Question:

I agree with that book you readb  I am not on any special "diet" right now, and I’ve been sick for a while, but I’m already limited in what I can and can not eat because of allergies and whatnot.  I’ve been adding new things every few days, and you know what? It hasn’t produced anything that has really hurt me so far. A specific "pre-packaged" diet would not ever work for me, as a college student on campus. With no freezer or cooking facilities or transportation, you get kind of stuck.  So, in summation, and with no clue as to why I’m writing this..to each his own. Eat what you want — food should make you happy.  If a cookie will brighten your day, I’d say, once in a while, if you’re willing, just go for it. We only live once and you can’t always live off of fear.

Response:

I was on antibiotics for over 6 months for chronic infection, residual pelvic abscess and an unhealed back passage sinus after having a panproctocolectomy. I almost had candida growing out of my ears. They had to reopen me up and clean out my insides before I healed up properly. Long term antibiotics are always a gamble and I feel that we overdo the antibiotic treatments nowadays. However, I am thinking about the healthy people at work who dose themselves up with antibiotics at the first sign of a sniffle. I don’t think that they make life any easier for immunocompromised patients. Vanny I have a co-worker who suffers from Crohns also, and she is on Cipro therapy and feels I should approach my doctor about this.  The Cipro has helped her.  I have mixed feelings about being on long term antibiotics.  Nora – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Not necessarily… for example, carbo overindulgence in some people may cause or exacerbate IBD but have no effect in others.  In other words, carbs combined with a genetic tendency might have an effect, whereas without the genetic tendency you can carb yourself silly. Similarly, with the genetic tendency you might not be able to have the carbs. Obviously, that’s armchair quarterbacking. My theory is, IBD may have more than one cause.  But one of them could be bacterial overgrowth, which causes an immune response.  People with a genetic tendency are either more succeptible to the bacteria growing or have an over-response to it whereas a non-IBD person would have less bacteria or a non-response. The carb reduction might help some people reduce the bacteria and alleviate symptoms. I guess the problem with that theory is, why not go on a massive course of Flagyl or something and kill all the bacteria?  I’m not sure about that, but anecdotally I’ve heard of patients on powerful anti-bacterials for other reasons, and their IBD is relieved for the time they’re on it plus several weeks after, then returns. Also, I guess why are there no double-blinds for people on a carb-reducing diet? Anyway, it’s just a theory.  I don’t have any means to scientifically prove it except to experiment on myself! Steve

Response:

We are running trials in another therapeutic area and we are getting a significant placebo response also around 25% so it is not confined to IBDers alone. It is unethical for doctors not to treat patients, so in most trials patients will be getting a form of standard treatment. This depends on the severity of the disease type and the trial will be designed accordingly. Some diseases, for example mild multiple headaches will have trial designs where only placebo will be given, however, pain relief medication will be allowed that the patient must record in a patient diary when it has been necessary to take it. For the more severe disease forms, a placebo patient will most likely be receiving standard treatment plus sugar pills and the verum (real [research] medicine) patient will be receiving standard treatment plus the ‘research medicine’. Hence the placebo response. Some diseases (but not many) can run their course and just burn out without any treatment, such as the common cold. Vanny That’s quite an eye-opener. I wonder how that compares to other disease groups. It must be difficult to get definitive results on drug testing for IBD when so many placebo patients improve or go into remission.

This is one of the reasons many physicians, researchers, and a number of people here in the NG are highly skeptical when anyone makes an untested claim that they’ve found a product or devised some new diet that can help a bunch of people.

Response:

Well, that’s the $64,000 question and is probably representative of why most people don’t try a diet like this. The diet probably costs a person about 15-20 minutes a day in extra planning and food preparation.  For example, you might have to tupperware some chicken/fish and cooked vegetables instead of a sandwich. It’s a bit more expensive if you don’t have rice / potatoes or other "filler" foods that are cheap. If you get enough legal veggies and fish/chicken/red meat then you wouldn’t lose that much weight.  I feel very healthy on it, never deprived. I don’t look unhealthy, either. As far as lifestyle, and foods you like, that’s where the month long trial I think comes into play.  Most people could forego some of their favourite foods for a month.  After that, if your illness isn’t as bad, the question is, are you willing to continue? If you can’t have sugar, pretzels, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, grapenuts or sandwiches, but you can go out anytime you want, feel like a normal human, spend way less on meds, not need to have a bathroom within a 7 second circle, etc. etc. then would you choose to stay on it? Obviously for me the answer was "hell yeah". Anyway ’nuff said about the carbo thing from me for awhile. Steve

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – The difficulty for me and the diet, is that it is so limited I don’t think I have the time to cook for myself and cook for my husband.  I like grapenuts in the morning, or oatmeal.  I like a sandwich when I brown bag my lunch.  I like a teaspoon of sugar in my tea.  I like pretzels.  I love baked sweet potatoes with a little Smart Balance on it.  Sweet potatoes are suppose to be full of Vitamin A.  I am now at 130 lbs and look healthy for the first time since I was so ill.  I don’t want to lose weight and look thin and old again.  How do people balance it?    Nora Hi Amy I think you should eat whatever is healthy and nourishing for you depending on where your condition is at.  I was feeling good after a course of prednisone and had put on some weight so I started the diet while I was still tapering down.  So if you’re at a stage when you’re underweight already then getting skinnier is clearly not a good thing! I was only off the steroids for a week when I had been on the diet for 30 days.  That first week off of them was pretty jittery.  If I had started to feel ill again I probably wouldn’t have stuck to the diet. Steve

Response:

I have a co-worker who suffers from Crohns also, and she is on Cipro therapy and feels I should approach my doctor about this.  The Cipro has helped her.  I have mixed feelings about being on long term antibiotics.  Nora

There is always the definite possibility of the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in a person who is taking antibiotics long term.  That’s why most courses of antibiotics are usually only 10 days unless a longer treatment time is clearly needed.

Response:

That’s quite an eye-opener. I wonder how that compares to other disease groups. It must be difficult to get definitive results on drug testing for IBD when so many placebo patients improve or go into remission.

This is one of the reasons many physicians, researchers, and a number of people here in the NG are highly skeptical when anyone makes an untested claim that they’ve found a product or devised some new diet that can help a bunch of people.

Response:

I have been trying to maintain my healthy weight my whole life.  And now with the surgery behind me I am working again at gaining weight which so far it’s not going to bad.  But if you learn this secret to gaining weight without hurting let me know!  I still have at least 10 pounds to go to make the dr’s and myself happy with a safe and comfortable weight.  When I am well I try to have at least a 5 pound or more cushion just in case of a flare as the weight disappears in days not months.  Doing really well these days those!  I hope I continue the way I am going now.  UM MOM Susan

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – The difficulty for me and the diet, is that it is so limited I don’t think I have the time to cook for myself and cook for my husband.  I like grapenuts in the morning, or oatmeal.  I like a sandwich when I brown bag my lunch.  I like a teaspoon of sugar in my tea.  I like pretzels.  I love baked sweet potatoes with a little Smart Balance on it.  Sweet potatoes are suppose to be full of Vitamin A.  I am now at 130 lbs and look healthy for the first time since I was so ill.  I don’t want to lose weight and look thin and old again.  How do people balance it?    Nora Hi Amy I think you should eat whatever is healthy and nourishing for you depending on where your condition is at.  I was feeling good after a course of prednisone and had put on some weight so I started the diet while I was still tapering down.  So if you’re at a stage when you’re underweight already then getting skinnier is clearly not a good thing! I was only off the steroids for a week when I had been on the diet for 30 days.  That first week off of them was pretty jittery.  If I had started to feel ill again I probably wouldn’t have stuck to the diet. Steve

Response:

The difficulty for me and the diet, is that it is so limited I don’t think I have the time to cook for myself and cook for my husband.  I like grapenuts in the morning, or oatmeal.  I like a sandwich when I brown bag my lunch.  I like a teaspoon of sugar in my tea.  I like pretzels.  I love baked sweet potatoes with a little Smart Balance on it.  Sweet potatoes are suppose to be full of Vitamin A.  I am now at 130 lbs and look healthy for the first time since I was so ill.  I don’t want to lose weight and look thin and old again.  How do people balance it?    Nora – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Hi Amy I think you should eat whatever is healthy and nourishing for you depending on where your condition is at.  I was feeling good after a course of prednisone and had put on some weight so I started the diet while I was still tapering down.  So if you’re at a stage when you’re underweight already then getting skinnier is clearly not a good thing! I was only off the steroids for a week when I had been on the diet for 30 days.  That first week off of them was pretty jittery.  If I had started to feel ill again I probably wouldn’t have stuck to the diet. Steve

Response:

Hi Amy I think you should eat whatever is healthy and nourishing for you depending on where your condition is at.  I was feeling good after a course of prednisone and had put on some weight so I started the diet while I was still tapering down.  So if you’re at a stage when you’re underweight already then getting skinnier is clearly not a good thing! I was only off the steroids for a week when I had been on the diet for 30 days.  That first week off of them was pretty jittery.  If I had started to feel ill again I probably wouldn’t have stuck to the diet. Steve

Response:

I have a co-worker who suffers from Crohns also, and she is on Cipro therapy and feels I should approach my doctor about this.  The Cipro has helped her.  I have mixed feelings about being on long term antibiotics.  Nora – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Not necessarily… for example, carbo overindulgence in some people may cause or exacerbate IBD but have no effect in others.  In other words, carbs combined with a genetic tendency might have an effect, whereas without the genetic tendency you can carb yourself silly. Similarly, with the genetic tendency you might not be able to have the carbs. Obviously, that’s armchair quarterbacking. My theory is, IBD may have more than one cause.  But one of them could be bacterial overgrowth, which causes an immune response.  People with a genetic tendency are either more succeptible to the bacteria growing or have an over-response to it whereas a non-IBD person would have less bacteria or a non-response. The carb reduction might help some people reduce the bacteria and alleviate symptoms. I guess the problem with that theory is, why not go on a massive course of Flagyl or something and kill all the bacteria?  I’m not sure about that, but anecdotally I’ve heard of patients on powerful anti-bacterials for other reasons, and their IBD is relieved for the time they’re on it plus several weeks after, then returns. Also, I guess why are there no double-blinds for people on a carb-reducing diet? Anyway, it’s just a theory.  I don’t have any means to scientifically prove it except to experiment on myself! Steve

Response:

Hi Steve, Just a quick point: if I had followed your advice and started the SCD while very sick earlier this year (BMI less than 15), had I been any skinnier, it would have killed me! Perhaps this diet isn’t for everyone! Take care, Amy. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’m not a scientist and I can’t prove SCD or any other diet definitively will help. So there’s only one way to find out.  Try it for a month.  If it doesn’t help your IBD it’ll have two other effects: 1) You’ll be skinnier. 2) It won’t kill you.

Response:

That’s quite an eye-opener. I wonder how that compares to other disease groups. It must be difficult to get definitive results on drug testing for IBD when so many placebo patients improve or go into remission.

Response:

Not necessarily… for example, carbo overindulgence in some people may cause or exacerbate IBD but have no effect in others.  In other words, carbs combined with a genetic tendency might have an effect, whereas without the genetic tendency you can carb yourself silly. Similarly, with the genetic tendency you might not be able to have the carbs. Obviously, that’s armchair quarterbacking. My theory is, IBD may have more than one cause.  But one of them could be bacterial overgrowth, which causes an immune response.  People with a genetic tendency are either more succeptible to the bacteria growing or have an over-response to it whereas a non-IBD person would have less bacteria or a non-response. The carb reduction might help some people reduce the bacteria and alleviate symptoms. I guess the problem with that theory is, why not go on a massive course of Flagyl or something and kill all the bacteria?  I’m not sure about that, but anecdotally I’ve heard of patients on powerful anti-bacterials for other reasons, and their IBD is relieved for the time they’re on it plus several weeks after, then returns. Also, I guess why are there no double-blinds for people on a carb-reducing diet? Anyway, it’s just a theory.  I don’t have any means to scientifically prove it except to experiment on myself! Steve

Response:

Thank you Bruce…I am one who prefers medical science, but I read with interest other options on this newgroup.  I have seen reference to the SCD diet, and had gone to the site.  I don’t think I could follow that diet and have a quality of life, for me.  I do eat a good healthy diet and have for my adult life (except when they bring Krisy Kremes into work  Healthy eating has always been my interest. After my recent flare up this past Wednesday, and feeling desperate, I was going to revisit that site and consider the diet.  Thank you for your knowledge and research, as I will now stick with the way I have been eating.  Nora – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Bruce–what’s your opinion of Elaine Gottschall’s Specific Carbohydrate Diet? Does it have any merit? There seems to be anecdotal evidence that it works for some people. I’ve read her book and unfortunately I believe most of the stuff in the book is no longer valid, one reason is that most of her references are really really old. For example one of her citations is from 1853(!) and many others are pre-1960.  I’d like to think we’ve learned a little bit more about Crohn’s and UC since then. Testimonials are great for selling books but they’re not a good way to get an objective view on how well the diet works.  The diet has never been subjected to rigorous scientific and medical study but it is very difficult to double blind a diet anyway since most people can tell what they’re eating. I know I’ve said it before many times,i but the placebo effect in Crohn’s and UC is about 25 to 30%.  This means that for some people anything they tried would result in a positive outcome whether it actually worked or not. IMO diet is very individual, and that is there is no universal "Inflammatory Bowel Disease diet".  I believe some people can help alleviate their symptoms but altering what they eat but it won’t change the long term pathogenesis of the disease.  Besides in the case of the SCD I think most would rather take medications and eat what they want than restrict themselves so badly on the SCD. Also, what’s your view of the idea that carbohydrates in general–and starches in particular–are implicated in inflammatory bowel disease? This seems questionable to me since Crohn’s does not seem widespread in Asia, for example, where people often consume 80 percent of their diets in carbohydrates (rice). You make a good point regarding the Asian population and rice intake and IMO carbohydrates do not play a significant role in the etiology of IBD.   Almost all evidence says that Crohn’s and UC are autoimmune illnesses. Carbohydrates by themselves are quite poor in their immunogenicity(the ability to evoke an immune response). Also many people consume the same diet and do not get IBD, in fact IBD is a 1 in 1000 disease. If it was related to carbohydrate intake one would expect to see rates increasing at a rate similar to type II Diabetes. There does seem to be a much greater incidence of IBD in those who live in developed countries but there are so many other factors (poor sanitation, genetics, other intestinal diseases that may mask IBD, under reporting etc.) that it’s hard to know why that difference exists.

Response:

I followed the SCD and it helped me.  IBD not being prevalent in the countries you mention may be genetic.  It has certainly been shown to affect different races more than others.

But then carbs can’t possibly be the variable that causes Crohn’s or IBD!

Response:

I own the first book and it is full of basic common-sense advice…it doesn’t recommend a specific "diet" but rather indicates which  foods most often seem to cause reactions in people (corn, dairy, etc.).   It does point out that these are generalizations, and that you should experiment, keep a food diary to see what works for you and what doesn’t.  It also has a lot of good information about the different vitamins found in foods (i.e., what is high in calcium, or vitamin A, or the B family, etc.). , the role of fats and fish oils, using supplements, etc.  It is as the title says, a nutritional "guide" not a diet like the SCD or Atkins or the Zone, etc., etc. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, I just ordered a two books about CD from amazon: – The New Eating Right for a Bad Gut: The Complete Nutritional Guide to Ileitis, Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease – The Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis Fact Book I ordered them based on readers reviews, since I don’t know much about CD. Are these any good? Please recommend some books or/and websites with useful info on CD. What is the cheapest website from where can I buy books about CD? Thanks!!

Response:

Steve, I recall reading the statistics being quoted in a study; wish I could remember where.  mgbio P.S.  I’m glad the diet works for you! – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I know I’ve said it before many times,i but the placebo effect in Crohn’s and UC is about 25 to 30%.  This means that for some people anything they tried would result in a positive outcome whether it actually worked or not. This is very interesting.  What is your source for this information? Steve

Response:

I followed the SCD and it helped me.  IBD not being prevalent in the countries you mention may be genetic.  It has certainly been shown to affect different races more than others. I’m not a scientist and I can’t prove SCD or any other diet definitively will help. So there’s only one way to find out.  Try it for a month.  If it doesn’t help your IBD it’ll have two other effects: 1) You’ll be skinnier. 2) It won’t kill you. You’ll feel hungrier on the diet so willpower is required.  I just meditated on how it was maybe helping me, and thought about the times when I felt the worst.  That made the hunger pangs go away.  You don’t even have to buy the book, www.scdiet.org has all the info for free, including lots of recipes. Steve

Response:

I know I’ve said it before many times,i but the placebo effect in Crohn’s and UC is about 25 to 30%.  This means that for some people anything they tried would result in a positive outcome whether it actually worked or not.

This is very interesting.  What is your source for this information? Steve

Response:

I know I’ve said it before many times,i but the placebo effect in Crohn’s and UC is about 25 to 30%.  This means that for some people anything they tried would result in a positive outcome whether it actually worked or not. This is very interesting.  What is your source for this information? Steve

You can just look at any properly controlled and randomized study involving UC or Crohn’s found on PubMed to see the placebo response rate. I’ve included some sources and examples below. http://www.personalmd.com/news/n1025093831.shtml "Dr. Alan Buchman, a professor of gastroenterology at the University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center, called Weinstock’s idea “an interesting hypothesis” but said a study of six patients is too small to be definitive. Treatments for Crohn’s and colitis typically have a 30 to 35 percent placebo response rate, he said. The placebo effect is a phenomenon in which people experience an improvement in their condition in response to a phony therapy, such as a sugar pill." This is from a study of Sargramostim in Crohn’s disease: http://tinyurl.com/y2c9 "In constrast, 26% of placebo patients improved (P=0.013) and 19% went into remission (P=0.014), the study showed. Also 54% of patients treated with sargramostim achieved a CDAI decrease of more than 70 points, versus 44% of placebo-treated patients(P=0.275)." Another: (a study of methotrexate vs placebo for Crohn’s disease). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&… "At week 40, 26 patients (65 percent) were in remission in the methotrexate group, as compared with 14 (39 percent) in the placebo group (P=0.04; absolute reduction in the risk of relapse, 26.1 percent; 95 percent confidence interval, 4.4 percent to 47.8 percent)." And here’s a study where the placebo response was actually higher than the treatment: (Etanercept for active Crohn’s disease: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&… "RESULTS: At week 4, 39% of etanercept-treated patients had clinical response as compared with 45% of placebo-treated patients (P = 0.763)."

Response:

Hi Milan Those are good books. Often Amazon will sell second hand books for cheaper. Another option is your library. If you want to keep them, maybe you have a crohns/ colitis group in your area and possbily people there might want to sell their copy as they are done with it. My advice is, thanks to being screwed up due to the drugs, go with diets for starters; there are various ones and find the one that works for you ( find the similarities and combine them!). According to a dutch side it sometimes can take a long time; as the colon starts the healing process you might not find much relieve, but once the colon is healed you could be symptom free. If that takes to long you can always take medication while doing the diet for speedier healing. After all, do you really care if your physicion claims you are doing well because of the meds while you know the diet also played a huge part?? In that case all I can say is do you want to be right or do you want to be better?? All the best, Paula – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, I just ordered a two books about CD from amazon: – The New Eating Right for a Bad Gut: The Complete Nutritional Guide to Ileitis, Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease – The Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis Fact Book I ordered them based on readers reviews, since I don’t know much about CD. Are these any good? Please recommend some books or/and websites with useful info on CD. What is the cheapest website from where can I buy books about CD? Thanks!!

Response:

Bruce–what’s your opinion of Elaine Gottschall’s Specific Carbohydrate Diet? Does it have any merit? There seems to be anecdotal evidence that it works for some people.

I’ve read her book and unfortunately I believe most of the stuff in the book is no longer valid, one reason is that most of her references are really really old. For example one of her citations is from 1853(!) and many others are pre-1960.  I’d like to think we’ve learned a little bit more about Crohn’s and UC since then. Testimonials are great for selling books but they’re not a good way to get an objective view on how well the diet works.  The diet has never been subjected to rigorous scientific and medical study but it is very difficult to double blind a diet anyway since most people can tell what they’re eating. I know I’ve said it before many times,i but the placebo effect in Crohn’s and UC is about 25 to 30%.  This means that for some people anything they tried would result in a positive outcome whether it actually worked or not. IMO diet is very individual, and that is there is no universal "Inflammatory Bowel Disease diet".  I believe some people can help alleviate their symptoms but altering what they eat but it won’t change the long term pathogenesis of the disease.  Besides in the case of the SCD I think most would rather take medications and eat what they want than restrict themselves so badly on the SCD. Also, what’s your view of the idea that carbohydrates in general–and starches in particular–are implicated in inflammatory bowel disease? This seems questionable to me since Crohn’s does not seem widespread in Asia, for example, where people often consume 80 percent of their diets in carbohydrates (rice).

You make a good point regarding the Asian population and rice intake and IMO carbohydrates do not play a significant role in the etiology of IBD.    Almost all evidence says that Crohn’s and UC are autoimmune illnesses. Carbohydrates by themselves are quite poor in their immunogenicity(the ability to evoke an immune response). Also many people consume the same diet and do not get IBD, in fact IBD is a 1 in 1000 disease. If it was related to carbohydrate intake one would expect to see rates increasing at a rate similar to type II Diabetes. There does seem to be a much greater incidence of IBD in those who live in developed countries but there are so many other factors (poor sanitation, genetics, other intestinal diseases that may mask IBD, under reporting etc.) that it’s hard to know why that difference exists.

Response:

Hi, I just ordered a two books about CD from amazon: – The New Eating Right for a Bad Gut: The Complete Nutritional Guide to Ileitis, Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease – The Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis Fact Book I ordered them based on readers reviews, since I don’t know much about CD. Are these any good? Please recommend some books or/and websites with useful info on CD. What is the cheapest website from where can I buy books about CD? Thanks!!

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, I just ordered a two books about CD from amazon: – The New Eating Right for a Bad Gut: The Complete Nutritional Guide to Ileitis, Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease – The Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis Fact Book I ordered them based on readers reviews, since I don’t know much about CD. Are these any good? Please recommend some books or/and websites with useful info on CD. What is the cheapest website from where can I buy books about CD? Thanks!!

I’d be inclined to stay away from most of the Crohn’s and UC books that are based on diet since they are often sensational and tend to use old information and errors. If you don’t know anything about CD though start with: Crohn’s and Colitis foundation of America http://www.ccfa.org/ Crohn’s and Colitis foundation of Canada http://www.ccfc.ca/en/index.html National Association for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease(UK) http://www.nacc.org.uk/ http://ibd.patientcommunity.com/ http://www.ibdforum.com/ http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/crohnsdisease.html

Response:

Bruce–what’s your opinion of Elaine Gottschall’s Specific Carbohydrate Diet? Does it have any merit? There seems to be anecdotal evidence that it works for some people. Also, what’s your view of the idea that carbohydrates in general–and starches in particular–are implicated in inflammatory bowel disease? This seems questionable to me since Crohn’s does not seem widespread in Asia, for example, where people often consume 80 percent of their diets in carbohydrates (rice).

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, I just ordered a two books about CD from amazon: – The New Eating Right for a Bad Gut: The Complete Nutritional Guide to Ileitis, Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease – The Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis Fact Book I ordered them based on readers reviews, since I don’t know much about CD. Are these any good? Please recommend some books or/and websites with useful info on CD. What is the cheapest website from where can I buy books about CD? Thanks!! I’d be inclined to stay away from most of the Crohn’s and UC books that are based on diet since they are often sensational and tend to use old information and errors. If you don’t know anything about CD though start with: Crohn’s and Colitis foundation of America http://www.ccfa.org/ Crohn’s and Colitis foundation of Canada http://www.ccfc.ca/en/index.html National Association for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease(UK) http://www.nacc.org.uk/ http://ibd.patientcommunity.com/ http://www.ibdforum.com/ http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/crohnsdisease.html

Response:

Question:

The Bizarre Claims of Hulda Clark Stephen Barrett, M.D.

Geez. One asshole snipes about another. Sadly, I don’t find either of these individuals the slightest bit reputable.         George M. Carter

Response:

George, Have you written about any of these fine people before? If you haven’t why do you have such strong feelings. Certainly you can tell the difference between a lying quack and a reputable physician. If you can’t why don’t you keep your ignorance to yourself. Terry Polevoy, MD HealthWatcher.net – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – The Bizarre Claims of Hulda Clark Stephen Barrett, M.D. Geez. One asshole snipes about another. Sadly, I don’t find either of these individuals the slightest bit reputable.    George M. Carter

Response:

George, Have you written about any of these fine people before?

Yes. Indeed, I had email arguments with Barrett before. If you haven’t why do you have such strong feelings.

I have strong feelings because I have read their views and written about them. Certainly you can tell the difference between a lying quack and a reputable physician. If you can’t why don’t you keep your ignorance to yourself.

I can also identify an outrageous bigot. Clark is a quack and Barrett is a knee-jerk reactionary. I disagree with Clark’s protocol to "cure" HIV on a number of fronts. In  her book, she claimed that the "proof" was that people converted from p24+ – a rather meaningless tool, particularly at the time she wrote the book. In addition, her use of artemisia is not within traditional use and may carry serious problems. Finally, a physician I know in Florida who had followed people who chose to use her protocol saw basically serious GI trouble. Barrett, by contrast, spends his time simply poo-pooing, dismissing and decrying anything that isn’t a drug. This kind of narrow view falls into the pit of bigotry because it fails to see ANY value in botanical or other methodologies of healing.                 George M. Carter

Response:

The Bizarre Claims of Hulda Clark Stephen Barrett, M.D. Geez. One asshole snipes about another. Sadly, I don’t find either of these individuals the slightest bit reputable.

But Gallo *is* very reputable. After three retroviruses that cause leukemia, and turned out *not* to exist, he imagines a fourth one, hiv and that causes aids. He even steals it from other resaerchers in France, that were not sure about it at first, but when three nonexistent retroviruses in a row, says that it is real, they too start claiming patent rights. Reputable ? Certifiable. Wecome to hiv-aids "science". Hayek. — The small particles wave at the big stars and get noticed.

