In the early 1980s the world of health and diet opened up to me. To supplement our income, my ex-wife and I began distributing health products. My personal lifestyle until that point entailed eating anything and everything that even resembled food as long as there was plenty of it. I suffered from Jewish Mother Syndrome: “Eat, eat, if you love me.” I was a dutiful child, and I ate. I entered a roller coaster of dieting and bingeing that left me bloated and frustrated. Fortunately, my strong constitution enabled me to escape many of the illnesses of my peers. Aside from chronic bladder difficulties, I considered myself relatively healthy.
A client sent me an article that described a miraculous recovery of terminal cancer through macrobiotics of Dr Anthony Satillaro. This strange diet had made the difference for him where conventional medicine had failed. I was fascinated as I recalled similar testimonials attributed to nutritional supplements. A connection between cancer and diet seemed logical. However, not having cancer myself, I considered the issue personally irrelevant.
About a year later I responded to a local health food store flyer and tasted my first macrobiotic meal. I fell in love with the food, its effect and the philosophical concept supporting it. Several of the dinner guests made the food preparation sound manageable. Seeking a pastime related to my growing awareness of health, I decided to take up macrobiotic cooking.
I applied myself seriously from the start. At a health consultation with a macrobiotic counselor I was surprised to learn how “yang” I was. It sounded ominous even if I did not understand it. I was informed that most of my digestive organs were malfunctioning – so much for alleged good health. I followed his dietary recommendations closely and noticed physical and mental changes almost immediately. For instance, my thinking became clearer and I began to lose weight.
Unexpectedly, my weight loss became rapid and uncontrollable despite chronic overeating. I began discharging foul odors from my mouth and body. My skin color rotated through cycles of brown and yellow. Sexual energy vanished. Instead of feeling discouraged, however, I enjoyed renewed surges of (nonsexual) energy.
In eighteen months my weight plummeted from 175 to 105 pounds. My clothes hung on me like a scarecrow. Friends passing me on the street didn’t recognize me. Along with the weight, my muscular system deteriorated. To climb steps, I had to grab my pant’s and dig my elbows into my sides to lift my legs. I could not pick up my eight year-old daughter.
I had great pain and difficulty urinating and ultimately became incontinent. I had to wear diapers to bed. I developed deep tingling sensations on my left side. Two toes on my left foot turned black, and urination became nearly impossible. I finally agreed to consult a doctor. He immediately hospitalized me when he determined that my bladder was about five times its normal size. A CAT scan showed a deep-seated growth between my bladder and spine. Michio Kushi, as well as my macrobiotic counselor and an oncologist who later saw my scans all affirmed that the growth was malignant. Michio later attested that the cancer may well have spread significantly had I not made serious dietary changes when I did.
The scheduled biopsy and probable chemotherapy treatment frightened me more than death itself. The morning before my scheduled biopsy, I discharged myself from the hospital. I was determined that I would cure myself without allopathic interference. Thus began my long hard road to recovery with macrobiotics. I did not disclose the nature of my illness to my mother, sister or any of my three daughters. It was the only way to avoid their unwanted pity and well-meaning pressure to seek the conventional medical treatment that I had abandoned.
During the following four years I prepared all my own food with little family support. Fortunately my job entailed little stress, leaving me the time I needed to focus on my healing. Unfortunately, my wife and I clashed openly over my macrobiotic habits and their “negative” influence on our kids.
I underwent regular shiatsu treatments in Manhattan. My Japanese therapist, Shizuku Yamamoto, encouraged me, adjusted my diet and explained the many bodily transitions taking place. I discharged sugar for about a year and a half – longer than she had ever seen – with ugly wart-like discolorations on the back of my hands and forearms. I was nearly deaf for weeks until accumulated mucus slowly drained out of my ears. For over a year the skin on my hands was dry and cracked around the nails and joints. The resulting infections took months to heal. Worst of all was the cold that racked my body, particularly my hands and feet. I couldn’t bear air-conditioning, something hard to avoid in the summer.
In 1990 I separated from my wife and relocated to Jerusalem. I had a final CAT scan before I left the United States that confirmed what I already knew – I was well. The tumor was completely gone. I soon regained enough weight to look and feel human again. About seven years into my macrobiotic practice I went through a spiritual awakening that lifted me to levels of joy and peace I never knew possible. I was able to put aside all the anger and pain of my unhappy childhood and marriage, and approach higher levels of consciousness in my daily life. Today my understanding of health revolves around the smooth flow of energy without resistance, the joy of being surrounded by a loving spouse, and children, and the knowing that all is well.
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