Our Protocols for Eating

To begin to summarize the directives that we have read and received after hundreds of hours of instruction is daunting to say the least, but I thought it would be helpful to try to answer some FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) to shed light for folks wanting to help us through this next stage of our lives.

What does being a vegan mean?

A vegan is an individual who has chosen for many different reasons to only eat what is referred to as a plant based diet.  That means not eating anything that comes from animal sources.  It means not eating milk or milk products like cheese, butter, ice cream etc, eggs, fish, or meat.  

Why are you choosing to be a vegan?

Well, that is hard to answer and easy.  The easy answer is I received a diagnosis of stage 2, grade 3, Her2+ invasive lobular and ductal carcinoma to be exact.  The harder part of the answer includes trying to summarize a HUGE experience in a few words...which is just impossible.  After having surgery to remove the tumor we went to the Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, FL and had a 3 week intensive experience which they refer to as their life transformation experience.  It was indeed that!  We spent approximately 30 hours weekly in lecture and demonstration classes and ate only raw vegan food while there.  It was a lot like boot camp (according to Gil). Among many other things we learned was that a raw vegan diet is probably the most detoxifying diet we can eat, we removed at least 60% of the toxins in our bodies in just the 3 weeks we were there.  It is also very anti inflammatory, which is good medicine for anyone suffering from any of the major illnesses Americans struggle with: diabetes, heart disease, cancer and inflammatory bowel disease.  I do not wish to get into the nuances of this way of life here but we felt called to pursue this diet and lifestyle change in an effort to facilitate as much healing as possible.  It has been remarkably successful as far as it goes.  It is also the one common denominator in all the anti-cancer diets we have researched: Plant Based Diet is what can prevent and help to reverse disease in many cases.

What does it mean to be a raw vegan?

Well as they say at Hippocrates:  “It is not the food in your life, it is the life in your food!”  When we cook vegetable based food we kill all of the digestive enzymes that make it easy for us to digest and process our food, along with all the anti-oxidants, aka cancer fighters, a ton of the micro and macro nutrients and vitamins.  We try to eat as much of our food raw as possible, but that amounts to about 70%-80% raw.  We do cook some beans, and wild rice and some soups and some marinara sauces which are obviously not raw but they are vegan, because let’s face it, sometimes you just want something warm;)  Also, in living in the real world, we do eat out, and although we are learning how to eat vegan, it is far harder finding places out where we can be raw vegan, so we think it is a good compromise.

Where do you get your protein?

This without question is the most commonly asked, and unasked but wondered, question we hear.  As professionals in the horticulture industry with university degrees in both horticulture and ecology education and university coursework in foods and nutrition we were stunned to realize that even we did not know that you CAN, in fact, receive complete proteins from plants.  It just depends on the plants and the stage of their development.  Gilbert remembers musing as a university student how is it that we can’t get all the protein we need from plants?  He knew that the seeds contained all the amino-acids required for life and so why couldn’t we get all the amino-acids/proteins we needed from plants?  Well, we can.  Sprouts are the amazing performers when it comes to protein in plant based diets.  That is why we are working so hard to be indoor as well as outdoor farmers.  Gilbert is our family’s farmer.  He grows in our newly established indoor farm, in order of their nutritional value: 

  • wheatgrass 
  • sunflower sprouts
  • pea sprouts
  • broccoli sprouts (the king of cancer killers)
  • garbanzo bean sprouts (makes a killer hummus;)
  • and a number of others from time to time. 

We used to think of sprouts as a garnish to an otherwise completed dish.  Now they are often the center piece of our meal or at least an equal player.  Legumes, nuts, quinoa, and dark green leafy vegetables are other big players in the plant based protein profile.

Why do you eat organic and what does that mean exactly?

We teach a workshop on this very subject, so I could go on a bit about it, but essentially when you have cancer (and even when I didn’t have cancer) you want to make sure you are eating the cleanest food you can.  All our immune systems work really hard to keep us healthy.  When we over tax it with foods that have been doused with toxic pesticides it doesn’t have the resources to help us fight battles on other fronts, like getting rid of cancer, or the common cold for that matter.  Now more than ever I eat ONLY organic food when I am home, because I know when I go out that it is rarely possible.  Organic means that it has been certified (using USDA guide lines) to not be GMO (Genetically Modified Organism), it has never had pesticides used on it and the soil it was grown in is clear of pesticides and contaminants.

I could never grow my own food, that is fine for you because you are horticulturists, but it is too much work, why go to all the trouble?

Well, it is true that we are plant people and have been growing food, trees and flowers for over 40 years, but there is more to it than that, especially now.  Aside from the fact that it is really not that hard to grow at least a small portion of your own food, it is immensely satisfying and healing to do so.  Did you know that when you plant a seed with your own hands and till the soil, possibly dropping your perspiration in the soil while planting or weeding, you share your DNA with the plants you will eat.  When you do that you actually are giving the plant information that allows it to provide you with the exact medicine you need for healing.* How cool is that?  Even a pot with a cherry tomato plant in it can be very rewarding and healing or one with fresh herbs.  Growing our own food has been proven to create healing in our bodies and minds.  It is a lovely thing that keeps us connected to our planet in some fundamental ways.  * The Green Pharmacy, James Duke, PhD

What is the big deal about eating sugar?

Sugar consumption has become an epidemic in our culture and we get sugar from many sources we are not even aware of.  After coming home from the Hippocrates Institute in Florida I went to the grocery store and spent at least 30 minutes in the cereal aisle looking for a brand of cereal that was organic, non-GMO and without sugar.  The cereal aisle in any grocery store is one of the biggest with the most choices and yet I could only find two options for us.  Mainly because almost every single cereal was loaded with some kind of sugar: honey, high fructose corn syrup, agave, cane sugar, and on and on.  It was a discouraging afternoon.  Avoiding sugar and foods that act like sugar in the body, like highly refined flours or fruit juices is vitally important as a cancer patient.  Every cancer cell has about 18 sugar receptors and a healthy normal cell has about 2.  Cancer LOVES sugar and the more we eat it the more it feeds the beast.  In an effort to maintain the highest nutritive health I can I am currently choosing to avoid ALL refined sugars.  Yes, I miss sugar!  I miss ice cream, and chocolate cake, and cookies and my bees’ honey and jam on english muffins, etc, etc, etc, however, if it is a choice between a good healthy life and sugar I am choosing life.  Needless to say it is good to help our bodies fight other diseases too, like diabetes, heart disease, inflammation, etc.  So although I know sugar comes in all forms, even fruits and vegetables, right now I am avoiding all the refined sugars that don’t come in their original plant packages;).

Can we eat bread and/or gluten?

Technically no! We do make a few exceptions to this rule but basically bread is a real addiction for me.  So I am only doing it once or twice a week in smaller quantities.  Gluten is not so good, even though we do not show any sensitivities to gluten it does get clogged in the digestive tract and as a result creates a strain on the immune system.  

What CAN you eat?

We asked the same question when we first started this protocol.  It felt like every food we loved was eliminated.  Do not lose heart!  We have discovered there is a wide range of options and they contain many of our favorites.  Keeping in mind that we strive for 100% organic we include:

  • ANY and all vegetables are completely ok. We go very lightly on potatoes. 
  • Most fruits, especially berries and grapefruit, both of which have great cancer fighting anti-oxidants. Apples, lemons, limes, gogi berries, grapes, in moderation are all on the OK list.
  • We eat wild and brown rices.
  • We eat nut butters, as long as they are made from organic raw nuts.
  • We are lovers of olive oil and other nut and seed oils, also organic.
  • Legumes
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Quinoa
  • Seaweed