Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

Today, someone who knows I'm plant based at the gym, asked me if I eat much fruit. I told him I eat a lot of fruit. He asked if I worried about diabetes? I said no, consuming whole fruit does not cause diabetes. He had never heard that before but I'm so glad I gave him something to think about. He was always worried about fruit contributing to diabetes.

And he's not the only one. As paleo diets and keto diets gain in popularity, the misinformation about fruit will continue. But I look at it as a way to teach others and change misconceptions.

Plant based foods are important to me now, and they will play an even more important role next month!.

My scheduled abdominoplasty is August 30th. I never in my life thought that I would elect to have surgery, but my loose skin gets irritated and uncomfortable with certain clothing, etc. It's not a vanity surgery although I have to be honest that I hate the way my belly looks too.

Today, I had an appointment with a podiatrist. It was a routine visit but they had to update the medical charts at the office. The medical assistant asked all the routine medical questions and I of course said no to all of them! You know the questions... do you have diabetes, asthma, etc. Then she proceeded to check my blood pressure. I told her ahead of time that I usually have a higher blood pressure when in a doctor's office.

She happily told me 120/70. Really? Even with anxiety, my blood pressure still was great! It made me think of how far I have come in six years. When I was heavy, my blood pressure was like 140/100. I was told I would need to take medication. To hear that my blood pressure is healthy made me so happy to be plant based.

I think a lot of people share my frustration. The belly is the toughest area to workout and I never see results there. My arms are great, my chest is looking better but this belly has gotten nowhere fast.

That is why I scheduled an abdominoplasty. I was a tough choice to make as I never wanted surgery. But I rarely spend much money on myself and I hardly ever take vacations. I know some people who take vacations and the price of it is more than an abdominoplasty.

So much focus is centered on weight loss, I wanted to blog about the other reasons to go whole food plant based, that being the health benefits. There are a lot of amazing stories out there and I thought I would share my own personal experience eating this way for better health.

Before I lost the weight, I was on so many yo-yo diets but nothing ever worked. I was unhealthy with hypertension and most likely pre-diabetes. I was going down a path of being on meds like so many in my family. I did not want to be like my parents, constantly making sure I had all my medication with me, worrying about side effects, etc.