Fruit as Friend, Fruit as Foe: Simple Strategies to Find Out if You Should Fill or Forget the Fruit Bowl
Have you noticed that A LOT of health writers place fruit on their “hit list” of foods to avoid? Some even put it right up there as just a notch above high fructose corn syrup!
So what’s wrong with fruit? Actually, there is a book by that name, and, not surprisingly, I own it. I bought it back in the dinosaur days when you actually had to physically own a book in order to read it!
It was at a time when I was exploring macrobiotics, and raw fruit was only supposed to be about 5% of calories on any given day. If you are small and relatively inactive like most people and sustain yourself on a 1500 calorie a day regime, that amounts to less than one piece of fruit.
Fruit: To Fear or to Cheer?
In general, when online authors suggest you should limit or eliminate fruit they tell you that fruit:
- triggers outbreaks of candida yeast (Donna Gates)
- triggers blood sugar swings and cravings (South Beach Diet)
- increases risk of diabetes (Joseph Mercola)
- promotes an acid residue that can feed cancer (Robert O. Young)
- promotes “composting” that can result in overgrowth of unfriendly microorganisms (Gabriel Cousins)
Personally, what I’ve observed is all over the map.
I’ve seen diabetics on my green cleanse program normalize their blood sugars within 3 days while drinking nothing but green smoothies that contain between 40 and 50% fruit by volume. That adds up to a lot of fruit over the course of the day.
On the other hand, I’ve seen other diabetics spike their sugars by adding a few strawberries to a green drink.
I’ve read accounts of women who’ve healed from chronic yeast overgrowth while eating a diet consisting of primarily fresh fruit. I’ve also personally coached patients who are so sugar sensitive they have yeast flare-ups after a few bites of apple.
So What’s the Truth? Is Fruit a Friend or Foe?
Over two decades of guiding people through life changing diet and lifestyle changes has taught me one thing for certain… and that is that there is no single set of eating rules that work for all of the people all of the time.
We are each biochemically and energetically unique. We are shaped by our genes, early exposures, the way we were nurtured, how safe we felt in our early years, our diets, movement and sleep patterns, and even our thoughts. Your response to the world is slightly different from mine. This is true of how we behave in response to outside stimuli as well as how we respond to food. It is said that one man’s food is another man’s poison.
I’ve found over the years that, for many people, one of the best ways to determine which foods are helpful and which are hurtful is to test. And one of the best ways to test is to remove all the potentially problematic foods and add them back in one at a time.
This is called elimination/provocation.
For many people, the best way to do the elimination phase is by fasting on either water or vegetable juice for a prescribed length of time and then reintroduce foods such as fruits.
Solutions for Finding Out if You Are Fruit Sensitive
If you’ve been wondering if you’re sensitive to fruit sugar, here are some questions to ask yourself to determine if fruit is a friend, foe, or in between:
- Do find yourself feeling spacey or light headed after eating fruit by itself?
- Do you crave sugar after eating fruit?
- Does eating lots of fruit cause intestinal upset?
- Do you break out in a rash when you eat lots of fruit?
Carefully observe how you respond to eating fruit and experiment with using low-sugar fruits versus high-sugar fruits. Also try combining fruit with greens and eliminating fruit for a few weeks.
If this is a course of action you’re willing to try, here’s what I suggest:
- Follow 10 days of eating no fruit at all, except for lemons. The ideal way to do this is by fasting or juicing.
- After your 10 days of elimination, eat a meal containing 3-5 pieces of fresh ripe fruit all by itself. Monitor how you feel over the next few hours.
- Next, eat a meal containing the same amount of fruit but this time eat it on a bed of greens or blended with greens into a smoothies.
Try this with a few different types of fruit, in particular with berries. Add cinnamon to your fruit and see if that changes things. You may have blood sugar imbalances that can be corrected by a 30-day insulin receptor reset.
Over the years, I’ve developed my own special relationship with fruit. I rarely eat a lot of it by itself. Personally, I feel best when I eat fruit along with greens.
The first step is to start on the elimination path. If you need support, take part in a group juice cleanse with other people. You can join me with Tera Warner of The Raw Divas for a 10-Day Juice Cleanse starting on August 1st. You’ll also find extra educational support here in our radio show on “How Juicing Affects Your Blood Sugar”.
