How My Horse Beat Cancer

By Bonnie Wishney

The picture below (left side) was taken eight months ago of our sweet 21-year-old horse, Duquessa. In July of 2008, we began to notice that she was losing weight, becoming very lethargic, and had no appetite. A large tumor had developed in her mammary glands. Three weeks later, she was still deteriorating and the tumor had grown much larger. We called our veterinarian who came out two days later. After the examination, she gave us devastating news: She suspected the tumor was cancerous and suggested we do a biopsy.

When the results came back a week later, our worst fears were confirmed. Then we had to ask, “Is there anything we can do?” Our veterinarian was not optimistic about chemo or surgery. Due to the horse’s age and the progression of the disease, the vet told us to prepare for the end, which could be in weeks or a few months. At that point my husband and I discussed “putting her down” so she would not suffer, but we just could not give up on her.

Before & After

After several days of crying and feeling sorry for our baby and ourselves, a light bulb suddenly went off in my head. I had worked at the Hippocrates Health Institute for only five months. I was still learning about the program and had begun the transition to healthy living. During my short time there, I had already seen so many people heal themselves from devastating illnesses. I told my husband, “People come to Hippocrates and are healing themselves on the Hippocrates program, why don’t we try to do this for Duquessa?” At that point, we both became totally committed to the program. Dr. Brian Clement developed a program for her and with his guidance we began the journey of healing.

For the last eight months this has been her program:

• Our first step was to change her diet. We stopped feeding her processed food, alfalfa, and all products and treats containing sugar. She eats only unprocessed oats and natural orchard grass.
• She gets 50 sprays of ACZ in the morning and 50 sprays at night.
• We give her 4 ounces of bee pollen in the morning and 4 oz. in the evening.
• She has wheat grass in her food with every meal and we make juice for her every day.
• We apply a garlic and oil mixture every morning.
• She gets several sprays of Sovereign Silver twice a day.
• We apply Two Feathers healing salve in the evening.
• We exercise her for 20 minutes twice a day.
• And finally, we give her lots of love.

After eight months on this program, she has gained an enormous amount of weight, is running around the pasture with the other horses, her attitude is back and, to echo the cliche, she is eating like a horse. The tumor has shrunk from the size of a large grapefruit to the size of a lemon.

Our veterinarian called us a couple of months ago, as she had not heard from us. She assumed the worst. When we told her that Duquessa was recovering and making amazing progress, she did not really believe us. She asked to come to our house and see for herself. When she saw Duquessa, she was speechless and could not believe it was the same horse. She took dozens of pictures and wrote down all the changes we had made, including the Hippocrates lifestyle. If our story helps even just one animal to recover, or one veterinarian to see the possibilities beyond traditional medicine, we have accomplished a great deal.

Each day Duquessa grows stronger, healthier and happier. We look forward to many more wonderful years with her. We are so thankful to Dr. Clement and Hippocrates Health Institute for their direction, their support, and their love for our four-legged family member. Every day we look at her we feel so blessed for the opportunity we have had to learn how to heal our horse and ourselves.

In Pursuit of Optimal Health & Happiness

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Juli Novotny, Founder of Kookie Karma

Where do I start when I don’t really know when my quest for health food began? I can’t even begin to articulate the energy that has been dedicated to my pursuit for optimal health.

Did my interest begin at age 14 when I decided that I loved horses too much to eat cow or chickens anymore? Or was it when I began removing the grease off of the top of pizza slices in the junior high school cafeteria? Maybe the fat-free diet my sister and I adhered to when I was 16? Or was it that same year when I took the job as head baker at a local cafe and saw what ingredients actually went into the morning cinnamon rolls? OR, better yet, was it my “incurable” case of eczema that I was determined to get rid of? I really can’t say. It’s been an ongoing journey to say the least.

Was I obsessed? Did I have an eating disorder? Some might have called it that! Or you could call it a fascination with the human body, the human mind, culture and socialization. OK, so at 16 I didn’t use the word socialization quite yet, but I watched everybody eat cafeteria food and wondered why it turned me off but was considered “normal” everyday lunch food to pretty much EVERYBODY else.

It was around this time in my life that I had a hunch it was the Standard American Diet (SAD) that was to blame for all of these ailments (low self-esteem, acne, ADHD, cellulite, obesity). I wasn’t positive, but the more I read on the topic, the more I began to question the SAD and start to believe in my own hypothesis.

Raw food was my next endeavor (or should I say encounter). For me, however, it was more of a culinary experience than a health one. I found Juliano’s RAW: The Uncook Book and thought the recipes looked amazing and fresh and well, smart. It was a challenge I wanted to undertake. And a challenge it was! Yet SO rewarding.

My “incurable” eczema disappeared in just one week and my whole face took on a radiant glow. I lost five pounds (wasn’t even trying) and I looked forward to rigorous daily workout because of all the energy rushing through my body. I was hooked and have been very interested in a 100% raw lifestyle ever since.

I don’t always adhere to a strict raw vegan diet. I indulge in other culinary delights – after all, I see it as an art form. But at home, and for the most part, I stay true to what I think is the best for my body and mind and my children’s health as well! Hooray for GREEN drinks!

Now, here I am, 30, a mom, and thankful for my teenage curiosities, seeing as though I have turned them into a thriving business and they’ve helped me courageously raise two healthy babies on what some might call a “crazy” Juli Diet! It’s a big undertaking being a parent. I’m starting an amazing new journey and having a lot of fun watching my 16 month old eat things like flax oil, carrot juice, sunflower seed pate, kale salad, green smoothies, raw chocolate milk, almond milk, sprouted grawnola, and so on (“a bite, a bite” he says every time he sees me taking trays out of our dehydrator)!

