Budwig

Budwig diet and protocol: tips and frequently asked questions

Budwig Diet FAQ: expert answers to 138 frequently asked questions

Question 68: My loved one with cancer is in great pain. How can I effectively help him if painkillers can interfere with the healing effects of the Budwig protocol?

Answer:
Dr. Budwig does indeed write that "many painkillers" can seriously interfere with her diet's effectiveness, so should not be used, similar to chemo, artificial hormones etc. Thankfully, there are many ways to deal with pain alternatively without medicinal drugs, see natural pain medication alternatives. Also see question 39, answer 2 re the uses of alcohol on the Budwig diet. (credits: Healing Cancer Naturally)

Question 69 recurring diarrhea: My mother hasn't reached the stage of dehydration, but might get there very soon considering her very fragile state of affairs. Should we go easier on the flax oil/cottage cheese? Or, perhaps, ought we add extra rice or fiber from buckwheat/oats?

Answer:
Is she getting freshly ground flaxseeds as stipulated by Dr. Budwig? They actually seem to be constipating if not taken with sufficient fluid (bananas can have a constipating effect as well). Also medicinal charcoal, healing earth (clay) and the like can act as internal "mopping-up" sponges. Apparently nursing homes feed patients suffering from diarrhea psyllium husks mixed with water to the consistency of a paste, then fed with a spoon.

Finally, does your mother get sunlight, if possible directly on her abdomen? You may also wish to look into colour therapy, such as directing blue light onto her stomach area for a certain time. A most dramatic color therapy healing report re uncontrollable diarrhea is reproduced here. (credits: Healing Cancer Naturally)

Question 70: In the "China Study", Dr Campbell found in a 27 year documented study that animal protein is the main cause of cancer and most all other degenerative diseases. In his study on rats and aflatoxin (liver cancer study), his source of protein was casein from cow's milk. Also casein is said to be one of the main contributing factors in breast cancer. How can the Budwig diet help with cancer if that is true? And would the casein of goat milk have the same effect as cow's milk?

Answer:
Well, perhaps it would be good to be a bit careful in believing all Dr. Campbell says. Generalizations, generally speaking :-), can be quite misleading.

A study using isolated substances (casein) and on top performed on animals is rather worthless in my eyes as to applicability to humans (due to non-transferability and the use of denatured substances).

Some detailed apparent debunking of the science behind Dr. Campbell's book can be found in the article "What Dr. Campbell Won't Tell You About the China Study" (published at cholesterol-and-health.com/China-Study.html).

The article posits that Dr. Campbell in a number of ways has generalized and drawn conclusions not warranted by the data he had available, quite inconsistent with the science he claims to base his conclusions on. Some excerpts:

“Other questions, such as what effect different types of processing have on casein's capacity to promote tumor growth, remain unanswered.”

“Pasteurization, low-temperature dehydration, high-temperature spray-drying (which creates carcinogens), and fermentation all affect the structure of casein differently and thereby would affect its physiological behavior.”

“What powdered, isolated casein does to rats tells us little about what traditionally consumed forms of milk will do to humans and tells us nothing that we can generalize to all ‘animal nutrients.’"

“Campbell declares, ‘Folic acid is a compound derived exclusively from plant-based foods such as green and leafy vegetables.’ This is a fascinating statement, considering that chicken liver contains 5.76 mcg/g of folate, compared to 1.46 mcg/g for spinach! A cursory look through the USDA database reveals that the most folate-dense foods are organ meats.”

“The book, while not entirely without value, ... would be more aptly titled, A Comprehensive Case for the Vegan Diet, and the reader should be cautioned that the evidence is selected, presented, and interpreted with the goal of making that case in mind.”

As implied in the above, I wouldn't be afraid of isolated substances as "studied" on animals by Dr. Campbell.

Eminent Natural Hygiene proponent Dr. Herbert M. Shelton devotes a large section of one of his books (Orthotrophy, freely available from soilandhealth.org) to the enormous difference in health value existing between pasteurized milk (not health- and in fact disease-promoting) and unheated raw milk.

