Holistic Cancer Treatment

“Cancer? But how could it be?” That’s the reaction of some raw foodists on hearing of a fellow aficionado struck with a life-threatening affliction. A reader recently shared with me an interview with a famous Canadian rock star. The entertainer received a diagnosis of breast cancer after ten years as a raw vegan.

Cancer is a multi-faceted disease. We can’t simply point to one aspect of a problem and say, “There’s your culprit!” Nor can we dismiss the raw food diet as ineffective just because someone was eating this way and then was diagnosed with cancer.

Cancer can take twenty years or more to develop. Anyone may already unknowingly have it before ever going raw. The raw food diet doesn't create cancer, but it will reveal some hidden health problems. Quoting my own book Your Right to Be Beautiful: "You cannot blame a cleaning service, if after the house is cleaned up of trash, some termite damage becomes apparent. It was there before, you just couldn’t see it because of all the bedlam." Rest assured, raw fruits, vegetables and greens can save your life!

Research in recent years has discovered that cancer cells can only thrive in a low oxygen, high acid environment. Hard as it is for some to fathom, not all raw foods are cancer-fighting. It is still possible to unwittingly create these cancer-favorable conditions even on the raw foods diet—especially if the diet is not 100 percent raw, or still includes coffee and alcohol.

Also, as is often the case with people still transitioning, if the diet is unbalanced or excessive with too many fats or sugars and not enough greens, the same thing can happen. Greens supply us with minerals, which in turn are used to alkalize the blood.

The theory goes: if you don’t get sufficient minerals nutritionally, your body will use its own to alkalize your blood, leaving you with less than you had, adding to the acidifying cycle. Minerals come easily with abundant greens, and also sea vegetables.

Though most cancers are diet-related, some aren’t. Environmental toxins are directly responsible for a number of cancers. Cigarette smoke, solvents, chemicals in the water, and electromagnetic pollution bombard us on all sides. Without specific measures to combat these and other hazards, you can see how its accumulation can eventually result in a breakdown of body defenses. Heredity is a major contributing factor as well.

Emotional health also figures in the development of cancer. Louise Hay offers an inspiring story of how she came to terms with her own cancer, beating it with bodily and emotional cleansing. She has since become a sought-after healer and self-help author. Suppressed and negative emotions have been shown time and again to factor into the development of cancer. The old proverb is true: It’s not what you’re eating—it’s what's eating you.

In my new book Raw Foods and Hot Yoga you’ll find a chapter devoted to the concept of proper sleep in order to assure adequate melatonin, vital in cancer prevention—especially breast cancer. Something as easily overlooked as getting enough sleep at the right times can be crucial in self-protection.

This entertainer’s story isn’t over yet. She is alive today after months of chemo and radiation therapy. The interview explained she is on estrogen blocking medications and soon will have a hysterectomy. Choosing such method of treatment seems highly unusual for people with the “raw food mentality,” especially considering there are successful raw-lifestyle alternatives for dealing with cancer.

Over the years, I have visited the Optimum Health Institute twelve times. I am also well familiar with the work done at the Hippocrates Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida. I have personally met hundreds of people whose cancer went into remission on these programs.

Wheatgrass juice can play a significant role in a person’s recovery, along with colon cleansing, which should serve to remind us that a raw food diet is not necessarily the same as a therapeutic raw food regimen. A healing regimen certainly has its place in some people’s lives, even while on the raw food diet. If more people only knew!

The raw food diet is just the foundation of the raw food lifestyle. Cancer is a lifestyle disease. What this means is: The individual must address the cancer issue from several angles—including prevention and treatment alike.

Am I saying that some conventional methods such as chemotherapy never bring about a desired result? No. Conventional western medicine isn’t wholesale wrong. And it’s definitely not wrong—purists, prepare to cringe—to seek treatments within its walls. I’m saying just this…There are effective alternatives that, if applied correctly and sometimes with professional guidance, can bring about something even better than the mere absence of symptoms. They can also bring about abundant and lifelong health. And isn’t that what brought us to our raw food diet in the first place?