Overview
This is a follow-up article to our original Budwig Protocol article. VERY IMPORTANT: Check with your doctor before using this recipe.
- 3 tablespoons low-fat cottage cheese (90 calories, AND 270 mg sodium per ½ cup)
- 1 tablespoon flaxseed oil (120 calories)
Stir together (or use a hand blender) to mix thoroughly, and then eat within 15 minutes, OR the flaxseed oil will go rancid and your dish will be worthless.
Important Things of Note For The Budwig Protocol
- There is absolutely no scientific evidence that the Budwig Protocol can help prevent or cure cancer, absolutely none; in fact, some scientists openly scoff at the idea.
- If you take omega fish oil and flaxseed oil, this combination can stop your blood from clotting. In an auto accident, which no one wants, you want your blood to clot, if possible. You don’t want to bleed to death. If you are currently taking omega fish oil, talk with your doctor to determine which oil would benefit you most. Fish oil is reported to be heart healthy. Flaxseed oil is reported to possibly reduce cancer cell growth. The two together could be harmful to you. (I was taking fish oil and started using the flax oil before I knew about the wicked combination. I began having nose bleeds and noticed any bumps I had resulted in big red spots on my hands and forearms. After reading about the bad mix of fish oil and flax oil, I stopped using both for a week and then resumed trying the Budwig Protocol.) (Picture below is an example of the bruising I suffered.)
- Whole flaxseeds will not work. You have to grind them to get the oil. If you buy whole flaxseeds, have a coffee grinder on hand to grind them. (Flaxseed powder is sold. I don’t know if this has the same benefit as the oil.)
- You can purchase liquid flaxseed in a health food store. It is kept in the refrigerated section. Check for expiration date. If you get it home, open it, and it seems off (stinky), return it for an exchange.
After having smoked for over 30 years (haven’t smoked in 20 years), I wanted one of the low-dose CT scans that we have all heard about that detects lung cancer at its earliest stage, a stage where it might be cured. I had the CT scan, which showed benign (we hope) scar tissue in both lungs and one spot that they called a “ground glass” 4 mm nodule. Well, I was not happy about that. I was told to have a repeat CT scan in six months, one that will probably NOT be low dose and one that will probably be with contrast. I will let you know the results if anyone is interested.
Well, huh. I had heard of the Budwig Protocol. It was developed by a German woman, Johanna Budwig, a biochemist and a pharmacist (highly educated woman for her era, 1908-2003, dying at age 95 from a fall) and held doctorate degrees in physics and chemistry.
Budwig believed that the Budwig Protocol was eating fatty acids daily would protect you from getting cancer. Remember, there is no scientific proof that Budwig’s theory is correct, absolutely none whatsoever. From all the research I have done in the past few years, Budwig believed that her concoction would prevent a person from getting cancer, but it would NOT help if you already had cancer. If you read about her now, though, you will see that some of the claims regarding cancer have changed. Not knowing if this ground glass thing I have going on is cancerous or not, I decided to try the Budgwig recipe. (Grasping at straws, maybe, but I thought I would give it a shot.) I easily found the low-fat cottage cheese at Publix, my local supermarket.
The only problem was, I knew that the flaxseed had to be liquified. How was I supposed to grind these little seeds into liquid? Blender. Ta da, I could do that. Pulled my vintage Waring blender from the back of the pantry, dumped those flaxseeds in and began to grind away. Grind, grind, grind, grind and more grind. No liquid, just powder, so I kept grinding. I ground those seeds for so long that I burned up my Waring blender (it began to smoke) and still I had just powdery flaxseed and not a sign of oil, but a rotten odor rose from the blender. I had ground for over 15 minutes, the powder was rancid and had to be thrown out. (I also had to throw out my blender because the motor was burned to a crisp. I purchased a Bella Rocket Blender, the greatest new invention to come into my kitchen in many years. I love this thing!!)
Coffee bean grinder, that had to be the answer. I don’t grind my own coffee beans (instant Folgers Classic Decaf Coffee for this girl), so this so so my next step was a stop at Walmart to get a $15.00 coffee grinder, Krups Coffee and Spice Grinder. (I’m trying to save my own life, so I didn’t mind the expense.)
The coffee bean grinder worked, but I am supposed to have this concoction every morning. The oil had to be fresh or it was worthless. But, was I going to get up, grind those beans, use the blender to blend all this together? Nooooooooooo. I began searching for a faster, easier method, one that I knew I was more likely to follow through on. I simply gave up on grinding whole flaxseeds. What a mess! Researching on Google, I discovered Barlean’s Flax Oil that is sold at health food stores. Arriving at my local health food store, I discovered they sold TWO types of Barlean’s Flax Oil, both in the refrigerated section: Lignan Flax Oil, Organic, Pure & Unfiltered, Fresh Cold Pressed and Barlean’s Flax Oil, Cold-Pressed, Fresh Daily, Omega 3, 100 Percent Organic. The difference between the two bottles was the word “lignan.” The salesperson recommended that Barlean’s Lignan Flax Oil, and that’s what I bought.
