What exactly is Green Medicine? I like to think
of it in terms of stimulating the body’s own
resources and extraordinary abilities to repair
and rebuild itself. It helps reverse even
serious illness, using diet, nutrients, detoxification
procedures and rarely drugs, to move our bodies in a
healing direction. It means living a clean life at home, avoiding
exposures, as much as possible, to toxic, synthetic chemicals. It
also means working to keep the larger world around us cleaner,
greener, as it was originally meant to be.
This approach differs considerably from the more conventional
medicine we know so well, the slash and burn treatment
of illness that uses drugs, invariably with long lists of toxic side
effects, to blast away at the illness—be it bacterial or cancer. Of
course no one denies the benefits of technological, pharmaceutical
based modern medicine but it has serious limitations, and
often doesn’t work well—witness the recent reports revealing
that antidepressants, long considered one of the great victories
of modern medicine, may overall work no better than placebo.
But, nice as it may sound, gentle as it might seem in theory,
can green medicine really work against a terrible disease like
cancer? My colleague Dr. Isaacs and I, certainly believe so, and
our experience over the past 20 years in the trenches with at
times the sickest of the sick has helped confirm that done properly
and intensively our brand of medicine can work.
We’ve received some significant recognition over the years,
in the form of funding by major corporations such as Nestle
and Procter & Gamble, even the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
We’ve published results confirming the benefit of the treatment
against the worst of cancers, and continue working hard toward
its wider acceptance.
Though those who know of our work see it as a medical
treatment, in fact, it is at its core “Green Medicine”—an entire
green lifestyle that uses food, nutrients and enzymes to
change our vital chemistry for the better. It also requires patients
lead a clean and green lifestyle. We think of our therapy
at three levels:
- Personal green—the basics of good, wholesome nutrition
- Local green—the environment in our homes and office
- Global green—protecting the soils, the forests, the air, water
- and the earth.
Personal Green
In terms of personal green, our therapy, in its essence, consists
of three basic components, individualized diets, individualized
supplement protocols, and detoxification routines, such
as juice fasts and colon cleanses, but it most certainly is not
“one size fits all.” We don’t prescribe just one magical diet, suitable
for all sizes and shapes of humans, but a variety ranging
from near pure, near raw nuts and seeds to fatty red meat three
times a day, akin to an Atkins’ approach. Our supplement programs
are equally as varied, involving precisely designed combinations
of vitamins, minerals, trace elements, again depending
on the patient’s specific needs. And for our cancer patients,
large doses of enzymes we believe fight the disease effectively.
The detoxification routines we believe help patients mobilize
and excrete the myriad of toxic chemicals we take in daily from
our food, water and air, and that we synthesize during normal
minute to minute life.
In addition to whatever specific diet, supplements or detox
procedures I might prescribe, since I started in practice, we
have insisted our patients eat primarily, if not exclusively, organically.
We’ve long believed that organic food, whether of plant or
animal in origin, not only lacks many toxic chemicals found in
conventional selections, but provides more nutritional benefit.
For example, organically raised carrots yield higher quantities
of essential antioxidants such as beta carotene, and grass fed
beef can contain ten times the amount of the essential omega-3
fatty acids than cattle raised on grain in the feedlot.
Easy Being Green
Twenty years ago organic wasn’t as easy to come by; now almost
every supermarket in the country provides naturally grown food.
In the good old days, even into the 1990’s, my patients often had to rely on limited selections of produce
from small mom and pop health
food stores, or turn to mail order suppliers
that shipped overnight. Fortunately
today organic is everywhere—when
over Christmas Mary Beth, my wife and
I stayed on Sanibel Island in Florida, I
was pleased to see the local Island supermarket
had an extensive section of
organic produce, as well as grass fed
meat. Organic is always best, but locally
grown organic is the very best, since
food, even if grown cleanly, loses some
value in transport.
We believe the cleaner the food, the
better our patients do, but we believe everyone—
or at least, everyone interested
in optimal health—should eat organically,
or as much as feasible given the cost
issue. I have eaten this way myself for
the better part of 25 years, and my wife
and I run an “organic kitchen.” I’ve been
eating cleanly for so long, that when I
travel and must rely on non-organic restaurant
food, I can feel the difference. I
don’t sleep as well. I’m just not as sharp
mentally. Those chemicals do indeed
make a difference.
Green Water
Water is as important as food and lots of
it since we’re mostly made of water. But
only clean water. Don’t believe tap water
is fine, chlorine has been shown to be
mutagenic, that is, it disrupts our DNA.
And the debate about the safety of fluoride
continues unabated. As Mary Beth,
wrote in her “Green” blog, evidence now
shows millions of Americans ingest all
manner of drugs that have contaminated
our water supply. Clean water is
key and for our supply we rely on reverse
osmosis filtration. Put ten water experts
in a room together and you will get 20
opinions about the best filtration system,
and admittedly, no system is perfect,
but until someone comes up with
a better way, I believe reverse osmosis
still the best.
Green Home and Office
We run an organic kitchen, but we also
run a non toxic home. All our cleaning
products are “green,” from companies
such as Seventh Generation and Shaklee,
both with extensive selections of
home products. When we had our apartment
painted several years ago, we purchased
non-toxic, non-fuming paint that
left no irritating, noxious odor. All our
rugs consist of natural fibers, untainted
by any number of chemical treatments
commercial carpet manufacturers traditionally
use, such as formaldehyde. Even
pesticides—that’s right, some commercial
carpets have traces of pesticides, so
when your kids are crawling over them
playfully, the stuff will rub onto their
skin.
I also run a green office. When we
built 16 years ago, we insisted everything
in the office—the wooden floors,
walls, even the furniture, be constructed
of non-toxic materials. No toxic dyes, no
formaldehyde, only natural woods, natural
oils, and natural paints. A company
with a factory in Vermont and a New
York showroom, Pompanoosac Mills,
made all our office furniture out of natural,
untainted woods and finishes, and
16 years later, all of it has held up to wear
and tear beautifully, without exposing us
to one milligram of synthetic toxic junk.
Global Green
Of course, when you live green personally,
at home, and if possible, at the office,
you are living green globally. When
you choose organic, you support farms
that don’t apply the load of toxic chemicals
that degrade soil, penetrate into
water supplies, and eventually leech
in our rivers and oceans, then into the
fish who swim in these waters. When
you chose local organic, you reduce the
carbon footprint, the costs of transport
and reduce nutrient loss. When each of
us lives green in our home, we’re keeping
a host of toxic chemicals out of the
greater environment at large.
I’m encouraged by the growing acceptance
of adopting a green lifestyle
and the change in attitude toward concepts
such as organic I’ve witness over
the past 20 years. With the growing interest
in all things green, I believe more
and more of us will turn to greener
medicine, the gentler, less toxic interventions
that can work, again, if done
properly.