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The Bizarre Claims of Hulda Clark Stephen Barrett, M.D. Hulda Regehr Clark, 72, claims to cure cancer, AIDS, and many other serious diseases. She describes herself as an "independent research scientist" with bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of Saskatchewan and a Ph.D. degree in physiology from the University of Minnesota (1958). She also lists a naturopathic (N.D.) degree from the Clayton College of Natural Health [1]. Clayton is a nonaccredited correspondence school founded in 1980 and located in Birmingham Alabama. In 1985, when this school was called Dr. Clayton’s School of Natural Healing, its "Doctor of Naturopathy" course was described in a magazine article as a "100-hour course" for which the tuition was $695 [2]. For several years, Clark’s treatment has been administered at Century Nutrition, a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, where the basic fee for two weeks of "treatment" was $4,500 (plus 10% tax). This figure does not include the cost of a motel room (approximately $210/week); meals ($250/week); blood tests ($70 each); standard diagnostic imaging tests ($40 to $400); dental x-rays (at least $206); "individually tailored" supplements ($400 to $1,500 for a month supply); equipment (about $350); tooth extractions ($80 each); and partial or full dentures ($450). Bizarre Claims Clark claims that all cancers and many other diseases are caused by "parasites, toxins, and pollutants" and can be cured by killing the parasites and ridding the body of environmental chemicals. Her book The Cure for All Cancers states:     All cancers are alike. They are all caused by a parasite. A single parasite! It is the human intestinal fluke. And if you kill this parasite, the cancer stops immediately. The tissue becomes normal again. In order to get cancer, you must have this parasite. . . .     This parasite typically lives in the intestine where it might do little harm, causing only colitis, Crohn’s disease or irritable bowel syndrome, or perhaps nothing at all. But if it invades a different organ, like the uterus, kidneys or liver, it does a great deal of harm. If it establishes itself in the liver, it causes cancer! It only establishes itself in the liver of some people. These people have propyl alcohol in their body. All cancer patients (100%) have both propyl alcohol and the intestinal fluke in their livers. The solvent propyl alcohol is responsible for letting the fluke establish itself in the liver. In order to get cancer, you must have both the parasite and propyl alcohol in your body [3:1-2]. Clark further alleges:     * The adult liver fluke — which she misspells as Faciolopsis buskii — "stays stuck to our intestine, (or liver, causing cancer, or uterus, causing endometriosis, or thymus, causing AIDS, or kidney, causing Hodgkin’s disease)." [3:4] Or the pancreas, causing diabetes; the brain, causing Alzheimer’s disease; the prostate (causing prostatitis; or the skin if you have Kaposi’s sarcoma [3:35].     * As soon as there are adults in the liver. . . . a growth factor, called ortho-phospho-tyrosine appears. Growth factors make cells divide. Now YOUR cells will begin to divide too! Now you have cancer. . . . Having propyl alcohol in your body allows the fluke to develop outside of the intestine [3:8].     * When the fluke and all its stages have been killed, the ortho-phospho-tyrosine is gone! Your cancer is gone [3:9].     * Clearly, you must do 3 things: (1) Kill the parasite and all its stages; (2) stop letting propyl alcohol into your body; and (3) flush out the metals and common toxins from your body so you can get well [3:10].     * It is not unusual for someone to have a dozen (or more) of the parasites I have samples of. You can assume that you, too, have a dozen different parasites [3:10].     * Three herbs, used together, can rid you of over 100 types of parasites: black walnut hulls, wormwood, and common cloves [3:11-12]. But the amino acids ornithine and arginine improve this recipe [3:15].     * Use of these five products will kill the cancer-causing fluke in the first five days and the remaining parasites in another two weeks [3:19].     * It takes 5 days to be cured of cancer regardless of the type you have. Surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy can be canceled because, after Clark’s recipe cures the cancer, it cannot come back [3:introductory passage].     * All metal (fillings, crowns, bridges, etc.) should be removed from the mouth, and all teeth with root canals should be extracted, because their presence damages the immune system [3:46-48].     * To prevent recurrence, stay on a maintenance program of killing parasites and give yourself a high-dose program at least twice a year. Also treat all family members and household pets [3:23-26].     * The method is 100% effective in stopping cancer regardless of the type of cancer or how terminal it may be. It follows that this method must work for you, too, if you are able to carry out the instructions. [3:120]     * No matter what kind of cancer you have (or HIV or pains or weakness), a complete program of lifting the burdens on your immune system will miraculously clear it up. [3:372] All of the above notions are absurd. In a recent talk that attacked widespread misbeliefs about parasites, the president of the American Society of Parasitologists noted that if Clark’s pseudoscientific claims were correct, "the medical establishment and . . . professional pathologists are guilty of a gigantic and cruel fraud on the public." [4] Patients who "cleanse" their intestines with Clark’s recommended herbs may excrete what they think are parasites. However, in one instance I know of, a specimen of "parasites" turned out to be citrus fibers, presumably from grapefruit juice used for the "cleanse." In another, reported in a medical journal, the "parasites" turned out to be ordinary fecal material [5]. Phony Devices Clark is also using and promoting two devices. Her Syncrometer is claimed to identify diseased organs and toxic substances by noting whether the device makes various sounds when "test substances" are placed on a plate [3:373-427]. The device is simply a galvanometer that measures skin resistance to a low-voltage current that passes from the device through a probe touched to the patient’s hand. Various models for home use can either be commercially purchased or made by the patient. Clark’s "Zapper" is a low-voltage device that supposedly kills parasites, bacteria, and viruses with electrical energy, but does not harm human tissue. Its use is based on Clark’s notion that all living things broadcast a characteristic range of radio frequencies and that the device can issue counter-frequencies that kill unwanted organisms [6]. Neither device has any genuine diagnostic or therapeutic value. Clark’s books, herbal products, and "Zapper" devices said to be built to her specifications are marketed through many Web sites [A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I J], one of which is the Self Help Resource Center, administered by Clark’s son Geoff. The Self-Health Research Center’s "Testing Division" offers "synchrometer classes" twice a week, "scheduled as needed," for $175 [7]. Geoff also issues certificates for Zapper devices that are "within specifications found in Dr. Clark’s books." The devices range in price from about $10 for a simple model to more than $200 for devices that also make colloidal silver. Her ideas are also advocated by the Dr. Clark Research Association, a group founded in 1998 by David P. Amrein, a Scientologist who describes himself as a freelance consultant in finance and taxes. Membership, which costs $40 per year, includes a subscription to the Dr. Clark Research Association Bulletin, which Amrein edits. The November 1999 issue stated that the Bulletin had a circulation of 1,500. In November 1999, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced that it had stopped an Australian company (Raylight Pty Ltd) from advertising that its "Parasite Zapper" passes an electric current through a person’s blood and is effective against the AIDS virus, parasites, hepatitis, herpes, obesity, and other serious conditions. The company also agreed to provide refunds to consumers who felt they had been mislead [8]. Case Histories Pages 119-372 of The Cure for All Cancers contain "case histories" of 138 cancer patients, of whom 103 were "cured" and 35 who "did not carry out instructions or could not be followed." The standard way to determine whether a treatment is effective is to carefully record the nature of the patient’s disease before treatment and to determine the patient’s condition indefinitely. Clark’s reports contain little information about the patient’s history and no indication that Clark performed any physical examinations. The only follow-up reports are for a few patients who returned for further treatment — usually a few weeks later. Cancer treatment results are normally expressed in terms of cancer-free status or survival over periods of years. Five-year survival rates are a common measure. Clark claims she can tell that patients are cured as soon as their ortho-phospho-tyrosine test is negative — within days or even a few hours after her treatment is begun. This claim is preposterous. Thirty-eight of the 103 reports indicate that the patient had been medically diagnosed with cancer, and most of these 38 had received standard treatment. In 59 other cases, however, there was no indication that the patient had undergone any medical test or treatment that would indicate the presence of a cancer. (In 10 other cases, which Clark diagnosed as HIV infection, there was no history suggestive of AIDS. In the rest, it was not clear whether the patient had been medically diagnosed with cancer.) Judging from the reports, Clark’s judgments were based entirely on the results of her own peculiar diagnostic tests. If "ortho-phospho-tyrosine" was found in the blood, the patient had cancer. If a "protein 24 antigen" was … read more »

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Question:

But I keep looking and all I see is more of the same old self-serving crap.  "Trust us, we don’t need no damned evidence".    

"Evidence?  We don’t need no steenking evidence!  We’re ALTERNATIVE!" Tsu Dho Nimh It is my job to completely create professional technology in order that we may seamlessly supply competitive data.

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Some  of what is claimed to be ‘alternative’ is fairly reasonable stuff no one will feel strongly about    Some is harmless and will help many through placebo-related effects.   But Hulda is sheer claptrap, while also making claims that should not be made without being able to back them up . Do you not think there is something screwy when she has being making outrageous claims about being able to cure all cancers, and here you are many years later still waiting for any evidence at all that she can? There is plenty of other evidence that she is a quack — the use of alternative gadgetry that has been unvalidated despite being around for many years  -  the inconsistencies you will find if you read her books thoroughly I read "Cure for All Cancers" — the technical advice of many (parasitologists, and electrical engineers) outside the medical profession.  Even Ralph Moss thinks she is a quack, and he never found an alternative cancer method he didn’t like. She has produced no original research.    She has never published anything scientific even in one of the many alternative journals.   She had no backgound in cancer research or therapy before suddenly producing her elaborate theories on how to cure it. She actually even has LESS credible testimonial evidence than many other alternative methods (I monitor alt.cancer mailing lists and newsgroups). The ones quoted in her newsletters are of such poor informative quality when compared to those of say the Gerson clinic and some others, as to indicate there is no one even among her associates who understands the basics about cancer. Peter Moran pm You presented a coherent case against Hulda, stating many points in her disfavor, I agree. Evidence by now would be nice but a number of alt cancer therapists spent many years providing care and went to their graves without winning the acceptance of the "mains."  Her field of activity is providing treatment (what she generates could be called clinical evidence), not doing research.  I understand her training was in a scientific field, bio-physics?  The poor presentation of testimonial evidence by itself wouldn’t disprove any hypotheses.

No, but her parasite theories are so obviously off-the-wall as to need very little discrediting.  The liver fluke she blames for all cancers lives in southeast Asia.  It’s large enough to be seen by the naked eye.  The notion that legions of pathologists all over the world are too blind/stupid to have EVER noticed the presence of this fluke is so preposterous as to render other refutation unnecessary. Are there accepted therapies of past and present medical practice that have insufficient support.  I, along with millions of others, have no tonsils.  Would you say the mains are able to successfully prevent or cure cancer and to provide those with it a good quality of life?

Sometimes.  They can certainly cure certain cancers.  Others, not. I’ve become more convinced by experience, observation and reading that the theories and practices that restore and retain health lie more in the alt camp than with the mains.  A number of Hulda’s views are consistent with them; that toxic substances and excess metals in the system are harmful can’t be considered wild.  So, without accepting the validity of Hulda’s parasite theories, I’m still willing to keep an open mind.

If Hulda’s really got the cure for all cancers, it would be child’s play to prove it.  The fact that she hasn’t done that speaks volumes. Stating a few obvious truths about "toxins are harmful" is rather a long way from being able to do anything useful.   — David Wright :: alphabeta at prodigy.net      These are my opinions only, but they’re almost always correct.        "If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants                   were standing on my shoulders."

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Some pap for the suckers.  The mendacity  of this is breathtaking.   Only after making millions from selling the books and after sucking in thousands of gullible people is some confirmatory research to be done.     It would have been simple and quite cheap to validate the basic claims about the operation of the Syncrometer and zapper long before this deluded woman ever began to build up her empire.

No it wouldn’t.   We have been over this many times.   No-one would accept any research she did. She got her PhD in the 50’s and hasn’t published since then.   Why should she change the habit of a lifetime. And nothing would have attracted funding more than the establshment of a little credible evidence at an early stage.  Who does not want a cure for cancer?

Well, no-one wanted Hoffer’s 1000 case studies, or Bz’s studies. Now,   has anyone told her about the NCCAM and the 100 million dollars annually they have available for the investigation of alternatives, including for cancer?       Gonzales could get money for his enzyme and coffee enema treatment.  Why not her?   I will tell you.  It is because she has zero credibility even amongst most of the alternative world.

Exactly, if it does not fit current beliefs, it will be ignored. Except for studies like Gonzales, just to demonstrate that some work is being done. Best wishes — John Bain UK TV Sound Director, magnotherapy user & distributor http://members.aol.com/JBainSI/Magnotherapy.html Surround Sound for Television

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Some  of what is claimed to be ‘alternative’ is fairly reasonable stuff no one will feel strongly about    Some is harmless and will help many through placebo-related effects.   But Hulda is sheer claptrap, while also making claims that should not be made without being able to back them up . Do you not think there is something screwy when she has being making outrageous claims about being able to cure all cancers, and here you are many years later still waiting for any evidence at all that she can? There is plenty of other evidence that she is a quack — the use of alternative gadgetry that has been unvalidated despite being around for many years  -  the inconsistencies you will find if you read her books thoroughly I read "Cure for All Cancers"

Try the :Cure for all Diseases" and the "Cure for all advanced cancers" now. Evidence by now would be nice but a number of alt cancer therapists spent many years providing care and went to their graves without winning the acceptance of the "mains."

And none of their methods have proved to be effective even after much more testing, including within alternative medicine.  If they were effective, and the opinions of alternative supporters were reliable, people would not need to be using dozens of different alternative methods at the one time. There would not also be so many differing philosophies.   Some claim "believe and it will work".  SOme say "find out what works for you".  Some say "use these fifty-three treatment methods, this impossibly expensive micture of supplements, this incredibly complicated regime of diet and juices" and you will be cured.    If they are not cured it is because they didn’t think the right thoughts, or missed something out.  I am prepared to accept that some of the treatmtents may have some effect on cancer, probably short of cure.  But I keep looking and all I see is more of the same old self-serving crap.  "Trust us, we don’t need no damned evidence".    Never before have medical providers behaved in such a despicable manner. Cancer sufferers deserve better. Her field of activity is providing treatment (what she generates could be called clinical evidence), not doing research.

Rubbish.  She claims that she is doing research all the time and coming up with new knowledge.    How did she find out whether her treatments work, if she did no research?      What she actually did in the early srages was diagnose cancer with her quack machine, and pronounce it cured, often within a few weeks, using the same device. I understand her training was in a scientific field, bio-physics?    The poor presentation of testimonial evidence by itself wouldn’t disprove any hypotheses.

It says a lot about the origin of the testimonials to those who work with cancer.   This woman wouldn;t know a cancer if she fell over it. Are there accepted therapies of past and present medical practice that have insufficient support.  I, along with millions of others, have no tonsils.  Would you say the mains are able to successfully prevent or cure cancer and to provide those with it a good quality of life?

There is no rule that says that cancer should be easy to treat,  In actual fact about fifty per cent of cancers overall are cured by conventional treamtents.   In her earlier books Hulda Clark encouraged people to continue with conventional treatments, but now some people with potentially curable cancers are risking their lives with this nonsense.    And I have yet to see one credible testimonial of cure from her. I’ve become more convinced by experience, observation and reading that the theories and practices that restore and retain health lie more in the alt camp than with the mains.

It is easy to get bamboozled.  Medicine is a complex and many-facetted thing.  Just don’t risk your life. . A number of Hulda’s views are consistent with them; that toxic substances and excess metals in the system are harmful can’t be considered wild.

These were not Hulda’s discoveries.  She merely borrowed all prevalent alternative threads, and made them sound like her own.   She claims also that her machine can detect them when it patently cannot. Peter Moran – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – So, without accepting the validity of Hulda’s parasite theories, I’m still willing to keep an open mind. rjn

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It would have been simple and quite cheap to validate the basic claims about the operation of the Syncrometer and zapper long before this deluded woman ever began to build up her empire.

Deluded?  You’re being far too charitable. I believe she knows exactly what she’s doing. She’s profiting off phony cancer therapies, and making big bucks doing it. Who does not want a cure for cancer?

I believe she does not want her therapies tested. If they were tested, then her potential victims would know her therapies are bogus.  And, it would expose her to even more civil and criminal litigation than she has faced before.  No, testing would be very bad for her business.

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Jan wrote —in message ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzz zzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Jan

Is your zapper properly insulated, Jan?   There’ s this strange buzzing noise. Peter Moran

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It would have been simple and quite cheap to validate the basic claims about the operation of the Syncrometer and zapper long before this deluded woman ever began to build up her empire. Deluded?  You’re being far too charitable. I believe she knows exactly what she’s doing. She’s profiting off phony cancer therapies, and making big bucks doing it.

You may be right, but I like to be charitable.    Also most knowing frauds manage to come up with more plausible material, don’t you think? . I believe she does not want her therapies tested. If they were tested, then her potential victims would know her therapies are bogus.  And, it would expose her to even more civil and criminal litigation than she has faced before.  No, testing would be very bad for her business.

Agreed.  By any ethical or sane standard the testing would have occurred before this absurd cult got started. Peter

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You may be right, but I like to be charitable.    Also most knowing frauds manage to come up with more plausible material, don’t you think?

I think the error you are making is that you are imagining a scam sophisticated enough to fool somebody like yourself. A scam can be perfectly successful if it seems plausible to a much less intellectual audience. You forget that there is a large segment of the population — maybe even a majority, once you get away from the cities — who are not very educated (cough) and are not capable of critically evaluating Clark’s theories.  To them, her "science" seems just as unfathomable as regular science. If their only exposure to her ideas is through Clark’s disciples or Clark herself, they won’t have any reason not to swallow her malarkey — hook, line, and sinker. If someone tells one of these people — in a very sincere and confidant way — that they’ve got all sort of worms and parasites under their skin, they can visualize that and become quite alarmed.  And be willing to do anything (or pay anything) to get rid of them.  It’s a despicable way to make a living.

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Dr. Clark Research Association was founded to help substantiate Dr. Hulda Clark’s findings with further lab and clinical research. The money that has been earned with the sale of products has gone to this purpose. We have just finished a study at the University of Washington. Since it has not yet been published I can’t disclose any details but we have been able to prove two effects Dr. Clark describes in the field of frequency medicine.

… I’ve kill filed Jan… but I saw this.  I used the search term of "frequency medicine" at: http://www.wustl.edu/sitesearch.html http://www.washington.edu/home/search.html http://www.gwu.edu/search.html http://www2.wlu.edu/searches_directories/index.html and the ALL came up empty. Perhaps it would be helpful if she provided the name of the principal investigator so that we can check out his or hers credentials before the publication of the research results. And to find out if he or she really wants their name associated with the (not) Dr. Clark.

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<snip I’ve kill filed Jan… Perhaps it would be helpful if she provided

I guess this person will never know. Rather dumb to killfile someone and then suggest they provide  something. Jan

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Some  of what is claimed to be ‘alternative’ is fairly reasonable stuff no one will feel strongly about    Some is harmless and will help many through placebo-related effects.   But Hulda is sheer claptrap, while also making claims that should not be made without being able to back them up . Do you not think there is something screwy when she has being making outrageous claims about being able to cure all cancers, and here you are many years later still waiting for any evidence at all that she can? There is plenty of other evidence that she is a quack — the use of alternative gadgetry that has been unvalidated despite being around for many years  -  the inconsistencies you will find if you read her books thoroughly

I read "Cure for All Cancers" — the technical advice of many (parasitologists, and electrical – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – engineers) outside the medical profession.  Even Ralph Moss thinks she is a quack, and he never found an alternative cancer method he didn’t like. She has produced no original research.    She has never published anything scientific even in one of the many alternative journals.   She had no backgound in cancer research or therapy before suddenly producing her elaborate theories on how to cure it. She actually even has LESS credible testimonial evidence than many other alternative methods (I monitor alt.cancer mailing lists and newsgroups). The ones quoted in her newsletters are of such poor informative quality when compared to those of say the Gerson clinic and some others, as to indicate there is no one even among her associates who understands the basics about cancer. Peter Moran

pm You presented a coherent case against Hulda, stating many points in her disfavor, I agree. Evidence by now would be nice but a number of alt cancer therapists spent many years providing care and went to their graves without winning the acceptance of the "mains."  Her field of activity is providing treatment (what she generates could be called clinical evidence), not doing research.  I understand her training was in a scientific field, bio-physics?  The poor presentation of testimonial evidence by itself wouldn’t disprove any hypotheses. Are there accepted therapies of past and present medical practice that have insufficient support.  I, along with millions of others, have no tonsils.  Would you say the mains are able to successfully prevent or cure cancer and to provide those with it a good quality of life? I’ve become more convinced by experience, observation and reading that the theories and practices that restore and retain health lie more in the alt camp than with the mains.  A number of Hulda’s views are consistent with them; that toxic substances and excess metals in the system are harmful can’t be considered wild.  So, without accepting the validity of Hulda’s parasite theories, I’m still willing to keep an open mind. rjn

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Very well said! Jan – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Some  of what is claimed to be ‘alternative’ is fairly reasonable stuff no one will feel strongly about    Some is harmless and will help many through placebo-related effects.   But Hulda is sheer claptrap, while also making claims that should not be made without being able to back them up . Do you not think there is something screwy when she has being making outrageous claims about being able to cure all cancers, and here you are many years later still waiting for any evidence at all that she can? There is plenty of other evidence that she is a quack — the use of alternative gadgetry that has been unvalidated despite being around for many years  -  the inconsistencies you will find if you read her books thoroughly I read "Cure for All Cancers" — the technical advice of many (parasitologists, and electrical engineers) outside the medical profession.  Even Ralph Moss thinks she is a quack, and he never found an alternative cancer method he didn’t like. She has produced no original research.    She has never published anything scientific even in one of the many alternative journals.   She had no backgound in cancer research or therapy before suddenly producing her elaborate theories on how to cure it. She actually even has LESS credible testimonial evidence than many other alternative methods (I monitor alt.cancer mailing lists and newsgroups). The ones quoted in her newsletters are of such poor informative quality when compared to those of say the Gerson clinic and some others, as to indicate there is no one even among her associates who understands the basics about cancer. Peter Moran pm You presented a coherent case against Hulda, stating many points in her disfavor, I agree. Evidence by now would be nice but a number of alt cancer therapists spent many years providing care and went to their graves without winning the acceptance of the "mains."  Her field of activity is providing treatment (what she generates could be called clinical evidence), not doing research.  I understand her training was in a scientific field, bio-physics?  The poor presentation of testimonial evidence by itself wouldn’t disprove any hypotheses. Are there accepted therapies of past and present medical practice that have insufficient support.  I, along with millions of others, have no tonsils.  Would you say the mains are able to successfully prevent or cure cancer and to provide those with it a good quality of life? I’ve become more convinced by experience, observation and reading that the theories and practices that restore and retain health lie more in the alt camp than with the mains.  A number of Hulda’s views are consistent with them; that toxic substances and excess metals in the system are harmful can’t be considered wild.  So, without accepting the validity of Hulda’s parasite theories, I’m still willing to keep an open mind. rjn

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<< The legal 3 ring circus between all of them is simply a waste of time & money on *everyone’s* part. Michele, don’t fall over, but I agree with you on this!!!

Response:

Some pap for the suckers.  The mendacity  of this is breathtaking.   Only after making millions from selling the books and after sucking in thousands of gullible people is some confirmatory research to be done.     It would have been simple and quite cheap to validate the basic claims about the operation of the Syncrometer and zapper long before this deluded woman ever began to build up her empire. And nothing would have attracted funding more than the establshment of a little credible evidence at an early stage.  Who does not want a cure for cancer? Now,   has anyone told her about the NCCAM and the 100 million dollars annually they have available for the investigation of alternatives, including for cancer?       Gonzales could get money for his enzyme and coffee enema treatment.  Why not her?   I will tell you.  It is because she has zero credibility even amongst most of the alternative world. P Moran

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Dr. Clark Research Association was founded to help substantiate Dr. Hulda Clark’s findings with further lab and clinical research. jd Especially over the last five years, I’ve read a great deal by "natural health" authors.  I’ve found most of the material has:  (1) a good deal of support in scientific literature.  (2)  results in better health and well being as determined by my personal experience and/or observation.

Some  of what is claimed to be ‘alternative’ is fairly reasonable stuff no one will feel strongly about    Some is harmless and will help many through placebo-related effects.   But Hulda is sheer claptrap, while also making claims that should not be made without being able to back them up . One of the few authors whose ideas I haven’t seen much support for has been Hulda Clark, more specifically, the parasite theory of disease origin and the zapper method of killing them.  Her views on toxic substances and dental health make perfect sense to me. I’ll wait to see what develops as far as additional support for her more unorthodox ideas and certainly won’t be stampeded by the quackwatcher crowd.

Do you not think there is something screwy when she has being making outrageous claims about being able to cure all cancers, and here you are many years later still waiting for any evidence at all that she can? There is plenty of other evidence that she is a quack — the use of alternative gadgetry that has been unvalidated despite being around for many years  -  the inconsistencies you will find if you read her books thoroughly– the technical advice of many (parasitologists, and electrical engineers) outside the medical profession.  Even Ralph Moss thinks she is a quack, and he never found an alternative cancer method he didn’t like. She has produced no original research.    She has never published anything scientific even in one of the many alternative journals.   She had no backgound in cancer research or therapy before suddenly producing her elaborate theories on how to cure it. She actually even has LESS credible testimonial evidence than many other alternative methods (I monitor alt.cancer mailing lists and newsgroups). The ones quoted in her newsletters are of such poor informative quality when compared to those of say the Gerson clinic and some others, as to indicate there is no one even among her associates who understands the basics about cancer. Peter Moran

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<snip usual rant about Hulda Some  of what is claimed to be ‘alternative’ is fairly reasonable stuff no one will feel strongly about

Unless it saved your life,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Some is harmless and will help many through placebo-related effects

That’s it, that’s is, the amazing placebo, it even lowers mercury levels. The mercury that didn’t come from metal in the mouth,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzz zzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Jan Nothing is more dangerous than active ignorance. — Goethe

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Dr. Clark Research Association was founded to help substantiate Dr. Hulda Clark’s findings with further lab and clinical research.

jd Especially over the last five years, I’ve read a great deal by "natural health" authors.  I’ve found most of the material has:  (1) a good deal of support in scientific literature.  (2)  results in better health and well being as determined by my personal experience and/or observation. One of the few authors whose ideas I haven’t seen much support for has been Hulda Clark, more specifically, the parasite theory of disease origin and the zapper method of killing them.  Her views on toxic substances and dental health make perfect sense to me. I’ll wait to see what develops as far as additional support for her more unorthodox ideas and certainly won’t be stampeded by the quackwatcher crowd. rjn

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Dr. Clark Research Association was founded to help substantiate Dr. Hulda Clark’s findings with further lab and clinical research. The money that has been earned with the sale of products has gone to this purpose. We have just finished a study at the University of Washington. Since it has not yet been published I can’t disclose any details but we have been able to prove two effects Dr. Clark describes in the field of frequency medicine.  Until you disclose details and someone INDEPOENDENT has been able to replicate the results, it’s just another claim by a quack.

Just reporting an update, the results haven’t been published yet. This was small study, but nevertheless costing $60,000.  At Clark’s usual fees for her quackery, that’s less than a week’s profits.  

And you know this how? You have no idea what is profit, neither do I. There are many who attack alternative medicine because of their own interests.  And there are those who sell Clark’s quack device and books because of their own intere$t$. I have always made the point that if this research work is not properly done the Clark medicine will eventually be made illegal or inaccessible to the public. Unfortunately we have asked other companies selling Clark products in vain for support of the research.  Why should they spend money on

research when wild claims are enough to sell the products?   I though that is what all of you wanted???? Furthermore she will be doing more research until the day she dies. She often corrects herself with past discoveries, it’s called an ever on going thing. So we have paid everything ourselves. Many more projects are in the making but we do not have enough money to do them as soon as we would like to. Who is this "we"?

The association. Clark makes plenty of money form the sale of books and quack devices, and was raking in thousands a week from her (now closed?) clinics in Tijuana

And you have no idea how much is profit. And no the clinic is not closed. Jan

Response:

TDN, If Clark is making money from her books and quack devices do you think Barrett makes any from his books and anti quack law suits ? From his books?  Undoubtedly he gets the standard (pitifully small) publisher’s royalties.  I don’t know if he keeps the royalties or has assigned them to a non-profit.

And who do you think pays Barrett?? Clark, on the other hand, OWNS the publishing company so she and her financial empire get ALL the money.

Financial empire?? That would come from organized medicine which supports Barrett and his ilk. From lawsuits – I doubt it.

Of course you do.Perhaps you could check it out. That’s what lawyers are for.

So all these lawsuits brought by Barrett is coming out of his own pocket,,,,,,,,,,, Of course you also see nothing whatsoever wrong with the vested interest of the CDC and FDA.,,,,,,,,,,,, Go figure. Jan

Response:

TDN, If Clark is making money from her books and quack devices do you think Barrett makes any from his books and anti quack law suits ?

From his books?  Undoubtedly he gets the standard (pitifully small) publisher’s royalties.  I don’t know if he keeps the royalties or has assigned them to a non-profit. Clark, on the other hand, OWNS the publishing company so she and her financial empire get ALL the money. From lawsuits – I doubt it. That’s what lawyers are for. Tsu Dho Nimh It is my job to completely create professional technology in order that we may seamlessly supply competitive data.

Response:

TDN, If Clark is making money from her books and quack devices do you think Barrett makes any from his books and anti quack law suits ? From his books?  Undoubtedly he gets the standard (pitifully small) publisher’s royalties.  I don’t know if he keeps the royalties or has assigned them to a non-profit. Clark, on the other hand, OWNS the publishing company so she and her financial empire get ALL the money. From lawsuits – I doubt it. That’s what lawyers are for.

