In 2021, a year into the pandemic, I’d ballooned to my heaviest weight ever. I also had prediabetes; rosacea on my cheeks; high cholesterol, for which I was prescribed statins; and asthma that required three inhalers. I was fed up, and then I found out about whole-food, plant-based eating. On April 21, 2021, at 67 years old, I went all in. For me this also meant completely cutting out alcohol, cold turkey.

My Surprisingly Smooth Transition to Plant-Based Eating

It was much easier than I anticipated. I had surprisingly few cravings, and the weight began coming off almost immediately. I’d always enjoyed cooking and baking; I just had to adjust to fixing new dishes. I found lots of oil-free plant-based recipes online, and they usually proved delicious. I dedicated myself to a modest daily walking routine for exercise. To keep myself on track, I decided to post about my progress on Facebook on the 21st of each month. Every month, friends cheered me on. That proved a huge help in keeping me focused and motivated.

For further motivation, I completed the Forks Over Knives Cooking Course through Rouxbe (and came in first in a class of over 600 students!), which was an absolute game-changer for my cooking. I also earned my certificate in plant-based nutrition through eCornell.

Astonishing My Doctor

It took just seven months to reach my goal weight of 159 pounds, which put me into the normal BMI range. My cholesterol dropped enough that I was able to completely get off statins. My A1C (a measure of average blood sugar) dropped from 5.8 (prediabetic) to 5.2 (normal). My congestion receded so significantly that I no longer need inhalers, and my rosacea has significantly improved, too. I’ve astonished my doctor. She keeps asking me how I’m doing it!

I have always loved and craved both Italian and Mexican cuisines, so lately I’ve been experimenting with making various recipes compliant, and I recently perfected an awesome oil-free, dairy-free, veggie-packed “cheese” pizza.

I started with a modest walking routine for exercise, and now I typically walk two or more hours each day, which has helped me keep the weight off. I found an old pair of 32-inch Levi’s jeans that I hadn’t worn in over 20 years, and I can easily fit into them! I’m happy to say that at age 68, I’ve shed all excess weight and overcome all my other health issues simply by eating correctly.

I am excited to learn as much as I can about healthy eating and food as medicine. Feeling and looking so much better, I’ll never go back to a standard American diet again!

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 Since Going Plant-Based, I’ve Ditched Statins, Prediabetes, and 50 Pounds appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Plant-based eating was not a part of my family’s traditional culture. Growing up Dominican, all I knew was rice, beans, chicken, pork, and beef.

Diagnosis: Juvenile Diabetes

At age 9, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I remember my mother crying in the doctor’s office as if I had been given a life sentence. 

I was taught about medication, not nutrition. I believed that as long as I took my insulin, I could eat and drink whatever I wanted. I was so wrong.

At age 26, I had my son seven weeks prematurely. I was diagnosed with hypertension and hypothyroidism. I had high cholesterol by age 30 and diabetic retinopathy by age 35. At 40, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and diabetic gastroparesis. I’ve had my gallbladder removed; bone spurs in my heel, shoulder, and toe; trigger fingers; and Dupuytren’s disease. I was given cortisone shots, which raised my blood sugar astronomically and caused me to gain weight. I reached 198 pounds. (I’m only 5’5”.) 

Ready for a Change

One day while watching documentaries, I came across Forks Over Knives. I became determined to get better. In March 2015, I gave up eating all animal products, processed foods, and refined carbohydrates. I ate whole grains, beans, and all the vegetables I could find. 

Within three months, I lost 20 pounds. My cholesterol stabilized, so my doctor took me off of the statin medication. Within six months, I had dropped another 30 pounds, and he took me off the blood pressure pills. My A1C declined dramatically, so my insulin prescription was cut in half. My joint pain lessened. My eyes improved; I no longer had symptoms of retinopathy. I was utterly amazed. A whole-food, plant-based diet turned my health and my world around.

My friends tell me I’m aging backward. I tell them and everyone I can that we can cook our traditional foods in a healthier way and it will taste as good. I love making vegetable and bean chili and empanadas stuffed with vegetables, quinoa, and beans. I enjoy sharing my journey and letting others know that it’s not that hard to make the change; all we have to do is make the choice.

