This website requires Javascript for some parts to function propertly. Your experience may vary.

Nutrition, metabolism, defense system

Consent

This site uses third party services that need your consent. Learn more

Hufeland-Klinik

Nutrition

(Excerpts from the nutrition guidebook "How do I eat healthy when I'm sick" by Dr. med. Wolfgang Wöppel)

"The more man remains faithful to the laws of nature, the healthier he will remain; the more he departs from them, the sooner disease will come. Nothing can so preserve, strengthen, or reacquire vitality as the art of moderation, the daily enjoyment of pure and fresh air, a simple and natural diet, and a constant exercise of the powers."
Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland

In fact, research is increasingly showing that poor dietary habits significantly promote the development of some (cancer) diseases.

Nutrition - Metabolism - Defense System and Health are Closely Interrelated

Without doubt, our metabolism is the basis of all life processes and reacts very strongly to a change in nutrition. The gateway to disease is opened by disturbances of the metabolism. Everything that puts a strain on our metabolism therefore promotes illness, while everything that relieves it benefits recovery. Therefore, a balanced, vital and fiber-rich whole food diet with relatively little animal protein but a lot of natural raw vegetables is an essential element of a holistic therapy and corresponds to the latest scientific findings. The wrong advice of a physician to the (cancer) patient: "You can eat and drink what tastes good to you", unfortunately still shows, how insufficient knowledge and consciousness around the realizations of the nourishing scientists and around the disadvantages of a wrong nutrition are pronounced with many physicians. We eat too fat, too sweet, too salty, too protein-rich, too much - we don't eat ourselves healthy, we eat ourselves sick! If you are healthy and want to stay healthy for a long time, you should eat a predominantly vegetarian diet and eat a lot of raw food, because raw food is the prerequisite for an intact immune system.

What is raw food?

Raw food is a fresh form of food that is as natural as possible, e.g. fresh fruits and vegetables, cereal products (fresh grain porridge, muesli), aromatic herbs, but also fresh cheese, cold-pressed olive oil, raw eggs or raw meat (without germs, antibiotics or hormones).

Why raw food?

Despite a good knowledge of the main components, we still know nothing about the multitude of other individual substances in our food (there are far more than 10,000!) and how they are changed by the form of preparation. But we see the effects and know, for example, that bitter substances (dandelion, artichoke, etc.) stimulate the production of digestive juices and the mucosal protective factor immunoglobulin A, that essential oils have an antibacterial effect, or that vitamins and trace elements detoxify the organism or protect it from damage (especially vitamins A, C, E and the trace element selenium). Remember:

Raw food is fresh cell therapy - immune therapy - detoxification therapy!

But also an intact intestinal flora (bacteria of the intestine), which in turn depends on our diet, makes a decisive contribution to the maintenance of health. Wrong nutrition causes a disease-causing intestinal flora, because this then produces toxic fermentation or putrefaction products from the food, which directly enter the blood via the intestinal wall and thus poison the body from the inside. An intact intestinal flora with a healthy diet, on the other hand, has a detoxifying effect and constantly activates the so-called "intestine-associated immune system", the disruption of which can lead to allergies, among other things (see also intestinal rehabilitation). Nutritional therapy must therefore be the basis of every immune therapy!

Is there an anti-cancer diet?

If you look at epidemiological studies, there is actually no doubt that there must be a connection between poor nutrition and the development of cancer. Accordingly, it seems that a healthy diet can contribute to the fact that we do not get cancer so easily. However, according to all we know, dietary measures alone are not sufficient to regress an already existing cancer tumor or to cure the patient; an anti-cancer diet in this sense does not exist. Even though individual cancer cures have been described with diet alone, unfortunately this cannot be generalized and no diet form can be called a distinct anti-cancer diet.

Nevertheless, we can distinguish favorable and unfavorable diets: Favorable diets can help prevent cancer from developing in healthy individuals, and they influence the metabolism, immune system and internal environment of cancer patients in such a way that the body is able to help itself and, in some cases, even heal itself. In any case, it is crucial to implement the previous findings of scientists on a healthy diet that is as low in harmful substances as possible, so that the metabolism of the sick person is relieved as far as possible. After all, a smoothly functioning metabolism is the basic prerequisite for activating the self-healing powers and for the success of biological therapy measures. Consequently, the changeover to a wholefood diet, as presented here, is an excellent but non-specific way of combating cancer not specifically but indirectly and, in many cases, extraordinarily effectively.

What does nutrition look like at the Hufeland Klinik?

