Sometimes we meet readers who are just pure inspiration to us all. We got a letter from Annette before we left for Atlanta, telling us about her parents in advance of them coming to our class in South Carolina.
Mel and Julie Lacock are 78 and 73, spry and healthy, and they’ve been eating a mostly plant-based, whole-foods diet, for almost as long as I’ve been alive. Mel reminds me of my own daddy, who is 69 and still runs 4 miles a day.
Here’s what Annette said about Mel and Julie (edited version):
“My parents are two of my heroes, for the health choices they made 42 years ago, the reason I’m so passionate about eating a plant-based diet for life. You share in your lectures that if the young mothers today will embrace a whole-foods, 60-80% raw diet, and teach their children the same, then there is hope for America’s health.
“My parents returned from a mission in Taiwan and learned from a naturopath about the raw food diet. They maintained that for a while, on a missionary’s budget, feeding three small children. Eventually they embraced more cooked food, but retained a high-raw lifestyle. They ‘made’ us eat healthy.
“They didn’t have the aid of the internet, libraries, or a popularized vegetarian movement. I realize now how tenacious my parents were to self-educate and thereby protect their own health and pass a wonderful example on to their children.
“They are living WITHOUT MEDICATION, eating a plant-based diet of vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes and seeds from all over the world where they have lived.
“Two of their children have turned to the Standard American Diet, with exactly the effects you would predict. And my parents’ peers are dropping like flies and eating lots of medication—the contrast is stark.
“I have great health because my parents safeguarded it when I was young. I veered into the S.A.D. for a few years, but I returned and have never looked back.”
What a love letter! I got emotional when Annette sent it to me before we flew to Georgia. Then I met her lovely parents, and I found tears in my eyes again as I edited this condensed version of her tribute to them.
I hope my kids “get it” enough to write something like that, someday. Don’t you? Who needs it on a headstone! I want to read it on the GSG blog while I’m still living, hehe.
And Mel and Julie get to do that—read it on the GSG blog—because they’ve taken the path less traveled and changed the course of their daughter’s life.
If my grandmother were still with us, she and the Lacocks would be fast friends. I remember that when my grandmother learned that oxygen spells death for cancer, and that a raw plant-based diet has the power to starve it out, she became a little “out of balance” in life.
Very normal, of course, given her diagnosis and a doc telling her she was going to die. Most conversations with her were about food, and most people found her to be a little militant and dogmatic. She eventually balanced out, and returned to thinking about other things besides just food—but many of you know what I’m talking about here:
When your eyes are first opened, you’re astonished. You’re angry, even. You want to tell everyone. Then, you’re frustrated when almost no one listens. It may take years to find ways to talk about your lifestyle that more people are interested in, and will take at least baby steps towards it. They do it because of your example and patience. They never do it because you’re preachy, condescending, or strident.
Here’s a photo of me with Mel and Julie Lacock that they just emailed. I’m inspired by their long-time stamina and consistency in living the truth. That’s why they look so good. Kristin kept saying, “I can’t believe he’s 78!”
Love to you all for being a part of this movement. I cannot do it without you. We continue to spend $0.00 on advertising, thanks to your spreading the love to people you care about. God willing, I’ll keep teaching the classes if you keep showing up with your friends and family who are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
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