00:01Hey, so I just want to pop in really quick and talk about a book I just read. It's by
00:07a doctor
00:09called Anthony J. Sattelaro. He's from Philadelphia. The book was published in the early 80s. So
00:18anyway, he was from Philadelphia. He was in his late 40s. He was diagnosed with stage 4
00:23prostate cancer. They had biopsied his prostate, one of his testicles, and part of his right rib,
00:33one of his right ribs, and they found it had metastasized stage 4 prostate cancer.
00:41So they removed his testicles because the testosterone would aggravate the condition.
00:47He was put on estrogen therapy and pain meds, and he was given a very poor prognosis. So
00:55they said he would not last another five years and probably be dead sooner than that
01:03in the next maybe three years. So at the same time that this was happening, as if it wasn't enough,
01:09his father was dying of cancer. And so very soon after Anthony was diagnosed, his father passed.
01:20And needless to say then, he was going through a lot of mental anguish, a lot of trauma in his
01:27life.
01:29He was falling apart. He thought he was a goner. And on the way back from his parents,
01:35on the way back from burying his father, he picked up two hitchhikers on his way back to
01:40his home in Philadelphia. These hitchhikers talked about how they just finished a class
01:47on the macrobiotic diet, which is a diet that consists of just brown rice, sea vegetables,
01:57other vegetables, and possibly a little fruit, and some rare fish. This is a largely plant-based diet,
02:10except for the fish, which is a rare inclusion, if that at all. And so they said that Tony could
02:21get rid of his cancer by following this way of life and this diet. And so after they parted,
02:30they sent him some literature. And Tony checked it out. And he decided to look into it. He attended
02:39cooking classes and instruction from the local macrobiotic community and decided to give it a try.
02:48He met up with some of the people, some of the followers of this way of life and diet. They
02:54started to eat together. He didn't like it at first, but he persisted. He felt he didn't have
03:01any other option because everything else was not working. He was experiencing a lot of pain still.
03:08So the more he ate the diet, he was getting a lot better pain relief. And he had a brighter
03:21outlook.
03:22He had doubts still because he came from a world that embraced, of course, the medical
03:31tradition and how it's conventionally practiced. So this was a new way of life for him.
03:40But since he was feeling a lot better by eating this new way, he wanted to hold on to it.
03:46He thought
03:46there was something to it. He thought maybe if this worked and he could get better with this food,
03:51that he could be an example for others. And soon after that, he had some lab tests done.
04:01They were markedly improved from his last values. And a repeat bone scan
04:10showed that he was negative. He had cleared up the cancer. And so he was pretty elated. He started
04:18spreading the word. The word got around. And he decided to go off his estrogen therapy.
04:26All was going well. And then he got thyroiditis. And so he was put on drugs for that. And this
04:36was
04:36a part, this was for some other reason besides the cancer. But after all of that, he did a repeat
04:45bone scan, which showed some activity in his ribs. So he started to worry, you know, it was the cancer
04:50coming back. But he remained strong. He stuck to his faith, his rekindled faith. And he stuck with the
05:01advice from the macro community, especially the leader of the movement, whose name is Michio Kushi.
05:14And he remained resilient, despite the uncertainty. And it turns out that what caused the flare up or
05:24the positive results of the new bone scan was actually his body getting rid of the drugs that
05:30he was taking, the thyroiditis. The thyroiditis and the treatment was exacerbating the cancer in him
05:40that was left, even though it was small, to show this positive bone scan. And so once he had once
05:46he
05:46whittled down and weaned off the drugs, of course, staying with the diet still, another bone scan showed
05:53negative results, no sign of cancer. So that from just being strong, sticking with his conviction,
06:03following the diet, following the diet, remaining on the diet still, and keeping his faith, keeping his
06:09spirituality and his positive attitude, he was just fine. And all the worry was for not as long as he
06:21stuck to the good way of life and the good way of eating and the great thinking that he had.
06:28And so that's pretty much how the book ends. Um, he really stresses in the book how he rekindled his
06:43faith. He was a Christian and, um, he had gave it up for some time, but after starting the new
06:49diet,
06:50he went back to his faith and really became a stronger man from it. And that in combination
06:59with the new lifestyle and diet, how he was feeling better physically really changed him into a new man
07:05to be less self-centered, have more humility, embrace life more and appreciate life more.
07:15And realize that everyone is blessed all the time, even though we sometimes seemingly don't deserve it
07:22or are not worthy of it. That's another thing that he stresses that he felt he didn't deserve a second
07:30chance. But he got one. Um, that's the generosity of God to bless us, even the unworthy, but bless us
07:43especially if we stay on a good path and, or get on a better path or get on the right
07:52path after being on
07:55the wrong one. So great book. Again, it's recalled by life by Dr. Anthony J. Sattelaro, MD.
08:05I recommend it to everyone.
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