Breast Cancer Treatment:
My Wife's Breast Cancer Recovery: an Interview with Dr Michael Hatrak
By Dr. Patricia Whisnant
[This article about a successful breast cancer treatment is reprinted with permission from American Grass Fed Beef Newsletter, an ezine published by Dr. Patricia Whisnant. Click here to subscribe and enter a grass fed beef drawing.]
This month we are very blessed to provide our readers with an interview featuring Dr. Michael Hatrak. Dr. Hatrak is nationally known chiropractor and is one of the three founders of Synergy Release Therapy. His trademarked technique focuses on opening energy blockages and realigning the body. Synergy Release Therapy has helped patients with prostate problems, sleep apnea, hypothyroid conditions, low energy and sports performance enhancement.
Dr. Hatrak trains chiropractors, massage therapists, sports therapists, nutritionists and other health professionals. His clients include professional athletes with the San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Falcons and even Olympic Athletes. We are pleased to have such a distinguished customer take the time to share his professional knowledge and personal experience with our readers.
DR WHISNANT: What sparked your interest in combining chiropractic care with nutritional care?
DR. HATRAK: My interest in nutrition began at the age of 15 when I used to read Adelle Davis books. In Chiropractic school, I received many hours of training in nutrition. Currently, I have a nutritionist Pam Eberle M.S. and a Registered Dietician working in my office who specializes in functional medicine.
When my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, my interest became extremely focused as we were now dealing with critical life and death issues.
DR WHISNANT: When your wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, how did you decide to treat her condition?
DR. HATRAK: We decided to go the standard medical route for a lumpectomy but forgo chemotherapy or radiation in preference to building her immune system through diet and supplements.
DR WHISNANT: What did Joan's medical doctor think of this decision?
DR. HATRAK: The physician felt Joan was being foolish by deciding not to include chemo, radiation and tamoxifen in her breast cancer treatment because he believed the outcome is usually grim without this regime. However, Joan was more frightened of the damaging effects of these therapies than of the cancer.
DR WHISNANT: It must have been difficult for you to go the alternative route with such a grave prognosis from her physician.
DR. HATRAK: Yes, however I had developed a network of alternative physicians over the past 28 years. We just started to make our contacts and put together an initial recovery plan, which was very comprehensive. We tweaked the plan many times over the past 6 years as Joan's health improved and her nutritional requirements evolved.
We decided that the very best diet initially for Joan would be a 100% raw food vegan diet including a lot of fresh green vegetable juices.
DR. WHISNANT: Why did you decide that Joan would do best on this extreme diet as her breast cancer treatment?
DR. HATRAK: A raw food diet would deliver a food source that requires very little energy for digestion. Her body would be free to focus energy on healing.
In other words raw foods have an abundance of enzymes. Enzymes are required for healing, digestion, energy and all functions of the body.
Enzyme rich food is considered clean fuel for the body. Our goal was to clean the body then feed the body.
DR. WHISNANT: Are you still a proponent of raw food diets?
DR. HATRAK: We believe that raw foods should comprise 60-70 percent of your diet.
DR. WHISNANT: When did you and she decide to add grass fed beef, fish and free range chicken back into her diet?
DR. HATRAK: I think it was about one year. Joan started feeling the need for more protein in her diet and she started craving meat. Also, as she grew healthier . . . she started working out with weights and her demand for protein was greater as well.
DR. WHISNANT: Why is it that so many critically ill patients initially thrive on a strict raw food vegetarian diet and green juicing?
DR. HATRAK: A raw food diet gives the digestive system time to heal and repair. It cleans the liver and is a great detox. A raw food diet jump starts healing.
After the healing has begun, the second part of the equation is to feed the body. This can only be done with complete proteins, amino acids, essential vitamins and minerals that can only be obtained with animal proteins that deliver iron, zinc, magnesium, selenium as well as riboflavin and B-12.
DR. WHISNANT: How would someone know it is time to start introducing beef, fish and eggs back into their diet when they have been on a strict raw food vegetarian diet?
DR. HATRAK: Like Joan . . . most people will naturally start craving meat after several months on a strict vegetarian diet. Also, there are several tests one could do to monitor the progress and see when it is time.
For example, blood levels of minerals and vitamins plus muscle density tests like the BIA (Bio-impedance analysis) will give you muscle to fat ratio and levels of hydration. These are the easiest tests.
I would, also, throw in an essential fatty acid test to see how your body is metabolizing fats.
DR. WHISNANT: You are a Christian . . . what do you think about the claim that our bodies were designed before the fall in the Garden of Eden to be vegetarian and we need to return to a vegetarian diet for complete health?
DR. HATRAK: Not a true claim . . . these people have turned vegetarianism into a religion, which has nothing to do with Christianity and the true gospel. Enough said!
DR. WHISNANT: Could you substitute fish and chicken for the benefits you get from grass fed beef?
DR. HATRAK: No . . . fish, chicken and even standard organic grain fed beef does not have the complete synergy of nutrition provided by grass fed beef as a source of animal protein. Also, grass fed beef will give you more omega fats than regular USDA grain fed beef and no mercury that all fish on the planet have. It is a safe source of protein for rebuilding.
DR. WHISNANT: What are the symptoms of deficiencies that you have seen in your practice caused by lack of meat in strict vegan diets?
DR. HATRAK: Anemia, fatigue, hypothyroid, bone loss and muscle spasms are very obviously observed. The most dangerous deficiency is an essential fatty acid deficiency which could emerge without any symptoms until its too late. This deficiency can result in damage to the heart and key organs.
DR. WHISNANT: I have heard of several strict raw food vegans who have had major health problems including rapid aging, muscle loss, high blood pressure . . . some even suffer strokes after years on the diet. How could people who are eating only a live food organic vegetarian regime complete with high enzyme juicing have high blood pressure and strokes . . . it seems totally impossible?
DR. HATRAK: Our bodies need a specific full complement of amino acids, essential fatty acids, minerals and vitamins that only come from beef. As I stated before . . . if you don't provide your body with the nutrition from all the food sources it needs, you risk heart and many other severe problems with the key organs in your body.
Supplements will never compensate for these deficiencies.
DR. WHISNANT: One of your specialties is optimizing the performance of professional athletes including many top NFL, NBA and MLB players. Plus you have helped Olympic athletes and body builders. Are any of these patients vegetarian?
DR. HATRAK: NONE of my patients who are professional athletes are strict vegans or vegetarian. These athletes could not maintain peak performance on a vegetarian diet.
DR. WHISNANT: How would you determine the best diet for someone?
DR. HATRAK: In our practice, we look at many factors such as heritage, blood type (to a certain degree), metabolism, lifestyle and patient history. Plus we factor in the foods which a specific patient likes and dislikes to develop a comprehensive plan along with functional tests. In my opinion, humans were designed to be omnivores . . . enjoying a wide spectrum of foods from all food groups.
DR. WHISNANT: How is Joan's health now?
DR. HATRAK: It will be 6 years this May since she was diagnosed with cancer. As of her last battery of tests, she is cancer free. We need to stress that the kind of testing we perform is both traditional and functional which is truly comprehensive.
Dr. Michael Hatrak can be reached at:
Total Life
1495 Alpharetta Hwy
Alpharetta, GA 30004
Phone: (770) 740-9200This article about a successful breast cancer treatment is reprinted with permission from American Grass Fed Beef Newsletter, an ezine published by Dr. Patricia Whisnant. Click here to subscribe and enter a grass fed beef drawing.
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