At 29 years old, I was a 355 lb. husband, and father of two. After years of yo-yo dieting, I had come to the realization that if I were to lose weight and keep it off, I needed to focus on changing my lifestyle.
Shortly after the birth of my second son, I watched the documentary “Fed Up” on Netflix. I learned how the American food and diet industries have made losing weight and keeping it off a near impossible feat for most people. I felt taken advantage of. I was mad, and wanted to take action. I started by eliminating all processed foods and added sugars. I started shopping only at the ends of the supermarket.
Shortly thereafter, I discovered Whole Foods Plant Based Diets. I learned about the incredible power that whole plant foods posses. I learned that most diseases that people face are not only preventable, but many are reversible as well. I learned that I could eat large amounts of delicious food, and regain my health at the same time.
Being a naturally skeptical person. I wasn’t ready to accept these claims at face value. I spent many hours trying to disprove these doctors and scientists. For one thing, if what they were claiming was true, why wasn’t this lifestyle more popular? It seems so simple. Do people want to be fat, sick and miserable? Even thin people, wouldn’t they want to continue to live a healthy life? Wouldn’t they want to avoid things like heart disease, diabetes, dementia and certain cancers? Despite my efforts, I couldn’t disprove what they were saying, so I decided to give it a go.
I expected to lose weight. What I didn’t expect, was how easy it would be. While it took more effort through meal planning and shopping, I found I was never hungry. I loved the food I was eating, and best of all I finally felt empowered. In just one year, I was able to lose 152 lbs. In total, I have lost over 170 lbs., and have been consistently adding muscle through weight training.
Every aspect of my life has been improved through this journey. While I am and always will be a work in progress, there’s no way I could have done this without the support of my family, friends as well as with the work of so many scientists, doctors and personalities who have dedicated themselves to spreading the message that for most, optimal health is not so hard to attain, and we can live laugh learn and love for many years if we get empowered and do something.
My hope with this site is to share my story, recipes, science, articles etc. in order to help spread the message of Whole Food Plant Based diets, as well as to dispel many misconceptions that I had, and many still do.