There are many ‘protocols’ and some are more rigid than others. Some are actually borderline bizarre! Back in 2010 when I was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer, it scared the crap out of me and I accepted that I would die; BUT NOT WITHOUT A FIGHT.

My wife Nancy and I began an extensive research project that kept us on our computers all day, every day for weeks. We listened and watched videos, read scientific journals, and digested the many approaches to alternative therapies.

The interesting thing we found was that the sensible and successful ones all had a common denominator besides a Whole Food Plant Based Lifestyle diet. They all seemed to begin with an intensive raw diet and juicing for 90 days. Coffee enemas were often suggested to help the liver detoxify and cleanse as the juice consumption will intensify the detoxification of the body. This amazing approach focuses on the body’s natural ability to heal itself.

Vegetable juicing is at its foundational core and that is what I did. I was determined to adopt my own version of the 90-day juicing approach coupled with many large/huge raw salads.

In addition to the juicing, I ate large salads for lunch and a lightly steamed variety of vegetables for dinner.

Understanding the lifestyle diet

After all, if you adopt this protocol the more you understand the better and easier it will be to stick with it! Knowledge is Power!

Juicing

Let’s talk a bit about Juicing. Vegetable juice provides a maximum level of nutritional intake that would be impossible to consume in the vegetable’s natural state. Same goes for the fruits.

The intake of these delicious juices every hour on the hour all day long will provide a nutritious stimulating environment to help the body detoxify. Juice in combination to some whole natural foods will help rebuild your natural immune system. The fiber from the Plant Based Meals you will eat in conjunction with the juicing is crucial to cleansing your intestinal tract and replacing old gut bacteria with healthy, immune system boosting fiber loving gut microbes. Since there is NO to little fiber in a standard American diet of dairy, meat, fish and eggs, it is essential that you cleanse your gut and replace the digesting microbes that may have led to inflammation, illness and suppressed immune system.

Juicing maximizes the nutrition intake and cleanses the gut of old bacteria. As you build a new healthy environment in your intestines and digestive tract you will begin to absorb healthy nutrients more efficiently and the nutrient level in your bloodstream will expand and improve.

For many this hourly regime for 90 days can seem overwhelming but it can be done. Weekend juicing and storing in the fridge in ½ gal glass jars is one way. Another, especially for those working/traveling folks (I know how you feel!), you can now purchase carrot juice and soft of ‘green juice’ at many local grocery stores and health food ‘bars’ (even fresh).

While it is more expensive it is cheaper on your time. For the single, living alone folks, it is even worse because you have to ‘support system’ at hand, so try and select a friend, relative, parent brother/sister to help. While many don’t want, initially, to disclose/discuss their illness, you will find many willing to help but you have to EXPLAIN this approach so they don’t think you are nuts! Yes, they will still think you are bonkers, but at least understand the approach to healing you are taking and hopefully accept that and help you out.

If this approach fails or you have no other close resource, contact your local community church as many have people who will be more than willing to help you with this lifestyle diet approach.

Not just juice

You cannot live on just juice for long. While it may sustain you it deprives your body of a lot of fiber and you are trying to flush/cleanse and then rebuild your gut biome and that requires fiber. While juicing is the key at the beginning it is only an introduction to this lifestyle diet approach to healing.

You must learn to prepare and enjoy a plant-based meal selection. Along with all this juicing, you have to have adequate protein and fiber to satisfy your body’s requirements for health and healing. Yes, every vegetable has protein but some more than others. Try and add Beans, Lentils, Edamame (soybeans), Tofu (marinated is nice).

See: https://www.pinterest.com/Gramstein/beans-lentils/ Have some nuts/seeds as snacks; not too much. For example, for breakfast we often use a 'crumbled' firm tofu scramble and add a bit of turmeric for color and healing as well as some 'black salt' for the 'sulphury egg' taste. Yes, all in addition to the juicing; but it’s only for 90 days!

At the end of this book, I have a suggested one to add by Chef Nancy that deals with the introduction to a full-blown Plant-Based lifestyle diet.

Immune system

The gut bacteria that live, primarily in your colon, provide the majority of your natural immune system and the body’s ability to fight infection and heal after injury or sickness.

