Beastie Boy Adam Yauch's Cancer Treatment: Vegan Diet, Tibetan Medicine

Beastie Boy Adam (MCA) Yauch emailed his fans on Wednesday with a hopeful update on his battle with salivary gland cancer. Yauch just returned from India, where he visited with Tibetan doctors and even attended a three-day teaching given by the Dalai Lama:

i'm feeling healthy, strong and hopeful that i've beaten this thing, but of course time will tell. i'm taking tibetan medicine and at the recommendation of the tibetan doctors i've been eating a vegan/organic diet, which surprisingly enough was harder to do in india than it is now that i'm back home. here i can just shop for the right food and cook... a lot easier than depending on restaurants.
when i was in india i visited an ani gompa (a nunnery) called jamyang choling. they did a puja (religious ceremony) for me to help me get well. one nun said to me "we do prayers and then you are better." so i've got that going for me, which is nice.

Here is a link to the nunnery Yauch visited.

The Beastie Boys canceled their tour and delayed their album release this summer to allow for Yauch's recovery. Yauch had surgery and radiation in August. He wrote in his email that he hopes the new record will drop sometime in the first half of next year.

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Comments

[dynagirl7371]

So many haters! How about we just wish the guy well??? I've been listening to their music for like... 26 years!!! Have you? Maybe say 'thank you' for all that you've given us? So thanks for that, Adam and other 'Boys'. Cancer sucks. I hope you recover and live a long and healthy life. Go to Tibet, go to Zimbabwe, go to Santa Fe (you can afford it!) and be well and happy. Haters.

[jdllthewonderllama]

I hope he recovers. For that reason, I hope he sees sense, and seeks proper treatment.

[metalpipe]

He should attempt an extended and supervised water fast, as well.

[jdllthewonderllama]

Why on earth would he want to do that?

[LeeCalif]

Salivary gland cancer is usually linked to Agent Orange or radiation poisonng.

[Pema]

adam..as you know, everything changes. to the change that is present let me add my pujas and mantras for your health, for all who are suffering seen and unseen to us. you have inspired so many people to remember tibet, to remember kindness is our greatest ally.
bows dharma brother,
pema chosnyid.

[Pema]

Tibetan medicene was key to me reversing the effects of having hep c. We think oh western medicne! oh its the best. no its not. I have been done the road with both systems. I have had to deal with several health issues, and honestly, my hand on all my families graves, eastern medicene has performed the best. it treats causes not symptoms, gets to the underlying thing that caused the illness. people can laugh all you want but next time your sick, and sick of medicene that dont work with every side effect except blow you up on the spot., sick and tired of being sick and tired, think about expanding your view to include natural resources.
I didnt have ins. no one would ins a person with hep c who was told she would not live to see her 45 birthday. I am 51 now and western medecine had nothing to do with it. no goast is writing this post.
I dont know who said Tibetans only lived to 35.5 years, but that is crazy i have seen many pictures of Tibet, know Tibetans and this is just false, so many old Tibetans I saw and they do not go to western doctors! not even now.

[euthman]

Hepatitis C is typically a very indolent disease, and many people live with it for decades. No legitimate doctors ever tells a specific patient how long he has to live, because there is no way of predicting that. All that can be quoted is statistical observations of a group of patients. If the doctor told you you would not live past 45, then he is a fortuneteller, not a physician.

Beyond what can be attributed to the placebo effect, the Tibetan "medicine" probably had no effect on anything but the respective pocketbooks of you and the quack who sold it to you.

[Pema]

i am not lieing. when i first had liver trouble there was no test for c only classed as
non a/non b, no this was a very good doctor, i had lost so much of liver function they thought i needed a liver transplant but i wasnt going to get one due to another factor. regardless i am not going into the full detail only to say your wrong. this doctor was part of a team of highly respectable doctors. they were not quacks. your distain for eastern medecine is your own affiar, but me lieing? no. if you cant see it fine. but i am setting the record straight.

[jwander1]

Quacking again. You always talk about the need for serious studies to verify or dismiss anything, but you're just talking out of your hat here. You clearly know nothing about Tibetan medicine or any other alternative modality. Hve you ever read a single book about alternative medicine or investigated the research behind any vitamin, herb, or other therapy? Isn’t this what you would do if investigating a new conventional therapy? Skepticism is not the same as wisdom. In your case, it is simply an excuse for remaining ignorant.

[JimR]

Get well soon, Adam.

[SuperBenFranklin]

>Cancer Treatment: Vegan Diet, Tibetan Medicine

Guess he doesn't have health insurance....

[PaxMundis]

Seriously, read the article before you comment.

[Christopher Hooten]

I think his comments were somewhat sarcastic, with the Caddyshack - Carl reference. (when Carl was talking about meeting the Dalai Lama) "...he said when I died I would receive total consciousness, so I got that going for me..."

[Halsey]

He had surgery AND radiation BEFORE going the organic.vega route..right now..he doing what he can to stop the Cancer from returning...and healthy eating, lifesyle for many cancers is key. I's not like expected rice and acai to CURE the tumor...so yup..READ the article. we should all (myself included) take on such a healthy lifestyle...please send a ticket to India...I'll do it in a NY minute!!!!(and include yogo teacher..this stuff is great..but not covered by insurance...and maybe should be...gotta be cheaper than chemo!

[katieandtom]

I say to each his own. it is no ones right to judge someone elses treatment choices. it is a very personal decision.

best of luck and hope you are feeling better.

[TequilaMockingbird]

it seems to me that he is utilizing the best of both worlds with Surgery, Radiation, Diet and Tibetan Medicine.

[ellawensmom]

MCA, Beastlie Girls wishing you everything good! We love you! We can't wait for the new album! Do everything you can, use every kind of medicine you want. We just want you to get well!

[owlsocks]

Great job Adam! The vegan diet can prevent, stop and reverse cancer...so you're doing the right thing. For more info, I urge people to read The China Study...amazing book! All the best for a speedy recovery Adam!

[hexenpants]

Love you, MCA.

[rising sun]

I came to leave a get well comment for Adam. I see the cancer has spread to this board. Some of you are beyond repulsive.

[jjgg5]

Eastern Medicine = Quick Death

[JeffMaylor]

Yes exactly.

[Conk]

Truly a fool's comment. Or a drug company shill's.

Western medicine is the true fraud. Come on, Chemo? Why not just blood let? Or cast out his demons. The Western Medical Mafia cures NOTHING!

[dtrobert]

Tin foil hat is right, dude... So you've given up your Health Insurance altogether, I hope, at least to be consistent? You'll refuse to go see a doctor, even if you have a fever of 106? As for the "cast out demons" comment, don't you realize that it is precisely what Tibetan "doctors" do?

[ChelseaC]

Adam,
I wish you the best.

[tploomis]

An important point is that he had surgery and radiation therapy first. He's not simply treating his cancer with diet and Tibetan medicine.

[JeffMaylor]

Well good, he got the serious Western Medicine first, now he can play with the silly Eastern Quackery. However, it is sad that he is spreading ideas that may hurt other people, if they think some goofball monk has medical answers for them.

[PaxMundis]

No, HuffPo is spreading these ideas with a misleading headline.

[Mark Bailey]

Jeff Maylor= I.G.N.O.R.A.N.T. C.H.O.A.D.E

[Citizen54]

I'm thinking right now of the 9 people I know who have died of cancer in the past five years. Or the two who died of heart attacks. (And no, they weren't big fat slobs.) That western medicine did about as much good as what you call "Eastern Quackery."