Why is it that it is so often assumed here on this NG that people who find Hulda Clark’s claims to "CURE ALL DISEASES" & taking money from desperately ill people based on this claim disgusting, repugnant, & shameless are somehow *supporters* of Barrett’s opinions??? The only 2 things I "support" about Barrett is his RETIREMENT (that some can’t seem to fathom, repeatedly insinuating that someone who is retired should still maintain a medical license he no longer needs or uses) & his decision not to be "board certified", an option that many MD’s choose not to take.  Barrett does not claim to currently hold a license to practice medicine nor does he say he is or ever was board certified. The legal 3 ring circus between all of them is simply a waste of time & money on *everyone’s* part. Michele

Response:

TDN, If Clark is making money from her books and quack devices do you think Barrett makes any from his books and anti quack law suits ? Not hard to see why Peter Bowditch sells both Clark’s and Barrett’s books. Perhaps a good law suit also increases sales ? Best wishes, Rod. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Dr. Clark Research Association was founded to help substantiate Dr. Hulda Clark’s findings with further lab and clinical research. The money that has been earned with the sale of products has gone to this purpose. We have just finished a study at the University of Washington. Since it has not yet been published I can’t disclose any details but we have been able to prove two effects Dr. Clark describes in the field of frequency medicine.   Until you disclose details and someone INDEPOENDENT has been able to replicate the results, it’s just another claim by a quack. This was small study, but nevertheless costing $60,000.   At Clark’s usual fees for her quackery, that’s less than a week’s profits. There are many who attack alternative medicine because of their own interests.   And there are those who sell Clark’s quack device and books because of their own intere$t$. I have always made the point that if this research work is not properly done the Clark medicine will eventually be made illegal or inaccessible to the public. Unfortunately we have asked other companies selling Clark products in vain for support of the research.   Why should they spend money on research when wild claims are enough to sell the products? So we have paid everything ourselves. Many more projects are in the making but we do not have enough money to do them as soon as we would like to.   Who is this "we"?  Clark makes plenty of money form the sale of books and quack devices, and was raking in thousands a week from her (now closed?) clinics in Tijuana. Tsu Dho Nimh It is my job to completely create professional technology in order that we may seamlessly supply competitive data.

Response:

Dr. Clark Research Association was founded to help substantiate Dr. Hulda Clark’s findings with further lab and clinical research. The money that has been earned with the sale of products has gone to this purpose. We have just finished a study at the University of Washington. Since it has not yet been published I can’t disclose any details but we have been able to prove two effects Dr. Clark describes in the field of frequency medicine.

  Until you disclose details and someone INDEPOENDENT has been able to replicate the results, it’s just another claim by a quack. This was small study, but nevertheless costing $60,000.

  At Clark’s usual fees for her quackery, that’s less than a week’s profits.   There are many who attack alternative medicine because of their own interests.

  And there are those who sell Clark’s quack device and books because of their own intere$t$. I have always made the point that if this research work is not properly done the Clark medicine will eventually be made illegal or inaccessible to the public. Unfortunately we have asked other companies selling Clark products in vain for support of the research.

  Why should they spend money on research when wild claims are enough to sell the products?   So we have paid everything ourselves. Many more projects are in the making but we do not have enough money to do them as soon as we would like to.

  Who is this "we"?  Clark makes plenty of money form the sale of books and quack devices, and was raking in thousands a week from her (now closed?) clinics in Tijuana. Tsu Dho Nimh It is my job to completely create professional technology in order that we may seamlessly supply competitive data.

Response:

Dr. Clark Research Association was founded to help substantiate Dr. Hulda Clark’s findings with further lab and clinical research. The money that has been earned with the sale of products has gone to this purpose.

http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Cancer/clark.html Clark claims that all cancers and many other diseases are caused by "parasites, toxins, and pollutants" and can be cured by killing the parasites and ridding the body of environmental chemicals. Her book The Cure for All Cancers states: All cancers are alike. They are all caused by a parasite. A single parasite! It is the human intestinal fluke. And if you kill this parasite, the cancer stops immediately. The tissue becomes normal again. In order to get cancer, you must have this parasite. . . . This parasite typically lives in the intestine where it might do little harm, causing only colitis, Crohn’s disease or irritable bowel syndrome, or perhaps nothing at all. But if it invades a different organ, like the uterus, kidneys or liver, it does a great deal of harm. If it establishes itself in the liver, it causes cancer! It only establishes itself in the liver of some people. These people have propyl alcohol in their body. All cancer patients (100%) have both propyl alcohol and the intestinal fluke in their livers. The solvent propyl alcohol is responsible for letting the fluke establish itself in the liver. In order to get cancer, you must have both the parasite and propyl alcohol in your body.

Response:

Dr. Clark Research Association was founded to help substantiate Dr. Hulda Clark’s findings with further lab and clinical research. The money that has been earned with the sale of products has gone to this purpose. We have just finished a study at the University of Washington. Since it has not yet been published I can’t disclose any details but we have been able to prove two effects Dr. Clark describes in the field of frequency medicine. This was small study, but nevertheless costing $60,000. There are many who attack alternative medicine because of their own interests. This war needs to be won on two sides: public relations and research to prove our point. I have always made the point that if this research work is not properly done the Clark medicine will eventually be made illegal or inaccessible to the public. Unfortunately we have asked other companies selling Clark products in vain for support of the research. So we have paid everything ourselves. Many more projects are in the making but we do not have enough money to do them as soon as we would like to. We have projects against HIV in Africa, zapper research projects, clinical evaluation programs for diabetes, etc. We also have a clinic project, and we believe once the clinic is a fact we can do much better statistics with the treated patients so it will serve the purpose of research also.

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Question:

Howard Make sure that you take time for yourself so you don’t wear yourself down and cause a flare up of your UC … I am just a caring type person !!  Now, since I put your name in the header .. you best look at it !! We miss you, and I think after the holidays we can all discuss a better night and time for the talkcity room if anyone really is interested , also would want someone (adult) who would be dedicated to be there all the time, since, I may not always be there due to a spouse who has different nights off each week, and me, who loves to spend time with him when he is off !!! I have the password to change the topic on top of the room … If I don’t see you post before then, I want to wish you and your wife a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year …. and also to everyone else in this newsgroup Maryjo

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Maryjo I do get back, skim the headers, read a few posts, and reply where I can. It’s just that I don’t have much time available. Howard in Alaska (who expects the mess to get worse before it gets better.) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Howard What would we do without your wealth of information stored in your computer !!  How are things going, I hope that they aren’t working you too hard … Those SLAVE DRIVERS !!! Maryjo – who misses Howard

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Hi – does anyone know if there are any crohnes support groups in ireland – particularly in the north or belfast? Ta – Phil.

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Phil This may help. http://www.imd.ie/g6x.htm#COLITIS Howard in Alaska COLITIS / CROHN’S DISEASE IRISH SOCIETY FOR COLITIS AND CROHNS DISEASE Carmichael Centre, North Brunswick Street, Dublin 7. Tel 01 8721416. Fax 01 8735737. Founded in 1984. Information and support for patients with inflammatory bowel disease and their families. Leaflets and booklets. Lectures held countrywide. Raises funds for medical research. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi – does anyone know if there are any crohnes support groups in ireland – particularly in the north or belfast? Ta – Phil.

Response:

Howard What would we do without your wealth of information stored in your computer !!  How are things going, I hope that they aren’t working you too hard … Those SLAVE DRIVERS !!! Maryjo – who misses Howard

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Question:

Well, I love that nice expensive shellfish – like crab and lobster – but a steady diet of fish would prolly make me grow gills…here in the Midwest we have access to that yummy Black Angus beef that I just can’t give up completely. Mimi (who is having withdrawal symptoms just thinking about it) "It might look like I’m doing nothing, but at the cellular level I’m really quite busy."

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come visit my homepage:  "http://community.webtv.net/MaryjoL/MYPAGE"

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I purchased the book "Eating Right for a Bad Gut" at Amazon.com.  It’s pretty technical but does have some very good info!  Might be worth a try.  He does advocate lots of FISH and red meat only rarely if ever. * Sent from AltaVista http://www.altavista.com Where you can also find related Web Pages, Images, Audios, Videos, News, and Shopping.  Smart is Beautiful

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fish ….. YUCK !!  Reminds me too much of growing up and being forced to eat fish every Friday …. now shrimp and lobster I love come visit my homepage:  "http://community.webtv.net/MaryjoL/MYPAGE"

Response:

Mick,    Fish seems to be one of the few things that people with an IBD can handle almost always.  Poultry is next, without the skin and baked.  My better half also has Crohn’s and he knows that beef of any type seems to get him if he eats it too often.  My best advice (from personal experience and talking to others) is sick with fish for now.  Gradually re-introduce poultry and after that beef.  Take your time and take it slow.  Stay away from anything fried, whether deep fried or skillet fried, and especially if it has a batter on it.  There’s a book called, "Eating Right For A Bad Gut" by Dr. James Scala. The subtitle on it is "The complete nutritional guide to Ileitis, Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease."  First thing that got my attention about the book is that Dr. Scala he got the info from people with IBD.  The next was the food lists (do, don’t and caution) and the nutritional information throughout the book.  It’s not a bible for IBD, it is a guide.  I found it in a local library when I was finally diagnosed with CD.  I finally bought a copy of it because the library copy had been stolen and they couldn’t replace it.  Might be a little hard to find it…but if you are interested call around.  A lot of living with IBD is trial and error.  Some people have one food they cannot eat, others have several or a combination.  Keeping a food diary is a good idea also. Another idea is to eat smaller meals, 4-6 a day, that equal about what you normally eat. Best of luck, Candice

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hey all.. 19 y/o diagnosed just a month back. I’m on prednisone (40 mg right now down from 80 in no time at all) and I recently started 6MP (which I’ve heard takes a while to kick in?) Prednisone seemed like a miracle to me…pain was gone almost immediately, I was able to get through meals for the first time in months. At this point I feel okay, most of my other side-effects are gone, I’m gaining weight, but ever since hitting 40 mg of Pred from 50 pain has been hitting me again. I’ve started associating it with heavy meat meals, like steak and chicken breast. Today I had a big seafood lunch (swordfish, nummy) and I had no pain at all. Is this psychological or should I really stick with the fish? Thanks

Response:

Hey all.. 19 y/o diagnosed just a month back. I’m on prednisone (40 mg right now down from 80 in no time at all) and I recently started 6MP (which I’ve heard takes a while to kick in?) Prednisone seemed like a miracle to me…pain was gone almost immediately, I was able to get through meals for the first time in months. At this point I feel okay, most of my other side-effects are gone, I’m gaining weight, but ever since hitting 40 mg of Pred from 50 pain has been hitting me again. I’ve started associating it with heavy meat meals, like steak and chicken breast. Today I had a big seafood lunch (swordfish, nummy) and I had no pain at all. Is this psychological or should I really stick with the fish? Thanks

Response:

Fish is a really good choice.  I never really had problems with baked chicken breast either, but not with the skin.  The only red meat I could tolerate was an occasional filet mignon.  But everyone is different.  Try the fish for a while and then add just the chicken and see if it bothers you.  I find that smaller, more frequent meals are easier to tolerate also. good luck! Be well- Tracy my homepage: http://home.talkcity.com/ParadiseDr/goodboie/index.html  : )  smile – it makes people wonder what you’re up to!

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Or it may be that you need to stay at 50 on the pred for a little while longer.  Good Luck Lynn in Fl

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Fish is a really good choice.  I never really had problems with baked chicken breast either, but not with the skin.  The only red meat I could tolerate was an occasional filet mignon.  But everyone is different.  Try the fish for a while and then add just the chicken and see if it bothers you.  I find that smaller, more frequent meals are easier to tolerate also. good luck! Be well- Tracy my homepage: http://home.talkcity.com/ParadiseDr/goodboie/index.html : )  smile – it makes people wonder what you’re up to!

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As Tracy also mentioned, I find I do really well on fish. I can also handle chicken breast with no skin. And turkey breast. And even lean red meats such as filet mignon. Smaller portions also help with my digestion. Fatty type foods really give my system a lot of problems. Bob *** Hey all.. 19 y/o diagnosed just a month back. I’m on prednisone (40 mg right now down from 80 in no time at all) and I recently started 6MP (which I’ve heard takes a while to kick in?) Prednisone seemed like a miracle to me…pain was gone almost immediately, I was able to get through meals for the first time in months. At this point I feel okay, most of my other side-effects are gone, I’m gaining weight, but ever since hitting 40 mg of Pred from 50 pain has been hitting me again. I’ve started associating it with heavy meat meals, like steak and chicken breast. Today I had a big seafood lunch (swordfish, nummy) and I had no pain at all. Is this psychological or should I really stick with the fish? Thanks

– Bob Buchner 1G-411 x97707

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Question:

If there is a doctor out there who can help my brother I would be so grateful. Since before Christmas of ‘98 he has been so sick. The doctor discovered in March that his gall bladder needed to be removed (the surgery was March 9, 1999). And the doctor removed it knowing there would still be problems and he let my brother know he would have to continue getting tests, etc…Here are his symptoms: pain in his lower right side, diarea, nausea, weight loss (about 20 pounds or so), no appetite, some vomiting (better since the gall bladder was removed), he has recently started complaing about pain in his left side behind his ribs.  He also complains about his rectum hurting when he urinates.  They have tested him for colon cancer, diabetes, stones in his intestines and about 25 other things.  He is in so much pain that it is unbearable to watch him go through this every day.  He is having an MRI on April 19. Hopefuly it will show something.  If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.  Thanks.

Response:

Hi Matt. Tell your brother to see a G. I. doctor and get checked for colitis/crohn’s disease.  IBS and IBD’s have a lot of common symptoms and he should be checked to see exactly which he is dealing with. Once they know, they can get him on the right meds to help him feel better. There is a group for colitis/chron’s also that you may want to read thru. it is alt.support.chrons-colitis. — MrsRat Admin XWorld IRC NetWork http://sefl.satelnet.org/~brats/

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Hi Matt, I agree that your brother should see a gastroenterologist. It would also be valuable for your brother to be tested for celiac disease, as it is often misdiagnosed as IBS, and can usually be controlled with diet alone. I hope that is helpful. best wishes, Ron Hoggan In article <371BB8A4.15739…@home.com

, brat…@home.com says…

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

Hi Matt. Tell your brother to see a G. I. doctor and get checked for colitis/crohn’s disease.  IBS and IBD’s have a lot of common symptoms and he should be checked to see exactly which he is dealing with. Once they know, they can get him on the right meds to help him feel better. There is a group for colitis/chron’s also that you may want to read thru. it is alt.support.chrons-colitis. — MrsRat Admin XWorld IRC NetWork http://sefl.satelnet.org/~brats/

Response:

Question:

I personally have suffered with I.B.S. for over 20 years and had tried various medications . In the last year I was put on Lomotil Diphenoxylate HCL . This is the only medication that I have ever had improvement with and it  has greatly improved MY quality of life ! Now I have no idea if it is a tolerable medication for dogs but talk to your vet and have him look into this possibility Good luck Jamie – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have a 9 year old female English Cocker that our vet has diagnosed as probably having Irritable Bowel Syndrome. We have her on metronidazole (250 mg) and she seems to be responding, but the diet is canned and pretty "bland". In the past, she had lost her appetite and had terrible diarrhea with mucus and blood in the stool. That has subsided with taking the medication. Please respond to John at Thank you.

Response:

I have a 9 year old female English Cocker that our vet has diagnosed as probably having Irritable Bowel Syndrome. We have her on metronidazole (250 mg) and she seems to be responding, but the diet is canned and pretty "bland". In the past, she had lost her appetite and had terrible diarrhea with mucus and blood in the stool. That has subsided with taking the medication. I would like to know what might be the long term disposition: will she be able to eat her favorites again like, vegetables and fruits? Also what else can you tell me about this diagnosis? Please respond to John at Thank you.

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Thanks much for the replies.  I am leaning toward just keeping him on the meds, but wasn’t sure if there are bad effects of taking the drug over a long period that might outweigh its good effects.  Plus, I don’t want to keep him from getting treatment that he needs.  I will check with my vet and see what she has to say.  It helps to get outside thoughts/advice from you all  :-)  I’ll let you guys know what happens in any event.

Let us know how it goes Tracy! Kelly

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – It all started a couple months ago.  I took him in cause he had been drinking a *lot* of water.  He has early kidney disease, so we have him on SubQ fluids a couple times a week.  Not long after we got him diagnosed for that, he started losing interest in eating, had really runny stools and was losing weight.  My vet suggested that it might be inflamitory bowel or a kind of carcinoma, but that more tests would have to be done to be certain. This is when the endoscopy was mentioned.  She also said that we could try some medication first before going to more invasive tests so we put him on Prednisolone (15mg day).  It seems to work very well.  He was eating, gaining weight, etc.  When we started trying to wean him off it the past couple weeks, his problems appeared to come back.  So, now I have him back on a half dose of the Pred until I can get him back into the vet for more tests. I was so upset by the whole kidney thing (and my cat by all the trips to the vet) at first that I really didn’t want to pursue the other but have a feeling that we will have to soon.  Fred (cat) is 18 years old, so I have to think about how much I would want to put him through in terms of surgery too.  Not so much a matter of the expense (though holy smoke it looks expensive!)  but a matter of we can do for Fred that is most effective with the least amount of trama  Thanks for your info.

Tracy, If the prednisone seems to be having an effect, it’s most likely IBD and not any type of cancer.  If he is 18 years old, I would be VERY hesitant to put him through any type of invasive surgery, especially an exploratory.  Sam is only 10 years old, so it wasn’t as rough on him.  The exploratory is a rather lengthy surgery, and I wouldn’t want to put an 18 year old cat under anesthetic, let alone for an hour or more.  The endoscopy requires anesthetic, but no incisions are made.  I’m not sure about the duration but I imagine it would be much shorter. Personally, if it were my cat and the prednisone was doing it’s job, I would leave him be.  18 years is a nice old age for a cat, and further invasive diagnostic tests might do him more harm than good. Good luck with Fred! Kelly

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – If the prednisone seems to be having an effect, it’s most likely IBD and not any type of cancer.  If he is 18 years old, I would be VERY hesitant to put him through any type of invasive surgery, especially an exploratory.  Sam is only 10 years old, so it wasn’t as rough on him.  The exploratory is a rather lengthy surgery, and I wouldn’t want to put an 18 year old cat under anesthetic, let alone for an hour or more.  The endoscopy requires anesthetic, but no incisions are made.  I’m not sure about the duration but I imagine it would be much shorter. Personally, if it were my cat and the prednisone was doing it’s job, I would leave him be.  18 years is a nice old age for a cat, and further invasive diagnostic tests might do him more harm than good. Good luck with Fred!

Thanks much for the replies.  I am leaning toward just keeping him on the meds, but wasn’t sure if there are bad effects of taking the drug over a long period that might outweigh its good effects.  Plus, I don’t want to keep him from getting treatment that he needs.  I will check with my vet and see what she has to say.  It helps to get outside thoughts/advice from you all  :-)  I’ll let you guys know what happens in any event. Tracy

Response:

Hi Tracy, I would suggest that you consider joining the FelineIBD group at groups.yahoo.com. I don’t think anyone has suggested that (or if I missed it and am repeating someone, I apologize ).  As Phil has said, there are many different causes of IBD and IBD-like symptoms, and several ways to address the problem. While many of the people on the IBD list have had success by changing diet alone (usually to a raw-based diet, though I personally have not chosen to try that route), there are many there that have used prednisolone or other medication and/or supplements. I’ve been fairly successful with switching my cat, Freya, to Wysong’s Anergen food, which has lamb as it’s only meat. She’s not crazy about it, but it has stopped the diarrehea. But it only takes a little bit of any chicken-based food or treat to mess her up again for a couple of days. Given Fred’s age and kidney problems, if I were in your shoes, I would probably elect to continue with the prednisolone, and possibly try changing his diet to another food (lamb, venison, or rabbit based foods, for example). It apparently takes a really, really long time be weaned off prednisolone…even a couple of weeks might not have been a long enough period to wean Fred off the drug. There are several people on the IBD list who have had their cats on prednisolone for several years without problem. The kidney problems might complicate that…I’d talk with your vet about possible effects of the drug on the kidneys. Given all Fred’s recent trips to the vet, it could be that the problems are being caused by stress alone. If you haven’t done it already, I’d suggest having fecal tests done for everything they can test for…giardia and some other bugs can get into your kitty and cause these same type problems. Often, too, they are hard to find in the tests, which complicates diagnosis. Catherine, Loki and Freya – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – It all started a couple months ago.  I took him in cause he had been drinking a *lot* of water.  He has early kidney disease, so we have him on SubQ fluids a couple times a week.  Not long after we got him diagnosed for that, he started losing interest in eating, had really runny stools and was losing weight.  My vet suggested that it might be inflamitory bowel or a kind of carcinoma, but that more tests would have to be done to be certain. This is when the endoscopy was mentioned.  She also said that we could try some medication first before going to more invasive tests so we put him on Prednisolone (15mg day).  It seems to work very well.  He was eating, gaining weight, etc.  When we started trying to wean him off it the past couple weeks, his problems appeared to come back.  So, now I have him back on a half dose of the Pred until I can get him back into the vet for more tests. I was so upset by the whole kidney thing (and my cat by all the trips to the vet) at first that I really didn’t want to pursue the other but have a feeling that we will have to soon.  Fred (cat) is 18 years old, so I have to think about how much I would want to put him through in terms of surgery too.  Not so much a matter of the expense (though holy smoke it looks expensive!)  but a matter of we can do for Fred that is most effective with the least amount of trama  Thanks for your info. Tracy

– Generic Lame-O Signature Follows: Matos, Catherine Anne Moseley http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~cm85 Yes, I love being a graduate student! Really! I mean it!

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – An endoscopy is very expensive (1300 dollars Canadian) and although it’s a good technique, it may not be able to get to the places where the problem occurs.  For example, where Sam’s problem was… the vet said the endoscopy would not have been able to reach the area. What kind of intestinal problems are you referring to?  Is there vomiting, diarrhea?? snip It all started a couple months ago.  I took him in cause he had been drinking a *lot* of water.  He has early kidney disease, so we have him on SubQ fluids a couple times a week.  Not long after we got him diagnosed for that, he started losing interest in eating, had really runny stools and was losing weight.  My vet suggested that it might be inflamitory bowel or a kind of carcinoma, but that more tests would have to be done to be certain. This is when the endoscopy was mentioned.  She also said that we could try some medication first before going to more invasive tests so we put him on Prednisolone (15mg day).  It seems to work very well.  He was eating, gaining weight, etc.  When we started trying to wean him off it the past couple weeks, his problems appeared to come back.  So, now I have him back on a half dose of the Pred until I can get him back into the vet for more tests. I was so upset by the whole kidney thing (and my cat by all the trips to the vet) at first that I really didn’t want to pursue the other but have a feeling that we will have to soon.  Fred (cat) is 18 years old, so I have to think about how much I would want to put him through in terms of surgery too.  Not so much a matter of the expense (though holy smoke it looks expensive!)  but a matter of we can do for Fred that is most effective with the least amount of trama  Thanks for your info. Tracy

Gosh, at that age if the Pred works and he feels good, I’d be tempted to keep him on it and forgo the invasive procedures. Karen

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – My cat just went through an exploratory surgery, where they took biopsies of his intestine.  Part of the intestine was also thickened and a bit red looking.  The biopsies are really the only surefire clinical diagnosis. Kelly Did they actually have to cut your cat open or did they do it by inserting a tube through mouth or rectum?  My cat has been having some intestinal problems and the vet had suggested an endoscopy(?).  We decided not to at the time and to try some medicine, but am thinking we may need to get some definitive answers soon.  Can you share what kind of costs you had for your exploratory surgery?

Tracy, An endoscopy is very expensive (1300 dollars Canadian) and although it’s a good technique, it may not be able to get to the places where the problem occurs.  For example, where Sam’s problem was… the vet said the endoscopy would not have been able to reach the area. What kind of intestinal problems are you referring to?  Is there vomiting, diarrhea?? The exploratory surgery cost about 750 dollars Canadian, but I’m an employee there so I get a discount. The vets all reassured me that it was really the best clinical decision, and it’s a very good diagnostic tool. The surgery takes about an hour and the vet is able to actually palpate each part of the intestine, both feeling and visualizing things for abnormalities.  Biopsies were taken from several parts and sent off for diagnosis (included in the cost). Sam has been bouncing back very well from this surgery.  It was done yesterday (tues) and I’m bringing him home with me tonight (although usually animals stay 2-3 days).  He was eating ravenously this morning as well, which really surprised me.  I had to take the food away to make sure he didn’t eat too much! I really recommend the exploratory surgery if you want some definite answers.  Just remember that it is only a diagnostic tool, and not a full treatment in itself (unless there is a bowel obstruction that’s the problem). Hope you find out what’s wrong… good luck! Kelly

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Are there any tests that could be used to pinpoint this as a cause of chronic diarrhoea? Actually, specific gastrointestinal function tests are available.  They’re usually non-invasive and only require blood, urine and stool samples.  These tests measure gastrointestinal absorption – which when impaired, can cause chronic diarrhea.  Serum folate and cobalamin concentrations would help narrow down the problem to the small intestines or pancreas.  Low folate and low cobalamin would likely indicate inflammatory bowel disease IBD – however endoscopic or surgical biopsy might be necessary to confirm the diagnosis. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease are not the same and the terms should not be used interchangeably. IBS is a non-inflammatory dysfunction of the colon that is usually associated with stress or stressful events.  IBD is a group of gastrointestinal diseases involving inflammatory cellular infiltrates in the lamina propria of the small or large intestine.  IOW, an abnormal mucosal immune response to some causative agent (e.g., proteins, food additives, artificial coloring, preservatives, milk proteins, gluten, or microbial agent).  Genetic factors may also be involved.  Inherited chromosome fragility has been associated with IBD in humans and also apply to cats and dogs.  Environmental agents have also been implicated in some cats. The *first* tests I would opt for are a complete blood work-up to rule out internal disease and a fecal exam to rule out parasitic infestation followed by an ultrasound to rule out gastrointestinal foreign objects and gastrointestinal lymphoma.  Hopefully, these test will be negative.  My next step would be a food elimination trial beginning with a single, novel protein, one to which your cat has not been previously exposed.  It may take several food trials with different protein sources, so you’re gonna need a *lot* of patience!

That’s very helpful and I will take a copy of this post to the vet tomorrow. What would be the treatment available for IBD or IBS should either turn out to be present?

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Are there any tests that could be used to pinpoint this as a cause of chronic diarrhoea?

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I think you mean inflammatory bowel disease. It can be confirmed by a biopsy of the intestine. Also, although this is not a definitive diagnosis, it can be seen on an ultra sound as the intestines look very white and thickened. Gail – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Are there any tests that could be used to pinpoint this as a cause of chronic diarrhoea?

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My cat just went through an exploratory surgery, where they took biopsies of his intestine.  Part of the intestine was also thickened and a bit red looking.  The biopsies are really the only surefire clinical diagnosis. Kelly — *When in doubt, See a Vet! – Nothing else substitutes for a professional.* – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Are there any tests that could be used to pinpoint this as a cause of chronic diarrhoea?

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My cat just went through an exploratory surgery, where they took biopsies of his intestine.  Part of the intestine was also thickened and a bit red looking.  The biopsies are really the only surefire clinical diagnosis. Kelly

Did they actually have to cut your cat open or did they do it by inserting a tube through mouth or rectum?  My cat has been having some intestinal problems and the vet had suggested an endoscopy(?).  We decided not to at the time and to try some medicine, but am thinking we may need to get some definitive answers soon.  Can you share what kind of costs you had for your exploratory surgery? Thanks Tracy N.

Response:

An endoscopy is very expensive (1300 dollars Canadian) and although it’s a good technique, it may not be able to get to the places where the problem occurs.  For example, where Sam’s problem was… the vet said the endoscopy would not have been able to reach the area. What kind of intestinal problems are you referring to?  Is there vomiting, diarrhea?? snip

It all started a couple months ago.  I took him in cause he had been drinking a *lot* of water.  He has early kidney disease, so we have him on SubQ fluids a couple times a week.  Not long after we got him diagnosed for that, he started losing interest in eating, had really runny stools and was losing weight.  My vet suggested that it might be inflamitory bowel or a kind of carcinoma, but that more tests would have to be done to be certain. This is when the endoscopy was mentioned.  She also said that we could try some medication first before going to more invasive tests so we put him on Prednisolone (15mg day).  It seems to work very well.  He was eating, gaining weight, etc.  When we started trying to wean him off it the past couple weeks, his problems appeared to come back.  So, now I have him back on a half dose of the Pred until I can get him back into the vet for more tests. I was so upset by the whole kidney thing (and my cat by all the trips to the vet) at first that I really didn’t want to pursue the other but have a feeling that we will have to soon.  Fred (cat) is 18 years old, so I have to think about how much I would want to put him through in terms of surgery too.  Not so much a matter of the expense (though holy smoke it looks expensive!)  but a matter of we can do for Fred that is most effective with the least amount of trama  Thanks for your info. Tracy

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My cat Farley used to have a problem with bloody stools.  The vet recommended feeding him half his regular store bought food and half prescription Science Diet Feline CD you buy from the vet.  He said if that didn’t clear it up to try feeding entirely Feline CD.  The half and half worked wonders for him and he only occasionally has a bloody stool (less bloody than they used to be), but no more drips of blood on the carpet post-defecation. Good luck

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Please help!  My 8 year old cat Benny has been diagnosed with IBS by the vet.  He has a constantly runny stool which is mucus filled and sometimes bloody.  He is only using the litter box about 75% of the time now when he defecates.  He only weighs about 8 lbs, and cries when he goes to the bathroom.  He has been to multiple vets, and over a thousand dollars later, the last vet diagnosed him with IBS and gave me some medicine, which did nothing, and some prescription food, which did nothing.  He has been on a lamb and rice diet for years.  He does not use clumping litter. I love him very, very much but I am getting very frustrated.  The carpeting in my apt is ruined, as is most of my furniture!  Help! Does anybody know about this?  What can I do?

