Frequently Asked Questions

Time for another exciting episode in the Adventures of Naturopathic Medicine. When I see my lung specialist in December, I don’t know whether I’ll be bringing him a disease-free patient, but I’m confident I’ll be bringing him a less exhausted one. Some days I even skip my nap like a grown up. And I cough only enough to know I’m not home-free yet.

There are a few questions I get asked a lot, about the food plan. Being three months in hardly makes me an expert, but here are my answers.

“How do you know you’re getting enough protein?”

I’m getting plenty of protein from beans and nuts, but did you know spinach, mushrooms, oatmeal, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and many fruits also provide protein? I didn’t, but it makes sense when you remember the strongest animals on our planet are herbivores. Where do they get their protein?

“What about calcium?”

Spinach and other leafy green vegetables are loaded with the stuff.

“Are you going to be on this diet FOREVER?”

Yes and no. I’ll be on it until I’m either well or I give up, whichever comes first. But honestly, I’m enjoying the food and how it makes me feel so much I can’t imagine ever going back, at least not totally.

“So...what DO you eat?”

Lots of salad, stir-fry, and soup. Admittedly, some days it seems every dish I make uses the same ingredients, but in different proportions with varied methods of preparation. Breakfast is homemade granola or cooked oatmeal loaded with extras and topped with almond milk. Snacks are fruit, veggies, popcorn, or unsalted tortilla chips with hummus, bean dip, or guacamole.

“Isn’t it hard?”

I got through the first month by telling myself, “If you think of this as food, it’s going to be hard. But if you think of it as medicine, it’s wonderful.”

I got through the second month by reminding myself I’m the only one who can choose what goes in my mouth, and everything I put there holds power. Will I give my body something it has to fight against or will I give it something to make my body say, “Yes! I can work with this”?

In my third month, the cravings for meat, bread, sugar, coffee, and cheese became increasingly rare. I can walk into Sobeys and just enjoy the bakery smells—like flowers or perfume—without wanting to eat it.  It really does get easier—but not without God’s strength.

“Do you ever cheat?”

Yep. I’m attending a wedding this weekend and intend to eat whatever’s offered.

I’m not making this up.

Daily, I drink what I affectionately call my pond scum. It’s made from running one apple, three carrots, two celery stalks, and five large leafy greens through the juicer. My favorite leafy green thing is Swiss Chard.

On Labour Day, I realized I was out of pond scum and needed to do some juicing. I had all the ingredients except the chard. But the stores were closed, and the next day was going to be busy so I thought, oh well. Guess I’ll survive a day or two.

Then I went outside and Linda from across the back fence, who had earlier offered me zucchini, said, “Oh, hi Terrie. Sorry I don’t have any zucchini for you today after all. I don’t suppose you’d be interested in some Swiss Chard?”

I can’t pretend to understand why God takes care of these crazy little details while sometimes the big things appear to drag on forever unaddressed. But I do know this: you can’t tell me He doesn’t have a sense of humour. (And thank you, Linda!)

PS. Congratulations to Barb Knott of Portage who won last week’s free book draw.