The Choice (17 page)

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Authors: Bernadette Bohan

The presenter that morning asked me, off-camera, if I would talk about chemotherapy. This was a no-no for me. ‘I am not qualified to talk about medical treatments, just my own experience,' I said. ‘Please, don't even go there. This is a subject I never give advice on, because I feel strongly that each individual should make this decision for themselves. All I want to do is show people the few simple changes I made in my life.'
Suddenly he was all smiles. This was it. I took a deep breath and hoped my nervousness would not show. ‘And I'm delighted to introduce Bernadette Bohan,' he announced to the cameras, ‘health advisor and cancer survivor.' I was not sure about the label of health advisor, but I launched into my prepared sound bites. ‘Juicing is an easy way to get five to ten raw fruit and veg a day,' I began, and the thought crossed my mind that I could do this thing blindfold; I had said these words so many times. I concentrated on making it sound fresh and exciting. It was all over very quickly, and I was ushered out to make way for the next guest. As I left, the studio asked if I could give them some answers for some e-mails and calls they had just received. E-mails and calls? I thought. I've only just come off the air.
On my way home I wondered if any of my friends had seen me, and how I had come across.
‘Mum!' cried Sarah as soon as I got home. ‘The phone is hopping!' I was bewildered. What had happened?
‘What do you mean?' I asked.
‘Can I take your number? We'll call you back,' Sarah was saying. Then she held the phone off the hook to talk to me.
‘It's you! All these people want to speak to you. As soon as you came off the TV the phone started going. I think they called the TV station and they gave them our number.' She put the phone down and it rang immediately.
‘Hello, yes that's right. Can I take your number? Bernadette will call you back.'
I sat down heavily on the sofa, hardly comprehending what was happening. I had no idea of the power of a five-minute television slot. Did this happen to everyone? Why hadn't they warned me? I was glad now that I had an e-mail address – my friend Veronica had set up the account the day before and in the event the TV station had put my e-mail details up on the screen after my slot. I hadn't allowed them to do the same with my phone number – on Ger's advice – but they'd still given it to viewers who had called in. This was just as well, as it turned out, as I was able to help so many.
‘I'll man the phone, Sarah. Can you run up and check the e-mails for me?'
‘Sure. You were great, by the way.'
For the next two hours I was on the phone non-stop to people who had seen the breakfast show and wanted to know more. Some of them were sick, and all of them wanted to talk. I had to be strong and not get into involved conversations, promising caller after caller that I'd take their number and call them back. Sarah reappeared.
‘E-mails are arriving every few minutes,' she reported. ‘There are loads of them already. What shall I do with them?' I put my head in my hands.
‘Look, let's have a break,' I said. ‘I need to feed Julie – the poor little lass has just been pottering around quietly while all this has been going on. I think she needs a bit of normality.' I took the phone off the hook and we had tea. I was worried about the e-mails: it was all very well having an e-mail address, but I didn't know one end of a computer from the other and I couldn't type. How was I going to reply to them all? In the end we decided that Sarah would print them, I would scribble replies on the hard copies, and she would type them up and send them off. I was relieved at this solution and agreed to pay her a few bob for helping me out – I knew it would take her some time to get through all of them.
After Julie was in bed I tentatively put the phone back down, and immediately it rang. The answerphone seemed to be jammed. I lost count of the number of calls I fielded, but I was there for hours. I stopped for a while when Ger came home, and I could see he was both pleased and a bit put out that I was so preoccupied.
‘It will quieten down tomorrow, I expect,' he said confidently.
It didn't. The next day I was on the phone for seven hours, and wrote around fifty e-mails for Sarah to send. That night we debated whether to install a new, dedicated phone line, and decided not to, at least for the time being. For three nights Sarah was up until 2am working on the hundreds of e-mails – she was amazing, and I could see how touched she was by some of the stories that were coming through. We had to take the phone off the hook in order to sleep, eat and talk. Richard helped me with Julie so I could be free to take the calls. There were times when I had to remind myself that I had to look after myself: I needed to rest, I needed to eat properly. We had been totally unprepared for this and it was overwhelming. People were asking for more – an information pack, a video, a book, water filters, juicers, sprouting kits. ‘I'm not a business,' I kept protesting. ‘I'm just telling people how I made myself well after cancer.'
The researcher was on the line again. ‘We have had a massive response,' she said excitedly, and admitted that they had been completely taken aback by the amount of calls. ‘You certainly captured their interest. We'd like you to come back and do six more slots.'
I knew I wanted to do this. This was a great opportunity, and it was the best way of reaching more people. Next time I would set myself up so as to be able to respond better to queries. We decided I would do one slot every three weeks for the next few months, which would take me up until the following April.
