This is an article that came up as a memory on facebook today. I wrote this in 2013, and a friend told me how to access it in the wayback machine.

Years ago shortly after graduating from high school, I heard someone on the Phil Donahue show say that the family cook can either build health or disease. It was a fascinating thought and I determined I wanted to cook life giving meals for the rest of my life. Early 2012 my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. She had already shrunk almost a foot over the years from osteoporosis and was in constant pain because of that. I drove out to Connecticut from Ohio to be with her. When I arrived, my mother told me she had told her doctor, “My daughter who lives in Ohio is going to do something about that. She’s going to do it with food and juices.” The doctor replied, “Some people think that.” She expected me to help her. At almost 81, she chose to do radiation therapy, and her pain was so intense that her pain medication continued to be increased until she had medication induced dementia. She would forget to eat and drink and slowly faded away until the frightening last week of her life when she suffered a heart attack and stroke. It’s a week that still haunts me. I’m not a doctor and do not have any sort of medical background. However I believe in the more holistic healing therapies. I personally would never use chemo or radiation. The problem? A lack of medical professionals who can guide me or anyone else in choosing and utilizing an alternative therapy. Certainly if I had a cancer diagnosis I would want to do something. And I wouldn’t want to figure it out by myself. I searched for a naturopath for my mother. However, the one in the area I found was not experienced with geriatric patients, and his well meaning but insensitive manner nearly brought me to tears. Why is it so hard to find help with alternative therapies? Because it is not legal for a doctor to claim any other treatment works, despite research. I’m speaking from my heart. Both of my parents died as a result of lung cancer. Natural practitioners can’t be found in all places the way we can find hospitals and clinics. Another big question in my mind is why hospital food is far from life giving?!! We know so much about the role of nutrition in healing, yet hospitals do not consider food part of treatment — except for low sodium, low sugar, low cholesterol meals, but that is just to maintain and not to heal. Why not nutritional therapists instead of generic nutritionists? Does this category of practitioners exist? If not, why not? And this is just the tip of the iceberg of insanity in modern medicine. Why can’t MDs and naturopaths and chiropractors and herbalists and massage therapists and acupuncturists and aromatherapists — and so on — get together and brainstorm instead of throwing rocks at each other? Everyone is doing research. It’s there, but it is all segmented. C’mon world! Let’s connect the dots and make connections. It’s time! The next time someone I love is sick, I want them to have alternatives to choose from! I just finished watching the documentary “The Gerson Miracle.” I challenge you to watch it all the way to the end. (You can find it on Netflix.) Please share your thoughts!