When I was 10, my father was concerned that I seemed heavier than the other girls in my class. My parents put me on a diet that was all about counting calories. I stayed on some type of weight-loss diet for the next 50 years. It never really worked. I’d deprive myself, lose some weight, then binge and gain it back. I always felt hungry.

I joined the military when I was 19 and remained fairly healthy throughout my 30 years of service. I always carried some extra pounds, but I was never obese. I stayed physically active (with four kids, I was always on the go) and tried to follow a Mediterranean diet.

Cardiovascular Troubles

In my 40s, I was diagnosed with high cholesterol, and my doctor warned me that I’d need to start taking medication if I didn’t make some lifestyle changes, but I more or less shrugged it off.

One day in 2007, I was working out at the gym when my head started pounding. I went to the hospital. The doctors found a tumor on the left atrium of my heart, and I had to undergo open-heart surgery. The experience made me more health-conscious, especially in light of my family history of heart disease, kidney disease, and Type 2 diabetes. After being discharged from the hospital, I thought, “I need to do something.” Still, I didn’t do anything for quite a while.

Discovering Plant-Based Cooking

I’d always loved cooking and dreamed of becoming a professional chef, and in 2008, while still on active duty, I enrolled in culinary school. After graduating, I started my chef business and began teaching cooking classes.

In 2017, the Blue Zones Project was looking for chefs to lead plant-based cooking demos in my town of Fort Worth, Texas. I’d read The Okinawa Program and The Blue Zones years earlier and always had it in the back of my mind that I should try eating more plant-based, so I applied and was chosen to be a local chef in the project. I led cooking demos at various businesses, churches, and schools—but I wasn’t ready to adopt a 100% plant-based diet myself just yet.

A Turning Point During the Pandemic

In February 2020, a lipid panel showed that I had a total cholesterol level of 211, LDL of 125, and triglycerides in the 190s. Soon after that, the pandemic hit, and I gained more weight while stuck at home. I felt terrible.

That’s when I read How Not to Diet by Michael Greger, MD, and learned about his Daily Dozen: a checklist of healthy foods to try to eat every day, including beans, berries, greens, whole grains, and other whole plant foods, while also exercising daily and drinking plenty of water.

I decided to eat nothing but those healthy plant foods for 21 days, and I started exercising 45 minutes a day. I was pleasantly surprised that once I started eating oil-free, whole-food, plant-based (WFPB), I didn’t feel hungry all the time.

Results in 3 Weeks

In just three weeks on a plant-based diet, my total cholesterol dropped by 40 points, my LDL dropped by 25 points, and my triglycerides dropped by 80 points. I also lost a few pounds. After seeing those results, I decided to stick with the WFPB way of eating.

Since going all in on WFPB, I’ve lost 30 pounds—and, more importantly, I’ve kept the weight off. I walk 5 miles daily and lift weights two hours a week. I’m 69 years old, and I have no aches, pains, or any of the other problems that often plague people in my age group. I enjoy cooking every day and coming up with creative new plant-based dishes, which I share on YouTube. I feel like I’ve cracked the code for how to lose weight, keep it off, and keep myself in good health, and my purpose in life is to help others do the same.

My Tips for Success in Going WFPB

Over the past few years, I’ve helped many people make the transition to WFPB. These are my best tips for getting started and sticking with it.

1. Learn to cook.

Restaurant meals and prepackaged meals from the grocery store are often too salty and fatty. The WFPB way of eating is much easier and more enjoyable if you prepare your own food, using seasonal produce and fresh herbs and spices for flavor.

2. Keep it simple.

I like to give people five core recipes that can easily be customized and transformed into other dishes: Think bean chili, veggie burgers, Asian noodles, miso soup with vegetables and tofu, and beans and rice.

3. Find 2 or 3 breakfasts you love.

Try out several, such as hot oatmeal, steel-cut oats, overnight oats, savory grain bowls, sprouted whole grain toast with nut butter, and smoothies with greens.

