The author of this book, Dirk Benedict, shared the real story of his life – his health and illness, his discovery and recovery.
The word kamikaze literally means divine wind in Japanese. But in Western culture, this word refers to the pilots of the Japanese Empire of World War 2 and their suicidal crash attacks on enemy ships.
Who is Dirk Benedict?
The author wrote: If you perchance see me on TV or in movies, observe a man well into his forties and possibly the first meat-free, sugar-free, brown-rice celebrity Hollywood has ever produced.Benedict is a movie star, actor and of course now an author. He starred on Broadway, in films and TV series including The A Team, Battlestar Galactica, etc.
What was wrong with him?
I’ve had at one time or another, all of the following ailments: falling hair, arthritis, acne, lower back pain, impotence, weight problems, excessive drinking habits, and finally at age THIRTY, the really Big One … the disease that keeps the wheels of Corporate Medicine well oiled and spinning … cancer … tumour in my prostate gland.
Why did he write this book?
Because I am a man of conscience, this book got written. I do know that truth is inclusive, not exclusive, and it is the unavoidable consequence of those who experience it to share that experience without reservation. It isn’t only misery that loves company but also joy. Benedict, however, cautioned readers that: This book is not for those who disbelieve, who attack, who resent.
Why did he get prostate cancer at age 30?
Prostate cancer generally appears in men at the ripe old age of 65 and above. But the author wrote:Today one-fifth of all cases will occur in men younger than 65. Want to know what causes it? Don’t ask them (the doctors). They don’t know. They’re still looking. They will tell you there is no cure and could you please make another donation so they can keep looking. Want to know? I’ll tell you … and for the cost of this book you can have that for which they have spent billions of your dollars in search of.
Again, the question: why prostate cancer at such a young age? It is the result of over-consumption of mucus-forming foods rich in fat and protein such as meat, eggs and dairy …. Sugar, refined flour products and fruits also produce fats and mucus.
My past eating habits were proof that it was inevitable: you can’t eat meat (deer, elk, beef, lamb, etc.) to say nothing of milk, cheese and eggs, three times a day for twenty-five years and not have problems with your prostate!
Up until the past few years, anybody such as myself who held forth that cure of sickness lies in what we eat was laughed at hysterically. And worse, was attacked as un-American, anti-Christian and just plain ol’ crazy. Wacko! How stupid to think that food could be the cause and cure of our illnesses.
Cancers all have one thing in common. They are all the result of a life or lives lived in ignorance of the eternal, infinite laws that govern the universe. There was nowhere to place the blame but directly on my own being. We do get what we deserve. In other words, our fortunes or misfortunes are a direct result of the level of ignorance.
The more responsibility I took for my own life, in sickness and in health, the more personal freedom and joy would be mine, as surely as the day follows the night.
Healing of his prostate
The only real path to personal health and happiness was through my own slow and painful understanding.
Good behaviour: there lay the secret to the success or failure of my swollen prostate. I got the message. Good behaviour … no cheating, whereby the only one who gets cheated is yourself. Good behaviour. There would be no Junk Days for me. That would be the most difficult aspect of the journey – resisting the limitless tempations that America has to offer throughout this sugar-coated land.
Because my prostate tumour has been caused by dietary habits, it would be treated by dietary means. Since 1972 I hadn’t consume meat, poultry, sugar, chocolate, sugar-treated foods or chemicalised foods. To be added to that list of untouchables were fish and all other seafood; eggs, all dairy products (including butter) honey, all flour products (bread, pancakes, cookies), all stimulants such as pepper, mustard, curry, mint, peppermint, all alcoholic beverages, coffee, teas, fruit and fruit juices; all nuts and nut butters; almost all oils (including unsaturated vegetable oils), salt and salty foods and finally all vegetable of tropical origin, such as eggplant, tomatoes and potatoes.
What does that leave? Grains, vegetables, beans and bean products and seaweeds. Beverages were to consist of water and nonstimulating teas. All foods to be cooked, including vegetables. No raw foods, including salads. Methods of cooking were steaming, boiling or pressure cooking. Sauteeing was okay occasionally.
My routine was simple: Oatmeal and light miso soup with wakame for breakfast. Lunch was nothing or some leftovers from dinner the night before and several mugs of bancha tea. Dinner was brown rice … lightly sauteed vegetables and either azuki beans or black beans cooked long and slowly with various kinds of seaweed added. I had steamed diakon for dessert.
