So I read a couple of books, and ideas were starting to form in my mind.  I bought another book:

What to Eat if You Have Cancer – Healing Foods That Boost Your Immune System by Daniella Chace

and watched some movies:

Forks Over Knives

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

Food, Inc.

It was Forks Over Knives that really convinced me that a whole foods, plant-based diet (their terminology for a vegan diet) was the healthiest choice I could make for myself.  They never use the word “vegan” in the movie interestingly enough.  I suppose they don’t want to make any judgments about lifestyle or ethics.  The movie does show some footage of animal testing, and summarizes the results of reports done on animals.  There is a small segment that touches on the effect factory farming has on the environment, but for the most part the film focuses on health issues.

The doctors and researchers in this documentary are truly groundbreakers in the field, in my opinion:

• T. Colin Campbell
• Caldwell B. Esselstyn
• Neal Barnard
• Junshi Chen
• Matthew Lederman
• Alona Pulde
• John McDougall

There are case studies of 10 or so patients who were severely ill, and with changes in diet were able to stop or reverse their illnesses.  I found these studies and the interviews with the actual people to be very compelling.  The most inspirational to me is Ruth Heidrich.

Ruth is a six-time Ironman Triathlon finisher who has won more than 900 medals in races around the world, including more than 60 marathons. Now in her 70s, Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 40s.

Ruth had a mastectomy, and had to then decide whether to continue with chemotherapy and radiation.  She went to see Dr. McDougall, and with his help and from reading his research, she decided not to pursue any further treatment, but to switch to a plant based diet.  That was almost 30 years ago, and she is still running, swimming and cycling, and competing in triathlons.  She does call herself a vegan.

I am not advising that changing one’s diet rather than using medical interventions can reverse cancer or any disease.  This is a personal choice that one must make with their doctor.  I certainly would never have declined the surgery to remove my tumor, but now that the cancer is gone I do not want it to come back, and I also do not want to develop any other typical American diseases – heart disease, diabetes, etc.  Just wanted to make that clear.

Ruth was it.  I decided then and there to change my diet.  Cold turkey (I hate that phrase!)  On August 20, 2011 I completely cut out all animal products from my diet, and I have maintained this way of eating since.

I am in general an all or nothing person.  I don’t like to ease into things, and changing my lifestyle in this way was no exception.  Frankly it was not that difficult, because I had already cut out many other animal products from my diet.  What was left was:

• Dairy
• Eggs
• Poultry
• Fish

The hardest for me was eggs, not in their whole form, but eggs are in all baked goods.  So now I make and eat my own baked goods.  I have heard many people say that cheese is the hardest thing to give up, and there is some talk that it is in some way “addictive”, but I didn’t have any trouble with that.

So from August 20 until my surgery on September 9, I was extremely happy to be eating a vegan diet.  Not only for health purposes, but because I was relieved of all of the guilt I was carrying about killing animals for my own benefit.  How could I be a compassionate person and eat animals?  I couldn’t, and now that dilemma was over.

Things got difficult after the surgery, but that is a post for another day….