Learn how the simplest change to what’s on your fork can profoundly impact your mental health.

In 2012, Adam Sud’s life was completely out of control. He was seriously overweight and struggling with multiple addictions and mental health disorders, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic diseases. His life nearly came to an end when he attempted suicide by drug overdose. He checked into rehab and with the help of his parents and a plant-based diet, he began a journey that led to a remarkable recovery. 

“The reason I found myself in that situation wasn’t because there was anything wrong with me,” Sud says. “It was because it was a very reasonable and predictable response to the way I was living my life. If I was willing to radically shift how I was living my life, I could actually take charge of my health. Essentially, if I’m the problem, I get to be the solution.”

Within one year, he had overcome his addictions, reversed all of his chronic diseases, gotten off all of his medications, and lost 180 pounds. While Adam’s story centers around recovering from addiction and disease, it’s also about stepping away from shame and into self-love. 

“I think back and realize that I was always viewing myself as an adversary to my body,” Sud says. “My whole life I’ve had weight problems; I’ve never been the fastest or the strongest, and I always believed that my body wasn’t good enough. I remember being in my sober living house talking to my house manager about the day I survived suicide, and I realized, What if that story I had in my head about my body has never been true? What if surviving suicide was the ultimate expression of my body never giving up on me? My body has been my ally my entire life, and I just forgot it because somebody or something got me to believe that I had to be something other than what I was in order to be acceptable, and I believed it. When I look at my body as my ally, every choice I make is an act of care-taking.” To hear Adam’s full presentation, watch the video above.

Adam is the founder of the Plant-Based for Positive Change, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the research on diet and mental health and addiction. In 2020 he ran the very first controlled research trial to investigate the effects of a plant-based diet intervention on early addiction recovery outcomes. 

In this webinar, Adam Sud discusses:

• How a plant-based diet helped him overcome addiction and depression.
• What is addiction really? What is the role of nutrition in the disease?
• Never-before-seen insights from his clinical research study on plant-based nutrition and addiction recovery outcomes, which will be published this summer.

WATCH THE REPLAY

Originally aired August 11, 2021

The post Webinar Replay: The Role of Nutrition in Mental Health and Addiction Recovery with Adam Sud appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

In January 2018, after a decade or more of this terrible lifestyle, my body had had enough. I was at work and my co-workers noticed that my skin and eyes had turned a deep shade of yellow. I was so obviously jaundiced that my boss gave me a choice: I could find a ride to the emergency room, or she could call an ambulance. Still in denial, I simply drove to the local urgent care near my house. The doctor there took one look at me and said, “What are you doing here?! You need to go to the emergency room.” Finally, I went to the hospital, where I found out that my liver and kidneys were dying. 

Over the course of the next few weeks, multiple doctors told me that there was nothing they could do for me. The only way to save me would be a liver transplant, and most of the doctors there were not willing to risk a perfectly good organ on an addict who would go back to his old lifestyle and waste his life away, again. I was told to get my affairs in order.

But two doctors believed in me, and after eight weeks, they convinced the transplant team to take a chance on me. I was so thankful; healthy organs are extremely hard to come by and there are plenty of deserving candidates other than me. We scheduled the surgery. The transplant day arrived, and not a moment too soon: As they wheeled me into the operating room, my body was crashing. The nurse told my fiancee that if it weren’t for the transplant, I’d die in a matter of hours.

Life After the Liver Transplant

When I awoke from surgery, a deluge of emotions overwhelmed me. I was filled with gratitude and guilt, simultaneously—gratitude for everyone who helped me make it to the other side, and guilt because I had put myself and my family in this situation. Those first 10 seconds after waking up were life-changing.

The road to recovery was a difficult one, to say the least. My stay in the hospital had left me weak. I needed 24-hour care. I could not walk on my own. I could not shower on my own. I could not cook for myself. In my regular conversations with my team of doctors, diet and nutrition were always at the forefront, and they told me that I needed to take care of my new liver by eating well. I followed their dietary recommendations closely the first few months after the liver transplant, but gradually I slipped into eating a more typical American diet—healthier than I’d been eating before the transplant, but still not great. 

