In December of 1977 two hard lumps located close to each other were removed from my right breast. A biopsy was performed and the lab report said I had “an infiltrating adeno-carcinoma of the breast.” My surgeon said I MUST have an operation within ten days. He recommended a modified mastectomy and implied how lucky I was that they no longer advised radical mastectomies.
Totally unprepared for this pronouncement, I was thrown into absolute terror. I did not smoke and had cut down drastically on beef and junk foods for ten years, innocently thinking these measures would save me from ever hearing this dreadful news.
We knew of Dr. Jack Goldstein, author of Triumph over Disease by Fasting and Natural Diet. In this book, which reads like an adventure story, Dr. Goldstein, a podiatrist and nutritional consultant in Livonia, Michigan, tells how he cured himself of a devastating case of ulcerative colitis.
Since my mind had stopped working I never even thought of him, but fortunately my husband suggested we seek his advice.
Dr. Goldstein had me come in for a consultation and took my history. He said it was to my benefit I had not had radiation or chemotherapy because of resultant destruction of normal cells. He drew up a diet plan for me and with its help I have defeated my cancer.
It is now three years later and without having had the mastectomy, radiation, chemotherapy or any drugs, I am in good health, I function normally, and I have TWO BREASTS.
The diet was a RAW diet for the first two months. For that length of time I was allowed nothing cooked and nothing hot, not even a cup of herb tea. It is basically a detoxifying type of diet designed to make things easy for that important organ, the liver.
It consists mainly of raw vegetable juice followed by raw blended salad, whole salad without dressing, whole fruit, raw-milk unsalted cheese, raw unsalted nuts, and some seeds. The first thing I had to do was buy a juicer and heavy-duty blender.
These foods were to be eaten slowly to allow digestion to start in the mouth. Nuts were to be chewed to a cream. Water for drinking and cooking was to be distilled. I was to avoid taking any medication and was to have nothing artificial in my food, and of course, nothing cooked.
In the beginning most of the foods tasted awful. Only the threat of a mastectomy made me stick to it. I spent hours dreaming about HOT food. I would have sold my soul for a hot vegetable.
I begged for hot tea at the very least. But Dr. Goldstein said the first four months indeed the first year were crucial in changing my internal chemistry. During the first two months on the raw diet I gradually lost twenty pounds, going from a size twelve to a size eight. My stools changed drastically. They became very light in color, also soft, enormous, and frequent. Believe me, raw diet is a sure cure for constipation.
After two months Dr. Goldstein allowed me to use tahini dressing and eat a few lightly steamed vegetables. I will never forget my first hot food – it was an utterly plain baked potato, no salt, no butter. But every bite was heavenly.
When nearly a year had gone by, Dr. Goldstein allowed me occasional fish and chicken. The first time I ate fish I almost died from the unaccustomed load on my stomach.
I must mention that I had a physical ailment that caused me many problems with the diet. About two years before learning about the cancer I had developed colitis inflammation of the colon with attendant gas, pain and diarrhea. My family doctor put me on a bland diet which relieved the pain but caused chronic constipation. When I began the new diet, you can imagine the difficulty my system had tolerating raw foods.
However, I persisted because anything was better than losing a breast. After a few months on the raw diet the colitis became much better. It continues better unless I experience unusual stress; as a rule I have neither diarrhea nor constipation and very little pain.
One reason I was so determined to maintain the diet was because I had two friends who had been stricken by cancer. Both accepted conventional medical treatment, submitting to countless operations, radiation and chemotherapy. Both developed unhealthy brown complexions and terrible fatigue. Both died.
The diet is very time-consuming to prepare and clean up after. Sometimes I feel like a rabbit. Other times I could beat my head against the wall in sheer boredom.
On occasion when I am unduly stressed, hard painful lumps appear in one of my breasts. I eliminate all cooked items, get more rest, and in three or four weeks the lumps disappear. I call it a miracle a miracle of MY body.
I have survived some severe bouts of flu and congested lungs merely by following the same regimen. Dr. Goldstein always tells me, “Your body will get better when it’s ready, don’t rush it.” Unfortunately everyone is in a big rush these days and it’s hard to slow down.
A raw diet allows the body to heal itself because vitamins and minerals have been through the “digestive system of the plant,” so to speak, and therefore are very quickly assimilated by the body.
I’ve done a lot. of studying on my own. The average cancer patient needs to become his own expert. In fact, the average person is well advised to become his own best expert on health. There is no “mystique” about one’s body. If a doctor can learn, limb by limb and gland by gland, so can we. All we’ve got to do is make up our minds that we can. As Dr. Goldstein quotes in his book, “The mind is like a parachute it only functions when open.”