Read Next: How a Vegan Diet Impacts Diabetes

The post I Use Less Insulin, Got off Statins, and Lost 50 Pounds on a Plant-Based Diet appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Hashimoto’s disease had rendered life miserable for Rick Avrett. His wife, Rebecca, shares their journey toward better health on a whole-food, plant-based diet.

My husband, Rick, had been taking a statin for over 10 years for high cholesterol and high blood pressure. His parents had serious heart disease, which he inherited. Because of this and my own desire to lose weight, I started to prepare what I thought were healthier foods. We ate no beef and minimal chicken. Our diet consisted mostly of seafood and fresh fruits and vegetables. We never ate anything I considered unhealthy.

Unfortunately, Rick’s cholesterol wouldn’t go below 205, which was not a healthy number with his family history. So, his doctor started him on a new statin. In the spring of 2018, about six weeks after he started his new medicine, Rick began to have leg weakness. His doctor patted him on the back and said that it was just old age. He was 68.

Miserable, Tired, and in Pain 24/7 
The situation got progressively worse to where Rick could barely stand up and his legs would give out on him while walking. We thought it was the new statin, so his doctor took him off the drug and ran bloodwork. Nothing showed up.

After a month off the statin, Rick’s situation continued to get worse. He was truly in misery. His work required him to stand on his feet all day, which didn’t help.

In desperation, he reached out to a homeopathic doctor for an alternative approach. We found out from intensive blood work that Rick had Hashimoto’s disease, a condition in which the immune system attacks the thyroid. Hashimoto’s is caused by inflammation. The doctor advised him to remove wheat, gluten, and soy from his diet and sent him home with a bag full of supplements.

He followed the diet and took the supplements for a month but saw very little change. He was miserable, tired, and in pain 24/7. It was beginning to look like there were no answers.

Plant-Based Inspiration from Dad
My 87-year-old father started the WFPB diet nearly 10 years ago. In the fall of 2010, his health had deteriorated to a point that something needed to change or long-term care would be inevitable. He and his wife had each gained 30 pounds, and he was experiencing disabling neck and arthritis pain, putting him in daily traction and on pain medicine. His blood pressure was rising, and he was developing diabetes. That’s when they started to search the web for help and discovered Forks Over Knives. After watching the movie and reading the book, they started the diet. Within 90 days, my father was free of neck and arthritis pain and all signs of high blood pressure and diabetes were gone. He and his wife both lost the excess weight.

My father had been pushing me to try the diet, and although I always knew it was probably a good idea, Rick and I had never been able to stick to it for very long. But by June of 2018, it was obvious Rick was in trouble. He could barely walk, and eczema covered his body. We had spent so much money on alternative medicine and supplements, but nothing was working. That’s when I put my foot down and we started the WFPB diet. It really wasn’t a hard decision to make, since Rick’s health depended on it.

Kitchen Prescription: Finding Forks Meal Planner
I began cooking basic dishes with whole-food, plant-based staple ingredients, such as quinoa and beans. Rick ate what he was served and never complained, but I soon became frustrated. I was bored with just cooking the basics. The meals weren’t very creative. I no longer felt any joy cooking. I actually loathed going into the kitchen, which used to be my “happy place.”

To survive this new journey, I needed to rethink my strategy. I searched the web for WFPB recipes, and that is when I found Forks Meal Planner. It gave me a blueprint to build on and a new enthusiasm for cooking. My goal was to create healthy, compliant meals that made you feel like you were not missing out on anything but carried a positive outcome. I hadn’t known where to start, but Forks Meal Planner took care of that.

You Are What You Eat
Over the next three months, Rick experienced a complete health turnaround. He joined a gym and started going four times a week. The pain started to subside, and the eczema calmed down as well.

At his next doctor’s appointment, Rick’s cholesterol had gone down to 129. His doctor was floored. He was astounded by how significantly Rick’s diet had impacted his health. For Rick, it was quite a role reversal: He got to teach his doctor. The doctor even called his wife and got Rick to talk to her. It was probably one of the best times Rick has ever had in a doctor’s office, as he’d previously always associated doctors’ offices with bad news.

