Every day is a new life. Every day is a gift.
Each day is a day to count one's blessings for
the simple things. For the ability to read a
book and learn a new thing, or taste and enjoy
a crisp salad and a ripe pear. To smile. To laugh.
To love. To live.

On December 3rd, 2002, my father suffered his second stroke.
This one was massive, in his brainstem, near the pons and
medulla. I spoke with his neurologist and cardiologist, both
family friends, and neither one expected him to live through
that horrible day.

Today, 4/16/04, dad celebrates the 500th day of his new life.
Twelve thousand gifted hours; 720,000 additional minutes.
Fifty million new heartbeats.

My father is a warrior. He lived by that three-pronged sword
otherwise known as a fork. Live by the sword, die by that
sword. The stroke subtracted from the efficiency of many
of those normal daily functions that he took for granted.
The evening before his stroke, he ate the "steak-special"
at Charlie Brown's Restaurant. This was the 24-ounce New
York cut that came from a cow and was finely marbled with
delicious saturated animal fat. The meal was so good,
that he splurged a bit and had cheesecake for dessert.

During dinner, his stomach immediately went to work digesting
that steak. After dinner, the cheesecake neutralized the acid
in his stomach, preventing that organ from performing the task
it was designed to do. When indigestion and reflux threatened
to rob him of a good night's sleep, he took that one reliable
medicine which always works to buffer the acid in his stomach,
vanilla ice cream. During his pained act of indigestion, the
vanilla ice cream neutralized the stomach acid once more, and
the contents of his stomach sac emptied into his large intestine
where the remaining food containing three extra-large doses of
saturated fat were absorbed into his bloodstream. A few hours
later, a thick coating of fat had circulated to an artery in
Dad's neck, cutting off the supply of blood to his brain.

Much like fatty cream rises to the top of a container of milk
(before homogenization), so too did the saturated animal fat
from the foods he ate coagulate inside of an artery, cutting
off blood to the brain of a man named Nathan Cohen.

I visited him in the nursing home each day. and brought back
home with me the "Merry Christmas" menu which promised roast
prime ribs of beef au jus, broccoli spears with cheese sauce,
baked potato with sour cream, and coconut custard pie. I kid
you not. Based upon his past history, he would eat this meal
with relish. I, of course, brought him an alternative meal
about 30 minutes before this artery-clogging poison was served
because...that's what got him there in the first place.

Nat has since discovered Boca Burgers, has eaten Morningstar's
sausages, and Soy Delicious chocolate ice cream. He had eggplant
with vegan mozzarella cheese for dinner this week, and his new
favorite restaurant is Veggie Heaven in Teaneck, New Jersey where
he enjoys the best veggie chicken and veggie beef in the New
York metropolitan area. Nat has learned to substitute one set
of comfort foods with another, and he has also discovered about
the powers of green, red, orange, and yellow fruits and vegetables.
Each day since that stroke of bad luck, Nat has been eating
one-half cantaloupe or one-half honeydew for his breakfast
meal. Nat now enjoys brown rice, instead of instant white rice.

Now comes Nat's greatest challenge. He would like to be able to
hold his grandchildren's children. I predict that Nat will live
at least another 15-20 years more. He will celebrate his 88th
birthday in July. Should Nat continue to eat a plant-based diet,
the layer of fat beneath his arteries will disappear. His arterial
walls will strengthen, regaining their elasticity. He will reverse
and cure his heart disease, and continue to be the miracle man
that he has always been. Nat the vegan, a man now showing
compassion to animals by not eating them, will be showing even
more compassion to his own body. He will be eating magic foods
with substances called bioflavoinoids and isoflavones. He will
be eating fiber and living enzymes. The antioxidants in fresh
fruits and vegetables will heal Nat from within, while his
example may teach and inspire millions of people to save billions
more animals.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com