Eleanor Cousins, 87; Widow of Holistic Health Author

Eleanor Cousins, widow of author Norman Cousins who wrote her own book about aiding his recovery from a heart attack, has died. She was 87.

Cousins, also known as Ellen and a prominent charitable and social figure in Southern California, died Oct. 22 at her home in Los Angeles.

In 1986, she shared the Neil H. Jacoby International Award from the UCLA International Student Center with her husband, former editor of the Saturday Review, who died in 1990. She also shared many of his causes, including world peace and holistic healing, during their 51-year marriage.

Cousins’ husband wrote “Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient,” about his use of laughter and positive thinking, rather than chemical painkillers, to recover from a rare disease of the connective tissues he contracted in 1964. He wrote another book, “The Healing Heart,” about his use of exercise and diet instead of surgery to recover from a 1980 heart attack. The two books and his experiences that led to them helped give credence to the holistic health movement.

Eleanor Cousins was an active partner in Norman’s decisions to try an innovative approach and in the care that led to his recovery. As a result of her efforts after his heart attack, she wrote, “Caring for the Healing Heart,” a book of dietary advice and recipes she used.

Her book was controversial, however, because she recommended foods that many heart specialists ban or limit because of their heavy cholesterol content--eggs, butter, whole milk, cheese and heavy cream.

“I believe in fresh foods, whole foods, uncontaminated foods and unprocessed foods,” she said in an interview in 1988. “I believe in fresh vegetables, cooked and raw. I believe in fresh fruits and whole grains. . . . The body doesn’t know what to do with plastic foods like margarine. Stay away from processed foods.”

One negative review of the book called it “a hodgepodge of personal and pseudoscientific opinions,” adding: “Cousins presents theory as fact and does some superficially convincing cerebral gymnastics that could potentially be dangerous. For example, she devotes a chapter to condemning fluoridated water and another to telling readers to eat two eggs a day.”

Cousins’ advocacy of fresh and whole foods was rooted in her agrarian background. Born Eleanor Kopf in Price, Utah, she grew up on her family’s chicken farm, drinking milk from a Jersey cow named Martha.

After moving to the New York area to work for the Newspaper Guild, she met Norman Cousins. They married in 1939 and moved to suburban Connecticut where she had a vegetable garden and 35 hens and a rooster.

She reared her children on “healthful food,” she often said, and was a lifelong student of nutrition. After her husband began teaching medical ethics at UCLA, she took courses in therapeutic nutrition.

An ardent unionist, Cousins was also a strong supporter of the League of Women Voters and environmental and nutritional causes espoused by such spokeswomen as Rachel Carson and Adele Davis.

Cousins is survived by four daughters, Andrea Cousins of Amherst, Mass.; Amy Cousins of Topeka, Kan.; Candis Cousins Kerns of Oakland; and Sarah Shapiro of Jerusalem; an adopted son, Shigeko Sasamori of Marina del Rey; a brother, Robert Kopf of Sacramento; nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.