For most, it’s some kind of “kooky” avoidance of “real” medicine…
“Conventional” doctors treat symptoms, have not been trained to promote health and really don’t want to hear about your success stories with “alternative medicine”
Until they get their own tragic diagnosis of disease—like Sharlene in the video below. For most, it’s something that you seek out after you’ve been diagnosed with a serious disease. Then, when thousands of people return to their cardiologist after reversing their heart disease by following the advice of Dr. Esselstyn and Dr. Campbell, their doctor usually utters something like:
“Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.”
But the cardiologist doesn’t really want to know any of the details—and deep down inside is probably thinking that she’s lost a patient.
We know that 95% of the cases of heart disease and type 2 diabetes are easily reversible with a whole foods, plant-based diet. But for cancer, the reversal chances vary greatly as to whether the disease is slowed, stopped or reversed. Further, in terms of reversal of any disease—most of the evidence is anecdotal. Here is a video of Sharlene, who had her cancer reversed by following the Gerson Therapy guidelines. It is a 2009 video that has been seen almost 50,000 times.
Although her story is compelling, she makes a disturbing comment late in the video about “finishing the Gerson Program.” It sounded like she was seeing the plant-based Gerson approach as being something you resort to temporarily after getting your death sentence. Eventually, people everywhere need to know about the health-promoting power of whole plants to prevent the vast majority of ALL of our chronic diseases.
Meet Sharlene
More on “alternative medicine.” Wikipedia says it’s any practice claiming to heal that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine. Claims about the efficacy of alternative medicine tend to lack evidence, and have been shown to repeatedly fail during testing.
But the main problem with “conventional medicine” is that most of the medical practice has become one of treating diseases that never need exist. Like Dr. Esselstyn says, “Heart disease a toothless paper tiger that need never exist.”
Alternative Medicine can mean different things to different people. For me, it’s not a temporary treatment for a problem—it’s a lifelong process of promoting and maintaining vibrant health.
Confusion over clarity. An internet search of “alternative medicine” yielded 88 million results with treatments, therapies and potions that boggle the mind. No doubt there are some very effective treatments—but how is one supposed to know the difference between a scam and a reliable and effective treatment?
Our entire medical system took the wrong road long ago when it began promoting “allopathic” medicine over health promotion. As the root words imply, allopathic means treating symptoms—mostly with drugs. But there is a better way; in fact, Hippocrates spoke of it thousands of years ago when he said, “Your food will be your medicine and your medicine will be your food.”
He was speaking of the need for all species (including humans) to eat the food that nature intended. In the case of humans, that is whole, plant-based foods. Unfortunately, even our most recognized convert to plant-based eating (Bill Clinton) often speaks of his diet-style in a manner that makes it sound like an “alternative” approach that is only needed when you’re been diagnosed with heart disease, cancer or other chronic diseases.
Bill Clinton making a point about his “plant-based” diet to Wolf Blitzer on CNN. You can see this video on the Video tab of this website.
The Bottom Line. Until this superior diet-style becomes widely accepted by the majority of the people, Bill Clinton’s health promoting diet will always be considered just some kind of “kooky” therapy to consider only when you’re sick.
But because of the work of heroes like Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, future generations may enjoy a life of vibrant health—mostly free of the need for what we now know as conventional medicine. Exactly what Hippocrates had in mind.
The good news is that you don’t have to wait for those future generations. You can embrace the health promoting powers of whole plants for you and your family—NOW!
Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com
- The movie that’s changing the lives of millions: Forks Over Knives DVD
- Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
- An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
- Dr. McDougall’s new book, The Starch Solution, with lots of great recipes.
Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic Survey. It takes less than five minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com
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J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.
For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at Lisa’s 4Leaf Kitchen.
Got a question? Let me hear from you at jmorrishicks@me.com. Or give me a call on my cell at 917-399-9700.
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Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.
