Diet and Recovery
The observations
of Price, the early anthropologists and Dr. Gerson
are entirely consistent with my own observations
over the past twenty-five years. While most patients
feel better and make at least a partial recovery
from medical problems by adopting a diet that
includes more of the foods Price showed us are
critical to good health, at the same time many
limit the extent of their recovery by their inability
to go further in eliminating the refined foods
that cause problems, while failing to include
adequate amounts of superior foods.
With this background,
let’s look at the most common mistakes people
make when trying to recover from health problems
with a nutritional regimen.
First is thinking
that a little bit of refined foods won’t
hurt. A little can hurt a lot. Here are some examples
from my files:
- A 45 year-old man with
chronic herpes for years remains completely
symptom-free for several months but when he
eats one or two commercial walnuts or a small
cup of soup at a health food store, he breaks
out with herpes sores the next day.
- A 60-year-old woman with
painful arthritis in her hips is pain-free for
weeks until eating three or four cookies at
a birthday party for her grandson. The next
day, her pain is so severe she has difficulty
walking.
- A 22 year-old man with
a ten-year history of epileptic seizures at
least every two weeks has no seizures for three
months. One afternoon, he has several handfuls
of dried fruit and commercial cashews as a "treat."
Three hours later, his roommate finds him in
the midst of a grand mal seizure, and he is
hospitalized for several days.
These are not coincidences.
Through careful observation of my patients and
my own body, I've concluded that every food eaten
has subtle (or sometimes obvious) effects.
Another common mistake is thinking that a modest
amount of high-quality animal foods is enough.
By high quality, I mean foods that come from animals
fed their natural diets – grass-fed farm
animals, wild game and wild seafood. This would
include raw milk and the foods made from it (cheese,
yoghurt, kefir and especially butter and cream);
meats, especially organ meats; fish and shellfish;
and eggs from free-range chickens. How much should
be eaten raw and how much cooked, and how cooked,
is an important but highly individual matter;
however, the dairy products should always be raw.
(Some individuals have problems with even the
best raw milk and raw milk cheeses.)
Many of these are the farm-fresh foods we've been
taught to be afraid of because they contain cholesterol
and saturated fat. And even when one has some
understanding of Price's work, there's a tendency
to think that one shouldn't eat too much of these
foods, perhaps just to be safe, to hedge one's
bets a bit. And the mixed diet we've all been
taught is essential, with lots of fruits and vegetables
and whole grains, only leaves so much room for
animal foods. But for most people with chronic
disease, when it comes to fresh raw or lightly
cooked food from grass-fed animals, more is usually
better.
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