Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

In a few weeks, it will be exactly ten years since I had my first physical since before college. That one physical altered my life from that moment on.

Many of you know my story, but it seems appropriate to remind my readers of why this appointment was so critical. I was morbidly obese, weighing in at well over 350 pounds. i was not taking care of myself, having neuropathy in my feet, feeing exhausted, having headaches, etc. I knew the doctor would tell me I had health issues and I did not want to know. I was pushed into this physical because the state of Connecticut was requiring it for workers who wanted to have cheaper premiums. I decided to finally face my fears and do the physical.

Recently, I made some black bean brownies at work. This was from a recipe I got from the Physician’s Committee For Responsible Medicine website. I had heard Chuck Carroll, host of one of my favorite podcasts, Exam Room, brag how good these were and thought they would be perfect for work. I typically make some kind of holiday dessert for work each holiday season.

They were really easy to make. The only thing I substituted was the raspberry jam, as I only had a guava jelly available. The guava jelly was unsweetened. I quickly mixed the ingredients, baked them in the oven and had everything done and cleaned up within an hour. I don’t waste any time!

I first met Eric Adams about three years ago at a veg fest in New York. I listened to his story in amazement as he reversed his diabetes that almost left him blind. He got healthy the same way I did, with a plant based diet.

Our stories are very similar. Aside from reversing health conditions as we began our plant based journeys, I found out he went to Google to search for info on how to reverse his diabetes, just as I had done back in 2012 to reverse my hypertension. We didn’t choose medication to control our diseases, we sought a cure and found it in whole food plant based eating.

If you are whole food plant based like me, you will find there is so much variety out there. I know people tend to think the opposite, that without meat, there's nothing to eat. Well, I’m here to tell you, there is a lot of awesome food that you most likely are missing out on.

When I was omnivore, I stuck with the same foods over and over again. Ever since going plant based, I go out of my way to try new plant based foods. Here are some foods that I found I love after recently trying them.

I still remember my last meal, Chicken Marsala, at a small dinner party celebrating my friend’s birthday. My plan was to start Robert Cheeke’s workout journal, a 13 week workout challenge where you are completely vegan for 13 weeks, the next day. I had done week long challenges before and always thought about how great I felt. I thought 13 weeks would be the ultimate test. Little did I know I would never go back to animal products after that!

I was plant based since 2012, having first started my healthy lifestyle through the work of Dr. Fuhrman. His advice about GBOMBS foods (greens, beans, onions, mushrooms, berries and seeds) is still an important part of my diet. Over the years, I’ve picked up advice from Dr. McDougall, Dr. Gregor and countless others. I think all plant based doctors have something to offer.