My journey began August 1st, 2014 when I was diagnosed with three clogged arteries at the age of 41. My cardiologist warned me years earlier, urging me to take my health seriously. I was young, living the high life, feeling indestructible. I guess I should have listened…my arteries paid the price for my poor life choices. I am one of the rare few that got diagnosed before anything serious happened. Think about that for a second.
I had three clogged arteries, the lifelines to my heart were all above 80% clogged. What was even scarier was that I didn’t have one single symptom. No shortness of breath, no chest pains, no fatigue, nothing. I was diagnosed because of a hiatal hernia and anxiety over the unexpected death of my best friend. It was a very unusual set of circumstances that led me to the ER and the ER cardiologist simply suggested I get an angiogram because of my weight. At that time, I was weighing in at 375 pounds, the heaviest I had ever been. To put that into perspective, I graduated high school weighing 169 pounds, so that kind of weight was foreign to me, but some way, some how I found myself weighing 375 pounds and little did I know, my life was slowly slipping away.
After I was diagnosed, I was shocked, horrified, angry and disappointed in myself. How could I let myself get to this point? How could I treat my body, my Temple, my gift from God so poorly? The cardiologist suggested during the angiogram that they immediately put in 4 stents. At that time I didn’t even know what stents were, but they convinced me it was the best choice, so I agreed. Now I don’t regret that decision, but I do regret the fact that I was even in that position to begin with.
After I got out of the ER, it took me months to mentally recuperate. I didn’t even want to walk around the block for fear of having a heart attack. I was so deep in my head that I was incapable of functioning as my authentic self. I knew I had to make a choice and do some serious soul searching. That’s when I really started to explore Causation. Even with my weight, it was still very uncommon for people my age to have such severe clogged arteries. I started thinking to myself, maybe there were some genetic factors at play. So I started to explore my family history. My parents informed me that when I was about 9 years old, I had cholesterol levels above 300. Nothing at the time was done about it because the doctor told them I’d just grow out of it. Man was that guy wrong.
So mystery number 1 was solved, I had a genetic predisposition to high cholesterol and it was undiagnosed and untreated until that day. So I was walking around most of my 41 years with dangerously high cholesterol levels that certainly played a major roll in my clogged arteries. Even with that mystery solved, I knew there had to be more and that’s when I started to do my research on Nutrition. I read the China Study, which is a fascinating book about diets in regions all around the world. The book makes an incredible correlation between diet and disease and shows what regions of the world are most and least diseased. Would it surprise you if I said the US is the most diseased in every area? From there, I stumbled onto Dr. Esselstyn’s book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.
This book is profoundly life changing. For me, it was the “Holy Grail” and the book that completely changed the trajectory of my life. It proved to me that my life wasn’t over, cardiovascular disease wasn’t a death sentence and that I could go on and live a very long and healthy life simply by changing the foods I put into my body. It was really that simple…simple science. Dr. Esselstyn had 25 years of proven science, methodology and results. Through a plant-based lifestyle, your whole world will change. Not just your physiology, but also your mental state. Your capacity for happiness, love, friendships, wealth building and everything under the sun is determined by this simple science.
What I have come to realize is that you are what you eat. Such a cliché, right? And one of the oldest statements, but it is also spot on, profound and 100% true. You are what you eat and by eating a whole foods, plant-based diet, you will change every aspect of your life organically.
I started this website to influence others to join me on this journey. I am not a guru and I do not claim to have all the answers, but I am dedicated to learning from the best, following the men and women of science that have also dedicated their lives to a whole foods, plant based lifestyle and I will take their findings and information and share it with the world in the simplest terms. So join me on this exploratory journey through life to become the best we can become through a plant-based life style, positive thinking, living in love and generosity and dedicating our lives to a growth mindset that allows us the capacity to grow in all areas of our lives. Thank you for reading and I look forward to sharing my continued success with you. I’d love to hear all about your success stories as well.
Please share them with me @ info@plantbasedmafia.com, or become a content contributor on our website and share your stories, knowledge, recipes, pictures, videos and anything awesome that you feel can motivate and inspire others on their journey to becoming the best they can be.