treatments.

FASTING

The thought of fasting was extreme but after extensive research into all options, I felt this path was the one I was meant to take. We were fortunate to have had Dr. Matthew Phillips and Deborah Murtagh (a world-renowned nutritionist) as they were regular fasters and really believed that healing was possible.

The idea was to starve the cancer cells of their main fuel source (glucose) by being on a ketogenic diet, and then add pressure on those cells with regular fasting.

Under the watch of Deb and Matt, my first fast was a water fast which lasted 12 days. What happened to my body during this time was extraordinary. My immune system went into super-boost which is what we wanted for the cancer, but it exasperated the Myasthenia so badly I ended up in hospital.

I had IVIG (blood transfusion) in hospital and continued the fast. The first, was the hardest and the worst.

Apart from the Myasthenia relapse the fast side-effects were purging my body of years of toxins and build-up. I had muscle aches, severe shivers (cold), fatigue, moodiness. I had an extremely dry mouth and white film was always on my tongue. Despite not eating, my bowels were still working. A lot. And I was in a constant daze for the first 4 days.

During the first year, I was fasting for 7 days every second month, and each fast became easier. I would have only water during the first 3 days, and whenever the myasthenia gave me trouble (usually by day 5), would introduce bone broth and coffee to help alleviate the symptoms. The side-effects lessened, and my main complaints were the muscle aches (mainly in old injuries), moodiness, shivers, and fatigue.

After a year – we were winning. I was still alive and the tumours had not grown.

By the second year I was doing a 7-day water-only fast every month. My body was getting stronger, I had no Myasthenia symptoms during my fasts, and my weight ranged from a steady 54kg (pre-fast) to 50kg (post). The hardest thing I found with fasting was the mental battle. As soon as I couldn’t have food I was constantly obsessing, and I found the build-up to a fast was worse than the actual fast. Throughout the second year, the physical side-effects lessened to be shivers, dizziness and aches in the first few days.

For over two years, keto and fasting was my only therapy, and the cancer did not grow larger than original discovery. This was without the use of any radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immuno-therapy, or conventional cancer treatments. Post my near-death experience in June 2019 we found the cluster of tumours to had shrunk to a small speck (October 2019). This was an incredible miracle and I am so grateful to God for whatever He moved in the natural to make that happen.

During my stint in hospital I unwillingly lost an extreme amount of weight and muscle mass so took a few months off fasting to let my body recover, and when I began fasting again was doing only 4-5 days every couple of months. One year on (September 2020), it was confirmed that the tumour had grown to 20% of its original size. This was a hard pill to swallow and I sought direction from God, was guided by Matt, and returned to 7-day water fasts. The x-rays since then have reported no growth.

I continue to navigate the tightrope of fasting for cancer (metabolic therapy) and managing the Myasthenia side-effects that come with a boosted immune system. Regardless, I am now a ‘life faster’, realizing and appreciating the benefits of this powerful therapy.

If you want to do a fast here are my tips:

  • Start with four days

  • ALWAYS start the day with one teaspoon of Himalayan Salt in 1L of water

  • Drink at least 3L of water a day

  • Don’t do any intense physical exercise during a fast (walking at most)

  • Take off day 2 and day 3 from work (or prepare for these days to be hard)

  • If you find it hard with water you could add the following (note that you still need to be drinking the 3L of water on top of) - bone broth, lemon water, black coffee, herbal tea

Below you can view the 4 day fast (March 2020) and a 7 day fast (July 2021) so you can see for yourself how safe fasting is when done correctly :-)

 

KETO

The ketogenic diet is now a way of life for us. It took me a while to get used to it as I had 37 years on a high sugar, highly processed diet. I loved everything sweet and my idea of 'healthy eating' was gluten-free or toasted muesli (both still full of sugar and carbs). For the last few years, our family have gone through a complete lifestyle change and I put the following guide together to help others on their journey.

There are many misconceptions around keto. Despite it being a very traditional way of eating ('feast and famine' as opposed to 'feast and feast'), there is still a lack of support and understanding. Don't buy into the rumours that it is bad for cholesterol - the types of fats you eat are very important; as is a variety of vegetables; as is common sense.

I know first-hand how important food is to the body, and how many diseases can be managed and even reversed through keto.

Getting our head around keto (as a family) was initially quite overwhelming and we were so blessed to be guided by Matt and Deb the whole time. I found the easiest way is to not treat it as a diet. And I planned meals we would usually enjoy by substituting items out. Below you can download my ‘easy’ keto book, originally developed for my friends and family. No hard jargon, just keto explained in the simplest way.

 

medical case study

‘Managing Metastatic Thymoma With Metabolic and Medical Therapy: A Case Report’ was published (May 2020) in Frontiers in Oncology Journal by Dr. Matthew Phillips.

This is me :-) how we approached stage four ‘terminal’ cancer without cancer drug therapy - using instead fasting and a ketogenic diet.

 

DR. MATTHEW PHILLIPS

Matt is the keto / fasting king, and we are so grateful to him for continuously teaching us metabolic therapy. His pursuit of health is relentless and he is so generous in sharing his research and knowledge. His website holds so much information including his plans and incredible recipes.

His latest paper on Metabolic Strategies in Healthcare: A New Era is a must read!

 

REVERSAL NZ

I am really blessed to have a great team around me and my GP Dr Glen Davies (New Zealand General Practitioner of the Year 2021) runs a clinic Reversal NZ where I am now a Fasting Coach. Reversal NZ is a Lifestyle Medicine Clinic specalising in the delivery of evidence-based nutrition, for the reversal and prevention of metabolic illnesses. As of writing, Glen has been responsible for reversing 149 cases of Type 2 Diabetes in our local community through metabolic therapy.