Cancer Part 6: The First Step in Consuming Health Food

Is it easy to consume health food? Our tongues are so used to the normal tasty food. While health food today can also be tasty, it was not so in 1996. Let’s share my family’s experience in this matter as the concern was to save my father-in-law diagnosed with prostate cancer.

I remember vividly, how the first health food lunch was served. On the dining table, were three dishes of vegetables, to be eaten with brown rice. The dishes were tasteless: no oil or salt was used. It was the most difficult lunch in our life. It was definitely hard to swallow the tasteless, meatless food. As a meat lover, my father-in-law immediately complained, that the dishes were for the cows, not human beings. But the family supporting him, had little complaints, although we also felt the same. My father-in-law remarked, that he had difficulty, swallowing the tasteless vegetables. We told him, that changing food habit took time, and this was the only way we could take for cancer recovery. We were firm, in our decision to carry on. So was he.

Before 1996, we were meat eaters, and enjoyed all forms of processed food, in the markets and restaurants. Switching completely from a normal diet, to the extreme of a vegetarian diet, was by no means easy. We were determined. We supported and encouraged one another. We looked for more information on healthy vegetarian diet to enhance. Dinner-time provided the opportunity, for us to share views, feelings and new information about health food. We tried to enjoy the original taste of vegetarian food. Such mutual support, often ended up with empty dishes and hearts filled with love and hope.

Switching to natural health food posed another challenge. The public in general, think that one who does not consume meat, would have inadequate nutrition, to grow or fight illnesses. Such belief has been deeply rooted in the mind of human society, rich or poor. To avoid complication and social pressure, our change to natural health food, was kept at a very low profile. We did not want to spend our time and energy explaining, which might end up souring relationship with relatives. Only immediate family members, were informed of our decision.

In 1996, there was limited information about organic food, and purchase the food, was even more difficult. To purchase brown rice, we had to make an order from a resident in Petaling Jaya, who sourced the rice from Thailand. Organic vegetables were equally difficult to obtain. Hence, most of our vegetables came from the normal wet markets, in the vicinity of our residence in Kepong. We also did not have much knowledge, of how to cook the vegetables. The general guideline, was keeping cooking simple, with little tasty ingredients. Our food was either lightly boiled in water, or steamed. Vegetables were soaked in hot water for a minute, and immediately served. We were not aware, of the use of organic sea salt and miso.

Consuming natural health food is a learning process. We searched for more published materials on organic food, and diversified the dishes. To ensure maximum nutrition from various vegetables, some were consumed raw. These include cucumber, tomatoes and long beans. Since vegetables from the market contain chemical toxins, we were selective in buying those, that believed, had used little or no chemicals in cultivation. The next thing we did was to cultivate some vegetables in the vacant land, just behind our house compound. We thus, have occasional supply of cucumber, long beans, mustard and ladies fingers. We followed the organic farming method, including making our own compose fertilizer. Neither chemical fertilizer nor insecticide was applied.

The vegetables planted, were safe, and provided a very good source of chlorophyll for the body. They were tasty, and we began to love eating them. This change in the main meals, brought other changes to our daily food. Gradually, we gave up eating the “nice” food, such as cakes, candies, eggs, junk food, and food containing artificial colouring, preservatives and additives. Simple eating and living, has become our way of life. When we came to know, that aluminium adds toxin in the process of cooking, we immediately replaced the existing aluminium wok, with an iron.

Life is a learning process. Let’s learn more about health food to attain good health.