4. Be willing to stand alone.

Buy-in from family and friends is wonderful, but if you’re the only one you know following the plant-based way of eating, it’s still possible to succeed. Be positive about your choices, not apologetic. Do what you need to do even when it’s difficult.

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 I Took 40 Points Off My Cholesterol in Just 3 Weeks on a Plant-Based Diet appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

To offer inspiration as we head into 2024, we’ve rounded up the 10 most-shared success stories of the past year. Read on for inspiring testimonials written by people who have lost weight, reversed diabetes and heart disease, and experienced other remarkable health transformations after adopting a whole-food, plant-based diet.

On a High-Carb Diet, I Reversed Type 2 Diabetes and High Cholesterol

In 2019, Kim Jarchow adopted a low-carb, high-protein diet in an effort to lose weight and manage Type 2 diabetes. But she ended up driving up her cholesterol instead. “My doctor wanted to put me on a statin for cholesterol and metformin for diabetes. I knew there had to be a better way,” writes Jarchow. She discovered the WFPB lifestyle and decided to give it a try. “Within just five weeks, my total cholesterol dropped 60 points. … Within six months it dropped to 184, and my A1C dropped from 7.1 to 5.9, all without medication.” Read more.

Oil-Free and Thriving: Restored to Health on a Whole-Food, Plant-Based Diet

Mary McCoy was a vegan who thought she was in fairly good health. But after an annual physical in 2021 revealed that she had high cholesterol and prediabetes, she was forced to rethink things. “After that, I cut out all oils, and started learning more about whole-food, plant-based cooking,” writes McCoy. “By that summer, I’d lost 30 pounds!” Read more.

It’s Never Too Late: How I Improved My Health at Age 80 with a WFPB Diet

Never a fan of veggies, Ardis Coffman wasn’t thrilled in 2018 when her daughter began preparing whole-food, plant-based dinners for them. But after Coffman, who had suffered from Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure for decades, started seeing improvements to her blood sugar within two months of the WFPB dinner routine, she started incorporating WFPB breakfasts and lunches, too—and reaping major benefits. “Now I’m 85 and in better health than I was at 45,” writes Coffman. Read more.

I Beat Heart Disease and Lost 44 Pounds in 9 Months Without Portion Control

Wendy Swiger’s doctor was ready to prescribe medications to manage her cholesterol and prediabetes, but Swiger, already on blood-pressure medications, hoped to find another way. That’s when she dived in to a WFPB diet. “A month after starting this way of eating, I had my annual checkup,” writes Swiger. “My doctor was shocked, saying I’d had the largest drop in LDL cholesterol she had ever seen in her career that wasn’t due to medication.” Within that first month, her blood pressure had normalize, and she was no longer prediabetic. And that was just the beginning. Read more.

How I Transformed My Health in My 60s on a Plant-Based Diet

In 2017, an angiogram revealed a 100% blockage in Armando Alvarez’s right coronary artery. Not a candidate for bypass surgery or stents, he decided to try switching up his diet, first going vegetarian, then vegan and, eventually, whole-food, plant-based. “Soon afterward, the angina that I dealt with for 10 months finally stopped,” writes Alvarez. Read more.

I Switched to a Plant-Based Diet and Resolved My Chronic Pain, MS Symptoms, and Kidney Disease

When a 39-year-old Kimberly Eallonardo was diagnosed with kidney disease and told she’d need a transplant in six months, she was determined to do anything she could to restore her kidneys to health. That’s when a neighbor tipped her off to the benefits of a whole-food, plant-based diet. She was immediately ready to try it. “For me, it was a matter of life and death,” she writes. “Within six weeks of going WFPB, I experienced what my nephrologist called a spontaneous remission. Some would call it a miraculous recovery.” Read more.

From Sick and Tired to Happy and Healthy: My Whole-Food, Plant-Based Journey

Julie Tomlinson struggled with obesity for most of her adult life. She and her husband thought they’d tried every diet to lose weight, but then they came across the Forks Over Knives documentary and decided to go vegan. “After a year without animal products, we’d each lost 100 pounds,” writes Tomlinson. She and her husband then transitioned to a WFPB diet and experienced even more benefits. Read more.

