Q&A: The healing power of food
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Deirdre Earls, MBA, RD, LD. Having used an imperfect diet instead of chemotherapy to reverse her own disabling disease, Deirdre now combines ten years of this personal practice with over twenty years as a Registered Dietitian to bring the healing power of food to others. A featured speaker for radio and TV, medical professionals, universities and corporations, Deirdre has been interviewed for America’s most popular health magazines and a 30 minute TV documentary of her recovery, “The Incurables”, airs worldwide. Because even the perfect diet is useless if it’s not sustainable, her consultations, lectures, and books are all designed to facilitate and simplify a healing diet anytime and anywhere. For more information please visit http://www.yourhealingdiet.com/.
Q: What are your views on the vegetarian diet? What do you see as the positive and negatives of a vegetarian lifestyle?
A: It is a dietary option that accommodates ethical beliefs. Positives: A mountain of empirical research done by elite scientists validates that a plant-based diet offers enormous health and financial benefit to individuals and societies that share healthcare costs. Vegetarianism is one example of a commitment to the life and quality of life for all forms of life on this earth, not just the homo sapiens species. Negatives: Any diet that entirely restricts consumption of an entire food group will have extremely limited allure and sustainability for the vast majority of people. Far more animals would be spared misery with a moderate message encouraging the broad population to swap one bite of meat with two bites of plants instead of insisting that all must strictly eliminate all meat into perpetuity.
Q: Do you believe America’s heightened disease rate (be it obesity, diabetes, or cancer) is directly related to our society’s diet? Why or why not?
A: I believe in the value of science and empirical research and thus the answer here is ‘yes’, because the connections between diet and chronic disease have been validated by a mountain of empirical research. By definition, empirical research has removed personal bias. Many of the people in the alternative fields of healthcare commonly refer to and rely upon data that is simply experimental or anecdotal, neither of which offer significant scientific value. Colin Campbell of Cornell University, The Harvard School of Public Health, and The University of Michigan’s Integrative Medicine Department are examples of elite public research institutions that have used empirical research from the most reputable sources to validate connections between diet and disease.
Q: You were able to reverse your own disease through healthy eating. Could you give us a quick synopsis of why you decided to do this and how you implemented this idea into your daily life?
A: I was no longer able to use my hands to safely drive a car. Indefinite rounds of chemotherapy were the suggested treatment option. I implemented a healing diet kicking and screaming every step of the way. I was anything but happy to change my diet to address disabling psoriasis, a disease I’d known for 30 years. Thankfully, the benefits to my chronic allergies and infections and asthma, the way I feel and have aged, weight management, not to mention my skin, made diet change the best decision of my life. All the money and all the love in the world can’t equate with good health.
Q: Why do you believe most people turn to medicines when dealing with a disease instead of foods?
A: I’m fully in favor of prescription medications. Prescription medications save lives. Diet can be done in conjunction with medications. But, because changing habits is difficult and Americans prefer quick results, it’s no surprise people most often opt for fast acting medications over lifestyle change—i.e. most would rather pay a drug company to do the work so they don’t have to do any hard, slow work themselves. Often I’ll ask clients to consider, “Which really costs you more and requires more effort? To change your diet and lifestyle choices? Or to continue down the same path of disease, side effects, headache and heartache, financial drain, and frustration with a medical system that too often leaves conventional treatment inconvenient and unaffordable.”
Q: How do you feel people could be better educated about the healing powers of a healthy diet and active lifestyle?
A: Try it and observe changes.
Q: What advice would you give to those looking to help educate others about the benefits of a vegetarian diet? I know from personal experience, many people see me as “preaching” and tune out when I am simply trying to give them food for thought.
A: If you want to be perceived as well informed instead of preachy and self righteous, I suggest removing vegetarianism from your vocabulary, except when you are with other vegetarians. The best joke I’ve heard in a long time: “How do you know if there’s a vegan at your party? Because they’ll tell you.” Ugh. Focus on the health, financial, planetary, and animal impact of a plant-based, whole foods diet instead of converting others to a persuasion. Elimination of animal protein is absolutely not necessary for healing. Choosing to eliminate all animal protein is a personal choice, not something that has been validated by research as necessary for healing. I’ve known strict vegans who had to put animal protein back into their diet to recover their health—i.e. sometimes vegetarianism is contraindicated for health. Understanding this and sharing it is part of a balanced and informed perspective, not an overwhelmingly single-minded persuasion with no basis in science.
Q: Besides your own conquering of disease with healing foods, could you provide some additional examples—perhaps from your client’s experiences—of where changing one’s diet has helped one to manage or reverse disease?
A: Allergies, diabetes, asthma, psoriasis and autoimmune diseases, arthritis, pain and migraine headaches, heart disease, depression and anxiety, ADD/ADHD, eczema and chronic skin diseases, GERD, thyroid disorders, symptoms of autism, insomnia.
Q: What are your motivators for maintaining a healthy lifestyle?
A: Robust happiness, health, and more money in my pocket because I now need zero prescription medications. Now, I can have a pet; before my diet change, allergies prevented me from having my own pet. Not to mention, Utter freedom from immersion in the multidimensional hassles of our medical system.
Q: What advice would you give someone who is beginning the transition into healthy eating?
A: Focus on long-term sustainability and do it one bite at a time, at your own pace. For someone who is having trouble maintaining a healthy diet? Realize you’re not alone. Don’t beat yourself up, and don’t give up. Just start anew when you can.
Q: What does your meal plan for an average day look like?
A: In this heat, I’m eating huge salads daily—sometimes more than once per day. Lots of fresh fruit and mineral waters. Nut butters and seed butters on brown rice cakes. Frequent visits to restaurants like DiMassi’s Mediterranean Buffet with their glorious variety of veggies, both raw and cooked. Beans, rice, guacamole, eggs, pico de gallo at Mexican restaurants. Middle Eastern, Indian, Vietnamese and Thai restaurants make it easy to eat a plant-based, whole foods diet at anytime.
Connect with Deirdre Earls on Twitter @DeirdreEarlsRD or on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/FacebookYour-Healing-Diet-Psor.
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