One of the things people are most curious about is my cancer-fighting diet. The truth: My hope for beating this cancer is for God to do something miraculous. But I have adopted a radical diet for 15 weeks to make me as internally healthy as possible, to try to naturally support my immune system to fight the cancer, and to make my body as inhospitable to cancer as I can. I drink 64oz of freshly juiced fruits and vegetables, and eat 2 large salads every day. I also talk a few supplements.

I am being coached through this by my friend, Chris Wark. Chris was diagnosed with stage 3C colon cancer at the age of 26. I was his pastor then, and sat with his wife when the doctor met with her after his initial surgery to tell her that he would have to go through chemo and radiation, and even with that was given a 30% chance of survival at 5 years, and 20% at 10 years. Chris and Micah had only been married a short time. Chris declined treatment, in part because he wanted to have children naturally. He stayed under a doctor’s care, but chose to fight his cancer with prayer and diet. He did this and he was cancer free in less than 90 days - and remains so. And he has two beautiful daughters, all of whom live happily on plant-based diets. He has a book and a website called Chris Beat Cancer. I know him and his story up close and personally, and am grateful for him helping me through this.

So here is what I do:

Breakfast: Juice, garlic, supplements - and a shot of black seed oil to spoil it all.

Breakfast: 16 oz of juice, a fresh close of garlic, some Vitamin D, Quercetin and Berberine, and a shot of Black Seed Oil, (which is the nastiest tasting stuff I have ever put in my body). Why QUercetin and Berberine? I don’t know. I just do what I’m told. I think it is supposed to boost my immune system and reduce inflammation.

Lunch and dinner: A decent sized salad with kale, spinach, chard, onions (all kinds), and peppers (all kinds). I usually put raspberries or some other berries on the salad, and sprinkle sunflower seeds and/or raw walnuts. I often include a handful of raw almonds. When I use dressing I avoid anything cream based. I also take the same supplements that I do for breakfast except for the black seed oil.

Every 5th week I fast for 7-7 days - water only, or herbal tea. I am about to start my 2nd fast week.

I juice either early in the morning (best) or the night before. It takes me about 45 minutes to prep and juice that much. I juice roughly 5lbs of carrots, 1-2 beets with their greens, 4-6 large stalks of celery, 2 -3 lemons/limes or combination, 2 apples, a nice chunk of ginger and a piece of turmeric root about the size of my little finger. That makes a bit over 64oz of juice in my juicer. I mix in 4 scoops of Super Greens powder, bottle it in Ball jars, and refrigerate it. That does me for 1 day. It tastes better than you think - it actually tastes really good. Sometimes I add spinach and green onions, or cut down on the citrus. But I always have at least one large lemon in it. The basic recipe is pretty sweet, and I get tired of it being that sweet. I drink 16ox for breakfast, 32 oz throughout the course of the morning, and the last 16 oz in the afternoon.

5lbs of carrots, beets and citrus. To this I add celery and other greens, apples ginger and turmeric.

About day five I noticed my hands and other parts of my body were turning orange or yellow from all of the carrots and cumin. For two weeks, yellow oozed through my pores so that my t-shirts, towels, sheets and pillow cases were stained yellow/orange. I had to stop wearing white pants because the edges of my pockets and my fly would stain orange - which is really embarrassing. But sometime during week three that mostly stopped.

Garlic…I eat at least 2 cloves of raw garlic every day. Originally it was part of the juice formula, but I didn’t like the hint of garlic in my breakfast drink. Eating it raw is not so bad. the trick is not to chew it too much. I also learned from a study done by Ohio State University that if you eat a small slice of apple combined with a small piece of fresh mint after you eat garlic, that the chemicals in those will keep your breath from smelling bad and will even keep the smell from coming through your pores. It really works!

I also take curcumin tablets - 8/day, and Beta-glucan capsules - 3 in the morning and 2 at night. The curcumin tablets are horse pills. I can’t get them down without cutting them in half. Even then they are huge. So 8 pills really equals sixteen. I spread those out through the day. Beta-glucan is expensive, but is supposed to be really good for your immune system. I understand that docs often prescribe beta-glucan to patients who have had bone marrow transplants to help regenerate their immune systems.

Yummy salads. I never get hungry. My problem is not being able to eat everything I am supposed to.

Fasting…I HATE fasting. I have followed Jesus for 46 years and NEVER had a positive spiritual experience fasting. I think it is misnamed, because time seems to drag awfully slow when I am fasting! But 5 day fasts are good for you on several levels. It is supposed to reset aspects of your metabolism and immune system. My first week on this diet was a fasting week. I did ok until halfway through day 3. For 24 hours I felt grumpy and bad. Halfway through day 4, I felt like a million dollars! Something worked.

Does all this work? I don’t know. It worked for Chris - who had colon cancer and was 26 years old. I have different cancer and am 62 years old. I know it is not hurting. I feel good. I am still asymptomatic. I feel like I am doing something instead of having something done to me. For me, all this is a step of faith that God is healing me. I am not an evangelist for this diet. But it is funny how many of my friends and family have adopted parts of it since i have. Maybe that is an act of covenant - to share my road with me. Maybe they are scared. Fear isn’t helpful, but realizing that the way you eat is likely to kill you one way or another, and making positive changes - that is good sense and good stewardship of what God gave you.

BTW, I have not lost any noticeable weight on this diet. When you drink 64oz of juice every day, it is hard to lose weight. I need to lose 50 lbs, but that is not what this diet is about. I’ll deal with the obesity once we know the cancer is responding. Maybe after 15 weeks I will cut the juice in half. Then I bet the pounds will melt off.

Keep praying for me. Please don’t stop.