Fruit does not have to be your foe forever. If you know you have fruit issues and you want to heal your sensitivies, address problems with abdominal fat, and improve your overall energy, you’ll find your best strategies for health and support using the Insulin Sensitivity Restoration System which you’ll find here.
Tags: blood sugar, fruit, fruit sensitivity, green juice, insulin, insulin resistance, reversing insulin resistance
Posted in Cleansing Programs, Reduce Belly Fat, Vibrant Health
39 Quick and Easy Ways to Reduce Your Risk of Getting Cancer
Cancer is often referred to as a modern day disease, as if it was barely recognized as a disease back at the turn of the 20th century.
Yet I recently found a book called “Cancer…Its Causes, Symptoms and Treatment”, by Eli G. Jones, MD. It was recommended by my herbal medicine mentor David Winston. It sat on my shelf for almost 2 years and I just happened to come upon it during my recent reorganization frenzy. What I read blew me away.
The cover looks modern enough, since it was reprinted in 2004, yet the inside has many tell-tale signs of age. The book was written in 1921! What shocked me were the cancer statistics presented in the very first chapter. Before reading this, I had thought that cancer was practically unheard of in the early part of the 1900’s.
In the US in 1890, there were 18,536 deaths from cancer. In 1900 there were 29,222 and in 1921 there were over 50,000. In 1921, it was estimated that one man in 32 and one woman in 11 die of cancer.
Cancer Statistics: Are We Really Making Progress?
Conventional medicine would like us to believe that great strides have been made in the eradication of cancer. Yet the statistics say quite the opposite. Today, in the US alone, there are over 562,000 deaths per year from cancer and it’s estimated that 1 in 2 or 1 in 3 people will get cancer. And if do you get cancer, the odds are bleak if you rely on modern medicine to bail you out.
The Journal of Clinical Oncology in 2004 (16:549) published a study done by two Australian oncologists who looked at every randomized controlled clinical trial between 1990 and 2004. On average, the 5 year survival rate for 22 types of cancer treated with chemotherapy and radiation was 2.1 percent. Admittedly, the survival rates tend to be higher in the general population than in studies. Michael Boyer, head of oncology at the Sydney Cancer Center estimated the 5 year survival rate to be closer to 5 or 6 %. It should be noted that in drug trials, anything with less than 30% effectiveness is considered placebo.
The cancers with the best 5 year survival were:
- Hodgkin’s lymphoma – 40.3%
- Testicular cancer – 37.7%
- Cervical Cancer – 12%
- Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma 10.5%
What About Nutritional Cancer Interventions?
Are the statistics much better for non-conventional treatments? Hard to say because we really don’t have good statistical analysis for non conventional treatment approaches. And to further complicate things, most people who undergo alternative cancer protocols do so AFTER conventional treatment has failed. At this point their bodies are so ravaged from the chemotherapy, radiation and surgery that it would take a miracle for them to recover.
Still, there are so many case reports of people who have been given up as dead who turned to nutrition and natural therapies and went on to live for decades.
The Hippocrates Institute in Florida was originally founded by Ann Wigmore who at the age of 56 was given 6 months to live. She turned to the natural medicine wisdom of her grandmother, completely reversed her disease and went on to use her approach to do the same for thousands of others with cancer and other serious illness.
The Gerson Institute in San Diego California, uses a program of organic foods, juicing, coffee enemas, detoxification and natural supplements developed by Dr. Max Gerson in the 1920’s and has helped thousands of cancer patients recover their health.
The Oasis of Healing in Tempe, Arizona, is a comprehensive and integrative medical and healing facility that helps cancer patients and their families learn to re-establish health. It’s run by Dr. Thomas Lodi, whose 3 pillared approach has restored health to thousands of people. Dr. Lodi combines juicing, living foods and emotional healing with elements of modern medicine to guide the patients to stop making cancer, target and eliminate the cancer without harm to healthy cells and enhance the immune system.
There are many other healing centers that utilize natural methods, mainly diet and nutritional balance, movement and attitude in helping hundreds of thousands of cancer patients regain their health. Others include Optimal Health Institute in Austin and San Diego, Creative Health Institute in Michigan, and an Oasis of Hope Hospital near Los Angeles, California.
