May 7, 2009 12:10 am US/Eastern
"Miracle Spa" Offers Healthy Alternative
WEST PALM BEACH (CBS4) ―
More and more South Floridians with cancer or other ailments have found a way to improve their health at The Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach.
CBS4's Cynthia Demos spoke with one woman with stage four cancer who said she found the secret to better health on a recent visit there.
"I think when you have stage four cancer, like I do, a lot of people do, your whole life becomes a prayer and you look for things God might be directing you to. It's a small sacrifice, but the potential pay off is huge," said Betsy Vincent.
Vincent, a mother of two, believes what she learned at The Hippocrates Health Institute has changed her life.
"We've healed people of horrible diseases," said Scott Josephson, Director of Operations for Hippocrates Health Institute which claims to have been a leader in natural health care since 1956.
"I was having a lot of pain on my left side and nobody could figure out what it was," explained Vincent.
It took three years but doctors finally found it, a growth near her left kidney. Vincent was diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma or tissue cancer. She underwent surgery but months later a problem arose.
"At my three month check-up, they said my cancer had spread already, into my lungs. That was worse than the initial diagnosis," said Vincent.
After receiving the devastating news, Vincent went home to face her then four and five year old children.
"I just don't want them to grow up without a mother. That breaks my heart. And I want to see them graduate from high school, maybe get married, at this point, graduate from elementary school. I just don't want to miss anything," said Vincent.
Desperate for a solution, she heard about the Hippocrates Health Institute and the diet it teaches.
"If you flood the body with chlorophyll that creates an oxygen rich environment and the theory is that cancer cannot live in an oxygen rich environment," Vincent explained.
To learn more about the benefits of the diet, Vincent spent two weeks at the Institute.
Living at the Institute is a major part of the program according to Josephson.
"We educate people how to live and specifically how to eat," he said. "When you cook food, you are killing some of the enzymes and the nutrient value of cooked food. Hippocrates emphasizes a living food diet; sprouts, beans, greens, carrots, cucumbers. We eat living foods. These foods have phenols, antioxidants and other things that can help stimulate your immune system."
Under the Institutes strict diet, meat and sugar are off limits.
"Meats can cause a plaque that is built up in small intestine and decreases absorption of vitamins, nutrients, minerals. Sugars can be a tremendous enemy and when you deal with cancer sugar can enlarge it and what living foods can do is potentially shrink it," said Josephson.
It's been a year since Vincent went to the Institute. Since then she's lived on tomato/avocado breakfasts, salads, supplements, nuts and lots of green juices.
"I think the diet has helped me stave off chemotherapy for a full year. I am stable and there is very little change and I'm going to keep it that way," she said.
Hippocrates is a non-profit organization which does provide scholarships to people who cannot afford the cost of the program which can run as high as $15 thousand. The Institute also offers classes in health and exercise.
To learn more about The Hippocrates Health Institute call 561-471-8876.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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