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Are you sure your vet said IBS, or did he say Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)? I always mistakenly type one of those for the other. Glad I’m not the only one. Laura

    What’s the difference?  (I thought they were one and the same.) Sally

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Are you sure your vet said IBS, or did he say Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)? I always mistakenly type one of those for the other. Glad I’m not the only one. Laura     What’s the difference?  (I thought they were one and the same.) Sally

http://www.vin.com/PetCare/Articles/VetHospital/M00526.htm Laura — One man’s mundane and boring existence is another man’s Technicolor. -Tick, Strange Days

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Are you sure your vet said IBS, or did he say Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)?

    What’s the difference?  (I thought they were one and the same.) Hi, Inflammatory bowel disease is a category of auto-immune disorder. In people it includes diseases like Crohn’s disease – very serious. Irritable bowel syndrome is not caused by a specific known disease process and is characterized by alternating constipation and diarrhea, and which often responds well to dietary changes. If "identifiable" bowel disorders (parasites, cancer, IBD, etc are ruled out – in people or animals) the "causeless" symptoms are often called IBS. Elaine

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Thanks!

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Are you sure your vet said IBS, or did he say Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)?     What’s the difference?  (I thought they were one and the same.) Hi, Inflammatory bowel disease is a category of auto-immune disorder. In people it includes diseases like Crohn’s disease – very serious. Irritable bowel syndrome is not caused by a specific known disease process and is characterized by alternating constipation and diarrhea, and which often responds well to dietary changes. If "identifiable" bowel disorders (parasites, cancer, IBD, etc are ruled out – in people or animals) the "causeless" symptoms are often called IBS. Elaine

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Please help!  My 8 year old cat Benny has been diagnosed with IBS by the vet.  He has a constantly runny stool which is mucus filled and sometimes bloody

My kitty Punkin had this, bloody, runny, mucousy stools, IBS. The only thing that worked for him was feeding him dry food called Katz and Flodder (sp?). It would take 2-3 days for his stools to get back to normal. He also would miss the box a bit. I had to do some behavioral modification and he was allergic to the litter I was using. He was a Persian kitty with sensitive white paws so regular litter irritated his paws. Besides Katz and Flodder he could eat one other thing, baked chicken with whole grain enriched rice. I would bake a couple of chickens, cut it all up, skin and call, into little bite sized chunks. I would cook the rice and mix this 50/50 with the chicken. I’d freeze large quanitities in little bags and thaw out over night. After two days he had regular stools and felt much better. Otherwise the vet suggested I put him to sleep. I also used the chicken and rice can dinners but they still irritated his tummy a little bit. Let me know if you can find this food for him and good luck. Get one of those mini carpet cleaners from Hoover I think and clean the areas well so he doesn’t resoil them. Let me know if you need anymore help.

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Please help!  My 8 year old cat Benny has been diagnosed with IBS by the vet.  He has a constantly runny stool which is mucus filled and sometimes bloody.  He is only using the litter box about 75% of the time now when he defecates.  He only weighs about 8 lbs, and cries when he goes to the bathroom.  He has been to multiple vets, and over a thousand dollars later, the last vet diagnosed him with IBS and gave me some medicine, which did nothing, and some prescription food, which did nothing.  He has been on a lamb and rice diet for years.  He does not use clumping litter. I love him very, very much but I am getting very frustrated.  The carpeting in my apt is ruined, as is most of my furniture!  Help! Does anybody know about this?  What can I do?

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Please help!  My 8 year old cat Benny has been diagnosed with IBS by the vet.  He has a constantly runny stool which is mucus filled and sometimes bloody.  He is only using the litter box about 75% of the time now when he defecates.  He only weighs about 8 lbs, and cries when he goes to the bathroom.  He has been to multiple vets, and over a thousand dollars later, the last vet diagnosed him with IBS and gave me some medicine, which did nothing, and some prescription food, which did nothing.  He has been on a lamb and rice diet for years.  He does not use clumping litter. I love him very, very much but I am getting very frustrated.  The carpeting in my apt is ruined, as is most of my furniture!  Help! Does anybody know about this?  What can I do?

Has your vet tested for intestinal lymphosarcoma? (blood work, ultrasound, endoscopic and/or exploratory surgery?) As far as the stains on the carpeting, I highly recommend Oxiclean. It has saved my carpet. <sigh Also, try cleaning the litterbox every time the cat uses it; they seem to become even more particular about litterbox cleanliness when they have intestinal problems. Laura — One man’s mundane and boring existence is another man’s Technicolor. -Tick, Strange Days

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I think you mean inflammatory bowel disease. What medication was he given? My cat has had IBD for 8 years and takes Prednisone daily. There are other medications as well. This disease is treatable although not curable. You should also have multiple litter boxes for him. Have you tried seeing a vet that specializes in internal medicine? Gail – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Please help!  My 8 year old cat Benny has been diagnosed with IBS by the vet.  He has a constantly runny stool which is mucus filled and sometimes bloody.  He is only using the litter box about 75% of the time now when he defecates.  He only weighs about 8 lbs, and cries when he goes to the bathroom.  He has been to multiple vets, and over a thousand dollars later, the last vet diagnosed him with IBS and gave me some medicine, which did nothing, and some prescription food, which did nothing.  He has been on a lamb and rice diet for years.  He does not use clumping litter. I love him very, very much but I am getting very frustrated.  The carpeting in my apt is ruined, as is most of my furniture!  Help! Does anybody know about this?  What can I do?

Response:

Please help!  My 8 year old cat Benny has been diagnosed with IBS by the vet.  He has a constantly runny stool which is mucus filled and sometimes bloody.  He is only using the litter box about 75% of the time now when he defecates.  He only weighs about 8 lbs, and cries when he goes to the bathroom.  He has been to multiple vets, and over a thousand dollars later, the last vet diagnosed him with IBS and gave me some medicine, which did nothing, and some prescription food, which did nothing.  He has been on a lamb and rice diet for years.  He does not use clumping litter. I love him very, very much but I am getting very frustrated.  The carpeting in my apt is ruined, as is most of my furniture!  Help! Does anybody know about this?  What can I do?

Are you sure your vet said IBS, or did he say Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)? I suggest that you subscribe to the Feline IBD list on yahoo groups.  It’s a *great* list with tons of people who have been through this and who can offer lots of good suggestions for you. To subscribe, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FelineIBD/ Good luck.

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Are you sure your vet said IBS, or did he say Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)?

I always mistakenly type one of those for the other. Glad I’m not the only one. Laura — One man’s mundane and boring existence is another man’s Technicolor. -Tick, Strange Days

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 He has been to multiple vets, and over a thousand dollars later, the last vet diagnosed him with IBS and gave me some medicine, which did nothing, and some prescription food, which did nothing.  He has been on a lamb and rice diet for years.  He does not use clumping litter.

If he actually has inflammatory bowel disease, then he probably needs medication. What kind were you given and how long a trial was the cat on? But usually food allergies are ruled out before going to medicines. Afterall, why put an animal on a lifetime of medication if all you need to do is change their food! What prescription food was tried? For how long? When you say he’s been on lamb and rice food that doesn’t help; for example most commercial lamb and rice diets (especially the dry foods) also have other meats and grains, if you read the fine print. Have you tried a prescription hypoallergenic diet (they are usually something like venison or duck and rice)? Also, wet foods are much easier on their systems, as they don’t have as many chemical additives,  if in fact they are allergic to something like the dyes or preservatives rather than the proteins.  I had one old cat that had bloody stools on virtually any kind of dry food, who did better on wet food and whose problem cleared up entirely once switched to a home-made diet based on beef & quinoa. Good luck, E

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Thanks much for the replies.  I am leaning toward just keeping him on the meds, but wasn’t sure if there are bad effects of taking the drug over a long period that might outweigh its good effects.  Plus, I don’t want to keep him from getting treatment that he needs.  I will check with my vet and see what she has to say.  It helps to get outside thoughts/advice from you all  :-)  I’ll let you guys know what happens in any event.

Let us know how it goes Tracy! Kelly

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – It all started a couple months ago.  I took him in cause he had been drinking a *lot* of water.  He has early kidney disease, so we have him on SubQ fluids a couple times a week.  Not long after we got him diagnosed for that, he started losing interest in eating, had really runny stools and was losing weight.  My vet suggested that it might be inflamitory bowel or a kind of carcinoma, but that more tests would have to be done to be certain. This is when the endoscopy was mentioned.  She also said that we could try some medication first before going to more invasive tests so we put him on Prednisolone (15mg day).  It seems to work very well.  He was eating, gaining weight, etc.  When we started trying to wean him off it the past couple weeks, his problems appeared to come back.  So, now I have him back on a half dose of the Pred until I can get him back into the vet for more tests. I was so upset by the whole kidney thing (and my cat by all the trips to the vet) at first that I really didn’t want to pursue the other but have a feeling that we will have to soon.  Fred (cat) is 18 years old, so I have to think about how much I would want to put him through in terms of surgery too.  Not so much a matter of the expense (though holy smoke it looks expensive!)  but a matter of we can do for Fred that is most effective with the least amount of trama  Thanks for your info.

Tracy, If the prednisone seems to be having an effect, it’s most likely IBD and not any type of cancer.  If he is 18 years old, I would be VERY hesitant to put him through any type of invasive surgery, especially an exploratory.  Sam is only 10 years old, so it wasn’t as rough on him.  The exploratory is a rather lengthy surgery, and I wouldn’t want to put an 18 year old cat under anesthetic, let alone for an hour or more.  The endoscopy requires anesthetic, but no incisions are made.  I’m not sure about the duration but I imagine it would be much shorter. Personally, if it were my cat and the prednisone was doing it’s job, I would leave him be.  18 years is a nice old age for a cat, and further invasive diagnostic tests might do him more harm than good. Good luck with Fred! Kelly

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – If the prednisone seems to be having an effect, it’s most likely IBD and not any type of cancer.  If he is 18 years old, I would be VERY hesitant to put him through any type of invasive surgery, especially an exploratory.  Sam is only 10 years old, so it wasn’t as rough on him.  The exploratory is a rather lengthy surgery, and I wouldn’t want to put an 18 year old cat under anesthetic, let alone for an hour or more.  The endoscopy requires anesthetic, but no incisions are made.  I’m not sure about the duration but I imagine it would be much shorter. Personally, if it were my cat and the prednisone was doing it’s job, I would leave him be.  18 years is a nice old age for a cat, and further invasive diagnostic tests might do him more harm than good. Good luck with Fred!

Thanks much for the replies.  I am leaning toward just keeping him on the meds, but wasn’t sure if there are bad effects of taking the drug over a long period that might outweigh its good effects.  Plus, I don’t want to keep him from getting treatment that he needs.  I will check with my vet and see what she has to say.  It helps to get outside thoughts/advice from you all  :-)  I’ll let you guys know what happens in any event. Tracy

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Hi Tracy, I would suggest that you consider joining the FelineIBD group at groups.yahoo.com. I don’t think anyone has suggested that (or if I missed it and am repeating someone, I apologize ).  As Phil has said, there are many different causes of IBD and IBD-like symptoms, and several ways to address the problem. While many of the people on the IBD list have had success by changing diet alone (usually to a raw-based diet, though I personally have not chosen to try that route), there are many there that have used prednisolone or other medication and/or supplements. I’ve been fairly successful with switching my cat, Freya, to Wysong’s Anergen food, which has lamb as it’s only meat. She’s not crazy about it, but it has stopped the diarrehea. But it only takes a little bit of any chicken-based food or treat to mess her up again for a couple of days. Given Fred’s age and kidney problems, if I were in your shoes, I would probably elect to continue with the prednisolone, and possibly try changing his diet to another food (lamb, venison, or rabbit based foods, for example). It apparently takes a really, really long time be weaned off prednisolone…even a couple of weeks might not have been a long enough period to wean Fred off the drug. There are several people on the IBD list who have had their cats on prednisolone for several years without problem. The kidney problems might complicate that…I’d talk with your vet about possible effects of the drug on the kidneys. Given all Fred’s recent trips to the vet, it could be that the problems are being caused by stress alone. If you haven’t done it already, I’d suggest having fecal tests done for everything they can test for…giardia and some other bugs can get into your kitty and cause these same type problems. Often, too, they are hard to find in the tests, which complicates diagnosis. Catherine, Loki and Freya – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – It all started a couple months ago.  I took him in cause he had been drinking a *lot* of water.  He has early kidney disease, so we have him on SubQ fluids a couple times a week.  Not long after we got him diagnosed for that, he started losing interest in eating, had really runny stools and was losing weight.  My vet suggested that it might be inflamitory bowel or a kind of carcinoma, but that more tests would have to be done to be certain. This is when the endoscopy was mentioned.  She also said that we could try some medication first before going to more invasive tests so we put him on Prednisolone (15mg day).  It seems to work very well.  He was eating, gaining weight, etc.  When we started trying to wean him off it the past couple weeks, his problems appeared to come back.  So, now I have him back on a half dose of the Pred until I can get him back into the vet for more tests. I was so upset by the whole kidney thing (and my cat by all the trips to the vet) at first that I really didn’t want to pursue the other but have a feeling that we will have to soon.  Fred (cat) is 18 years old, so I have to think about how much I would want to put him through in terms of surgery too.  Not so much a matter of the expense (though holy smoke it looks expensive!)  but a matter of we can do for Fred that is most effective with the least amount of trama  Thanks for your info. Tracy

– Generic Lame-O Signature Follows: Matos, Catherine Anne Moseley http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~cm85 Yes, I love being a graduate student! Really! I mean it!

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – An endoscopy is very expensive (1300 dollars Canadian) and although it’s a good technique, it may not be able to get to the places where the problem occurs.  For example, where Sam’s problem was… the vet said the endoscopy would not have been able to reach the area. What kind of intestinal problems are you referring to?  Is there vomiting, diarrhea?? snip It all started a couple months ago.  I took him in cause he had been drinking a *lot* of water.  He has early kidney disease, so we have him on SubQ fluids a couple times a week.  Not long after we got him diagnosed for that, he started losing interest in eating, had really runny stools and was losing weight.  My vet suggested that it might be inflamitory bowel or a kind of carcinoma, but that more tests would have to be done to be certain. This is when the endoscopy was mentioned.  She also said that we could try some medication first before going to more invasive tests so we put him on Prednisolone (15mg day).  It seems to work very well.  He was eating, gaining weight, etc.  When we started trying to wean him off it the past couple weeks, his problems appeared to come back.  So, now I have him back on a half dose of the Pred until I can get him back into the vet for more tests. I was so upset by the whole kidney thing (and my cat by all the trips to the vet) at first that I really didn’t want to pursue the other but have a feeling that we will have to soon.  Fred (cat) is 18 years old, so I have to think about how much I would want to put him through in terms of surgery too.  Not so much a matter of the expense (though holy smoke it looks expensive!)  but a matter of we can do for Fred that is most effective with the least amount of trama  Thanks for your info. Tracy

Gosh, at that age if the Pred works and he feels good, I’d be tempted to keep him on it and forgo the invasive procedures. Karen

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – My cat just went through an exploratory surgery, where they took biopsies of his intestine.  Part of the intestine was also thickened and a bit red looking.  The biopsies are really the only surefire clinical diagnosis. Kelly Did they actually have to cut your cat open or did they do it by inserting a tube through mouth or rectum?  My cat has been having some intestinal problems and the vet had suggested an endoscopy(?).  We decided not to at the time and to try some medicine, but am thinking we may need to get some definitive answers soon.  Can you share what kind of costs you had for your exploratory surgery?

Tracy, An endoscopy is very expensive (1300 dollars Canadian) and although it’s a good technique, it may not be able to get to the places where the problem occurs.  For example, where Sam’s problem was… the vet said the endoscopy would not have been able to reach the area. What kind of intestinal problems are you referring to?  Is there vomiting, diarrhea?? The exploratory surgery cost about 750 dollars Canadian, but I’m an employee there so I get a discount. The vets all reassured me that it was really the best clinical decision, and it’s a very good diagnostic tool. The surgery takes about an hour and the vet is able to actually palpate each part of the intestine, both feeling and visualizing things for abnormalities.  Biopsies were taken from several parts and sent off for diagnosis (included in the cost). Sam has been bouncing back very well from this surgery.  It was done yesterday (tues) and I’m bringing him home with me tonight (although usually animals stay 2-3 days).  He was eating ravenously this morning as well, which really surprised me.  I had to take the food away to make sure he didn’t eat too much! I really recommend the exploratory surgery if you want some definite answers.  Just remember that it is only a diagnostic tool, and not a full treatment in itself (unless there is a bowel obstruction that’s the problem). Hope you find out what’s wrong… good luck! Kelly

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Are there any tests that could be used to pinpoint this as a cause of chronic diarrhoea? Actually, specific gastrointestinal function tests are available.  They’re usually non-invasive and only require blood, urine and stool samples.  These tests measure gastrointestinal absorption – which when impaired, can cause chronic diarrhea.  Serum folate and cobalamin concentrations would help narrow down the problem to the small intestines or pancreas.  Low folate and low cobalamin would likely indicate inflammatory bowel disease IBD – however endoscopic or surgical biopsy might be necessary to confirm the diagnosis. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease are not the same and the terms should not be used interchangeably. IBS is a non-inflammatory dysfunction of the colon that is usually associated with stress or stressful events.  IBD is a group of gastrointestinal diseases involving inflammatory cellular infiltrates in the lamina propria of the small or large intestine.  IOW, an abnormal mucosal immune response to some causative agent (e.g., proteins, food additives, artificial coloring, preservatives, milk proteins, gluten, or microbial agent).  Genetic factors may also be involved.  Inherited chromosome fragility has been associated with IBD in humans and also apply to cats and dogs.  Environmental agents have also been implicated in some cats. The *first* tests I would opt for are a complete blood work-up to rule out internal disease and a fecal exam to rule out parasitic infestation followed by an ultrasound to rule out gastrointestinal foreign objects and gastrointestinal lymphoma.  Hopefully, these test will be negative.  My next step would be a food elimination trial beginning with a single, novel protein, one to which your cat has not been previously exposed.  It may take several food trials with different protein sources, so you’re gonna need a *lot* of patience!

That’s very helpful and I will take a copy of this post to the vet tomorrow. What would be the treatment available for IBD or IBS should either turn out to be present?

Response:

Are there any tests that could be used to pinpoint this as a cause of chronic diarrhoea?

Response:

I think you mean inflammatory bowel disease. It can be confirmed by a biopsy of the intestine. Also, although this is not a definitive diagnosis, it can be seen on an ultra sound as the intestines look very white and thickened. Gail – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Are there any tests that could be used to pinpoint this as a cause of chronic diarrhoea?

Response:

My cat just went through an exploratory surgery, where they took biopsies of his intestine.  Part of the intestine was also thickened and a bit red looking.  The biopsies are really the only surefire clinical diagnosis. Kelly — *When in doubt, See a Vet! – Nothing else substitutes for a professional.* – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Are there any tests that could be used to pinpoint this as a cause of chronic diarrhoea?

Response:

My cat just went through an exploratory surgery, where they took biopsies of his intestine.  Part of the intestine was also thickened and a bit red looking.  The biopsies are really the only surefire clinical diagnosis. Kelly

Did they actually have to cut your cat open or did they do it by inserting a tube through mouth or rectum?  My cat has been having some intestinal problems and the vet had suggested an endoscopy(?).  We decided not to at the time and to try some medicine, but am thinking we may need to get some definitive answers soon.  Can you share what kind of costs you had for your exploratory surgery? Thanks Tracy N.

Response:

An endoscopy is very expensive (1300 dollars Canadian) and although it’s a good technique, it may not be able to get to the places where the problem occurs.  For example, where Sam’s problem was… the vet said the endoscopy would not have been able to reach the area. What kind of intestinal problems are you referring to?  Is there vomiting, diarrhea?? snip

It all started a couple months ago.  I took him in cause he had been drinking a *lot* of water.  He has early kidney disease, so we have him on SubQ fluids a couple times a week.  Not long after we got him diagnosed for that, he started losing interest in eating, had really runny stools and was losing weight.  My vet suggested that it might be inflamitory bowel or a kind of carcinoma, but that more tests would have to be done to be certain. This is when the endoscopy was mentioned.  She also said that we could try some medication first before going to more invasive tests so we put him on Prednisolone (15mg day).  It seems to work very well.  He was eating, gaining weight, etc.  When we started trying to wean him off it the past couple weeks, his problems appeared to come back.  So, now I have him back on a half dose of the Pred until I can get him back into the vet for more tests. I was so upset by the whole kidney thing (and my cat by all the trips to the vet) at first that I really didn’t want to pursue the other but have a feeling that we will have to soon.  Fred (cat) is 18 years old, so I have to think about how much I would want to put him through in terms of surgery too.  Not so much a matter of the expense (though holy smoke it looks expensive!)  but a matter of we can do for Fred that is most effective with the least amount of trama  Thanks for your info. Tracy

Response:

My cat Farley used to have a problem with bloody stools.  The vet recommended feeding him half his regular store bought food and half prescription Science Diet Feline CD you buy from the vet.  He said if that didn’t clear it up to try feeding entirely Feline CD.  The half and half worked wonders for him and he only occasionally has a bloody stool (less bloody than they used to be), but no more drips of blood on the carpet post-defecation. Good luck

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Please help!  My 8 year old cat Benny has been diagnosed with IBS by the vet.  He has a constantly runny stool which is mucus filled and sometimes bloody.  He is only using the litter box about 75% of the time now when he defecates.  He only weighs about 8 lbs, and cries when he goes to the bathroom.  He has been to multiple vets, and over a thousand dollars later, the last vet diagnosed him with IBS and gave me some medicine, which did nothing, and some prescription food, which did nothing.  He has been on a lamb and rice diet for years.  He does not use clumping litter. I love him very, very much but I am getting very frustrated.  The carpeting in my apt is ruined, as is most of my furniture!  Help! Does anybody know about this?  What can I do?

Response:

Are you sure your vet said IBS, or did he say Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)? I always mistakenly type one of those for the other. Glad I’m not the only one. Laura

    What’s the difference?  (I thought they were one and the same.) Sally

Response:

Are you sure your vet said IBS, or did he say Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)? I always mistakenly type one of those for the other. Glad I’m not the only one. Laura     What’s the difference?  (I thought they were one and the same.) Sally

http://www.vin.com/PetCare/Articles/VetHospital/M00526.htm Laura — One man’s mundane and boring existence is another man’s Technicolor. -Tick, Strange Days

Response:

Are you sure your vet said IBS, or did he say Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)?

    What’s the difference?  (I thought they were one and the same.) Hi, Inflammatory bowel disease is a category of auto-immune disorder. In people it includes diseases like Crohn’s disease – very serious. Irritable bowel syndrome is not caused by a specific known disease process and is characterized by alternating constipation and diarrhea, and which often responds well to dietary changes. If "identifiable" bowel disorders (parasites, cancer, IBD, etc are ruled out – in people or animals) the "causeless" symptoms are often called IBS. Elaine

Response:

Thanks!

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Are you sure your vet said IBS, or did he say Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)?     What’s the difference?  (I thought they were one and the same.) Hi, Inflammatory bowel disease is a category of auto-immune disorder. In people it includes diseases like Crohn’s disease – very serious. Irritable bowel syndrome is not caused by a specific known disease process and is characterized by alternating constipation and diarrhea, and which often responds well to dietary changes. If "identifiable" bowel disorders (parasites, cancer, IBD, etc are ruled out – in people or animals) the "causeless" symptoms are often called IBS. Elaine

Response:

Please help!  My 8 year old cat Benny has been diagnosed with IBS by the vet.  He has a constantly runny stool which is mucus filled and sometimes bloody

My kitty Punkin had this, bloody, runny, mucousy stools, IBS. The only thing that worked for him was feeding him dry food called Katz and Flodder (sp?). It would take 2-3 days for his stools to get back to normal. He also would miss the box a bit. I had to do some behavioral modification and he was allergic to the litter I was using. He was a Persian kitty with sensitive white paws so regular litter irritated his paws. Besides Katz and Flodder he could eat one other thing, baked chicken with whole grain enriched rice. I would bake a couple of chickens, cut it all up, skin and call, into little bite sized chunks. I would cook the rice and mix this 50/50 with the chicken. I’d freeze large quanitities in little bags and thaw out over night. After two days he had regular stools and felt much better. Otherwise the vet suggested I put him to sleep. I also used the chicken and rice can dinners but they still irritated his tummy a little bit. Let me know if you can find this food for him and good luck. Get one of those mini carpet cleaners from Hoover I think and clean the areas well so he doesn’t resoil them. Let me know if you need anymore help.

Response:

Please help!  My 8 year old cat Benny has been diagnosed with IBS by the vet.  He has a constantly runny stool which is mucus filled and sometimes bloody.  He is only using the litter box about 75% of the time now when he defecates.  He only weighs about 8 lbs, and cries when he goes to the bathroom.  He has been to multiple vets, and over a thousand dollars later, the last vet diagnosed him with IBS and gave me some medicine, which did nothing, and some prescription food, which did nothing.  He has been on a lamb and rice diet for years.  He does not use clumping litter. I love him very, very much but I am getting very frustrated.  The carpeting in my apt is ruined, as is most of my furniture!  Help! Does anybody know about this?  What can I do?

Response:

Please help!  My 8 year old cat Benny has been diagnosed with IBS by the vet.  He has a constantly runny stool which is mucus filled and sometimes bloody.  He is only using the litter box about 75% of the time now when he defecates.  He only weighs about 8 lbs, and cries when he goes to the bathroom.  He has been to multiple vets, and over a thousand dollars later, the last vet diagnosed him with IBS and gave me some medicine, which did nothing, and some prescription food, which did nothing.  He has been on a lamb and rice diet for years.  He does not use clumping litter. I love him very, very much but I am getting very frustrated.  The carpeting in my apt is ruined, as is most of my furniture!  Help! Does anybody know about this?  What can I do?

Has your vet tested for intestinal lymphosarcoma? (blood work, ultrasound, endoscopic and/or exploratory surgery?) As far as the stains on the carpeting, I highly recommend Oxiclean. It has saved my carpet. <sigh Also, try cleaning the litterbox every time the cat uses it; they seem to become even more particular about litterbox cleanliness when they have intestinal problems. Laura — One man’s mundane and boring existence is another man’s Technicolor. -Tick, Strange Days

Response:

I think you mean inflammatory bowel disease. What medication was he given? My cat has had IBD for 8 years and takes Prednisone daily. There are other medications as well. This disease is treatable although not curable. You should also have multiple litter boxes for him. Have you tried seeing a vet that specializes in internal medicine? Gail – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Please help!  My 8 year old cat Benny has been diagnosed with IBS by the vet.  He has a constantly runny stool which is mucus filled and sometimes bloody.  He is only using the litter box about 75% of the time now when he defecates.  He only weighs about 8 lbs, and cries when he goes to the bathroom.  He has been to multiple vets, and over a thousand dollars later, the last vet diagnosed him with IBS and gave me some medicine, which did nothing, and some prescription food, which did nothing.  He has been on a lamb and rice diet for years.  He does not use clumping litter. I love him very, very much but I am getting very frustrated.  The carpeting in my apt is ruined, as is most of my furniture!  Help! Does anybody know about this?  What can I do?

Response:

Please help!  My 8 year old cat Benny has been diagnosed with IBS by the vet.  He has a constantly runny stool which is mucus filled and sometimes bloody.  He is only using the litter box about 75% of the time now when he defecates.  He only weighs about 8 lbs, and cries when he goes to the bathroom.  He has been to multiple vets, and over a thousand dollars later, the last vet diagnosed him with IBS and gave me some medicine, which did nothing, and some prescription food, which did nothing.  He has been on a lamb and rice diet for years.  He does not use clumping litter. I love him very, very much but I am getting very frustrated.  The carpeting in my apt is ruined, as is most of my furniture!  Help! Does anybody know about this?  What can I do?

