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Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

Your Story! Your Voice! Your Health!
Jan
29

High Cholesterol Can Be Reversed Without Meds

If you have high cholesterol, you really have no other options than to go whole food plant based. It’s really the only way to healthfully bring your cholesterol under control.

Recently, I had routine lab work done for a physical. As expected, my cholesterol was awesome! My doctor said it was optimal. According to Dr. Greger, you want a total cholesterol under 150. Most conventional doctors think anything under 200 is OK but I trust Dr. Greger, Dr. Ornish, Dr. Esselstyn and others who advise people to achieve the optimal level.

Rich’s Lab Results
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Aug
20

A Normal Blood Pressure

142/90. For some reason, that blood pressure reading stood out. There were others that were high around that time, over nine years ago, but this is the one that confirmed to my doctor that I was pre-hypertensive. I was a walking time bomb, also being most likely pre-diabetic. It was only a matter of time that I would have full blown hypertension and diabetes if I didn’t make some changes.

As many of you know, my doctor initially wanted me on blood pressure pills. I was fortunate to have a doctor that worked with me as I did not want to go on medication. He agreed to let me lose the weight and hope that the blood pressure would go down as the weight went down. It worked, as 6 months later, my blood pressure was normal and I never took a single pill.

Rich's latest blood pressure reading, well within the normal range!
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May
15

Weight Gain Is Never A Worry

Throughout the pandemic, we’ve all heard talk about how people gained weight while eating processed foods and not exercising. I was one of the few to stay consistent throughout the entire pandemic. At a recent physical, my doctor was surprised to say I didn’t gain any weight during the last year. Nearly every one of his patients had gained weight.

I recently checked my weight at the local gym. I hardly ever step on the scale but thought, let’s see what it reads. 198 pounds... this is consistent to the weight I lost while doing all that running and marathons. Even with an injured knee and not going at cardio the way I was 6 months ago, my weight stayed the same.

Rich took this photo after a recent workout.
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Feb
13

Achieving Sustainable Weight Loss

I know some people who lost weight but they end up putting the weight back on. My heart breaks for them. I can’t imagine going through a weight loss journey only to gain the weight again. When I lost the weight and lost an incredible 120 pounds the first year, I was worried I would gain it back, but not too worried.

As I wrote in my book, I lost the weight with a lifestyle change. I don’t think it’s possible to have sustainable weight loss without a lifestyle change. The two have to go together.

Rich's Before and After
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Dec
29

Get Ready For Veganuary

I was late at announcing a vegan challenge but still wanted to do one for the month of January. I know a lot of people over indulge during the holidays and January provides the perfect timeline for getting in better shape.

I remember all too well how the holidays were for me when I was over 350 pounds. All the cookies, desserts and meals... it can amount to thousands of extra calories. And it typically starts right around Thanksgiving and lasts until New Year’s Day.

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