Breast Cancer Healed with an Alkaline Diet (Jessica Biscardi)

Jessica Biscardi heals from stage 4 breast cancer that had metastasized to her pancreas and lungs with an alkaline diet.

In 2002, Jessica Biscardi had an appointment for a routine mammogram. The scans revealed that she had some suspicious micro-calcifications in her breast that concerned her doctors.  A follow up scan was scheduled and when she went in for this her doctors said that these calcifications had become “areas of grave concern.”

Jessica consented to a surgical biopsy which also included the removal of 4 lymph nodes and it was later discovered that the cancer had spread to her lymph system, pancreas and lungs.

Jessica was told by multiple doctors that she needed to have a radical mastectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiation but she did not believe that the cancer could be healed with these methods.  Jessica continued searching for another option and eventually consulted with Integrative Oncologist Dr James Forsythe, who put her on a restrictive diet that included lots of fresh vegetables along with various supplements and intravenous and oral doses of Poly-MVA which is said to disrupt the energy cycle of cancerous cells and leads to apoptosis (cancer cell death).

During this same time period Jessica was working as an executive producer for a documentary film about healing cancer naturally.  This project led her to meet with an alternative doctor by the name of Dr Bernardo Majalca. During their meeting, Dr Majalca recognized that Jessica was very ill and offered to guide her on using his specialized diet as part of her healing plan.  Jessica immediately began following this diet plan which eliminates all conventionally-raised meat and dairy products, as well as sugars, flour, and all processed foods.  She began eating abundance of fresh vegetables and drinking enzyme-rich juices and she was able to heal from the terminal cancer.  Please listen to the video lectures, read my notes as well as Dr Bernardo’s 16 page E-book that is linked at the bottom of the page for more information on the healing plan that Dr Majalca prescribed for his patients.

Jessica shares the details of her cancer diagnosis and the alkaline diet that cured her cancer

More on Dr Bernardo’s alkaline diet

• No conventionally-raised meat or dairy products are allowed
• No sugar but stevia is okay to use as a sweetener
• Nothing that is processed or man-made; that means no fast foods, soda, candy, fries, sugars,  regular pasta, regular bread, or packaged foods of any kind.
• Eat as many organic green vegetables as possible (except for green peas).
• 80% of your diet should be in the form of vegetables and the listed grains, with only 20% as meats.
• Raw vegetables are better than cooked, he recommended eating least 50% of them in their raw form.
• Cooked vegetables should be lightly steamed only.
• You should include at least 2 servings of leafy greens in the form of vegetable side dishes, and a large green salad everyday.
• Add 8-10 stalks of raw asparagus to your daily juice or eat one can of asparagus everyday.
• The diet includes lots of juicing of vegetables and making fruit smoothies because these are easy ways to get many servings of fruits and vegetables into your diet.   This is especially true when working with sick children. You can find very specific recipes on page 7 of his e-book.
• Red potatoes and yams can be eaten (always with the skins).
• Beans and lentils -can include adzuki, black beans and lentils (red, yellow, brown, black, green).
• Grains: amaranth, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, triticale, and wild rice are the only grains allowed. How to soak and cook grains.
• Sprouts are okay to eat but they should be consumed within 5 days.
• Acceptable meats for this diet would include: wild caught non-scavenger fish such as cod, shark, snapper, sole, salmon, trout, and tuna.  Organic meats include venison, buffalo, lamb, or a small amount of turkey
• Eggs are allowed, but they must be organic
• The only oil that is allowed on this diet is extra virgin olive oil.
• Salad dressings are to be made with olive oil and vinegar, or olive oil with a squeeze of fresh lemon only.
• Fresh homemade soups are okay on this diet.
• Butter must be organic and preferably made from raw milk (unpasteurized), if possible.
• Almond, coconut, or goat milks are acceptable.
• Nuts and seeds are okay to eat.
• Sea vegetables are okay to eat.
• Allowed fruits: avocados, granny smith apples, lemons, and berries, and those berries can be eaten in unlimited amounts.
• No sugar allowed, but you can use Pure Stevia Powder in place of sugar.
• If you bake, you must use a gluten free mix instead of wheat flour.  For example:  pancakes can be made with buckwheat flour.
• Ezekiel sprouted bread is the only store-bought item that is allowed on this diet, or you can make your own bread with gluten-free mixtures.  You can find Ezekiel bread in the freezer section of most grocery stores, or at health food stores.
• You should drink lots of spring water with freshly squeezed lemon. A guide for your water consumption would be to drink a minimum of 50 ounces of pure water per 100 pounds of body weight daily.  There is more information on this below.

