Vivien's Story

Sometimes it’s hard to believe how sick I was just a year ago.  Many factors contributed to my return to wellness, but Dr. Fuhrman and his Nutritarian program is by far the biggest influence for my not only recovered, but vastly improved health today! In April of 2018 I was hospitalized with acute pancreatitis.  Having developed a strong fear of doctors and the medical establishment in general over the years, I only sought treatment when it was absolutely necessary.  And that day definitely fit that bill—the most excruciating pain I’d ever had in my life sent me to the hospital immediately.  When they took my blood my triglycerides (which are normally supposed to be under 150) were testing at a level of 5,500.  They showed me my blood in a test tube, and there was so much fat in my blood that when they held it horizontally, a strip of white fat over ½ inch thick rose to the top of the otherwise ruby-red vial. Yuck!  This dangerous level is what shut my pancreas down, even more than the high sugar levels from a diabetes diagnosis I didn’t even know I had.

 I spent five days in the ICU before I could step down, with pain that no meds touched, while my body tried to rid itself of the dangerously high fat in my blood.  I shudder to think of it and the grim reality that I was so seriously ill I could have died if I hadn’t been promptly treated. But the one thing I absolutely knew was that my path back to wellness was going to be through Dr. Fuhrman’s Eat to Live Nutritarian program.

 Several years before, I followed the nutritarian diet for almost a year with great results, but then my mother got sick with a series of debilitating strokes, and I was derailed by an avalanche of stress during her illness and grief after her passing.  But from my time with Eat To Live I knew the program extremely well, and probably read every testimonial on the website.  So even before I left the hospital I was bound and determined to go back to 100 percent plant-based, even as the doctors and the nutritionist in the hospital advised against it.  I was told I would be on statins, triglyceride meds and two types of insulin for the rest of my life and that was just the way it was.  But I knew that was not the case.  I made a vision board with Dr. Fuhrman and inspirational pictures of healing that I still have up today.  And, this next part gives me goose bumps, just a few days after I got home, synchronicity struck and I received an email from the Fuhrman Group saying there were slots open to the public for the next Whole Foods Immersion in New Jersey. If I ever needed a sign more!

That week with Dr. Fuhrman and his staff was magical and absolutely life-changing!  His staff were all so supportive (Kathleen, Jo-Jo, and especially Randi and Nancy). When I told Nancy my story over the phone and that I didn’t have a doctor at home who would support this plant-based plan in my area, she talked to Dr. Fuhrman for me and he agreed to oversee my treatment during the Immersion. Every morning at the breakfast bar, he asked me “how’s your sugar doing” and made adjustments to my wildly fluctuating levels with a smile and encouragement.

 I felt so supported, and was so motivated by this group and the need to maintain a forever lifestyle that I decided to move my medical care to NJ even though I live in VA, and started seeing Dr. Fuhrman’s wonderful associate, Dr. Benson.  By the fall I had lost over 50 pounds and was off my statin and triglyceride medication.  Although I stayed on a baby dose of insulin throughout the winter, by the one-year anniversary of my illness, I was completely off insulin and no longer diabetic.  This was my goal all along, although the doctors at the hospital not only told me that it wasn’t possible, but that if my pancreas didn’t start producing insulin within a month of leaving the hospital that it never would.  But Dr. Fuhrman and Dr. Benson encouraged me and told me that if I was committed, and kept flooding my body with micronutrients, that it had a good chance of recovering, but to be patient, because my pancreas had been through a lot and needed to heal. Dr. Fuhrman’s nurse Randi helped me develop some healing affirmations while I was in NJ, and along with the diet, I was very dedicated in my efforts to reduce stress and pretty much overhaul everything about my lifestyle.

 So, after my year of transformation, there was even one more surprising change.  While working on my next major life project of decluttering my house, I found a letter referencing an old friend I hadn’t seen in over 30 years. I reached out on Facebook, and unexpectedly love bloomed!  Not only does Bill support my Nutritarian diet, but he has completely adopted it as well, and has lost 32 pounds and counting. I am so proud of him, and so happy to have a partner to share this plant-based lifestyle with—we eat the most enormous salads every day and wouldn’t think of skipping our G-BOMBS.  So, I guess I have Dr. Fuhrman to thank for it all…health, happiness, and yes, even love!  I will be forever grateful to Dr. Fuhrman and the Nutritarian Eat to Live program.  My advice to anyone who is on the fence, or not certain it will work for them, just decide and commit 100 percent--don’t wait for a health crisis to motivate you.  Healthy eating and wellbeing through the Nutritarian way of life can be more beautiful than you even imagine.