Strengthening Cancer Defenses vs Killing Cancer Cells
The approach of natural cancer interventions is to increase the body’s ability to get rid of cancer cells or to cause the cancer cells to self-destruct. Contrast that to chemo therapy which initiates machine gun fire on all cells, hoping the cancer cells die before the good ones. Statistics tell us that’s not what usually happens. Many cancer deaths are a result of the treatment, not the illness
According to Mike Anderson, author of “Healing Cancer from the Inside Out”, when caught during the initiation or promotion stage, a true anti-cancer diet has 100 percent chance of reversing the disease. When it’s progressed beyond that, nutritional treatment extends patients lives form months to years, or at minimum, reduced pain and suffering.
Seems to me the best approach is to adopt a diet and lifestyle to PREVENT cancer long before it strikes. Prevention programs target what you eat, how you think, the quality of your relationships, with others and yourself and a long list of lifestyle choices over which you have day to day choice.
There are many books and many natural cancer prevention and management programs. The one thing that almost all have in common is that the diet is primarily or exclusively plant based, fresh, whole living foods.
Your body makes cancer cells every day. Your body also has the ability to destroy the cancer cells before they multiply and create a problem. Your daily choices determine how effectively your immune system checks the growth of cancer cells keeps you safe and healthy. If you wait until cancer is detectable, you’ll have to work a whole lot harder to get rid of it that you would have to prevent it in the first place.
It’s your choice. You can choose health or you can make choices that increase your risk of cancer. What will it be?
39 Quick and Easy Ways to Reduce Your Risk of Getting Cancer
- Eat plenty of sulforaphane. Say what? Sounds like the name of a chemotherapy drug. It, in fact, is a compound found in the cruciferous family of vegetables. These are broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale and all their relatives. Sulphorophane blocks cancer cells. Broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower also contain a compound called indole-3-carbinol that can combat breast cancer by converting a cancer-promoting estrogen into a more protective variety. If that’s not enough to have you packing in the crucifers, they also contain lutein and zeaxanthin, antioxidants that help decrease prostate and other cancers.
- Try a daily dose of ellagic acid. It’s found in about 46 different foods. The highest concentrations are in berries, particularly raspberries, and pomegranates, grapes and walnuts. Ellagic acid stops cancer cells from mitosis, the process they use to replicate themselves, prevents destruction of the p53 tumor suppressor gene, and causes cancer cells to commit suicide.
- Eat an alkalizing diet. Your blood maintains its pH slightly alkaline at 7.35. Life presents acid residue at every turn – when you exercise, get stressed, and in the foods and chemicals you take into your body. Foods that create an alkaline residue help balance life’s acids. Cancer thrives in an acid environment. Additional information on acid/alkaline balance is found at http://drritamarie.com/Articles.htm
- Exercise daily and vigorously. Cancer cells thrive in an environment deprived of oxygen.
- Take a break from the news. Studies show that the biochemical changes that occur when you’re stressed worried or feeling powerless affect tumor growth and spread by effecting DNA repair and the regulation of cell growth.
- Give your body an oil change. Heated oils oxidize, causing cancer-producing free radicals to form. Switch them out for raw omega 3 fats like flax seeds, chia seeds and hemp seeds. Minimize the use of oils. Instead choose whole food fats.
- Tame your sweet tooth. Cancer cells thrive on sugar. It’s best to eliminate all forms of refined sugar, and if you already have cancer, its best to eliminate all sweet foods, including fruit, with the exception perhaps of those fruits mentioned below, used therapeutically for their cancer fighting properties.
- Avoid animal foods. Study after study has reported on the cancer protective effects of a diet free of meat and dairy products. One of the most renowned is the “China Study”, conducted by T. Colin Campbell, and published in a book with the same name. Animal foods are devoid of fiber and travel slowly through your digestive track, producing toxic metabolic wastes en route. One mechanism proposed for the increased cancer rates in meat eaters is that the digestion of meat requires large quantities of the pancreatic enzymes trypsin and chymotrypsin, which leaves less of these enzymes available to dissolve the protein coat on cancer cells.
- Get plenty of sunshine. Vitamin D is made in your skin from exposure to sunlight. Maintaining appropriate blood levels of vitamin D has been shown to protect against many forms of cancer. If you can’t be out in the sun, take a vitamin D supplement and test your vitamin D blood levels regularly.
