Vegetarians in Paradise

Vegetarian Books


Each issue the VIP birds endeavor to soar to the highest literary peak to peck out the most unique, informative, and accomplished book or books that contribute to vegetarian enlightenment.

This month we review a children's book that explains that diabetes can be successfully cured with a plant-based diet.



The Doctors in Mili's Suitcase:
How I Cured Diabetes with Food

By Katherine Orr

Pacific Raven Press , 2014

Paperback, $14.95


In The Doctors in Mili's Suitcase, Katherine Orr both illustrates and tells the story of Hana, an eleven-year-old Hawaiian girl who is diagnosed with diabetes. Well aware of the disease because Grandma Tutu suffers with leg and kidney problems and Uncle Kim is a stroke victim, Hana is quite disturbed when she is told she will have to take pills or insulin shots for the rest of her life to manage her diabetes.

The Doctors in Mili's Suitcase Enter Aunt Mili who comes for a visit and uses the books and DVDs in her suitcase to help Hana beat her disease. In a gentle, loving manner she explains that just as diabetes is caused by food, it can also cured with food. Aunt Mili tells her niece, "The food you eat becomes your body. If you want a junk body, eat junk food. If you want a body that's a clean and lean self-healing machine, then feed it with fuel that's designed for the job."

With the guidance of Aunt Mili, Hana embarks on "Our Great Food Adventure" that leads her to dramatic weight loss and health improvement. The adventure means following a WFPB (Whole Food Plant Based) nutrition program revealed in the story.

The book features the author's striking, full-color illustrations of Hawaiian people, fresh fruits and vegetables, and island scenery that give the story its charming setting. On many pages there are green sidebars with elaborations on the information presented in the story. "Each doctor in Milli's suitcase had his or her own recipes and suggestions," Orr writes. "But overall, the doctors shared a single strong message: Fill up with plant foods--they move you toward health." That statement sums up the essence of this book.

The book concludes with two pages of "I used to think:" information followed by "But now I've learned." The author begins with

    "I use to think:
    Type 2 diabetes was incurable.
    But now I've learned:
    Type 2 diabetes can be cured easily in most people."

Katherine Orr A page of resources lists books and DVDs as well as websites where they may be obtained.

Readers will also find two full-page illustrations with healthy recipes, one for a Simple Green Smoothie, the other a Confetti Salad with Orange-Walnut Dressing.

Sharing The Doctors in Mili's Suitcase, parents and children can discuss both the story and sidebars to achieve health improvement. The book speaks to people of all ages, because they and members of their families may be victims of this chronic disease.

Reading the introduction by Dr. Neal Barnard and noting the other recommendations, the reader may be aware that all of the health professionals praising this book have written similar information directed at adult audiences. They all stress the advantages of a plant-based diet in coping with and reversing type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is not a death and misery sentence, if people only realize that wholesome plant-based food may provide the cure.

If every family had an Aunt Mili, there might not be a youth obesity crisis and a diabetes epidemic.

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Vegetarians in Paradise