Meanwhile my classes continued, and I found I was booking people in for months ahead. However, there were so many new people that I had to re-jig my waiting lists and see the sick people first: I couldn't possibly make someone with cancer wait two months – it was imperative that they discovered what they could do to help themselves immediately. I had to pace myself to cope with the increased demand, and sadly I was no longer able to see people one-to-one. Letters were still flooding in, and it was so heartening for me to have these daily reminders that people felt I had genuinely helped them. I was getting stories of tumours regressing, scans being clear, bloods improving (a clear indicator of health). One of these was Susie Halpin. She was suffering from ovarian cancer that had spread to her lung, and after two full treatments of chemotherapy had been told by her oncologists that there was no guarantee that she would not need more treatment. Her daughter saw me on television and contacted me on her mother's behalf, after which her husband John travelled a hundred miles to take my classes and find out what he could do to support her. She wrote recently to tell me that they were headlong into my health plan:
‘John has lost 2 stone: he is like a new man and says you are a breath of fresh air. I'm doing very well at the moment, my bloods are excellent and the doctors are very pleased with me. Thank God I'm happy again, and thank you for watching out for me, and for being there for me when I was frightened.'
Over the years I have become close to many people like Susie, corresponding with them, talking with them on the phone, living through the stages of their illnesses with them. I feel blessed to have made so many new friends. It embarrasses me to be given presents, and to be called an ‘angel', but I understand their very human need for reassurance and information. Not all survive, it is true; but if they have gained extra time from following my advice then I feel I have done a little for them. I give out a lot of myself, I realize, but I get it back one thousand fold.
I still see my oncologist, and at my last appointment he didn't ask me how I was, he asked me what I was up to. I laughed. I had told him only a little about the changes I had made to my life: with his traditional medical views he would, I feared, pour scorn on what I was doing. I knew full well that he regarded me as one of his success stories. It amused me to think that he had heard about my television appearances and was unsettled by what I was advising people to do. ‘When this book comes out I will say that I believe it was the chemo that saved you,' he declared, a little pompously. ‘I never said it wasn't,' I replied, smiling. One day I may tell him that doctors now recommend my classes to their patients.
My family is now more accepting of the lifestyle I have chosen, and although I allow them a small weekly ration of three pizzas, one packet of biscuits and one carton of orange juice (I wear dark glasses to buy them!), they do at least have some understanding of the principles I am following. Julie has taken the rollercoaster of the past few years in her stride, and her teacher recently told me that she is now more than able to keep up with the rest of the class. I'm so proud of her.
My brother-in-law, Tony, is a librarian, and he had been on at me for a couple of years to write a book about my experiences. ‘I wouldn't know where to start!' I would always protest. But then more and more people were asking me if I was going to write a book, and I realized that this was the logical next step. It would also be wonderful to have something tangible to give out to people, although I couldn't for the life of me imagine how I might do it. Eventually I sent a few pages to a publisher.
To my surprise they accepted it, and here it is: my life in paperback. It has had its sad moments, but thankfully it has a happy ending.
When people go through a life-threatening illness there are various stages they go through. I see this all the time in the people who come to my classes. Not everyone is the same, of course, but there is often shock and anger at first, followed by denial, but eventually comes acceptance, and a sense of peace and healing – of the mind if not also of the body. This is sometimes referred to as a ‘journey', and although I'm wary of labels like this it does seem strangely like a journey to me. As I write these words I am about to turn fifty, and it seems a good moment to reflect on those milestones that brought me here.
My journey has taken me beyond healing to a place where I am able to help others to help themselves, and that in turn adds to my own sense of purpose. I have also noticed that things seem to happen at the right time – is this pure coincidence, or is some greater Power at work? My illness led to my desire for information; my acquisition of information helped restore me to health and inspired me to tell others. My classes and lectures led to my talk at the big health show, which in turn led to the television slots. The publicity led to the writing of this book with my new friend Jane Ross-Macdonald. The experience of working on the book has brought so many things back to me that I feel I can empathize even more with the people who are now contacting me for help. Everything has fallen into place. And now, I hope, I am contributing to the bank of information from which people can draw their own sustenance on their own journeys – whether they are sick like I was, or whether they are enjoying good health and want to stay that way. I don't know where my journey will take me next, but I thank you for accompanying me through my story this far.
But please don't stop here. In the next few pages I have laid out, as simply as I can, the basics of my health plan. I call it ‘Change Simply'.
It is the most important part of the book.
Chapter Nineteen

