Veganist_ Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World - Kathy Freston [40]
Remarkably, the cancer had reversed and stopped growing, and my excruciating bone pain went away. It’s been twenty-eight years, and I have not experienced another cancer flare-up. My reading of T. Colin Campbell’s work convinces me that my diet stopped my cancer. I have no other explanation—and neither did my oncologist.
I can’t remember how and when, but as I was going through the emotional and physical turmoil of grappling with cancer, I happened to see the Ironman Triathlon on television. I can’t recall just what my thinking was—looking back on it, I can’t begin to understand why I thought this would be a good idea—but somehow, I decided I had to do it. I’d been an athlete up until this time, and I knew I could handle the running. So really, I thought, why not tack on a 2.4 mile swim and 112-mile bike ride?
Obviously, my cancer and cholesterol level gave me pause. And my age gave me even more pause—could a late-forties cancer survivor really complete this ultratriathlon, said to be one of the most grueling races in the world, done only by crazies? But I’d been devouring information on diet and health, and I was convinced that a vegan diet was the healthiest one imaginable, and that it would power me through. Regardless, I wanted to try; if it worked, I’d be able to tell everyone I met that my diet not only beat back my cancer, but it gave me the energy to compete in one of the toughest imaginable physical endeavors.
Since my diagnosis in 1982, I have completed the Ironman event six times, setting age-group records in the process. I’ve run sixty-seven marathons, and I’ve won nearly 1,000 gold medals (including eight in the Senior Olympics). And I’ve been declared by Living Fit magazine to be “one of the ten fittest women in North America.” I have a fitness age of thirty-two.
In addition to the fact that I feel spectacular and have boundless energy on my vegan diet, I also want to briefly discuss osteoporosis. I have a history of this bone-degenerating disease on both sides of my family, so I’ve paid attention to it. What I have learned from the scientific studies is that the best way to prevent osteoporosis—by far—is to exercise. I wasn’t surprised to learn, but am pleased to say that from the age of forty-seven to age sixty-four, my bone density increased significantly with each test—it’s because of all the exercise I get.
Additionally, the arthritis that developed in my thirties vanished, and I was able to stop taking Naprosyn, the drug that doctors told me I’d be taking for the rest of my life. My joints today not only are not arthritic, but I actually do my own daily mini-triathlon as part of my regular training.
As someone who is so deeply convinced both that bad diets can kill us and that good diets can keep us healthy, I’ve been dispirited by the deafening silence of the medical community to the overwhelming scientific evidence in support of the work of Dr. Mc Dougall, Dr. Esselstyn, Dr. Campbell, and others. I am pleased that Dr. Mehmet Oz has become famous preaching the diet gospel, but the information has yet to get to the masses.
And that’s why I tell my story to everyone who will listen—because I think that if the world understood the link between diet and health, as well as how tasty and exciting vegan eating can be, there would be a food revolution… tomorrow.
You might want to check out some of Dr. John McDougall’s best-selling books; they are extremely helpful and informative. He’s a physician whose focus is healing the body through vegetarian cuisine, and he has many success stories that support his research. Dr. McDougall also has a ten-day residential program designed to turn your health around and give you a new program for eating and living.