I weighted 152 pounds … I was shocked .. I hadn’t been aware of losing any weight at all and in about six weeks I had lost 23 pounds … I was a thirty-year-old with the body of a twelve-year-old.
Throughout this period of my life, those people who told me that I was “killing myself” were entirely correct, but not in the way they intended. I was killing myself. My OLD self. My body was dying for the food it had been used to since the womb and not receiving it; my body was simply dying. And this included the tumour in my prostate, which was no longer receiving the food it needed to continue expanding. With time it began to shrink.
Healing crisis
Prior to stopping my carnivorous ways I ate meat three times a day. When I stopped, I stopped completely. This was dangerous … eventually the body will want to rid itself of all the stored animal protein / minerals it no longer needs. The vomiting, the violent convulsions were all symptoms of a body discharging … excess animal flesh. In Leros I experience the awesome power of nature as my body violently regurgitated masses of stored animal food it was not longer required to hang on to, due to my drastic change in diet.
Did he cure himself of his prostate cancer?
You bet! He wrote: Do I think cancer is curable? I’m alive, ain’t I? If you wish to learn more about him, google him yourself and you will know that he is very much alive and cancer free at that. He wrote: The cost of my cure was less than what most people spend on diet soft drinks in one year … it is economically available to all America. It would put modern medical megacorporations out of business.
Was my cancer back? No.
Could I now finally call myself cured? No.
Is there such a thing as being cured? No, no, no.
Could my prostatic cancer tumour return? Yes.
Some quotes for you to meditate on
- There are no such things as coincidences. Accidents are never accidental. What we call good luck and bad luck we do so merely out of an ignorance of the reality of our own behaviour. We always get what we deserve.
- Once we initiate direct action toward the realization of a dream and totally commit our mind, soul and body, then the most miraculous and unforeseeable forces comes into play in the realization of that dream.
- I … vowed never again to eat anything from the Kingdom of Animal.
- Meat ties you to the earth; grains tie you to the stars, the universe.
- How can we have gratitude when we take everything, including life itself, for granted? We are taught as children that the world owes us! Our parents owe us! Our friends owe us! Our loved ones owe us! Our government owes us! Without gratitude there is no divinity in our lives. There is no order in our lives.
- What we eat, the food you put into your body, dictates the physical condition of that body.
- There is a unique point to all our lives, a divine purpose that can only be realised when we get our glorious personalities, wills, intellects out of the way and let nature take its course.
- My life is my own. Nothing can kill me but my lack of judgment and understanding.
Dirk Benedict’s final advice
If you decide to follow the dietary principles in this book, that alone means nothing. You must do it yourself.
- Cook your own food
- Take your own advice
- Learn by your own mistakes
- Be the captain of your own ship
- Do so for seven or eight years and perhaps then you begin to get the point.
- Until then, keep your mouth shut! Don’t join the thousands proudly announcing they’ve been practising something called macrobiotics for six days, weeks, months, and gee do they feel great. Wait.
The path to understanding is not paved with joyous days of munching brown rice! This book is not fiction. Be patient. Be doctor. Be well.
Stars like John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Steve McQueen (and now Farrah Fawcett) – the list is endless, died of cancer. Dirk Benedict wrote: McQueen’s book is about what modern medicine can’t do for you. Mine is about what an understanding of the universal laws of nature …can do for you. Steve McQueen was rich and famous. Because he was rich, he could afford the astronomical expense of modern treatment for his terminal disease.
McQueen’s Junk Day: In Mexico, McQueen found his alternative. His last chance. He had been given certain dietary rules to follow. But literally days prior to his death, he was still having ice cream sneaked into his room, to say nothing of the one day a week he had organized for himself and other patients … during which they would eat all the junk food he could arrange to have smuggled in. He name this day of carcinogenic feasting Junk Day. His reasoning: “How can it be bad for me? All hospitals serve it.” Not very good behaviour. He should have known better. Right up to his Last Supper, Steve was going to have his dish of frozen milk and sugar.
You want to be free of sickness. Die! Death is the only real cure for the maladies of life.
CANCER STORY 
You must be logged in to post a comment.