Additionally, the value of raw milk is very different according to soil quality and the way in which the animals are kept. This is described in some detail by dentist Dr. Heard in his book "Man Versus Toothache" [which you can also download from soilandhealth.org].

He describes how RAW milk from cows that have grazed on grass rich in minerals and trace elements, constitutes an excellent source of all elements needed for maintaining and restoring dental (and likely other) health, while pasteurized milk has lost all tooth-building and -protective (as well as possibly all other health-giving) values.

These are the factors that appear important (not isolated substances such as casein).

Generally, for those who use animal milk, the best health-promoting quality typically would be found in raw Demeter (bio-dynamic) or at least organic milk from grass-fed happy (well-treated) cows. In general, it seems to always be the natural, unprocessed food obtained (directly or indirectly) from mineral- and trace-element-rich and balanced soil that is the most health-promoting.

Please note that the above explanations re milk (in answer to a question stating that cow milk as an animal protein must be cancer-causing) do NOT imply that milk (raw or otherwise) played any role in Dr. Budwig's cancer protocol. It emphatically did not. What did is the dairy product quark or cottage cheese. (credits: Healing Cancer Naturally)

Question 71: Which vegetables & fruit are allowed on the Budwig diet? How do sprouts, sprouting and juice made of sprouts for instance coincide with Budwig's protocol?

Answer:
The following are short excerpts translated by me from Dr. Budwig's Der Tod des Tumors, Bd. 2 (The Death of The Tumor, vol. 2), p. 145, chapter heading "The practical implementation of my oil-protein diet"):

"Creating a balance between good fats and protein is essential, as is harmony between carbohydrates on the one hand and fat/protein on the other. ... Any kind of fresh fruit and vegetables is permitted, the majority of which to be taken raw. At noon one may include a steamed vegetable with potatoes in their jacket. ... No sugar whatsoever... The day starts with a glass of [Eden[1]] sauerkraut juice."

As can be seen from the above quote, any kind of fresh fruit and vegetable is recommended, and I may add here an important qualification: as long as it is organically grown, i.e. free of pesticides, fungicides, antibiotics and other toxic residual pollutants while containing a balanced spectrum of minerals and trace elements.

Many things were not known and used in Germany (and other countries) when Dr. Budwig compiled her cookbook, and this includes sprouts. So I would certainly take advantage of such “powerhouse” foods as sprouts grown from organic seeds. They are both natural (i.e. minimally processed etc.), super-fresh and particularly nutrient-rich (compare glyconutrients) and likely to enhance the speed of one’s healing in an increasingly toxic world.

In fact, a former stage 4 colon cancer patient (after receiving a terminal sentence from his doctors) who healed himself in record time thanks to determination and the Budwig protocol, included sprouts and sprout juice in his diet. See Terminal colon cancer healing testimonials including the "Explanatory notes re kefir and sprouting”. (credits: Healing Cancer Naturally)

Question 72: I told my doctor about Dr. Johanna Budwig’s approach to healing cancer and she replied that she had never heard of her. If her discoveries were valid, she said she would have been taught about them in medical school.

Answer:
The road to most scientific discoveries is long and steep. Cures we consider mundane today (citrus for scurvy, for example) took, literally, hundreds of years to evolve. Today, of course, the evolution of scientific discovery occurs at a breakneck pace but, as the Cheshire Cat said, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there."

Official Medicine is currently traveling down "any road" because, fundamentally, they're addressing symptoms, not curing problems. What's heartbreaking, of course, are the hapless patients taken along for the ride.

The recognition of the people behind the cures takes years, too. [Ignaz Semmelweis being a poignant case in point.] Many winners of Nobel Prizes arrived in Stockholm on the backs of obscure discoverers before them.

[For example:] Distance between the discovery of the hydrogenation process and the FDA's realization that hydrogenated fats are bad for us and Omega-3 essential fatty acids are good for us = 92 years. (credits: C.C., Long Beach, CA)

Question 73: Do apricot kernels or laetrile (Vitamin B17) interfere with the effectiveness of the Budwig Protocol.