- Eat organic foods as much as possible. Pesticides affect your immune system and detoxification systems and put you at higher risk of cancer.
- Use “Green” cleaning products. Products using natural substance reduce the toxic load. Many of the chemicals used in commercial cleaning products are carcinogenic.
- Keep cholesterol levels in a safe range. Excess cholesterol can trigger cancer proliferative estrogens.
- Keep your colon clean. You need to be having at least 2 good sized bowel movements each day to keep the waste flowing out. Sluggish bowels predispose you to toxic recirculation and increased risk of cancer.
- Breathe deeply and fully to increase oxygenation of your tissues and minimize cancer risk. Cancer can’t thrive in well oxygenated environment.
- Avoid refined foods. These are devoid of cancer protective phytochemicals and nutrients and usually contain preservatives and chemicals that can increase your risk of cancer
- Chew your food thoroughly. When you eat under stress and on the run, your digestion becomes inefficient. Toxic residues accumulate from unchewed and undigested food, leaving you more prone to immune stress and cancer formation.
- Avoid food allergens. Anything you are allergic to creates an immune system response, which distracts your system from the more important work of cancer surveillance and destruction.
- Drink plenty of pure water. Insufficient hydration decreases your kidney’s ability to excrete water soluble toxins. Recirculation of these poisons increases your cancer risk. Rule of thumb is ½ your body weight in fluid ounces each day.
- Eat lots of green leafy vegetables every day. They are loaded with cancer protective phytochemicals, minerals and nutrients that protect from cancer and disrupt the functioning of cancer cells.
- Load up on Vitamin C. It’s a powerful anti-cancer nutrient that’s frequently given in IV form to treat cancer. Foods like fresh greens, bell peppers, berries, citrus, and sweet potatoes are rich sources. Supplementary vitamin C can be taken in the form of buffered ascorbic acid or whole food concentrates, like camu camu, amla, goji, acerola cherry and pomegranate powder.
- Eat laetrile containing foods, like apricot and peach kernels, buckwheat, berry seeds, grape seeds, chick peas, lentils, lima beans, mung sprouts, cashews, alfalfa brown rice, millet, bitter almond and macadamia nuts. Laetrile has very powerful anti-cancer properties. It works by killing cancer cells and building the immune system to fend off future outbreaks. For the treatment of cancer, many experts recommend a daily dose of 24 – 40 apricot, spread throughout the day.
- Eat carrots, which contain thousands, of phytonutrients, many of which have already been identified for their cancer-fighting abilities.
- Eat flax seeds, which contain antioxidant lignans that block or suppress cancerous growth.
- Season with Garlic. Its immune-enhancing allium compounds .increase the activity of immune cells that fight cancer, help block carcinogens from entering cells, and indirectly help break down and slow tumor development. Diallyl sulfide, a compound found in the oil of garlic, has been shown to deactivate carcinogens in the liver.
- Enjoy Citrus fruits. Grapefruit and oranges contain monoterpenes, which appear by clear carcinogens from the body. Tangerine peels contain cancer destroying Salvestrol 40, a type of phytoalexin produced to repel insects or fungi. Oranges and lemons contain Iimonene which stimulates cancer-killing immune cells
- Eat red grapes, especially concord grapes with the seeds. They contain cancer protective compounds such as ellagic acid, catechin, quercetin, oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC), resveratrol, pterostilbene, selenium, lycopene, lutein, laetrile, beta-carotene, caffeic acid and/or ferulic acid and gallic acid! There are several books written about a cancer treatment called the grape cure, during which a water fast is followed by a diet of blended grapes. The idea is that the cancer cells love the grapes because of their high sugar content and while eating the sugar, they are poisoned by the chemo therapy that grapes naturally contain.
- Make friends with mushrooms. There are a number of them that have been shown to have cancer protective effective and immune building effects, including shiitake, maitake, and reishi. The mushrooms contain lentinan, beta glucan and lectin –powerful substances that help build immunity.
- Eat 2 Brazil nits every day. They provide cancer protective selenium, an essential mineral. Other nuts contain the antioxidants quercetin and campferol that may suppress the growth of cancers.