Are you sure your vet said IBS, or did he say Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)? I suggest that you subscribe to the Feline IBD list on yahoo groups.  It’s a *great* list with tons of people who have been through this and who can offer lots of good suggestions for you. To subscribe, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FelineIBD/ Good luck.

Response:

Are you sure your vet said IBS, or did he say Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)?

I always mistakenly type one of those for the other. Glad I’m not the only one. Laura — One man’s mundane and boring existence is another man’s Technicolor. -Tick, Strange Days

Response:

 He has been to multiple vets, and over a thousand dollars later, the last vet diagnosed him with IBS and gave me some medicine, which did nothing, and some prescription food, which did nothing.  He has been on a lamb and rice diet for years.  He does not use clumping litter.

If he actually has inflammatory bowel disease, then he probably needs medication. What kind were you given and how long a trial was the cat on? But usually food allergies are ruled out before going to medicines. Afterall, why put an animal on a lifetime of medication if all you need to do is change their food! What prescription food was tried? For how long? When you say he’s been on lamb and rice food that doesn’t help; for example most commercial lamb and rice diets (especially the dry foods) also have other meats and grains, if you read the fine print. Have you tried a prescription hypoallergenic diet (they are usually something like venison or duck and rice)? Also, wet foods are much easier on their systems, as they don’t have as many chemical additives,  if in fact they are allergic to something like the dyes or preservatives rather than the proteins.  I had one old cat that had bloody stools on virtually any kind of dry food, who did better on wet food and whose problem cleared up entirely once switched to a home-made diet based on beef & quinoa. Good luck, E

Response:

Hi, I’m not sure if this is the correct group.  I have a friend diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Lactose Intollerence, who is looking for information on treatment, diet, etc.  Could someone suggest a basic source on the net relating to these topics.

This is the place.  There is an IBS FAQ which is posted 2x a month.

Response:

Hi, I’m not sure if this is the correct group.  I have a friend diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Lactose Intollerence, who is looking for information on treatment, diet, etc.  Could someone suggest a basic source on the net relating to these topics. Thanks, — St. Teresa’s School                                         P.O. Box 813 St. John’s, NF.                                             St. John’s, NF. Canada                                                      Canada, A1C 5L7 (709)-579-9111, 0500  fax: 579-2448                         (709)-368-1533

Response:

I’ve been diagnosed with IBS, and have tried the doctor’s remedy of a fiber supplement with no success (if anything, it makes me feel worse). I’ve recently had a lower GI which indicated nothing except, in my doctor’s words, "lots of irritation and indications of diverticulum." Anyone else out there suffering from the same thing, and if so, what do you do to feel better? — Jeff

Response:

I’ve been diagnosed with IBS, and have tried the doctor’s remedy of a fiber supplement with no success (if anything, it makes me feel worse). I’ve recently had a lower GI which indicated nothing except, in my doctor’s words, "lots of irritation and indications of diverticulum." Anyone else out there suffering from the same thing, and if so, what do you do to feel better?

Hmm, actually, if you really *do* have "IBS", there will be no indication of any sort of inflammation or other abnormalities in the colon.  This is of course given the fact that there aren’t already other things present.   My guess is that your "irritation and indications of diverticulum" are not caused by your IBS.  They may be something different, so maybe you need to get a second opinion. Unless, of course, you *have* gotten a second opinion and have heard the same thing.  In that case, see my previous post about IBS.  But you should still get that "irritation and indications of diverticulum" looked at further, to make sure you don’t have something more serious than IBS. –L. — | (l)Laura Zurawski        |    "Al Gore is an inspiration      | | University of Illinois   |    who suffer from Dutch Elm Disease."  | | Rip CHORDS!              |                            –Al Gore    |

Response:

Yes, I also suffer from IBS, and here are some of the things that have helped me most. 1) Keep a daily record of your symptoms, what you eat, your mood and mental state, and significant events in your life. This will help you discover what sets off *your* IBS and will be more helpful to you than all the medical specialists and the medical tests they perform combined. 2) Learn to deal with stress. Learn to recognize the signs that you are under mental stress and find an effective way of dealing with it when it arises. Meditation, tai chi, and yoga are some ways of dealing with stress, but there are others. Stress is probably the most important cause of IBS and reducing stress is the most important step you can take toward dealing with it. 3) Two imprtant steps you can take toward reducing stress are eliminating your consumption of stimulants, such as caffeine and tobacco, and regular exercise. But make sure the exercise is not competitve or goal oriented or it may increase stress. 5) Use your daily record to identify foods you are sensitive to and remove them from your diet completely. However, do not remove a food from your diet because of one bad reaction after eating it, the reaction could be coincidental and if you continue eliminating foods like this, you may wind up eating practically nothing. 6) Besides eliminating foods you are sensitive to, eat a healthy low fat diet of unprocessed foods and drink plenty of water. Don’t drink coffee, even decaf, as it contains oils that irritate the digestive tract. 7) Although the steps you take yourself to treat IBS are the most important, alternative medical treatment can help. I have had good luck with constitutional homeopathic treatment. (I’m currently on Arsenic 200C). Other forms of medicine can also help, but beware of treaments that only suppress the symptoms. To really get well you have to learn to think of your illness as a teacher. How can you learn from a teacher if you put a gag in his or her mouth? This isn’t New Age gobbledy gook, it’s probably the most important lesson I’ve learned from having IBS. —

Response:

I, too, was diagnosed with IBS about five years ago.  My doctor told me to take a daily metamucil-type fiber supplement.  However, when I went to a health food store and explained my symptoms to the owner, she suggested that I add 2 tablespoons of miller’s bran (very cheap—2 lbs for roughly .75) to my cereal every morning.  It worked!  I also increased my intake of fruits and vegetables.  In fact I became a vegetarian.  I also quit drinking caffinated cofee—I must admit, tho, that I still drink decaf.  The bran keeps everything so in control that my body can apparently tolerate the decaf without any trouble. Be sure to look into the miller’s bran!  It saved my life! Good luck! — Elsie Pettit "The true miracle is not walking on water or walking on air, but simply walking on the earth."  –Tich Nhat Hanh

Response:

I’ve been diagnosed with IBS, and have tried the doctor’s remedy of a fiber supplement with no success (if anything, it makes me feel worse). I’ve recently had a lower GI which indicated nothing except, in my doctor’s words, "lots of irritation and indications of diverticulum." Anyone else out there suffering from the same thing, and if so, what do you do to feel better? — Jeff

There have been some good suggestions posted here, especially along the lines of listening to your body.   FYI there is excellent discussion on Ulerative Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, and IBS on alt.support.crohns-colitis, and many suggested resources in the FAQ.

Response:

| Get Cat’s Claw, its a new herb from south America. You can get it in | most stores. The extract is better than the regular milled bark. It | worked wonders for people with IBS.   Could you give us some additional information on this product?   Thanks,   Tom

Response:

| Get Cat’s Claw, its a new herb from south America. You can get it in | most stores. The extract is better than the regular milled bark. It | worked wonders for people with IBS.   Could you give us some additional information on this product?   Thanks,   Tom

Hi again,         Sorry that I’ve answered so many post today, but I have info. on this one.   Cat’s Claw or Una de Gato is well-known in South America, and rapidly gaining popularity in the U.S. as a remarkable tonic herb.  Many have experienced such wonderful results that una de gato is now considered equal, if not superior, to the world’s foremost immune-fortifying herbs:echinacea, golden seal, pau d’ arco, garlic and Siberian ginseng.  It has also been compared favorably with shark cartilage and caprylic acid.  It is particularly beneficial to the immune, digestive, and structural systems.  A vine that grows in the highland rainforests of Peru, una de gato may take more than two decades to mature.  It is known to climb trees more than 100 feet tall.  It also grows thorns resembling the claws of a cat (hence its name).  In order to protect this highly valued herb, the Peruvian government restricts harvesting of the root.  Only the inner bark is harvested, leaving the root untouched and able to regenerate for many year to come.  The inner bark provides all of the beneficial alkaloids found in una de gato. (From the company Nature’s Sunshine) Hope this helps, Tonya Tingey : )

Response:

I’ve been diagnosed with IBS, and have tried the doctor’s remedy of a fiber supplement with no success (if anything, it makes me feel worse). I’ve recently had a lower GI which indicated nothing except, in my doctor’s words, "lots of irritation and indications of diverticulum." Anyone else out there suffering from the same thing, and if so, what do you do to feel better? — Jeff

Response:

I’ve been diagnosed with IBS, and have tried the doctor’s remedy of a fiber supplement with no success (if anything, it makes me feel worse). I’ve recently had a lower GI which indicated nothing except, in my doctor’s words, "lots of irritation and indications of diverticulum." Anyone else out there suffering from the same thing, and if so, what do you do to feel better?

Hmm, actually, if you really *do* have "IBS", there will be no indication of any sort of inflammation or other abnormalities in the colon.  This is of course given the fact that there aren’t already other things present.   My guess is that your "irritation and indications of diverticulum" are not caused by your IBS.  They may be something different, so maybe you need to get a second opinion. Unless, of course, you *have* gotten a second opinion and have heard the same thing.  In that case, see my previous post about IBS.  But you should still get that "irritation and indications of diverticulum" looked at further, to make sure you don’t have something more serious than IBS. –L. — | (l)Laura Zurawski        |    "Al Gore is an inspiration      | | University of Illinois   |    who suffer from Dutch Elm Disease."  | | Rip CHORDS!              |                            –Al Gore    |

Response:

Yes, I also suffer from IBS, and here are some of the things that have helped me most. 1) Keep a daily record of your symptoms, what you eat, your mood and mental state, and significant events in your life. This will help you discover what sets off *your* IBS and will be more helpful to you than all the medical specialists and the medical tests they perform combined. 2) Learn to deal with stress. Learn to recognize the signs that you are under mental stress and find an effective way of dealing with it when it arises. Meditation, tai chi, and yoga are some ways of dealing with stress, but there are others. Stress is probably the most important cause of IBS and reducing stress is the most important step you can take toward dealing with it. 3) Two imprtant steps you can take toward reducing stress are eliminating your consumption of stimulants, such as caffeine and tobacco, and regular exercise. But make sure the exercise is not competitve or goal oriented or it may increase stress. 5) Use your daily record to identify foods you are sensitive to and remove them from your diet completely. However, do not remove a food from your diet because of one bad reaction after eating it, the reaction could be coincidental and if you continue eliminating foods like this, you may wind up eating practically nothing. 6) Besides eliminating foods you are sensitive to, eat a healthy low fat diet of unprocessed foods and drink plenty of water. Don’t drink coffee, even decaf, as it contains oils that irritate the digestive tract. 7) Although the steps you take yourself to treat IBS are the most important, alternative medical treatment can help. I have had good luck with constitutional homeopathic treatment. (I’m currently on Arsenic 200C). Other forms of medicine can also help, but beware of treaments that only suppress the symptoms. To really get well you have to learn to think of your illness as a teacher. How can you learn from a teacher if you put a gag in his or her mouth? This isn’t New Age gobbledy gook, it’s probably the most important lesson I’ve learned from having IBS. —

Response:

I, too, was diagnosed with IBS about five years ago.  My doctor told me to take a daily metamucil-type fiber supplement.  However, when I went to a health food store and explained my symptoms to the owner, she suggested that I add 2 tablespoons of miller’s bran (very cheap—2 lbs for roughly .75) to my cereal every morning.  It worked!  I also increased my intake of fruits and vegetables.  In fact I became a vegetarian.  I also quit drinking caffinated cofee—I must admit, tho, that I still drink decaf.  The bran keeps everything so in control that my body can apparently tolerate the decaf without any trouble. Be sure to look into the miller’s bran!  It saved my life! Good luck! — Elsie Pettit "The true miracle is not walking on water or walking on air, but simply walking on the earth."  –Tich Nhat Hanh

Response:

I’ve been diagnosed with IBS, and have tried the doctor’s remedy of a fiber supplement with no success (if anything, it makes me feel worse). I’ve recently had a lower GI which indicated nothing except, in my doctor’s words, "lots of irritation and indications of diverticulum." Anyone else out there suffering from the same thing, and if so, what do you do to feel better? — Jeff

There have been some good suggestions posted here, especially along the lines of listening to your body.   FYI there is excellent discussion on Ulerative Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, and IBS on alt.support.crohns-colitis, and many suggested resources in the FAQ.

Response:

| Get Cat’s Claw, its a new herb from south America. You can get it in | most stores. The extract is better than the regular milled bark. It | worked wonders for people with IBS.   Could you give us some additional information on this product?   Thanks,   Tom

Response:

| Get Cat’s Claw, its a new herb from south America. You can get it in | most stores. The extract is better than the regular milled bark. It | worked wonders for people with IBS.   Could you give us some additional information on this product?   Thanks,   Tom

Hi again,         Sorry that I’ve answered so many post today, but I have info. on this one.   Cat’s Claw or Una de Gato is well-known in South America, and rapidly gaining popularity in the U.S. as a remarkable tonic herb.  Many have experienced such wonderful results that una de gato is now considered equal, if not superior, to the world’s foremost immune-fortifying herbs:echinacea, golden seal, pau d’ arco, garlic and Siberian ginseng.  It has also been compared favorably with shark cartilage and caprylic acid.  It is particularly beneficial to the immune, digestive, and structural systems.  A vine that grows in the highland rainforests of Peru, una de gato may take more than two decades to mature.  It is known to climb trees more than 100 feet tall.  It also grows thorns resembling the claws of a cat (hence its name).  In order to protect this highly valued herb, the Peruvian government restricts harvesting of the root.  Only the inner bark is harvested, leaving the root untouched and able to regenerate for many year to come.  The inner bark provides all of the beneficial alkaloids found in una de gato. (From the company Nature’s Sunshine) Hope this helps, Tonya Tingey : )

Response:

Question:

And I took her into the bathroom. I inverted her. And I filled her<BR colon with olive oil.<BR This one is just too sick to be true!! I’d laugh if it wasn’t so sick! Or if I wasn’t so sick!! LOL Susan

I dunno – I have had very good luck with aleo vera tablets taken orally.

Response:

And I took her into the bathroom. I inverted her. And I filled her<BR colon with olive oil.<BR

This one is just too sick to be true!! I’d laugh if it wasn’t so sick! Or if I wasn’t so sick!! LOL Susan

Response:

Hey, I got an oil well I can sell you!

Response:

Does Deja News know you are using their e-mail account in violation of the policy you agreed to? "Contents of Messages Deja News and WhoWhere? do not, and cannot, monitor, censor or edit the contents of Users’ e-mail messages. Users alone are responsible for the contents of their messages, and the consequences of any such messages. User agrees that it will not use Deja News Mail for chain letters, junk mail, "spamming", solicitations (commercial or non-commercial) or any use of distribution lists to any person who has not given specific permission to be included in such a process. User further agrees not to use Deja News Mail to send any messages or material that are unlawful, harassing, libelous, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene or otherwise objectionable material of any kind or nature or that encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law or regulation." Do an author search and you will see Silverlyn usually includes a link to a commercial site selling "health" products. She must have forgotten to include it in his/her olive oil enema cure post sited below. This is just a tiny part of what is done for someone with Crohns. I wanted to show you that it CAN be helped! It’s part of an interview with an ND. If you want more info, Email me.

<a long enema story removed

Response:

WOW! A new snake oil salesman touting a cure! Or should I say olive oil salesman? Don’t you just LOVE the "anonymous" quotes? I especially enjoy reading about colon free colostomies (no such thing Silverlyn.) This is a good one — but still won’t top the "If you log on with me and hum I can restore your colon" cure. — Better luck next time. Barbara This is just a tiny part of what is done for someone with Crohns. I wanted to show you that it CAN be helped! It’s part of an interview with an ND. If you want more info, Email me. Crohn’s Disease: Anonymous: Now, have you helped any people who, maybe it wasn’t cancer but, you know, colitis and Crohn’s Disease, that can get out of control, too.

 She again, thought that no one could help her with the Crohn’s disease cause the doctors had done everything. In fact, she was scheduled for a colostomy two years, before she came in my office. But, she kept refusing the surgery. And they said, "We just gotta cut that bowel out and put a bag on you." But for some reason, she wouldn’t do that. And she came to see me. And you know, the first thing we did, she said, "I’m on fire." And the first thing I think about when you’re on fire is put that fire out. And I took her into the bathroom. I inverted her. And I filled her colon with olive oil.

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This is just a tiny part of what is done for someone with Crohns. I wanted to show you that it CAN be helped! It’s part of an interview with an ND. If you want more info, Email me. Crohn’s Disease: Anonymous: Now, have you helped any people who, maybe it wasn’t cancer but, you know, colitis and Crohn’s Disease, that can get out of control, too. Anonymous: I had a woman come to me; She had the worst case of Crohn’s Disease I had ever seen. For ten years, she was having thirty hot, burning, liquid bowel movements a day. Anonymous: She was five foot eight inches tall and weighed ninety pounds. In fact, she had become bulimic because she was so afraid of eating, what it would happen when it got to her bowel, the pain, the bleeding, the diarrhea. But she was eating her meals and then waiting an hour and throwing them back up, because she wanted to absorb some nutrition, but she didn’t want it to go through her bowel. She had been running a hundred and two fever for ten years. Okay. If you can imagine that. Anonymous: Off and on, or almost continuously? Anonymous: Continuously. I’d never met anybody that this was happening to. Anonymous: What’d the doctors do for the bleeding? Anonymous: Well, they had cauterized her bowel almost thirty times. Gone in with what’s almost like a soldering iron and just cauterized the blood vessels to stop them from bleeding. And she was in tears when I talked to her. She was in tears when she came in my office. Anonymous: What did she expect from you after ten years? Anonymous: Ahh…anything. She had heard that I (laughs) had worked with people with bulimia, And so, she just wanted to learn how to control her bulimia. She again, thought that no one could help her with the Crohn’s disease cause the doctors had done everything. In fact, she was scheduled for a colostomy two years, before she came in my office. But, she kept refusing the surgery. And they said, "We just gotta cut that bowel out and put a bag on you." But for some reason, she wouldn’t do that. And she came to see me. And you know, the first thing we did, she said, "I’m on fire." And the first thing I think about when you’re on fire is put that fire out. And I took her into the bathroom. I inverted her. And I filled her colon with olive oil. Anonymous: So, you turned her upside down. Anonymous: Yeah. With olive oil and aloe vera. And when I did that, you know, ’cause I turned her upside down, and I not only put it in her rectum, I put it in her whole bowel, and I saw her face go…ahhh. Anonymous: Why? Anonymous: She said "That’s the first time I’ve smiled in ten years." Anonymous: Why would that happen? Anonymous: Because it put the fire out. You can imagine how raw, how bleeding, how sore that bowel was. And now we’re coating it with aloe vera. I mean, aloe vera is a first aid treatment for burns. She was burnt up. Not only from the acids in those thirty bowel movements a day, but the doctors had burned her, purposely in her bowel, kept burning her to seal it off. And the tissue was just starting to fall apart. Anonymous: And why the olive oil? Anonymous: The olive oil, because it’s soothing. It’s soothing and coating. And it’s nutritional. And the aloe vera, because aloe vera puts the fire out. And the expression on her face. She smiled and then she went into tears again, and she said, "I can’t believe this." And I said, "We’re going to get your bowel working perfectly. You’re going to get rid of this Crohn’s disease." Which is considered to be a genetic bowel disease. Anonymous: It can even be terminal. Anonymous: Yeah. And we’re going to make this bowel work again. And we did. But this type of person: colitis, Crohn’s disease, they don’t need, obviously, herbs to make their bowel more active. They certainly don’t need laxative or cathartic herbs, they need the soothers, the absorbers. Anonymous: Did you ever do this again, the olive oil with her? Anonymous: Oh, absolutely. Anonymous: How often? Anonymous:  The next day we did flax seed oil. And then… Anonymous: So you again, you inverted her? Anonymous: Absolutely. Anonymous: And you put what, a cup, a quart? Anonymous: We put in two quarts of flax seed oil. Don’t get cheap on this, you know. Now if you can’t get flax seed oil, just use flax seeds. Make a flax seed tea. Take those flax seeds, throw them in a coffee grinder… Anonymous: Again, what would be the purpose? Anonymous: Ahh, flax is one of the most soothing herbs. (Pronounces the Greek for flax seed), that’s the Latin name. Flax is a brilliant herb. It’s the highest source known of omega-three and omega-six essential fatty acids. Anonymous: So, it’s a healing herb. Anonymous: Oh, it’s healing, it’s mucilaginous. You grind a handful of flax seeds and put them in a cup, add water. Come back in an hour, and you have a paste sitting there. It’s mucilaginous. It’s beautiful. Anonymous: So, you put this in. Again, people out there who are going to want to know details. How often? Anonymous: Okay. We did that twice a day. We filled that bowel twice a day. Anonymous: With the same thing or different things? Anonymous: We kept moving around. We used aloe sometimes. We used olive oil sometimes. And we used the flax, and also slippery elm. Teas, gruels. Anonymous: Orally, or right into the rectum? Anonymous: Right into the rectum. I mean, why wait? Why kid around? Why go through feet of digestive tract? We want to get it in that bowel. Now again, you can’t get some of this stuff, ’cause it’s got too much solid material in, with an enema bag. Anonymous: So, what do you do? Anonymous: A rectal syringe. Every drugstore in this country has what is called a rectal syringe. It has a little bigger opening. It’s a bulb about this big, and it has a syringe coming out the end. And you just take the top off and fill it with that flax seed tea. That slippery elm tea. Try to make it as smooth and blended as possible. Filter it a little bit, and then just put that into the bowel. The aloe vera… Anonymous: How long do you leave it in? Anonymous: As long as it can stay. Anonymous: You mean trying to hold that in? Anonymous: Yeah. Try to hold it in. And, at first, do a little enema. And if their bowel is too crampy, again, a catnip enema works wonderful.. Anonymous: Okay. How did she progress out of this, then? Anonymous: Well, the bowel stopped being spastic; it started getting soothed. And, of course, immediately, the intestinal number two formula will absorb the bowel material. It’ll turn that diarrhea into a solid bowel movement. Of course, when she started having solid bowel movements, and we got them, I would say within three to four days, her bowel movements were starting to get solid. Within a week… Anonymous: Three to four days? Anonymous: Oh, yeah. Within a week… Anonymous: After ten years? Anonymous: Oh yeah. After ten years. Turn-a-rounds can be dramatically fast. Dramatically fast. We had her having normal bowel movements…at the end of seven days, she was having three to four bowel movements a day. And she was absolutely blissed out. Now, we have some work still to do, but we got that bowel material solidified… Anonymous: Taking it from there, what did you do? Anything unusual or just the regular program? Anonymous: Yeah. The regular program that we’ve talked about for the bowels, Anonymous: Now, how did it end up with that girl with crohns? Anonymous: Happily ever after. Three weeks after I worked with her, she went back to her home town, got married, had children. And I’ve kept in contact with her; she’s never had a problem since. She’s made the modifications in her lifestyle and she’s fine.

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oh darn – i missed the original posts (all of them) – if anyone has them please email them to me in ascii format – thank you

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Me too!!  Eric

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That is it, that is how it is done. We can argue and debate on theories. Theories never healed me. I wanted things that work.  This works. Hardly cost anything, just have to know how. I have omitted the section on illnesses. I never finished, and don’t care too. If you have RR MS, write me and I will let you know how to heal. Best Wishes -Terry Allen … You can copy paragraphs as you see fit.

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oh darn – i missed the original posts – if anyone has them please email them to me in ascii format – thank you

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Bibliography "The McDougall Plan", by John A. McDougall MD  (New Century Publishers, Inc, N.J.  1983) "Acid & Alkaline" by Herman Aihara (George Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation, California, 1986) "Hippocrates Health Program" by Brian R. Clement, (Hippocrates Publications, Florida, 1989) "Survival into the 21st Century" by Viktoras Kulainskas, (21st Century Publications, Connecticut, 1975) "Allergies.  Disease in Disguise" by Carolee Bateson-Koch DC, ND, (Alive Books, 1994) "Stop your Indigestion.  Causes  Remedies  Recipes" by Phyllis Avery (Hygeia Publishing Company, CA,  1993) "Food Enzymes:  The Missing Link to Radiant Health." by Humbart Santillo, MH, ND  (HOHM Press, Arizona,  1987) "Diet for a New America" by John Robbins  (Stillpoint Publishing, NH, 1987) "May all be fed.  Diet for a New World" by John Robbins  (Avon Books, NY, 1992) "Enzymes & Enzyme Therapy:  How to jump start you way to lifelong good health" by Anthony J. Cichoke, DC.  (Keats Publishing, Inc, Connecticut, 1994) "Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill" by Udo Erasmus  (Alive Books, 1993) "Spontaneous Healing" by Andrew Weil, MD  (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, New York 1995) "The Healing Power of Foods" by Michael T. Murray  ND  (Prima Publishing CA  1993) "Fit for Life"  by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond  (Warner Books, Inc, NY 1987) "Enzyme Nutrition" by Dr. Edward Howell "Lets Play Doctor" by J.D. Weallach DVM, ND  (Double Happiness Publishing Company, 1989) "Understanding Allergy, Sensitivity, & Immunity" by Janice Vickerstaff Joneja, Ph.D. and Leonard Bielory, MD  (Rutgers University Press, New Jersey  1990) "Poisons in your Food" by Ruth Winter, MS  (Crown Publishers, Inc, New York,  1991) "Food Combining for Health"  by Doris Grant and Jean Joice.  Healing Arts Press, Vermont  1989) "The Sprouting Book" by Ann Wigmore  (Avery Publishing Group, Inc, New Jersey  1986) "What About Immunizations?"  by Cynthia Cournoyer  (Nelson’s Books, California  1995) "Colon Health:  the key to a Vibrant Life"  by Norman W. Walker, D.Sc., Ph.D.  (Norwalk Press, Arizona  1995) "The Hippocrates Diet and Health Program" by Ann Wigmore  (Avery Publishing Group, Inc, New Jersey  1984) "Achieve Maximum Health.  Colon Flora:  The missing link in Immunity, Health, and Longevity" by David Webster  (Hygeia Publishing, California 1995) "Enzymes:  The Fountain of Life" by D.A. Lopez, MD, R.M. Williamns, MD, Ph.D., M. Miehlke, MD  (The Neville Press, Inc, 1994) "Dr. Atkins’ Health Revolution" by Robert C. Atkins, MD  (Bantam Books, New York  1989) "Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution" by Robert C. Atkins, MD  (Bantam Books, New York) "Eating Right for a Bad Gut : The complete nutritional guide to ileitis, colitis, Crohn’s disease, and inflammatory bowel disease" by Dr. James Scala  (Penguin Group, New York, 1990) "The low blood sugar handbook" by Edward and Patricia Krimmel  (Franklin Publishers, PA  1992) "Earl Mindell’s Vitamin Bible"  by Earl Mindell (Warner Books, New York, N.Y., 1991)