Breaking the Cycle of Deprivation: I Lost Weight and Resolved Several Health Issues on a WFPB Diet

Years of yo-yo dieting left Shauné Hayes desperate for lasting change and struggling with a variety of health conditions, including high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar; arthritis; and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). In 2017, she started working with a health coach, who advised her to adopt a WFPB diet. Over the next three years, she lost 100 pounds; brought her cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure down to healthy levels; and eliminated all PCOS symptoms. “Following a WFPB diet has significantly improved my quality of life overall,” she writes. Read more.

On an Oil-Free Plant-Based Diet, I’ve Normalized My Cholesterol and Improved My Eyesight

Prior to discovering the WFPB way of eating, Yolanda and Jim Breidenbaugh both suffered from heart disease. Jim had undergone quadruple bypass surgery, and Yolanda had very high cholesterol. After watching Forks Over Knives and reading The Starch Solution, they became convinced that going WFPB was the right move for their heart health. “We found ourselves reaping some health benefits within months,” writes Yolanda. “We both had more energy, and my cholesterol dropped to 147.” Read more.

After a Prostate Cancer Diagnosis Spurred Me to Go Plant-Based, I Feel Like the Energizer Bunny

Upon learning he had prostate cancer, Michael Andrus struggled with feelings of anxiety and hopelessness. “Things felt out of my control, which was a hard reality to face,” writes Andrus. Then his cousin recommended he read How Not to Die by Michael Greger, M.D. “It was the beginning of a dramatic change in my life.” Read more.

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

The post Our Most-Shared Success Stories of 2023 appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Trying a Low-Carb Diet for Diabetes

In 2019, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. My doctor told me to eat a low-carb, high-protein diet, so I started doing Atkins, with a lot of meat and prepackaged foods.

At a routine eye exam a few months later, my eye doctor noticed that I had clumps of cholesterol in one eye. I was immediately sent to the hospital for a carotid artery scan, which found that the small artery on the left side of my face, eye, and brain was around 60% clogged with plaque buildup. I was scared! My doctor wanted to put me on a statin for cholesterol and metformin for diabetes. I knew there had to be a better way.

Swift Results on a WFPB Diet

I began researching different diets and found How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell Esselstyn, MD. I immediately adopted a whole-food, plant-based diet, free of oil. Within just five weeks, my total cholesterol dropped 60 points, from 290 to 230. Within six months it dropped to 184, and my A1C dropped from 7.1 to 5.9, all without medication—all from just changing what I was eating! I also lost 36 pounds.

Still Plant-Based and Thriving 5 Years Later

Since making the switch five years ago, I’ve maintained normal cholesterol levels and reversed Type 2 diabetes. At age 55, I feel the best I ever have! I also became certified in plant based nutrition and cooking to help others take control of their health with a WFPB way of eating. I am so grateful that now I can share my story and help educate others about the power of lifestyle medicine. I believe that it’s the solution for preventing and reversing many of the chronic diseases that we face today.

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 On a High-Carb Diet, I Reversed Type 2 Diabetes and High Cholesterol appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

I could barely walk to the mailbox without getting winded. I remember once, when I was in my mid-30s, a friend asked me to go on a walk around the block with her, and halfway through, I burst into tears and had to stop because I couldn’t breathe and was in so much pain. I was so sick and tired of being sick and tired.

My husband and I tried everything under the sun to lose weight—Weight Watchers, SlimFast, low-carb diets, etc. We’d lose a bit of weight at first, but I always felt hungry and deprived. I was not able to stick to any of these diets for long, and I gained even more weight back than the initial weight lost.

Giving a WFPB Diet a Chance

Fast-forward a few painful years. My hubby, who also was severely obese, spotted a flier for a documentary called Forks Over Knives. We decided to watch it, though at this point I had very little hope that I could ever shed any weight successfully.