 

Change Simply

‘When in the grips of disease it is seldom that one renders the courage and commitment to change their circumstance. Bernadette is a living example of what is possible when you honour and respect your life. Be well.'

BRIAN R. CLEMENT,
DIRECTOR, HIPPOCRATES HEALTH INSTITUTE

‘Bernadette is a woman whose courage and care are born of the dramas of personal suffering. Health is much simpler than we've been led to believe; in a world where experts make health appear too complex to understand, Bernadette shows that health can be simple and practical.'

UDO ERASMUS, PHD
NUTRITIONIST AND AUTHOR

This section is designed to be an easy-to-follow guide for you to start making the changes to your lifestyle that I guarantee will make you feel better. It is a short version of what I teach people in my classes, and I have laid it out in a step-by-step format so that you can incorporate the easiest changes first.

This is where you will learn why people have been beating a path to my door. There are four sections: juicing, water, foods and safe personal care. I explain my recommendations, and how to go about them. In order to help you get started, I have listed some useful information, including names and addresses of suppliers, at the end of the book. Obviously this is not exhaustive so do check the internet too.

Remember, I am just an ordinary woman. This ‘health plan' is the result of extended research on my part and from talking to all the experts I could find. Anything that didn't add up, anything that was recommended in one place and advised against in another – I re-checked again and again, and took what made sense to me. You will see that this plan draws heavily on what is available from Mother Nature, with an emphasis on enzymes. These are the catalysts which break up and assimilate food, and because they are so important you will read repeatedly about them here. I want you to think about what you are putting into your shopping trolley, what you are putting into your mouth and which toiletries and other products you are exposing your body to.

I believe that these simple changes not only helped to save my life, but improved it beyond measure. Are they expensive? Well, you'll need to invest in a juicer and a new water system, and you'll start putting different foods in your shopping trolley. But what I have found, with myself and with the people I have taught, is that as you become more aware of eating better, you naturally stop buying expensive, convenience junk food.

Don't immediately reject these suggestions: remember I do call it change
simply
. I believe that if I, a mother of three demanding kids and on chemo, can make these changes in my life then so can you. Through my classes and lectures I have seen many hundreds of people already change over with not much difficulty. If you are fit and healthy, then you may decide to try one or two of the steps. If you are facing a health problem, then you urgently need to make some changes to your lifestyle now.

The choice is yours. Is it worth it? I think so.

Change a little. It helps a lot.

Step One: Juicing

Why Juice?