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The Waste Dump The colon is the sewer system of your body.  If the sewer system is kept clean,  bad bacteria and other nasty things can’t build a home in your colon.  The garbage in the colon needs to be taken out daily.   If not, the sewage can leak into the body. It is like food scrapes sitting in the garbage pail at home.  If the garbage sits to long, bugs and other things start to collect around the garbage.  The same happens in the colon.  Undigested proteins collect in the colon, and the bacteria putrefies. Many nutritionist believe that a filthy colon is the root of many diseases.  As the colon collects bugs and things, that end up in the body. You have to ask yourself, If you don’t have a bowel movement daily, where is the stuff going?    In many people, they don’t have a bowel movement for 3 days.  Some up to 10 days. Bad Colon Flora makes toxins that get absorbed into the body. In the book "Probiotics" by Leon Chaitow and Natasha Trenev, they say "When people change for a meat eating diet to a more vegetarian pattern, enzymes such as B-glucuronidase decrease in presence in their bowels.  This is an enzyme which can actually re-toxify substances which had been previously detoxified by the liver, changing them back into cancer-causing agents." What this means is eating a lot of meat in the diet can re-toxify items in the colon that had been detoxified.  And if you are not having regular bowel movements, which most don’t on a meat diet, then stuff from the colon goes back into the blood.  Talk about an easy way to get toxins into the blood. Protein is the toughest to digest.   And undigested protein sits in the colon and putrefies. The buildup of Mucus Mucus is a thin film that covers the digestive tract Your body needs something to protect your digestive track from enzymes. Otherwise, the enzymes will eat your stomach, much like they eat the food. This something is called mucus.  You could say that mucus protects the lining of the digestive tract from enzymes, gases, and things deemed poisonous. Mucus also acts as a lubricant to keep the food moving on down the digestive track. Mucus is also made to neutralize the hydrochloric acid. How the mucus is supposed to get cleaned up Mucus is cleared up by the lymph system and/or pancreatic enzymnes (depending on which theory you believe).   If to much mucus is made by the body, the lymph system will have a hard time getting rid of the mucus – at least taking an extra day or two. How the mucus builds up in the body Ideally, the body only has thin layer of mucus.   The body adjusts the amount of mucus produced, depending on what food you eat. If the body deems the food is harmful, it will make a lot of mucus.  To much mucus, and they lymph system will be overloaded.  Continual overloading creates a mucus buildup. If the body deems the food to be good and easily digested, only a touch of mucus is formed, and easily gotten rid of by the lymph system. The mucus can become very thick Again, if you eat a lot of mucus inducing foods, the mucus cannot be eliminated in time before the next feeding.  This starts the buildup.  And as you keep eating mucus inducing foods, the overload of mucus just keeps getting thicker.   You see, the body does not respond to the amount of mucus in your digestive tract, but secretes mucus based on every meal. Your body assumes the mucus of eliminated from the last meal by the lymph system, so keeps creating mucus.  After a while, the mucus can be very thick. The mucus building foods The acid forming foods are the mucus forming foods.  This especially includes all cooked foods, all dairy and all forms of meat, fish, or poultry. The effect of a thick layer on the body There is a book by Bernard Jensen called "Tissue Cleansing through Bowel Management".  In the back of the book are some examples of what the buildup of mucus looks like.  Green, slimy, long, and pretty gross.  The book also has some examples of what happens when the mucus is removed.  The patients in the book got better from ulcerated feet and ankles, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriasis, Breast Lumps, Scleroderma, Anemia, Degenerative Lymph Condition, and High Triglycerides. How to eliminate a build up of mucus Most have a 7 day program.  It goes something like this: For 3-7 days, drink every 3 hours:       1 Tablespoon of ground flax seeds (or psyllium)       1-2 cups of juice or water       Mix and drink quickly as the mixture will quickly thicken.  Drink 1-2 glasses of water right afterward.  Some recommend drinking aloe vera juice. Note:  Flax seeds must be ground.  Can use a small grinder.   The reason for the glass of water is that flax seeds can swell up to 5 times their size. Other methods As of the writing of this book, investigating other methods that might work faster with a little less effort. What to expect Many will see worms, strings, and long think slimy ropes.  Some will see what looks like tar and are very hard. Maintenance Many have gotten great benefits from a 3-7 day cleanse every 3-6 months, depending on how much mucus forming food has been eaten. Udo has an excellent product for maintenance, called "Missing Link for Humans".  See page in the end of this book Or, you can use ground up flax seeds.  Make sure you grind the seeds to get the benefits.  The un-ground seeds will go right through a person.  Thus, the power of enzyme inhibitors. What stools should look like Stools should almost be odorless, formed like a very long banana, float most of the time, and brown in color.  On average, a bowel movement should happen between 18 and 24 hours.   There are some people who have a movement after each meal, which seems to be all right if the stools are well formed and like a banana. The unhealthy stool The unhealthy stool smells or stinks, can be gray, gray/white, dark brown, or even black.  The unhealthy stool rarely floats, and can be made of hard round balls or is loose and/or stringy.  The unhealthy stool happens  more then 3  times a day …  or less then once a day. Acidopholis to establish a healthy bowel flora For many, establishing a healthy flora is as simple as eating healthy food and taking acidopholis tablets.    The quantity recommended is usually around 5 tablets a meal or a least a one tablespoon a meal. Acidophilus is kept cold for storage reasons Acidophilus is usually kept cold for storage reasons.  It is the same reason we put something in the refrigerator, to slow down the spoilage. The acidophilus are live cultures, and therefore, need food.  The pills contain the food.  The cold just slows down the rate the acidopholis uses up the food. The toilet is working against you The human body was made to squat in order to move the bowels.   If you didn’t have a toilet or on a camping trip in the wilderness, you would have to squat to have a bowel movement.  The squatting stretches the colon insures a complete movement.   The problem is the the toilet makes the body horizontal instead of mostly vertical.  Combining with a horizontal bowel movement caused by the toilet, with unstreched muscles, leads to incomplete or partial bowel movements. This problem is usually rectified by putting your feet on 9-12 inch foot stool while sitting on the stool.   This will raise your knees, and put you more into a squatting position to have a complete bowel movement. Other things for a healthy body This is what I have discovered. Exercise Walking Great exercise.   Gental on the body.  Great benefits.  Do not usually get the problems of jogging if walking.  I like to walk one hour a day. Marathon A marathon seems to be very taxing on the body. Light and Sunshine Walking in the sun light for an hour each day is very beneficial to the body.  If you do nothing else, walk an hour each day in the sun. Deep Breathing cleans your system How deep breathing cleans lymphatic system The excess fluids surrounding the cells, called lymphatic fluid. Chicken Heart living 28 years with clean cell water One scientist kept a chicken heart beating for 20 years.  Very unusual, for chickens do not live that long.  All he really did was keep the fluids around the heart clean.  And the reason the heart stopped beating was because the experiment was ended.   What this means is that a body may live longer if we just breath deeper. One major factor for reducing stress it that stress seems to bring on faster breathing. Breathing helps your system stay clean Breathing helps to keep your fluids clean by bringing fresh needed oxygen into the body and exhaling toxins in the blood.  Deep breathing is a way to keep the blood clean.    You usually will feel calmer and for focused immediantly after a deep breathing exercise.  Try it for yourself. Use the 7/28/14 count to breath deep Keep you fluid clean.  Deep breath once a day.  The ideal way is to breath in for 7 seconds, hold for 28 seconds, and exhale for 14 seconds. This should be done at least once a day, repeating the 7/28/14 count 10 times. Many will not be able to hold their breath for 28 seconds to start.  That is alright.  Just do what you can and work up to it. Eat less Many have heard of the study where rats live up to 50 percent longer on less calories. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) has done a study on Monkeys, which started in 1987.  It showed that reducing calories by 30% increased from recommend levels increased the life span from 30-50% while leading to a lower body temperature. Eat water rich foods, drink little water Did you know that mountain gorilla’s in Africa eat a diet of water rich foods, and drink almost no water!  It is true.  I know you are not a gorilla.  But think about this.  Those humans who eat only water rich foods drink almost no water.  Try it for yourself.  You usually will not be thirsty and not be dehydrated. After trying it, eat dry bread again.  You will probably be thirsty.  Eat that dry food all day, and most need to drink 6-8 glasses of water a day. Actually, there is evidence (and … read more »

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The Healing and Maintenance Diets It is important to read and understand BOTH diets, as the Maintenance diet uses the Healing diet as the major substance of the diet, only expanded a lot in the foods you can eat. The Healing Diet The healing diet is actually a living foods diet.  This means you only eat living foods that are full of enzymes and minerals.  The chapter is designed to give you a basic understanding of the diet, and this is important, not designed for you to just start the diet.   If you want to start this diet, you may find it will be a LOT easier for someone to show you how to do the diet, and what to eat, or you can starve trying to figure out the diet, get frustrated, and quit.  There are basically several ways that you can learn how to do the diet. 1)  You can wait for a book by Sheri’s Healing Center. 2) You can go to a health institute, and some are listed in the back of this book. 3)  Most of the health centers offer video’s. 4) You can read and try to figure out on your own.  A tough, long, and hungry road!  Not Recommended. A healing diet is 3  meals a day or less The number of meals a day are usually 3 or less.  Breakfast, if eaten, is very light, and usually a piece of fruit. The meals are simpler and easier to make Usually,  meal time will be faster as your food will be easier to make. For example, some people just have 3 medium size banana’s for lunch.  Not a lot of food preparation or cooking time in a banana meal. What you are going to eat on the Healing Diet The majority of foods you must pass the EAT test.  The diet consists of:  sprouts (seeds with a tail)  sprouted greens (seeds grown into plants with leaves)  raw alkaline based foods  fermented foods  dehydrated foods * Wheatgrass juice is almost always used on a healing diet for its cleansing and healing properties. Note that there is a difference between sprouts and sprouted greens. Sprouts can be thought of as seeds with a tail.  Greens can be thought of as OK, don’t get scared off.   When you were younger, you didn’t know how to cook.  But you learned.  And now you like your meals.  The same can be true with raw foods.  There is a lot of learning how to make good raw food meals.   Some of you may have went into a health foods store and the stuff tasted awful.  There is usually two reasons for this.   1)  the food really was awful  2) your taste buds are still out of whack from eating sugar. Lets just be frank, some of the worst tasting products or foods can be found in the health food stores.   Usually by people who are trying to be healthy, but unsure what to do.  So it is important to know what you are doing. Something else you will notice.  Your food will not be as sweet as what you are eating now.  It will have a lot more flavors, and you will notice how the food is a lot tastier.  You will get used to the less sweet foods, usually in 15 to 30 days. Raw alkaline based foods When eating raw foods, food combining is necessary for proper digestion With raw foods like fruits and vegetables, it is important to eat in certain combinations because some foods take acid for digestion, while others use alkaline, and some work in both.  The reason you combine is that acid and alkaline in the stomach will neutralized each other, resulting in no digestion.  And if you eat fruit, eat alone.  There is are charts available from health stores on food combining.  The chart basically shows what foods can be eaten together at a meal with out causing indigestion or food rotting in the stomach. Eat Fruit as a meal The rules are thumb are to eat fruits as a meal.  The reason is that fruits can rot while waiting for other things to digest.  Rotting fruit creates alcohol and vinegar, two things that are poisonous to the body.  When detoxifying, this would giving the liver a chore to do instead of cleaning the attic (detoxifying) Fruits can even cause digestion problems if mixed with the wrong fruits. For example, all melons digest faster and seem to rot easier then other fruits.   So with-in the fruit category, melons should not be mixed with other fruits except melons.  The rule for melons are to eat alone or leave alone. There is one exception, raisins, which can be eaten with anything that is non-fruit. Go easy on fats Limit your intake of the saturated fat foods like avocados and almonds to either one avocado or 20 almonds, per day.  To much saturated fats clog up your blood, which results in high blood pressure, and less oxygen to your system. Sprouts and Sprouted Greens Called sprouts and greens for short. Go nuts on sprouted sunflower and flaxseed No limit on sprouted seeds like flax and sunflower.   These are full of omega 3 and omega 6 polyunsaturated fats.  Not the same as saturated fats. Your body uses for skin and other stuff inside the body, and usually not for metabolism or weight gain.   Another benefit is that the flax seeds are great for cleaning out your insides.  Eat all you want.  Go nuts. Sprouts and greens are full of vitamins and protein Sprouted Greens and Sprouts are easy to make.  Sprouts and sprouted greens are loaded with vitamins and protein.  For example, lets look at just the lentils.   Cooking and eating lentils is not a very good source of vitamin C.   But after sprouting, the sprouted lentils are an excellent source of vitamin C.  Sunflower seeds are rich in B vitamins.   Many times, sprouts are a better source of vitamins, minerals, and protein then raw fruits and vegetables.  Soybeans are a great source of protein. Dehydrated Foods Using dehydrated foods can be a real plus.   The foods are great for travel, and can be stored a lot longer then fresh foods. Make sure the food is fully dehydrated or can easily mold. Dehydrating at lower temperatures takes a little longer.  Dehydrating can be as high as 135 degrees, because the temperature of the inside of the food is usually less as the food sweats.   At 110 degrees, the enzymes start getting destroyed.  Many of the inexpensive models without thermostats use heat of 150 degrees.  Read the labels or check in the manual.  If it does not say the temperature, do not buy. The problem occurs when the food starts becoming dehydrated, has quit sweating, and then heats up.  So when your food gets near the end of the dehydrating time, think about turning the dehydrator down to 110 degrees. Fermented Foods Most of the root vegetables like carrots and potatoes, and a couple on non-root vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli stems, are hard to digest.  The way this problem is solved is with fermentation.  This basically pre-digests the food. Fermentation is usually done by using a food processor to paste the food and juice, putting in a jar or bowl, covering the food in the jar with cabbage leaves, and then putting a weight on top.  Takes about 3 to 10 days, depending on the temperature, and the food is ready. Other rules on the diet Eating meals or snacks too late may cause sleep problems You may also want to note that many who do not have sleep problems, have a hard time sleeping if they eat within 2 hours of bedtime. Snack with fruit  It is not recommend, but if you just gotta snack, the recommend snack is fruit because it is fast and easy to digest.   And hopefully, the food will be digested before your next eating. Wheatgrass Wheatgrass was made popular (and may have even discovered wheatgrass juice)  by Ann Wigmore, to solve her own health problems. Chlorophyll has great healing capabilities If you get a cut on you hand,  soaking the cut several times a day in FRESH chlorophyll (like Wheatgrass juice) seems to heal the cut a whole lot faster.   This the healing power of chlorophyll.  And the great part is that chlorophyll is that it is in many green plants and sprouted greens. This is why you will so much talk about eating chlorophyll rich greens. The healing properties Do I have to do wheatgrass? When we talk about wheatgrass, we are really talking about wheatgrass juice.  To get the juice, you have to use a juicing machine.  Just chewing and swallowing will not be much benefit, as the fiber tough. Most of the health institutes use wheatgrass.  The problem comes in that many people just hate the taste of wheatgrass.  So the question that comes up all the time is "Do I have to drink Wheatgrass?" Most the testimonials of the past who have cured their own diseases, usually use wheatgrass. This means most of the cures were done with wheatgrass.  Can be done without?   WE ARE NOT SURE, AND ONLY YOUR BODY KNOWS.  So the questions you have to ask yourself is "What am I getting from wheat grass" and "Am I willing to risk staying sick?" First, we need to tell you there are whole books written on the value of wheatgrass.  There is no better value then FRESH wheatgrass juice as a cleanser and healing agent.  So if you have a life threatening illness, give it every chance you can, think about fresh wheatgrass. Ideas on other then growing your own Wheatgrass Wheat Grass can be a time consuming process.    You do have to mess with dirt, growing, cutting, and juicing.  This can be a little much for the busy professional.    Wheatgrass will that has already been cut will keep for up to a week, if refrigerated.   There are companies that will drop off a plat of wheatgrass weekly to your home, so that you do not have to grow, but just do your own juicing. You can get wheatgrass tablets from various places.  If you do decide to go with the powder, make sure it is wheatgrass JUICE powder, and not just ground up grass.  The grass is hard to digest, so you will not get near the value of the juice.  Nothing is as good as fresh wheatgrass.  But if you are traveling, or can’t grow for some reason, the tablets are better then nothing.  But note that Ann Wigmore used to do tests on pure chlorophyll from bottles and powders.  The healing properties of these were hardly existent to non existent at all. Barley Grass.  A new entry to the field. The benefits of barley grass are … read more »

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Detoxifying What is detoxifying? Detoxifying is how you get rid of poisons in the body.  The idea is that a cleansing will help to restore health. What are toxins? What toxins you ask?  For example, all that trace amounts of pesticides and insecticides in the food you been eating over the last decade.   And the wax on your fruits.  These are toxins to the body.  The toxins that the liver couldn’t neutralize, it stored.  So if you get sick, part of the theory is that you have reached a toxic point where the body got over-loaded with toxins.  To detoxify means cleaning the liver of the toxins. A cars fuel filter is like your liver: Lets use a car as an example.  Cars have a fuel filter, that stops particles or toxins from reaching your engine.  This filter needs to be changed, for example, at 50,000 miles.   What happens if the filter gets too dirty?  Your car will not run very well because the flow of fuel through the filter will be reduced, giving less fuel to the engine where the combustion occurs.  Things like the car bucking or mis-firing happens. The car loses power, and even the ability to start very well.  If you keep the same fuel filter on the car, over time, the car will stop running when the filter become completely clogged. The theory is that the same thing is happening in your body.  Your liver is your fuel filter.  Except, you don’t want to  change the filter, you need to keep this one a long time, so you have to keep the current filter clean. Sometimes, you may need a cleaning. How often do I need to detoxify? There are all kinds of theories on how often to detoxify.   There is no hard and fast rule.  Generally, a good rule is once a year if you stay on the maintenance diet, and every 6 months if you don’t.   If you are ill, then the theory is to start as soon as you LEARN HOW AND GET GUIDANCE. Lets answer the question of why are their no hard and fast rules to detoxifying.  Lets go back to the car example.  On average, lets say your car’s fuel filter needs to be changed every 50,000 miles.  But lets say you been putting in dirty gasoline.  Gas that is full of particles and contaminants or even dirt (toxins).  If you keep doing this over a few of years, the car’s fuel filter may actually need changing at 40,000 miles, 30,000 miles, and even 10,000 miles.  If you been putting really clean fuel into the car, the filter may make it to 70,000 miles, or even 100,000 miles.   So you see, like in the car example, it all depends on how clogged is the filter, and how good your filter was to start with. But if someone has an illnesses, including lots of colds, then this is a good sign that the filter is dirty and needs a cleaning.  Illnesses are like your car bucking or sputtering because the fuel system is starting to clog. Why many get sick when detoxifying Your origins collected toxins over a number of years, a small amount at a time.   You are going to release all those toxins, in a very short amount of time, into your blood stream to be carried out of the body.  This is why many feel ill during the cleaning.  The polluting of the blood stream with toxins from our body. How Detoxification is done The goal of detoxifying is to let the liver, kidneys, and other organs release the toxins they are holding.  There are usually several schools of thought of how best to accomplish this. We are just going to list three methods.   And there are all kinds of variations of the 3 methods. Method 1: Water fasting.  This means drinking only water.  But not drowning yourself. Method 2: Juice fasting (really not a fast, but a liquid diet).  Having very easy to digest juice every couple of hours. Method 3: Living foods diet.   The living foods diet involves a lot blending the foods in the blender, making a whole food juice, and even fermented soups. Again, very simple to digest foods. Is one better then the other?  It depends what need to be healed and the person.  They all seem to work to some degree.  It is probably best just to go with the philosophy of the person who is educating you. Where toxins come from For this example, we will ignore air and water toxins, and just focus on the food toxins.  Food toxins are in coffee, cigarettes, artificial colors and flavors, preservatives, pesticides, insecticides, waxed food, rancid or altered fats, and chocolate.  Now for the big boom.  In cooked foods and bad food combinations.  That’s right, cooked foods and bad food combinations. And many of us eat them day in and day out. Want more toxins?  Read the ingredients of almost any label of canned or boxed food.  The labeling is better today then a couple of years ago, but go ahead.  The food is usually loaded with names you can’t pronounce. Things your body really does not need. Toxins are absorbed through the skin Toxins can even be absorbed through the skin.  Know that shampoo you been using?  Read the ingredients.  These ingrediants may be absorbed through the skin.  Soaps and shampoo’s have lots of toxins with hyphenated names and numbers, which are usually chemicals from a lab. A body does not need these  chemicals(toxins). Toxins are taken in by the lungs Exhaust fumes from cars, pollution in the air, gases from daily chemicals in our own kitchen, and second hand smoke are just some of the many places you can get pollution in you lungs. Symptoms of detoxification The most common symptom is what is called a caffeine headache.  This usually happens to those who have been drinking coffee or soda for a number of months.  The body seems to go through some type of withdrawal within a week of eliminating caffeine from the diet, giving many an awful headache for 1-3 days. A more complete list of ailments, but not all inclusive, from detoxifying include: Acne Bad Breath Diarrhea Eczema Fatigue Fainting Fever Hot Flashes Headache Irregular Heartbeat Muscle Aches Runny Nose Lengths of fasts There are  1, 3, 5, 10 up to 45 day fasts.  There are also water fasts and juice fasts. The longer the fast, the more potential for you to get into trouble if you don’t know what you are doing, and the more dangerous the fast.  The benefit of the longer fast is that those who make the longer fast (30-45 days) say they feel totally "rejuvenated" or  "re-born". Take an epsom salt bath daily for cleansing This is like taking your own mineral bath.  The salt will help to suck the poisons out of your body through your skin, the largest elimination part of your body.  The bath will also suck any poisons that settle in your feet. The usual amount is 4 pounds of salt to a bath tub of water. Stress prolongs the detoxification Detoxifying in a stress free environment is very important.  For every day of stress, depending on the amount of stress, you only get between 50 and 75% of a full days detoxification benefits.  This means if it would only take 10 days to detoxification, and all ten days are full of stress, then the stress cuts down the the detoxification benefits, meaning you only get 5-7 days detoxification benefit, instead of 10. Relax and don’t drive during a fast This is a prime example of why this book is only for educational purposes at this time.   A person should know all about a fast before fasting, and even better, work with a person who has fasted.  Fasting seems to work best while you are resting.  And because you can get very fatigued and have your reflexes slow down during a fast, don’t drive during a fast. Water fasts are not for ill people The water fast should only be done by healthy people.  People who are ill, that have problems like hypoglycemia or diabetes, need to be very careful during a fast, and perhaps not do a water fast till a healing takes place. Is this really a concern With an estimated of 1 out of 3 persons getting cancer, I would have to say "yes".

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Food Myths You will be very surprised at the mis-conceptions about food.  It may shock you.  It may make you mad.  You may not believe what you are being told. All we ask you to do is keep an open mind, and think for yourself. The four food groups were an advertisement Remember the four food groups?  The guide to good eating before the the current pyramid?  Remember the items on the 4 food groups:  Meat, Milk, Vegetables & Fruits, and Breads & Cereals? This was the golden rule for eating for a long time.  Well, it may shock you, but this was an advertisement.  If you looked on the fine print of the poster, it would have told you what company it was from.  The poster was a clever way to sell more meat and milk.   John McDougall points this fact out in his book, "The McDougall Plan", page 2. What this means is that we were led astray by the people with the money, to sell more products. Protein If you just eat a variety of foods, you should get enough protein.   It is that simple.  But lets talk about this a little. Quick talk about the boring part of protein Protein is digested into amino acids.  Amino Acids, which are the body’s building blocks, are absorbed by the body.  The body arranges these amino acids in different orders and combinations, to make new proteins and enzymes.   Protein is in almost every cell in the body. All food contains protein! Unless you are eating just pure sugar, everything you eat has protein. Apples, grapes, pears, lettuce, green beans – EVERYTHING.  If everything has protein, the basic questions that everyone asks is "Am I getting enough protein" and "Is it complete protein."    By complete protein they mean does the food contain the 8 or 10 essential amino acids required by humans from food.  In other words, of the 21 or 22 amino acids, we can’t make 8 or 10 amino acids and have to get from food sources. Daily requirements of protein is 20 grams Maybe this question  can best be answered by how much protein is used by the body daily.  Looking in a book on nutrition, almost any book on nutrition, you will find that most will say 20 grams.  That is less then 2 tablespoons.  But lets figure out how much this is my calories.  Below is a sample meal from a healing diet.      Calories Protein (grams) Breakfast:1/2 Cantaloupe    110   2.3 Lunch 3 Bananas    330    3.6 Dinner Soup: 1 – avocado   840    10.6 1 – apple    84    .3 1 – carrot (lg)   42   1.2 1 – cup beets   73  2.7 1 – tomato   22   1 1 – cup mung beans  110   9           (sprouted) Total calories are 1611.  Total protein is 30.7. Lets give argument that some of the foods are not complete protein.  And lets say that 1/3 of the proteins eaten for the day will not make up a complete protein composition.  This means you are still getting 20.3 grams of protein on only 1611 calories. Protein as a percentage of Calories Lets look at protein from another angle, as a percentage of calories.  Mungbean Sprouts  43%  Watermelon  8%  Banana   5 % If we were to eat just watermelon for lunch, 8% of our calories would be from protein.  Now we need a benchmark to compare that to so we can get an idea if that is good or bad.  How about breast milk for the baby?  This sounds ideal.  A baby grows quickly and must need a lot of protein.  Babies need 10 amino acids from food, where adults need 8.  This seems like it would be a good benchmark.  Would you be surprised to find out that breast milk is from 1.2% to 2.6% protein from calories, depending on whose study you use.  That is it!  Banana’s have double the protein from calories as breast milk.  Yet the infant thrives and grows at an incredible rate on low protein breast milk. You will get well over 20 grams of protein, and complete protein, if you just eat a variety of foods. As you know know, it is very hard not to get enough protein, if you just eat.  All food has protein.  The majority of foods have  complete protein.   This means the food has the  8 or 10 essential amino acids required by the body. More physical activity does not mean more protein Another common myth is that as the amount of physical activity increases, the more protein is needed.  But it is one of those things that don’t seem to make sense.  If you workout or exercise, seems like you are using more protein.  Actually, you are just using more calories.  But,  instead of going into a technical area where everyone is debating and nobody gets any answers, lets just say that as you do more physical activity, the hungrier you are, and the more you will eat.  Most people believe this one. We can try it out on ourselves.  Well the more you eat, and if protein is in all foods, then the more protein you will get.  So it really doesn’t matter if the theory holds or not. Milk Milk is pasteurized (heated) to kill disease.  Killing disease is good. But pasteurizing milk also kills the enzymes.  Milk is also not an alkalizing food.  So milk will not pass the EAT test. Calcium needs fat to get absorbed People in America are trying to get less fat into their diet.  So they go for no-fat milk.  The problem is this that without the fat, very little calcium gets absorbed into your system.  Why would I say that?  Well, many nutritionists with phD’s have talked about it, so lets look at it.  With all the Milk that is drunk in this country, it seems that osteoporosis should be non existent.  But this is not the case.  So, what is going on. Let us look at some possiblitiies.  Possibility of one or a combination: (1) Calcuim intake may not be related to osteoporosis or (2) Milk is not a good source of calcium, and (3) something esle is related to osteoporosis. So what is it?  Working backwards, there are a lot of things at work here.    Eskimoes (Intuit) have a high rate of osteoporosis and are on a mostly protein diet.  Remember the 5 alkalizing minerals – calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and iron?  High protein food, with little calcium absorption of the food into the body, means the calcium needs to come from somewhere.  Don’t believe this?  Ask yourself why the nations of the world that eat the most dairy have the highest rate of osteoporosis. The school of thought is that it’s heredity and genes.  Ask yourself why those people that come from other countries that have a low rate of osteoporosis, start eating the American diet, start getting the same rates of disease as Americans, including osteoporosis? The alkaline foods are usually rich in calcium or alkalizing minerals. The question always comes up, "Where am I going to get calcium?  I don’t want osteoporosis."  And this is a valid concern.   Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body.  Did you know that sesame seeds are rich in calcium?  And more absorbable.   But basically, just eating the alkalizing foods, and you should get enough calcium. You probably don’t need to be concerned about calcium if you eat the alkalizing foods.  As a matter of fact, if you eat the raw alkalizing foods, you probably will not have to be concerned about vitamins again. Your foods will contain them, in the right proportions.  The foods will be easy to digest, so you will get absorption of the vitamins.  Remember, raw and living foods that are alkaline forming, are rich in the minerals  and vitamins you need, including calcium. Milk, in the old days, may have been beneficial If you read some of the old literature, usually before or around 1900, you will find doctors and nutritionists recommend several glasses of milk, daily, for people with allergies.   And they claim good results.   Today, the nutritionist say to stay away from milk.  Today’s nutritionist even goes further to say that milk is linked to causing allergies.   What gives?  Who is right? From what we know today, both are right.  You see, raw unpasteurized milk is full of enzymes.  And usually when the enzyme levels of the blood are increased, the allergies go away.  But with pasteurization (heating) around the turn of the century, the heating of the milk was introduced to kill diseases that were passed to man.  But, the heating of the milk also destroyed the enzymes. Goat Milk Pasteurized Milk, really all milk for that matter, is not needed in the diet.  One could argue milk does more harm then good.  But if you do want milk anyway, you might be interested in some books by Dr. Norman W. Walker, which are still in print.  He talks about raw goat milk.  The goats require smaller pastures then cows and do not have the disease found in cows.  This is just for informational purposes only.

