|
When a close friend learned that I had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, she called and offered to sponsor my wife and me to a two-week workshop on eating healthy. I delayed my cancer treatment, to the displeasure of my oncologist, and went to North Carolina. After just 3 days of teaching DVDs and lectures I was convinced that the standard cancer treatment was not for me. It was not a question of fear but of good sense. Cancer treatment offers a bit more time but does not offer any hope for cure. According to the medical profession, multiple myeloma (bone cancer) is incurable As far as I was concerned, I had nothing to lose and everything to gain by creating the conditions for my body to heal itself. In other words, good nutrition, exercise and avoiding things that promote cancer like cheese, for example(!) create the conditions for the body to do what God had created it to do—to heal itself. I might point out here that one of my degrees is in Descriptive Linguistics. I have been trained to look at cause and effect and to evaluate the evidence. So every quarter I have been having lab tests to tract my progress or lack of progress. Is the standard cancer treatment really the only option? So why Veganism? Some people choose to be vegan for environmental, or ethical reasons—save the animals and so on-- but my reason for going vegan was purely for better health. What is a Vegan? Vegans are vegetarians, only more so. They do not eat meat, fish or poultry, nor their by-products : eggs, and dairy products, including cheese. I said I have chosen a vegan life style for health reasons but is a vegan diet healthy? With proper planning, a vegan diet is actually healthier than the Standard American Diet (SAD). In fact, countries that have adopted our Standard American Diet (SAD) have only had more heart attacks, more cancer, more high blood pressure and so on! In 1996 the American Dietetic Association reported that vegan and vegetarian diets significantly reduce our risk of contracting heart disease, colon and lung cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, kidney disease, hypertension and obesity, just to name a few. Advertising and the food industry have lead us to believe that we have to have “protein” that only meat products provide to survive. However, we can get protein from plants like legumes, soy foods, and nuts. Grains and vegetables also contain protein. We need to eat a variety of protein sources throughout the day, for examples, beans, tofu, or peanuts--I eat a few almonds during the day—and foods such as rice, corn, or whole wheat breads or pastas. Whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans, are low in fat, contain no cholesterol, and are rich in fiber and nutrients. As vegans we get all the protein we need from legumes (beans and peanuts, for examples) and grains (rice, corn, whole wheat breads and pastas, for examples). Broccoli, kale, collard greens, tofu, fortified juices and soy milks all have more than enough calcium. Chickpeas, spinach, pinto beans, and soy products have plenty of iron and we can get B12 from fortified foods, for example Red Star Nutritional yeast, or with supplements--B-12 vitamin pills are available at almost any drug store. I try hard to have a vegan diet is satisfying and varied. I usually have vegetables, plenty of leafy greens as salads, whole grain products, nuts, seeds, and legumes. I have less fruit because I am diabetic. Once I went on this diet/lifestyle I lost weight, had more energy and, a byproduct, my skin got healthier! Is it hard to go vegan? It can be if you have to go it alone. My wife is healthy, no cancer or other health issues but she has chosen to adopt this diet for two reasons: to support me and because it is a healthy way to eat! It can also be hard to adjust to a vegan diet if you try to maintain too high a standard at first. I went totally off all meat right from the start but I still enjoy Mexican cooking and have bean burritos instead of meat. I have a vegetarian pizza sometimes and it has cheese but I ask them to cut back on that item. I need to enjoy my food! If that means being less strict then I do so—but not overboard. Barbecue is out, so is fried anything—sometimes I cheat and have some French fries. Every quarter I have lab tests to monitor my cancer. The tests show that the number of cancer cells have been steadily decreasing and I still have no outward symptoms of bone cancer. But I keep a close eye on my health and what I eat. Here are some common foods that I can eat as a vegan: Oatmeal, stir-fried vegetables, cereal, toast, orange juice, almond butter on whole wheat bread,, lentil soup, hummus, salad bar items like chickpeas and three bean salad, dates, apples, macaroni, popcorn, (non-refined) spaghetti, vegetarian baked beans, guacamole, bean chili. I have to be careful with frozen fruit desserts and fruit smoothies because of my diabetic condition. Some vegans enjoy tofu lasagna, and such things as soy hot dogs and vegetable burgers but I have been hard pressed to find ones I like.
|
Vegan lifestyle 