The overriding principle in our clinic is that food should remain a pleasure that conveys joie de vivre and enhances the quality of life. The aim of the change in diet should be an improvement in the general well-being, the internal environment and thereby also the disease. What we do not want is "whole food nutrition at any price"! There are patients who are intolerant to dairy products (lactose intolerance), to cereal protein (gluten) or to raw products that are difficult to digest. Other patients, on the other hand, have had stomach surgery or their digestive system is not working properly. In such cases, it would be wrong to force such patients to eat a diet that would do them more harm than good.

Easily digestible white flour products, to which one perhaps adds additional dietary fiber (such as some wheat bran) will be more beneficial than whole grain products that are indigestible for the patient.

The diet at the Hufeland Clinic is predominantly ovo-lactovegetable (eggs, milk and dairy products are served in addition to plant products) with a large natural raw food component, although we do offer high-quality meat (lamb, beef or venison) or fish once a week. The meals are always freshly prepared in our kitchen without the use of artificial additives - let us surprise you with how varied and tasty a balanced, low-meat wholefood diet can be! We also attach great importance to seasonal food and select our suppliers very carefully. We often source our ingredients from organic farming.

What and how much should you drink every day?

Drinking is more important than eating! Without solid food, we humans can last a relatively long time, but without drinking we can only last a short time, because drinking is essential for life. After all, an adult human being consists of about 60% water - for an 80 kg patient, this is 48 liters! A healthy person normally excretes 0.5 liters through the air he breathes, 0.5 liters through sweat, 0.1 liters through stool, and about 1.4 liters through urine. An essential part of biological therapy is detoxification of the body. In particular, toxins produced during tumor degradation must be eliminated as quickly as possible.

The success of a treatment therefore also depends on sufficient excretion of the toxins. Since many of these toxins are excreted by the kidneys, a large supply of fluids is required to rehydrate and thereby clear the body water. Therefore, get in the habit of drinking ¾ liter of fluid three times a day. If possible, you should drink these ¾ liters between meals within ½ hour, as this has a much better detoxifying effect than the continuous intake of small amounts. But be careful: those who are prone to water retention in the chest or abdomen and those who have heart disease should not drink this much under any circumstances. These patients may only drink according to their feeling of thirst (about 1-2 liters per day)!

Suitable drinks for (cancer) patients are herbal teas, drinking whey and low-mineral water. This should account for about 75% of the daily drinking quantity. Vegetable juices of all kinds, such as carrot juice, beetroot juice, sauerkraut juice, etc., which we regularly offer in the clinic, are also beneficial. You can mix these vegetable juices with unsweetened fruit juices to vary the taste. Otherwise, we avoid all sweet drinks - including commercially produced fruit juices - as they contain not only plenty of sugar or sweetener but also acids that can cause problems. We avoid coffee altogether in the clinic, although it must be said here as well: Enjoyment of life is a very important part of the recovery process, and if you get the "coffee thirst" now and then, enjoy a cup of freshly brewed coffee in one of the cozy Bad Mergentheim cafés without a guilty conscience!

A word about alcohol: Alcohol is a high-calorie energy carrier whose breakdown products are harmful to our liver, and it is clear that we do not offer alcohol in the clinic. Those who regularly consume alcohol in large quantities must expect chronic liver damage. Patients whose liver is inflamed must therefore not drink alcohol as a matter of principle. However, liver inflammation should not be equated with liver metastasis in a cancer patient. In the case of a small metastasis in the liver, the liver cells themselves may be completely healthy, so that this sick person may calmly enjoy a glass of red wine or beer at a family celebration, for example. If in doubt, discuss this with your doctor.

Why should cancer patients not consume sugar?

The metabolism of the cancer cell works differently than that of normal tissue and especially in more advanced cancer there are considerable changes in the metabolic process. The metabolism of a cancer cell can be activated by sugar; fermentation processes occur which, according to Warburg, are a characteristic factor of cancer cell metabolism. Warburg was the first to describe that the cancer cell covers its energy requirements quite substantially from sugar within the framework of a so-called "anaerobic glycolysis".

Cancer patients should therefore avoid sugar - in whatever form - as far as possible. At the Hufeland Clinic, we try to do without added sugar. Where it is not possible otherwise, e.g. in baking, we use small amounts of raw cane sugar, fructose or sweetener. All white flour products, especially cakes and pies, which are rapidly converted into glucose, should be avoided for the reasons mentioned. Sugar also affects the intestinal flora and can cause flatulence. If you absolutely have to eat some honey or jam, or if you cannot tolerate wholemeal bread and therefore have to rely on white bread, you should add extra fiber, e.g. a spoonful of wheat bran, because the fiber significantly slows down the transfer of sugar into the blood.

Do you have questions about nutrition?

We are looking forward to your inquiry. We will be happy to answer all your questions about nutrition.

Contact us

Write us a message or call +49 7931 536-0