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In 2018, Kiki Nelson left her doctor’s office in low spirits, with high cholesterol, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and a seemingly impossible task: “My doctor told me I needed to lose 40 pounds,” recalls Nelson. “I said, ‘Forty pounds is a lot!’ I’d had such a hard time losing five or 10 pounds, and anytime I’d get any amount of weight off, I couldn’t keep it off. It was super frustrating.” But not long afterward, Nelson ran into an old friend, who recommended looking into John McDougall, MD, “a doctor who helped people heal by eating potatoes.” It sounded far-fetched to Nelson, who had spent years operating on the assumption that low-carb, high-protein diets were healthiest. “I thought there was no way that I could eat potatoes, especially with my blood sugar being high,” Nelson says. “I ran to Barnes & Noble and got The Starch Solution and read it in a day. My mind was blown.”

She soon transitioned to a whole-food, plant-based diet and brought down her blood sugar, blood pressure, triglycerides, and cholesterol to healthy levels while losing 70 pounds. “To get to this point without counting calories—it’s been absolutely life-changing for me,” Nelson says. She’s made it her mission to encourage others who are on similar journeys, sharing creative, crave-worthy recipes that showcase the abundance and ease of a plant-based diet on her website, Plantiful Kiki. Now, she’s compiled her favorite recipes and best advice into a book. Plantifully Lean, out April 11 from Simon & Schuster, is meant as an all-in-one resource for anyone curious about trying a plant-based diet for weight loss or better health. In addition to 125 recipes, it features a guide to getting started on a plant-based diet and practical tips for building self-esteem. “I wrote the manual that I wish I’d had,” Nelson says. “Everything that I’ve learned, all my trial and error, it’s all been fine-tuned and summed up in this book.” We spoke with Nelson about the book, the importance of positive self-talk, and the power of a daily affirmations practice.

In the book you emphasize the importance of knowing your “why.” Can you speak to that?

Kiki Nelson: If your goal is to change a body that you hate…that is very difficult, because you’re already in an adversarial position with yourself. If you hate your body, it’s hard to do things for your body. But that’s how most of us enter into diets: We hate the way we look and we want to change. The fact is that it’s absolutely OK and possible to love yourself while you work on the things that you want to change. Starting to shift your language around that is really important, and knowing your “why” is about finding the healthiest reason for changing—not focusing on the negative things that you want to change but the positive things that you want to bring into your life. For me, I’d always [equated] getting healthy with being skinny and felt uncomfortable in my own skin. But after having two babies and realizing what’s really important in life, I decided that I needed to change my relationship with myself, and to stop making my journey about being a certain size. So instead of focusing on weight loss, I focused on health.

How did you start a practice of daily affirmations?

KN: I looked back and realized that I’d been every size, and I’d hated my body at all of them. I knew that I needed to change how I talked to myself. So I wrote down the things that I could appreciate about my body, like the fact that I was able to carry two healthy babies full term. I also wrote a list of the things that I aspired to feel about myself, like, “I am beautiful,” “I am confident,” or “I am healthy.” These are all things that I didn’t feel at the time.

I would sit with my hand on my heart and read those two lists every single day, morning and night, before I started my day and before I ended my day. When you do this, it’s just a matter of time before you start respecting yourself a little bit more and you start catching those negative thoughts. You start saying, “No, I’m not going to talk down about myself.” And that self-respect will grow into a deep self-love. And I am a firm believer that true self-love really is what empowers long and lasting change in any area of your life.

You didn’t believe your affirmations in the beginning?

KN: No. I didn’t feel beautiful. I didn’t feel healthy. It’s interesting: When you start trying to change your belief systems, often that’s when you first become aware of what your current belief systems even are. One major belief that stuck out to me was that I was not a disciplined person, because I would always start things and not finish them. So I put the opposite on my list—“I am disciplined”—because I wanted to believe that. And now, if you ask me who I am, I’ll tell you that I’m one of the most disciplined people I know, not even a question. But yes, know that you’re not going to believe the affirmations at first. You’re going to feel like an imposter. It’s going to feel unnatural and uncomfortable, but you’ve just got to ride through that.

In the book, you talk about eating more to weigh less. Can you explain how that works?

KN: Before I came to a plant-based diet, I was always trying to eat less in order to weigh less. And I think we all know how that goes: Eating less food isn’t sustainable, because eventually your hunger drive takes over and you go back to where you started. Then I learned the principles of calorie density—that whole plant foods are naturally low in calories but huge in terms of volume, nutrients, fiber, and water. Fiber, water, and bulk are the major contributors to satiety (a sense of being full) in your brain. And so after filling my plate with those foods, I found that I was naturally satisfied while reducing my caloric intake, literally eating more [volume] than ever and losing weight.

