posted
I am referring here to the grape cure which was begun by Hippocrates and continued by Johanna Brandt. I have been on it for three days and feel O.K. I am not recommending this for anyone else however, yet!
The skins are full of reversatrol. One article from cancertutor.org below. I also have a good book on it called the Detox mono diet by Vasey
Sunny thoughts, Wallace
Johanna Brandt / Fred Wortman Grape Cure For Cancer
How It Works Purple (Concord) grapes (with their skin and seeds) contain several nutrients that are known to kill cancer cells. These kinds of grapes also contain nutrients to stop the spread of cancer. They also help detoxify the body.
(Note to diabetics: Obviously this diet is not appropriate for diabetics, however, most of the cancer treatment plans I write about are acceptable for diabetics. If you have questions, discuss the ingredients and diet in these treatment plans with the medical doctor who treats your diabetes. In any case, you will always need to monitor your insulin.)
The Johanna Brandt Grape Diet This diet was developed by Johanna Brandt, who was a South African immigrant to America. She spent many years experimenting with fasting and diets before she found her grape cure. Her book on the grape cure was published in the 1920s. Much has been learned since the 1920s and many things have changed. It would not be advisable to read her book and follow it without taking into account what has been learned and what has changed since she wrote the book.
The original diet involves 12 hours of fasting every day, followed by 12 hours where you consume absolutely nothing except grapes (and/or grape juice). The consumption of the grapes is spread out over the 12 hours, not just at meal times. In other words, they are consumed slowly over many hours, not quickly over two or three short bursts. After being on this phase of the diet for several weeks there were other phases, but the first phase is of most interest here.
In this context the term "fasting" allows the consumption of "natural water" during the "fast" (see my definition in the tutorial) and/or "ionized water." It would be good to mix a little mineral water in with either of these types of water in order to get needed trace elements. All of this clarification on water was not in her original diet, but modern technology (e.g. the addition of chlorine and fluoride to our water supplies) has necessitated its inclusion. Chlorine is especially bad for this diet!
In the context of the Brandt Diet, the fasting is only for 12 hours at a time. The fasting obviously does not starve the cancer cells to death, however, the fasting does have a significant purpose. The fasting makes the cells hungry, and when the cells do get food, what they get is grape juice, which contains several major cancer killing nutrients, such as: ellagic acid, catechin, quercetin, oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC) or procyanidolic oligomers (PCO), originally called: pycnogenol (seeds), resveratrol (skin coloring of purple grapes), pterostilbene, selenium, lycopene, lutein, laetrile (amygdalin or Vitamin B17) (seeds) beta-carotene, caffeic acid and/or ferulic acid (together they kill cancer cells), and gallic acid!
That is an incredible arsenal!
In other words, the fasting is used to "trick" the cancer cells into consuming the first thing that comes along. The grapes become a great "transport agent" for getting the poisons into the cancer cells, meaning the grape juice carries the cancer killing nutrients into the cancer cells as they feed on the grape juice!
Cancer cells thrive on sugar and grape juice is virtually pure "sugar." The fast makes the cells hungry and when the grape juice becomes available, the cancer cells gobble up the sugar in the grapes or grape juice. But as the cells are ingesting the juice they are also consuming things that are poisonous to them. Think of putting poison in chocolate and giving it to a hungry child. That is exactly what fasting and grape juice do to a cancer cell.
Cancer cells eat many times more of the glucose and other sugars than a regular cell does, plus it eats far more minerals and some other nutrients than a regular cell. Thus, the combination of consuming far more glucose, minerals and other nutrients, plus the fasting, makes the purple grapes an exceptional cancer-fighting food. The fasting is absolutely critical to this diet, and should not be taken lightly!
In fact the great secret to the grape cure is that cancer cells are very inefficient at processing glucose and other sugars. Cancer cells consume about 15 times more glucose and other sugars than regular cells. The 1931 Nobel Prize in medicine given to Dr. Otto Heinrich Warburg was awarded for this discovery. This means a grape cure diet can get several times more of certain cancer-killing nutrients into the cancer cells than normal cells.
