I chose to live as an artist early on. As I started to reach my mid-30s financially I was always under the gun. I got into the habit of buying food solely based on stretching a dollar. If the choice was either five boxes of pasta for a buck or a head of lettuce, I went for the pasta. This, of course, lead to me eating boxes of Little Debbie brownies and Ring Dings - worse!

I ate like this for so many years that my once healthy body started to completely fall apart. I felt like I was drowning in a pool of toxicity with no way out for so many years. I couldn't eat just one brownie. I would literally eat an entire box. I couldn't just eat one Krispy Kreme. I would eat six, get sick, and then just a couple of hours later go back eat the other six for dinner. Sugar was an addictive drug for me. In retrospect I was probably becoming diabetic. I was so addicted to sugar I couldn't concentrate until I had a fix. I ate ridiculous amounts of sugar as a kid too of course.

During the low-carb craze six or so years ago, I lost a lot of weight initially but then really destroyed my body in the process. Before that I'd never in my life been a big meat eater. I never had a lot of cellulite on my body, even when I got up to 185 pounds (84 kg). Boy did that change. I was eating three steaks a day, unlimited cheeses, and drinking cream and half and half. At first you lose weight but good luck as soon as you mess up just a little. I completely lost touch with any nutrition. I was solely concerned about dropping weight first. Making matters worse after suffering a very serious knee injury and bungled surgeries almost five years ago, I was unable to exercise for long stints of time.

Half heartedly paying attention to my nutritional needs for just a short time didn't work. I didn't have the ability to commit. I had passed the 200 pound (91 kg) mark for a second time and I knew I couldn't go it alone.

I've always loved fresh vegetables but I had myself convinced that I couldn't afford to eat whole foods. The Eat Right America Nutritarian program showed me otherwise and turned it all around for me.

I satisfied my ravenous need to eat anything that wasn't nailed down by learning about the unlimited food categories (veggies, fruit, beans etc). Just knowing that I could eat five pineapples, 10 heads of lettuce, 16 tomatoes, and 45 eggplants, if I wanted to, gave me a feeling of security. What can I say? Of course I never would eat that much but the science and the logic gradually became clear.

I would fill up on a delicious salad and or a bowl of curried vegetable soup (or three if I wanted). Only the first three days were a little bit of a struggle. Then it became easy. Especially because I'd lost 9 pounds (4 kg) the first week! To see pounds fall off day by day, even if it was just water weight was thrilling.

I would wake up in the morning without aches and pains in my joints which I had previously surrendered to believing that my 45-year-old body was just becoming arthritic. I had a rash on my upper arms for almost two years and suddenly it had clear up and was gone too. I felt like my body loved me back for showing it love by eating the whole foods the human body is meant to eat.

One morning I discovered I couldn't finish a banana! I only ate two-thirds of it and I was full. The cravings seemed to stop almost completely. Once in a while it was hard but I held fast and quickly got right back on track.

In total as of today, about 10 weeks later, I have lost 33 pounds (15 kg). Now my focus is more about what I'm putting into my body as opposed to what I weigh. It's just a thrilling surprise to see another 2 to 3 pounds (1 kg) melt away each week, sometimes more.