I ain’t gonna lie: I am in a GOOD space right now.
We just left the doctor’s office in Marina Del Mar and for the second time this year, my PSA has gone DOWN, not up. I cannot describe the elation of hearing this news from my oncologist. I’ve been off hormone therapy for almost 20 months and it looks like I’ll be hormone-treatment free for at least two years. The feedback from my doctor: “Keep doing whatever is you are doing!” Well, OK!
Since I have not been on any cancer treatment for almost 2 years, I can’t give credit to medical intervention for the slowdown of my cancer. What I HAVE done in the last two years is focus on eliminating processed foods and added fats in the form of oils from my diet. In addition to eating a whole-food, plant-based diet (WFPB), Mindy and I have been intermittent fasting. This year, I have fasted (on and off, including 8 days at the True North Health Center in Santa Rosa, CA) a total of 17 days. Each time I have completed a fast and started re-feeding with fresh whole foods, I feel 10 years younger.
Various forms of water-only fasting is going to be a part of my life going forward. The downside? None.
The upside coupled with a WFPB diet? Feeling younger with more physical and mental energy. Period.
So, we were plowing up the East Coast and found ourselves at PCRM in Washington, DC again. I am writing a book on my personal cancer journey and since much of my book is about my transition to becoming a WFPB eater, I want to include the thoughts of those in the scientific community who have helped me THRIVE despite cancer. What better person to start with than Dr. Neal Barnard, President and founder of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Mindy and I had an incredible interview with Dr. Barnard in which we discussed the state of cancer treatment in our country. Stay tuned for this one-on-one with Dr. Barnard (we will release this on our email service first. Are you on our email list? If not, join here.) The same day, Mindy and I were honored to be featured guests on the PCRM Exam Room podcast hosted by the great Chuck Carroll. If you haven’t heard Chuck, here is your chance. He is best known for his pointed one-on-one interviews with the thought leaders of plant-based nutrition, but he wanted to hear and share our story. Listen to it now.
From PCRM, we then drove to Cornell University, where we had a chance to interview another giant in the world of plant-based nutrition: Dr. T. Colin Campbell. We spent a few hours with Dr. Campbell, again with the focus on diet and cancer treatment, as well as recurrence. No one has done more research on cancer and diet than Dr. Campbell, and he was more than gracious in spending two hours with us answering our questions and reflecting on his incredible body of work to date. We left that meeting and discussion with a tremendous feeling of gratitude, purpose, and positivity.
So here I sit in a Holiday Inn in Carlsbad, CA with a good blood test in my pocket, and the beginnings of a new book that I hope will shed light on the importance of diet and lifestyle after treatment and AFTER recurrence of cancer. There is nowhere else I’d rather be. A purpose-driven life is the ONLY life for me.