It has been a year since we’ve been eating WFPB, and we now feel a sense of normalcy in our lives. Rick is back to the dancing he loves, and I am a happy girl back in my kitchen.

My go-to breakfast is the Baked Oatmeal Cups (from Forks Meal Planner). They are beyond quick and easy to make. I have a summer garden, so in the summer I have an overabundance of zucchini. That’s when I love making Stuffed Zucchini smothered in a homemade marinara sauce. (Cook’s tip: I have found just about any type of bean works in this recipe.) When I am really craving something hearty, there is nothing better than a hearty black bean burger or veggie enchiladas with salsa verde.

The best reward for me personally has been some weight loss, which had been seemingly impossible for me at the age of 63. Although I didn’t lose as much weight as Rick lost (15 pounds), I’m thrilled to report that I lost 6 pounds without any exercise, and I have kept it off with no effort. I had borderline cholesterol and prediabetes issues: Both have corrected themselves since I started the WFPB diet. I have also found that I don’t tire as easily, which is a plus when trying to keep up with three grandchildren. I just basically feel good, period!

I really thought I was going to end up being a caregiver, but this amazing health transformation caused by our diet change has shown us that you truly are what you eat.

Learn more about Forks Meal Planner and how you can start with your free vegan meal plan.

The post How a Plant-Based Diet Restored My Husband’s Health and Forks Meal Planner Renewed My Joy for Cooking appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Here’s a picture of me in September 2013 with my two daughters and my great-niece, stepping up for a “Light the Night” Leukemia & Lymphoma Society one-mile charity walk. I was wearing an XXL shirt, my neck measurement was 18.5 inches, my waist was 44 inches, and there were definite limits on my physical activity. Stairs made my knees hurt, and I was easily winded.

Each day started with a statin for my cholesterol and Losartan to control my blood pressure. I thought I was doing just fine, enjoying my family, friends, and all the salty, high-fat, processed food readily available every day. Heck, I thought: l look like my mom and she lived to be two weeks short of 90, so that was my genetic destiny, right? On the other hand, my dad had angina in his 60s, a heart bypass at 72, and a bypass on his leg shortly after that. He was never overweight, but he was a heavy smoker. I could rationalize that his medical problems would never hit me because I never smoked. That’s me. I can rationalize away almost anything.

Warning Signs

Then some of my friends and neighbors started having serious medical issues. One dropped dead from a heart attack in a bowling alley parking lot, another died suddenly from heart failure, and three others had to have stents put in their hearts. Only one of the above was seriously overweight. Then one of my first cousins died suddenly from a heart attack. He was only five years older than me and kept himself in pretty good shape his whole life. That hit me like a ton of bricks. What would happen to my wife and kids if I was next? I have life insurance. Life insurance insures your death, not your life. I decided at age 58 to start insuring my life.

That is when I started paying attention to one of my friends, Joel Kahn, MD, who is a local interventional cardiologist. We met in high school. His brother was my roommate during my freshman year of college in 1973. That’s how far we go back. He is not my doctor, but when I got interested in insuring my health, I turned to him for some guidance. We were already friends on Facebook. He constantly promotes a whole-food, plant-based diet and healthy lifestyle.

Up to this point I had no intention of changing much of anything other than adding or subtracting pills. Giving up meat, cheese, eggs, chicken, fish, and all other animal products was ridiculous! Everyone knows you need meat for protein. You can’t live a healthy life without at least some meat, right? Isn’t that common knowledge? What about oil? Don’t you need some of that, too?

The more I read, the more apparent it became that common knowledge is just plain wrong. You don’t need any animal products or oil at all to have a healthy diet. On the contrary. It was the animal products and oil that were keeping me fat, raising my cholesterol, and elevating my blood pressure. I had never been made aware of this, even as a possibility. Not by my family doctor and not during my medical school training. It was really hard to believe!

But then again, cows, horses, sheep, moose, elk, deer, rabbits, buffalo, elephants, giraffes, hippos, and gorillas don’t eat any meat or animal products. They don’t even drink milk after they are weaned, and they stay healthy. All of the nutrition they need is provided by fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and legumes like peanuts and soybeans. There is nothing weird on that list. I was already eating all those things. I had all nine of the essential amino acids—the building blocks of protein—covered every day without even thinking about it.