I really only heard part of the message of the film: Cut out animal flesh. I told Hubby I wanted to go vegetarian. He said that if we were going to give it a try, he wanted to commit to going vegan. So we committed to it for a year.

After a year without animal products, we’d each lost 100 pounds. The weight came off fairly easily. We decided to try transitioning to the whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) diet advocated in Forks Over Knives, which meant cutting out oil and vegan ultraprocessed foods. We had varying degrees of success with this. For a few years, we ate oil off and on. But slowly, more pounds came off. I decided to also cut out all refined sugar.

Fully into the Whole-Food, Plant-Based Lifestyle

Today I am 52 years old and happily committed to a WFPB lifestyle, as is my husband. I have continued to gradually lose weight and have easily maintained the weight loss, even after having a thyroid gland removed in 2019 (due to a benign but large tumor).

Prior to going plant-based, I had high cholesterol and high blood pressure, and my inflammation markers were off the charts. Now all of these are in the normal range. My doctor has said that my blood work is like that of a healthy young athlete. I take that as a tremendous testimony to the WFPB lifestyle.

I no longer struggle with GERD symptoms. Before going plant-based, I depended on Prilosec and Tums to get through the day. Now I don’t suffer any heartburn; I can eat the spiciest of foods with no problems! To top it all off, I used to suffer from terrible insomnia, and now I sleep like a contented baby.

I run five days a week and am an avid walker. I am sober, happy, and healthy. I have gained a completely new life. My husband and I are fully committed to continuing on our veggie journey and flourishing in this way of living!

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 From Sick and Tired to Happy and Healthy: My Whole-Food, Plant-Based Journey appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

On my 80th birthday, I was dealing with a host of medical problems. I had been a Type 2 diabetic for over 20 years, and I’d had high blood pressure since I was 35. One doctor called it “resistant” high blood pressure, because the standard medicines failed to bring it down. It took five medications at full doses to keep my blood pressure under control. I think it’s hereditary; my father died at 31 from repeated small strokes because they couldn’t control his blood pressure, and both his sisters were diagnosed with high blood pressure, one of them when she was in her teens. I counted myself lucky that there were medications to help me avoid suffering my father’s fate.

On top of high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes, I had high triglycerides and high cholesterol. And now, on my 80th, I was dealing with the latest bad news from my doctor: I had chronic kidney disease, stage 3C.

Surprising Improvements

Much to my surprise, after only a couple of months of eating WFPB dinners—only dinners!—my A1C improved enough that my doctor started stepping down my diabetes medication, and before long, without fanfare, I was off of all of it.

I watched the Forks Over Knives documentary and felt my objections to eating vegetables weakening. Then, while browsing my health care provider’s website to see what it had to say about my latest diagnosis, chronic kidney disease, I saw that the advice for CKD patients was to avoid animal protein. Here was my medical team saying pretty much exactly what the documentary said. That was it. I was on board. I said goodbye to my beloved bacon-and-egg breakfasts. My daughter happily started making us both steel-cut oats every morning.

My health improvements accelerated. My cholesterol dropped enough that my doctor was able to take me off statins. My limp, thinning hair plumped up, and one day, while going through the motions of putting on makeup, I realized I had eyelashes again; the mascara was actually coating something. My splitting fingernails toughened up. My age spots lightened. My BMI had been in the “obese” range for decades, and I began to lose weight, with ease, at a healthy rate. My kidney numbers turned around. I began to look forward to going to the doctor, knowing my weight would be lower and my blood work would be better, not worse.

Undoing a Family History of Disease

It’s been five years since I made the switch. My A1C has been lower than my daughter’s for years now (and she’s never been diabetic). My total cholesterol is consistently 170 or lower. My kidney numbers continue to look better at each checkup.

Most amazing of all is the improvement in my blood pressure. I didn’t think anything could affect my blood pressure this much! Even my skeptical doctor commented, “Your plant-based diet is doing well for your blood pressure.” One by one, she has cautiously taken me off medications. I’m down to two, from the five I’d been taking for decades, and my blood pressure is so good that I wouldn’t be surprised if she takes me off the final two. It’s almost incredible. If only my father had known.