Because it is raw and full of enzymes. For me, this was a wonderful first change to make: it is easy and delicious, and I immediately felt the benefits. Juicing is a tasty way of increasing your intake of live vitamins, enzymes and minerals – and all without any artificial colourings, flavours or preservatives. It is the healthiest step you can take for your body, and here's why:

• 
Recommended Daily Amounts

We already know, thanks to the media, that we ought to be consuming at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. Evidence suggests now that the figure should be closer to ten pieces. Juicing enables you to consume these greater quantities (and if you have children, juicing is a great way of getting more raw veggies into them). The point of increasing our intake is to provide our bodies with enough vitamins, minerals, enzymes and trace elements that it needs to fight disease and stay healthy. Processed foods are empty foods.

• 
A New Trend (actually, the oldest trend)

What we should know, but often overlook, is that eating these foods
raw
is far, far better than eating them cooked, for heating them above 43°C destroys almost all the enzymes (the most important group), nearly all the vitamins and some of the minerals. Even steaming is not as healthy as you might think: the high temperatures required to cook them means that, again, you are destroying the nutrients. With juicing, everything is
raw
, and raw fruits and vegetables retain the nutrients needed by the body for good health. Digesting food is one of the hardest jobs your body has to do, but when it is in juice form, rather than as whole fruits or vegetables, we can digest and assimilate their precious nutrients much more easily. Indeed, they are of particular value to people fighting disease, people with digestive problems or low energy levels. Although juicing eliminates some fibre which is important to health, in the course of the day this can easily be taken through food.

• 
Time

In just two 250ml glasses of juice per day you can consume around ten portions – ten separate pieces of fruit and vegetables that you would otherwise spend the entire day attempting to chew your way through. It takes about five minutes to make a juice and five minutes to clean up after. They should be consumed within fifteen minutes of preparation, while the enzymes and nutrients are at their best. If you are going out and decide to take a juice with you, store it in a stainless-steel vacuum flask with ice to slow down oxidation of the juice.

• 
Weight

If you have a weight problem, you will know that all diets allow you to eat as many vegetables as you like, although you should go easy on fruit as many fruits have a high sugar content and will lead to increased weight. Watermelon is a good fruit to use in juice as it has a low sugar content. Juices will fill you up between meals and reduce food cravings.

• 
Hydration

Juicing enables you to up your fluid intake, which is essential for a healthy body and good skin. (See Step Two on Water for more on hydration.)

• 
Taste

For me, this is one of the most obvious advantages. So much tastier than any packaged juices or cordials, when I try out my favourite juices on my friends and students they can't wait to get started.

Getting Started

There are two types of juicer on the market – this is an area where there is much confusion as to the best juicer to buy. Having done quite a bit of research before purchasing a masticating juicer, and having survived with a centrifugal juicer for some time, the following analysis of their relative effectiveness is not just my own opinion – it has been echoed by many experts I have spoken to.

Centrifugal juicers are cheaper and readily available in the high street, but I don't recommend these as they:

  • can be wasteful (too much pulp produced)
  • extract mostly the water from the fruit and veg (clearly seen in the separation of the juice)
  • can destroy nutrients due to the heat produced from fast-moving blades
  • are difficult to clean (quite off-putting when you are just starting!)

Masticating juicers are used in natural health-care clinics throughout the world. They are more expensive, but certainly worth it. I favour them because they grind, crush and press the fruit and vegetables slowly rather than cut and shred (the speed is 110 revs per minute rather than 3000 revs per minute from the centrifugal type). The advantages of masticating juicers are that they:

  • produce good quality juice full of nutrients and enzymes
  • produce little pulp, and the pulp that is produced can be passed through the machine again and again to squeeze more juice from it
  • are simple to clean
  • are excellent for juicing leafy green vegetables and wheatgrass

What Now?

