Difficult Decisions

Just came back from the clinic after doing the blood test. The results will be ready on Thursday and I updated my family doctor on the status of my condition. I have been seeing him only once every six months for my blood tests. I also need him to issue a letter of recommendation to the Radiologist at Tong Shin Hospital before the CT scan can take place. Apparently all hospitals require a letter of recommendation. I told him I feel very good and the chest is clear and should expect some positive results from this scan. My tongue which use to have a yellow coating since many months ago has cleared and now the tongue is very pinkish. The pain all over my body especially on my back and legs are subsidizing. Even sitting on my buttocks is less painful now.

I am about to complete one year of therapy. As you know, I am using the modified Gerson Therapy. Modified because I could not (a) take the tyroid and liver injections (no doctor is willing to administer under the therapy) and (b) some differences in the diet. After approximately 6-10 weeks on the Therapy, the Gerson doctor will order the start on some NON-FAT, UNSALTED, UNFLAVORED, MODIFIED milk proteins. Basically I should have started to increase my protein intake but did not because of the non availability of the products. I have maintain my diet for the same for almost one year but it's time to change as I am now in a different phase of recovery. That's why I have said I need to make some hard decisions on what to take as a substitute, which I will discuss in another post.

The information below is obtained from the Gerson Institute.

PROTEIN

After approximately 6-10 weeks on the Therapy, your doctor will order you to start on some NON-FAT, UNSALTED, UNFLAVORED, MODIFIED milk proteins. This does NOT mean LOW FAT (yogurt or cottage cheese). In Dr. Gerson's book, you will find that he ordered the patient to take buttermilk and/or "pot-cheese". We have to be very careful with these items nowadays. Buttermilk comes in two forms: "churned" and "cultured". The churned type is good and acceptable - but it is almost never available anymore. If you have a dairy farmer in your neighborhood who will churn some sour cream to make his own butter, and let you have the buttermilk - that would be great. But, otherwise, don't bother looking for it. The "Cultured" type is completely forbidden. It is usually made of left-over, unsalable milk, treated with thickening agents; flavored AND SALTED!

The next problem is "Pot Cheese". In Dr. Gerson's day, this meant non-fat, unsalted cottage cheese which he approved of. Today, this is no longer available. All cottage cheese is creamed and salted; the "Low-fat" type is usually 2% butterfat (much too much) and is also salted. Sometimes, you can obtain so-called baker's cheese, which is supposed to be used in baking and is not supposed to contain cream or salt. This is all right to use; however, it is tasteless. So you have to add non-fat, unflavored yogurt to it, whip it up with onion, garlic, chives, etc. and make it into a delicious spread. Be sure that the cheese is free of cream and salt. One patient was using a cottage cheese, made by a farmer using his own `cottage industry' recipe, which was simple hard cheese, with about 40% butterfat and salt! Of course, her tumors recurred.

Another problem is yogurt. It has to be non-fat and unflavored. Some patients are trying their best to do right, and look for raw, unpasteurized milk yogurt. BE CAREFUL. You will possibly find raw goat's milk yogurt, and think you have it made. NOT SO. Goat's milk is by nature homogenized, and it is difficult to remove the cream - so it is left full fat. We lost one patient because the care-giver was not aware of the danger of raw goat's milk yogurt.

You can also be confused by labels; one set of information on your yogurt container will be "Ingredients". Obviously, this should only include non-fat milk and cultures. The other information on your container will be "analysis of content". I have had many calls from patients saying that the yogurt contains sodium. Of course, all milk contains a certain amount of natural sodium - don't worry about it. The problem is only caused by any addition of salt, which will show in the "Ingredients".

Very rarely, a patient is lactose intolerant and cannot handle any milk products. Your doctor may advise you to take spirulina, blue-green manna, or bee pollen. This, too, can sometimes cause allergic reactions. If you are trying it, use just a few grains at first, and add a few at a time before reaching your prescribed amount. If it causes you any allergic reaction, don't use it.