My lunch is often homemade soy yogurt, dressed up with raisins and orange slices. Our favorite dinners are bulgur-wheat pilaf; orange tofu; black bean tacos; bean chili; and a lot of variations on brown rice and beans. We also like to do potato bars, where we make baked potatoes and set out different toppings. For holidays, one favorite is a lentil shepherd’s pie. We use Forks Meal Planner and cookbooks by plant-based doctors.

My friends are interested in my successes, and at least two of them have started their own plant-based journeys. Now I’m 85 and in better health than I was at 45. I know I’m not immortal; something is going to take me out eventually. But eating a WFPB diet has given me the chance to enjoy good health until then. I’m so grateful.

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 It’s Never Too Late: How I Improved My Health at Age 80 with a WFPB Diet appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Once I hit puberty I started to work out with weights and run track, so as a young man I was relatively fit, and I stayed that way through early adulthood. When my wife and I got married in the early ’90s, I weighed around 185 pounds. But after a year of doughnuts and ice cream every day, I got up to 215 pounds. I decided to cut out the doughnuts, replacing them with mixed nuts, and my wife and I made ice cream a weekends-only treat. After that, I got back down to 185 pounds.

In the early 2000s, I developed irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). I was prescribed Protonix, which made me not feel the gastrointestinal issues at all. But I didn’t like the idea of being on a daily medication, so after a few months, I decided to discontinue it. At the same time, I stopped having my daily six to eight cups of coffee (which were really more like cups of sugar, with coffee and cream). That seemed to help.

One day, after hours of cutting thick shrubs and removing them from the ground, I found myself experiencing intense shoulder pain. My shoulders had occasionally bothered me since I dislocated them while skiing and playing sports as a teen, but I was mostly able to manage it, up until that day. I went to an orthopedic doctor, who told me that I had severe arthritis in my shoulders and that it would bother me quite often. The doctor gave me three choices: I could receive injections, undergo surgery, or simply avoid doing what made them hurt. So I went with the last option, and decided to just not do what made them hurt, at least not for a whole day.

In 2019, my wife introduced me to The Rich Roll Podcast, which led me to watch Forks Over Knives and The Game Changers. I came across the work of some amazing people, including Michael Greger, MD, Will Bulsiewicz, MD, Rip Esselstyn, and from all the books, articles, and podcasts I was reading and listening to, it became abundantly clear that WFPB was the way to go. It offered the trifecta: good for my health, good for the health of the planet, and good for animals. I cut out all animal products overnight, taking a more gradual approach to cutting out highly processed foods.

My wife has been so supportive, preparing meals that are predominantly WFPB, even while she still consumes some animal products. I feel very fortunate, and I’m very grateful to her. Going out to eat can be challenging, but I deal with it. It’s great when there is an actual vegan option on the menu.

4 Years Later, Sharing the Plant-Based Message

Recently, I attended the International Conference on Nutrition and Medicine and got to meet Dr. Greger!

I’ve stuck with it for almost four years now. I feel great and people say I look great. Now it’s very rare for me to notice the arthritis in my shoulders. I never feel like I need to count calories or worry about eating too much. I feel fit and trim without exercising excessively. I walk daily with my wife and our golden retriever, and five mornings a week I do pullups, situps, and pushups. I have not experienced any more gastrointestinal issues; I make sure to drink plenty of water and keep things flowing.

I am about to retire later this year, after 30 years of teaching in public schools. Now I want to teach people strategies that are relevant to their everyday lives and that they can apply immediately to live longer, stronger, and healthier. I don’t want to push this lifestyle on anyone, but I want to spread the word as much as I can. I have been gathering resources and educating myself, and I started a blog and YouTube channel so I can start sharing the benefits of WFPB eating.

I heard a great analogy from Dr. Greger about inflammation: If your leg hits the coffee table once, it heals, no big deal—but if you hit it three times a day, every day, you’re in trouble. Chronic inflammation is the root of many of the diseases plaguing Americans, and it can be alleviated by going WFPB.

