I have to realize, as I write this, that the whole world doesn’t live in a house where the Golf Channel is on the preset list. Even so, chances are you’ve heard of Phil Mickelson. At the Masters tournament last month everyone had their eyes on Tiger (sing if you’d like) and his comeback (yuck, gross pun) after his rehab or hiding stint. Tiger played well but Mickelson won the tournament and waiting at the 18th hole was his beautiful wife Amy, who made her first appearance on tour after over a year of treatment for breast cancer. They were emotional and I, for one, was crying in my living room.

When my husband asked me what I wanted to do yesterday afternoon, for Mothers Day, my answer was simple. I wanted to be in the apartment alone. And so he took the boys skating and I lounged around, cleaned out the pantry and read the newspaper cover to cover. Heaven. Yet one article, in the Sports section, left me wondering. It was a silly piece about how Mickelson had a streak of golf holes without a bogey (one shot over par) and a similar streak where he went to Five Guys for burgers after each round. The column went on to talk about Mickelson’s burger history, growing up on In-N-Out Burger and even looking into purchasing an In-N-Out Burger franchise at one point.

Hmn. When clients come to me with breast cancer or current clients are diagnosed one of the first dietary changes I suggest is decreasing or eliminating animal protein. This isn’t far-fetched advice. Go-to doctors in the field of health and wellness from T Colin Campbell to Andrew Weil concur. Surely Amy Mickelson is aware of the connection of animal protein (burgers included) to cancer. Assuming that someone with access to the best of the best in terms of treatment is altering her diet in order to rid her body of cancer, is her husband’s burger habit questionable? Insensitive? Or maybe you think it is innocent.

If your spouse has lung cancer, should their husband or wife smoke? Or if it’s diabetes, should their partner do candy commercials, maybe look into buying a candy company? I know that to some people there is nothing wrong with a man’s love of burgers. For me, this left a bad taste in my mouth.
Do you think I’m overreacting? Should one spouse conform to the dietary mandates of the other’s disease? Should a professional athlete have burgers and fries multiple days in a row? Shouldn’t we all consider reducing our animal protein prior to a diagnosis?

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