—J. Morris Hicks, board member, T. Colin Campbell Foundation
J. Morris Hicks, engineer. writer. big picture guy. 
WOW! Thanks, Leo — I have had the full “Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days” DVD for a few years
http://www.rawfor30days.com/store.html
and now it can be watched on the internet for free! I googled “Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days – Part 1” and the first part is posted on VIMEO, too! Here is that earlier part:
http://vimeo.com/27278058
I’ll put your Part 2 link here, too:
Readers: Be aware that this is a medically supervised mature program conducted by the famous Dr. Gabriel Cousens,
http://www.gabrielcousens.com/HOME/ABOUT/tabid/1953/language/en-US/Default.aspx
at his rustic facility —
The Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center is located in Patagonia, Arizona, U.S.A. 866-394-2520
Links:
http://www.treeoflife.nu/DRCOUSENS/tabid/1962/language/en-US/Default.aspx
Jim Hicks — look into giving publicity to the Tree of Life approach, and the True North Health Center approach.
We know that going to plant-based whole-foods nutrition works for reversing most chronic diseases and have had participants in our own grassroots “Healthy Lifestyle Education & Support 10-session Program” prove it many times locally!
You can get rapid results with drastic changes in nutrition — take your pick — water-only-fasting and juice-only fasting (http://www.healthpromoting.com/)
, and all-raw-foods (done by Dr. Cousens), and just whole-foods, plant-based-for-life done by Dr. McDougall, Dr. Fuhrman, Dr. Esselstyn, Dr. Barnard, Dr. Ornish, Dr. Harris, Nathan Pritikin, RD Novick, Dr. Gupta, RD Davis, Dr. Goldhamer, Dr. Klaper, and many more!
This is not a burden! Make pursuing optimal health through optimal nutrition for herbivore-designed humans exciting and fun!
Another great post, especially since we get another chance to see Sharlene. It’s good to hear it has been seen 50,000 times since 2009. This should go viral so people can see what changes may occur in a month if one changes to whole foods.
She was into her 21st month on the Gerson Therapy and the statement about “finishing” probably referred to the two-year mark that is usually reached before resorting to a less intensive program but surely where a person continues to maintain a whole plant-food diet because at that time it is hoped the body’s healing systems have been restored. If people go back to the old way of eating they may again create the same and/or other problems. Take the time to see the 48:50 video “Charlotte Gerson on Cancer and Disease” if it is listed after Sharlene’s video ends.
A statement usually made by people on the Gerson Therapy is “And it’s true what they say about never getting headaches.” Another comment is “Don’t go on the Gerson Therapy because you’ll get pregnant” referring to people who were able to conceive after changing to a better diet. Infertile couples should give live foods a chance to improve their fertility.
In 1985 I met a nurse who had breast cancer, and like Sharlene, felt that the therapy she was giving to patients would be too toxic for her and called the Gerson Institute and was told they felt she was too far along to be helped. She went anyway, recovered and stayed at the hospital to treat and teach others.
Also see the DVD “Simply Raw, Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days” where a woman speaking to her husband told him that after eight days on raw food “the tumor that I’ve had on my left breast for 15 years is gone.”
In the DVD “Healing Cancer from the Inside Out” when Charlotte Gerson, Dr. McDougall and Dr. Lodi were asked how long it would take to see results in cases of diabetes, they all replied “usually in 5 to 7 days.” Also take note of Meg Wolfe who lost a leg, half of her thyroid and had a mastectomy and was on chemotherapy and radiation for 9 years before learning about macrobiotics, improved her health and is now teachinng others to change their lifestyles.
Many times these individuals experiencing improvements in their health are referred to as “anecdotes.” The important term should be “living anecdotes.”
Here is a trailer for Simply Raw, Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=simply+raw%2c+reversing+diabetes+in+30+days&mid=093B1CB7BC988505D37D093B1CB7BC988505D37D&view=detail&FORM=VIRE7
Here is a 50 minute video of Simply Raw, Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days if you have the time and interest.