Sandy Powers
A breast cancer
survivor, Sandy Powers turned to
organic foods to heal her liver and fight breast cancer
recurrence. Sandy and her husband, Mike, live in
Englewood, Florida, where they enjoy chasing after their
grandsons. Organic for Health explains in detail about
the toxic pesticides and fertilizers that are used in
growing conventionally foods and the detrimental role
they are playing in our family's health. Studies have
shown malignancies in children are linked to the
pesticide residues in our food. Over forty
antioxidant-packed recipes are included in Organic for
health to help fight diseases and boost the immune
system. Visit Sandy online at
www.organicforhealthsite.com
Books-and-Authors.net:
Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part of your life?
Who were your earliest influences and why?
Sandy Powers: I grew up in Lorain, Ohio, a small steel town on the
shores of Lake Erie. With the demise of heavy industry in this country,
growing up in a steel town is a page from history. Life in Lorain
depended on the life of the steel mill. It was a place where blue collar
workers could earn a decent wage, except when there was a strike. Then,
there was no wage at all.
Education was foremost in the
mind of every steelworker and his family. This was the path to a
better life. In my home, books and magazines were everywhere. I
actually can’t remember when I couldn’t read. To this day, my
sisters, my brothers, and I always seem to have a book in our
hand. Avid readers were not unusual in Lorain when I was growing
up. We had a wonderful large two-story library in the heart of
town so it was not surprising that schools in Lorain, Ohio were
good. Maybe even better than good because in my graduating class
of 1959, 49 percent of the class went to college.
Dedicated parents, dedicated teachers, and a steel town named
Lorain were the greatest earliest influences in my life.
Books-and-Authors.net: Your new book Organic for
Health tells how you are a cancer survivor. You turned to
organic foods after discovering you had cancer. Briefly explain.
Sandy Powers: My journey began
in August 2005 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer and liver
disease. I had a mastectomy for the breast cancer but I could
not continue with further cancer treatment because of my
unhealthy liver. After a year of liver function tests with no
improvement, my doctor wanted to begin treatment. A year after
cancer surgery and I was still not doing well. I thought it was
time to try to heal myself. I became my own guinea pig. I
researched everything I could find on the liver and cancer
recurrence. Certain words kept popping up: toxic pesticides,
toxic fertilizers, herbicides, hormones, antibiotics, vitamin
and mineral supplements. From this research, I developed my
blueprint for health: switching to organic foods and
discontinuing my daily vitamin and mineral supplements.
Becoming knowledgeable about the
way our food is grown and how it affects our health is a new
concept to the average consumer. Little information has been
available to the consumer on how his food in the last 40 years
has gone from healthy to containing dangerous levels of
pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and E.coli. But that is all
changing. Organics have moved from New Age to mainstream because
organics are the only sector of the food industry experiencing
sustained growth. Conventional companies such as General Mills,
Heinz, and Philip Morris’s Kraft have entered into the organic
market because it’s good business. This means more products and
more availability in the organic market.
Books-and-Authors.net:
Organic for Health discusses the toxic pesticides and
fertilizers that are used in growing our conventional foods --
Why do you think the average consumer is not educated regarding
these toxins and why do you think the FDA and farmers are not
turning to more organic ways of farming?
Sandy Powers: The quality of conventionally grown produce has
consistently deteriorated through the years because of intensive
farming practices. Intensive farming is concerned with
productivity. To achieve high productivity, powerful pesticides,
powerful fertilizers, and growth-regulators are used. While
intensive farming does provide large quantities of relatively
cheap food, it is at the cost of vitamins and minerals in the
food. For example, the conventionally grown orange you are
eating today has less vitamin C than the conventionally grown
orange of fifty years ago.
Books-and-Authors.net:
In Organic for Health you write about health problems and low
immunity as a result of consuming conventional foods --- Is it
possible to go 100% organic? Where do you shop?