- Season your food with cancer protective herbs and spices. Turmeric is extremely powerful as an antioxidant and anti-cancer agent. It inhibits production of cyclo-oxygenase 2 (COX-2), which reduces inflammation and cancer cell growth, especially bowel and colon cancer. Rosemary contains carnosol, which inhibits breast and skin tumors in animals. Rosemary may help increase the activity of detoxification enzymes.
- Indulge in asparagus when in season. It contains cancer reducing saponins. Blend 1 or 2 stalks into a green soup or salad dressing.
- Add beets to your salads. They contain anti-cancer proanthocyanidins (OPC’s).
- Get tropical. Enjoy raw pineapple and papaya. In addition to lots of vitamin C, they contain the enzymes bromelain, papain and pexoxidase that have been shown to have anti-cancer properties.
- Eat from the sea. In addition to being an excellent source of minerals that support your immune system, sea vegetables contain substances which bind to heavy metals and toxins and eliminate them from your body. Powdered sea vegetables like kelp and dulse can be added to salads, soups and smoothies.
- Switch from coffee to green tea. Green tea contains polyphenols , one in particular called particularly epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG , that inhibit an enzyme required for cancer cell growth and kills cancer cells without harming healthy cells.
- Eat tomatoes. They contain lycopene, an antioxidant that attacks cancer promoting free radicals. Blend them into a sauce with rosemary, basil, thyme and oregano for extra immune support.
- Prioritize fresh foods. Adopt a diet that contains 75% or more fresh raw foods, including lots of sprouts and greens.
- Drink a green smoothie every day to provide lots of fresh raw cancer fighting plants.
- Learn to love your lawn. There is a cancer protecting effect of several of the cereal grasses. There have been several prominent rat studies which showed a definite reduction in cell mutation in rats fed wheat grass juice along with a highly carcinogenic substance called benzopyrene compared to when they were fed the benzopyrene alone. Barley grass extract was demonstrated to inhibit growth of human prostate, breast and melanoma cancer cells in a study done at George Washington University Medical Centre. While wheat grass juice may not be the tastiest juice you can drink, it sure does appear to be one of the most health promoting ones.
- Practice the Art of Appreciation. There is no better way of getting your stress hormones settled down and your immune system fired up than taking time to deeply appreciate your blessings. Do it daily, morning and evening. Find 3 things to appreciate and experience how good it feels.
So there you have it. Creating cancer protective habits is not difficult. There are lots to choose from. While you don’t need to master all 39 tips all at once, the more you do, the better your odds of protecting yourself from clenches of cancer.
To hear more, visit www.drritamarie.com/cancertalk.
Love, Health and Joy ..and lots of Fun!
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: alkalize, Ann Wigmore, Cancer, cancer prevention, cruciferous, detoxification, emotional health, green juice, green leafy vegetables, green smoothie, immune system, Living Foods, natural medicine, sugar and cancer, sulphorophane, sunshine, wheat grass juice
Posted in Cancer Nutrition, Green Smoothies, Holistic Nutrition, Raw and Living Foods, Vibrant Health
My Commitment to My Adrenals: No Fatigue, Just Sleep!
When I work with people with fatigue symptoms, related to thyroid and adrenal overload, I talk about several key things:
- Whole foods, fresh diet, high in raw foods
- Proper hydration
- Omega 3 fat balance
- Getting off allergenic and inflammatory foods, including gluten, dairy, and sugar.
- Fresh air and sunshine
- Exercise
- Restoring their adrenal reserve and enhancing detoxification via sleep.
I model the first 6 beautifully. I am committed to being as healthy and vibrant as I can be so that I can be a role model to others.
So why is number 7 so ###!!## hard for me?
I did really well on my sleep commitment the first week of my 30 day challenge.
My adrenals loved me for it, and I warded off a bout with adrenal fatigue by giving myself what I needed.
So why can’t I make a firm and lasting commitment?
I’m backsliding. I won’t even say how late it was when my head finally hit the pillow.
There’s still lots to do…there always will be. Yet I am off to meet my pillow and keep my commitment to me.
I made no commitments today and I kept none. What a deal. Tomorrow is a new day.
I did make myself a quart of green juice to start the day. It was lovely. I also did a great job on my omega 3′s today. The subject is on my mind, as balancing the immune system was the topic of the week for Balance My Body.