Your immune system plays a crucial role in your body’s ability to fight infections; both viral and bacterial. With 70-80% of immune cells being present in the gut, there is an intricate interplay between the intestinal micro biota, the intestinal epithelial layer, and the local mucosal immune system. In addition to the local mucosal immune responses in the gut, it is increasingly recognized that the gut micro biome also affects systemic immunity. Our gastrointestinal tract is made up of trillions of microorganisms which comprise our gut micro biome.

These millions and millions of different gut bacteria feed on dietary fiber and are intimately tied to your gut micro biome. A proper fiber diet literally feeds and makes these bacteria thrive. In turn, they increase in number and kind. The more microbes and their varying diversity we have in our intestines, the thicker the mucus wall and the better the barrier between our body and our busy bacteria population. While the mucus barrier lowers inflammation throughout the body, the bacteria aid in digestion, creating a dual benefit.

While this may seem confusing to many, as it was for me as I began to learn about my body and its ability to Heal Itself it is important to understand WHY you are doing what you are doing as you embark on this, potentially, dramatically different lifestyle diet!

Antioxidants

In addition to building a healthy immune system juicing aids in the production and circulation of oxygenated blood. If present, the boosting of the immune system will intercept and kill cancer cells and other unwanted rogue cells, bacteria and viruses. As you build this immunity, your internal lymph system will improve the level of detoxifying of every cell in your body and help eliminate dangerous free radicals.

Antioxidants are produced by the body and are found in certain foods. Antioxidants are substances that prevent and slow the damage that free radicals due to our cells. Free radicals are produced by cells as they react to foods, stress, and environmental pollutants,       and they harm our cells by damaging DNA. When cells with damaged DNA reproduce, this opens the door to illness and disease. Free radicals develop as a result of exposure to many common substances. Air pollutants, sun rays, chlorine and other cleaning chemicals, fried foods, and artificial sweeteners are a few of the major culprits. Free radicals can also develop as a result of stress. Because we can’t control our exposure to all of these sources, we’ve got to combat them.

Antioxidants are the army that fights free radical damage and keeps our cells healthy and functioning efficiently. The role of antioxidants is to neutralize free radicals in our bodies and stop them from affecting the DNA in our cells. Antioxidants can be found in hundreds, and possibly thousands, of foods, spices, and supplements. Colorful foods, such as kale, broccoli, beets, berries, and mangoes, are all great sources of antioxidants and can provide you with health benefits like:

• Body detoxification
• Immune boosting
• Production and circulation of oxygenated blood
• The killing of cancer cells in the body
• Protect your body from free radicals

What to Juice

If you check the net, you will find thousands of various ‘recipes’ for juicing. Most are just dandy and fine for general use but what we are focusing on is that First True Cleanse and detoxification of your body, initial build of your gut biome and stimulation and possible rebuilding of your natural immune system.

There are many complex recipes that focus on specific functions but we are looking at a sustainable 90 days or so of constant intake of vegetable/fruit juice and not just a daily drink. We suggest a daily intake of 8 10-ounce glasses of juice each day. I did one each hour, on the hour to keep it straight. I will give more specifics in a minute but I started out with a carrot juice then a green juice alternating all day long.

Carrot Juice

When I started this protocol, I was simply following the lessons I learned from others. My primary model was from the Gerson Therapy way of doing things but I couldn’t afford their recommended juicer so I just bought a Breville because it has a wider mouth, I could cram more stuff into and quicken the process. That turned out to be a great decision and it worked and was less than $200!

Back to the carrots! I found I could purchase a 25-pound bag of Organic carrots from my local grocery store but I’m sure your local store or restaurant supply can offer a similar deal. I didn’t buy that much to start as I had NO idea how many carrots, I would need just to make a 10oz glass of juice, much less for 4/day! Turns out a lot.

I wondered if there was a method to all this madness so I checked out the benefits of carrot juicing. Turns out these things are marvelously healthy and chock full of good stuff.

Carrot juice is low in calories and carbs while packing numerous nutrients. Carrot juice also provides the carotenoid pigments lutein and zeaxanthin, which act as antioxidants in your body. The main carotenoid in carrot juice is beta carotene, which is responsible for carrots’ orange color. Your body converts it into the antioxidant vitamin A. Carrot juice is loaded with vitamin A and is high in vitamins C and K. It also contains plant compounds called carotenoids, which act as antioxidants.

