Almost no thin people, less than 1% of the thin people you will ever see, have earned their thinness through any intelligent diligence about their diet and lifestyle.

Doug Lisle, Ph.D Beat Your Genes Podcast, Episode 161, timestamp 22:40

According to Doug Lisle, Ph.D, more than 99 percent of the thin people we meet in our lives maintain their slenderness through natural genetic variations in metabolism and hunger drives while still being able to eat corn chips and pizza. I am not one of those people. For most of my life, I remember being fat. Or worrying about being fat. If I lost some weight, I worried about getting heavy again. If I was heavy, I obsessed about everything I put in my mouth. If I ate in public, I wondered if people were judging what was on my plate. I imagined people thinking, “Look at her… She has no business eating that.” As a child, I was teased and learned to control my weight through an eating disorder. Even bulimia seemed like a failure because, in my mind, I should have been able to avoid the foods I craved and control the amount I consumed. My thinking was so distorted that Anorexia was the goal I was failing to achieve.

After several fluctuations in weight with the births of my three children and 19 years of binging and purging, I found yoga. I started leaning towards a vegetarian diet because I didn’t want to eat animals or contribute to harming our planet through factory farming. My weight was still a struggle, but I started to feel healthier and it felt good. Then in 2011, the movie Forks Over Knives was released. My family went to see the movie in a small independent theater in Tucson, AZ. It was the first time I had heard that dairy wasn’t good for us and wasn’t even necessary. The idea that isolated oils, even olive oil, would harm our circulatory systems over time was a completely novel concept. I also happened to be in the right place at the right time. The well-respected doctors in the documentary held annual symposiums in Tucson over the next three years. I attended all of them.

It took about a year to fully switch to a whole food, plant-based diet. We began to enjoy real food and could taste the “chemical” flavor of processed foods. Our bodies felt more sluggish and an upset stomach was the norm if we ate dairy or fried foods. But still, a monthly pizza was the last to go! Eventually, we all made the transition. My oldest child was 12 and my youngest was 6.

For the first time in my life, I don’t have to worry about my weight. When I eat the best fuel for my body and eat when I’m hungry, I feel more energized than ever and don’t even need a scale (although I do check once in awhile). And it is a blessing to see my children grow up without ever having to worry about their weight and body image. In the process of learning how to care for myself and my family, I sought out more and more information. Aside from the symposiums I attended in Tucson, I received a certificate in plant-based nutrition from e-Cornell and the Center for Nutrition Studies. I also became certified to teach The Starch Solution from Dr. McDougall’s Health & Medical Center (yes, you CAN eat potatoes, rice, and pasta!). I look forward to sharing this information with you and helping you achieve your optimum health.