To insure the patient gets all of the main killer nutrients, the grape juice should include crushed seeds (in order to get the OPCs) and the nutrients from the purple skins (to get the critical resveratrol). The purple color, such as in concord purple grapes, has a critical cancer killing nutrient not found in other grapes. Back when she wrote her book, in the 1920s, the advantage of purple grapes was not known. Also, if you eat or process whole grapes, you should buy grapes with the seeds, not seedless grapes. This is another thing that Johanna Brandt could not have known about in the 1920s. The darker the purple grapes the better. (Note: Because purple grapes and red grapes are so frequently confused with each other, it is not clear exactly how good red grapes are. This is why you should look for the word "concord" on the package, although there are purple grapes other than concord grapes that are just as good.)
Warnings - Heed Carefully As I mentioned above, much has changed since Johanna Brandt developed her grape cure. Unfortunately, one of those things is the way water is processed and another of those things is the way food is processed.
A special word of warning about chlorine. If you buy premixed grape juice, you need to make sure it did not have any tap water mixed in with the grape juice. Assume it does and don't buy it! I would not use any premixed grape juice unless the label specifically mentions they did not use tap water or filtered water. Even some organic grape juice may have had tap water added to it. Even though the chlorine may be dissolved by the time you buy it, the fact that the chlorine existed when the grape juice was mixed with the water, would have caused severe damage to the nutrients at that time. This damage cannot be reversed.
Another problem with mixed grape juice, even organic, is that it is generally required to be pasteurized. Pasteurization destroys an unknown number of nutrients in the grape juice and could neutralize a significant portion of the nutrients in the grape juice. Again, I emphasize, avoid premixed grape juice.
Unfortunately, most, if not all, frozen grape juice is also pasteurized. Frozen grape juice also may have a small amount of tap water added to it. Some organic grape juices are processed with spring water, but even these may be pasteurized.
This discussion on food processing, which largely applies to organic foods also, leads to the conclusion that only fresh purple grapes, totally unprocessed, qualify for this diet. But then you have the problem of pesticides, and a lot of grapes and grape juice are in this diet.
The only way to guarantee you are getting all of the nutrients in the grapes is to make your own "grape mush" by using organic whole purple grapes and by processing them yourself into grape mush. Use a food processor, not a juicer (because of the nutrients in the seeds, which a juicer would not be able to extract). "Organic" means there are no pesticides and that there are more trace elements and other nutrients from the soil.
Now, being realistic, such a mush is not practical for most people for a number of reasons. Thus, you must do the best you can. First, avoid premixed purple grape juice. Frozen is better because it has had much less tap water mixed in with it, or better yet if the juice is organic it may have had spring water mixed in.
NEW Medical self diagnosis software
I must emphasize, no matter what kind of frozen grape juice you can find, mix it with "natural water." The chlorine issue is so critical for certain nutrients in grape juice, that I would not even mix ionized water with the grape juice. I would drink ionized water during the 12 hours of fasting, and use natural water to mix with the grape juice and to drink during the 12 hours you are drinking the grape juice!
The Brandt Diet is an excellent diet, however, because grapes do not contain all of the amino acids, and other key nutrients, the Brandt Diet should not be used for more than 2 consecutive weeks at a time, except in extreme cases. I say that knowing that some cancer diets include 42 day fasts (such as the Breuss diet) and other cancer diets include fasts of even longer. But you must realize that these "fasts" include the consumption of a small amount of highly nutritious foods or drinks. A "fast" in the natural food world includes natural water and small amounts of food.
After two weeks on the Brandt diet, highly nutritious foods can be consumed for a few days and then the Brandt diet can be resumed for two more weeks. This back-and-forth can continue indefinitely. This will be described in more detail below in the "Combination Diets."