Answer:
In the 14 books by Dr. Budwig I was able to obtain (most of them thanks to the generosity of my friend Michael, owner of oel-eiweiss-kost.de), there isn't a single mention of Vitamin B 17 or its synonyms Amygdalin/Laetrile/Nitrilosides to be found.

What we do know is that laetrile naturally occurs in many foods that are allowed in the Budwig diet. In fact flaxseeds themselves, a mandatory daily menu item, are a good source of vitamin B17.

Dr. Budwig generally speaking favoured a gentle approach that did not include taxing the body by overdoing any one item or substance but rather stressed the importance of a varied natural diet.

So it would seem that low-level consumption would not interfere or might be beneficial, but we do not really know. Personally, based on advice given by Edgar Cayce and another spiritual source, my preference goes to using high doses of any one particular item or drug only for "jump-starting" desired processes and subsequently relying on normal dietary sources.

stay-informed.blogspot.com/2006/12/is-cancer-merely-vitamin-deficiency.html writes on flaxseeds as a source of vitamin B17:

"The most obvious source of oral vitamin B17 is apricot kernels... an easier way of obtaining B17 ... is from crushed linseed. The primary source of B17 in linseed is Linimarin rather than Nitriloside found in apricot kernels and Cassava, but the effect is the same if enough is eaten. ... linimarin B17 exists in the crushed linseed itself, not in the extracted linseed oil.

Cheap "Linseed Cake" sold by all animal feed stores is ideal, though in every case the linseed should be mixed in a high-speed blender or coffee grinder before use. Whole linseed is very hard, passing through the gut unaltered and without releasing its beneficial B17 content into the bloodstream. Once crushed, the linseed meal may be mixed with breakfast cereals or baked in bread."

Here is a naturopathic physician's list of FORTY FOODS CONTAINING VITAMIN B17 (LAETRILE).[2] (credits: Healing Cancer Naturally)

Question 74: Is is really necessary to grind the flaxseeds separately or is it OK to mix them directly into my smoothie? I have a Magic Bullet. After I have blended the flax oil/cottage cheese (or quark), then blended the fruit, nuts, etc., I find that if I toss the whole flaxseeds in and blend again, the seeds are totally ground and mixture is smooth.....ready to eat. I think I am accomplishing the same thing as if grinding separately.

Answer:
This sounds to me as if your blender has very sharp blades. If the blending/complete grinding is accomplished within a few seconds and the mix isn't heated up, that should be no more detrimental to any of the nutrients contained in my view than grinding the seeds separately.

In fact this method might protect the flaxseeds better from oxidation since they are thus ground immersed in a liquid instead of ground "immersed in air" (as happens in a coffee grinder which additionally tends to warm the flaxseeds as they are ground).

I suspect that when Dr. Budwig first devised her recipe, blenders were far less powerful than they are today so to get the flaxseeds as finely ground as desired, one HAD to use a coffee grinder at that period.

Remember however that Dr. Budwig specifies no smoothie recipes per se as well as the value of thoroughly chewing one's food for optimizing digestion (as well as for reaping other benefits since thorough mastication appears to be one of the [at least] eight foundational health habits to adopt). (credits: Healing Cancer Naturally)

Question 75 re cholesterol level: How does taking cottage cheese daily (at least say 1 cup per day as per the general Budwig Protocol instructions) affect one's cholesterol level? Even though cottage cheese is low-fat, it still contains cholesterol.

Answer 1:
I always have to laugh when I see this question. First of all, dietary cholesterol, the cholesterol that is found in food form, has virtually NO effect on cholesterol found in the bloodstream....this is an established fact.

The rise in cholesterol is not such a bad thing — it may even be good. If total Cholesterol divided by HDL is less than 3.5, it is OK.

