Episode 6.5 - Dr. Linda Isaacs (Q&A)
I hope your week is off to a great start!! Today for you I have a recording of a Q&A session we had with Dr. Linda Isaacs a little while back. It has been challenging but interesting for me as a coach and survivor to understand how the Gerson Therapy, which has helped people with melanoma (like myself) beat the odds and is low in meat/animal protein, fits in with the success of Dr. Isaacs/Dr. Gonzalez's diet, which has also helped people with melanoma beat the odds and typically includes a lot of meat for a person with melanoma. What I found most interesting in our Q&A session with Dr. Isaacs was her response on how to reconcile this apparent dichotomy, which she explains at 5:27 and 24:10 in the video.
Part of her explanation is that it's possible that on the Gerson diet there is less protein to digest and therefore the enzymes in the body are freed up to circulate the body and scavenge and kill/digest cancer cells, just like they're proposed to do on her protocol, which I explain in other videos if you search the term "Gonzalez" on my blog or YouTube channel. To me it sounds like the enzymes could be key, no matter which diet a person is on.
She also explains both in this Q&A and in our previous interview that a person's ancestry affects which diet a person can thrive on, depending on where his/her ancestors lived. For example, a person whose ancestors lived in the arctic circle would not have had access to lots of fruits and vegetables, therefore their bodies would thrive on a diet that is high in fat and protein and they would pass down these genetic traits to their children and children's children, even if they have moved out of the arctic circle. Now you and I may think, well what about all the epidemiological studies that show that a diet high in fat and protein tend to have the worst health outcomes overall, and a diet high in unprocessed carbohydrates and low in fat and protein tend to have the best outcomes? I think that could partly be related to the ancestry aspect, that these study results may not take into account a person's ancestry, and that if ancestry were more frequently accounted for we might see some different results. These studies also don't take into account a person's autonomic nervous system balance, which can be affected by stress and other factors, including specific mineral levels. I can't say what is true about it for sure, but am interested to learn more as more information becomes available. There are also juices in the diet and individualized supplements in Dr. Isaacs' regimen, so I trust that those help the body to eliminate the cancer cells as well.
When it comes down to making a decision about which kind of diet or protocol to choose if a person has cancer (or would like to prevent getting cancer), Dr. Isaacs did say that most people have a more balanced autonomic system, so most people would not need a diet high in meat on her protocol. From my perspective as well, since we also know that the longest living populations in the world (think the Blue Zones) thrive on diets that are low in animal proteins, and most cancer survivor stories I've come across followed a low/lower meat diet, my belief is that most people are more likely to need a diet that includes lots of vegetables and fruits with maybe a little bit of animal protein too. However, I cannot exclude a high-meat diet as an option for some, including those with melanoma, because it's worked for some too! As we learn more I'm sure there will be new nuances understood about Dr. Isaacs' recommended individualized diets based on the works of Drs. Kelley and Gonzalez, though, just like everything else in life, the truth about the best diet for an individual may never be understood 100%.
Show notes:
1:50 Q) Understanding the rationale for high amounts of meat in the diet of a person with melanoma as the Gerson Therapy has a track record as a successful treatment for this type of cancer and it is very low in animal protein?
2:20 A) Dr. I: Brief overview of the protocol – nutritional supplements (including pancreatic enzymes), personalized diet (more vegetarian versus more meat) and detox with coffee enemas.
The medical community is only beginning to scratch the surface of the importance of nutrition (and may hopefully soon remove candy from the waiting rooms) but they are realizing at least that gut health matters as to whether immunotherapy treatments will work or not.
3:48 Dr. William Donald Kelley’s experience helping people with cancer – some did better if they ate more red meat, which is a more acid-forming diet – because of the autonomic nervous system which controls bodily functions that we don’t need to think about. The Sympathetic Nervous System controls fight or flight – overactive in the Kelley model – breast, colon, lung, (carcinomas); overactive parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest), which stimulates the immune system – a meat diet tones down this – lymphoma, leukemia. Melanoma – tend to do well with meat in the diet.
5:27 How do the Gerson Diet results fit in with hers, Dr. Gonzalez and Dr. Kelley’s results? A very low protein diet frees up pancreatic enzymes to look for cancer cells – they play a role in the prevention and management of cancer as well as the digestion of protein. When a person who needs a red meat diet
Develop allergies, trouble concentrating, long list
Provide a lot of animal protein and pancreatic enzymes to help with digestion and to look for cancer cells
7:12 Q) Which brand of pancreatic enzymes should a person use if they want to use a protocol like hers? A) The closest to the brand she uses is Allergy Research Group or Nutricology (which brand depends if being sold through store or practitioner)
The brand she uses is in relatively short supply – she reserves them for her patients; the company only wants to sell to her patients
8:37 Q) What is the amount of enzymes to take daily? Is it by weight? A) Can’t answer because that’s telling a person how to treat themselves; might as well send her medical license to the state board!
