My Testimony

My Testimony

The last thing I want to do is tell people how they should live. People have a choice about how they want to live. No one has a right to judge, tell or manipulate anyone into doing things they don't want to.

I want to share my experience so this is my story. After battling with my weight, health, stress, and other issues in my life I decided to make a change. On May 1, 2011 I changed the things that caused me to suffer from the aforementioned. My first move was to change how and what I was eating. Two years ago I was diagnosed with diabetes and I was devastated. Heart attacks, strokes and obesity are health issues in my family. As a result of several strokes and a very poor diet my father died years before his time. I don't want the same thing to happen to me.

I knew that sugar was the first thing I had to eliminate from my diet, so I put myself on a self imposed sugar detox and eliminated everything with sugar in it from my diet. I took it one day at a time and today I have 67 days of no sugar. I also have a clear understanding about foods that turn into sugar once they enter my body so I eliminated the BAD carbs like white bread, white potatoes, white pasta, white flour, and white rice. I stopped drinking all juices and soda. All I drink is water. I started eating more fruit, veggies, egg whites, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, brown rice, and yogurt. I stopped eating red meats and added lean chicken and turkey breast. The hardest sacrifice was sweets, however, they had to go, so no more cakes, cookies, candy, donuts, and anything with sugar in it for me. Next was the snack food, no more chips, pretzels, and popcorn. I replaced them with raw almonds, walnuts, raisins, cranberries, peanuts, and seeds.

The last step was exercise and strength training. As a former athlete and physical education major I have a good working knowledge on how to train. I developed an exercise plan that works for me and I incorporated it with my new way of eating. I workout 5-6 days a week with a combination of cardio and weight training. This is NOT a diet for me. It's a complete lifestyle change. At 54 I don't want to stroke out or have a heart attack and have people looking in my casket saying, “damn what happen to him” .

I know it's a big change, but for me, it's a must. After a few weeks I noticed my sugar level dropped, and my energy level improved greatly. I feel ten times better and my body has responded well to my new way of living. I don't feel like a 54 year old man. My skin and nails are clear and my vision has improved. I just want to show that if a 54 year old man can make the transformation anyone can. It's not about your age, where you come from, race, or gender, it's about your attitude, determination and the will to live a better life. So if I offend or annoy anyone, sorry. If my testimony can help you, good, if not, good luck.