One large glass of fresh juice a day is a good start. Buy more fruit and vegetables when you go shopping, and gradually you will get a feel for how much you will be needing on a weekly basis. When you are ready to start, you can try the following powerful combinations. You will notice I do not give individual amounts as I think this only complicates what is a very simple process. Use whatever you have available:

  • Grape and Apple: tasty and sweet, a very popular juice. Always use apple seeds as they contain nitrilosides which protects us from disease (see p. 266 for more on this). Grapes contain selenium and zinc, and are good sources of antioxidants.
  • Apple and Carrot: hugely appealing to children, both in taste and colour. Carrots are rich in calcium, phosphorus, potassium, folic acid and carotenoids like beta-carotene. It is particularly good for the eyes and bones.
  • Celery and Cucumber; Parsley and Spinach: a combination of two or more of these juices is excellent for clearing up digestive problems, constipation and bad breath. I often think we are obsessed with cleaning our bodies on the outside and ignore the importance of cleaning the inside. Green juices are superb cleansing juices, and taken first thing in the morning they can move mountains (if you get my meaning).
    • Celery is high in potassium, a good source of Vitamin C and loaded with enzymes.
    • Cucumbers are mostly water, but they contain numerous enzymes, beta-carotene (which the body converts to Vitamin A), Vitamin C, calcium, phosphorus, iron and potassium. They are often used to remove harmful substances (such as uric acid) from the bloodstream.
    • Parsley is high in iron, which helps anaemic conditions. It can also inhibit tumour-cell growth.
    • Spinach is rich in L-glutathione, beta-carotene, folic acid, Vitamin C, iron and magnesium. It also contains potent antioxidants and plenty of fibre.
  • Wheatgrass: this is the fastest-selling health food on the planet, and has become very popular because of its therapeutic value. Known as a ‘superfood', it is extremely effective at fighting disease. It contains high quantities of minerals and is one of the richest sources of beta-carotene, and Vitamins C and B17, a substance that is said to destroy cancer cells. Indeed, it is so powerful that 1 oz of wheatgrass is said to be equivalent to over 2 lb of fresh fruit and vegetables in terms of vitamins, minerals, trace elements and phytonutrients. Today it is sold in many juice bars, but you can also try growing and juicing your own. It can be grown very easily from seed on a windowsill – the whole process takes about ten days. When first juicing wheatgrass you might find the flavour improved by combining the juice with lemon or celery juice.

The above suggestions are just a few ideas to get you started. I hope you enjoy the different tastes, let alone the benefits that juicing will bring to you. Remember: keep it simple, and enjoy it.

Step Two: A Clean Choice

‘Few things are as insidious as bad water. It's dangerous for you and your children, but you usually can't tell if you have it. And if you do, you may not be able to tell where the problems are coming from.'

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE,
SPECIAL WATER EDITION, NOVEMBER 1993

Why?

It should not be news to any of us that we need to drink more water – after all, our bodies are made up of about 70 percent water. Water, crucially, is the agent which flushes out toxins, aids digestion and prevents premature ageing and disease in the cells of our bodies. Sufficient water keeps us healthy, cleanses our system internally and gives our skin a gorgeous healthy glow. It's importance cannot be stressed too highly.

Lack of sufficient water, on the other hand, can cause the following:

  • premature ageing: sagging of skin, breakdown in cell structure
  • a huge variety of illnesses, from asthma and ulcers to high blood pressure and arthritis
  • a general feeling of lethargy, headaches and tiredness
  • constipation

We can be dehydrated without realizing it – thirst is actually the
last
sign of our body's craving for water, so in fact we should be drinking even when we don't feel thirsty. Don't fool yourself that because you drink plenty of liquid in the form of coffee and tea, sugary or fizzy drinks you are hydrated: these are all diuretics which actually cause your body to
lose
water, and caffeine leeches essential nutrients from the body.

There has been an explosion in the past few years of the sales of bottled mineral water, but:

  • Plastic bottles contain oestrogens which can pass into the water.
  • Spring and mineral waters contain dissolved solids which are difficult for the body to digest. (The body's need for minerals is met through foods: plants pick up minerals and make them available to us.)
  • Quite apart from anything else, bottled water is expensive.

What about tap water? I know many people who feel bottled water is a rip-off and insist on a large jug of tap water when they are eating out – but what exactly is in our water supply? I'm afraid the news is not good, and just because the water coming out of your tap looks clear and fresh does not mean that it is clean. Think before you drink.

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