The planet, too, would be much better off if we just grew plants to feed people, instead of chopping down rainforests to grow food for cattle. Let’s heal ourselves and save the world with plants!

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 Goodbye, GERD and Arthritis Pain: I’m Thriving in My 50s on a Plant-Based Diet appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Soon after cutting out meat, I noticed that when I ate anything that had dairy in it, I immediately became congested, with a runny nose and cough. So for a few months, I experimented with taking breaks from dairy and then trying it again. Every time I ate dairy, I experienced sinus problems. And when I stopped, within a day the symptoms were gone. So I decided to cut out all dairy, going fully vegan around age 16. (This was an interesting decision at the time, as my father owned and operated seven steak and seafood restaurants, and I grew up working in them!)

As an adult, I followed my interest in natural health and healing to a career as a chiropractor. My intention as a doctor was always to empower people, showing them how to care for their health naturally through diet, exercise, and positive thinking. I also began teaching taiji classes, which I really enjoyed. Eventually, I gave up my career as a chiropractor to become a full-time taiji teacher and health educator.

Staying WFPB and Free of Aches, Pains, and Chronic Disease

I’ve spent the past several decades traveling all over the world giving workshops and retreats on taiji and healthy living, and I always emphasize the importance of following a diet rich in whole plant foods.

What surprises me the most after following a WFPB diet for so many years is how resistant people can be to changing the way they eat, meanwhile spending time, energy, and money going to doctors to treat symptoms while not addressing the underlying causes. It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense!

I will turn 70 at the end of this year. I don’t know how 70 is “supposed” to feel, but I am positively thriving. I don’t have any health complaints, and I’m the exact same weight I was in high school. When I look around at most people in my age group, I see people taking pills every day and constantly running to doctors’ appointments. And many of my peers have died. Sometimes I feel like the odd man out: In social situations where everyone is comparing their diseases, aches, and pains, I politely excuse myself, go outside, and meditate or practice some taiji.

I’ve lived in a small remote village in Costa Rica for more than 20 years, and I enjoy snacking on all the delicious tropical fruits that grow here. For me, the best part of whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) eating is that I can eat lots and never worry about being overweight. Now if that doesn’t inspire others, I don’t know what will!

I enjoy hosting retreats on taiji and natural health here in Costa Rica, and I am always learning more about health for my own knowledge and so that I can be of better service to others. Any time I have a conversation about eating, I recommend the Forks Over Knives documentary and website. I dream of opening a natural health center where people learn how to get healthy and stay healthy.

For me, eating this way was never a diet. It has always been a way of life, interwoven with my daily martial art training and love of nature.

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 Living Proof: How a WFPB Diet Has Kept Me Healthy and Energetic Well Into My 60s appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

That all changed in March 2021, when I went for a checkup at my doctor’s office and found out that I was not as healthy as I’d thought. My doctor ordered bloodwork, and I received the results about a week later, on March 12, my birthday. The panel showed that I had elevated total cholesterol, at 202 mg/dL, and elevated LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, at 124 mg/dL. On top of that, I had prediabetes. It was a bit depressing to receive all this news on my birthday.

Going Oil-Free

After that appointment, a friend of mine told me about the oil-free, whole-food, plant-based way of eating. She mentioned a raw plant-based cardiologist with a heart and wellness practice located in my town of Houston. As I looked into it more, I became intrigued by WFPB diets. My research led me to watch the Forks Over Knives documentary. After that, I cut out all oils, and started learning more about whole-food, plant-based cooking. In April 2021, I attended the Food Revolution Summit to dive deeper.

By that summer, I’d lost 30 pounds! I was shocked to realize just how much oil I’d been using in the past, and what a difference removing it from my diet had made.

Two Years Later

Since going WFPB, I’ve lowered my A1C to 5.5, which means I no longer have prediabetes. I’ve lowered my total cholesterol from 202 to 171, and my LDL from 124 to 93. Today I’m shopping more in the produce section of grocery stores. I’m reading labels more carefully and eating out a lot less. While I’ve put back on a little of the weight I initially lost back in 2021, I feel that it’s more muscle, as I’ve been able to do more intense workouts.

