100 Perks of Having Cancer: Plus 100 Health Tips for Surviving It (77 page)

listened to Kriss.) Let’s just say that I had pains in my stomach akin to the

early stages of labor. It just did not sit well, and, eventually, despite my best

efforts to keep it down, I puked. So ended my crazy, not-so-sexy diet.

I recently met a cancer survivor from Prince Edward Island who told

me that not only does she grow her own vegetables, but she also raises her

own livestock so that she can be sure her food is completely organic. I

briefly considered doing that. But, hey, I am the type of person who picks

worms up off the sidewalk with my bare hands and puts them back in the

dirt. I am pretty sure that, come slaughter time, I would have bonded with

Ole Bessie. In fact, she would probably be sleeping at the foot of my bed.

No, that diet would not work for me.

So I have taken the middle road. I have nearly eliminated meat-based foods

and sugar from my diet and increased the fruits, veggies, beans, and lentils. This

is a diet I can live with. The only issue arises when I go out to a restaurant.

On one such occasion, my teens, Kaitlyn and Donovan, and I decided

I 323 J

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100 Perks of Having Cancer

to eat out, nothing fancy, but a treat all the same. The menu wasn’t exactly

vegetarian-friendly, but they did offer a nice spinach salad, which would fit

well with my healthy diet. I practiced my order in my mind, “A spinach

salad with raspberry vinaigrette on the side and a glass of water, please.”

Service was slow, and all around me I could see other people with their

mounds of nachos, mountains of fries, and baskets of wings. I tut-tutted in

my mind, all the while practicing my order, “A spinach salad with raspberry

vinaigrette on the side and a glass of water, please,” getting hungrier and

hungrier as time went by. Finally, the waitress came to take our order. “I’ll

have a large fish and chips and a glass of red wine,” I heard a voice blurt

out.
Oh My God!
That was my voice. Kaitlyn said, “Mom, are you sure you

want to do this? You know how finicky your stomach is.” I gave her my most

solemn look and said, “Kaitlyn, I’m willing to risk it.”

Eat healthy, but don’t beat yourself up

if you have a treat from time to time.

HEALTH TIP #77

If Bill Clinton (aka I’ll-Have-a-Shake-with-

That-Burger) Can Eat Healthy, Anyone Can!

Y
es,
that
Bill Clinton. The one who could be seen taking a break in the

middle of his morning jog to inhale two egg sandwiches with extra

cheese.

All it took was some chest pain and a couple of heart procedures to

make him realize that his fast-food diet was killing him—fast. With the help

and guidance of some experts, Bill has learned to follow a 100 percent plant-

based diet and exercises regularly. Since becoming a vegan, he has dropped

20 pounds and said his cholesterol is perfect and he feels great. He may

also be on his way to
reversing
his heart disease.

I have been eating vegetarian-like for the past six years and 99 percent

vegan-like for the past two (I am a sucker for a nice piece of wild salmon on

Perk #77: Cancer Redefined My Relationship with Food

325

occasion). I can honestly say that, not only do I feel great, I feel great without

sacrificing wonderfully delicious food. The #1 question people ask is, “Where

do you get your protein?”—as if meat and dairy were the only sources of pro-

tein on the planet. Stealing a line from several vegans, I say, “I get my protein

the same place a 400-pound gorilla gets his: plants.” There is plenty of protein

in all foods: in vegetables, fruits, seeds, grains, nuts, and legumes. And I have

hundreds of plant-based foods to combine to make thousands of satisfying

recipes! (And tofu does not have to be in a single one!)

Of course, once Oprah found out that Bill and I had gone vegan, she

decided to jump on the bandwagon as well. Recently, an episode of the Oprah

show aired in which she challenged her entire staff to “go vegan” for one week.

Three hundred and seventy-eight members of her staff accepted the chal-

lenge to eliminate animal products from their diet: no meat, fish, dairy,

eggs, or honey for seven days. Also avoided was anything artificial, including

sweeteners, flavors, color, preservatives, MSG, and chemicals.

For some, it was a real challenge. There was one staffer who had basically

lived on junk food and fast food her whole life. She said that about three

days into the vegan diet, she “went into fast-food withdrawal” where she

felt physically sick, but after that day, and after staying with the diet, she

just kept feeling better and better and actually has committed to “going

vegan” from that point on. She reports that she has more energy, is sleeping

better, and (not to gross anyone out) she poops every day now, instead of

once every eight days! (Sounds to me like she was full of sh*t!)

