Growing up in the 70s, I had the pleasure of eating at one of the first McDonald's locations in San Bernardino, California. Eating there was always a special treat, and I can easily recall those delicious smells and flavors of cheeseburgers, fries, milkshakes, and apple pies. Even though my normal diet consisted of mostly home-cooked meals, those occasional eating experiences early on set the stage for my future dietary habits.

In high school, vending machines were available for quick snacks, sugar, and sugar-free sodas. What teen wouldn't prefer bear claws, pop-tarts, and Oreo cookies over the subpar cafeteria lunches? After school, “foods” like microwavable TV dinners composed of synthesized vegetable proteins, highly refined vegetable oils, and high fructose corn syrup fillers made it simple to eat before parents got home from work.

With a passion for learning and a fascination with health, by the mid-90s I was eating organic, non-GMO, trying to avoid artificial sweeteners, and decided to become a vegetarian. I was misinformed with the usual: red meat clogs your heart, eggs raise cholesterol, bacon is bad, multi-grains good, low-fat good, low-salt good, etc. Many of these dietary rules are still part of our dietary education today.

I was a vegetarian for over 20 years, and it was only when I met Maria, my researching-match-made-in-heaven, that I begrudgingly gave up my fake vegetable protein alternatives that are highly processed using hexane. Together, we got off processed foods, including those that are deemed healthy. We went full-on non-GMO, organic, with the occasional fast food, sugary snacks, and carbs.

For over 8 years, we indulged in rich foods, aware of the slight dangers of putting sugar in our coffee every morning, snacking on jelly bellies and peanut M&Ms, and baked goods. We have a passion for cooking, which only made matters worse.

Then the pandemic began, and over the first 2 years, we indulged even more. We were still eating mostly non-GMO and organic, even on the rare occasions when we ate out, we kept it clean. We took all the right vitamins and supplements, walked occasionally, and we felt fairly decent. Regardless, we started to notice low energy, joint stiffness and pain, skin issues, and brain fog that we attributed to simply getting older.

We avoided Covid-19 for nearly 2 years, so we assumed we were pretty healthy, but then our family got hit with Covid-19 and three of us developed covid pneumonia, 2 ended up in the hospital with multiple visits to the ER. I almost got admitted to the hospital just a few hours before Maria was to be released after a one-week stay. Luckily, my O2 level was just above the threshold, and we were able to come home together, taking turns with an oxygen tank, oxygen concentrator, and tubes strung around the house. We were down for about a month, low energy, problems breathing, fog brain, but ultimately blessed to be alive.

Our conclusion is that we were not as healthy as we thought we were. Maria connected with an old high school friend who is a health coach and, just by asking a few questions, we both realized we had to make some changes. We also came across several YouTube channels about the benefits of Intermittent Fasting and Keto. Months of research and learning led to our wellness journey together.

It has been 8 months, and I have lost 30lbs, reaching my ideal weight. I have shed both subcutaneous and visceral fat, greatly improving my BMI. I noticed I could see the underlying features of muscles under my skin, especially in my neck. My energy level bumped up, cognition and mental clarity improved, blood sugar levels normalized along with many more improvements that I will document in future posts.


We have learned that much of what we're told about food is untrue, actually, the exact opposite, and much of it is due to corporate greed and the control and power that big pharma has over our nation's dietary education. With this blog, we hope to share with you our findings, experiences, and the resources that we found most helpful in turning our health around.