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A way to determine healthy foods We have devised a way to remember if a food is good for you.  It is called the EAT test.  EAT stands for Enzyme, Alkaline, and Total.  If you are interested in eating a food, check the food against this measure to determine if the food is healthy for you.   The food MUST pass all three letters of the eat test to be healthy.   This is what EAT stands for: E – Enzymes are still in the food for digestion, meaning the food was not heated above 110 degrees. A – Alkaline forming foods (has the 5 alkalizing minerals) T – Total foods.   This means the food does not get processed or altered. It does not mean, for example, a total apple, core and all.  It means that the best foods to eat are the total edible portions.   For example, say we juice something.  And there are many arguments for juicing.  But the best health comes from the whole edible part of the food,  as juicing eliminates important fiber from the diet.  If you are juicing, and you know what you are doing and why, then go ahead.  Juicing can be considered healthy.  But it is usually best to use a blender to get the total edible food, and not a pulp ejecting juicer.  The blender keeps the fiber in the food where juicing does not. Checking foods against the EAT test In this section, we are going to look at foods, and see if they pass the EAT test.   And then we will give you some practice. Remember, there are 2 diets.  The maintenance and the healing diets.  There is a lot of food to eat on these diets. After testing your foods, it is always VERY SCARY trying to figure out what to eat as you find foods that do not pass the test.  On the  diet, there is a lot to eat.  It is just learning how to make recipes  again just like you learned your current cooking methods.  And this is not covered in this book.  This really takes someone showing you how, which usually saves you a lot of time and money trying to figure out how to do the diet.   You can order a video on how to do this from the order form in the back of this book.  Or you can check into on the health centers listed at the end of this book. Cooked foods won’t pass the EAT test This section can be pretty tragic for a lot of people.  There is no easy way to introduce this section, so I just come right out and gave it to you straight.  Remember, there are a lot of foods to eat, but you now, this can be a very scary topic. Cooking foods kills the enzymes Remember, enzymes are destroyed at 110 degrees.  This means if you cook the foods, you have killed all the enzymes.  Cooked foods will not pass the E for enzymes on the EAT test. Cooking foods cooks out or destroys vitamins and minerals Cooking foods drains or destroys up to 80% of the vitamins and minerals. So even if the food was alkaline forming before we started, cooking or destroying the minerals makes the food acid forming.  Also, cooking foods means we have to get into vitamin and mineral discussions to replace what we cooked out. Cooking also does not pass the A of the EAT test Cooked foods are altered and not total Cooking food drains out the vitamins and minerals of the food, altering the food.  Cooking can change the chemical structure of fats in the food. Cooked foods are not tastey When this is first mentioned, most people would say this is not true.  But, bear with us a minute.  And then you can decide.  Lets look at what really is happening.   When you eat a watermelon, you usually don’t put anything on the watermelon.  The watermelon, which is very juicy,  tastes good on its own. The next time you make some pancakes, cook one of the pancakes without butter or anything else on the pan.  Just the pancake in one of those non-stick pans.   After the pancake is done, put on a plate.  Let it cool, and take a bite.   You will notice two major things.  First, it is very dry compared to the watermelon.  Second, it does not taste good unless we add something to sweeten, usually syrup or jam. If we have to add sugar to get something to taste good, maybe the food is not that good for you?  At least examine the possibility.  I would argue you could add enough sugar to almost anything, and it would taste good. So what is really going on, is the cooked foods taste bad, so we add sugar, fat, and/or spices to taste food.    Lets look at a hamburger.  Most of you, not all, will load the hamburger with ketchup (sugar) and mustard (spices).  Or another example, cooked beans usually have fat and spices added.  Spaghetti:  Tomato sauce (sugar) and cheese (fat).   Oatmeal: Dried Apples (Sugar), Cinnamon (spices), and sometimes butter (fat) and brown sugar. It is important to note that fruits like apples and grapes get converted and re-classified from sub-acid fruit to a sweet fruit when dried.  And you usually can taste the sugar in dried fruit. You may not agree with this theory 100%, and that is all right.  At least think about it. Eating cooked food may drain the immune system If you remember enzymes, the workers of the body, cooked foods deplete the enzymes of the body.  If you eat food that has no enzymes, the body must make enzymes to digest the food.  One place it gets material to make digestive enzymes is your immune system.  So instead of fighting off disease, part of your immune system is used for digestion.  Your body responds by making extra white blood cells.  The theory goes that this can lead to an over-active immune system. Canned foods won’t pass the EAT test Most canned foods have are heated at high temperatures before canning.  The purpose is to kill bacteria.  Unfortunately, the enzymes are also killed. Also, when cooked, a lot of the minerals are cooked out or destroyed, making the food acid based.  No enzymes in the food and the food does not have enough of the alkalizing enzymes.   This flunks the E and A of the EAT test.  Note that the canned food usually has a lot of sugar or fat, and spices.  The sugar is usually described under a chemical name like fructose, sucrose. The candy bar won’t pass the EAT test Candy is usually cooked, has few alkalizing minerals, the cocoa is not tasty without sugar, and it is a highly refined food.  The candy bar flunks the whole EAT test. List of Foods that will pass the EAT test The types of foods that are EAT approved are all non-cooked,  raw foods, sprouts, sprouted greens, raw fermented foods, and raw or sprouted dehydrated foods.  All dehydration must take place at less then 110 degrees. The list of EAT alkaline forming, raw foods are on the next page. Practicing the EAT test We are going to take a little tour down a what I hope is a typical soup-n-salad line.  As we go down the line, we will be picking foods and testing against the EAT test.  So lets grab a plate and head on down the salad line. Getting into the line, the first thing we come to is the lettuce with chicken. Since there are two items here, chicken and lettuce, lets do each separately.  Starting with the lettuce.  The lettuce has Enzymes.  From the alkaline food chart, lettuce is an Alkaline forming food.  The lettuce is unprocessed and Total.  The lettuce passes the EAT test. Now, what about the Chicken?  The chicken is cooked so does not have Enzymes.  The chicken lacks the Alkalizing minerals.   The chicken flunks the EAT test. So, to answer the question if the chicken salad is healthy, the answer is NO. Moving down the line to the pasta.  Pasta is cooked (no Enzymes), a grain that is acid forming (not Alkaline forming), has the vitamins cooked out, and is not Total in that the wheat was processed into noddles. All the pasta’s flunk the EAT test. Moving our tray on down to green pea’s.  Green Pea’s are on the alkaline forming food list, so they seem OK.   So we ask the clerk if they have been cooked.  The answer is yes, they have.    This means the green pea’s flunk the EAT test:  no Enzymes, vitamins and minerals cooked out, so they are not Alkaline forming.  The food has been cooked, so altered.  So the cooked green peas  flunk the EAT test. And after a going through some other items, we come to the breads and soups.    With breads being baked and soups being cooked, no enzymes.   The bread is made from wheat grain, which is not on the alkalizing list.    The bread is made from flour, which is not considered a total food.  Breads flunk. The dessert island contains all kinds of sugar based, acid forming (lack of mineral food), and enzyme deficient food.  No need to go into this. In summary, where ever you go, you are going to have to watch what you are eating.  Most folks consider unhealthy foods as healthy.

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What the digestion system is doing What is covered 1. What is Digestion 2. Absorption of nutrients 3. A simple diagram It is important you have the pH and Enzyme concepts memorized, as we will be using both in this section. Digestion requires the breaking the food into basic components.  For example, protein gets broken down into amino acids. The food must be broken down in order for vitamins and minerals to be extracted out of the food. All the digestive enzymes in food are destroyed at temperatures of 110 degrees or hotter.  This means cooking, microwaving, baking, boiling, or whatever method that heats, destroys the enzymes. Digestion of the food is done by food enzymes and pancreatic enzymes (made by pancreas).  What the food enzymes can’t do, the pancreatic enzymes hopes to finish.   Ideally, over 80% of digestion will take place with food enzymes, and 20 percent with the pancreatic enzymes. IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER:  Food Enzymes are destroyed at about 110 degrees or hotter. The nutrients get absorbed and head right for the liver After a lot of the food gets digested in the stomach, it heads into the small intestine.  In a place in the small intestine call the jejunum, food passes from the intestine to the blood.  In other words, the food and nutrients are absorbed, leaving water and food waste. The food that is absorbed goes directly into a bloodstream that heads directly into the liver.  The result is that almost everything has to go through the liver before going to the rest of the body. Digestion can be summed by Udo’s pipe Digestion looks very complicated.  But we have made an easy model to simplify things, a idea I got from Udo. You might think of the digestion track as starting at your mouth and ending at your rear, and this is just one long pipe.  So basically, a the pipe starts at your mouth, runs down to the stomach, winding all around the mid section of your body, and ends at your rear. If we were to somehow grab the ends of the pipe (digestive tract), with one end being your mouth and the other end being you rear, and pull, the pipe would be straightened out.  Then basically, the major parts of the digestive tract could be summarized as follows: 1.  Stomach – digestion and breaking apart of the foods into chemical components. 2.   Small intestine  - Absorbion of nutrients 3. Large Intestine – Elimination of waste 4. You are alkaline This section will discuss what is meant by acid and alkaline.  This means alkaline forming foods will be discussed.  Also, you will learn what being acidic means. Your blood is slightly alkaline Remember pH?  Where 0-7 is acid, 7-14 alkaline.  This is where we are going to use this.  Your blood has a pH of  7.4.  This means the blood is slightly alkaline.  For the rest of this book, I will just refer to you a being alkaline. Metabolism usually creates acids Most foods, after being metabolized (burned to fuel your body), create acids.   Protein creates uric, sulfuric and phosphoric acids. Carbohydrates and fats, while burning mostly to carbon dioxide and water, also create acetic and lactic acids. The key word is acids. Remember, you are slightly  alkaline.  Acids have to be neutralized and eliminated for you to maintain your alkaline blood pH of 7.4. The liver and the kidney have a limited capacity The liver and kidneys have a limited capability to neutralize and eliminate a certain about of acids. It is estimated that the liver and kidneys can clean up about 8 units a day.  One pound of meat can generate as much as 18 units of uric acid.  If the liver and kidneys can only handle 8 of the 18 units of uric acid, who or what does the rest?  The answer, minerals. How your body maintains a pH level with minerals. Your body uses minerals to keep you alkaline Minerals combine with the acids to create harmless salts, which can be eliminated through the kidneys, without damage.   Salts can also be eliminated through the wall of the  large intestine. Remember, you are alkaline.   To keep you alkaline, your body uses minerals to combine with acids,  creating harmless salts that can be eliminated. The  alkalizing minerals used to maintain blood pH It is not so important to remember all you can about each mineral or what part of the body uses each mineral … just remember the names of the 5 alkalizing minerals. These minerals are used keep you alkaline.

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That is it, that is how it is done. We can argue and debate on theories. Theories never healed me. I wanted things that work.  This works. Hardly cost anything, just have to know how. I have omitted the section on illnesses. I never finished, and don’t care too. If you have RR MS, write me and I will let you know how to heal. Best Wishes -Terry Allen … You can copy paragraphs as you see fit.

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oh darn – i missed the original posts – if anyone has them please email them to me in ascii format – thank you

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oh darn – i missed the original posts (all of them) – if anyone has them please email them to me in ascii format – thank you

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Me too!!  Eric

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Bibliography "The McDougall Plan", by John A. McDougall MD  (New Century Publishers, Inc, N.J.  1983) "Acid & Alkaline" by Herman Aihara (George Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation, California, 1986) "Hippocrates Health Program" by Brian R. Clement, (Hippocrates Publications, Florida, 1989) "Survival into the 21st Century" by Viktoras Kulainskas, (21st Century Publications, Connecticut, 1975) "Allergies.  Disease in Disguise" by Carolee Bateson-Koch DC, ND, (Alive Books, 1994) "Stop your Indigestion.  Causes  Remedies  Recipes" by Phyllis Avery (Hygeia Publishing Company, CA,  1993) "Food Enzymes:  The Missing Link to Radiant Health." by Humbart Santillo, MH, ND  (HOHM Press, Arizona,  1987) "Diet for a New America" by John Robbins  (Stillpoint Publishing, NH, 1987) "May all be fed.  Diet for a New World" by John Robbins  (Avon Books, NY, 1992) "Enzymes & Enzyme Therapy:  How to jump start you way to lifelong good health" by Anthony J. Cichoke, DC.  (Keats Publishing, Inc, Connecticut, 1994) "Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill" by Udo Erasmus  (Alive Books, 1993) "Spontaneous Healing" by Andrew Weil, MD  (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, New York 1995) "The Healing Power of Foods" by Michael T. Murray  ND  (Prima Publishing CA  1993) "Fit for Life"  by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond  (Warner Books, Inc, NY 1987) "Enzyme Nutrition" by Dr. Edward Howell "Lets Play Doctor" by J.D. Weallach DVM, ND  (Double Happiness Publishing Company, 1989) "Understanding Allergy, Sensitivity, & Immunity" by Janice Vickerstaff Joneja, Ph.D. and Leonard Bielory, MD  (Rutgers University Press, New Jersey  1990) "Poisons in your Food" by Ruth Winter, MS  (Crown Publishers, Inc, New York,  1991) "Food Combining for Health"  by Doris Grant and Jean Joice.  Healing Arts Press, Vermont  1989) "The Sprouting Book" by Ann Wigmore  (Avery Publishing Group, Inc, New Jersey  1986) "What About Immunizations?"  by Cynthia Cournoyer  (Nelson’s Books, California  1995) "Colon Health:  the key to a Vibrant Life"  by Norman W. Walker, D.Sc., Ph.D.  (Norwalk Press, Arizona  1995) "The Hippocrates Diet and Health Program" by Ann Wigmore  (Avery Publishing Group, Inc, New Jersey  1984) "Achieve Maximum Health.  Colon Flora:  The missing link in Immunity, Health, and Longevity" by David Webster  (Hygeia Publishing, California 1995) "Enzymes:  The Fountain of Life" by D.A. Lopez, MD, R.M. Williamns, MD, Ph.D., M. Miehlke, MD  (The Neville Press, Inc, 1994) "Dr. Atkins’ Health Revolution" by Robert C. Atkins, MD  (Bantam Books, New York  1989) "Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution" by Robert C. Atkins, MD  (Bantam Books, New York) "Eating Right for a Bad Gut : The complete nutritional guide to ileitis, colitis, Crohn’s disease, and inflammatory bowel disease" by Dr. James Scala  (Penguin Group, New York, 1990) "The low blood sugar handbook" by Edward and Patricia Krimmel  (Franklin Publishers, PA  1992) "Earl Mindell’s Vitamin Bible"  by Earl Mindell (Warner Books, New York, N.Y., 1991)

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The Waste Dump The colon is the sewer system of your body.  If the sewer system is kept clean,  bad bacteria and other nasty things can’t build a home in your colon.  The garbage in the colon needs to be taken out daily.   If not, the sewage can leak into the body. It is like food scrapes sitting in the garbage pail at home.  If the garbage sits to long, bugs and other things start to collect around the garbage.  The same happens in the colon.  Undigested proteins collect in the colon, and the bacteria putrefies. Many nutritionist believe that a filthy colon is the root of many diseases.  As the colon collects bugs and things, that end up in the body. You have to ask yourself, If you don’t have a bowel movement daily, where is the stuff going?    In many people, they don’t have a bowel movement for 3 days.  Some up to 10 days. Bad Colon Flora makes toxins that get absorbed into the body. In the book "Probiotics" by Leon Chaitow and Natasha Trenev, they say "When people change for a meat eating diet to a more vegetarian pattern, enzymes such as B-glucuronidase decrease in presence in their bowels.  This is an enzyme which can actually re-toxify substances which had been previously detoxified by the liver, changing them back into cancer-causing agents." What this means is eating a lot of meat in the diet can re-toxify items in the colon that had been detoxified.  And if you are not having regular bowel movements, which most don’t on a meat diet, then stuff from the colon goes back into the blood.  Talk about an easy way to get toxins into the blood. Protein is the toughest to digest.   And undigested protein sits in the colon and putrefies. The buildup of Mucus Mucus is a thin film that covers the digestive tract Your body needs something to protect your digestive track from enzymes. Otherwise, the enzymes will eat your stomach, much like they eat the food. This something is called mucus.  You could say that mucus protects the lining of the digestive tract from enzymes, gases, and things deemed poisonous. Mucus also acts as a lubricant to keep the food moving on down the digestive track. Mucus is also made to neutralize the hydrochloric acid. How the mucus is supposed to get cleaned up Mucus is cleared up by the lymph system and/or pancreatic enzymnes (depending on which theory you believe).   If to much mucus is made by the body, the lymph system will have a hard time getting rid of the mucus – at least taking an extra day or two. How the mucus builds up in the body Ideally, the body only has thin layer of mucus.   The body adjusts the amount of mucus produced, depending on what food you eat. If the body deems the food is harmful, it will make a lot of mucus.  To much mucus, and they lymph system will be overloaded.  Continual overloading creates a mucus buildup. If the body deems the food to be good and easily digested, only a touch of mucus is formed, and easily gotten rid of by the lymph system. The mucus can become very thick Again, if you eat a lot of mucus inducing foods, the mucus cannot be eliminated in time before the next feeding.  This starts the buildup.  And as you keep eating mucus inducing foods, the overload of mucus just keeps getting thicker.   You see, the body does not respond to the amount of mucus in your digestive tract, but secretes mucus based on every meal. Your body assumes the mucus of eliminated from the last meal by the lymph system, so keeps creating mucus.  After a while, the mucus can be very thick. The mucus building foods The acid forming foods are the mucus forming foods.  This especially includes all cooked foods, all dairy and all forms of meat, fish, or poultry. The effect of a thick layer on the body There is a book by Bernard Jensen called "Tissue Cleansing through Bowel Management".  In the back of the book are some examples of what the buildup of mucus looks like.  Green, slimy, long, and pretty gross.  The book also has some examples of what happens when the mucus is removed.  The patients in the book got better from ulcerated feet and ankles, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriasis, Breast Lumps, Scleroderma, Anemia, Degenerative Lymph Condition, and High Triglycerides. How to eliminate a build up of mucus Most have a 7 day program.  It goes something like this: For 3-7 days, drink every 3 hours:       1 Tablespoon of ground flax seeds (or psyllium)       1-2 cups of juice or water       Mix and drink quickly as the mixture will quickly thicken.  Drink 1-2 glasses of water right afterward.  Some recommend drinking aloe vera juice. Note:  Flax seeds must be ground.  Can use a small grinder.   The reason for the glass of water is that flax seeds can swell up to 5 times their size. Other methods As of the writing of this book, investigating other methods that might work faster with a little less effort. What to expect Many will see worms, strings, and long think slimy ropes.  Some will see what looks like tar and are very hard. Maintenance Many have gotten great benefits from a 3-7 day cleanse every 3-6 months, depending on how much mucus forming food has been eaten. Udo has an excellent product for maintenance, called "Missing Link for Humans".  See page in the end of this book Or, you can use ground up flax seeds.  Make sure you grind the seeds to get the benefits.  The un-ground seeds will go right through a person.  Thus, the power of enzyme inhibitors. What stools should look like Stools should almost be odorless, formed like a very long banana, float most of the time, and brown in color.  On average, a bowel movement should happen between 18 and 24 hours.   There are some people who have a movement after each meal, which seems to be all right if the stools are well formed and like a banana. The unhealthy stool The unhealthy stool smells or stinks, can be gray, gray/white, dark brown, or even black.  The unhealthy stool rarely floats, and can be made of hard round balls or is loose and/or stringy.  The unhealthy stool happens  more then 3  times a day …  or less then once a day. Acidopholis to establish a healthy bowel flora For many, establishing a healthy flora is as simple as eating healthy food and taking acidopholis tablets.    The quantity recommended is usually around 5 tablets a meal or a least a one tablespoon a meal. Acidophilus is kept cold for storage reasons Acidophilus is usually kept cold for storage reasons.  It is the same reason we put something in the refrigerator, to slow down the spoilage. The acidophilus are live cultures, and therefore, need food.  The pills contain the food.  The cold just slows down the rate the acidopholis uses up the food. The toilet is working against you The human body was made to squat in order to move the bowels.   If you didn’t have a toilet or on a camping trip in the wilderness, you would have to squat to have a bowel movement.  The squatting stretches the colon insures a complete movement.   The problem is the the toilet makes the body horizontal instead of mostly vertical.  Combining with a horizontal bowel movement caused by the toilet, with unstreched muscles, leads to incomplete or partial bowel movements. This problem is usually rectified by putting your feet on 9-12 inch foot stool while sitting on the stool.   This will raise your knees, and put you more into a squatting position to have a complete bowel movement. Other things for a healthy body This is what I have discovered. Exercise Walking Great exercise.   Gental on the body.  Great benefits.  Do not usually get the problems of jogging if walking.  I like to walk one hour a day. Marathon A marathon seems to be very taxing on the body. Light and Sunshine Walking in the sun light for an hour each day is very beneficial to the body.  If you do nothing else, walk an hour each day in the sun. Deep Breathing cleans your system How deep breathing cleans lymphatic system The excess fluids surrounding the cells, called lymphatic fluid. Chicken Heart living 28 years with clean cell water One scientist kept a chicken heart beating for 20 years.  Very unusual, for chickens do not live that long.  All he really did was keep the fluids around the heart clean.  And the reason the heart stopped beating was because the experiment was ended.   What this means is that a body may live longer if we just breath deeper. One major factor for reducing stress it that stress seems to bring on faster breathing. Breathing helps your system stay clean Breathing helps to keep your fluids clean by bringing fresh needed oxygen into the body and exhaling toxins in the blood.  Deep breathing is a way to keep the blood clean.    You usually will feel calmer and for focused immediantly after a deep breathing exercise.  Try it for yourself. Use the 7/28/14 count to breath deep Keep you fluid clean.  Deep breath once a day.  The ideal way is to breath in for 7 seconds, hold for 28 seconds, and exhale for 14 seconds. This should be done at least once a day, repeating the 7/28/14 count 10 times. Many will not be able to hold their breath for 28 seconds to start.  That is alright.  Just do what you can and work up to it. Eat less Many have heard of the study where rats live up to 50 percent longer on less calories. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) has done a study on Monkeys, which started in 1987.  It showed that reducing calories by 30% increased from recommend levels increased the life span from 30-50% while leading to a lower body temperature. Eat water rich foods, drink little water Did you know that mountain gorilla’s in Africa eat a diet of water rich foods, and drink almost no water!  It is true.  I know you are not a gorilla.  But think about this.  Those humans who eat only water rich foods drink almost no water.  Try it for yourself.  You usually will not be thirsty and not be dehydrated. After trying it, eat dry bread again.  You will probably be thirsty.  Eat that dry food all day, and most need to drink 6-8 glasses of water a day. Actually, there is evidence (and … read more »

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The Healing and Maintenance Diets It is important to read and understand BOTH diets, as the Maintenance diet uses the Healing diet as the major substance of the diet, only expanded a lot in the foods you can eat. The Healing Diet The healing diet is actually a living foods diet.  This means you only eat living foods that are full of enzymes and minerals.  The chapter is designed to give you a basic understanding of the diet, and this is important, not designed for you to just start the diet.   If you want to start this diet, you may find it will be a LOT easier for someone to show you how to do the diet, and what to eat, or you can starve trying to figure out the diet, get frustrated, and quit.  There are basically several ways that you can learn how to do the diet. 1)  You can wait for a book by Sheri’s Healing Center. 2) You can go to a health institute, and some are listed in the back of this book. 3)  Most of the health centers offer video’s. 4) You can read and try to figure out on your own.  A tough, long, and hungry road!  Not Recommended. A healing diet is 3  meals a day or less The number of meals a day are usually 3 or less.  Breakfast, if eaten, is very light, and usually a piece of fruit. The meals are simpler and easier to make Usually,  meal time will be faster as your food will be easier to make. For example, some people just have 3 medium size banana’s for lunch.  Not a lot of food preparation or cooking time in a banana meal. What you are going to eat on the Healing Diet The majority of foods you must pass the EAT test.  The diet consists of:  sprouts (seeds with a tail)  sprouted greens (seeds grown into plants with leaves)  raw alkaline based foods  fermented foods  dehydrated foods * Wheatgrass juice is almost always used on a healing diet for its cleansing and healing properties. Note that there is a difference between sprouts and sprouted greens. Sprouts can be thought of as seeds with a tail.  Greens can be thought of as OK, don’t get scared off.   When you were younger, you didn’t know how to cook.  But you learned.  And now you like your meals.  The same can be true with raw foods.  There is a lot of learning how to make good raw food meals.   Some of you may have went into a health foods store and the stuff tasted awful.  There is usually two reasons for this.   1)  the food really was awful  2) your taste buds are still out of whack from eating sugar. Lets just be frank, some of the worst tasting products or foods can be found in the health food stores.   Usually by people who are trying to be healthy, but unsure what to do.  So it is important to know what you are doing. Something else you will notice.  Your food will not be as sweet as what you are eating now.  It will have a lot more flavors, and you will notice how the food is a lot tastier.  You will get used to the less sweet foods, usually in 15 to 30 days. Raw alkaline based foods When eating raw foods, food combining is necessary for proper digestion With raw foods like fruits and vegetables, it is important to eat in certain combinations because some foods take acid for digestion, while others use alkaline, and some work in both.  The reason you combine is that acid and alkaline in the stomach will neutralized each other, resulting in no digestion.  And if you eat fruit, eat alone.  There is are charts available from health stores on food combining.  The chart basically shows what foods can be eaten together at a meal with out causing indigestion or food rotting in the stomach. Eat Fruit as a meal The rules are thumb are to eat fruits as a meal.  The reason is that fruits can rot while waiting for other things to digest.  Rotting fruit creates alcohol and vinegar, two things that are poisonous to the body.  When detoxifying, this would giving the liver a chore to do instead of cleaning the attic (detoxifying) Fruits can even cause digestion problems if mixed with the wrong fruits. For example, all melons digest faster and seem to rot easier then other fruits.   So with-in the fruit category, melons should not be mixed with other fruits except melons.  The rule for melons are to eat alone or leave alone. There is one exception, raisins, which can be eaten with anything that is non-fruit. Go easy on fats Limit your intake of the saturated fat foods like avocados and almonds to either one avocado or 20 almonds, per day.  To much saturated fats clog up your blood, which results in high blood pressure, and less oxygen to your system. Sprouts and Sprouted Greens Called sprouts and greens for short. Go nuts on sprouted sunflower and flaxseed No limit on sprouted seeds like flax and sunflower.   These are full of omega 3 and omega 6 polyunsaturated fats.  Not the same as saturated fats. Your body uses for skin and other stuff inside the body, and usually not for metabolism or weight gain.   Another benefit is that the flax seeds are great for cleaning out your insides.  Eat all you want.  Go nuts. Sprouts and greens are full of vitamins and protein Sprouted Greens and Sprouts are easy to make.  Sprouts and sprouted greens are loaded with vitamins and protein.  For example, lets look at just the lentils.   Cooking and eating lentils is not a very good source of vitamin C.   But after sprouting, the sprouted lentils are an excellent source of vitamin C.  Sunflower seeds are rich in B vitamins.   Many times, sprouts are a better source of vitamins, minerals, and protein then raw fruits and vegetables.  Soybeans are a great source of protein. Dehydrated Foods Using dehydrated foods can be a real plus.   The foods are great for travel, and can be stored a lot longer then fresh foods. Make sure the food is fully dehydrated or can easily mold. Dehydrating at lower temperatures takes a little longer.  Dehydrating can be as high as 135 degrees, because the temperature of the inside of the food is usually less as the food sweats.   At 110 degrees, the enzymes start getting destroyed.  Many of the inexpensive models without thermostats use heat of 150 degrees.  Read the labels or check in the manual.  If it does not say the temperature, do not buy. The problem occurs when the food starts becoming dehydrated, has quit sweating, and then heats up.  So when your food gets near the end of the dehydrating time, think about turning the dehydrator down to 110 degrees. Fermented Foods Most of the root vegetables like carrots and potatoes, and a couple on non-root vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli stems, are hard to digest.  The way this problem is solved is with fermentation.  This basically pre-digests the food. Fermentation is usually done by using a food processor to paste the food and juice, putting in a jar or bowl, covering the food in the jar with cabbage leaves, and then putting a weight on top.  Takes about 3 to 10 days, depending on the temperature, and the food is ready. Other rules on the diet Eating meals or snacks too late may cause sleep problems You may also want to note that many who do not have sleep problems, have a hard time sleeping if they eat within 2 hours of bedtime. Snack with fruit  It is not recommend, but if you just gotta snack, the recommend snack is fruit because it is fast and easy to digest.   And hopefully, the food will be digested before your next eating. Wheatgrass Wheatgrass was made popular (and may have even discovered wheatgrass juice)  by Ann Wigmore, to solve her own health problems. Chlorophyll has great healing capabilities If you get a cut on you hand,  soaking the cut several times a day in FRESH chlorophyll (like Wheatgrass juice) seems to heal the cut a whole lot faster.   This the healing power of chlorophyll.  And the great part is that chlorophyll is that it is in many green plants and sprouted greens. This is why you will so much talk about eating chlorophyll rich greens. The healing properties Do I have to do wheatgrass? When we talk about wheatgrass, we are really talking about wheatgrass juice.  To get the juice, you have to use a juicing machine.  Just chewing and swallowing will not be much benefit, as the fiber tough. Most of the health institutes use wheatgrass.  The problem comes in that many people just hate the taste of wheatgrass.  So the question that comes up all the time is "Do I have to drink Wheatgrass?" Most the testimonials of the past who have cured their own diseases, usually use wheatgrass. This means most of the cures were done with wheatgrass.  Can be done without?   WE ARE NOT SURE, AND ONLY YOUR BODY KNOWS.  So the questions you have to ask yourself is "What am I getting from wheat grass" and "Am I willing to risk staying sick?" First, we need to tell you there are whole books written on the value of wheatgrass.  There is no better value then FRESH wheatgrass juice as a cleanser and healing agent.  So if you have a life threatening illness, give it every chance you can, think about fresh wheatgrass. Ideas on other then growing your own Wheatgrass Wheat Grass can be a time consuming process.    You do have to mess with dirt, growing, cutting, and juicing.  This can be a little much for the busy professional.    Wheatgrass will that has already been cut will keep for up to a week, if refrigerated.   There are companies that will drop off a plat of wheatgrass weekly to your home, so that you do not have to grow, but just do your own juicing. You can get wheatgrass tablets from various places.  If you do decide to go with the powder, make sure it is wheatgrass JUICE powder, and not just ground up grass.  The grass is hard to digest, so you will not get near the value of the juice.  Nothing is as good as fresh wheatgrass.  But if you are traveling, or can’t grow for some reason, the tablets are better then nothing.  But note that Ann Wigmore used to do tests on pure chlorophyll from bottles and powders.  The healing properties of these were hardly existent to non existent at all. Barley Grass.  A new entry to the field. The benefits of barley grass are … read more »