I quote from her book:
"It is safe to say that the first seven to ten days on grapes only would be required to clear the stomach and bowels of their ancient accumulations. And it is during this period that distressing symptoms often appear. Nature works thoroughly. She does not build on a rotten foundation. The purification of every part of the body must be complete before new tissue can be built." page 47 Also, a person on the Brandt diet will probably lose significant weight during the first few weeks. I mention this because a person who begins this diet at 120 pounds or less, may need to watch their weight closely in order to keep from getting too low in weight. To keep their weight up, they might want to favor the Wortman Diet (to be discussed next). During the 8 hours they can eat on the Wortman diet, they can make sure they eat enough solid foods to keep their weight from dropping too much.
Similar custom modifications can be made to address any other potential health problem a person might have. The Wortman Diet allows a great deal of individual flexibility to deal with specific issues.
Wortman Grape Diet Since the Brandt Diet should not be gone on for more than two weeks at a time (well, it can, but it should not last more than two weeks at a time except in extreme cases), an alternative diet must be found for the one week between the two week stints on the Brandt Diet. It just so happens, that a modification or synthesis of the Brandt Diet is the perfect diet for this situation. That is the Wortman Diet.
There is no cancer treatment known to mankind that is simpler, cheaper and less toxic than this treatment plan! It is almost as simple as replacing your breakfast with grape juice. However, it is not as powerful as the Brandt Diet. The article I quote below is so easy to understand, I will let it speak for itself. Note that Mr. Wortman synthesized the Brandt Diet and came up with a much simpler plan.
Here is the article taken from the internet:
The Grape Cancer Cure by J. F. Goodavage
When Fred Wortman of Albany, Georgia, developed an inoperable malignancy of the intestine, he faced the prospect of long treatments with radiation "therapy". "The doctors," Mr. Wortman said, "refused to operate when they discovered the condition of my bank balance."
Being a wide reader, he remembered a simple remedy for cancer that was given in a book by a 'Mrs. Brandt', and looked it up. It was rather involved and cumbersome to follow, so he reduced it to its essentials, took the "cure" and was completely cancer free within a month. Wortman then had his experience published in "The Independent" and received hundreds of replies. Over 200 cancer sufferers reported complete recovery.
The grape treatment cured lung cancer in two weeks, he reported. Cancer of the prostate took a little longer - about a month. Only four cases of leukemia (cancer of the blood) were treated, but the judicious usage of grape juice cured them all.
Start the treatment like this:
Begin with a 24 oz. bottle of (dark concord) grape juice the first thing in the morning. Take a couple of swallows every 10 or 15 minutes (Don't gulp it down all at once). Do not eat until Noon.
After 12 o'clock, live the rest of the day normally, but do not eat anything after 8 o'clock in the evening...food seems to carry off the curative agent in the grape juice, which may be magnesium (sic), so stick to the fast between 8 P.M. and Noon the following day.
Keep this up every day for 2 weeks to one month.
Krebiozen is fine, but it racks up only about 80% cures, and is no longer available due to the federal injunction suit, the F.D.A., the A.M.A., etc. Ditto "Mucorihicin", the 87% effective cancer treatment from Pittsburgh.
The dark concord grape juice treatment is reported to be nearly 100% effective.
J. F. Goodavage Whitefield, Maine 04362
Whereas Brandt claimed a 100% cure rate of exclusively terminal cancer patients (all given up on by the medical community of the 1920s and I believe they were using chemo at that time since it was invented in 1909), Wortman claims a "nearly 100%" cure rate of cancer patients in undefined condition. Whatever the actual cure rate was, do not forget that the Brandt Diet is still the more potent of the two diets.
There are two ways to approach the Wortman Diet. It is important to pay attention to Option #2, because it is probably the preferred way of taking grapes and grape juice, even while you are on the Brandt Diet:
Option #1 The diet exactly as described above, except that you should be very careful what you eat and drink between noon and 8:00 PM. More will be said about that in a moment. Ionized water can be consumed at any time except between 8:00 AM and noon. This option takes full advantage of the fasting, but not full advantage of the grapes. Natural water should be mixed with the frozen grape juice.
