My Personal Mini-manifesto

My husband just sent me this article about food: Michael Pollan: Don't Eat Anything That Doesn't Rot. Even if you just read the first page, you'll be more educated about food and food products than the average American. If you're more of a watcher than a reader, check out this Peter Jennings mini-documentary (if you haven't seen it already): YouTube--How to Get Fat Without Really Trying!

Right after I wrote this (and my neighbor stopped by trying to raise money for the American Heart Association through her daughter's participation in Jump Rope for Heart) I got an anonymous comment on my blog. Since this isn't a public blog (meaning you can't Google it and find it--you have to be a family member, friend, or friend of a friend to access it), I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed that he or she didn't leave a name. However, I'm so delighted that someone has asked some questions that instead of posting it (I have this thing about posting truly anonymous comments), I'm going to reply to it in this post.

First, let me quote Michael Pollan from the interview by Amy Goodman (Michael Pollan: Don't Eat Anything That Doesn't Rot):

Goodman: Let's talk about the diseases of Western civilization.

Pollan: The Western diseases, which -- they were named that about a hundred years ago by a medical doctor named Denis Burkitt, an Englishman, who noted that there -- after the Western diet comes to these countries where he had spent a lot of time in Africa and Asia, a series of Western diseases followed, very predictably: obesity, diabetes, heart disease and a specific set of cancers. And he said, well, they must have this common origin, because we keep seeing this pattern.

And we've known this for a hundred years, that if you eat this Western diet, which is defined basically as -- I mean, we all know what the Western diet is, but to reiterate it, it's lots of processed food, lots of refined grain and pure sugar, lots of red meat and processed meats, very little whole grains, very little fresh fruits and vegetables. That's the Western diet -- it's the fast-food diet -- that we know it leads to those diseases. About 80 percent of heart disease, at least as much Type II diabetes, 33 to 40 percent cancers all come out of eating that way, and we know this. And the odd thing is that it doesn't seem to discomfort us that much.

***

And now for the comment:

"There are real conditions that eating or drinking won't have an impact on. Do you have friends or family that have chronic conditions who you tell to drink more juice? Has eating healthy ever really stopped cancer from progressing?"

First, "There are real conditions that eating or drinking won't have an impact on."

True. The first condition that comes to mind is Down's Syndrome. While it's true that a child with Down's Syndrome will always have Down's unless divinely healed through prayer (I know of a case of this actually happening--the man was healed, but his features remained the same. He's a worship leader named Davi in Brazil. Several people from my fellowship have met and interacted with him.)

However, my friends Lindsay and Lisa have both seen the benefits of feeding whole foods to their children with Down's. Lindsay's dad actually reversed his Type 2 diabetes by radically changing his diet. Her step-brother has Celiac disease (which is believed to be inherited), so between her father's lifestyle changes and her brother's food sensitivities, her whole family has seen dramatic examples of what can happen when you pay attention to what you eat.

I'm sure there are many more cases of conditions that are not treatable through diet; however, I also believe that there are far more conditions that are treatable, but conventional medicine has yet to make the connection (remember when conventional medicine would "bleed" people?).

For example, most people with asthma might not make the connection between asthmatic symptoms and dairy consumption. I encourage you to read Robyn's story (Green Smoothie Girl). She writes, "As our four children came along in less than seven years, each one had health problems: all four had asthma from the time they were babies, and two of them were in and out of doctors’ offices and even the hospital. I was often up all night with my oldest son, watching him turn blue and struggling for breath. I began to have panic attacks and insomnia and didn’t dare leave him alone sleeping . . . In effect, diet DID cure athsma. It’s still there as an inherent weakness, but we are essentially symptom free except for a mild, day-long cough accompanying a cold, approximately once a year. No more children turning blue, no more sleepless nights, no more panic attacks and racing to the hospital. I’ve shared my experience with a number of others who have seen equally miraculous results from simple changes."

Victoria Boutenko "embarked on a diet of entirely raw foods in 1994, when we became seriously ill. Victoria had arrhythmia and edema and was obese and depressed. Igor [her husband] suffered from painful rheumatoid arthritis and had severe hyperthyroid. Sergei [her son] was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and was supposed to go on insulin. Valya [her daughter] had asthma. You can read their miraculous and compelling story HERE. (I really, really encourage you to read it.)

Sara at Happy Foody--who, by the way, is on a raw food kick--I don't believe healthy people need to go all raw or completely eliminate meat or dairy, but I do believe that Americans could greatly benefit from adding a lot more raw foods into their diet and eating a lot less meat and pasteurized dairy--has these two very appropriate quotes on her website:

"It is easier to change a man's religion than to change his diet." --Margaret Mead

"I don't understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open and put them on cholesterol lowering drugs for the rest of their lives." -- Dean Ornish, MD

OK, on to the first question:

Do you have friends or family that have chronic conditions who you tell to drink more juice?

Not that I know of. I actually don't recommend drinking juice at all. For me, juice is dessert. And I only have dessert a couple times a week.

