Eudaimonia

I am 61 years old, 62 at the end of the year. I am 5′ 8″ tall and weigh 239 pounds. I have struggled with my weight most of my adult life. In my early 20s I weighed 135 pounds. Started gaining weight and have vacillated between 175 and 267 pounds since. I am tired of being overweight; tired of not looking in the mirror, and tired of being ashamed of my body. I am over it.

I have joined Weightwatchers (now WW) so many times that if I lost a pound for every time, I would be at my goal weight. I have done the Pritikin diet, Adkins, Medifast (think Oprah and the wagon of fat), grapefruit diet, cabbage soup diet, keto, intermittent fasting, Epicure healthy eating, and the Fasting Method. I have eaten the standard American diet, vegetarian, carnivore, and vegan. I’ve lost weight sometimes, but it has always come back. A bad diet, is a bad diet. Any diet can be unhealthy.

I have heart disease. I eat vegan now. What this means for me is:

1. I don’t eat anything with a face or a mother (no meat of any kind including fish)
2. I don’t eat dairy (no cheese, no ice cream, no milk, no butter, etc.)
3. I don’t eat or use oil (not for cooking, not for eating, not in a chip, not in anything!)
4. I eat nuts very sparingly. (One brazil nut a day for the selenium, occasionally walnuts or cashews in sauces or dressings, or other nuts as a topping, but really very occasionally)
5. No coconut (because of the saturated fat)
6. Rarely avocados (because of the saturated fat)
7. No added sugar or salt

Because of this style of eating, my cholesterol numbers have plummeted.

Total cholesterol = 114

Triglycerides = 71

HDL = 42

LDL = 58

Cholesterol, Non-HDL = 72

I have learned a lot about myself over the years. I have learned a lot about fitness, health, cooking, and nutrition. I want to live to be 100 years old. I want to die in my own home and be able to do the things I want to do right up to the end. I am trying something new. I am going to focus on my health like never before. I have goals.