Sandy Powers: Is it possible to go 100% organic today? No. The
availability of an organic product in the grocery store today is
much like the availability of a product in a grocery store of 40
years ago: what’s in season. Organic peaches are bought when in
season. Organic cabbage is bought when in season. However, more
organics are making it year round with commercial canning and
freezing. Still, vegetables like organic cabbage are not good
candidates for these types of preservation. As the world markets
expand into organics, we will see year round availability in our
grocery stores.
Where do I shop? I do most of my shopping for organics in my
local mainstream grocery stores. I buy my Gold Medal Organic
Flour at Wal-Mart, my frozen organic vegetables and fruits at
SweetBay, and my fresh organic produce and organic meat at
Publix and Whole Foods.
Books-and-Authors.net: How much research went into writing
Organic for Health ? Are you now an advocate?
Sandy Powers: As soon as my
cancer was diagnosed, I started my research on treatment and
recurrence. There is no cure for breast cancer. Recurrence is
always with you. To delay recurrence as long as possible is the
goal of every breast cancer patient. Since I could not have any
follow up treatment for cancer after my mastectomy, my goal was
to find a natural method of preventing recurrence as long as
possible. After two years of daily research, I wrote Organic for
Health. Over two and one-half years later, I am very much alive
and well. There was a popular catchphrase of the 1970’s;
"You are what you eat." I altered that to "Your health depends
on what you eat." In the beginning of Organic for Health, I
included a Buddhist saying: Every human being is the author of
his own health. My advocacy of organic food is to inspire the
reader to ask the question: What kind of book do I want to
write?
Books-and-Authors.net:
What questions do you hear people ask the most about some of the
problems with conventional foods?
Sandy Powers: The foremost
concern most people have with conventional food is the pesticide
residues that remain on the food. Study after study has shown
pesticides are linked to Parkinson’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s
lymphoma, leukemia, and cancers of the brain, not to mention a
host of other problems that are not so deadly, like asthma.
Since you can’t wash or cook off pesticide absorption, the only
way to prevent ingestion is to avoid it completely. This is role
of organic food. While organic food has more antioxidants and
immune boosters to better fight disease than conventional food,
organic food is also more expensive. Organic food costs more
because it is more costly to produce. There is a lesser yield in
crops with safer pesticides and fertilizers.
Nevertheless, we don’t have to bankrupt our food budget so we
gradually switch to organic eating. Begin with planting most of
your vegetables. A four-foot square box divided into sixteen
one-square foot plots is a great beginning and doesn’t need much
space. It is estimated that one four-foot square box will
harvest enough vegetables for two people for a season. What you
don’t use, freeze for later use. Second, buy store brands for
organics.
Writing a book requires discipline. Discipline has never been my
strong suit until I started writing Organic for Health. In order
to complete the book in a timely manner, I had to learn
discipline. And conciseness. My daughters have always teased me
about telling a four minute story in eight. I wanted Organic for
Health to be concise so the reader would actually absorb and use
the information.
I was traveling throughout
Russia shortly after Gorbachev’s Perestoika and I was shocked by
the damage committed to the air, land, and water by the
Communists. At that time it was estimated that 25 percent of the
children entering kindergarten would be mentally disadvantaged.
Back then I committed myself to writing a book on how to stay
healthy in a contaminated world. I have started working on it.
Today, it is more important than ever.
Books-and-Authors.net:
What was the last book you read?
Sandy Powers: Don’t be
surprised. The Chase by Clive Cussler.
Books-and-Authors.net: Do
you have any hobbies? What are they? How do they enhance your
writing?
Sandy Powers: I am a research
buff. A simple sentence in an article will send me to hours of
research. All this research has come in handy since I write
articles for seven web sites.
My web site,
www.organicforhealthsite.com, has continuing changing
information about organics and new recipes.
Becoming knowledgeable about the way our food is grown
and how it affects our health is a new concept to the average consumer.
Little information has been available to the consumer on how his food in
the last 40 years has gone from healthy to containing dangerous levels
of pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and E.coli. But that is all
changing.