Dr Bernardo’s general recommendations 

• Patients were to drink two eight ounce glasses of tea per day. Acceptable teas according to Dr Majalca include: Essiac Tea Herbs  *note that essiac should not be used by those with brain tumors or other cancer where an initial swelling might create  a life threatening situation. You can read more about the contraindications with essica tea on this page). Other teas that Dr Majalca recommended include Matcha Green Tea Powder or Pau D’arco Tea, which has anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-parasitic, and anti-cancer properties.  Read more about pau d arco tea.
• Drink 4 ounces of fresh wheatgrass juice twice per day
• Patients would take a variety of supplements to meet their individual nutritional needs.
• Patients would use coffee enemas to detox the body
• You can read much more about Dr Majalca’s diet and lifestyle recommendations with this link

The Alkaline Diet –  The standard American diet (SAD) includes eating meals which are high in meat, dairy, soda, processed foods, poor quality fats, sugars, chemical additives, sodium, and is generally very low in nutrients; this is due to a lack of eating fresh fruits and vegetables which are the most nutrient dense foods available.  When we consume the SAD diet we set ourselves up for disease by creating an ideal low-oxygen, acidic environment for cancer to grow.

pH refers to “potential of hydrogen” and is a measurement of whether your body is in an acidic, balanced or alkaline state.  The pH scale runs from 1-14, with 7 being in the middle (or neutral).  Anything lower than 7 would be within the acidic range, anything above 7 is within the alkaline range.  People with a balanced pH are able to resist sickness and disease because their body is naturally able to fight it off.  While people who are overly acidic or overly alkaline are more prone to sickness and diseases.

When you ingest foods and liquids, the end product after digestion and assimilation of nutrients will result in either an acidic or alkaline-forming effect – these end products are referred to as an acidic-ash or an alkaline-ash. All foods and beverages can then be considered either alkaline or acidic based on the ash that is left behind after digestion.

Acidic foods will add hydrogen molecules to the body therefore making your body more acidic, alkaline foods remove hydrogen molecules thus making your body more alkaline.  Processed foods, sugar, salt, white flour, dairy, soda, and meats are all acidic.  Diets which are based on these foods will cause your body to lose precious minerals from your skeletal system in an attempt to re-balance the pH.  The standard American diet is highly acidic and this is why osteoporosis rates are so common in the US.

Acidic cells create an acidic body, and an acidic body is a precursor for disease. Some signs of excess acidity will include fatigue with general aches and pains. Acidosis is especially problematic because it interferes with normal cell function. An example of this is in the production of white blood cells which are essential for a strong immune system. Poor quality white blood cells are produced in acidic environments, making it easy for infections and diseases to take hold.

Dr Majalca explained in the video links that people with cancer have an acidic pH. He says that cancer thrives in a pH of 5.5 or lower, but when your saliva pH reaches 6.8 the cancer will stop growing, anything above that and the cancer begins to die.  The goal was to lift Jessica’s saliva pH to at least 7.2 – 7.4 and to hold it there for several months until the cancer was completely gone

Dr. Bernardo Majalca N.D. describes how he treats cancer by reversing the acidosis of the body and by addressing emotional issues.

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Part 2 of Dr Majalca’s lecture on acidosis.

Using the Acid/ Alkaline Food Chart- Most of the foods that people are eating today fall into the acid-forming category.  One way to alter your pH score would be to stop your consumption of the standard American diet and start eating a diet rich in fresh organic fruits and vegetables, and by juicing a variety of raw leafy greens such as kale, chard, spinach, watercress, and wheatgrass, along with a variety of other vegetables, and by making nutritious smoothies with fruits and greens.  In addition, you can drink plenty of spring water with fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice which will also leave behind an alkaline ash following digestion.

To maintain a healthy pH your goal is to eat 70 -80% alkaline foods.  The chart below gives you an idea of where foods would land on the alkaline/acidic ash scale and gives you a numerical ranking. It should be noted that many of the foods listed as acidic forming are not appropriate to eat when following an anticancer diet.  It is for informational purposes only.

How to test your pH

You can test your saliva pH levels using pH Testing Strips that are made for saliva. They can be purchased from health food stores or online and can be used as a measurement of what is going on inside of the body. The proper strip to purchase is a narrow or short range, which will measure from 5.0 to 9.5 or so.

To test the saliva:  The first test of the day is immediately upon waking before eating or drinking anything, otherwise you must wait at least two hours after eating or drinking to ensure that the food that you have  consumed does not alter your test results.  First cleanse the mouth by filling it with saliva and then swallowing or spitting it out. Fill the mouth again with saliva and spit it onto a spoon, then place the test strip into the saliva for 10-15 seconds. The strip will change colors based on the results.  Use the insert from the package to determine your results.  You can perform this test 4 times per day to get a clearer picture of what is going on inside of your body.  You may find that your pH fluctuates throughout the day, this is normal.  Your goal is to register slightly more alkaline than acidic, around 7.2 to 7.4 for saliva, as it is at this level that oxygen is plentiful.  Also it takes time to raise the pH, sometimes up to 12 weeks to become alkaline.