I would often add a green apple (I read that Granny Smiths were healthier if you can find them) to give a bit of taste variation and a pear if I could find them. It takes TIME to juice all those carrots and stuff and it generated a large volume of pulp. We lived in a sort of normal home but we did have a little raised garden bed so I added all that pulp to a compost heap I had already started.

After I had finished with about a 2-quart jug of carrot juice it was time for the green one! No, I didn’t clean out the machine either, just switched ingredients. I figured it couldn’t hurt right?

Green Juice

Now you are asking what the heck does he mean by ‘Green Juice’. Well, many of the videos and books we read said to use spinach but boy was that expensive. I did some research on health ‘greens’ and found that most edible greens WERE HEALTHY and full of wonderful nutrients and plenty of protein (who knew?).

Keeping in mind I wasn’t after taste, but focused on health, I figured if I could find some green leafy stuff that didn’t taste too bitter, that couldn’t hurt either. Some of my research turned up stuff I had never heard of or maybe never considered.

I was concerned with cost as well so that impacted my decisions. Spinach, it turns out, doesn’t produce much juice so it takes a lot to get just one 10 oz glass and frankly it didn’t         taste that great. Then I found Bok Choy, a Chinese vegetable I had never heard of (now we grow it in our garden). It is a nice fat leaf that produces a good amount of juice and is also slightly sweet. Turns out that it has a bit of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, manganese, selenium filate and vitamin C, A & K. I powerhouse of nutritious stuff. You might want to add some kale (there are loads of varieties – I like the curly stuff!), cucumber and celery to add more water for juicing.

Next was collard greens. I had heard of them but thought they were just eaten by southern folk but since we lived in Florida and they were cheap and plentiful, why not? Turns out they are also wonderful. Collard greens are an excellent source of vitamin K (1 cup of cooked collard greens have eight times the daily requirement), vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, beta-carotene, and other carotenoids such as lutein and zeaxanthin. Collards provide an abundant supply of juice so I used them often when making my green drink.

Like with the carrot juice I would add a fruit to the green juice. Often another apple, pear or other sweet fruit to help the taste and boost the vitamin content.

That was my main recipe for the green drink. I varied it as opportunity presented itself at the local farmer’s markets and tried a lot of different leafy green stuff from beat greens to all sorts of others. Turns out that this all is great when eaten raw or lightly steamed with dinner.

90 days of juicing

While this sounds daunting, and it is, you can do it if you develop a pattern. I was blessed and so fortunate to have a wonderful wife who worked beside me all the way; despite her doubts that I may have gone bonkers!

To be honest it has been almost 14 years since I did that juicing protocol but have maintained, religiously and without once breaking the rule of No Meat, Fish, Dairy, Egg or derivative foodstuff. My first book Collected essays of a cancer survivor: nutritional holistic survivor's story had a 10 year, almost daily, diary of what I did. It really doesn’t matter know but to know that I DID IT! Now I am still here to write and speak about it and maybe help others as well.

Nancy made use of her time researching just what all this would mean for us going forward. We were hoping that this crazy way of living would make a difference and BOY DID IT.

Nancy bought a book she found called “1000 vegan recipes” by Robin Robertson and began at the first recipe and worked her way through it all. (When we started there were very few books at the bookstore on this way of eating and the term “Plant Based” was unheard.) Nancy said it was great because it had no pictures so we never quite knew how things should look so just ate them and learned to enjoy tastes, flavors, textures and more that we never knew existed.

She was actually becoming a decent cook! We often would try two or more each day and continued to the end of that book. Now she has a library of over a hundred cook books and books on nutrition, and is called Chef Nancy Together we have written several books and a will include this in that collection.

Most people need a starting point. There are so many cookbooks today and even websites from several plant-based doctors that offer recipes and online classes to help you cook plant-based meals.

Is this a protocol?

I really don’t know. The dictionary’s #2 definition is: “A code of correct conduct.” But there is nothing correct or incorrect that you can or will do that doesn’t impact your life and how you live it each day; One Day at a Time.

None.

The author declares there are no conflicts of interest.