A New Perspective

My mind was changing. I went from thinking there is no way that I would ever do that to maybe I could try it. I kept reading Dr. Kahn’s Facebook page and Huffington Post articles. Over the next two or three months, learning a little at a time, my mind changed again from maybe I could try this to I HAVE TO DO THIS!!!! That became my New Year’s Resolution for 2014. It turned out to be the only one that ever stuck.

It has been over three years since I transitioned from the typical Western diet to a whole-food, plant-based, oil-free vegan diet. What a huge difference in my life, my health, my feeling of well-being, and my energy level! I lost 110 pounds. My neck is now a 16.5, and my waist is 32 inches. My shirts are now Medium instead of XXL, and they are slim fit! No more statins. My total cholesterol is 137. No more blood pressure pills because it’s 105/68 without them. No more need to wear a CPAP machine all night for sleep apnea either. I had an overnight sleep study done, and my sleep apnea has disappeared. Even my bucket list changed. Last Memorial Day, after losing about 100 pounds, I started going out and running. By August I got my distance up to 5K and lost an additional 10 pounds. Now I run 5K three times a week. I put running a 10K on my bucket list for next summer. I don’t avoid sweating anymore. In fact, I kind of look forward to it now.

I’m not telling you that I had to start reading textbooks or science papers. I was just reading social media. There are guys out there that do the research, read all the hard science, and make it understandable. Dr. Kahn is one of them, but there are a few others that I have met along the way through the Plant Based Nutrition Support Group, our local heroes in the Detroit area. Men like Caldwell Esselstyn, M.D. (who I’ve seen lecture several times), Michael Greger, M.D., Neal Barnard, M.D., T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., and John McDougall, M.D. Check them out on YouTube, check out PBNSG.org, or watch Forks Over Knives on Netflix.

I know your health matters to you and to your family. This whole-food, plant-based thing is way easier than it sounds—and it works consistently. Time for a midyear resolution?

The post Life Insurance Insures Your Death. I Decided to Start Insuring My Life appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Since I had returned to my native Canada from Australia a decade before, my health had been on a steady decline. My cholesterol was high and my doctor had been pressuring me to go on statins for years. Since I resisted going on medications, he told me I was setting myself up for a heart attack in my 50’s. Instead of going on statins, I tried to change my diet to be healthier. At the time, “healthy” meant eating wild salmon and organic veggies, beef, pork, and chicken. It also meant limiting the processed snacks I loved like potato chips and Reese’s peanut butter cups. It didn’t mean that I stopped socializing and celebrating with wine, beer, cakes, and rich desserts.

During this time, I also had a painful fibroid growing inside me. It got so big that you could see it on the outside of my body. That’s when my doctor told me he’d have to perform a hysterectomy, and that’s when I had an epiphany. I had felt out of control with my health issues up until this point, but I decided to take back my health and life.

I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do then, but I felt empowered to make a change. I started to research and two weeks later, I saw The Last Heart Attack documentary by Dr. Sanjay Gupta. It featured Bill Clinton and Dr. Esselstyn (who was in Forks Over Knives) and discussed the health benefits of a plant-based diet.

After we saw it, my husband and I opened the cupboards and started tossing everything out. We were committed to learn and start at the beginning. We held hands and just turned the ship around. I did research, read a lot from plant-based doctors, and started shopping and learning to cook again. I also started to do some cardio exercise, which was not easy to do at the beginning due to my excess weight and poor health. In addition to changing my lifestyle completely, I detoxed my medicine cabinet to get rid of the more chemical-filled personal care products.

As soon as I stopped eating meat and dairy, I couldn’t believe how quickly the fibroid reduced. Because it was so large and visible externally, we could see it shrinking in size within weeks. I was surprised how soon I also started to feel better. Week by week, things started to change and my excitement began to rise. I looked better, felt great, and my health took an amazing turn. We eat a lot of greens, lentils, sweet potatoes, beans, fresh herbs, spices, nuts, and seeds, and we really enjoy what we eat.