A year or so after my transplant, I waded into the world of endurance sports, completing a couple half-marathons and a few other races. As I grew more interested in long-distance running, I began reading memoirs by endurance athletes, including Rich Roll and Charlie Engle. They both had similar stories to mine, and both had turned to a plant-based diet for their health and athletic performance. This led me to watch the Forks Over Knives documentary film, which outlined the consequences of a diet rich in meat, dairy, and processed foods. I was shocked to discover just how poorly I’d been eating. 

I started trending toward a more plant-based diet over the course of a few months. Then one day, I decided to go 100 percent all-in on the whole-food, plant-based way of eating. 

Taking the Plant-Based Plunge

Within days I began experiencing the benefits of a fully WFPB diet. I was sleeping better. My thoughts were clearer. I had more energy and actually wanted to get out and exercise. I started to set goals for myself.

In the year and a half since adopting a WFPB diet, I’ve run five half marathons and one full marathon. I competed in a 100-mile bicycle race (El Tour de Tucson). I’ve hiked more than a dozen mountains and trekked rim to rim at the Grand Canyon. Right now, I’m training for my first triathlon, and I’ve signed up for my first 50-mile ultra-marathon in January. At the root of it all (pardon the pun) is my WFPB lifestyle. I’m able to fuel my body properly before my adventures, and to give it a chance to recover afterward. 

Since those first 10 seconds of my second chance at life, I’ve been committed to earning this gift that I have been given. I want to demonstrate this commitment to my doctors, to my family, to the donor’s family, and, most importantly, to myself. Today I help other transplant patients navigate their own health and wellness journeys. I truly believe, in my heart of hearts, that a WFPB diet is the foundation of my success in life after my liver transplant. This turned out to be the best decision I could have made for my health.

Ready to get started? Check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path. To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer.

The post Post–Liver Transplant, I’m Running Marathons and Climbing Mountains on a Plant-Based Diet appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

On the morning of August 12, 2012, I woke up feeling physically sick. I’d woken up feeling ill every day for over a year. But that morning when I threw up, there was blood. I remember my heart sinking. I knew then that something was seriously wrong. I fell back asleep. A couple hours later, I woke up and felt fine at first—then suddenly was violently sick again, and there was more blood than before. 

A Life-Threatening Rock Bottom

My partner took me to hospital. I was rushed into a room with lots of medical staff around me. The last thing I remember was someone saying that I’d lost a liter of blood just while in the waiting room. 

When I woke hours later, I was told my liver was so badly damaged that seven varices (veins) in my esophagus had burst open due to the pressure of my liver trying to filter the blood unsuccessfully. The doctors had stopped the bleeding, but the outlook wasn’t good. I was in critical condition: My liver was shutting down and more varices could rupture. I had a blood transfusion and another one the following day. 

Over the next few days, my liver showed no signs of improvement. My doctors told me that my kidneys, spleen, and gallbladder were damaged, too. They also told me that I had gout, hepatitis, mild pneumonia, and pancreatitis; that I was malnourished and dehydrated; and that a huge amount of fluid had built up (ascites) between my liver and stomach, and it had to be drained. I was so weak that I couldn’t walk.

After the fifth day there was hope. My liver function had improved. I was so happy at this news, though it was still too early to be optimistic. Over the next week, the doctors continued to deal with all the damage that I’d caused to my body. Finally, after two weeks in the hospital, I was sent home. Still very unwell, I had several follow-up tests. A biopsy confirmed that I had cirrhosis. I was told if I ever drank again I would die. 

Turning the Corner Toward Better Health

I had to not only get my health back but also rebuild my life entirely. I attended addiction counseling and a rehab group over the next three years. Each follow-up test showed some improvements in my health. Still, I was overweight and fatigued, with bad skin and low moods. 