Option #2 - A Slight Modification to Option #1 This is exactly the same as Option #1, except for the grape juice itself. This option uses "grape mush" instead of grape juice. The "grape mush" is a combination of whole raw grapes, with skin and seeds, preferably organic, and frozen grape juice mixed with natural water. The total volume of the mush should be about 28 ounces. At least half of that volume should come from the whole raw grapes, but all of it can come from the whole raw grapes!
If you do not want to eat whole grapes, with their seeds and skin, you can purchase a good quality food processor or buy an inexpensive hand-cranked wheat grinder to grind the seeds. The reason for this is obvious - you are guaranteed to get all of the nutrients in the skins and seeds. A juicer should not be used, because you need everything you can get out of the seeds and skins.
The 28 ounces should be consumed slowly over the 4 hours you are eating the grape mush. If you do not drink it slowly, you will almost certainly get nauseous. Another thing that may help to avoid nausea is to drink natural water just before, during, and just after drinking the grape mush.
(Note: If you cannot get purple grapes, with their seeds and skin, while you are waiting to find the purple grapes, the next best choice is black grapes, with seeds and skin, followed by red grapes, with their seeds and skin.)
As I state in the tutorial, you should be very careful about what you eat, and do not eat, on any cancer diet. Read the tutorial, the "Ten Commandments of an Alternative Cancer Treatment Program," on my main page, and the "Raw Food" treatment program for more information about what you can and cannot eat during the 8 hours you are allowed to eat on the Wortman program. Paying attention to what you eat will make this diet far more effective.
As one final note, it would be very, very helpful to mix several ounces of high quality mineral water in with the "mush" (in place of several ounces of natural water) if you use frozen grape juice, or to simply drink several ounces of high quality mineral water if you use all whole grapes. This will add critical trace elements or trace minerals, even if you are able to get organic grapes and grape juice.
Both Option #1 and Option #2 will get the major nutrients that kill cancer into the cancer cells, but the second option is better than the first because it includes the entire grape for at least half of the mush.
If you plan on going on the Brandt diet for more than two weeks, you should consider a diet that is a combination of the Brandt diet and the Wortman diet. In fact it is these combination diets, discussed below, that are actually recommended.
If you are on the Wortman diet (i.e. you are on a week where the Wortman diet is being used), you can make one or two mushes per day (i.e. you can make a single or double size mush once a day). If you are on the Brandt diet that week, you can make between three and five mushes a day (ditto, one really big mush).
Also, "concord" grapes are not the only kind of purple grapes. In fact they may not even be the best purple grape from a nutrition standpoint. I mention concord grapes because they are the easiest to obtain and are probably the cheapest. Now let's talk about the combination diets with these things in mind.
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Published research on resveratrol -- a phytonutrient found in fresh grapes -- has nearly tripled in the past two years, indicating strong interest in the health benefits of this compound. Resveratrol, found mainly in the skins of grapes, is noted for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and its potential to prevent cancer and heart disease. Among the newer research findings:
-- Researchers at the University of Missouri showed that resveratrol reduces oxidative stress in nerve cells, which may protect against age-related nerve changes such as those in Alzheimer's. Researchers at the University of Milan are investigating additional protective effects of resveratrol on nerve cells.
-- At Wright State University School of Medicine, researchers showed that resveratrol inhibited enzyme activity responsible for abnormal smooth muscle growth in blood vessels, a key factor in the development of arterial plaques and the progression of atherosclerosis.
-- Research groups in at New York Medical College, the University of Minnesota, and Seoul National University showed that resveratrol may help kill cancer cells by activating the systems responsible for normal cell death. In cancer cells, these important systems have been shut down, leading to uncontrolled growth.
