The first sign that something was amiss for Mr Michael Low was when he did not pass the yearly national service physical fitness test four years ago.

'I always passed it on the first try,' said the 41-year-old, who was a renovation contractor at the time.

'I put it down to being tired. So I didn't think much of it.'

But when he could not clear it successive times, an army doctor decided to investigate further.

The doctor combed through Mr Low's previous records and noticed that he had rather low red blood cell counts.

A blood test was ordered.

When the results arrived, the doctor sat Mr Low down.

'He told me, 'There's something really weird about your blood'.'

His red blood cell count was about half an ordinary person's and the cells looked mis-formed.

'I was completely stunned,' Mr Low said.

Rare diagnosis
He was referred to the National University Hospital (NUH), where doctors performed a bone marrow biopsy.

And the diagnosis left Mr Low reeling: He had Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) also known as pre-leukaemia.

It is a rare condition affecting around two in 100,000 people. Dr Liu Te Chih, who heads the division of haematology at the department of laboratory medicine in NUH, explained: 'The bone marrow starts to fail. It cannot produce enough blood cells.'

Blood is made up of several types of cells. Red blood cells carry essential oxygen to the rest of the body, white blood cells fight off infection and 'attack' intruders, and platelets help the clotting process.

The body's 'factory' for these cells is the bone marrow.

In MDS, the condition shows up as a low red cell, white cell or platelet count.

Medical science still cannot explain exactly why it happens.

It is thought that some genes may be affected by exposure to certain chemicals, and this triggers the bone marrow to slow down its blood cell production.

When the body produces less and less cells, there could be several complications.

For instance, without enough platelets, a patient can experience uncontrollable bleeding from a minor cut.

Without enough white blood cells, the body simply cannot fight off infections and diseases.

And when red blood cell counts are too low, the organs in the body cannot get enough oxygen and this may lead to fatigue and bleeding.

When he was given his diagnosis, Mr Low was also told that he would have three years to live.

And because his red blood cell count had fallen to half a normal person's, he was told he needed regular blood transfusions.

He would also need two injections a week, to stimulate his bone marrow to produce healthy blood cells.

But each dose cost $500.

'My wife and I were shocked. Our boys were five and two years old at the time.

'For two days, I was just numb. I didn't want to do anything,' he recalled.

Going macrobiotic
But after the initial two days, Mr Low said he was galvanised to find some way to live.

'My priority was to get well for the sake of my young family,' he said.

When the doctors said there was not much else they could do besides the transfusions and injections, Mr Low started exploring other avenues.

He visited a Chinese physician and started taking Chinese herbs, beef and turtle soup.

'I also drank goat's milk and noni juice,' Mr Low said.

When this had no effect, he went to see a naturopath.

Naturopathic medicine treats medical conditions holistically, often with herbs meant to harness the body's own healing power.

The naturopath recommended vitamin and protein supplements.

Then, in 2004, he heard about the macrobiotic dietfrom a CD someone had given him.

'I was convinced that for my condition to improve, I needed to change my diet,' he said.

So, overnight, Mr Low traded his typical Singaporean diet of lots of refined carbohydrates,seafood and deep-fried stuff for the wholegrains and vegetables that the macrobiotic diet emphasised.

'I also went to a certified macrobiotics teacher in Singapore and I learnt about the right way to cook, the utensils to cook with, and the right temperature to cook the food in,' he added.

As part of the diet overhaul, he gave up hawker food and stopped eating out altogether. For breakfast, he ate brown rice porridge or whole wheat noodles. Lunch was brown rice and different types of vegetables and dinner was more brown rice with miso soup and different vegetables. He ate no snacks and drinks included water and green tea.

Even though the diet is strict, Mr Low said he had no trouble, because he felt that the diet was probably his only shot at recovery, and at living to see his boys grow up.

In the first two months, Mr Low started to lose weight.

He also had nose bleeds.

But he stuck to it because he felt more alert and energised.

He reported that he started to breathe easier and people around him said he looked more radiant and less pale.

In mid-2005, Mr Low stopped his injections.

And his red blood count was inching upwards every time he went for his test.

After two years of being on the diet, Mr Low's blood tests showed that his red blood cell count was now at 12.1 - near the minimum level of 12.6 for a healthy individual.

Speaking to Mind Your Body via e-mail, Dr Liu said he finds Mr Low's recovery 'very interesting'.

'Where he was previously dependent on red cell transfusions and had a dangerously low white cell count, these have both corrected to normal levels. The size of his red cells are also relatively normal now,' the doctor added.

However, Dr Liu said the reasons behind Mr Low's recovery cannot be fully understood.

'He could have spontaneously recovered or the change in his diet may have helped remove the unidentified toxin from his body,' he said.

But with the original cause being unknown, Dr Liu says it is best to be cautious and keep Mr Low on continued observation.

That may be so, but Mr Low is not putting anything on hold.

At the time of this interview, he revealed cheerfully that he and his wife are expecting their third child.

He has changed his line of work and now runs an organic store in Hougang.

He also gives cooking demonstrations to people interested in learning about eating healthier.

'I'm convinced this diet helped me recover and I want to help others who may benefit from it,' he said.

E-mail: sshefali@sph.com.sg

Camu Camu Organic and Nature House
Block 211, Hougang Street 21, #01-307
Inquiries: Call 6287-0267

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael's tasty brown rice
Mr Low shared with Mind Your Body his own recipe, which he says will dispel any notion that brown rice is boring or bland.

Step 1: Use long-grain brown rice. Use 11/2 cups of water for each cup of rice.
Step 2: Add three drops of brown rice vinegar to the water in which the brown rice is soaking.
Step 3: Drain, but save the water for the cooking process. Cook the brown rice for 40 minutes in the pressure cooker. For stainless steel cookware, it would probably take up to an hour for the brown rice to cook.
Step 4: For extra tasty brown rice, soak some chickpeas or adzuki beans - a kind of small and reddish bean found in health food stores - and cook them together with the brown rice.
Step 5: When eating the brown rice, add some gomashio (toasted black sesame seeds with sea salt) for a complete nutritious meal of brown rice.

Recipe for the gomashio
18 tbsp of black sesame seeds
1 tbsp sea salt

Method

Wash the black sesame seeds and put it through a sieve to filter out any impurities within. Set aside to dry.

Dry roast the black sesame seeds in a frying pan on medium heat.

After 10 mins, use a stainless steel spoon to check that the black sesame seeds do not stick to the spoon. This is an indication that they are cooked. Take out the black sesame seeds and set aside to cool.

Similarly, dry roast the sea salt for five minutes.

Add the two items in the suribachi - a Japanese version of the mortar and pestle - and pound it into a coarse powder form. You can store this in a dry container.