Looking after yourself from the inside out is working well for one cancer survivor. Sylvia Thompson reports
When Bernadette Bohan got cancer for the second time, she decided to take her health into her own hands and create a complementary healthcare regime to run alongside the conventional treatment of radiation and chemotherapy.
Now, six years on, she has become something of a popular health guru herself, following the publication of her memoir, The Choice (Harper Collins), and now The Choice - the programme (Harper Collins), which includes mouth-watering healthy recipes that she believes helped build up her immune system during and after cancer treatment.
She explains: "I'm not a nutritionist or a scientist. I'm a mother who sought out information on healthy foods.
"In essence, I went back to basics and added in nourishing foods into my daily diet. After a while, I found that by eating and drinking these foods, I no longer needed the tea, biscuits and all the little treats we give ourselves."
Bohan first got cancer of the lymph system 18 years ago at the age of 33. She was pregnant with her third child at the time and subsequently lost her baby. Following treatment, she was advised by her doctors not to have any more children as there was a suspected link between the cancer and pregnancy.
Seven years after the cancer, she believed she was cured and decided to have another baby. Five years after the birth of this baby, Julie, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"I was so determined in my quest to beat the cancer that I immediately set about making some corrective changes. These changes were intended to support myself through the six months of chemotherapy, the 25 radiation treatments and the operation that now faced me," she writes.
"It was quite a harrowing experience and on the days I had my treatment, I was very debilitated. But, after those days, I just carried on the normal mothering duties. As a mother, you know your children need you and your love for them gives you the determination to help yourself," she says.
In The Choice - the programme, Bohan explains how her complementary healthcare regime has four strands: juicing, power foods, clean drinking water and safe personal care products.
Raw foods feature prominently in the Bohan regime. She admits that many of her views on raw foods are similar to those held by Dr Brian and Anna Maria Clement, founders of the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida, United States, and authors of Living Foods for Optimum Health (Prima Health).
"From all the lectures I attended and experts I spoke to, the most astounding fact I learned was that when food is cooked or steamed above 43 degrees, it destroys almost 100 per cent of the enzymes in these foods," she writes.
She also berates the use of microwave ovens. "By heating foods at high temperatures we destroy the most important nutrients - the enzymes," she writes.
A vegetarian for five years, Bohan is a big fan of sprouting. In her fridge, jars of sprouted beans sit alongside juice, apple and carrot wraps, and sweet nibbles made from almonds, raisins, millet, coconut and orange peel.
"I'd like to see raw food restaurants in Ireland. They are very prevalent in the United States now and they will come here as people begin to realise this food is good for them," she says. Younger people, she believes, are also more aware of the effect of food on their bodies.
In The Choice - the programme, Bohan includes several recipes for juices, fresh and cooked main meals, snacks and tasty treats. She thanks the chefs at Cornucopia, the vegetarian restaurant on Wicklow Street, Dublin, for their help with these recipes.
Like many of the new wave of nutritionists, she speaks highly of wheatgrass, essential fats and wholegrains such as millet, buckwheat, quinoa and spelt.
But of them all, wheatgrass is the hero. She writes: "Wheatgrass is so powerful that one ounce of it is said to be the equivalent of over two pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables in terms of vitamins, minerals, trace elements and phytonutrients."
She also has a select list of food supplements, some of which she began to use while undergoing chemotherapy.
"Throughout the initial stages of chemotherapy, I found it very difficult to keep down and digest food. I then learned about the important role of digestive enzymes," she writes.
A plant-based enzyme supplement helped her digestion and restored her eating habits to normal during chemotherapy.
In terms of safe personal care products, Bohan draws attention to the fact that many antiperspirants and deodorants contain aluminium compounds which are suspected carcinogens. She also suggests people choose shampoos with sodium laureth sulphate which is less likely to irritate the skin than the more widely used sodium lauryl sulphate.
"It's very fashionable to spray chemicals on your body, but we are meant to perspire. The important thing is for people to choose safe deodorants and body sprays. There are plenty of safe alternatives now," she says.
On sourcing clean water, she suggests a filtration system installed under the sink unit with a separate tap is preferable to bottled water or jug filters which can actually harbour bacteria.
Since the publication of her books, Bohan has been called on for advice on a regular basis and, following many evenings of showing people how to juice and sprout in her home in Malahide, Co Dublin, she now gives public seminars in a Dublin hotel. She also has a website with details of her programme and seminars (www.Changesimply.com).
However, she is adamant that her programme is not a miracle cure for cancer.
"I show people the simple changes I made and I don't make any wild claims. The only experience I have is my own," she says.