Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

So much focus is centered on weight loss, I wanted to blog about the other reasons to go whole food plant based, that being the health benefits. There are a lot of amazing stories out there and I thought I would share my own personal experience eating this way for better health.

Before I lost the weight, I was on so many yo-yo diets but nothing ever worked. I was unhealthy with hypertension and most likely pre-diabetes. I was going down a path of being on meds like so many in my family. I did not want to be like my parents, constantly making sure I had all my medication with me, worrying about side effects, etc.

I always tell people that I eat clean... in fact I will tell people I challenge them to find someone who eaters cleaner than I do! But what exactly does eating clean really mean?

The meaning depends on each individual and it's open to so many interpretations. Some people would think if they avoid sugar, that's clean eating. Another person might think that if they buy only organically grown food that it could be considered clean. And someone else might buy "cage free" eggs or grass fed beef (don't even get me started on these foods!).

Look at this picture. I'm embarrassed of it. I don't know when it was taken but it had to be over six years ago, as I reached my lowest weight in Dec. of 2012. I almost didn't want to share this photo as I can't believe how I ate back then.

I thought of this photo because when I was at the gym today, the channel happened to be set to the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating contest. This is especially troublesome for me to watch. I know I overindulged in the past and never felt good about it. I never ate 75 hot dogs but still it was a repulsive amount of food.

1. Why’d I Wait So Long? This was the question a plastic surgeon asked me during my consultation for an abdominoplasty (tummy tuck). This question resonated in my mind.

For the past 5 years, I had been trying everything to tighten my abs to no avail. I was stubborn, thinking every doctor was wrong. Any consultation or doctor appointment I had, the doctor would always state the same thing...

“This is just skin. You have very little fat in there. Once skin stretches, it doesn’t bounce back. You were 350 pounds... there’s no way you wouldn’t be left with loose skin.”

I did a consultation last week for an abdominoplasty. I am 90 percent sure I want to do the procedure, however this first doctor did not impress me. He didn't have any before or after pictures of past procedures. I also don't think he had any experience doing male abdominoplasties, based on his conversation. I've got five more consultations coming up in the next few weeks, with doctors that have great reviews. I look forward to hearing what they have to say.

I was thinking that there is one thing that was actually good about my loose abdominal skin... it pushed me to go plant based. I'm sure I would have eventually anyway, but my quest for a tighter belly led me to start eating as clean as I possibly could. My thinking was if anything could cure my skin, it would be the healthy veggies and fruit.