Through the years I tried many diets with minimal and never-lasting success. I reached a top weight of 263 pounds (119.5 kg) on a 5-foot 4-inch (162.6 cm) frame and had resigned myself to forever being a plus-sized woman. As much as possible, I avoided seeing doctors because although they lectured me about my weight, the only solution they offered was a calorie restricted-version of the standard American diet on which I was always hungry and miserable.

But July 29, 2003 began a new way of life. At age 56, I suffered a stroke. After almost a month in the hospital and a rehab center I returned home diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arteries about 65 percent blocked, and low thyroid. To control all these ills I was prescribed medications that I was expected to take for life. About a year after the stroke, I was diagnosed with a serious form of tachycardia that required immediate medical attention. I ended up with two stents for a 95 percent blockage and more prescriptions.

My husband Clarence searched the Internet for ways to help me become healthier and found out about the Nutritarian lifestyle, which claimed dramatic results through dietary changes.

Because I was still wheelchair bound and yet unable to resume kitchen duties, Clarence had to learn to cook and prepare meals for both of us. Although he had only a little to lose, he joined me on the diet, assured that a high nutrient, vegetable-based diet would be healthy for him, too. I quickly shed pounds and my lab tests improved. Although my diabetes was controlled to the satisfaction of my doctors, as a Nutritarian the first priority was to get rid of it completely with nutritional excellence. No physician I had seen ever mentioned this as a possibility.

Now, about a year and a half later I am off all my diabetic and heart medications. I have had no further heart problems and my diabetes is gone. My fasting blood sugar averages 79 (4.39) without treatment. Since July 29, 2003 until now my total cholesterol has dropped from 219 to 130 (5.67 to 3.37), my triglycerides are down from 174 to 73 (1.95 to 0.82) and my LDL cholesterol has lowered from 149 to 70 (3.86 to 1.81).

My current weight is around 130 (59.1 kg), slightly less than half my maximum. Since I wear a larger size on the bottom than on the top, I give it with two numbers. I have gone from a plus-size 24W/26W to a misses 8/10 (28/30 to 10/12), which is a smaller size than I have ever worn in my adult life. As hard as it is to imagine, the last time I was this weight I was under age 12. I no longer snore and my energy and stamina has increased. Clarence and I both have more resistance: We used to catch every bug that came around, but now we're rarely sick.

I owe all these positive changes to the “Eat For Health” program. I still have a hearty appetite, but now food is far less addictive. The Nutritarian lifestyle takes time and extra effort, but for me the results have been well worth it.

Charlotte M.