This month’s blog is a tribute to my dear departed friend, Eleanor Tauber. I met Eleanor, also know as ET in 1995 through the raw foods group that I lead today when under another name. Eleanor was a long time vegetarian, who struggled with weight and respiratory problems for over 40 years. She was searching for a way to heal herself naturally and stumbled onto the group through a friend’s introduction. Since ET was an actress, she was very energetic, strong minded and had plenty of spunk. ET took to raw food like a magnet. She grasped the concepts that made perfect sense to her and upped her veggie diet to 100% raw in no time. The pounds shed off her like a peacock mulching its feathers. Transition? In those days transition should have been emphasized more. At that time, the group (before I managed things) was more of a fruitarian type of group. Have you heard of Natural Hygiene? Well, the Hygienists were not that big on juicing, blending, eating lots of greens and veggies, no oils, no super foods, no cleansing modalities such as colonics, herbs, supplements or therapies. They recommended water fasting as the cure to all health problems and promoted a high fruit diet. If you want to eat 15 bananas a day go for it! I started my raw food regime with this approach back in 1989, and although it was an improvement over my Standard American Diet early on, it certainly was not working for me later on. Another story, another time.
So, getting back to Eleanor’s story. Well, she had problems with breathing. Yes, asthma was part of it, but believe it or not, the woman could not breathe through her nose! Can you imagine not being able to ever breathe through your nose for 40 years? It was as if there was cement stuck in there! The poor woman!
Eleanor was able to improve her breathing after changing her diet, and I can justify that she no longer suffered from asthma attacks any longer. However, Eleanor really wanted to heal her nose issue. When she went to a doctor and they would look at her nose they’d only gasp. No herbs, Acupuncture, Ayurvedic or any procedure could help her.
She decided to fast. The Hygienists recommend to water fast. And she did. She found a woman in PA who supervised water fasts. This Supervisor was trained by T.C. Fry, a legend in the Natural Hygiene world, to acquire her experience in supervising water fasts. ET stayed with her and fasted on only water for 15 whole days. Much of the time she stayed in bed and slept often. Later on in the fast she experienced strong shooting pains in her legs that she described as a constant spasm-like sensation. So, having been supervised was rather important to help and secure ET through a challenging detoxification process. She ended the fast and broke it by eating a strawberry. Colonics cannot be administered during a Water Fast, and the Hygienists don’t like them anyway. Eleanor’s first bites of fruit tasted foul to her, and not sweet at all. Why? Because her bowel was full of waste and toxins and the water fast really brought on a huge cleansing response. The sludge had no way to come out. The fasting supervisor was smart enough to administer a colema board / high colonic to ET. Once finished, ET tasted the fruit again and this time was as sweet as can be.
So, you would think that the fasting raw food supervisor might recommend colonics as part of ET’s protocol to her lifestyle change and transition to a 100% raw foods diet. No, she did not! So, ET went home and stuck closely to her raw food lifestyle and a short time later developed what is known as a “Detox” or “Healing Crisis.” This detox consisted of a cough that lasted almost two months time. In those days, everything that was a cleansing response was called a “Detox.” Well, my mentor, colonic guru Gil Jacobs would certainly poo-poo that one! When it is a ‘Detox’ it would mean that the poisons and toxins can actually exit the body and any symptoms presented would come and then go. You feel better after a short time and life is good again. Two months of a cough indicates that the toxins are unable to leave the body on it’s own and surely a toxic colon must be holding up a true healing from occurring. Empty the colon and the rest of the body gains energy, organs do not become overworked and the body can heal.
So, I get a phone call from ET at 3 am. I hear a frightened voice on the other end of the line expressing that her breathing felt very restrictive. I could hear the wheezing sound coming from her lungs. Oh my God, the woman can’t breathe through her nose and now the lungs are struggling for breath. I declared to ET, ”Get on the rebounder!” (A mini Trampoline) “ You can breathe!!!” She did and her panic attack fell away as she found her breath. I had just discovered colonics that year and had already been experiencing the benefits as a client, and paid for ET’s first Colon Hydro-therapy Session. I sent her to see Gil Jacobs. Within a few short days Eleanor was feeling better again. The beast had finally left the body and the body healed itself. Enough said.
Eleanor made the connection and continued with Colon Hydro-therapy for about 11 years on a regular basis. She never experienced a detox like that again. Unfortunately, Eleanor felt that she could not continue with eating 100% on raw foods after this experience. At the age of 59 years old, for ET to start a diet at 100% raw, one must consider the many years of medications she has taken and still reside in her body. Eleanor felt she had to have a little cooked food to slow the cleansing response down. I agreed and supported that decision. Also, ET had successfully lost 100 pounds after 1 ½ years on a all raw diet at this point and looked great.
Eleanor ate much of her diet raw, but slowly allowed some of the old foods that were not so pure back into her consumption. I wasn’t quite sure what she was eating, but I knew she ate salad, fruit and drank a vegetable juice everyday. However, I watched the weight slowly come back on.
I remember when ET was 100% raw I often would see her eyes tearing uncontrollably. She always smelled a little like Elmer’s Glue. It seemed to me like she was one big mucus ball! She feared that another cleanse could kill her. If the mucus unleashed she felt like it could suffocate her. Enough said! So, in all these years she did consider a go at another cleanse, like a juice fast, but was too frightened to take that step.
Last September, ET’s body turned a shade of bright yellow. I got a call from her as I was driving to Sedona, traveling to the Raw Spirit Festival and the prognosis turned out to be pancreatic cancer. My first thought went to the fact that ET used her nose spray everyday for so many years. She handled the news about her illness with courage and grace. My personal friendship with her could take up an entire length of a blog to describe, but she was a true friend to me. She was an incredible support to me during hard times, and we shared many good times also. Even with our wide age difference, ET had a major impact on my life. She was more than a friend. She was like family to me.
I advised her to consult with Dr. Fred Bisci, a veteran raw food Clinical Nutritionist who had a brother that had lived 18 years with pancreatic cancer. He died only because he went off his raw food program when going through a deeply difficult emotional time. Eleanor was hopeful that she could still live for some time. She booked a reservation to go to Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, FL for the end of December, but never made it.
The amazing thing that happened while ET was working with Dr. Bisci is that while following his program her nose cleared! It cleared and opened up consistently for the first time in over forty years. ET was following a precise raw foods program outlined for her particular problem, she took Dr. Bisci’s Systemic and Digestive Enzymes, Pro-Biotics, and had several Colonics a week among other things.
Eleanor passed away on December 20th, at the age of 71 years old. I wish Eleanor could have worked on a deep cleansing to heal herself years ago, yet I admire her efforts and discipline to live as healthy a life as she could. I am proud of her. The lesson for me as a Colon Therapist is to remember the importance of periodic cleansing and that one part of the lifestyle be it food, exercise etc. is only one part of the whole. Good health encompasses many things including a healthy outlook on life and positive thinking. Farewell, my dear ET you will always be part of me forever.
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