In addition to resveratrol, fresh grapes contain a variety of other phytonutrients, including quercetin, catechins, anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins. All of these compounds are antioxidants, and are believed to protect living cells against damage by free radicals. The ravage of healthy cells by free radicals is considered a key factor in the body's overall aging process, including development of certain chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
New research findings include: -- Researchers in Japan showed that systolic blood pressure in animals with high blood pressure was reduced after consuming an extract of wine compounds for eight weeks.
-- Studies of multiple grape compounds showed the powerful anti-cancer effect possible with combinations of phytonutrients. Researchers at the University of Missouri-Kansas found that resveratrol and quercetin alone inhibited oral cancer cell growth, but when cells were treated with a combination of resveratrol and quercetin, the inhibitory effect on cell growth was enhanced.
-- Researchers in Japan found that the antioxidant activity of catechin was enhanced when combined with vitamin E.
"Preliminary results such as these support the scientific theory that phytonutrients, in combination, and in their natural environment -- food -- exert a beneficial, synergistic effect," said registered dietitian Courtney Romano.
"Interest in resveratrol and other grape compounds will most likely continue to grow, as research further defines the health benefits of the many phytonutrients in plant foods," said Romano. "Many people are aware that eating more fruits and vegetables each day is a healthy habit, but additional research will continue to provide the reasons why, with new insights into the specific health-enhancing and disease-preventing benefits of these foods."
The overview was sponsored by the Grape Growers of California. Why not? Remember organic is better.
1/05 We received an email from 'Shirley' as follows:
"In this article you said that "U. S. grape growers use high amounts of sulfites, etc. so buy organic." I wonder if you know that organically grown produce can indeed be treated with sulfur (legally).
I recently bought white organic grapes and wtihin 20-30 minutes after eating them had breathing difficulty (also jerking of legs and arms). I am not an asthmatic. Hours later I got a hive on my face. The following morning, I called the number on the grape wrapper and was told that they were treated with sulfur and that it was legal under organic growing rules.
I have since called many of the distributors of the organic foods I buy and many say that they do use some form of sulfur on the organic item and that it is all legal since sulfur is an "organic" compound.
This was an eye opener for me. You cannot assume that buying organic means sulfur free. I thought perhaps you could use this information".
Shirley
Alcohol provided NO additional heart benefit to red wine
Red Wine Polyphenols & Colon Ca Cells
How reveratrol-antioxidant in grapes and red wine may help fight cancer
Grapes' Anti-Fungal Agent May Fight Cancer Wine or Food? May Differ w/Beverage Choices
J Cancer Research & Clinical Oncology, April 01
Daily trans-Resveratrol in Rats NOT harmful Piceatannol, Natural Analog of Resveratrol Inhibits Progression Medicinal Plants & Synergy Estrogen Found in Grape Skin
Brit J Cancer, 7/03
J Circulation, 6/01 NIH and Welch Foods, Inc.
Concord Grape Juice
Cancer Research, 1/04
E J Nutrition, 7/01
Colors & Antioxidant Parameters of Fruit Wine
J Wine Research, 8-12/03
J Nutrition 2001
J American Medical Association. 9/01
Am J of Epidemiology, 10/01
Beer-Xanthohumol (antioxidant)
Carcinogenesism 10/01
Resveratrol Inhibits Cell Growth via ER-Independent Ways
J Nature, 12/01
Agricultural & Food Chemistry, 5/02
Am J Epidemiol, 10/02
11/02 Univ of Leicester & Univ of Michigan
Abstract #B199 Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Res, 2003
J Nutrition, 12/02
Grapes Fight Radiation Fibrosis Grape Juice as Aromatase Inhibitor
Many references 6/03
25 mgs Reveratrol Unlikely to Effect BCa/PCa Resveratrol in Prevention & Therapy of Cancer: Review Polyphenols prevent cell shedding from mouse mammary ca
J Nutr, 7/03
LINK to viewpoint, studies from health educator: WINE, ALCOHOL
Thorax, 11/04
Mol Cancer Ther, 4/05
Naturopath's Suggestions for Glioblastoma/Gliomas
Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training.
This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics.
Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.
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This book is a portmanteau, to borrow a handy word from Lewis Carroll, and misuse it slightly. It's two books packed into one. There's the real book, The Detox Mono Diet, and within it the entire text of Johanna Brandt's classic The Grape Cure.
Brandt was a South African woman, not a medical person, who believed herself to have been cured of a debilitating and presumably terminal stomach cancer through a diet of grapes, and grapes alone. In 1928, she published first an article and then a pamphlet outlining her experience and her success.
If you're already a believer in detox diets and healing fasts, this book will simply confirm your conviction. If not, I invite you to read it - it's short and simple so it won't take much time out of your busy schedule. Author Vasey, a naturopath, goes to great lengths to explain how detoxification dieting works, including uncomfortable details about how to administer an enema (things your mother never taught you) and otherwise prepare your body for the trials of eating little or eating a lot of only one food for protracted periods of time (or maybe they just seem protracted!).
Brandt was convinced, for whatever reason, that her cancer was a combination of genetic factors and the consumption of meat. The grape was for her the antidote, ripping through the gut like a mini-roto-rooter, routing any bits and pieces not tidied up by the enemas.
But not just externally does the grape do its cleansing job. A powerful diuretic, grapes leach poisonous waters from the cells, acting like sweat during a fever to draw out liquid and literally squeeze the body dry of its harmful guests. This is Brandt's notion and she stuck by it; Vasey concurs
There are other foods suitable for a mono-diet, all raw veggies or fruits with the exception of some dried fruits and cooked grains. All have the same laxative and diuretic effect of grapes. Different foods yield different results on the mono-diet. Needless, perhaps, to say, all of these foods are vegetal, not animal. Cooked foods, many alternative nutritionists suggest, are soft and easier to eat and thus encourage over-eating, as well as having lost nutrients in the heating process. Think about it.
My ex-but-one husband years ago tried the grape cure, having enthusiastically read Brandt's little book. He was already slim as a trout but that wasn't his issue. He had bowel problems and was looking for real healing. The net effect of the diet seemed to be that along with losing, unnecessarily in my opinion as an observer, even more weight, he stayed in a vaguely drunken state most of the time. This is perhaps relative to Brandt's statement that ``the matchless grape is the supreme remedy for the craving of alcoholic liquors.'' I would add, because the grape diet is a fermentation process carried on within one's digestive tract! My ex giggled a lot during his ten-day regimen, and though there was no long-term hoped-for amelioration, he expressed a high opinion of the grape cure. He is still alive so the possibility exists that the grape cure did preserve him these 40 years.
For those who are serious about cleaning the insides of their bodies, there is probably no better method than the grape diet, followed to the letter. Vasey's book augments Brandt's work and gives good modern information to back it up.
Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. � Barbara Bamberger Scott, 2006
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It's funny because it brings up a brilliant point. My LLMD just had me stop all suppliments while he changes my ABX. One was resveretrol. I love grapes. I eat them a lot. We always have them in the house. So what, do I stop this too? I know that the concentration is different. I think of this every time I pop a few, wooo should I not do this? Ridiculous.
BT
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We all have desires. Some people want lots of money or power or success. Then there is we, the knowledge lovers. The ones who get high learning about nature. Why, how and what makes the world tick? New information or confirmation on life processes is worth more to me than rubies and emeralds.
What makes a good book? When the book becomes alive, the author's personality whispers, cries, or screams messages through the written words. Polished, descriptive, big word books are not my style. Simplicity is far more appealing. We also don't mind a few typos and misspelled words because they reflect imperfection which is closer to nature.
Some books are so powerful they can save, change, and lengthen life. Books such as Spiritual Nutrition and the Rainbow Diet by Gabriel Cousens, Why Suffer by Ann Wigmore, Survival into the 21st Century by Viktoras Kulvinskas, Diet for a New America by John Robbins, Mucusless Diet Healing System by Arnold Ehret's, Fruit the Food and Medicine for Man by Morris Krok's and The Essene Gospel of Peace by Edmond Bordeaux Szekely are true examples of gifts from heaven to mankind. When I find books with good information, I add them to my library and share them with friends.
