In the moment of despair, the cliche time heals all wounds may seem anything but comforting. But that's because it's true. It takes time to heal and we are not in the right frame of mind just as something unfortunate has happened to accept -- or believe -- this advice that might come flowing from a well-wisher's lips. It's popular wisdom. It's commonly offered as comfort. It's easy to spit out. And while our wounds do not exactly fade with the passage of time, we are able to put a more positive spin on them. But it's tough to appreciate this until the unfortunate moment is long gone.

According to a recent study -- summarized in the September 2006 Ladies Home Journal magazine -- memories of distressing events, like the death of a loved one, don't go away but they do gradually get colored by more hopeful emotions. As time passes, we tend to remember strongly emotional experiences as positive even if they were once harrowing. "People are resilient," says one researcher. "We come to terms with our experiences in as positive a way as we can." So we may eventually see the death of a friend as something that made us stronger, something that reminds us to treasure our friendships. Our ability to find such meaning in the saddest of times helps transform it into a valuable experience -- and not just a sad one.

And this is exactly how I feel about having had cancer. No one could have convinced me at the time of my diagnosis that time would heal my wounds. I wasn't even sure how much time I had left on this planet. I was panic-stricken and frightened and tended to defeat conventional wisdom. But now that two years worth of time has passed me by and I am pretty certain I will continue surviving for a long time, I realize time is responsible for my positive outlook. Time did not completely heal my wounds -- I still have days when my wounds are raw -- but it surely bandaged them. And so I do believe time heals all wounds -- in a way -- and I am thankful for each moment of time I have to marvel at this truth.

On May 24, 2006, The Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation will be launching White Lies, a campaign to raise awareness of the health risks of consuming dairy products. Why You Don't Need Dairy, an event to mark the beginning of the campaign, will feature Heather Mills McCartney as a speaker who will call for milk to be dropped from the nation's diet. At the same time, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, PCRM, a nonprofit health organization comprised of physicians and nutritionists, will be asking consumers to eliminate dairy from their diet for three weeks to see if they notice an improvement in health.

In three short weeks, PCRM is confident those who take the dairy-free challenge will notice immediate benefit in better digestion, easier breathing, better sleep, a lessening of headaches and for sufferers of acne or dermatitis -- clear skin. Health benefits that are not immediately noticeable but of significant value is a reduction in the risk of prostate and ovarian cancer. Research had proven the link between dairy and these two cancers. Because dairy products such as cheese, ice cream, milk, butter, and yogurt all contain high levels of fat, it is reasonable to assume there might be a dairy link to other cancers as well.

The Nutrition Resource Centre of the Ontario Public Health Association, has published Non-Dairy Sources of Calcium, available as a PDF document online, with food suggestions that offer plenty of calcium.