Woman Switches to Vegan Diet and Loses 60 Pounds and Reverses High Cholesterol and High Blood Pressure

After this woman developed high blood pressure and high cholesterol, she switched to a plant-based diet and saw groundbreaking changes.

Source: Physicians Committee/Youtube

An article by Today followed the story of Brenda Workman who spent most of her life trying to control her weight. Although she would follow different diets, sweets were a high trigger for her overeating and she would always end up yo-yo dieting.

She ended up with a BMI in the obese category and she began to worry about her deteriorating health. She felt lethargic and her joints hurt. She’d had high cholesterol for nearly 25 years and she could feel that it was beginning to take a toll on her body.

Then, in 2020 she was working in her garden and began to feel dizzy. When she checked her blood pressure it was high and after it persisted for days, she went to the doctor who put her on medication to lower her blood pressure. In addition, the doctor recommended switching to a plant-based diet.

Now after almost three years of her plant-based diet, Workman has lost 60 pounds and no longer needs to take medicine to lower her blood pressure and cholesterol.

“I cried because I thought I would never be off statin drugs the rest of my life,” she told Today.

“A lot of people as they age think, ‘It’s always going to be this way, I’m just getting old, these chronic diseases are just going to happen. I have to accept it.’ And I’m a firm believer now that food really does matter.”

Although it was huge switch for her, Workman was dedicated to making the switch.

“It definitely was a learning curve because I’m an Appalachian girl from West Virginia. I grew up on biscuits and gravy, meat at every meal and sausage and all the things that go with causing obesity,” she says.

Workman became vegan and began to experiment with recipes, which she says is the key to it all. At first, she didn’t like tofu but she kept trying different ways to prepare it until she found a recipe that she loved.

She loves to eat oats or cereal with berries for breakfast and will sometimes make pumpkin muffins as a treat. She tries to eat a big salad with lots of greens and legumes for lunch every day and her favorite go-to meal is brown rice and beans.

“When life is busy, I have a rice maker. Just throw that baby on and warm up some beans and put tomatoes and onions on top. That’s not hard at all,” she says.’

Instead of sugar, she says she tries to sweeten dishes with dates, raisins, fruits, or some maple syrup. She says she doesn’t miss meat or cheese and was surprised to find that her cravings went away in only weeks after switching to her plant-based diet.

“When you eat high-fiber foods, you don’t typically binge. So I’m very satisfied after every meal and I don’t really think about food now until I get hungry again,” she says.

“I’m now putting in my body just stuff that’s good for it all the time. And I think my body was finally saying, thank God, you’ve got some sense and you’re giving me what I need.”

Check out this Step by Step Guide: How to Transition to a Vegan Diet!

Reducing your meat intake and eating more plant-based foods is known to help with chronic inflammation, heart health, mental well-being, fitness goals, nutritional needs, allergies, gut health, and more! Unfortunately, dairy consumption also has been linked to many health problems, including acne, hormonal imbalance, cancer, and prostate cancer, and has many side effects. 

For those interested in eating more plant-based, we highly recommend purchasing one of our many plant-based cookbooks or downloading the Food Monster App which has thousands of delicious recipes making it the largest vegan recipe resource to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals, and get healthy! And, while you are at it, we encourage you to also learn about the environmental and health benefits of a plant-based diet.

Here are some resources to get you started:

• Weekly Vegan Meal Plans
• Plant-Based Health Resources
• Plant-Based Food & Recipes
• The Ultimate Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition
• Plant-Based Nutrition Resources
• Budget-Friendly Plant-Based Recipes
• High Protein Plant-Based Recipes
• Plant-Based Meal Prep

Related Content:

• How to Fight GERD With a Vegan Diet
• How to Get Over Cheese Cravings on a Vegan Diet
• How to Choose the Right Prenatal Supplement on a Vegan Diet
• Step-by-Step Guide: How to Transition to a Vegan Diet
• 5 Ways to Make a Raw Vegan Diet More Practical

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store, to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals, and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
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