perspective. I regard it as a message, a desperate cry for help from the body, alerting us
that there is a severe toxic condition that the body's own detoxification system is unable to
eliminate. In cancer patients, this involves the buildup of one particular substance.
Studying the metabolism of cancer at the cellular level, Otto Warburg, a Nobel prize-winning
biochemist, demonstrated in 1930 that tumor cells prefer a particular form of metabolism
known as anaerobic (non-oxygen) glycolysis. The main byproduct of this inefficient metabolism
is a chemical called lactic acid. This is the same lactic acid secreted by your muscles
during a strenuous workout. When oxygen stores are depleted, muscle cells revert to anaerobic
metabolism and release lactic acid. This is the substance responsible for the localized pain
experienced the day following the workout. Lactic acid must then be metabolized by the liver
back into glucose. This process requires extra energy and can place a strain on the liver.
Lactic acid secreted by tumor cells accumulates in cancer patients, particularly when the
liver is too weak to eliminate it. This can be responsible for the intense chronic pain
plaguing cancer patients. If you recall those muscle aches the day after a workout, multiply
the pain a hundredfold, and you can better imagine the suffering that many terminally ill
cancer patients endure. That explains why powerful narcotics are often prescribed at this
stage of the illness.
In natural healing, my aim is to build up the body's ability to heal itself. Although with
advanced cancer I am focusing on quality of life, the process still begins with nutrition.
With advanced stage of disease, the body is either depleted of digestive enzymes, or lacks
the energy and raw materials to produce them in sufficient quantities to permit the proper
breakdown and absorption of nutrients. So the key to nourishment in the terminal patient is
to stop eating—and start juicing. Fresh, raw, (preferably organic) fruit and vegetable juices
contain enough enzymes to allow them to pass through the stomach and enter the intestines
where they are quickly and easily assimilated. Fresh juices are concentrated nutrition and
are even more potent when we add a whole-food (SuperFood) supplement containing the naturally
occurring phyto-chemicals that are abundantly found in organic spirulina, wheat grass, barley
grass and alfalfa. Sometimes a terminally ill patient will have to start slowly, drinking
half a glass at time, diluted with water. The goal is to eventually consume one glass every
hour, or up to a gallon daily. In addition to the juices, a tablespoon of flaxseed oil is
also necessary as a source of alpha linolenic acid. This omega-three essential fatty acid
does not promote tumor growth and is noted for its anti-inflammatory effects. This
nutritional foundation will provide the nutrients required by the body to heal and begin the
detoxification process.