I have lost 60 pounds and although I’m now 5 years older than when I started on a plant-based diet, I feel decades younger! My husband was also a bigger guy when we started our new plant-based lifestyle, and now we’re both fit, slender, and strong. We cook together, eat together, run together, and are having a great time! I ski, cycle, hike, run, swim, kayak, and do everything and anything I can to keep fit and enjoy life.

After struggling with my health and weight for many years, I feel like there’s nothing I can’t do now. At almost 60 years old, I’m just getting started.

The post From Battling a Fibroid and Facing Surgery to Fit and Thriving on a Plant-Based Diet appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

I was born with a genetic disorder called Elhers Danlos Syndrome which affects the joints, and the excess weight was too much for my already-destroyed joints to handle. I had to use crutches and canes and had leg braces to keep my legs from buckling. I had trouble getting out of chairs, walking, and driving. The more I hurt, the more I medicated, and the more I medicated, the more I hurt. It was a vicious cycle that sucked all the joy out of life. I was committing a slow, drawn-out suicide.

When I got the depressing news that I was incredibly sick and getting sicker, I was also going through a particularly stressful time in my life. My father and my mother-in-law (my wife’s mother) were very ill with aggressive cancers, and my wife and I were having a hard time watching them suffer. When I went home that day, I looked at the pain already in my wife’s eyes and realized that she would soon have to deal with more pain as a result of my choices and my inability to care for myself. Although I didn’t care much for myself at that point, I decided that I needed to try for her.

After some research and phone calls, I decided to get a gastric sleeve. I made the appointments and scheduled the pre-op tests, but I needed clearance from my primary care doctor. I thought this was just a formality. However, when my wife and I sat down with my doctor, he told me he would not sign off on the surgery for me. He told me that although he’d never before denied a patient’s request for this procedure, he didn’t think I was healthy enough for the surgery. He also thought my joints might become worse because of it. To put it mildly, I was enraged.

I went home furious. I felt like my last hope had been destroyed. I don’t know what came over me or how I even had it in me, but that night, I grabbed a notebook. On the first page, I wrote down the next day’s date and the words: THIS IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. Underneath that, I wrote: GET UP FROM CHAIR 2x. Then I got on my knees and prayed to God for strength. I wasn’t asking for a miracle, just for enough strength to change one small thing a day. This was in August of 2011.

Starting a New Chapter in My Life

The next day, I started my new life. And every day after that, I added one small change. Sometimes it was just to walk up four extra stairs, but it was always a little more than I had done before. I also started logging what I ate and slowly improved my diet. Small changes, many hours of research, and watching documentaries like Forks Over Knives, Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue, Vegucated, and Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead gave me a new perspective on food.

I started eating a plant-based diet with vegetables, potatoes, whole grains, and fruit as my main fuel. I also started moving more. My first walk was three-quarters of a mile and not easy. But I kept walking. I even started to have fun! I started to bike. Then I bought a kayak. I started walking up hills. Hills turned to mountains.

Once I started moving, I didn’t want to stop. Since then, I’ve hiked on the Appalachian Trail, cycled 100-mile road races, and ran 5K, 10K, and half-marathon races! Next month, I am running a full marathon. The best part of all this is that my wife, who was my original inspiration, also changed her lifestyle and habits. We’re having so much fun together and are enjoying life now—we’re like two kids!

People always want to know how much weight I’ve lost. I’ve lost a ton—close to 200 pounds. I’ve also lost high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, crutches, and many prescription medications. I’ve gained long walks in the park with my wife, fun with my kids, adventurous travels with my family, and just a whole new outlook on life. Sometimes I don’t even want to go to sleep because I don’t want to miss anything!

Lastly, I want to say thank you to Forks Over Knives for getting the message out there. I first saw the documentary on Netflix and it had a huge impact on my eating habits and my family’s as well. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. There is no doubt in my mind that my family would have already buried me if I hadn’t switched to a plant-based diet.

The post From Sick, Disabled, and on Multiple Meds to Thriving on a Plant-Based Diet appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

When we shared Eric’s health transformation story last year, many readers asked to hear more about his dog. So we’re happy to share this moving short film about Eric and Peety by the Humane Society of Silicon Valley.

The post Eric & Peety: A Story of Mutual Rescue appeared first on Forks Over Knives.