Last mouth, I found something special, a small thin purple book called the Grape Diet. It was written by Johanna Brandt (published in 1929 by Ehret Literature Publishing Co. Yonkers, NY). Johanna came to the United States from South Africa in 1926 to share one message: Highly nutritious grapes can be used for preventing cancer.
Johanna and others were terminally ill with cancer, when they discovered that grape diets could heal their bodies. I will let her tell you her story.
"America was a free country politically and an independent, powerful, progressive, rich and enlightened nation. But it was not free from disease. I had no doubt whatsoever that this free nation would accept my message, and, accepting it, be blessed with a new emancipation--a wonderful deliverance from disease and premature death.
The first three months in America were difficult indeed. I found, to my great disappointment, that the Medical Practice Act of the State of New York was tyrannical in the extreme. Much time was lost in constructing a plan by which I could demonstrate the efficacy of the Grape Cure.
As a law-abiding citizen of South Africa, I had no desire to come into conflict with the law of a strange land."
After two years of lecturing and submitting articles on the grape diet, Johanna finally had an article printed, January 21, 1928 in the Evening Graphics. She wrote. "I was born in the heart of South Africa in 1876. Over fifty years ago my forefathers were heavy meat eaters and practically lived on game, as did most South Africans in those days. I do not know whether this has anything to do with the fact that cancer is the greatest scourge of our country, but I think so.
There was a lot of cancer in my father's family and my mother died of cancer in 1916. The doctors tell us that the disease is not hereditary. This may be true, but the predisposing causes of cancer in my mother's body may have been present in my own.
It is not unreasonable to assume this. Be that as it may, as long as I can remember I suffered from gastric trouble, bilious attacks and stomach ulcers. After the anguishing spectacle of my mother's martyrdom, I had one shock after another. Life became a ghastly nightmare, and through it all I was conscious of a gnawing pain at the left side of my stomach. Cancer? I was not afraid of it. In my ignorance I thought I had reached the limit of human endurance. I saw in cancer a possible release.
A friend, meeting my husband one day, inquired after my health, and was so much struck by this reply that she repeated it to me: "What must I say about my wife? The hope of death is keeping her alive, and the fear of life is nearly killing her."
The hope of death! That was it. But I was puzzled to know how my secret had been discovered.
My plan of action was carefully prearranged. I would allow nothing to be done that could prolong life. If it were really cancer, no medicines would be taken to check the disease. No injections. No drugs to alleviate pain. And, under no circumstances, the application of the surgeon's knife.
At this time, a little book was put into my hands, The Fasting Cure, by Upton Sinclair. It thrilled me. A new hope surged through me, the hope of relief from suffering. Here was something that appealed to my common sense. Something constructive--Nature Cure.
The book set the fasting ball rolling in our house. I fasted for seven days. The result was disappointing.
Nothing daunted, I fasted again and persuaded everyone else to fast. In time I set up a fasting business, free of charge. Any one and every one could fast for nothing under my supervision. I became highly experienced and seemed to cure every one, except myself.
The study of one system of healing led to another. Our home was stacked with the best American books and magazines on the science of spinal adjustment, german water cures, Swiss sun bathing, Russian fruit cures and oriental works on the science of deep breathing.
We fletcherized raw carrots and peanuts until our jaws ached. We began the day with spinal exercises and finished it by sleeping outside.
The whole family joined hands with me in the campaign against disease. Our fortune was spent in building up a system of natural healing so perfect in its simplicity and economy that it would meet the needs of the farming population in the remotest regions of South Africa.
I wrote books and answered thousands of letters, but under it all I knew that my own internal trouble was not responding to Nature Cure.
