How Broccoli-Head Lost Thirty Pounds

Chapter 1
Backdrop, body profile and a true story
Many times it is a peculiar event in our lives that stops all the wavering on what we need to do and jolt us into resolute actions. For me it was a visit to my primary care physician. Two years ago I had gone for my annual physical only to learn that my blood pressure had gone up to 140/90 and that my LDL had also gone up.
High blood pressure or hypertension is when your blood pressure exceeds 140 mm of mercury in the upper number, systolic value and ninety in the lower number, the diastolic value. It can be caused by a host of other problems. Obesity happens to be one of the well known but preventable and reversible cause of high blood pressure.
Hypertension is classified in degrees of severity: mild, moderate, severe and malignant, range of normal variation according to age.
The doctor was a good friend of mine. He is very conscientious, knowledgeable and successful in the practice of medicine. Patients wait for hours to see him, sometimes camping out in the hallway because the waiting room cannot accommodate all.
At the visit my weight was 183 pounds and I have a height of 5feet 7 inches. Therefore if you took my height into consideration and worked out my BMI, I was overweight by a whopping thirty pounds. Had my doctor been interested in nutrition or known the connection between excessive weight and high blood pressure his advice to me would have been for me to go home and work out the weight and come back for blood pressure recheck. No, he missed that opportunity but instead he offered me a pill to bring down my blood pressure.
My doctor is not an exception. Most practicing physician would have gone the same route, because it is easier, more cost effective for their time and payment and frankly because the link between obesity and hypertension and so many other diseases is not foremost in their thought and immediate memory.
My doctor suggested one of the mildest antihypertensive drug in use today. It is called the chlorothiazides.  But he did not succeed in talking me into taken the drug.I opted out when I considered some of the side effects associated with of chlorothiazides which may include: liver or kidney impairment, heart rhythm disturbances, high sugar level, possible diabetes, menace with blood lipid levels, nausea, vomiting, and sodium and potassium balance disruption.
I knew better, I have heard about the relationship between weight and high blood pressure. The more I learned about that relationship, the more I was determined to fix my elevated blood pressure, the right way, which is to lose weight. And that is what I did. I went rogue, hit the park and cut down on my calories. The result was a 30 pound weight loss in three months and a blood pressure of 110/70.
Today I feel better and I feel fit. I am ecstatic. I decided to write this book so that other people can learn from what I did and also as a way to answer all those who wondered how I lost weight.
Like hypertension several other diseases such as, gall bladder disease, coronary artery disease, strokes, diabetes are linked with excessive weight gain and obesity. Theses disease will be discussed later in the book.

Hitherto I knew that I was not eating right and exercise was not in my daily menu. So the brief insight into my health status was a wakeup call. So without much delay I jettisoned all the bad food I suspected I was eating. It was easy to quit the really bad ones such as bacon, egg and cheese on a croissant, kfc chicken and  fried potatoes wedged, old fashioned donuts, fries, sodas, fried plantains was a big one, chocolates and nuts. Beer was also given up. Flavored milk for coffee and sugar were also given up. Surprisingly I did not miss any of those dishes and beverages after a week or so.
Secondly I hit the park. I set up definite time for exercises and stuck to eat. I used the neighboring high school track field. I used the local parks and town gym. I walked the trail, shot basketballs and ran up the hills and stairs. The weight began to peel off. Success begot success and I was able to stay on these activities until I lost thirty pounds.
All these were done using residual knowledge on what feels right and wrong, mainly common sense. I am one of those people who dislike being tainted by other people’s opinion or experience. I like to discover my own experience and walk through the booby traps of mistakes and balancing act.

When I got to near the end of my limit I began to research on what is out there. What have people done who had similar concern? It was time to learn from the experience of the collective mass.  Then I added more tweaks to my exercise methods and array of nutrition choice.
 
Having been born and raised in Nigeria I was not exposed to processed food until I came to America. I did not drink coffee, well over age 32 when mi first came to America. Most of the food we ate was plant based: vegetables, yams rice, cassava beans. There was hardly any packaged food or available technology for mechanized food process that exist in America.

During my research I discovered a world of food and nutrient that I did not know existed in united state of America some of which I shared in this book.

I may have had some advantages in hitting it off the park after all I am a physician and had attended several lectures on obesity. I had also given several counseling on patients who are obese while neglecting my own troubles of BMI of 30.

Ironically like so many other physicians I was giving counseling to obese patient even though I had similar issues. But now I can confidently say that you can do it because I was able to do it.

Now that I succeeded I went on to find if I did it right and what I had left to do.