I noticed dark circles under my eyes…not good for a fatigue expert to look tired. Not good for someone who prides herself in looking much younger and having the body of a 20 something year-old to notice signs of aging.
Commitments for Sunday, and the rest of the week.
- I will get outside and exercise
- I will make at least 16 ounces of green juice and 32 ounces of smoothie
- I will get my omega 3′s again
- I will eat consciously and with gratitude
- I will…can I say it and mean it…I will…..I will…..go to bed by 11PM…at least Sunday
Please hold me to it. Write me and ask me what time I went to bed. I can’t lie.
Post below and be bold enough to check in and make sure I am doing what I committed to. Sleep is vital for health. Food is great, exercise is great, greens are great…but they will only take me so far if I keep burning the candle at both ends.
Have a wonderful Sunday.
Sleeeeeeeeeeeep!
Love, Health and Joy,
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: adrenal exhaustion, Adrenal Fatigue, adrenal gland, chronic fatigue, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, Exercise, Exhaustion, fatigue, fatigue symptoms, fun, green juice, green smoothie, green smoothie. detoxification programs, liver detoxification, Raw Foods, sleep
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Fatigue Treatment, Gluten Free Diet, Gluten Free recipes, Omega 3 Fats, Sleep for Vibrant Health, Vibrant Health
Cancer and Children, the SAD Connection: Are Raw and Living Foods Part of the Solution?
It’s always sad to hear about a child who’s suffering and dying from cancer. It’s heartbreaking, actually. Such a waste of a life, to be stricken down so young. And what a painful experience for a parent…to lose a child is the worst nightmare of every parent.
Yet it happens every day, and it is frustrating to no end to observe the scenario. As you may recall, I lost my sister to cancer just over a year ago, and I watched in horror as they tore her immune system to shreds with the drugs, foods and treatments, in the hope that they could kill the cancer. She, like most cancer patients, died from the treatment, not the disease.
How can you expect a body to heal from cancer when it’s fed hospital food…white bread, milk, sugar, canned vegetables and bottled fruit juice. None of the food has life, and as such it has no ability to create life, or save life. It has only the power to destroy life.
This post was prompted by the story of a young boy named Dominic. I met his mom, Elaina Love, for the first time earlier this year, and again just a few weeks ago when she came to Austin to teach a class on how to make holiday meals that are life giving, in place of the holiday typical menu, containing foods that are life depleting.
Elaina and Dominic
I cried as I read this story and I’m tearing up again as I recount it. I have a son who’s around the same age, and the thought of losing him is unbearable. As I read Dominic and Elaina’s story, I couldn’t help but put myself into her shoes, and feel the intensity of the pain she is experiencing.
Dominic, age 14, became ill with leukemia earlier this year, and much to Elaina’s anguish, Dominic and his dad decided to put their trust in mainstream medicine — chemotherapy, radiation and a bone marrow transplant. All the while, he continued to eat the food served in the hospital,and the foods he and his dad chose, rather than follow Elaina’s recommendations of green foods, wheat grass juice and no sugar.
They thought it was successful until November 25, 2009 when the doctors told them the leukemia was back and more aggressive than ever. There was nothing more that mainstream medicine could offer Dominic, except to keep him comfortable as they waited for him to die. Their estimate was that he had between 1 week and 1 month to remain on the planet.
Finally, Dominic and his dad agreed to follow Elaina’s advice and take him to the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida, where they are famous for helping people to heal from cancer and where people go when they have no other choice. There Dominic will eat a completely green raw diet consisting of juices and greens, get daily wheatgrass implants , oxygen therapy and other non conventional therapies that the institute has to offer. It is their last hope.
Before leaving for Hippocrates, Elaina took Dominic off everything that feeds cancer- sugar, fruit,bread, dairy, pastries, salt, caffeine, meat,and everything that is served on he hospital cafeteria trays sent to his room three times a day. He started consuming liquid blue green algae, wheat grass , green juice , cucumbers, avocado, lettuce, red bell peppers and only raw, vegan foods that contain no sugar. They stopped the IV, which contained sugar water.