Then one day in 2016, I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, a documentary about a very unhealthy man who turned things around with a juicing diet. Throughout the film there was a recurring theme: the benefits of plant-based nutrition. I was very skeptical that your health could improve eating just plants. I watched Forks Over Knives to learn more. Again, I was amazed to see people who were so sick healed just by cutting out meat, eggs, and dairy and going whole-food, plant-based. I decided to give it a go.

Transitioning to eating plant-based was much easier than I thought. Up until that point, I’d eaten mostly vegetarian meals based around cheese and eggs. Those meals were very fatty and processed and high in salt and sugar. I cut out the cheese and eggs and moved toward less processed, lower fat meals.

And after two weeks I felt better inside and looked better outside. A couple of months into the diet I started getting comments about my weight loss and how well I looked. I’d noticed my eyes and skin were clearer, my moods improved, my nails and hair grew thicker. 

When I returned to the hospital for a checkup, the specialist commented on how much better I looked. I’d lost 30 pounds since my previous checkup. He ran through my test results, which were better than ever. This confirmed how I felt: A whole-food, plant-based diet was making a difference.

Continuing to Heal

Every year since my trip to the emergency room in 2012, I’ve had a fibroscan, which measures the damage to my liver. For the two years before going vegan, I received the worst possible score you could get, 75 kPa. After two years of my new plant-based lifestyle, there was good news: My score dropped to 39 kPa. My last scan showed that it had dropped even further, to 30 kPa. And more good news: My liver showed no signs of fatty liver disease.

Now I stick to mostly homemade meals with loads of vegetables. I avoid processed ingredients like white pasta and white bread and packaged dinners. I eat a low sugar diet and the only fat I eat is avocado and nuts. I make sure to include a variety of fruits and vegetables in each meal, which has worked wonders for my health.

Today I talk about my struggles with alcohol and living with liver disease, after keeping silent for so long, to give others hope. Seven and a half years ago I was at rock bottom, physically and mentally. I was certain that I’d die and had given up all hope. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through, but slowly, I rebuilt my health, and it just keeps getting better. I have no doubt that this diet helped save my life.

Ready to get started? Check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path. To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer.

The post Recovering from Liver Disease on a Plant-Based Diet appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Eight years ago, I had a heart attack and triple-bypass open-heart surgery. Even that wasn’t enough to scare me into changing my lifestyle permanently. Sure, I made some short-term changes, but after a few months I was right back to my old ways—drinking a 12-pack of beer every day and eating loads of junk food. 

I had heart disease, alcoholism, and painful arthritis in my shoulders, in addition to struggling with obesity. I was a sick puppy. I felt like I was standing on the edge of a cliff, about to fall over. 

On the Edge

On Nov. 29, 2017, I woke up with my left arm completely numb. The numbness didn’t go away. Also, there was a big black spot obscuring part of the visual field in my right eye. I thought that I’d had a stroke. I went directly to the emergency room.

I had dangerously high blood pressure (228/137), an enlarged liver, stage 3 kidney disease, and neuropathy. I told myself that I had some serious health issues and I needed to make some major changes. I hoped it wasn’t too late. 

Embracing the Effort

Fear and sickness hadn’t been enough to motivate me in the past. My secret to success this time around was to get myself excited about making these changes. After several false starts, I found these 12 points to be key:

1. Sobriety: I couldn’t follow any health program when I was drinking. I could talk a good story, but I couldn’t put it into action. I had to quit drinking.
2. Healthy eating: I adopted a whole-food, plant-based diet.
3. Mild exercise: For me, it is hiking.
4. A positive expectation: I believed from the beginning (without a doubt) that this program would work and I would achieve my goals. I accepted setbacks as part of the learning process.
5. Educating myself: I learned about nutrition and health by watching documentaries and reading books.
6. Embracing the effort: I had to recognize and embrace the idea that this would take some effort. I learned to view the hard or boring parts as just part of the process.
7. Emotional involvement: Intellect alone doesn’t do it. Emotional involvement drives these lessons deep into your being.
8. Stress management: For me, stress management consists of relaxation, visualization, and prayer.
9. Staying away from the edge. If I think about an unhealthy behavior long enough, I’ll end up doing it. So, I have to plot a course that keeps me far away from the edge.
10. Learning to treat myself as if I matter: This was a tough lesson for me because feelings of inferiority were part of my personality, but people can change.
11. Gratitude: No matter what your religious beliefs, you probably believe in some kind of Higher Power. I wake up each morning grateful to mine for the opportunity to live another day, and that sets the tone for the entire day.
12. Share your journey: Trying to help others (without being obnoxious or overbearing) is very motivating to me. That’s why I wrote this article.

A Greater Purpose

What I thought I could accomplish in six months actually took more than a year. I made some slip-ups, but instead of getting discouraged I always got back on the program right away. It paid off. 

By adopting a whole-food, plant-based diet, maintaining sobriety, and exercising moderately, I have been able to:

• Bring my blood pressure down to normal without prescription medications.
• Lose 65 pounds, overcoming obesity.
• Eliminate the neuropathy in my feet and arthritis in my shoulders.
• Start walking again and even do strenuous hikes without any pain in my legs.
• Bring my lab numbers back into the normal range, with no indication of kidney failure.

Also, I discovered a greater purpose for living.

Today I live pain-free and enjoy many activities that I hadn’t been able to do for years. My hope is that reading this will inspire you along your own journey. Stories of amazing life-changing recoveries usually come from younger people in their 40s and 50s, but at this writing, I am 75 years old, and I’m telling you: You can do this!

Ready to get started? Check out our Plant-Based Primer to learn more about adopting a whole-food, plant-based diet.

The post At 73, I Went Plant-Based and Said Goodbye to Obesity, Heart Disease, Kidney Disease, and Arthritis appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

At 3am, you would have nervously watched me stumble drunkenly with my friends to the car, get behind the wheel, light a joint, and then drive to McDonalds. On other nights, you’d see us choose to hit the 24-hour diners for chicken sandwiches and plates of cheese fries.

After returning home, you’d see me desperately trying to sleep. Five out of the seven nights of the week, I’d spend an hour in bed praying for the room to stop spinning. My prayers were usually unanswered and I’d instead spend more time crouched over the toilet atoning for my sins. I regularly got between three to four hours of sleep a night.

During this period, I was somehow able to drive to the office every workday and power through a hectic ten hour schedule. My professional success during these years is still a mystery. But as soon as my workday was complete, you’d find me back in the bar with my friends. This was my daily schedule for many years.

Discovering Yoga

Despite my lifestyle, I wouldn’t have called myself an alcoholic during those eight years. Although nothing mattered to me except for making money and getting hammered, I deluded myself into believing that I was doing what any normal party girl in their 20’s was supposed to be doing.

In reality, I was a complete mess. I was 85 pounds overweight, reckless, and completely out of touch with my body. Behind my substance abuse and destructive behavior was a miserable person trying to drown her sorrows. I first realized something was terribly wrong when I had my first anxiety attack. These attacks continued to sneak up on me over the course of the following year, and it got to the point where I couldn’t even blame it on too many shots.

One day a co-worker suggested I try yoga to help with the attacks. I was intrigued and signed up for my first class. That hour in the studio was the most humiliating 60 minutes of my life. I nearly fainted from dehydration (which is what happens when you drink nothing except for black coffee and alcohol) and finally realized just how overweight I really was. I wasn’t just “chubby” with a “beer gut.” I was obese.

Despite my pitiful performance, I drove home from the yoga studio feeling a tranquil high that I had never experienced before. I was hooked. Too mortified to practice yoga again in a public setting, I purchased yoga DVDs. I practiced twice a week for the following year. The other five nights of the week, I followed the familiar routine of binge drinking and eating fast food into the wee hours of the morning.

