Harold's Story

In 2013 I began working on a master’s degree while working full time. Swimming three to five days a week changed to no exercise and staying up till 10:30 PM every night researching and writing papers. I did not feel any different, but my weight increased to 297 pounds and my cholesterol and blood sugar warranted my doctor’s attention. In 2015 I tore the meniscus in my right knee and required surgery. After knee surgery, I was released home, but I sat down and could not stand up. My legs were temporarily paralyzed so my wife drove me to the emergency room. A neurosurgeon said I needed emergency spine surgery.

I previously broke my back in a 1986 car accident which required fusing four vertebrae in my lower back. This time, I received a spine fusion between the shoulder blades and a benign tumor was found and removed from the spinal cord. Complications from back-to-back surgeries resulted in a 36-inch DVT in my left leg which permanently blew open the valve in the main artery, a 12-inch DVT in my right leg, pulmonary embolisms in both lungs, an enlarged heart, and staff infection at the surgical site of my back down to the spine. I was released from the hospital after six weeks. While home recovering from surgery, I noticed a neighbor of mine really leaned up and I asked him about it.  He told me he was diagnosed as  diabetic and his doctor wanted to put him on three medications including insulin. He introduced me to Dr. Fuhrman’s book Eat to Live  which he said helped him to lose weight, exercise, and eliminated his need for any medication. I immediately began eating more fruits and vegetables. A few years later, I eliminated eating animal products and reduced my weight to 255 pounds. Although I was doing better, my diet and weight always seemed to yo-yo.

Then taking Dr. Fuhrman’s weight loss detox challenge, I relapsed three times but  I learned many things. I discovered that I am a food addict, and 90 percent nutritarian does not work for me. The constructive collaboration of diet and exercise helps me lose weight, keep it off, and gain a desire to only eat plant-based foods. Eliminating salt, oil and sugar lowered my blood pressure, and my bloodwork looks great. Now I can taste and really enjoy fruits and vegetables. Eating cherry berry kale with walnuts and seeds for breakfast and an early dinner of salad, beans and cooked vegetables works for me. I no longer crave junk or fast food and know without a doubt that although I did not win Dr. Fuhrman’s weight loss detox challenge, I will lose much more than five BMI over the next few months. I believe eating nutritarian 100 percent of the time is my ticket to success and the challenge helped me discover that.