When you live in a world that is addicted to an unhealthy diet, you need as much support as you can get. I hope that blogging about my experiences living a nutritarian life will help me, and maybe others, stay with this healthy lifestyle.
How did this all start?
Fall of 2015 my sister Lyn told me that she had read a book by Dr. Joel Fuhrman called “Eat to Live” and it had totally changed the way she ate and thought about food. At the time I thought it sounded kind of nuts. After all Lyn was already a pretty healthy … right??? What more could there be to it? I was supportive of Lyn’s efforts, but didn’t think too much about it.
Then Christmas 2015 Lyn gave a copy of “Eat to Live” to my brother-in-law, Rich, who struggles with diabetes. His wife, my sister Jane, picked it up and read and in December 2016 Jane sent a copy to me and said she wanted to do this and did I want to do it with her? So finally I read the book — and I was pretty astonished. I lot of things I thought I knew about healthy eating were wrong. And though I do eat healthier than some people, I still wasn’t really doing myself any favors with they way I was eating.
Jane and I decided that on January 1 2017 we would start the “Eat to Live” six-week plan — and use that as a starting point to make a permanent change in the way we eat.
I’ve been pretty healthy my whole life — no major health issues like some people who adopt this diet — but I have always struggled with weight. In July 2011 I was at one of my highest weights — 204.4 pounds. The reason I know this is because that was my starting weight when I created an account on the online calorie-tracking site My Fitness Pal. Using My Fitness Pal to track calories I lost 25 pounds, gained some back, lost it again, etc. I was pretty thrilled this past year when I got down 165 — my lowest weight in fifteen years. So calorie counting did work, just not that well. Plus as I learned from reading “Eat to Live” it is not just about loosing weight, it is also preventing disease by having a highly nutritious diet. The statistics in the book about cancer and heart disease are what really convinced me to do this.
About Me
I moved to Chicago in 1988 from Minnesota where I grew up. I came here with a BA in Theater to pursue a career as a theater director. I had some success, but when I finally figured out that I would never make a living doing it, I went back to school and in 2002 got my BS in Civil Engineering. I currently work as a civil engineer in downtown Chicago.
In 2013 some friends of mine and I decided to start Glenwood Dance Studio so when I’m not blogging I’m probably at the studio taking a dance class.
Chicago Nutritarian 