I have friends and acquaintances who have benefited from juicing whole, raw vegetables and fruits, and I definitely recommend getting several of your fruit and vegetable servings in the form of a green smoothie in the morning. Our dear friend Todd was bed-ridden for months with no confirmed clinical diagnosis. He suspects he picked up a parasite while overseas. After his wife did some voracious reading and began pumping him full of whole, raw foods and raw, homemade juices, he is now 100% healed, healthy, and hilarious.

Which brings me to the third question:

Has eating healthy ever really stopped cancer from progressing?

YES! Have you ever heard of Anne Frahm? Cancer and cancer treatments had literally eaten her body alive. This is a quote from the back of her book A Cancer Battle Plan:

By the time Anne Frahm found out she had cancer, it had already spread from her breast to her shoulder, ribs, skull, and pelvic bone, and had eaten a stress fracture into her spine. Like most victims of the disease, her first response was to pursue all the traditional treatments--surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. But the end result turned out to be just another hopeless prognosis: The disease was still present in her bone marrow. It seemed a matter of time before her 35 year old body would succumb. That's when Anne discovered the connection between cancer and nutrition. Carefully researching the medical basis of her discovery, she formulated a comprehensive nutritional battle plan. Within five weeks of implementing her plan, a balanced program of detoxification and diet, her cancer disappeared without a trace. She has been cancer-free ever since.

Anne had been given weeks to live, but she managed to add 10 full years to her life by radically changing her diet and pursuing alternative treatments. Their story can be found HERE in an excerpt of a book they co-wrote called Reclaim Your Health: Nutritional Strategies for Conquering Ailments (50 Success Stories from people who are fighting Allergies, Cardiovascular Disease, Depression, Yeast Infections, Multiple Sclerosis, AIDS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lupus, Cancer, Arthritis, Diabetes, and more). For awesome testimonies from people that have been helped through their ministry Health Quarters, click HERE.

If you'd like to read an interview with Anne, click HERE. If you're interested in the letter her husband wrote after her death, you can check it out HERE. We own their book Healthy Habits: 20 Simple Ways to Improve Your Health. I highly recommend it. You can even read an excerpt on Amazon.

There are many, many cancer survivors with stories similar to Anne's. We have friends who have either been completely healed of cancer or who have added years to their lives after eliminating processed foods and dramatically increasing their vegetables and fruits, usually in the form of juicing and smoothies. I'm reminded of June, the mother of a former student, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. We prayed and prayed, and she juiced every vegetable known to mankind. I've tried (to no avail) to find the last update her husband sent on her progress. Suffice it to say, she was CANCER-FREE at her last check-up. Completely miraculous, given her prognosis.

In her book Let's Get Well (copyright 1965), Adelle Davis writes, "Unfortunately, our national diet becomes progressively worse each year; and the number of cancer-producing substances in our foods and environment steadily increases. It seems to me, therefore, that every form of malignancy can be expected to become more numerous, though the incidence of this disease in the United States is now greater than in any nation throughout all history" (p. 385) At the same time, Davis also states, " . . . anyone who keeps his resistance consistently high can be relatively sure of not contracting cancer" (p. 385).

David Frahm is of the same opinion. He says that we all have cancer cells in our bodies. That's not the problem. The problem is that we ignorantly supress our immune systems when we need to build them so that we're able to stave off cancer and other preventable diseases. (Side note: Did you know that much of your immune system is found in your digestive tract? Did you also know that sugar depresses the immune system? Just search for "sugar immune system" and you'll get all kinds of great info.)

So, yes, nutrition plays a critical role in our health and well-being. Obviously, there is more to good health than good nutrition (water, fresh air, sunshine, exercise, physical touch, friends, healing emotional wounds, forgiveness, prayer, rest, and as my midwife says "trust in God.") Since some friends of mine and I recently had a little discussion about it, I'll also add that I stay away from chemical cleaners, which includes disinfectants and antibacterial products. As Ruth Yaron of Super Baby Food writes "their purpose is to kill living things."

Whew. That was quite a manifesto.

I received an e-mail today from an old friend (the one who dubbed me Her Royal Excitedness) and I was thinking as I headed to the compost bin with a million clementine peels (James and Judah ate 5 lbs of clementines in 4 days!) that I have always been Her Royal Excitedness. Always full of enthusiasm, passion, and zeal. Always eager to research, write, speak, teach . . . share. So, I don't expect that much will change in the next 33 years. I'll still be reading, writing, speaking, teaching, sharing . . . will all the fervor and energy that I have now.

Oh, and I also remembered that when I was diagnosed with the colitis problem that I wasn't willing to change my diet. I checked out books from the library trying to diagnose myself (I knew I was battling endometriosis and requested the laparoscopic surgery), when I came across The Yeast Connection. All of my symptoms matched, but again, I was absolutely unwilling to change how I ate. It wasn't until Judah started showing interest in what I was eating that things changed. That was only a little over three years ago. It all started with eliminating partially hydrogenated oils, which by the way, according to a scientist friend, "confuse the body." He suggested avoiding them at all costs. He also recommended eating more greens. So there you go.

If you want to start out small (like we did), read labels and get rid of everything that's partially hydrogenated. Then, increase your salad and/or green smoothie intake. Those two changes alone will make a world of difference.

If you've read this far, the Lord bless you. Good night.