Why was it important to you to minimize oil in these recipes?

KN: After reading Dr. McDougall’s book [The Starch Solution] and learning what a highly processed, devoid-of-nutrition product it is, I wanted to get oil out of my diet. When I was eating oil regularly, I didn’t realize how much fat I was taking in. I think that cutting oil was one of the biggest contributors to not only the weight loss but also to reducing inflammation in my body. Am I 100% oil-free? No. If I go on vacation or I go out to eat and there’s a little bit of oil in something, no big deal. But I don’t eat fried food. I don’t cook in oil. I use a light spray of oil if something’s going to stick. But I don’t use oil as an ingredient in my recipes, and that was foundational for me.

What are some of your go-to oil-free cooking hacks?

KN: I think a lot of people don’t realize—I know I didn’t—that if you have a good nonstick pan, you can cook without any oil and still get all of the flavor and caramelization. So number one, get a good nonstick pan that you feel comfortable using. Also, cooking things with balsamic vinegar is amazing, and adding some tamari or coconut aminos or low-sodium soy sauce, whatever you’re into, to help flavor things and to help them not stick to your pan is great. When it comes to baking, mashed bananas or applesauce can easily take the place of fat and eggs, and your baked goods still come out just as moist. It’s mind-blowing!

Try Kiki Nelson’s Onion Rings recipe, excerpted from the Plantifully Lean cookbook!

The Mayo Clinic puts laetrile to the test to see if it is an effective cancer treatment.

My video Does Laetrile (Amygdalin or Vitamin B17) Work as an Alternative Cancer Cure? looks at amygdalin and whether it is “quackery or cure.”

A cyanide-containing compound found in apple seeds, amygdalin is ten times more concentrated in the seeds of peaches, apricots, and bitter almonds. It can be sold as a derivative called laetrile, which has been advertised with the misnomer “vitamin B17.” “Amygdalin gained high popularity among cancer patients in the 1970s” as an alternative treatment, but the reason researchers published a review of amygdalin in 2016 and why I’m doing videos about it is that it has “experienced a renaissance,” thanks to the internet.

Back in the 1970s, the FDA could only send out its Bulletin to a million doctors and other health professionals, warning them that laetrile is not only worthless, but dangerous. About ten thousand copies of the alert were posted in U.S. post offices, and The New York Times editorialized that we should be able to choose our own placebo. But laetrile was killing people. Finally, as the New England Journal of Medicine reported it, the “Supreme Court stops the nonsense” with Justice Thurgood Marshall writing the unanimous court opinion that terminally ill patients deserve the same FDA protections against unsafe drugs. At last, laetrile was banned on a federal level.

Rational argument failed to dissuade people, though, so the State stepped in, but that had the opposite effect. “Cancer victims and their families almost universally respond[ed] by accusing organized government and organized medicine of conspiracy.” At an FDA meeting, for example, a physician from M.D. Anderson Cancer Hospital rhetorically asked: “‘You surely cannot believe that the quarter of a million of American physicians are sitting on a cancer cure just so they can get rich?’ He was answered with a chorus of yeses from the audience, many of whom had been borne to the hearings on chartered buses.” Some laetrile advocates were getting rich, though, like the head of the “Committee for Freedom of Choice in Cancer Therapy.” More like committed to the freedom of pocketing millions a year in laetrile sales.

“Laetrile’s proponents consider it to be a ‘natural cancer cure’; whereas opponents consider it ‘the slickest, most sophisticated, and certainly the most remunerative [lucrative and profitable] cancer quack promotion in medical history.’” Which is it? You don’t know until you put it to the test.

“The National Cancer Institute, in response to widespread public interest, undertook a retrospective analysis of Laetrile treatment.” In other words, it sent out a letter to every physician in the country and tens of thousands of other health professionals, and contacted all of the pro-laetrile groups, basically saying, send us the best you got. Although at least 70,000 Americans are estimated to have used laetrile, only 93 cases were submitted for evaluation, and, of those, only six appeared to be legitimate, where taking laetrile was associated with at least some partial improvement.

Now, of course, the people sending in those reports may have gotten things wrong or falsified data, but, maybe those six actually did respond to the treatment. If that’s out of 70,000 treated, though, you’d think maybe that’d just be by chance. Regardless, the fact that so many people tried it should count for something. They may have all just been boondoggled, but maybe there’s something to it. Certainly, the fact that it didn’t seem to help with any of the laboratory animal cancers doesn’t mean it couldn’t work in people. The only way to know for sure is to put it to the test: “a tightly controlled clinical trial performed in competent and experienced hands.” The Mayo Clinic accepted the challenge.