I’ve really enjoyed trying different WFPB recipes over the past couple of years. There’s excitement in tasting the dishes and seeing how delicious they can be without any of the unhealthy junk that I ate in the past. Some of my favorite recipes are oatmeal breakfast balls or bars, Sweet Potato Waffles, baked falafel, homemade bean burgers, a cashew cheese sauce that I pour on pretty much everything, and so much more. I enjoy using the Forks Over Knives recipe app: It gives me so many options to try and I don’t have to worry about unhealthy ingredients.

I’ve shared my experiences and suggestions with family and friends. Although I’ve largely been met with skepticism, I was able to help a friend who has diabetes lower his A1C and lose weight by eating more WFPB. I also helped a family member manage hypertension and digestive problems. These experiences inspired me to obtain a certification in nutrition, because I feel it’s so essential to get this information out there and continue helping as many people as possible. It’s too important to ignore.

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 Oil-Free and Thriving: Restored to Health on a Whole-Food, Plant-Based Diet appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

When I turned 65 and qualified for Medicare, my sister suggested I get a physical to see where my health stood. Thank goodness I took her advice. My doctors ended up finding out that I have metastatic prostate cancer. For my wife and me, this was the shock of our lives.

The Turning Point

The doctors recommended a regimen of chemotherapy drugs, warning me of side effects including fatigue and weight gain. When I asked what would happen if I didn’t take the drugs, they said most likely I’d be bed-ridden and in lots of pain within 12 to 18 months. It was a grim picture either way. Of course, I chose to take the drugs. I also underwent radiation for cancer in my ribs and prostate.

Things felt out of my control, which was a hard reality to face, especially for a successful self-employed guy. When it came to my construction business, my finances, or anything else, I always felt that I could solve any problem.

It was during this time of facing the unknown that my cousin Amy called me. She recommended a book called How Not to Die by Michael Greger, MD. She’d read it and it changed her life. Being an avid reader, I downloaded the e-book and devoured it, learning a great deal about nutrition and plant-based eating. It was the beginning of a dramatic change in my life.

I shared with my wife what I’d learned about the health benefits of a plant-based diet—the significant impact it can have in fighting disease, lowering blood pressure, managing weight, and helping the body to heal. She agreed to try it with me. In July 2022, we decided to jump in, full bore, on a plant-based diet. We cut out all animal products, as well as alcohol.

We didn’t find it all that hard to change our eating habits, which, based on what I read and other people I talked to, was unusual. I continued reading books on plant-based nutrition and educating myself. Early on we ate a lot of highly processed vegan options, but within a few months, we transitioned to a whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) diet.

A Surprising Surge in Energy

I’ll be honest: I didn’t notice any changes at first. I continued my chemo regimen and had several months of radiation treatments. My mental state wasn’t great. But I did lose some weight, despite being on chemo drugs known to cause weight gain, and my son and I took up running together, training to do a half-marathon.

In early April 2022, my wife and I flew to Washington, D.C., to see the cherry blossoms. We stayed downtown and rode bikes all over the city. The weather was perfect. I found myself feeling more energized than I had in years. As we biked around one afternoon, I remember asking my wife, “Why do you think I have so much energy?” I figured it was a fluke. But as weeks went by, my energy remained high.

Around this time, someone suggested I watch the documentary The Game Changers. As I heard athletes in the film describe their increased energy levels from going plant-based, it occurred to me that my surge in energy might be due to the WFPB diet I’d been following for a few months at that point.

Feeling Unstoppable

Today I’m going on two years of plant-based eating. My labs have steadily improved. My PSA (prostate-specific antigen, a blood test used to screen for prostate cancer) is down to zero, and the cancer in my ribs is in remission. The doctors are taking me off of all drugs in August. After that, I’ll have bloodwork done every three months, but otherwise I’m a free man. I just turned 67, and I feel great.

