Eleven years ago today, at 8:40 AM, I stepped on my family doctor’s scale to begin the journey to get my health back. It took me nearly a year to shed 100 pounds, but it was the first month of noticeable changes that sold me on embracing the high-nutrient, plant-based eating style for the rest of my life.
By the one-month milestone, my addictive cravings for salt, sweets, processed food, cottage cheese, and peanut butter had significantly dissipated. My debilitating “brain fog” (inability to concentrate and lethargy) had stopped, and I felt energetic for the first time since my late teens.
Then a couple of months later, when my blood pressure had dropped to normal range, and I actually looked forward to exercising, I knew my body was designed to flourish on a nutrient-rich diet.
For many years, I had learned to adapt to the culture’s way of eating: lots of animal protein entrees, deli sandwiches, dairy products, pasta, scalloped potatoes, salads with shredded cheese and conventional dressings, pizza, chips, cereal, toast, granola bars, and milk. I learned to like diet soda, diet Jell-O, diet pudding, and sugar free gum. . .not realizing I was severely depriving myself of nutrients—and starving myself to obesity in the process.
The chronic malnutrition ignited overeating and weight gain.
By age 47, I was sitting on a ticking bomb with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and prediabetes, It was no longer a matter of “if” I’d have a heart attack or stroke, but “when.”
I was desperate to get my health and life back.
So that’s why I started the Transformation Art Exhibit on July 10, 2008.
I’ve left it online all these years, because it’s inspired many people. I invite you to check it out.
If you are struggling with the typical American diet—and feeling terrible as a result—there is long-term freedom for you too!
Emily Boller, artist, mother, and author of Starved to Obesity, lost 100 pounds more than twelve years ago by eating an abundance of high-nutrient, plant-rich food. Today, she’s certified in whole plant food nutrition from the Nutritarian Education Institute. She’s on a mission to provide practical, no-nonsense and cost-effective tips with easy to understand science in order to help anyone escape the addictive grip of the Standard American Diet.