Elaina and Dominic have been at Hippocrates for about 10 days now, and Elaina reports that he seems to be getting stronger. Only time will tell. You can follow Dominic’s progress on Elaina’s blog, at http://elainalove.wordpress.com/
The therapy and airfare combined are going to be close to $20,000 for the first 3 weeks. Drs Brian and Ann Marie Clement are offering a partial scholarship and there is a donation fund being set up.
You can help in a several ways:
1- Keep Dominic and Elaina in your thoughts and prayers. Send healing energy in their direction.
2- Donate, even $5!
http://www.purejoyplanet.com/store/index.php?cPath=26
Any help you can send their way would be so great.
3- Shop at Elaina’s website. Christmas and Hanukkah are coming up. Buy a gift for yourself or your loved ones. Buy Elaina’s books, DVDs, e-books, or a nut milk bag or Irish Moss.
http://purejoyplanet.com/store/
I bought her cultured foods DVD, that includes how to make kefir, saurkraut sour dough crackers, yogurt and more, her Irish moss e-book, Flavors of China e-book, and vanilla, cherry and hazelnut essential oils. Plus I donated $25! Everything helps.
Elaina Love is a professional Chef and Instructor, Lifestyle Counselor and Owner/Director of the raw food store and Pure Joy Planet. She authored the raw, vegan, living food recipe book Elaina’s Pure Joy Kitchen. She is the creator of the Amazing Nut Milk Bag.
Elaina has been teaching raw food courses worldwide since 1998. She is a Chef/Instructor at the renowned Living Light Culinary Arts Institute where she has been on staff since 2000.
Here’s what Elaina has to say:
“It is my life purpose to help people be as healthy, feel full of life force and joy that they can be, and I have helped soooo many people through my teachings, recipes, personal example and website. My family, however, from my son to my ex to my parents, have never wanted to embrace raw foods, and in fact shun it at all costs.
I got over it a long time ago and didn’t give it much thought anymore. But when Dom got cancer in Jan of 2009, my world turned upside down. I wanted so badly to help him with raw foods, but he and his dad just wouldn’t bite (literally and figuratively). So even though I begged, cried and pleaded, they opted for the traditional medical route.
And after awhile my initial rage filled resistance was kept under wraps to protect my son, and spirit told me to surrender and go along with what they had chosen, so I did and embrace it I did, with every fiber of my being hoping with all my heart that it would work.
I have been told by higher power that it’s going to be one of those miracle stories, where instead of the boy getting the girl, he gets the rest of his life…healthy, happy, cancer free and no drugs (the girl comes later)!”
Donations have been pouring in to help Dominic, and Elaina to pay for the expensive treatment at Hippocrates, for which insurance will not pay even a penny. Overwhelmed by the generosity. Se says”The gratitude I feel for you as I write this, even though I don’t know who you are yet, is so huge I want to cry”.
Let this story serve as a wake up call. Your children, our children, the children of the planet, NEED to be fed whole fresh foods, not the packaged, refined, cancer-causing fare served in schools, restaurants and most people’s homes.
We need to wake up, as a culture, to the fact that nature has its “laws“. Just as you can’t defy gravity, you can’t defy your body’s nutritional needs, feed yourself and your family toxic foods,and expect to be healthy.
Over 40% of the US population will get cancer. A large percentage of those WILL die from it. And these numbers are going up. The only way to put yourself and your loved ones on the “safe” side of the fence is to throw all the cancer causing foods and chemicals over the fence, and as far away from you as possible.
It’s painful to lose someone you love. It’s even more painful when you lose them to a preventable illness, as I lost my parents then my younger sister. Make a commitment today to, as Gandhi said, to ” be the change you want to see in the world”. Create vibrant health for you AND your loved ones, one bite at a time. Whatever the temporary pleasure attained from eating SAD food, it’s tainted by the long term suffering of cancer.
Get support if you need it. Surround yourself by like minded people who care about their health. Get a mentor and make a commitment to your health, your family’s health and the health of the planet. Dare to make unpopular decisions, and you’ll live to tell about it.
Love, Health and Joy,
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: Cleansing Programs, detoxification programs, Elaina Love, green juice, Hippocrates Health Institute, leukemia, Living Foods, livingfoods, Raw Foods, raw foods diet, sprouts, wheat grass juice, whole foods
Posted in Articles, Cancer, Cleansing Programs, Raw Foods
