If you have been diagnosed with cancer

I received a comment from Kelly on one of my blogs and she asked me to tell her more about the role of macrobiotics in fighting cancer. I made some comments about nutrition with brief references to some research and to the Kushi Institute. Thinking about my response, I realised that there is a lot more that I would like to say to anybody that is diagnosed with cancer.

About ten years ago I hosted a bridal shower for my daughter. Among the guests was a woman in her fifties that I had not met before. She seemed quiet, very considerate, and gave my daughter a gift with a very poetic and beautiful note. There seemed to be an "aura" about her and people gravitated to her. I later learned that she had recently been diagnosed with terminal lymphoma.

Five years later I was diagnosed with breast cancer and soon after with asthma, bronchiectasis and ntm in my lungs. I was in shock and the first person I thought of was Ella, the woman I had met at my daughter's shower. She was healthy and well and spoke to me at length about her experience, about the alternative medical therapies she had researched, and her decision to become macrobiotic. I heard about a woman in Beijing, a dancer, who had cured herself from cancer by dancing for hours every day. My husband told me the story of somebody diagnosed with terminal cancer who loved comedy. Since he only had three months to live he locked himself up in a room and spent three months laughing and listening to comedy shows. He survived, cured by laughter. Unfortunately I am neither a dancer or a comedian. What was I to do?

I am extremely good at research. I decided to research cancer and my options very carefully before making a decision. I read The Cancer Prevention Diet by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack, but I was most impressed by The China Study by Colin Campbell. This was a survey of 12 types of cancer conducted by Cornell and Oxford Universities over a period of 20 years. The scope of the book was far-reaching.

Their conclusions were based on much research; things that I could understand and trust. Vitamin supplements are not a substitute for good nutrition. Good nutrition can prevent disease in its early stages and can halt or reverse it in its later stages. There are virtually no nutrients in animal-based foods that are not better provided by plants. Plant based foods contain no cholesterol. They linked low blood cholesterol levels to lower rates of heart disease and cancer. The average level of blood cholesterol in China was 100 points less than the American average. Traditional diets in rural China had a very low animal protein intake, 7.1gms per day whereas Americans average 70gms per day. They also found that rates of cancer and heart disease were extremely low in comparison with the US.

Breast cancer was linked to higher concentrations of estrogen in diets high in meat and dairy. Chinese women had about 40% of the estrogen exposure of the average American woman and about 1/5th the rate of breast cancer.

In summing up they recommended a diet low in meat and dairy, with sufficient amounts of sunshine in order to maintain a high level of vitamin D for proper regulation of the immune system and additional supplements of B12, if necessary. The diets of many traditional Chinese and Japanese were very similar to the macrobiotic diet. That, and Ella's support was what I needed. I became macrobiotic.

Since this study was published more work has been done on traditional diets. Many of these diets also seem to have lower rates of disease and some do include more meat and dairy. They do have much in common. Meat is not the focus of the meal. Food is minimally processed and often made from scratch. Caloric intake is lower. Meals are family occasions where food is eaten slowly and enjoyed.

So if you have been diagnosed with cancer or any other disease nutrition is an important first step. It does not have to be macrobiotics. As Michael Pollan said in his great book "In Defense of Food" ....".eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

Many stories have been published of people healing themselves from terminal disease. Scientific studies have not been able to prove it and doctors do not always believe it. We all understand the placebo effect, so utilising the mind to heal yourself is vital. Find something that you believe in, something that you love to do. For me it was macrobiotics, the preparation of simple meals made from scratch with organic, fresh foods for the body; yoga, meditation and growing my own food, for the mind. Whether it is dancing or laughing or just preparing and eating good food, find what works for you, what you truly believe in; then do it as though your life depends on it.

Da Farm

Posillipo Farm is the headquarters of Gomacro. We have been here eight years in a rural corner of Wisconsin close to the Kickapoo river; claimed by some to be the windingest small river in the world. In this area you have two choices of where to live; up on a ridge or down in a hollow. We are on a ridge, cooler in summer and warmer in winter and the wind blows.

We have an organic farm with 125 acres where we grow our own vegetables with a big orchard and practice a vegan macrobiotic hopefully sustainable lifestyle. September is a pretty busy time since everything in the garden seems to ripen at the same time. I spread the bounty but there are lot's of tomatoes, apples, pears, raspberries, cantaloupe, corn, onions etc. to take care of.




As you can see from the pictures gardening is my passion. I am out there every day, spring, summer and fall and still have a hard time keeping up.


We also like to think of this farm as a bird and animal sanctuary and we have put in a 3 acre prairie which is home to a lot of birds and we take in assorted animals all of which live out the full lives here.



Hope you enjoyed the pics. Thought it would provide a little background on where GoMacro products are made. See ya!

Introduction to all things GoMacro

We have been told that we need to blog. At the age of sixty I was not quite sure what that meant but I think that I am finally ready to take the plunge.

First an introduction to the bloggers. I am Amelia Kirchoff, owner of GoMacro and together with my daughter Jolanta Sonkin, we will be writing, and occasionally rambling, about all the things that interest us, about the people we meet and about the goings on at GoMacro. We will be joined by Monte McPheron, GoMacro sidekick who has been with us since the beginning. He is also a Tai Chi teacher and has been counseling victims of the recent flood here in S.W. Wisconsin. Other family members and friends will occasionally contribute words of wisdom and we always look forward to hearing your comments.

This morning I had an interesting conversation with our sales manager, Scott. He told me that Whole Foods came out with their earnings report and their stock dropped 17%. This, of course, was not what I wanted to hear first thing in the morning since we own stock in Whole Foods. What should we do at GoMacro to stay ahead in the current downturn. That was the question. Scott felt we should diversify – we should sell all things macrobiotic. I know that Starbucks turned to CD’s and books and that did not work for them but there is a little miso business in our neighboring community of Gays Mills. It has been there for twenty years making miso and seitan and I know the owner wants to sell. I wonder.

On the other hand maybe we should get back to basics. What does that mean? Isn’t that what we have been doing all along?

Now Scott is a very interesting person. In his formative years, many moons ago, he was macrobiotic. He read “Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy’ by Dirk Benedict which chronicles Dirk Benedict’s battle with cancer using macrobiotics, and it created such an impression on him that he also became macrobiotic. If you are old enough to remember the sixties and seventies you will remember that many people turned to macrobiotics and Dirk Benedict was one of them. He was ‘Faceman’ on the A-Team in the early seventies and flying space ace ‘Lt. Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica.

It is interesting to read about other’s personal experiences with macrobiotics and I think you will agree with much of what Dirk Benedict has to say. I enjoyed it immensely and am looking forward to Dirk’s next book about his experiences raising two sons in the Montana woods cooking macrobiotic meals on a wood cook stove.

That’s all for now. Enjoy the weekend.