Of course, every body -- every physique -- is different, and thus every person has different specific needs. The Holy Spirit knows your body. He will lead you as to balancing diet and conventional medical treatment.

It's not like doctors are out to get you. Most, obviously, are well-intentioned. Still, a crisis there is.

"I have read with interest your recent articles on cancer," wrote Kathy Tylka. "I was diagnosed this past May with pancreatic cancer. My doctors were totally baffled as they claim I don't fit the cancer profile. I do not drink, or smoke, and I eat healthy and exercise and have been healthy all of my 62 years. I was a kindergarten teacher for thirty-eight years, loving my job and blessing the children I taught. Why did God allow this disease to enter my body? I have never questioned His reason for He knows better than I what is good for me. My cancer has, in reality, been a blessing. Amazingly wonderful events have taken place because of it. It has lead my four children to a deeper life of prayer, a miracle in itself! People who I barely know have offered many prayers for me. In fact, most days I feel as if I am totally sustained by their prayers. I united my suffering with Jesus on the Cross for all who are battling this horrific disease and He has given me great comfort.

"My children organized a cancer walk they titled the 'Walk of Hope.' The people (including our priest and parish) in my small community (population 5,000) came together and the results were amazing! We raised over $6,000, which we donated to the hospital where I receive treatments. This money will help people who have lost their jobs due to cancer. This fund was actually started by my oncologist, who by the way has told me several times to 'pray always because prayer works better than chemo.' If I may impose, I am asking for a prayer for all who suffer from this disease (and myself, also)."

"The same government that says gay marriage is okay and promiscuity is healthy and must be paid for has told everyone to eat less fat, but more starch," wrote yet one more viewer in a different tone, from a different perspective. "But the reverse is true. Cut carbs and you will lose weight. Everyone I know (including a friend who reversed their type-2 diabetes) did so by doing exactly the opposite. More, rich cheese and use of shiratake (no-carb) noodles. 

"No sugar, and also no bread, pasta, cereal, or grains (like corn) or starchy vegetables like potatoes. Meat, most cheeses, green vegetables. Since I'm not starving inside, I eat far less, have lost thirty pounds (kept off for three years), have energy, lower blood pressure, and good health. I don't have any cravings for sugar or starch. I was the other way for decades and would fast and work hard but with heroic effort would only lose five pounds that came right back. Sugar and starch cause you to be physically addicted to them, at least if you aren't an athlete running marathons. Saint Francis said preach always, sometimes use words. How many priests and ministers are overweight, if not morbidly obese?" 

For some, dairy may be good. Perhaps not so for others -- or even most -- once we reach adulthood. (What adult animals drink milk?) Ditto with many foods -- as each body, to repeat, is unique.

"I wanted to send a short e-mail about my dad who was cured of prostate cancer that had spread to the bone by changing the way he ate," says Barbara Kleaveland. "He had been a daily communicant at his church for almost thirty years and felt that it was the Lord who showed him this way of eating. The diet was called macrobiotics. No animal, fish, dairy, refined sugar, and limited oil... No oil in the beginning. After only three months of eating this way, the cancer began to leave. Eventually he was totally healed of the disease. He eventually died of Alzheimer's at age 85, almost twenty years later. He started a support group for cancer patients and once a month people came and learned how to eat healthy food to boost their immune systems. Recently I watched a documentary on this subject called Forks Over Knives. Many people are becoming aware that our diets can make us sick or make us well. It seems that meat, dairy, and carbs that are made of white flour, white sugar etcetera and all the excess oils are the culprits. Years ago folks ate a peasant type of food: beans, rice, wheat, barley, and other grains, seeds, nuts, vegetables and fruits. According to a book I just read called, My Beef With Meat by Rip Esselstyn, humans eat over sixty billion animals each year. If we lined the animals up, they would stretch from earth to the moon, two-and-a half times.

"And we are now learning that calcium pills are not curing weak bones but it is the dairy and meat consumption that causes the calcium to leak from our bones to counteract the acidic condition they cause. Dairy also causes tumor growth due to 'casein,' the animal protein that makes up 86 percent of  most dairy foods. In another book -- The China Study -- the author, T. Collin Campbell, refers to this animal protein as the number one chemical carcinogen in the American diet. I do believe we have to change the way we eat in a drastic way which totally goes against all that we were taught about healthy eating. I am writing this while on vacation in the upper peninsula of Michigan near Paradise not far from the Companions of the Lamb. I believe you have written about it in the past: A community of Catholics, totally off the grid." 

Is meat so bad, especially if it's organic, grass fed? Didn't ancient people eat it?

All in balance.

"Thank you so much for your piece on eating to avoid cancer," wrote Clare Anderson from Berkshire, England. "I have printed out the chart of acid/alkaline foods at the site you mention.

"Have you read Recalled By Life by Anthony Satillaro, MD? Dr. Satillaro developed cancer and was told there was not a lot that could be done. He went on a macrobiotic diet and the cancer disappeared. I suspect that this diet has a very high-alkaline content and avoids most of the acidic foods we like so much. He's had hate mail from other medics who don't believe him. The food is a bit strange for a Western palate with hard-to-find ingredients, and so he hired a chef to make it for him. The book also relates how he regained his Catholic faith, and it's dedicated to Archangel Michael who he thinks appeared to him as a hitchhiker and tipped him off about the diet. It's been some years since I read it so I can't remember everything. Amazon sells it secondhand for a few cents."

We always welcome angelic advice.

[Healing books]

[see also: Winter foods that balance your pH and New study again links Mediterranean diet to longer life]