Going Plant-Based and Finding True Health

I didn’t lose weight over that year, but my mind had began to expand and my connection with my body began to deepen. I finally began to understand what feeling good really meant. I credit these yoga-induced changes with the fact that I woke up one day with a burning desire to go vegetarian. It was so intense that I couldn’t ignore it. I immediately eliminated meat from my diet and never looked back. As time went on, my wild bar nights gradually dwindled down and I actually stopped drinking altogether.

Once I eliminated alcohol from my life, I decided to transform my lifestyle and set some goals for myself. I vowed to cut out all fast food, to cook almost all of my vegetarian meals at home, and to practice yoga six days a week. In less than one year, I lost 75 pounds, retired from my stressful corporate job, moved to California, and became a certified yoga instructor.

Two years later, I accomplished my ultimate goal. I sold all my possessions, moved to Tonga (a tropical island in the South Pacific), and gave up cheese to be completely vegan. Since making the transition to a fully plant-based diet, I have lost an additional 15 pounds. My diet is now based on fruits, vegetables, beans, and rice dishes—I limit flour products and meat substitutes. I still find myself losing weight each month and my body is becoming leaner and more toned with each passing day.

I am nowhere near perfect or finished with this healing journey I have been on. I am just getting started! But I am living proof that a plant-based diet and healthy lifestyle are the keys to lasting weight loss and optimal health. I have yoga to thank for expanding my mind. My dedicated practice enabled me to think outside the box and break out of my cycle of destructive habits. I have my whole-food vegan diet to thank for my lasting weight loss and healthier body. And last but not least, I have Forks Over Knives to thank for greatly impacting my life with the release of its brilliant documentary!

Visit Jennifer’s site for more information.

The post Plant-Powered Transformation: From Self-Destructive Alcoholic to Healthy and Happy Yogi appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Let’s get something straight though: I don’t hold my family accountable for their dietary influences. They were only doing what their parents had shown them. But now that the science is in and I know so much more, I do hold myself accountable for what I teach my own family. “Vegucating” them has been a great experience and I hope both my children and nephews pass it on to their families in time.

Surviving a Life of Violence and Drugs

After leaving school, I stepped into the wide world without a clue about what I was, what I wanted to be, and what I should be. I bounced from job to job and worked construction, on sawmills, and as a truck driver. When I wasn’t at work, I was either drinking, drunk, or getting high. With this lifestyle came violence. My 6-foot-3-inch build, a rough and tumble upbringing, and Irish blood got me in no end of trouble. After choosing a life of violence, I fell victim to being stabbed on more than one occasion, beaten into a coma on another, and having multiple titanium plates inserted into my shattered face.

In my mid 20s, I worked security in various pubs, clubs, and nightspots in London’s West End. This work put me on first-name terms with the elite of the local underworld, and I took my skills in violence and my personal abuse of alcohol and drugs to another level.

Turning the Tide: The 2004 Tsunami

Fast forward 10 years and I’ve managed to leave most of the abuse and violence behind. I was working security with high-profile bands and musicians, and seeing the tamer side of life made me more aware of myself and more mindful of the choices I made. However, I was still abusing alcohol and had a very poor diet.

I was in Thailand during the 2004 tsunami. After experiencing (and surviving) that, I started to focus on Buddhism and to use some of the practices to refine myself into a better person. During one music tour, I met John “Bloodclot” Joseph, lead singer of the Cro-Mags and author of Meat Is for Pussies and The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon. We connected immediately and have been best friends since.

After seeing his energy, vibrancy, and the way he thrives in all he does, I questioned him about his lifestyle. He happily advised me on the plant-based diet he has lived on and lived by for some 32 years. To this day, John is like my brother, my inspiration, and my benchmark.

Cutting out all animal products gave me a greater buzz and more fulfilling high than any alcohol or drug-induced feeling I have ever had. Changing to a plant-based vegan diet took me physically and emotionally to a level I never in all my years imagined I would achieve.

