How I lost 60 Pounds on a Plant Base Diet.

This is a story of weight loss, but with a twist. I am eighty years old and was

morbid obese my whole adult life. My highest weight was over 400 pounds.

Today, I weigh 190 pounds with 25 more pounds to go to reach my target weight of

165 pounds and a BMI of around 24.

15 years ago, I weighed around 400 pounds and had to get down to 250 pounds to

have hip replacement surgery.

I contemplated bariatric surgery with a doctor, who I wished I could remember his

Name. I would like to thank him because he talked me out of it.

To make a long story short I got down to 250 pounds and had both hips and both

knees replaced; however, it almost killed me. I did fasting, juicing, and just about

every kind of diet out there. After my surgeries, I gained back 150 pounds and

managed to stay at 300 pounds for the next 10 years. It took a toll on my body. I

was taking 15 pills a day, Blood Pressure, Cholesterol, Diabetic etc., I was a mess

and knew I had to do something. One side effect from my knee surgery (Which I

had both of them done at once) was the loss on my sense of taste and smell.

It has been 10 years and I have not regained those senses.

January of 2018, I weighed over 300 pounds and decided I had to do something. I

could not go back to juicing and fasting, so I just worked on cutting down on

alcohol and sweets. I also joined a Gym. From January to October of 2018 I

managed to lose 15 pounds. This was not enough, also I was getting depressed to

the point that I did not want to eat because I could not taste anything. Note: I

could taste sweet, sour, hot etc., but I could not recognize the food and could not

smell anything, Everything I smelled was foreign to me.

I went to my primary doctor at the VA and said that I needed help. I made an

appointment with a Dietitian and she put me on a diet that included a nutrition

drink twice a day along with smoothies, eggs, sandwiches, meat and salads. The

SAD (Standard American Diet). I then made an appointment to see a Psychiatrist.

The loss of my taste and smell was getting to me. We started to talk about

Mindfulness. We discussed “You have to heal the mind before you could heal

the body.” I also had a complete lab work done and all of my number were off the

chart.

On October 1, 2018 at 285 pounds, I started a 1500 to 1800 Calorie Diet and it was

working. I averaged 1.9 pounds a week and lost 29.1 pounds.

On January 13, 2019 I happened to be researching weight loss on YouTube and

came across a video call “FORKS OVER KNIVES”. That changed my life

forever. It was about a book was written by T. Colin Campbell and Caldwell

Esselstyn.

It wasn’t just about a new diet it was about a new lifestyle change.

It was a WHOLE FOOD PLANT BASE DIET (WFPBD) It made so much sense

to that I changed overnight and started cold turkey on the diet. I called my son and

he came to my house and took out all of the food I had that was not on my compliant for my diet

and that was practically everything I had. It was probably over $200 worth. I then went to

the store to get food to start the next day. I probably need to explain what was in

my diet. The term “whole” in WFPB describes foods that are minimally processed. This

includes as many whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes as you want, along with (No or Minimal Salt, Sugar or Oils)

Whole Grains:

• barley, brown rice, teff, millet, wild rice, quinoa, amaranth, steel cut and rolled oats,

whole wheat:

Legumes (dried or canned with minimal salt):

• adzuki, beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas, fava beans, kidney beans,
• soybeans, green beans, peas, mung beans, lentils, lima beans, pinto beans, homemade
• veggie burgers

Greens (fresh or frozen):

• kale, collards, spinach, lettuces, parsley, cilantro, chards, bok choy, arugula

Roots:

• all kinds of potatoes, onions, leeks, carrots, radishes, beets, garlic, ginger, turnips,
• daikon

Other Veggies:

• squash, celery, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, mushrooms, asparagus, peppers,
• tomatoes, zucchini, sea vegetables

Fruit (fresh or frozen):

• apricots, apples, bananas, berries, cherries, melons, mangoes, papayas, pineapple,
• grapes, kiwi, plums

Omega 3 Rich Seeds

• flaxseed, chia seed

Spices

• all spices

Beverages:

water, unsweetened plant “milks”, herbal teas, green tea, decaffeinated coffee

This is the food I will be eating the rest of my life.

I will end this part in telling you that my last lab work results ended with the following, just to name a

few; Cholesterol 145, Triglycerides 78, HDL Chol. 46 and LDL 84, A1C 4.6 And, I am off all of my medications.

There is so much more. I want to leave you with this. My success so far has to do with. Read, Read and more Reading. Research, especially the videos on YouTube. Purchasing Books (Forks over Knives, how not to Die, how not to Diet and many more). Join “Forks over Knives” group on Facebook as well as other groups. Most importantly newsletters on line starting with nutritionfacts.org. I cannot emphasis how important it is to be steadfast and knowledgeable in your quest for a new and healthy lifestyle. You will be tested many times. “How do you get your Protein”, You have to drink Milk” etc. We have known smoking has been bad for since the 1800s, it took until 1964 that the government linked smoking to lung cancer. We know not that a Plant Based Diet can stop us from the leading causes of death in the United States;

• Heart Disease, Cancer, Strokes, Diabetes and many more

Will we have to wait another hundred years before our government moves on this?