Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

Ian Myers interviewed me recently, he's the owner of IM Wellness. He asked a question that really got me thinking... "what would I say to my former obese self, if I could go back in time and give advice". I especially thought about it after stumbling upon these pictures of myself, taken at a holiday party at work. This was taken during my transition. I had just started to get serious about losing weight but was not there yet. I was still well over 300 pounds.

I almost don't recognize that person, because I've come so far since then and I've learned so much. Back then, I had no idea what foods were healthy. I never thought about being vegan, never thought I would give up soda, and processed foods were my life.

Today, I had a physical, the first one since going completely plant based over 16 months ago. I did have lab work 3 months after being plant based last year, but this was the first examination since then.

I always had anxiety about going to the doctors. But there was no need for anxiety today and in the back of my mind, I really was confident. I knew I was feeling great with so much energy, plus I workout 5 days a week.

I had four different Christmas parties that I needed to attend. There are so many gatherings with family and friends, and food is everywhere! It's very tempting to slip into unhealthy eating if you are unprepared.

When I first went plant based (and vegan) last year, I had a lot of anxiety over gatherings, when there would be food around. It's tough wondering if others will accept your new way of eating and worrying about what choices of foods there would be.

This is significant to me. If anyone were to have told me six years ago that I would have lost the weight... and would manage to keep it off for 5 years, I never would have believed them. You see, I was one of those yo-yo dieters, but could never mange to lose the weight. So what exactly changed that caused me to lose the weight?

I think I was honestly getting sick of the bad foods. I don't know if psychologically, my mind was telling me those foods weren't good for me anymore, but I no longer enjoyed eating them. I used to lose Reese's, but suddenly, it didn't taste good to me anymore. The nearly half gallon of ice cream I would consume daily didn't have the same appeal. I think my desire to get healthy and my drive to finally succeed played a role in the way the food tasted back then.

Lasy year during Thanksgiving, I was only a few months into being plant based. I was worried about what foods to eat for Thanksgiving and wondered if family would not care for the way I ate or if they would have any objections.

This year, not only am I plant based, but I'm also vegan. Yes, it's still about eating healthy foods, but now it's about not harming animals. There are over 46,000,000 turkeys slaughtered in this country on Thanksgiving alone. I couldn't imagine eating turkey or any kind of meat, just for the sake of a holiday.