentioned it.

Second, I’m going to share my new CT Mass number but not without a little suspense.  I want to get you excited here…..

So, you remember that we are going to be thrilled if this number decreases a point or two, right?  Humor me for a moment and just take a guess at how much my number decreased.

Drum roll please……

It decreased seven points.  SEVEN POINTS!!!!  Dr. G hoped it would move one or two points and it decreased SEVEN!!!  He says that although he has seen a patient’s number improve this much before, it is very rare and usually only happens when the patient is very compliant and has a great attitude.  So, this means that my CT mass has decreased from 27 to 20 and now the amount of disease I have is much less serious.  I’m ecstatic. 

The truth is that logically I know it doesn’t really matter how quickly I improve as long as I’m moving in the right direction, but I have to admit that it just feels great to know that I am responding so well.   Every month on the Gerson therapy, my results were stable and my doctor would ask “are you resting??!!!”  In my two years on the therapy, I learned that most Gerson practitioners believe that if the disease isn’t regressing, then the patient must be doing something wrong.  So, I rested and I slept and I slept and I rested, and when I got sick of resting, I took a nap.  I didn’t really do much of anything for two years but drink juice, eat, do coffee enemas and sleep.  By the time I was done, I knew I had executed the protocol perfectly but I was beginning to believe that there was something wrong with my body and that maybe I just wasn’t capable of healing.  By the time I began Dr. Gonzalez’ therapy, I had faith in him and his therapy but I was beginning to lose faith in me.

Well, it turns out that the problem wasn’t me, it was the therapy.  The Gerson Therapy just doesn’t work all that well for patients with blood disease and I’m lucky I held stable for so long.  Dr. Gerson himself struggled to help leukemia patients and, just like leukemia, myeloma is a blood cancer.   

Suffice it to say, I’ve been smiling and laughing a lot over the last few weeks.  I’m starting to feel like my old self.   

A Little About the Hair Sample Analysis

The hair test dates back 100 years to Dr. Abrams, a neurologist at Stanford, who believed that our cells, tissues and organs have an electrical field that can be measured and can provide information about various components in our bodies.  The former Chairman of anatomy at Yale and a group of English scientists followed in Dr. Abrams footsteps and developed an instrument that is able to translate that electrical field into meaningful data about various biochemical and physiological functions, as well as disease states. 

As far as Dr. Gonzalez knows, there is only one person who is performing the test properly in this country.  Her name is Joan and she was married to a former patient of Dr. Kelley.  After conventional chemotherapy failed to put her husband’s acute myeloctic leukemia, one of the most aggressive cancers, in remission, Joan’s husband utilized Dr. Kelley’s (Gonzalez) protocol.  On Dr. Kelly’s protocol, he achieved complete remission, only to die seven years later of causes unrelated to his cancer.

Before Dr. Gonzalez began utilizing the hair analysis for his patients, he put the machine and Joan to rigorous testing.  He sent Joan multiple samples for testing with no patient information whatsoever.  Joan was able to identify each patient’s problem and its’ severity with nearly 100% accuracy.

Once he understood the power and accuracy of the hair sample, Dr. Gonzalez began to use the analysis as an adjunctive evaluation method and to fine tune nutritional protocols.  He continues to use it for those purposes and, although he finds it to be more accurate than blood tumor markers, he still requires that his patients complete standard conventional testing in addition to the hair test.