I absolutely love my current daily routine and the bigger picture of my life right now. But of course my quest is ongoing and I could be really excited about something totally new and different next year (or even tomorrow). Life changes daily. As the Buddhists believe, Nothing Is Permanent, right? Thank goodness!

Right after graduating from UCLA, Juli jump-started her career – turning her passion for gourmet food and nutrition into one of the first raw food companies on the market, Kookie Karma. She has since created a child and pregnancy nutrition blog full of recipes and baby product information.

Forget coffee and have a SUPERFOOD SUMMER

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It’s been six years now that I’ve been a mostly raw-vegan, most of the time. In my books, blog, and elsewhere, I openly admit to being relatively open-minded when it comes to what I eat. But sometimes being very relaxed about it—particularly in the context of stress and other distractions—leads to the formation of habits before we even realize what’s happened. My own example of this: coffee! What a hypocrite I am. A whole page in my first co-written book Raw Food Real World is devoted to how bad coffee is.

My transgressions started a few summers ago as one of my early oneluckyduck.com investors was frequently drinking coffee around me in my office. I wasn’t sleeping much then and particularly freaked out about a lot of things going on, and the smell of it was very appealing! First I’d ask for a sip, then I’d have a few sips, then I’d just grab the whole cup from him and he’d have to go get another for himself. Before I knew it, I was hooked again. It was that easy.

I felt like an addict with a secret. I’d run to the coffee shop for an iced coffee, then head back towards the restaurant thinking that I really shouldn’t walk in this neighborhood drinking coffee! What if one of the regulars from the juice bar saw me! What then? Making it easier for me, my assistant at the time became my “enabler” offering to fetch me a fresh iced coffee anytime I wanted. I truly felt like a “user” when I finally bought my own ground coffee. At least now it’s organic, I rationalized. Still, alone in my own kitchen filling the filter (made of unbleached recycled paper, of course!) with the aromatic grounds, and waiting for the water to boil, I felt a bit like a crack-head with the spoon and lighter.

My conflicted and tumultuous on and off relationship with this substance has led me to a few conclusions. I simply do not do well on coffee at all, tempting as it is. Not to mention, it gives you yucky coffee breath if you don’t brush your teeth right away. I also have a theory that it makes me sweat and in an odd funky kind of way. Not sexy! But the worst issue is the dependency and crashing. I might feel uplifted for a bit, but then before long sluggishness sets in. Is it not also widely known that it dehydrates you and inhibits the absorption of iron and many other minerals, and is acidic in your body? Further, it must certainly be the case that when you get to the point where a massive migrane is the consequence of trying to stop suddenly, something is really wrong with this very popular habit.

Luckily, I finally feel I’ve weaned myself off for good. If I get very little sleep and crave a sweet and creamy jolt, I mix in my VitaMix some raw cacao powder, nut milk (or, heaping tablespoon of cashew or almond butter + water = milk), stevia or agave nectar, vanilla, ice, and some frozen banana if I have any, and pour it over more ice. So refreshing, much better than iced coffee, and its breakfast too. There also seems to be something magically energizing about the combination of goji berries and raw cacao. My favorite breakfast is One Lucky Duck chocolate crispies with a handful of raw cacao nibs and goji berries, maybe some sliced banana, and hemp or nut milk. It’s crunchy cereal power breakfast.

Superfoods may be a very overused term these days. I love goji berries and they seem to keep you full for hours. A famous New York cosmetic doctor was quoted in a fashion magazine years ago saying that the goji berry is the number one anti-cellulite food, because of how loaded they are with antioxidants. I read this and immediately wanted to hoard them as I expected a sudden worldwide surge in demand and subsequent scarcity, but luckily they still seem readily available and affordable.

I’m also completely in love with green shakes. I’ll always love green juice, particularly when I don’t want to get really filled up. But when I want to get filled up, I make a green shake. Fresh cucumber in the blender makes an excellent base, to which I add grapefruit or pineapple, lemons and limes, sometimes a little mango. To that I add a whole bunch of fresh cilantro, kale, chard or spinach, sunflower sprouts if I have them, along with stevia, a pinch of salt, and a splash of vanilla. I like shakes because they make for the ultimate superfood party. I love to add a splash of aloe vera juice, a toss of tocotrienols, a spoon of blue green algae, some green tea extract, and yes, maybe some more goji berries—which blend easier than you might imagine if you have a VitaMix.

Aside from being so nutrient dense, what I love about these crazy concoctions is that they taste really good. Sometimes I add strawberries or blueberries, or nectarines or white peaches. And if I don’t feel like having it in a glass, then I’ll chop a fuji apple into a bowl, pour my amped up green shake over it, sprinkle it with bee pollen and some whole goji berries and eat it with a spoon like cereal – superfood cereal. When this is what I’m taking in, I feel as if I could not eat for days and I would feel fine. As if I’ve truly nourished myself and am a well oiled machine.

With so many variables, it’s always tricky to evaluate how something specific is affecting you. I have given up coffee only to fall back into the habit enough times that the overall conclusion is clear to me. I might crave that initial high and the flavor, but it’s a quick fix that quickly makes one dependent. The funny part is, I would slip back into drinking coffee with a full awareness of feeling very unclean about it, and I think in some way that was part of it – I was being almost rebellious, or thinking that I just needed it to get me through a particularly sleep-deprived and work crazy period of time. Now, when that urge for a cup of coffee – even just one – starts to gnaw at me, I take a deep breath and think about the characters in Trainspotting. That always does the trick.

Sarma

*This article was originally published in Get Fresh! Magazine.