A cancer survivor boosts her natural cancer-fighting abilities by making some basic changes to her lifestyle. Simple? Angie Mezzetti finds out more
'Good health is not rocket science and you can make a real difference to your diet without getting a degree in nutrition," says Bernadette Bohan who is receiving calls and e-mails from Japan, Canada and New Zealand in response to her book, The Choice, which was published early last month and has just reached number three in the bestsellers list.
The book is in two parts. The first is a personal moving story of a battle with cancer of the lymph glands followed by recovery, and then by a much wanted pregnancy (advised against by the medical profession) followed by a second and more difficult episode of breast cancer. It describes Bohan's journey through her treatment and how she helped her recovery through nutrition and exercise. The second shorter part is a concise version of her programme which she has distilled from voracious reading on everything to do with health maintenance and giving your body the best chance when fighting cancer. "This is what you do when you are staring into an abyss," she says.
It is written in a direct, accessible way and every line of it is bedded in common sense. There are lots of tender moments which show the impact her cancer had on her two older children and later on her "miracle baby" and her relationship with her husband, siblings and friends.
She doesn't discount the importance of the medical help and treatment she received from doctors but, through her reading and search for knowledge on the web and elsewhere, she believes she was able to assist her body's natural cancer-fighting abilities. She is also living proof of her own recommendations.
Early on in the book she describes a scene where a nurse gave her one of the worst pieces of advice on reading books about cancer with the line, "You don't want to go there - you will only end up frightening yourself." Thankfully Bohan ignored this advice and while her own book is a little scary at times with vivid descriptions of how the chemotherapy and other treatments affected her, she has laid down a challenge for all of us who ideally would like to change simply.
Already Bohan's converts from her talks and TV appearances have started going through their shampoos and toothpastes looking at the labels in search of what she describes as harmful chemicals like sodium laurel sulphate and propylene glycol aluminium and fluoride in order to eliminate them from their shelves.
But how can we get clean water from our taps, get fruit and vegetables that aren't covered with gluey stickers and chemicals and surrender time to actually make our own food?
The areas where everyone can change simply she believes are through juicing, giving your body truly clean water, using what she describes as powerful foods - things you can add to your diet to make it stronger at fighting disease such as newly sprouted seedlings (from health food shops) packed with nutrients, food supplements such as fatty acids and enzymes and probiotics. She grows her own sprouts in small tubs on her windowsill and gives tips on how to slip them into the daily diet of suspicious children and spouses.
"Changing simply" in theory may be simple but is not always going to be easy or cheap initially. Buying a juicer will cost €550 to €600 for the masticating one she recommends and a distilled water or reverse osmosis water filtration system will cost €580 installed. Both items may need more counter space in the kitchen as the juicer is the size of a standard microwave and the water filtration system has a four litre capacity that sits near the tap. More time and thought is going to have to go into food and drink preparation if you are to follow her programme but, like Bohan, if you are staring into an abyss and you have everything to live for, cost is not the primary concern.
All you need is the willpower to make the choice and give your body what it needs to get itself well again.
The Choice, published by Harper Collins, costs €13.99. Fresh N Pure costs €315 (water filtration) and the Greenstar juicer begins at around €550. These are from www.naturalife.ie. Bernadette Bohan's own website is www.changesimply.com