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Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

Your Story! Your Voice! Your Health!

General health & fitness topics, causes or initiatives.

Oct
08

Trying New Foods

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.

guava
Tamarind
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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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Apr
01

Robert Cheeke's Influence On Me As A Vegan Bodybuilder

I have a lot of people that inspired my over the years, but two people stand out as the biggest influence to how I live my life today. One is Dr. Joel Fuhrman, who I have blogged about many times. The other is vegan bodybuilder Robert Cheeke.

Dr. Fuhrman defined the way I eat and Robert Cheeke helped me to become 100 precent vegan. Before learning about Robert, I was struggling with loose skin, especially around my abs, a result of my 150 pound weight loss. I tried everything to try and tighten my skin and believed that if I built more muscle, I could disguise some of the skin. But the problem was, my arms were skinny, resulting in loose skin that slightly hung, the chest was droopy and my abs were a mess.

Robert Cheeke and Richard Hubbard at a veg fest in Boston.
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Mar
13

In Support Of Telemedicine

This year, I decided I wanted a plant based doctor. I felt like my previous doctor didn’t understand my diet and I wanted someone who appreciated the way I eat. Also, my doctor never ordered tests to check my B12 and D3 levels, something which I was always curious about.

I researched online and came across Dr. Scott Harrington, a plant based doctor out of Florida. Due to COVID, he had licenses in multiple states, including the state of Connecticut. I decided to go for a telemedicine doctor and I’m so glad I did. Although I won’t be able to keep Dr. Harrington as my primary (he loses his license for the state of Connecticut after the pandemic ends). I decided to keep the primary I have for now, but am so glad I still was able to do an appointment with Dr. Harrington. He was able to order the tests I’ve been curious about ever since going vegan!

Stethoscope
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Jun
30

Potato Challenge Complete! Here’s What I Learned...

I didn’t do the typical potato challenge, spearheaded by my friend Andrew “Spud Fit” Taylor. I did a modified version that also included all the GBOMBS foods (greens, beans, onions, mushrooms, berries and seeds) from Dr. Fuhrman’s list. The reason is because I have eaten Dr. Fuhrman’s suggested foods since 2012, and I couldn’t imagine going a month without them. Plus, I know Fuhrman’s plan will keep me in optimal health.

So why did I bother with the potato challenge? Well, one reason is the diet always intrigued me. People have the incorrect idea that potatoes should be avoided because of their carbohydrate content. I think the challenge proves otherwise. I also did the challenge because I wanted to explore other kinds of potatoes. I always liked them so why not explore what other options are out there? It would also allow simplicity. This way, I don’t have to think about what foods I’µ going to eat. I just know it will be either a potato or one of the GBOMBS foods.

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