Do not over-alkalize the body believing that this is a good thing. Having an overly alkaline body is just as harmful as being overly acidic.  Just get to 7.2-7.4 where cancer cannot survive and the pH is balanced.

How to test saliva and urine with pH strips

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How to alkalize quickly

Dr Bernardo mentions a liquid supplement on page 2 of his e-book called ASEA REDOX Cell Signaling Water which he says can help to bring the pH up to 7.5 within 7-10 days. His recommended dose was 2 ounces that are taken 3 times per day for a total of 6 ounces per day.  Perhaps this is something to think about if you feel the need to raise the pH quickly.

He also recommends taking 1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice in 4 ounces of water and drinking this 3 times per day which will also cause an alkaline reaction following digestion.

There are other products on the market that can help to raise the pH faster than diet alone, such as an Raw Organic Whole Food Alkalizer , which could be taken a couple of times per day until the pH reaches 7.2-7.4.

Dr Majalca mentions that 1 tsp of baking soda in a 4 ounce glass of water will help to eliminate the lactic acid buildup that occurs around cancerous tumors, therefore it could be used as a natural pain reliever. Sodium bicarbonate should only be taken on an empty stomach so that it does not impede digestion of food.  Read more about this and contraindications here: sodium bicarbonate and cancer

Recipes to make filtered water more alkaline:

Consider purchasing a water filtration system that will remove fluoride, chlorine, and other chemicals and metals that are found in municipal water supplies. A simple carbon filtration system will only remove chlorine so don’t assume that any filter will do. You can find products online that will remove the harmful elements and leave the beneficial minerals intact, such as a Berkey Water Filter System.

Alkaline water #1 – take one gallon of water and add 1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt, the juice of 4 lemons or limes (and toss in the skins too), 1 tbsp of raw organic honey or a pinch of organic stevia (if needed), and drink this throughout the day. Sea salt contains 82 trace minerals which will enhance this water.  Lemons and limes will create an alkaline ash following digestion.

Alkaline beverage #2- wash 3 organic lemons or limes and then blend them up whole in 3 cups of filtered water.  Strain/squeeze the mixture through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth and then store it in a mason jar in the fridge.  To use, add 1/4 cup of this mixture into a glass of 8 oz filtered water. Drink this mixture 3 times per day.  This will help with alkalinity and elimination of toxins.

Alkaline water #3- adding an barley grass or wheat grass powder to your drinking water.

Additional Resources:

When Jessica met Dr Bernardo she was working as the executive producer for the independent film “icurecancer.com”, a documentary about healing cancer naturally.  Please visit their website for more information.

Poly MVA- Although Jessica credits poly MVA as part of her treatment, it should noted that this is not a stand alone therapy.  There are many people who put their faith in this supplement and although it seemed to work initially, many had their cancers return because they did not address the root cause of cancer- which, according to Dr Majalca is acidosis of the body.

Jessica was healed-  Jessica says that she never gave up on hope and faith despite the constant pain and disappointments that she experienced.  She says, “I wanted to take the challenge to beat the cancer with every bit of strength, knowledge and research.”  Jessica devoted her time to helping others and sharing information with people who were facing health challenges, she was also in the process of becoming certified as a Life Coach Practitioner. Jessica believed that “Cancer can be a scary word but not to those who will get in the trenches and fight, fight, fight and stay positive and affirm that you will get better, be informed, do as much research as you can, you are not alone.”

An update on Jessica:  I am sad to report that Jessica passed away on November 23, 2013 following a relapse of her cancer. Yet this was more than 10 years after being told that she had only 90 days left to live back in 2002.  I was informed by one of her friends that she had experienced a very stressful situation and had stopped following her diet and supplement routines and that the cancer came back with a vengeance.  Whether this is true or not, I think it is essential that one plans on making their dietary and lifestyle changes a permanent part of their routine for life. This, along with practicing stress relieving techniques that can be employed when stressful situations arise would be critical components to maintaining the healing process.  RIP Jessica.

Dr Majalca passed away in 2010, please read his free E-book below for more information on his diet plan.  It should be noted that once you have cancer you cannot assume that you can return to your precancerous ways of eating and living.  The changes that you make are not temporary until you are well, but are to be continued forward.

Additional resources

Read an article on pH and cancer

Read more about juicing

Read Josie’s story of healing brain cancer with an alkaline diet

Read Dr Majalca’s e-book for his diet and lifestyle recommendations

pH Testing Strips for saliva

Raw Organic Whole Food Alkalizer and Detoxifier