The research I found on lignan: All sorts of miracle claims in regard to digestive improvement, lower blood pressure and lower bad cholesterol (LDL), reduce the risk of cancer and even help some people with diabetes. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Everyone should be scarfing down lignans right and left.
I take all these claims with a grain of salt. No one governs health food claims. They can say that you can grow a new brain on your arm by rubbing this or eating that, and no one is going to tell them they should not say that.
Returning to my own health adventure: Back home and the next morning, I stirred together the cottage cheese and flaxseed oil and took a taste. Gag, gag, gag, gag. This stuff was awful. I remembered reading that it was best to blend the two ingredients together, so out came my hand blender. Blend, blend, and still, gag, gag, gag. This tasted really awful to me, and my eyes kept going to the calorie count on the flaxseed oil bottle – 120 calories for one tablespoon.
I maintain my 5”6” frame at 128 pounds by watching calories. Some days, I eat a few more calories than I should, so the next day I cut back on my caloric intake. This system has worked for me for 20 years, but the 120 calories I was adding to my daily intake was going to affect my weight. I didn’t want to gain weight, so had to factor in those additional 120 calories, which was easy to do. BUT, I had to come up with a more workable, more palatable way of getting this stuff in me. Again, this stuff was nasty tasting, to me.
As well, I didn’t like all that sodium in the cottage cheese. That’s a lot of sodium, and I certainly didn’t like the taste of the yucky mess when I mixed them together.
BUT, the Budwig protocol calls for the combination of the two because cottage cheese contains sulfur protein, and it’s the combination of the sulfur protein and the oil that makes the potential magic. This combination of sulfur protein and oil makes it easy for your cells to absorb the oil water-soluble.
Something called “quark” is the original ingredient for this recipe, not cottage cheese. Quark is curdled milk that has been strained. You can buy quark in the US in your grocery store or you can make it yourself. I bought some. The quark did not taste any better to me than the cottage cheese. Yuck stuff.
(I hope you are taking note of how much money I have spent on this health trip. I will tally it at the end of my little essay and let you know.)
Back to blending the low-fat cottage cheese and flax oil. Again, gag, yack, horrible. I just couldn’t do it. On the fourth day, I threw up after eating it. So I stopped. I am an overall healthy eater. I puree Organic Girl Super Greens once a week, so I do have a little green jug sitting in my refrigerator.
Experimenting, I took a shot glass, squirted 1 tablespoon of flax oil, and then topped it off with my green mixture. Ta-da!!! This I could drink each morning.
The greens have a certain amount of sulfur protein and the flax oil makes the greens easier to digest.
Is this going to help me? I don’t know. I imagine others have tried the Budwig Protocol and gave up due to the bad taste and the work involved in making the concoction. I tip my hat at those who followed through and are making this work for them. I wish I could have. I mentally tossed this around in my head and knew that even if it does turn out that I have cancer, I would rather enjoy the foods I eat. Life is too short, life can be too short, life can end on a dime.
(There is also an entire Budwig diet that some people follow. I am not going to do that. The way I currently eat works for me, so I don’t want to change.)
Total cost of Budwig Protocol for me: Between $50.00 and $100.00. This is sad because I blundered through and wasted some money. I really love the Bella Blender, will use the coffee grinder for spices, have purchased for years the Organic Girl Super Greens, will continue to do so, and will use the Barlean’s Flax Oil. After the initial investment, I’m okay with the cost.
I remember when my mom was dying of breast cancer. She was a southern cook, the ultimate southern cook, and the only thing she ate or cooked was fresh greens – she most definitely did not drink her greens. I remember someone bringing in a green health drink for her to drink while she was on her deathbed. No, no, no, she would not drink it. It didn’t have flax oil in it, it was just some goodhearted person’s attempt to cure my mother of breast cancer. There was a terrible sadness about the green concoction at the time, and years later it was a cause of laughter as we remembered the horrified look on our mom’s face. Our mother drinking liquified collard greens or spinach or mustard greens? Never in a million years. My mom was a healthy eater. It did not stop her from getting cancer.
Will drinking my modified Budwig Protocol drink prevent me from getting cancer? No, I don’t believe it will. It might make me feel a little livelier, a little peppier, a little happier because I am trying to do something good for myself. If someone is mixing and eating/drinking the Budwig Protocol for the prevention of cancer, you have my ultimate respect. I hope it works for you.