One hundred seventy-eight cancer patients were treated with it and all of the patients died rapidly. “No substantive benefit was observed in terms of cure, improvement, or stabilization of cancer, improvement of symptoms related to cancer, or extension of life span.” There were only adverse effects of cyanide toxicity.

The conclusion? “Amygdalin (Laetrile) is a toxic drug that is not effective as a cancer treatment.”

The books have been closed on this for more than 30 years. “Laetrile doesn’t work.” It is unsafe and ineffective. Researchers “found no sound evidence that laetrile is effective as an anticancer agent.” So, the label “unproven” cancer remedy may be too generous at this point; “it is time to vehemently assert that laetrile cancer therapy has been ‘disproven.’”

What about eating apricot seeds directly? In case you missed my previous video, check out Do Apricot Seeds Work as an Alternative Cancer Cure?.

Lifestyle medicine doctor Suzannah Bozzone, MD, is making waves in Chattanooga, Tennessee, working to reshape her city into a hub for healthy living that preserves the rich culture of Southern cuisine. Between her private health-consulting business and collaboration with the internationally acclaimed Blue Zones Project, Bozzone keeps her plate full of community-strengthening ventures. Forks Over Knives spoke with Bozzone about how her experience working with marginalized populations shaped her perspective on health care, how to combine traditional cooking techniques with a whole-food, plant-based diet, and her favorite tricks for creating healthy soul food at home.

How did you start practicing lifestyle-based medicine?

Dr. Suzzanah Bozzone: After medical school I worked in a Spanish-speaking clinic. I began to recognize the necessity of understanding where your patients are coming from before you treat them. Then I went to residency in Denver at a clinic where I worked with a lot of refugees from Myanmar, Ethiopia, Eritrea. … Those experiences showed me that our [medical] system, even with the best intentions, often takes away patients’ power. We give them a diagnosis and a new identity as a sick person. But when we address the root drivers of their disease and teach them how to heal themselves, we give them back their power.

What inspired you to branch out and launch a health-consulting business?

SB: I took a job with a major medical system in Chattanooga and was trying to redirect this Titanic crisis of chronic disease. I started running group visits [with patients] who all had diabetes or heart disease, and we would give them cooking demonstrations or talk about their lifestyle habits. I met my business partner, Christine Smith, there, and we could see the difference that program made, so we started True Health Journey together. We help people identify the barriers preventing them from living a healthier life, and then we partner with them to reach their goals. That could involve taking them to the grocery store, helping clean out their pantry, cooking demos, or even private yoga lessons.

How do you make whole-food, plant-based eating accessible to your community?

SB: We’re currently running a program to teach teens how to grow food and then cook whole-food, plant-based soul food. It focuses on Latino and African American flavors to appeal to the populations we’re working with. The meals they cook then go to heart-failure discharge patients to hopefully reduce their hospital readmission. It’s important to adapt the flavors [of the recipes] to the cultural traditions the kids know. In order to make healthy eating mainstream, we need to make it applicable and reachable for everyone.

Tell us about your work with the Blue Zones Project to transform health outcomes in Chattanooga.

SB: Blue zones are the five regions where longest-living populations in the world reside. The [Blue Zones] organization uses what they call the Power 9—nine trends throughout all of these blue zones that point to why people live so long. Those include purpose-driven living, strong community, wind-down time built into their schedules, and moving throughout the day. But with regard to food, these areas eat 95% plant-based. So the organization uses these evidence-based principles to work with cities to make impactful shifts toward longer lives, less

chronic disease, and more productivity. The heart of the South is the most unhealthy place in the Western world. If we can do this in Chattanooga, I really believe we can do it anywhere.

How do you make a WFPB diet sustainable for patients who are brand-new to it?

SB: It’s important to find joy in the journey and to celebrate the pieces along the way that you’re doing right. I see a lot of patients who are overwhelmed, whether it’s from a certain diagnosis or life in general, and it’s easy to lose your identity in that worry. I try to help people reconnect to their “why” for prioritizing their health. That’s why we named it True Health Journey—because it’s not about the destination. If we lose the joy of our day-to-day lives, then why are we here?

3 Tips For Cooking Healthy Southern Comfort Food

True Health Journey co-founders Suzannah Bozzone, MD, and Christine Smith, RN, help clients “keep the South in their mouth” while going whole-food, plant-based with these tasty tips. Try them at home whenever you’re craving something packed full of nourishing ingredients that still tastes extra indulgent.