Every hormone in your body is made from cholesterol. In fact, low cholesterol is a risk factor for death-especially if you lowered it with statin drugs. Which I hope you are not taking. [Indeed! The side effects of statin drugs include permanent liver and kidney damage, memory impairment etc.[3]]

If your cholesterol is under 300 (maybe even higher) you probably should not be too worried about your level. "High Cholesterol" is a myth created by the Rx Drugs, medical establishment, and the government in support of the hydrogenated oil$$/margarine makers$ who denigrated the good, omega-3 fatty acids and healthy natural oils, coconut oil, palm oil, and animal fats which have been proven to support liver and general health. When this latter group of fats are consumed, the liver will make only so much cholesterol as is needed to fulfil and balance the body.

In addition to the manufacture of hormones, which regulate and control functions, Cholesterol is required by so many basic, life-sustaining functions of the body: for instance making bile salts, which digest fats and allow absorption of minerals, without which the body cannot live; also the brain is 40% cholesterol. A side effect of high cholesterol is "feeling good". In a state of low cholesterol, you will be required to take more of the pharmaceutical industry’s unnatural Rx poisons. Studies have shown that seniors with lowest cholesterol have greater senility.

This is a part of the great misinformation campaign regarding "health", promoted by those who profit from sale of "refined franken foods" without sustaining value to the human body. These are the same people who put fluoride in our water [with high correlation to cancer incidence], mercury in our mouth, preservatives and plastics in our food, cancer-causing teflon (perfluoroctanoic acid) in our cookware, and depleted uranium in US soldiers' ammunition and bodies.

Further, they are the same ones who tell us that their synthetic, man-made drugs, surgery or poisons are the only things allowed to "treat", while preserving, our diseases. Sadly, it truly is all about money — and only that. No serious effort is made to cure.

In sum: Rising cholesterol may be OK. Doctors (pharmaceutical houses) have blown cholesterol levels way out of proportion. As mentioned, you need to pay some attention to your levels. However 50% of heart attacks are with people who have "normal" or low cholesterol levels. If you really want to know if you have plaque buildup in your arteries you need to test for c-reactive protein (CRP) and homocysteine levels. Both together will give you a better picture if you are at risk for cardiovascular disease. (credits: members of a Budwig diet discussion group)

More on the potential benefits of "high cholesterol" including as a "cancer fighter" under On the link between cholesterol and cancer incidence.

Answer 2:
Interestingly, flaxseeds — an essential part of the Budwig Protocol and a rich source of lignans and omega-3 fatty acids, have been found to be able to be as effective as a powerful drug in lowering cholesterol levels in MEN.

While cholesterol-lowering drugs typically achieve a 10 to 20 percent reduction (with side effects such as memory loss[3]), a recent study out of Iowa State University found that 150 milligrams (three tablespoons) of flaxseeds reduced cholesterol levels in 90 men by around 10 per cent in three months (women taking the same daily amount did not experience a reduction in their cholesterol levels).

It is thought that the active ingredient is the lignan content (which had been shown in previous studies to protect the heart and affect malignant tumors, see Effects of Flaxseed and Flaxseed Components [Lignan, Lignan Precursors & Oil] on Cancer and Tumor Growth). (credits: Healing Cancer Naturally)

Answer 3:
Budwig top expert Lothar Hirneise writes that the oil-protein diet increases HDL and lowers LDL levels. (credits: Healing Cancer Naturally)

Footnotes

1 Eden refers to the company Eden-Waren D-36088 Hünfeld, Germany, www.eden.de, not to any other company based outside of Germany which may bear a similar name. Dr. Budwig recommended it since it used to be the only brand sold in the "Reformhaus" (which until the early 1970s was the only type of health-food store in existence in Germany).

2 For background on Vitamin B17 and cancer, see Ernst Krebs on Vitamin B 17 (Laetrile/Amygdalin) in Cancer Treatment, Vitamin B 17 against cancer: noteworthy details on effectiveness, sources, dosages, and some caveats and The Ultimate Cancer Conspiracy: Vitamin B17/Laetrile.

3 Compare Alzheimer causes (scroll to "Statin drugs’ side effect".

complete list of questions here

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For the most comprehensive and authoritative English-language coverage worldwide of the oil-protein diet & protocol developed by Dr. Johanna Budwig, see

Is there a cure for cancer? After 20 years of research

discover what this German expert thinks.

 

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