Imagine a breakfast of oatmeal, flax and almond milk.
Maybe an oil-free roasted potato, or tofu scramble with avocado on the side.
Penticton RCMP officer Dan Moskaluk is advocating for a non-animal protein diet in the latest documentary Eating You Alive.
The film is screening in Kelowna Wednesday.
Eating You Alive is about the connection between dietary habits and chronic diseases, a large theme in Moskaluk’s life.
In November 2013, Moskaluk was diagnosed with stage-four kidney cancer.
But, Moskaluk was back to his duties in October, 2015.
How did he beat terminal cancer?
Moskaluk said he went into the treatments as a healthy individual, having adopted an animal-protein free diet a few years prior.
Doctors initially told Moskaluk he would have to take immune boosting treatments, but he was deemed cancer free in March, 2015.
“The fact remains I was supposed to be on the treatment for the rest of my life,” he said.
Moskaluk became involved with the film through social media, and said the producers reopened production after hearing Moskaluk and his wife, Sheanne’s story.
Sheanne lost 133 pounds over a two-year period due to the new diet, she said.
The family initially adopted the plant diet after their son became interested in weight training and proteins.
After doing research, Sheanne said she found doctors like Dr. John McDougall’s Perils of Dairy which was a “contradiction to everything I had been taught about dairy,” she said.
She watched the video three times.
The doctors who she had been researching for years are also featured in the documentary.
Sheanne said it felt “surreal” to be included in a documentary with the doctors she had been reading about for the past six years.
“It was like being on stage with the Rolling Stones,” she said.
The Moskaluk’s advocate the diet isn’t just about beating cancer.
“When I was in my early 40s I was prediabetic and overweight,” said Dan.
In 2015, all of the previous symptoms he had faced were gone.
“It totally changed our lives,” said Sheanne, adding she felt more energized and could do activities that previously she didn’t feel were possible, like mowing the entire lawn or vacuuming the house.
Now, she goes on 13 kilometre hikes, she said.
The story continues as the film starts its Western leg of a Canada-wide screening tour before it hits theatres.
The film is slated for a US and Canadian release later in 2017. The Moskaluks are the only Canadians featured, aside from Hollywood director James Cameron.
The film is showing three times in Kelowna at the Okanagan College today at 1:30, 6 and 8 p.m., and in Kamloops at Thompson Rivers University on Feb. 2.
Tickets can be purchased at the door or by visiting the Eating You Alive website.