1. Creamy Without the Cream

For green bean and broccoli casseroles, try a decadent cream sauce made entirely from plants.

In a blender combine 1 cup peeled and cooked potatoes, ¼ cup cooked carrots, ¼ cup cooked onions, ½ cup cashews or white beans, ¼ cup nutritional yeast, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, and a pinch each of paprika, sea salt, and cayenne pepper. Blend until smooth. Add vegetable broth to thin as needed.

2. Barbecue Sans Meat

Use canned jackfruit to mimic pulled pork by shredding it into strips with two forks. The shredded texture helps it thoroughly absorb the flavors of the barbecue sauce and retain moisture. It’s perfect for sandwiches and tacos.

3. Spice It Up

If you’re cooking collard greens or beans and want to infuse them with lots of savory flavor, use garlic, onion, lemon, low-sodium soy sauce, or liquid smoke—no meat necessary.

To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer. For meal-planning support, check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path.

If you choose alternative cancer treatments, do you live longer?

In addition to conventional therapies, “does the use of alternative medicine predict survival from cancer?” Even if the alternative therapies themselves were useless, one might predict users would live longer because they tend to have more hope and a greater “will to live,” and are nearly three times as likely to believe their cancer is curable even if it isn’t. But, researchers found that death rates were actually higher in alternative medicine users. When they followed up with them years later, they found that 79 percent of the alternative medicine users had died, compared to 65 percent of non-users. If the alternative medicine users started out sicker, though, that could certainly explain why. And, in fact, they did tend to be sicker, but the difference didn’t reach statistical significance. The bottom line is that the association between the use of alternative medicine and shortened survival is not necessarily cause and effect, but it’s possible some of the alternative modalities may have indeed been harmful, as I discuss in my video Do Apricot Seeds Work as an Alternative Cancer Cure?.

Thanks to the internet, there has been a resurgence of older complementary and alternative cancer treatments, such as laetrile, which is a compound derived from amygdalin, a natural cyanide-containing substance concentrated in apricot kernels, the seeds inside the pits. To skirt regulations, it was branded as “vitamin” B17, but it’s not a vitamin at all. What’s more, the “lack of laetrile’s effectiveness [against cancer] and the risk of side effects from cyanide poisoning led the Food and Drug Agency (FDA) in the US and the European Commission to ban its use” decades ago. However, you can still buy it on the internet, just as you can still purchase the apricot kernels themselves. Is there any harm in just giving them a try? Yes, because of cyanide intoxication.

In a typical case report, a woman ate some apricot seeds. She had gotten them from a health food store, so they had to be healthy, right? Twenty minutes later, she had trouble breathing and slipped into a coma. Some calculations were made, and it appears an eight-ounce bag of apricot kernels is enough to kill six people if consumed in one sitting. Therefore, “the continuing sale of apricot kernels as health food is troubling.”

In another case, a person had been consuming a quarter-teaspoon of ground apricot kernels daily and had just switched brands the day before she ended up in the ICU. Thankfully, she survived, but others are not so lucky. For instance, a 17-year-old was dead within a day from severe cyanide poisoning, which can result in coma, convulsions, and cardiovascular collapse. That’s why calling laetrile a vitamin is so insidious. In yet another example, a 32-year-old woman arrived at the emergency room in a coma. Was she on anything? No, she had just taken some “vitamin supplements.” Thankfully, a relative showed up to the ER with them: so-called vitamin B17. The patient was given a cyanide antidote and survived. But, had that relative not brought the B17 or not shown up at all, the case “could have proved fatal.”

So, “cancer patients should be informed about the high risk of developing serious adverse effects due to cyanide poisoning after laetrile or amygdalin,” the natural compound in apricot seeds. Especially at risk may be those taking mega-doses of vitamin C or those not getting enough vitamin B12. The body has two major ways to detoxify cyanide. It can attach it to vitamin B12 to form the supplement form cyanocobalamin, which can be harmlessly eliminated when we pee, or it can use the amino acid cysteine, which is also used to metabolize vitamin C. So, if you take too much vitamin C, your levels can drop and you can end up more vulnerable to cyanide toxicity.

Conventional cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy, can be toxic, too. It’s all about benefits versus risks. Yes, amygdalin can block the growth of certain cancer cells in a petri dish, although it doesn’t appear to have any anti-cancer effects against tumors in laboratory animal. But you don’t know what happens in people until you put it to the test and do a clinical trial of amygdalin in the treatment of human cancer. For those results, see my video Does Amygdalin or Vitamin B17 Work as an Alternative Cancer Cure?.