Oprah brought up some startling statistics:

●
75% of all healthcare dollars are spent on diet-related illnesses.

●
10 billion animals are slaughtered each year in the United States alone

(10 billion seconds ago it was the year 1559 . . . just to give you some

perspective).

●
Our diets have changed more in the last 100 years than in the last 10,000

years because of all the processed food, additives, preservatives, and

chemical components.

The biggest thing people thought they would have a problem with was

giving up their favorite foods like tacos, burgers, and pizza. But with the

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100 Perks of Having Cancer

help of Oprah’s guest, Kathy Freston, they learned that they can have their

favorite things transformed into healthy vegan items, and they would actu-

ally taste great!

Kathy Freston, bestselling author and wellness expert, showed that any

animal product you eat has a plant-based substitute. But the philosophy of

eating vegan is not to make “vegan chicken nuggets,” but to make you aware

of what you are putting into your body and really fuel your body with qual-

ity wholesome foods that will enhance your life and prevent illness. Tech-

nically, potato chips and soda are vegan, but you don’t have to be a health

expert to know that they are not exactly healthy.

In one part of the show, the camera crew went into the house of an

Oprah staff member. She took all the products that contained animal sub-

stances out of her fridge. She was left with a bottle of mustard

Does the term
vegan

and a jar of olives. That really made her realize that most of

scare you? Then just

what she ate contained animal products. It was this realization

use the friendlier

that made her want to change—even if it was just a small

term:
plant-based
.

change.

It offers some

So . . . what’s my beef with beef?

“dietary wiggle

One of the problems with animal products is the quality.

room” and usually

Cattle, milk cows, and other farm animals are naturally designed

doesn’t invoke an

to graze on grass, get fresh air, and move freely. Once upon a

“Oh, one of

time, farms had pastures and green meadows for cattle grazing.

THOSE” response.

Today, industrialized farms operate on quantity, not quality. Fac-

tory farms—or the correct term, Confined Animal Feeding Oper-

ations (CAFOs)—are not conducive to healthy animal life. CAFOs use

low-dose antibiotics to control the infection risk that overcrowding pro-

duces. Instead of grazing on green pastures, the feed consists of animal

byproducts, GMOs (genetically modified organisms), pesticide-laden corn,

and arsenic-laced chicken feathers. (Chickens are fed arsenic poison to affect

growth rates. The arsenic-laced feathers can be fed to cattle as fillers in feed.)

Besides the quality, there is evidence that red meat protein and saturated

fat (meat fat) increase the risk of cancers. The American Cancer Society’s

most current recommendation for nutrition to reduce risk of cancer encour-

ages “limiting red meat.” Here’s how my brain works: if less is better, none

is better-er.

Perk #77: Cancer Redefined My Relationship with Food

327

At the end of the show, some of the staff were interviewed. Out of the

three hundred and seventy-eight staffers that ate vegan for one week, a

collective four hundred and forty-four pounds were lost. One guy lost eleven

pounds in just that one week! He said he was really skeptical at first and

really thought he was going to hate the food, but said he was surprised at

how good it tasted and now he is feeling better than he has felt in his entire

life. He remained vegan after the show’s experiment.

Some said they couldn’t give up all of their favorite animal-

Making small

product foods, but eating that way for the week really made them

changes in your diet

realize just how much animal product they were ingesting, and

and moving toward

most said they are going to cut down on their intake and would

plant-based foods

definitely start paying attention to what was in their food.

has many health

Here’s a suggestion, for starters: Take one or two days in the

benefits including

week and try to eat plant-based for those days. Then you could

reducing your risk

add days in the week if you choose, as you get more used to the

of cancer.

idea.

As for Oprah, she said she still needs to eat her eggs (but she gets them

from a farm across the street so she can see how the chickens live and what

they eat). She did say, however, that the show made her think about what

she is putting into her body, and she challenged the viewers to adopt a

“vegan-ish” attitude about their diets. (Vegan-ish equals Plant-based.)

“If we can’t all be vegans, let’s at least try to be vegan-ish,” she said.

Oprah, how did you get so smart? Maybe her plant-based eating is

boosting her brainpower.

We all want to feel good and live better. Eating a plant-based diet is one

way to accomplish that goal. Pay attention to what you eat today. Read the

labels. How much of it is animal product?

For some help with getting started on a plant-based diet, and informa-

tion into the benefits, check out the following books and website:

●
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition,
by Julieanna Hever, MS,

RD, CPT

●
The China Study,
by T. Colin Campbell, PhD

●
www.KathyFreston.com