Herbie of the Week: Deb B (She's Lost 42lbs!)

Posted by:Lindsay S. Nixon Category: Herbies

Meet our Herbie of the Week: Deb B!

Back in March I asked Herbies on Facebook to share all the positive things about a plant-based diet. Deb commented:

As soon as I read Deb's comment, I immediately asked if she'd be interested in sharing her story for the Herbie of the Week series -- and I'm so glad she did!

Not only has she lost nearly 50lbs by going plant-based (and using the 7-Day meal plans), Deb no longer needs her pain management medication and reduced her acid reflux meds.

Read on for Deb's inspirational journey!

For 6+ years, I had suffered from nausea and vomiting, especially after the removal of my gall bladder. My doctors were stumped. My symptoms seemed to indicate that I was not able to properly digest the food I was eating and every few weeks, I would suffer from 24-hour bouts of vomiting. I introduced probiotics and had test after test. Medically speaking, there was no explanation. The testing showed that my digestive system was healthy and working the way it should. Yet, I continued to get sick.

Then in May of 2013, a friend told me to watch Forks Over Knives. It left me very curious. If eliminating animal products and processed foods could reverse heart disease and cancer, I thought it might be the key to solving my digestive problems and I figured it would also help me lose weight, and be able to stop taking the daily meds I needed for Acid Reflux/chronic heartburn, high blood pressure and chronic pain (fibromyalgia).

April 2013

I have been on diet after diet and have never been able to maintain any sort of weight loss for an extended period of time. I had always assumed that it would be too hard to give up meat and dairy and I hated to cook so I had been surviving on mostly processed foods. I started to have more energy within a week or two of eating a plant-based whole-food diet. I also noticed that I no longer had any food cravings and I lost 20 pounds. I am now down a total of 42 poundsand another 3.1 pounds will bring me to my first goal of being less than 200 pounds for the first time in 13 years. I’d probably be further along if I hadn’t lost focus on the “low-fat” and unprocessed side of things for a few months (which means being Vegan is not the same), but I am happy with the loss I have achieved and more importantly, I have kept the weight off for almost a year now.

Since I began this journey, I have been able to completely stop taking my pain management meds and have reduced the meds for acid reflux by 50%. I have had two bouts of vomiting since I started and both times I had decided to eat meat to see how it would affect me. I have also had dairy now and then and noticed each time that I was exhausted for days afterward. These experiments have shown me that including animal products in my diet is not worth the way it makes me feel.

March 2014

The health rewards and increased energy levels make it a very easy decision and my grocery bills are at least $200 less per month. The meal plans have helped me even more since I started using those this year. The plans have further reduced my grocery costs, and helped me lose 7 of the 42 pounds after a lull in weight-loss of about 5 months. Plus I only cook once a week now!

I am looking forward to ending the remaining medication soon and am actually looking forward to our beach vacation this summer and a cruise in October. I know, without a doubt, that I will be at least 1-2 sizes smaller by then. Like Lindsay says, “Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels” and to be honest, none of that other “crap” I ate before holds any appeal and REAL foods tastes pretty darn good to me now that my taste buds are awake again!

Way to go, Deb! Thanks for sharing your story with us!

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