9:09 Dr. Kelley lost his dental license and he had to move to another state because of his pamphlet, One Answer to Cancer, which gave medical advice.
10:10 She went to high school and college in Kentucky
11:01 Q) Any potential reactions to the enzymes? A) Can get flu like symptoms in days or weeks – depends on the patient; believe it’s due to the enzymes creating waste materials – where the coffee enemas come in to get rid of the waste materials; but typically well-tolerated unless a person doesn’t swallow pills well or a few people get stomach irritation
12:15 Kidney pain could be symptom from waste materials; may be helpful to take a few days off periodically
12:40 Q) Do people build up a tolerance to the enzymes? A) Back aches, muscle aches should improve; as for their effect against abnormal and cancerous cells, doesn’t believe there’s a tolerance that happens in which cancer cells “outsmart” the enzymes; get checked out if you have back pain or debilitating pain, may not be toxic buildup
14:25 Q) Take the enzymes all at once or spread out during the day? A) Spread out throughout the day. Q) How many enzymes per day? A) Too specific to answer
14:56 Other conditions? A) Autoimmune, lupus (patient Dr. Gonzalez started treating w/potential kidney problems many years ago; saw a rheumatologist recently who said she doesn’t believe she ever had it, but the woman’s mom died of lupus and her dad was a physician so she was carefully diagnosed; it can treat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (which Dr. Isaacs had in medical school – had worked in a biochemistry lab and was careless with the chemicals and became barely functional, barely got through her internship). Began repairing and rebuilding – beta-mercaptoethanol became emanating as she detoxed; has been fine since she’s stuck with the protocol.
17:25 Why she believes people develop autoimmune disease? A) Many who have AI have overactive parasympathetic NS and immune system; many with AI need quite a bit of animal protein, but not clear-cut
19:05 Dx with breast cancer 3 years ago; stage 0, mom died of breast cancer, trauma from surgery on it; some doctors suggest more surgery others don’t – does she not accept patients without doing surgery first? A) In many cases early stage cancer can be completely curative with surgery; no protocol works for everybody; unethical to encourage someone to do her protocol when conventional medicine can be completely curative; met many women who had early stage breast cancer and surgery and they were fine.
21:50 Won’t accept a patient who she thinks would be making an unwise decision
22:19 Q) How long is her waiting list? A) Someone could be seen soon.
Q) How much to buy the pills? A) Costs broken down on her website (“New Patients”): https://www.drlindai.com/appointments.html
24:10 Q) How the Irish nationality falls into the diet? A) Most people are reasonably balanced (eat a variety of food, but some are extremes – a lot of fruits and vegetables but hard to get meat (overactive sympathetic system) vs. people in the far north where growing grains is hard to (a very high fat diet for someone from the Arctic Circle) would have a very overactive parasympathetic system; a woman according to Dr. G needed – if she doesn’t eat it 2-3 times per day she doesn’t feel very well – more than 70% of her background was people north of the high in the mountains of Europe. Highly carnivorous heritage.
Hard to know how helpful the genetic tests are; the stresses of life push our metabolism a certain way or another and dietary choices; a balanced person on a vegan diet can develop cancer
28:15 Q) Does chiropractic have a place in the protocol since it has a place in the nervous system? A) Not something she’d recommend for everyone but someone who needs it then sure, it could help adjust the
28:55 Q) Aware of anyone who did not follow the diet aspect of the protocol but done the supplements and enzymes and had success? A) They triy hard to make sure that her patients are willing to follow it; and typically the food si something people want to eat. It’s rare that people
31:06 Radical Remission docu-series – emotional aspects of healing; the episode after hers had changed how she had addressed how she saw life and then took panc enzymes and the tumor went away
32:18 Q) Been doing SQ1 for 8 months (mostly vegan) and Dr. Gregor’s autoimmune therapy (even more restrictive) – any opinion on Dr. Gregor’s work?
Celiac and Sjogren’s disease and had lymphoma and did chemo and is in remission A) If what you’re doing is working keep doing it; vegan diet won’t need a lot of enzymes to digest a meal, can be quite detoxifying; if someone is coming from eating a standard American diet any cleaner diet will make people feel better for a while but the long haul can be a problem. Overall detox can cause a person to feel a whole lot better; coffee enemas can ; vegan is not common in traditional cultures (Weston Price’s research)
35:25 Q) CE back to back? A) What they found works, enzymes help break down waste and csn help w detox
36:30 Anyone who is shadowing her? A) Not yet
