Going vegan

For Chris Brown, chan­ging her family’s diet was not an option. After her hus­band was dia­gno­sed 18 years ago with non-Hodgkin lym­phoma, a can­cer of the lymph nodes, the couple nee­ded to do some­thing to regain con­trol. They chose to go vegan — a diet devoid of ani­mal pro­ducts. No but­ter, no milk, no bacon.

“People don’t know what it is,” said Ms. Brown.

The bene­fits of vegan living, said Ms. Brown, are unde­nia­ble. Since remo­ving red meat, ham­bur­ger and even fish and milk off her plate she has more energy, is able to con­cen­trate bet­ter, and sleeps soundly.

“Diet is the foun­da­tion. If you eat unhe­althy foods, I really believe it can cause disease,” said Ms. Brown.

And the good vibes haven’t only affec­ted Ms. Brown. Doc­tors esti­ma­ted her hus­band, Barry, would have a hand­ful of years left to live with can­cer. After rese­ar­ching the effects diet has on disease, Ms. Brown deci­ded to switch the family to an all vegan diet. So far, Mr. Brown has been win­ning his battle with can­cer. He feels well and is in remission.

“The doc­tor calls him his mira­cle man,” said Ms. Brown.

To help shut out toxins and hor­mo­nes found in meats and other foods, she uses unpro­ces­sed whole grains like qui­noa to increase the amount of fiber in their diet. Instead of using honey made by bees, she cooks with unre­fined swee­te­ners like agave syrup, a pro­duct she finds at Ocean State Job Lot for about $2. The less pro­ces­sed the food, the better.

“It’s about get­ting back to basics,” said Ms. Brown.

Regis­te­red Die­t­i­tian Emily Gen­dey of Bristol’s Evo­lu­tion Body and Nut­ri­tion, who has worked with can­cer pati­ents, agrees with Ms. Brown’s ideas on diet. In her pro­fes­sion, she has noti­ced an ups­wing in can­cers and theo­ri­zes the cause could be lin­ked to pro­ces­sed foods.

“Our bodies haven’t chan­ged. We have the same body of our great-great grand­mo­ther. What’s chan­ged is the fuel we’re put­ting in and the amount of it,” said Ms. Ged­ney. “Disease manifests.”

She recom­mends people to eat less meat in gene­ral and get foods that con­tain Omega-3 fatty acids. She said snacks, like Chee­tos, give bodies empty calo­ries and lack fuel. It’s all about balance.

“You are what you eat. We didn’t have Krispy Kreme’s or Skippy Pea­nut But­ter,” said Ms. Ged­ney. “There weren’t all these pro­ces­sed foods. So the qua­lity of what you’re put­ting in your body is a lot less.”

Healthy snacks, like app­les, give bodies the right type of energy — and reduce the amount of free radi­cals in bodies, a can­cer cau­sing agent.

The har­dest part of a vegan diet is get­ting used to alte­ring hab­its, like avo­iding fast food and ready-made meals. But she said get­ting in a habit is easy. She shops at health food shops throug­hout the state and even eats out at vege­ta­rian restaurants.

The key to a balan­ced diet, she said, is to eat a mostly plant-based diet, fol­lo­wed by car­bo­hy­dra­tes with a little pro­tein found in plants.

“We have way too much pro­tein,” said Ms. Brown.

A typi­cal snack would include humus, a chick­pea dip with vege­ta­bles. And baking isn’t an issue. She cooks cakes and coo­kies using soy pro­ducts and natu­ral swee­te­ners; cho­co­late isn’t outlawed.

Though meats are sanc­tio­ned from the table, she has no trou­ble com­ing up with new reci­pes. To cook Por­tu­guese food and soups, food she grew up with, she repla­ces the meat with soy pro­ducts such as tofu and tempeh.

“There are so many com­bi­na­ti­ons. It’s pheno­me­nal,” said Ms. Brown.

One of her favo­rite soups is miso, which has a type of sea vege­ta­ble cal­led kombu that redu­ces toxins in the body. While restau­rants make it with fish, she choo­ses to keep it strictly vegan.

“You don’t have to feel guilty. It’s a no-guilt diet,” said Ms. Brown.

And while the big­gest rea­son for swit­ching is health rela­ted, she said part of her ethos is ethics dri­ven. On her ref­ri­ge­ra­tor hangs a pos­ter rea­ding, “You have ani­mals as pets. Why do you eat ani­mals for dinner?”

The switch is not wit­hout its social consequences.

“People think we look at them as infe­rior, like you shouldn’t do this or that,” said Ms. Brown. “But really, we find being a role model has worked. People say ‘how has he been doing so well?’”

Now the chef runs her own con­sul­ting busi­ness out of Kicke­muit Road home for those loo­king to go vege­ta­rian or vegan. She also runs spe­cial work­shops for those dea­ling with can­cer. She said foods loa­ded with anti­oxi­dants and omega-3 fatty acids can give immune sys­tems a kick. Giving pati­ents a way to con­trol their sick­ness and daily rou­tine also gives people a posi­tive out­look, said Ms. Brown.

“The more I learn, the more exci­ted I get about food,” said Ms. Brown.

Source: east­bayri

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