CULTIVATING A CANCER CURE

By the time Mary Winchell was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in May 2012, the disease had metastasized to her thoracic spine. The Leesburg resident took a fresh perspective on how to successfully battle cancer — raw food.

Fourteen months later, neither of her tumors can be detected through diagnostic imaging and blood tests.

Amazingly, she never underwent chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery.

“I give all the credit to God because He provides us with the natural food we need to sustain a healthy life,” says Mary, a professional lighting consultant with Besco Electric in Leesburg.

Shortly after her diagnosis, Mary spent two weeks at Hippocrates Health Institute in South Florida. Doctors at this alternative health care facility educated Mary on healing her body and maintaining a healthy lifestyle through diet. She was also treated

IF YOU WERE EATING LIKE MARY, HERE IS WHAT YOU WOULD CONSUME IN A DAY:

BREAKFAST: Wheatgrass juice, buckwheat groats, and cereal with almond milk.

LUNCH: Salad with dark greens, chopped zucchini, oil-cured olives, cucumber, red and yellow peppers, olive oil, and lemon.

DINNER: Zucchini noodles with red pepper marinara or pesto-stuffed mushrooms. Her favorite dessert is raw Key lime pie.

EATING OUT: Living Green in Tavares and Vitality Bistro in Mount Dora.

SHOPPING: Fresh Market in The Villages, Health Basket in Mount Dora, Chamberlain’s Natural Food Market in Orlando, and Whole Foods in Orlando.

To try Mary’s raw Key lime pie, get the recipe at www.lakehealthyliving.com to a raw and organic buffet featuring different daily dishes such as lettuce greens, radishes, sprouts, chickpeas, veggie burgers, and wheatgrass juice.

After returning home, Mary faithfully stuck to raw food and eliminated sugar. By the second month, the tumor in her spine was undetectable. “Had I not shown marked improvement by that time, I was going to follow my oncologist’s initial advice and undergo chemotherapy,” she said. “But when the tumor in my spine was gone, it gave me the confidence and strength to continue my raw diet.”

Mary grows her own wheatgrass and drinks wheatgrass juice daily. The juice is rich in chlorophyll, which closely duplicates the molecular structure of hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that transports oxygen throughout the body. Her exercise regimen consists of Zumba, aerobics, and weightlifting.