#PlantsHealHumans Jeff T's Story

Jeff’s Story:

In 2011, I took over a small restaurant in my town and shortly after, we turned it into a BBQ joint. Over the course of 5 years, I gained almost 150lbs. / 68kg. I weighed 348 lbs. / 158kg. I also developed severe joint pain and was taking 21 (4,200mg) ibuprofen daily. I had horrible sleep apnea, and eventually was pre-diabetic, had high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

In 2015, I developed severe edema. My hands, feet and legs were always swollen, but my right leg was particularly bad. I saw my doctor many times and the answer was always to throw pills at me. I was prescribed an anti-inflammatory, a pain killer, and a muscle relaxer. They seemed to help a little, but never fixed the issues and the edema persisted. I even had a deep vein thrombosis scan and a couple of EKG’s. I was never once talked to about my diet! Even being a fat guy.

Edema in my foot and ankle 9.23.16:

fat edema leg 9.23.16

In September 2016, I began having severe gastrointestinal pain. On October 3rd, 2016 I was hospitalized for it. They ran many tests, gave me NO answers, did not address my diet, and prescribed MORE medications. Upon release from the hospital, I had a conversation with my 68 year old extremely healthy, mostly plant based mom. Her words to me were “Don’t fill those prescriptions, FOOD IS MEDICINE! Do the research!”. So I did! I was unable to work and am an avid research junkie so I poured through the internet and medical journals for an anti-inflammatory diet.

Beginning Oct 5th, 2016 I stopped eating beef, pork, and chicken, and limited my dairy consumption to less than half of what I was eating, and stopped drinking soda. I included turmeric into my diet and started hydrating with lemon and lime in my water. I also limited my refined carbohydrate intake. In a little over 2 weeks, my edema was gone and my blood pressure stabilized into the normal range. In 100 days, I lost 80lbs. / 36kg!!

In February 2017, I watched the documentary ‘Forks Over Knives’ and immediately stopped consuming cheese due to the Casein, Casomorphins, and IGF-1 in dairy (More info on that in my post “Giving Up Cheese & Going Vegan“). Within 3 weeks of ditching dairy, my lifelong struggle of daily anxiety magically disappeared. As I continued to research, I then gave up eggs and fish realizing that I had no need for this protein source in my diet, nor did I need the additional cholesterol. I have now been plant based for 1 year.

In November 2017, I had blood work done and everything is exceptional! I am currently at 200 lbs. / 90.7kg in 16 months. That is a 148lb. / 67kg weight loss!!!

POST UPDATE – Now lost 168 lbs / 76 kg!

348 lb. BBQ Restaurant Owner to 180