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Detoxifying What is detoxifying? Detoxifying is how you get rid of poisons in the body.  The idea is that a cleansing will help to restore health. What are toxins? What toxins you ask?  For example, all that trace amounts of pesticides and insecticides in the food you been eating over the last decade.   And the wax on your fruits.  These are toxins to the body.  The toxins that the liver couldn’t neutralize, it stored.  So if you get sick, part of the theory is that you have reached a toxic point where the body got over-loaded with toxins.  To detoxify means cleaning the liver of the toxins. A cars fuel filter is like your liver: Lets use a car as an example.  Cars have a fuel filter, that stops particles or toxins from reaching your engine.  This filter needs to be changed, for example, at 50,000 miles.   What happens if the filter gets too dirty?  Your car will not run very well because the flow of fuel through the filter will be reduced, giving less fuel to the engine where the combustion occurs.  Things like the car bucking or mis-firing happens. The car loses power, and even the ability to start very well.  If you keep the same fuel filter on the car, over time, the car will stop running when the filter become completely clogged. The theory is that the same thing is happening in your body.  Your liver is your fuel filter.  Except, you don’t want to  change the filter, you need to keep this one a long time, so you have to keep the current filter clean. Sometimes, you may need a cleaning. How often do I need to detoxify? There are all kinds of theories on how often to detoxify.   There is no hard and fast rule.  Generally, a good rule is once a year if you stay on the maintenance diet, and every 6 months if you don’t.   If you are ill, then the theory is to start as soon as you LEARN HOW AND GET GUIDANCE. Lets answer the question of why are their no hard and fast rules to detoxifying.  Lets go back to the car example.  On average, lets say your car’s fuel filter needs to be changed every 50,000 miles.  But lets say you been putting in dirty gasoline.  Gas that is full of particles and contaminants or even dirt (toxins).  If you keep doing this over a few of years, the car’s fuel filter may actually need changing at 40,000 miles, 30,000 miles, and even 10,000 miles.  If you been putting really clean fuel into the car, the filter may make it to 70,000 miles, or even 100,000 miles.   So you see, like in the car example, it all depends on how clogged is the filter, and how good your filter was to start with. But if someone has an illnesses, including lots of colds, then this is a good sign that the filter is dirty and needs a cleaning.  Illnesses are like your car bucking or sputtering because the fuel system is starting to clog. Why many get sick when detoxifying Your origins collected toxins over a number of years, a small amount at a time.   You are going to release all those toxins, in a very short amount of time, into your blood stream to be carried out of the body.  This is why many feel ill during the cleaning.  The polluting of the blood stream with toxins from our body. How Detoxification is done The goal of detoxifying is to let the liver, kidneys, and other organs release the toxins they are holding.  There are usually several schools of thought of how best to accomplish this. We are just going to list three methods.   And there are all kinds of variations of the 3 methods. Method 1: Water fasting.  This means drinking only water.  But not drowning yourself. Method 2: Juice fasting (really not a fast, but a liquid diet).  Having very easy to digest juice every couple of hours. Method 3: Living foods diet.   The living foods diet involves a lot blending the foods in the blender, making a whole food juice, and even fermented soups. Again, very simple to digest foods. Is one better then the other?  It depends what need to be healed and the person.  They all seem to work to some degree.  It is probably best just to go with the philosophy of the person who is educating you. Where toxins come from For this example, we will ignore air and water toxins, and just focus on the food toxins.  Food toxins are in coffee, cigarettes, artificial colors and flavors, preservatives, pesticides, insecticides, waxed food, rancid or altered fats, and chocolate.  Now for the big boom.  In cooked foods and bad food combinations.  That’s right, cooked foods and bad food combinations. And many of us eat them day in and day out. Want more toxins?  Read the ingredients of almost any label of canned or boxed food.  The labeling is better today then a couple of years ago, but go ahead.  The food is usually loaded with names you can’t pronounce. Things your body really does not need. Toxins are absorbed through the skin Toxins can even be absorbed through the skin.  Know that shampoo you been using?  Read the ingredients.  These ingrediants may be absorbed through the skin.  Soaps and shampoo’s have lots of toxins with hyphenated names and numbers, which are usually chemicals from a lab. A body does not need these  chemicals(toxins). Toxins are taken in by the lungs Exhaust fumes from cars, pollution in the air, gases from daily chemicals in our own kitchen, and second hand smoke are just some of the many places you can get pollution in you lungs. Symptoms of detoxification The most common symptom is what is called a caffeine headache.  This usually happens to those who have been drinking coffee or soda for a number of months.  The body seems to go through some type of withdrawal within a week of eliminating caffeine from the diet, giving many an awful headache for 1-3 days. A more complete list of ailments, but not all inclusive, from detoxifying include: Acne Bad Breath Diarrhea Eczema Fatigue Fainting Fever Hot Flashes Headache Irregular Heartbeat Muscle Aches Runny Nose Lengths of fasts There are  1, 3, 5, 10 up to 45 day fasts.  There are also water fasts and juice fasts. The longer the fast, the more potential for you to get into trouble if you don’t know what you are doing, and the more dangerous the fast.  The benefit of the longer fast is that those who make the longer fast (30-45 days) say they feel totally "rejuvenated" or  "re-born". Take an epsom salt bath daily for cleansing This is like taking your own mineral bath.  The salt will help to suck the poisons out of your body through your skin, the largest elimination part of your body.  The bath will also suck any poisons that settle in your feet. The usual amount is 4 pounds of salt to a bath tub of water. Stress prolongs the detoxification Detoxifying in a stress free environment is very important.  For every day of stress, depending on the amount of stress, you only get between 50 and 75% of a full days detoxification benefits.  This means if it would only take 10 days to detoxification, and all ten days are full of stress, then the stress cuts down the the detoxification benefits, meaning you only get 5-7 days detoxification benefit, instead of 10. Relax and don’t drive during a fast This is a prime example of why this book is only for educational purposes at this time.   A person should know all about a fast before fasting, and even better, work with a person who has fasted.  Fasting seems to work best while you are resting.  And because you can get very fatigued and have your reflexes slow down during a fast, don’t drive during a fast. Water fasts are not for ill people The water fast should only be done by healthy people.  People who are ill, that have problems like hypoglycemia or diabetes, need to be very careful during a fast, and perhaps not do a water fast till a healing takes place. Is this really a concern With an estimated of 1 out of 3 persons getting cancer, I would have to say "yes".

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Food Myths You will be very surprised at the mis-conceptions about food.  It may shock you.  It may make you mad.  You may not believe what you are being told. All we ask you to do is keep an open mind, and think for yourself. The four food groups were an advertisement Remember the four food groups?  The guide to good eating before the the current pyramid?  Remember the items on the 4 food groups:  Meat, Milk, Vegetables & Fruits, and Breads & Cereals? This was the golden rule for eating for a long time.  Well, it may shock you, but this was an advertisement.  If you looked on the fine print of the poster, it would have told you what company it was from.  The poster was a clever way to sell more meat and milk.   John McDougall points this fact out in his book, "The McDougall Plan", page 2. What this means is that we were led astray by the people with the money, to sell more products. Protein If you just eat a variety of foods, you should get enough protein.   It is that simple.  But lets talk about this a little. Quick talk about the boring part of protein Protein is digested into amino acids.  Amino Acids, which are the body’s building blocks, are absorbed by the body.  The body arranges these amino acids in different orders and combinations, to make new proteins and enzymes.   Protein is in almost every cell in the body. All food contains protein! Unless you are eating just pure sugar, everything you eat has protein. Apples, grapes, pears, lettuce, green beans – EVERYTHING.  If everything has protein, the basic questions that everyone asks is "Am I getting enough protein" and "Is it complete protein."    By complete protein they mean does the food contain the 8 or 10 essential amino acids required by humans from food.  In other words, of the 21 or 22 amino acids, we can’t make 8 or 10 amino acids and have to get from food sources. Daily requirements of protein is 20 grams Maybe this question  can best be answered by how much protein is used by the body daily.  Looking in a book on nutrition, almost any book on nutrition, you will find that most will say 20 grams.  That is less then 2 tablespoons.  But lets figure out how much this is my calories.  Below is a sample meal from a healing diet.      Calories Protein (grams) Breakfast:1/2 Cantaloupe    110   2.3 Lunch 3 Bananas    330    3.6 Dinner Soup: 1 – avocado   840    10.6 1 – apple    84    .3 1 – carrot (lg)   42   1.2 1 – cup beets   73  2.7 1 – tomato   22   1 1 – cup mung beans  110   9           (sprouted) Total calories are 1611.  Total protein is 30.7. Lets give argument that some of the foods are not complete protein.  And lets say that 1/3 of the proteins eaten for the day will not make up a complete protein composition.  This means you are still getting 20.3 grams of protein on only 1611 calories. Protein as a percentage of Calories Lets look at protein from another angle, as a percentage of calories.  Mungbean Sprouts  43%  Watermelon  8%  Banana   5 % If we were to eat just watermelon for lunch, 8% of our calories would be from protein.  Now we need a benchmark to compare that to so we can get an idea if that is good or bad.  How about breast milk for the baby?  This sounds ideal.  A baby grows quickly and must need a lot of protein.  Babies need 10 amino acids from food, where adults need 8.  This seems like it would be a good benchmark.  Would you be surprised to find out that breast milk is from 1.2% to 2.6% protein from calories, depending on whose study you use.  That is it!  Banana’s have double the protein from calories as breast milk.  Yet the infant thrives and grows at an incredible rate on low protein breast milk. You will get well over 20 grams of protein, and complete protein, if you just eat a variety of foods. As you know know, it is very hard not to get enough protein, if you just eat.  All food has protein.  The majority of foods have  complete protein.   This means the food has the  8 or 10 essential amino acids required by the body. More physical activity does not mean more protein Another common myth is that as the amount of physical activity increases, the more protein is needed.  But it is one of those things that don’t seem to make sense.  If you workout or exercise, seems like you are using more protein.  Actually, you are just using more calories.  But,  instead of going into a technical area where everyone is debating and nobody gets any answers, lets just say that as you do more physical activity, the hungrier you are, and the more you will eat.  Most people believe this one. We can try it out on ourselves.  Well the more you eat, and if protein is in all foods, then the more protein you will get.  So it really doesn’t matter if the theory holds or not. Milk Milk is pasteurized (heated) to kill disease.  Killing disease is good. But pasteurizing milk also kills the enzymes.  Milk is also not an alkalizing food.  So milk will not pass the EAT test. Calcium needs fat to get absorbed People in America are trying to get less fat into their diet.  So they go for no-fat milk.  The problem is this that without the fat, very little calcium gets absorbed into your system.  Why would I say that?  Well, many nutritionists with phD’s have talked about it, so lets look at it.  With all the Milk that is drunk in this country, it seems that osteoporosis should be non existent.  But this is not the case.  So, what is going on. Let us look at some possiblitiies.  Possibility of one or a combination: (1) Calcuim intake may not be related to osteoporosis or (2) Milk is not a good source of calcium, and (3) something esle is related to osteoporosis. So what is it?  Working backwards, there are a lot of things at work here.    Eskimoes (Intuit) have a high rate of osteoporosis and are on a mostly protein diet.  Remember the 5 alkalizing minerals – calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and iron?  High protein food, with little calcium absorption of the food into the body, means the calcium needs to come from somewhere.  Don’t believe this?  Ask yourself why the nations of the world that eat the most dairy have the highest rate of osteoporosis. The school of thought is that it’s heredity and genes.  Ask yourself why those people that come from other countries that have a low rate of osteoporosis, start eating the American diet, start getting the same rates of disease as Americans, including osteoporosis? The alkaline foods are usually rich in calcium or alkalizing minerals. The question always comes up, "Where am I going to get calcium?  I don’t want osteoporosis."  And this is a valid concern.   Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body.  Did you know that sesame seeds are rich in calcium?  And more absorbable.   But basically, just eating the alkalizing foods, and you should get enough calcium. You probably don’t need to be concerned about calcium if you eat the alkalizing foods.  As a matter of fact, if you eat the raw alkalizing foods, you probably will not have to be concerned about vitamins again. Your foods will contain them, in the right proportions.  The foods will be easy to digest, so you will get absorption of the vitamins.  Remember, raw and living foods that are alkaline forming, are rich in the minerals  and vitamins you need, including calcium. Milk, in the old days, may have been beneficial If you read some of the old literature, usually before or around 1900, you will find doctors and nutritionists recommend several glasses of milk, daily, for people with allergies.   And they claim good results.   Today, the nutritionist say to stay away from milk.  Today’s nutritionist even goes further to say that milk is linked to causing allergies.   What gives?  Who is right? From what we know today, both are right.  You see, raw unpasteurized milk is full of enzymes.  And usually when the enzyme levels of the blood are increased, the allergies go away.  But with pasteurization (heating) around the turn of the century, the heating of the milk was introduced to kill diseases that were passed to man.  But, the heating of the milk also destroyed the enzymes. Goat Milk Pasteurized Milk, really all milk for that matter, is not needed in the diet.  One could argue milk does more harm then good.  But if you do want milk anyway, you might be interested in some books by Dr. Norman W. Walker, which are still in print.  He talks about raw goat milk.  The goats require smaller pastures then cows and do not have the disease found in cows.  This is just for informational purposes only.

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A way to determine healthy foods We have devised a way to remember if a food is good for you.  It is called the EAT test.  EAT stands for Enzyme, Alkaline, and Total.  If you are interested in eating a food, check the food against this measure to determine if the food is healthy for you.   The food MUST pass all three letters of the eat test to be healthy.   This is what EAT stands for: E – Enzymes are still in the food for digestion, meaning the food was not heated above 110 degrees. A – Alkaline forming foods (has the 5 alkalizing minerals) T – Total foods.   This means the food does not get processed or altered. It does not mean, for example, a total apple, core and all.  It means that the best foods to eat are the total edible portions.   For example, say we juice something.  And there are many arguments for juicing.  But the best health comes from the whole edible part of the food,  as juicing eliminates important fiber from the diet.  If you are juicing, and you know what you are doing and why, then go ahead.  Juicing can be considered healthy.  But it is usually best to use a blender to get the total edible food, and not a pulp ejecting juicer.  The blender keeps the fiber in the food where juicing does not. Checking foods against the EAT test In this section, we are going to look at foods, and see if they pass the EAT test.   And then we will give you some practice. Remember, there are 2 diets.  The maintenance and the healing diets.  There is a lot of food to eat on these diets. After testing your foods, it is always VERY SCARY trying to figure out what to eat as you find foods that do not pass the test.  On the  diet, there is a lot to eat.  It is just learning how to make recipes  again just like you learned your current cooking methods.  And this is not covered in this book.  This really takes someone showing you how, which usually saves you a lot of time and money trying to figure out how to do the diet.   You can order a video on how to do this from the order form in the back of this book.  Or you can check into on the health centers listed at the end of this book. Cooked foods won’t pass the EAT test This section can be pretty tragic for a lot of people.  There is no easy way to introduce this section, so I just come right out and gave it to you straight.  Remember, there are a lot of foods to eat, but you now, this can be a very scary topic. Cooking foods kills the enzymes Remember, enzymes are destroyed at 110 degrees.  This means if you cook the foods, you have killed all the enzymes.  Cooked foods will not pass the E for enzymes on the EAT test. Cooking foods cooks out or destroys vitamins and minerals Cooking foods drains or destroys up to 80% of the vitamins and minerals. So even if the food was alkaline forming before we started, cooking or destroying the minerals makes the food acid forming.  Also, cooking foods means we have to get into vitamin and mineral discussions to replace what we cooked out. Cooking also does not pass the A of the EAT test Cooked foods are altered and not total Cooking food drains out the vitamins and minerals of the food, altering the food.  Cooking can change the chemical structure of fats in the food. Cooked foods are not tastey When this is first mentioned, most people would say this is not true.  But, bear with us a minute.  And then you can decide.  Lets look at what really is happening.   When you eat a watermelon, you usually don’t put anything on the watermelon.  The watermelon, which is very juicy,  tastes good on its own. The next time you make some pancakes, cook one of the pancakes without butter or anything else on the pan.  Just the pancake in one of those non-stick pans.   After the pancake is done, put on a plate.  Let it cool, and take a bite.   You will notice two major things.  First, it is very dry compared to the watermelon.  Second, it does not taste good unless we add something to sweeten, usually syrup or jam. If we have to add sugar to get something to taste good, maybe the food is not that good for you?  At least examine the possibility.  I would argue you could add enough sugar to almost anything, and it would taste good. So what is really going on, is the cooked foods taste bad, so we add sugar, fat, and/or spices to taste food.    Lets look at a hamburger.  Most of you, not all, will load the hamburger with ketchup (sugar) and mustard (spices).  Or another example, cooked beans usually have fat and spices added.  Spaghetti:  Tomato sauce (sugar) and cheese (fat).   Oatmeal: Dried Apples (Sugar), Cinnamon (spices), and sometimes butter (fat) and brown sugar. It is important to note that fruits like apples and grapes get converted and re-classified from sub-acid fruit to a sweet fruit when dried.  And you usually can taste the sugar in dried fruit. You may not agree with this theory 100%, and that is all right.  At least think about it. Eating cooked food may drain the immune system If you remember enzymes, the workers of the body, cooked foods deplete the enzymes of the body.  If you eat food that has no enzymes, the body must make enzymes to digest the food.  One place it gets material to make digestive enzymes is your immune system.  So instead of fighting off disease, part of your immune system is used for digestion.  Your body responds by making extra white blood cells.  The theory goes that this can lead to an over-active immune system. Canned foods won’t pass the EAT test Most canned foods have are heated at high temperatures before canning.  The purpose is to kill bacteria.  Unfortunately, the enzymes are also killed. Also, when cooked, a lot of the minerals are cooked out or destroyed, making the food acid based.  No enzymes in the food and the food does not have enough of the alkalizing enzymes.   This flunks the E and A of the EAT test.  Note that the canned food usually has a lot of sugar or fat, and spices.  The sugar is usually described under a chemical name like fructose, sucrose. The candy bar won’t pass the EAT test Candy is usually cooked, has few alkalizing minerals, the cocoa is not tasty without sugar, and it is a highly refined food.  The candy bar flunks the whole EAT test. List of Foods that will pass the EAT test The types of foods that are EAT approved are all non-cooked,  raw foods, sprouts, sprouted greens, raw fermented foods, and raw or sprouted dehydrated foods.  All dehydration must take place at less then 110 degrees. The list of EAT alkaline forming, raw foods are on the next page. Practicing the EAT test We are going to take a little tour down a what I hope is a typical soup-n-salad line.  As we go down the line, we will be picking foods and testing against the EAT test.  So lets grab a plate and head on down the salad line. Getting into the line, the first thing we come to is the lettuce with chicken. Since there are two items here, chicken and lettuce, lets do each separately.  Starting with the lettuce.  The lettuce has Enzymes.  From the alkaline food chart, lettuce is an Alkaline forming food.  The lettuce is unprocessed and Total.  The lettuce passes the EAT test. Now, what about the Chicken?  The chicken is cooked so does not have Enzymes.  The chicken lacks the Alkalizing minerals.   The chicken flunks the EAT test. So, to answer the question if the chicken salad is healthy, the answer is NO. Moving down the line to the pasta.  Pasta is cooked (no Enzymes), a grain that is acid forming (not Alkaline forming), has the vitamins cooked out, and is not Total in that the wheat was processed into noddles. All the pasta’s flunk the EAT test. Moving our tray on down to green pea’s.  Green Pea’s are on the alkaline forming food list, so they seem OK.   So we ask the clerk if they have been cooked.  The answer is yes, they have.    This means the green pea’s flunk the EAT test:  no Enzymes, vitamins and minerals cooked out, so they are not Alkaline forming.  The food has been cooked, so altered.  So the cooked green peas  flunk the EAT test. And after a going through some other items, we come to the breads and soups.    With breads being baked and soups being cooked, no enzymes.   The bread is made from wheat grain, which is not on the alkalizing list.    The bread is made from flour, which is not considered a total food.  Breads flunk. The dessert island contains all kinds of sugar based, acid forming (lack of mineral food), and enzyme deficient food.  No need to go into this. In summary, where ever you go, you are going to have to watch what you are eating.  Most folks consider unhealthy foods as healthy.

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What are enzymes Did you ever wonder how things get done in the body?  Well, part of the reason is enzymes.   Enzymes are the body’s worker bee’s.  If something needs to be done in the body, enzymes are usually called to the task. A common example that everyone knows is that protein is used to build muscles.    And most of us know that proteins are made up of amino acids. If you could say that amino acids are the body bricks for building the body.  And it is the enzymes that are the brick layers. Enzymes are specific to a task Enzymes are usually designed for certain tasks.  Again, pretending the body is a house, we would have enzymes that are brick layers.  But we would also have enzymes that acted as carpenters, electricions, plumbers, roofers, and so on.  Now, you wouldn’t want the plumber doing the electrical work, would you?  No.  You would want an electrician.  A specialist.  And that is what enzymes are, specialists.  In fact, your body building codes will not allow the plumber to do electrical work.  Specialization is the enzymes motto. Enzymes prefer a certain pH Enzymes usually work best in a certain pH range.  For example, a particular enzyme might be active in an acid pH range from 4.5 to 5.7.  This means the enzyme will work in this pH range and the enzyme (not you) will sleep outside the pH range  (In this example, enzyme hardly do any work in a pH range of 1 to 4.4 and 5.8 to 14). Enzymes prefer a certain temperature Besides a certain pH, enzymes also prefer a certain temperature range, in where they do their fastest work.  It is said they are in a frenzy of activity in the temperature range.  Too cold, and the enzymes slow down, even in their desired pH range.  Oh, they may still do some work, just very slowly.  And the colder it gets, the less enzymes work.  This is one reason we put food in a freezer, to slow down enzyme activity. For example, an enzyme might like a temperature range of 98-100 degrees. This means that the enzyme is working it’s fastest at this temperature range.  If the temperature goes down to something like 96 degrees, the enzymes may still be working, just not nearly as fast. Since the human body temperature is normally around 98.6 degrees, many enzymes are active in the 98 degree range.  And these enzymes work faster if the body temperature increases to something like 100 degrees. As an example, when you get a fever, this is the body reaction to a problem in the body – maybe something like a bacteria or virus.  The elevated temperature increases the speed of enzyme activity, or the speed in which the body can fight off the problem . The jello example You can buy a gelatin, a type of Jell-O.    And for our example, we are going to make pineapple gelatin.  The instructions will tell you to use canned pineapple and not fresh pineapple.  The  reason they ask you to use canned pineapple is because all the enzymes are destroyed.  The enzymes prevent (actually eat) the firming agent in the gelatin. The body produces less enzymes as we get older If you are 20 years old, you probably have great digestion systems and everything works great.  The body produces a lot of enzymes to do the work around the body. But as we get older, our enzyme production starts to get less and less. This why older folks generally have a lot more digestion problems.  Less digestive enzymes are being produced by the body.

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What the digestion system is doing What is covered 1. What is Digestion 2. Absorption of nutrients 3. A simple diagram It is important you have the pH and Enzyme concepts memorized, as we will be using both in this section. Digestion requires the breaking the food into basic components.  For example, protein gets broken down into amino acids. The food must be broken down in order for vitamins and minerals to be extracted out of the food. All the digestive enzymes in food are destroyed at temperatures of 110 degrees or hotter.  This means cooking, microwaving, baking, boiling, or whatever method that heats, destroys the enzymes. Digestion of the food is done by food enzymes and pancreatic enzymes (made by pancreas).  What the food enzymes can’t do, the pancreatic enzymes hopes to finish.   Ideally, over 80% of digestion will take place with food enzymes, and 20 percent with the pancreatic enzymes. IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER:  Food Enzymes are destroyed at about 110 degrees or hotter. The nutrients get absorbed and head right for the liver After a lot of the food gets digested in the stomach, it heads into the small intestine.  In a place in the small intestine call the jejunum, food passes from the intestine to the blood.  In other words, the food and nutrients are absorbed, leaving water and food waste. The food that is absorbed goes directly into a bloodstream that heads directly into the liver.  The result is that almost everything has to go through the liver before going to the rest of the body. Digestion can be summed by Udo’s pipe Digestion looks very complicated.  But we have made an easy model to simplify things, a idea I got from Udo. You might think of the digestion track as starting at your mouth and ending at your rear, and this is just one long pipe.  So basically, a the pipe starts at your mouth, runs down to the stomach, winding all around the mid section of your body, and ends at your rear. If we were to somehow grab the ends of the pipe (digestive tract), with one end being your mouth and the other end being you rear, and pull, the pipe would be straightened out.  Then basically, the major parts of the digestive tract could be summarized as follows: 1.  Stomach – digestion and breaking apart of the foods into chemical components. 2.   Small intestine  - Absorbion of nutrients 3. Large Intestine – Elimination of waste 4. You are alkaline This section will discuss what is meant by acid and alkaline.  This means alkaline forming foods will be discussed.  Also, you will learn what being acidic means. Your blood is slightly alkaline Remember pH?  Where 0-7 is acid, 7-14 alkaline.  This is where we are going to use this.  Your blood has a pH of  7.4.  This means the blood is slightly alkaline.  For the rest of this book, I will just refer to you a being alkaline. Metabolism usually creates acids Most foods, after being metabolized (burned to fuel your body), create acids.   Protein creates uric, sulfuric and phosphoric acids. Carbohydrates and fats, while burning mostly to carbon dioxide and water, also create acetic and lactic acids. The key word is acids. Remember, you are slightly  alkaline.  Acids have to be neutralized and eliminated for you to maintain your alkaline blood pH of 7.4. The liver and the kidney have a limited capacity The liver and kidneys have a limited capability to neutralize and eliminate a certain about of acids. It is estimated that the liver and kidneys can clean up about 8 units a day.  One pound of meat can generate as much as 18 units of uric acid.  If the liver and kidneys can only handle 8 of the 18 units of uric acid, who or what does the rest?  The answer, minerals. How your body maintains a pH level with minerals. Your body uses minerals to keep you alkaline Minerals combine with the acids to create harmless salts, which can be eliminated through the kidneys, without damage.   Salts can also be eliminated through the wall of the  large intestine. Remember, you are alkaline.   To keep you alkaline, your body uses minerals to combine with acids,  creating harmless salts that can be eliminated. The  alkalizing minerals used to maintain blood pH It is not so important to remember all you can about each mineral or what part of the body uses each mineral … just remember the names of the 5 alkalizing minerals. These minerals are used keep you alkaline.