I love cooking plant-based dishes, and everyone loves my tofu scramble! My friends ask me about my lifestyle—how I like it, how I feel. I tell them that I feel like the Energizer Bunny. I have all kinds of energy. I can out-work anybody. I can run. I can do 100 pushups. My friends might not really believe all that, but my family does. They see it.

I don’t know how much time I have left or what’s in the cards for me, but plant-based eating will continue to be a part of my life. I’m always advocating for it. I’ve gotten my sister and my son onto a plant-based path, and many of my friends have changed their eating habits for the better, too.

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 After a Prostate Cancer Diagnosis Spurred Me to Go Plant-Based, I Feel Like the Energizer Bunny appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

I struggled with being overweight from an early age. I joined my first weight-loss program at 12, setting off a decades-long cycle of yo-yo and fad dieting. I tried any new diet that was touted to help with weight loss. I was always trying to figure out how to get healthy and always on some plan or program. Eating became a very regimented part of my life, from severely restricting my calories and meticulously weighing my food to tracking everything I ate. I would have some success with losing weight, but nothing sustainable. If I lost any weight, I’d soon gain it back. My weight-loss attempts were always about achieving a goal, never about building better habits or a healthier lifestyle.

Opportunity for Change

Over the years, as I made poor diet choices, I experienced weight gain; elevated blood pressure (hypertension stage 1), cholesterol, and blood sugar; chronic arthritis, joint pain, and muscle fatigue; frequent heartburn; low energy; and poor sleep. I also had PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and struggled with infertility. I was on medications for five of these conditions.

In 2017, my weight had gotten up to 278, and I was still in poor health and at a very low place in my life. I remembered hearing someone say, “The lowest moment is when everything changes. When you are suffering, there is an opportunity for change.”

Early that summer, I finally began my journey to wellness. I got into green smoothies and started taking regular walks with a friend. In the fall, I started working with a health coach, who helped me transition to a whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) lifestyle. This was a pivotal moment for me. For the first time in my life, I began to understand what healthy eating was and was not. In the past, I had made it about dieting, deprivation, counting calories, and weighing everything. It was a very rigid approach, and I never enjoyed myself—and this is why I’d never stick to any diet for long!

After working with my health coach and learning about a WFPB lifestyle, I redefined my relationship with food and started to see it for its real purpose: optimal nutrition and joy.

The Healing Power of a WFPB Diet

As I adopted a WFPB diet, I noticed amazing changes. Between 2017 and 2020, I lost 100 pounds naturally. My energy and sleep improved. My blood pressure, cholesterol and A1C (a measure of average blood sugar) returned to normal ranges. I eliminated all symptoms of PCOS. The heartburn, fatigue, and joint pain I’d been experiencing for years slowly dissipated, and I was able to safely come off all the medications I’d been on. This surprised me the most, because all I’d done was fix the food!

Following a WFPB diet has significantly improved my quality of life overall. In addition to being free of chronic health conditions, I have more energy. I exercise consistently, typically five or six days a week.

This lifestyle has also inspired the cook within. I now love to cook and create spice blends to flavor my dishes in exotic ways. I even completed a plant-based culinary program to learn more about plant-based cooking. Grain bowls are one of my favorite things to make. I change up the ingredients, but every bowl features a whole grain, lots of vegetables, and one of my signature sauces or dressings.

Paying It Forward

Today I try to do all I can to spread the word about the health benefits of a WFPB diet. I earned a certificate in plant-based nutrition and became a certified health coach and Food for Life instructor with a nonprofit that provides nutrition and cooking classes to the public. I love teaching people how diet can fight disease and showcasing how versatile this lifestyle is. I also started an online WFPB community to share information and to help grow the movement. I love giving back to my community!

I’m so grateful that I chose to follow a plant-based diet. It changed—and saved—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 Breaking the Cycle of Deprivation: I Lost Weight and Resolved Several Health Issues on a WFPB Diet appeared first on Forks Over Knives.