Recipe for Recovery
By Linda Braden Albert
Rita Stafford Myers should be dead today.
Eight years ago, Myers received the devastating news that a lump found in her breast during a routine physical exam was an invasive cancer. Chemotherapy was begun immediately, followed by surgery to remove the walnut-sized lump.
Further tests revealed that the cancer had spread into Myers’ bones, and her doctors told her she had six months to two years left to live.
“Now I’m celebrating 9 1/2 years of living.,” the Maryville woman said.
Back to the Garden
Myers, now 59, credits her amazing story — in stage four cancer such as she had, chance of recovery is only 3 percent — to a life-changing diet researched by her husband, Leon Myers. The diet is based on biblical principles and has as its mainstay raw fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and purified water as Adam and Eve would have had in the Garden of Eden, she said.
“God created man to live forever in the Garden,” Myers said. “Everything he needed was provided.”
Myers believes that sickness and disease are caused by a person’s immune system being down.
“Any doctor will tell you that they basically treat the pain, but it’s up to us to build our immune systems,” she said. “The way you build your system up is through enzymes that are found in raw foods. If you cook food above 107 degrees, it kills the enzymes.”
In the typical American diet, meat is eaten daily. Myers believes that the hormones and additives are detrimental to health, and pointed out that in the Bible, meat was eaten in celebration of a special occasion rather than at every meal.
“All of America is on some kind of a diet,” Myers said. “But you can’t help but gain weight on the additives, preservatives and hormones that are in the food. Fruits and vegetables in their rawest form are your best bet.”
Before she was diagnosed with cancer, Myers thought she was taking care of herself, eating all the things she thought were good for her.
“But until I started this, I didn’t know how to live,” she said. “I had migraines all the time, I was bloated, I didn’t have any energy. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. But now I feel great. I have never felt better in my life.”
Myers follows a program which includes nutrition, exercise, pure water, sunlight, temperance, fresh air, rest at the proper time of night, trusting in God and having the right attitude with God and man. Each step is important, she said.
Myers is grateful for her husband’s support. Leon juices 50 pounds of carrots each week and also includes beets, kale, lettuce, celery, spinach and apples. About 80 percent of the vegetable juice is used by Rita Myers, and he drinks the rest.
In a typical day, Rita Myers will drink five to six eight-ounce glasses of the juice, plus eight eight-ounce glasses of filtered water. She eats oatmeal with fresh fruit, including blueberries, bananas, apples and grapes, in the mornings, a sandwich of whole wheat, unbleached bread and vegetables at lunch, and a huge salad of mixed green, leafy vegetables and all the other vegetables she can hold for supper. She snacks on nuts and seeds and air-popped popcorn. She avoids oils, sugar, caffeine, white flour, milk and meat.
“If I had not experienced this myself, I would not believe it,” Myers said. “But I came from death’s door to a healthy human being. It’s my only hope — I’m eating for my life.”
The foods, for the most part, are available at local grocers, Leon Myers said. Some items are bought at health food stores.
Leon follows the diet to a degree, but when they socialize with friends, he will treat himself to fish or chicken, he said.
Additionally, the Maryville couple keep the use of chemicals to a bare minimum. They have a whole-house water filtering system and use special cleaners in their home. Rita Myers has special soaps for her skin and hair and wears no make-up, instead preferring the healthy, golden glow that comes from eating foods rich in beta carotene.
Healing Health Alternatives
Dr. John Bell and Dr. Tim Panella, oncologists at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, have treated Myers since the cancer was first found. They are both amazed that she is still alive, Myers said.
“I am supposed to be dead,” Myers said. “And I give God the credit that I’m still alive. Through much prayer and supplication, we asked God to direct us.
“The verse that kept coming to me, even before I was diagnosed, was `Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not of,’ which is Jeremiah 33:3. When this happened, I wondered why that verse kept coming to me, but now I think this is the great and might thing I knew not of.”
Rita and Leon Myers, along with Larry and Judy Gregory, have begun a support group for people with any type of illness and for those who would just like to enjoy better health. Called Healing Health Alternatives, the group l meets at 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday at Cades Cove Baptist Fellowship, 2342 Duncan Road.
Original Article from The Daily Times