Thriving Physically, Mentally, and Emotionally on a WFPB Diet

Now in my mid-40s, I am running security details for the world’s most high-profile stars, musicians, and DJs. I travel the world on jets. I am training harder and better, and I am fitter, faster, and stronger than ever. I am able to function on less sleep and recover quicker than ever. I regularly train in the world’s best Muay Thai gyms in Bangkok. I am more physically and mentally connected, focused, and aware of my thoughts and decisions.

All of this makes me want to give back. I focus my spare time on helping various charities, especially an orphanage for children in Thailand who lost their parents during the tsunami. I am happy to be an outspoken advocate for the plant-based lifestyle. There are many celebrities out there who took their first (but not last) vegan meal with me or under my guidance. The results are always the same—they get blown away!

Through this lifestyle, I have connected with athletes, authors, actors, and Oscar winners on a personal level. I have helped people who have struggled with addiction and helped them through their transition to a new, better version of themselves. Being credible, believable, and authentic is everything, and eating a plant-based diet is the most honest and truthful you can be—to yourself and the planet.

Ian Norrington and John Joseph

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The post From London Streets to Enlightened, A-List Vegan Bodyguard appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

In 2005, I was 34 years old, over 320 pounds, had ridiculously high blood pressure, high cholesterol, prediabetes, and two herniated discs in my spine. I was eating fast food three or four times a day, popping pain pills (Vicodin, Percocet, codeine) like Tic-Tacs, and washing it all down with a bottle of whiskey each day in a futile attempt to escape reality.

Despite my efforts to hide it from others, the reality was I was on the fast track to an early death. The saddest part was that I was actually hoping to die. Despite abusing my body for more than a decade, I was somehow surviving—just barely, but alive nonetheless. I was still breathing despite all my medical problems, depression, and hopeless chemical and food addictions.

One morning in 2005, I woke up. I woke up physically from passing out drunk and sleeping for 12 hours, but I also woke up in a much more profound and meaningful way. Until that day, I was a zombie walking through life. But on this morning, as my physical body rose from the bed, a tiny flame woke up inside me—my desire to live and start being a good father to my kids. I slowly and steadily went about the task of putting my broken life and broken body back together.

I dumped the booze down the drain, discontinued my midnight trips to McDonald’s, and started going to the gym. For a couple years, I learned to jog and fumbled my way through dieting. I ate a mostly vegetarian diet with lean meats and some cheese and run-walked my way to a slow marathon finish. I had lost a great deal of weight, but still felt afraid that if I stopped running, stopped dieting, or let my guard down for a second, I would gain it all back. Everything changed at the two-year mark, when I became curious about a vegan diet through some friends. On a whim, I started a 30-day vegan challenge. About two days into the challenge, I watched Forks Over Knives. I haven’t been the same since.

After switching to an entirely plant-based diet, I lost the additional weight I couldn’t seem to get rid of before. I eventually stabilized at 160lbs—half of my former weight! Along with my weight problems, my high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart problems went away for good. Even more spectacular was how I felt—lighter, stronger, faster, and able to run and train harder than I ever had in my life. I was recovering so fast from my hard workouts that my running friends were shaking their heads in disbelief. The year that I made the plant-based switch, I ran a 100 mile ultra-marathon, placed in the top 10 at two other ultra marathons, and went on to set an American record.

Since then, I have competed in some of the toughest and most extreme ultra-marathons in the world, including Badwater, a 135-mile race in Death Valley in 130-degree heat. I am now in the best shape of my life at 45 years old.

I’ve just passed my six year anniversary of being vegan. What started as a health and fitness-based journey has evolved into a peaceful way of life. I find comfort in knowing that nothing must die for me to thrive. Letting go of my old habits and beliefs surrounding food and nutrition was not just an act of taking things out of my life and away from my dinner table. Eating and living this way has added depth to my life and helped me to achieve what I previously would have scoffed at or written off as impossible.

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