My Story

Being an African American male from Northern Virginia, I've always had the benefit of eating delicious soul food while also having a diverse group of friends which allowed me to taste food from all over the world.  My wife of now 17 years is half Brazilian.  From an early age she's been cooking the finest cuisine from Minas Gerais, which includes a lot of dishes that contain chicken, beef, pork, and fish.  In short, we're no strangers to delightful meals.

However, everything changed one Fall evening in October of 2018.  It is well-known that one of the perks of living in Northern Virginia is its different seasons.  One night I had a horrible asthma attack due to me being allergic to ragweed.  My rescue inhaler, hot tea, and steam from a hot shower all fell flat and provided absolutely no relief.  I bit the bullet and went to the emergency room with hopes that I could get some sort of reprieve for being unable to breath and I did, but that's not all I got.  After my vitals were taken along with a series of other tests I found out that on top of being 6'0 and 273 pounds, I also had hypertension.  I was also diagnosed with what was called an aortic aneurysm which may have been caused a prolonged period of hypertension.  The pic below was taken the following December.

Since I had always been involved with or played sports I always considered myself fairly healthy.  I mean I lifted weights 2-3 times per week and I either started or ended with 15-20 minutes of moderate jogging.  Nevertheless, at a cost.  Up until this point and even though I did "work out", I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.  And I felt it.  It seemed like I was always sore and I constantly had knee and back pain.  And now hypertension along with an aneurysm?  I considered myself a HOT MESS!  Things had to change.

We had some close friends over for dinner on the evening before my daughter left for college.  One of our friends mentioned not wanting too much of my wife's famous potato salad due to there being mayonnaise in it.  Up until that point, her potato salad was the absolute best I've ever tasted so this prompted me to ask the question, "why don't you do mayonnaise?".  Little did I know, this question and the response that I got changed my life forever.

He explained some of the research that he was doing that involved eating animal proteins and what they do to our bodies which includes:

  • Increased fat intake, which can cause countless issues.
  • Chronic inflammation, which I'm sure didn't do my knees or other joints any favors.
  • The complete lack of fiber.
  • Increased risk of certain types of cancers.
  • Damage and cholesterol plaque formation in blood vessels.
  • Increased risk of heart disease.
  • Increased LDL/"bad" cholesterol.
  • Much, much more.

So much more that our conversation inspired me to do my own research on the subject which lead me to a whole treasure trove of information.  Hello plant-based eating!