My battle from life lasted nine years. I fasted myself to a skeleton. I fasted beyond the starvation point, which is a most unusual proceeding, consuming my own live tissues in the effort to destroy the growth. With every fast the growth was unmistakably checked. But it was not destroyed. On the contrary, it seemed to take a new hold on me whenever I broke the fast. Because I took the wrong foods.
I knew exactly what was taking place. I knew that it was wrong to undermine the system by injurious fasting and then to nourish the growth by wrong feeding.
What was I to do? There was no one to advise me, but while experimenting on myself I was learning something new every day.
Among other things, I learned that cancer thrives on every form of animal food--the more impure, the better. I suffered from horrible and disgusting cravings for blood--for beef and pork and rich blood-sausages--for stimulating and highly seasoned foods.
The growth was now pushing its way through the diaphragm, toward the heart and left lung. I seemed to see it like a red octopus feeding on the impure blood at the base of the lung. Breathing became difficult. I spat blood occasionally.
One night in August, 1920, I had a terrible attack of vomiting and purging, with excruciating pain. Toward morning I brought up a quantity of half-digested blood. Matters were becoming serious,and the thought of the death certificate and possible complications troubled me. I sent for our family physician.
He ordered me to lie still in bed for three months. Under his supervision I fasted twelve days. Plenty of time now to write glowing accounts of the wonders of nature cure to distant correspondents.
More than ever I realized the importance of saving my own life in order to convince and try to save others.
It was under this fast that I first noticed an ominous sign, the presence of digested blood--known in medical circles as "coffee grounds"--in the stools after the use of the enema. Still more disconcerting to find that I no longer put on weight on breaking the fast.
Toward the end of 1920, I seemed to be fasting chronically, four, seven, ten days, and finally three weeks in December.
All this fasting brought about a slight improvement and I dragged through 1921 somehow. Then in November, I was persuaded by my doctor to go into the General Hospital in Johannesburg for an x-ray examination.
Many plates were taken, and a noted surgeon pronounced his verdict--the stomach was being divided in two by a vicious, fibrous growth. An immediate operation was recommended as the only means of prolonging my life. This I refused.
The famous doctor who was operating in the x-ray department was much interested in my experiences and invited me to his house for another x-ray examination if I found myself still in the land of the living after six months.
Encouraged by the mark of sympathy, I fasted three weeks in December, drinking pure water only and lying in the morning sun. When, after six mouths, I went under the x-ray again, no trace of the growth could be found!
I assured the doctor, however, that the pain was still there and told him that I was looking for a food that would answer a threefold purpose, viz.: destroy the growth effectually, eliminate the poison and build new tissue.
The three years that followed were years of great suffering, but I kept on fasting and dieting alternately, and in 1925, after a seven-day fast, I accidentally discovered a food that had miraculous effect of healing me completely within six weeks--grapes!
A method that may cure cancer may cure almost any other disease. What is more it may prevent cancer and almost every other disease.
While I was experimenting on myself, I was often discouraged by the thought that very few people would be able to undergo such rigorous treatment.
But it is the sum total of my experience that I hope to bring before the public. Fasting for such a long period was unnecessary. The mistake I made need not be made by other patients. Our system of healing has been greatly modified by the discovery of the food cure. And while the patient is undergoing the cure for his or her own particular complaint, Nature is secretly restoring and rejuvenating every part of the body.
The senses become abnormally acute; dim eyes brighten; faded hair takes on new gloss; the lifeless, hopeless voice becomes vibrant, magnetic, and the complexion clears.
I have seen beautiful sets of teeth, loose in their suppuration sockets, become steady and fixed within a few weeks, the gums free of pyorrhea within a few months.
I have watched our old people getting young and our young people becoming superbly beautiful, and with every new entrancing revelation of the wonders of Nature Cure I have dedicated my life anew to this joyous work of spreading the good news."
This summer, when the grape season starts, try a day with the magic grapes. The quantity Johanna recommends is no more than three pounds a day. Make sure you discover all colors purple, green and red. A fresh cup of grape Juice is delicious. Put grapes through a champion Juicer or a blender.
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