Tomoko Wakasugi (Grandma Wakasugi) is a prolific writer on the shokuyo style of eating. Shokuyo is a lifestyle similar to a macrobiotic diet in which only all natural grains and plants are prepared and eaten carefully to maintain physical and mental health and combat disease.

She said that she began her writing career after prolonging her husband’s life to six years after he was only given two months to live by doctors. His dying wish was for her to help others through her knowledge of alternative nutrition.

Currently 76, Ms. Wakasugi still has a thick black head of hair and strong vision.  However, our story begins 24 years earlier when a cooking class opened specializing in dishes made from wild plants.

When she was 58, Ms. Wakasugi decided that she wanted to completely master the ways of shokuyo. According to Ms. Wakasugi, the way to do that was to move to the mountain town of Ayabe in Kyoto.

“My husband let me move there but wanted nothing to do with the diet itself. He would say ‘screw living in the mountains,’ and remained in Shizuoka. So, we ended up living separately.”

They continued like this for 10 years with Ms. Wakasugi immersing herself in shokuyo while her husband enjoyed a single lifestyle rife with meat and alcohol. However, in the spring of 2003, it would catch up to him.

He was diagnosed with an accelerated form of lung cancer (small-cell lung carcinoma) and doctors said he had only two months to live.

“For my husband it was like receiving a death sentence. He was ready to try anything and said ‘Today, I’ll start doing that diet thing you’re into.’ So, he stopped eating meat, dairy, and egg products, and began eating simple meals based on rice and miso soup.”

Ms. Wakasugi also prescribed her husband a combination of teas which he was to drink completely three times a day every day.

They were Charred Brown Rice Tea (made with brown rice roasted until charcoal like), Wild Rice Tea (made with dried Asian wild rice), and Charred Umeboshi Tea (made with pickled plums carefully heated until charcoal like).

Mr. Wakasugi followed his wifes directions carefully and she made frequent trips back to Shizuoka to look after him and his treatment. After about one month his cancer had begun to recede, and by 2009 (six years later) it had gone into remission.

“My husband was ecstatic and raised his arms with joy. He had to admit, shokuyo worked. However, he went right back to his old habits.”

Shortly after, Mr. Wakasugi was diagnosed with liver cancer.

“’Do you want to go on the diet again?’ I asked him, but he said ‘This time I’ll let the doctors try.’ Even during the therapy his symptoms got worse.

Then one day my husband confronted the hospital and demanded ‘no more treatment!’ The doctors complied and he was completely off his therapy two days before he died. He was at home with his family when he passed away in his sleep.”

In September of 2009, 76-year-old Toshio Wakasugi gave his wife some parting words:

“What you’re doing is amazing. It’s amazing that I survived another six years. From now on try to give your help to many people.”

Since then, Grandma Wakasugi has gone on to write six books in three years about shokuyo.

Even if the events took place exactly like Ms. Wakasugi told, it’s hard to expect the same results for anyone else. Everyone is different, as are cancers, but when you’re given a ‘death sentence’ from medical science why not try other avenues.

Source: News Post Seven (Japanese)
Image: Amazon