— Michio Kushi is the author of Cancer, Diet and Macrobiotics and a leader of the macrobiotics movement. According to Michio, cancer results largely from improper diet and is classified to be predominantly yin or yang, contraction or expansion of the organs. Once the yin/yang diagnosis is made, specific dietary recommendations can be targeted to the individual. A general macrobiotic food plan would include replacing a high-fat, low-fiber diet with 50 to 60% whole cereal grains, 25% to 30% vegetables, smaller amounts of soup, beans and sea vegetables, plus occasional fish, seasonal fruits, nuts, seeds and condiments. Foods to be avoided are highly processed foods, meat, poultry, eggs and dairy, as well as fruit juices, canned and frozen foods, coffee and commercial tea, and refined sweeteners. Many foods in the basic macrobiotic diet have reduced or inhibited cancer growth. It is a philosophy and a way of life, as well as a nutritional system. In the book Cancer Free, Vivien Newbold, MD, presents six case histories of patients who overcame incurable cancer through macrobiotics. She wrote the book because the American Cancer Society and The National Cancer Institute, as well as medical journals, were not interested in her findings.
•Moerman’s Anti-Cancer Diet — According to Cornelis Moerman, MD, cancer develops as the result of a disturbed metabolism arising from a long period of malnutrition. His healing approach creates an oxygen-rich bodily environment that is hostile to cancer cells. The basic diet includes fresh organic vegetables and fruits, fruit and vegetable juices consumed in place of water and other beverages, whole cereals of all kinds, whole-grain breads, buttermilk, other dairy products in small amounts and natural seasonings. Dried green peas eaten in a vegetable soup, red beet juice and egg yolks are included. The diet forbids eating foods believed to damage the body and prevent nutritious foods from being properly absorbed. His patients avoided meat, fish, shellfish, animal fats, cheese with high fat and salt, egg whites, alcoholic beverages, coffee, tea with caffeine, cocoa, hydrogenated vegetable oils and shortenings, most beans and peas, all added salt, refined white sugar, sugar substitutes and all food containing them. Dr. Moerman was rejected by the Dutch medical community despite the remission of hundreds of incurable cancer patients.
Metabolic Therapy
•Max Gerson, MD (1881-1959) — Dr. Gerson theorized that cancer results from faulty metabolism due to poor nutrition and long-term exposure to pesticides, chemical fertilizers, air and water pollution and other irritants in the environment. If the systems of the body are healthy, especially the liver, pancreas and immune systems, cancer cannot invade the body. Dr. Gerson’s therapy focuses on restoring the body to health and supporting each metabolic requirement by drinking almost 20 pounds of organically grown fruits and vegetables daily. The daily protocol consists of drinking 13 glasses of juice and taking five coffee enemas to detoxify the liver. His protocol also involves injections of liver extract, high doses of thyroid extract, Vitamin C, digestive enzymes and niacin. All salt added to foods is eliminated, and fat protein is restricted. Thousands of cancer patients have reported being cured by the Gerson Therapy over the past 60 years.
•William D. Kelley, DDS (1925-2005) — Kelley’s Nutritional-Metabolic Therapy is based on the premise that a deficiency of pancreatic enzymes contributes to a faulty metabolism. These enzymes are required to attack and destroy the protective coating around trophoblast-like cells—cells naturally produced for healing purposes within the body. However, when these cells multiple out of control, they eventually turn into cancer cells. Pancreatic enzymes keep this destructive process in check. Kelly’s therapy combined large doses of pancreatic enzymes and other supplements intended to allow the body to naturally destroy cancer cells. He also prescribed vigorous detoxification of the liver, gallbladder, intestines, kidneys and lungs. He suggested at least one coffee enema a day. He individualized dietary requirements for each patient based on the ten metabolic types he developed and categorized. The psychological-spiritual aspects of healing were also addressed. Despite his outstanding success in treating cancer for 25 years, he was harassed and forced to shut down his business in 1986. Dr. Nicholas Gonzales in New York City currently uses a modified Kelly approach in the treatment of cancer.
Energy Healing
•Royal Ramond Rife (1888–1971) — The Rife Generator was a device that destroyed cancer-causing microbes using specific electromagnetic frequencies. Rife successfully treated many cancer patients in the 1930s, but the American Medical Association worked to destroy his therapy and technology. Doctors who used Rife’s instrument were harassed. Rife's device used a plasma tube modulated with a frequency that was precisely tuned to the resonant frequency of the targeted pathogens. It destroyed the pathogens, but not the other cells because of the differences in their respective frequencies of resonance. The original Rife treatment consisted of using a specific frequency three times a day for three minutes. Today many types of Rife boxes are on the market; however, there is little data to support their effectiveness. In addition, there is controversy regarding their duplication of the original device.
•Homeopathy — Samuel Hahnemann, MD (1755-1843) was the founder of Homeopathy in Germany. To stimulate a person’s natural healing response, a homeopath dissolves in water minute dilutions of natural substances from the plant, mineral and animal kingdoms. The more the solution is diluted, the greater its potency. Homeopathy considers cancer to be a symptom of an underlying imbalance associated with poor diet, chronic exposure to toxins, genetic disposition, and repressed feelings and thoughts, to name a few. A homeopath treats the person and their disease by using a client’s unique symptoms (considered “strange, rare and peculiar” to the disease) to select a remedy. Homeopathic treatment is intended to strengthen the cancer patient’s immune system, reduce or eliminate tumors, and control metastatic processes. Homeopathic remedies bring a person’s “lifeforce” back into a balance that promotes wellness. If the resonance of one specific remedy is incorrect, the person will require a new remedy to get well. Individual remedies have demonstrated prolonged survival and symptom relief. In the early 1900s the pharmaceutical industry in this country got stronger, and Homeopathy as a legitimate medical treatment was shut down.
•Not included here but worth mentioning: Chinese medicine uses acupuncture to treat cancer successfully.
Mind-Body Healing
Mental patterns stored deep within the subconscious mind have a powerful influence over the body. This unconscious programming is formed from the situations, traumas, emotions and interpretations an individual experiences from birth into adulthood. The experiences from birth to approximately seven years of age form rigid scripts and beliefs that can interfere with a person’s health and wellbeing. An important part of healing involves uncovering and clearing this subconscious programming because it influences a person’s thoughts, feelings, behaviors and spirituality on a daily basis. Cutting edge research is revealing the role cellular memory plays in the disease process.
Negative emotions, like hate, anger, resentment, frustration, fear, depression, helplessness, sorrow, guilt, and shame, to name a few, can produce harmful changes to the body’s biochemistry. In contrast, positive emotions produce life-enhancing biochemical changes. These chemical changes are documented in scientific research. Neuropeptides demonstrate that the body is fluid enough to match the mind. Neuropeptides move with thoughts and affect the body’s chemistry to promote health or destroy it. Chronic stress is another documented source of biochemical changes that interfere with the body’s ability to heal itself. The latest research on stress reports that 80% to 95% of the time stress is the underlying cause of illness. Long held negative thoughts and emotions and chronic stress, whether conscious or unconscious, weaken the immune system and disrupt normal processes within the body. When people change habitual negative thoughts and beliefs to positive thinking, they are changing their emotions and chemistry. They are promoting a healthy body.
According to mind-body therapies, people are able to contribute to their recovery by improving their emotional, mental and spiritual practices. The techniques of visualization, affirmation, meditation and energy psychology can change the course of a disease. A small number of people have
