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'Through Diet Alone, I Didn't Need Any Medications'

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 14, 2007

Shirley Parsons, 61, Forest Hills

Height: 5-foot-3

Starting weight: 180

Current weight: 126

Why I did it: I've been fighting this problem for many years. Many times I've lost the same 20 pounds. I know what to do and how to eat properly. I guess I just ran out of willpower.

I've been trying to encourage my husband to eat properly along with me, but I would end up eating the way he would. In December, he began to see he needed to make a change. He had two brothers with prostate cancer and stents who were on cholesterol medication. He decided he was not going to be part of the statistics.

How I did it: My husband called Christian Care health care for help. They sent us a book called "Eat To Live" by Joel Fuhrman. My husband said he couldn't put the book down, I've never heard him say that. He was ready to do it, and I was, too.

This book put together all the pieces of the puzzle for me in a very readable format. What keeps you doing it is success — the success of being healthier. We decided to live in good health, and as we began doing this, the extra benefit or reward was that the pounds started to melt away. The focus we have now is superior nutrition for healthful living. It's a basic approach.

My belief is that when you go on a diet, you have to have willpower. Very few people can make the life changes we talk about. But you start with an understanding, a knowledge base. Once you understand what you're doing, why you're eating what you're eating, you make a commitment. Once the commitment is made, the rest is easy.

Our nickname for the dietary part is "greens and beans." We eat a lot of green, leafy vegetables and various legumes.

We don't eat processed foods and we don't add sugar to our diet. We limit our grains. It's wholesome, delicious, colorful and tasty.

The thing that's so good about this is I don't have time to count calories or carbs or keep charts and fuss over what I'm eating. It's so straightforward and simple. Eat fresh vegetables and don't eat any junk. You can eat as much as you want when you get hungry. Grab a vegetable. Grab a fruit.

I've been a walker and gone to the gym for years. When I get busy, I go no fewer than three days a week. Generally I work out five days a week. I used to do the bicycle class, but lately I do a half-hour on the machines and a half-hour on the treadmill, giving myself hills for a challenge. I do strength training. When I blow dry my hair, I add knee bends. Just before going to bed, I do side leg lifts. A couple of times a week, I pick up dumbbells and do curls.

When I started doing this, the weight just started coming off. But when you see the main benefits — cells restoring themselves, blood vessels becoming more useful, people going off of blood pressure medication — people sit up and take notice.

The doctor wanted to put me on statins because my cholesterol was over 200. After six weeks on the plan, I was down to 136. Through diet alone, I didn't need any medications.

Hurdles: One of the things that sabotaged my diet is when I got too busy to cook healthy, I would grab something quick and simple. Now when I get hungry, I grab a banana or apple, and I don't have to worry about it.

About five months into it, I wasn't struggling, but one day I found myself in a situation that was highly emotional. I walked out of the room, stopped at a candy machine, got a chocolate bar and ate it. We have highly emotional ties to food.

Going the distance: My objective is just to get all that fat off my middle. I'm sure my weight will stabilize at what I'm supposed to be after that.

I'm so excited about this because I know many people wouldn't want to do something like this. They'd think about what they can't eat. What we look at is how we can live.

Best advice: If you understand what various foods are doing to your body, then you have the right basis to make your choices. We all make choices.

Pick up the book and read it. You'll ask yourself, "How do I want to live?" If you're a mother or father, do you want to be able to enjoy your children and spend time with them? Or do you want to be sitting in a wheelchair?

People say, "Well, I don't mind dying." Dying is easy. The hard part is living. Living with diseases and disorders that could have been prevented is extra hard.

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