How about this for a health success? This woman, my guest today on the Exam
Room podcast, has lost 60 pounds and she's done it by eating a whole food
plant-based diet. Hi. I am the weight loss champion Chuck
Carroll, this is the Exam Room podcast and I am so excited to bring on a fellow
health and weight loss success. Brenda Workman,
she's a Food for Life instructor and an extraordinary human being. Brenda, thanks for being here. I'm thrilled to be here. Thank you. I'm thrilled for you
that you've lost 60 pounds. How are you feeling? You don't know the difference. It's just wonderful. It really is. Lots of improvements with my health
and just lots of energy. It's great. I'm feeling good. Hasn't always been that way. I mean, when you still had all of those excess pounds, I remember
being put on high blood pressure medication back
when I was a sophomore in high school. I was already 185, 190 over 90,
sometimes even over 100. What was your blood pressure
like at that point? Well, when I was a teenager,
I never really suffered with high blood pressure
or even high cholesterol. It was later in my younger adult years,
probably somewhere around 30, I think the cholesterol went up
and I started taking statin drugs and had been on those for decades
and just felt like, you know what, when you age,
you're just supposed to do this and it's just going to happen that way
and just accepted it. I'm going to be on meds
the rest of my life. And it wasn't until two years ago
that I developed high blood pressure and then I had a doctor in my area
shout out to Dr. Christopher Parrish in Princeton,
West Virginia, who suggested a plant-based diet
and the rest is history. And what a what a book of history
you're writing. My goodness gracious. You know, it's funny, though. You talk about feeling like you're just destined
because you're getting older to have that high cholesterol, to have that high blood
pressure or whatever the case may be. We think that it's just genetics. There's nothing that we can do about it. When you had that conversation
with your doctor. I mean, were you skeptical at first
when he's telling you, hey, you have more control over this than you
realize? Actually, I had heard a rumor
that there was a doctor in town that actually talked to patients
about lifestyle changes. And I switched from the doctor. I was going to tell this doctor
because it's rare. I mean, not just in my area. It's rare to find that
that type of doctor. So I wanted him to, you know, to
talk to me about lifestyle change. But it was actually the beginning of COVID
that my blood pressure went up. And it surprised me because I thought
I'd never deal with that. It didn't really run in my family. But when I called him and we had a conversation, he let me know,
you know, where I stand, Brenda. I really feel like the plant based diet
is going to not only help this high cholesterol, but it's also going
to help the high blood pressure. He, of course, put me on meds at the time but he encouraged me to eat plant based. And I was very ready
because I did what a lot of Americans do. I went to Google and I started typing in what if you have high blood pressure
and high cholesterol? And what I was reading was very often
it leads to heart disease. And I thought, I don't want to go there. And I've heard about this plant based
eating and I've done a little research and it looks like it's working for people
and my doctor's recommending it. I'm going all in. Let's see what happens. How difficult was that transition
to a plant based diet for you? I know that, you know, and we're going
to get into a huge part of your story that I absolutely adore,
and that's food addiction. But the standard American diet
that is so full of these high fat, really salty, lots of sugar type of foods those foods, I mean, they're
they're tough to eliminate from your diet. So how is that transition for you? I think at that point in my life,
I was committed to making the change. I think the hardest part for me
was beginning to cook because I had done a lot of eating fast food like, you know, so many
and I didn't really cook very much. And so that was
probably the most difficult. Thankfully, this was during COVID
when life was a little slower. And I took the foods food for life
cooking course. And that helped build my confidence
that maybe I could cook and maybe I could make these recipes. And so I started just experimenting and found that actually
the food was was very good. Now, I will say, Chuck, that sometimes it took a while
to get used to it. My taste buds did change over time. One time I remember making a soup
and I spent a couple of hours chopping up vegetables making this soup and you pureed
and and I got ready to taste it. And I thought that is probably one of
the most disgusting soups I've ever eaten. In my life. But I made so much of it
and I spent so much time on it. I thought,
I'm going to put it in the freezer. Maybe later I can get it out
and add it to something I don't know. So I put it in the freezer. And do you know that months later
I went back to it and absolutely loved that soup
and gobbled it up. And it goes to show
that your taste buds do change. So but I was committed once
my health started taking a downward turn. And I thought, you know what? I'm gonna make recipes.
I'm gonna learn how to do this. I'm going to, you know,
get all the information that I can. Do you think your taste buds
rejected the soup initially because it was lower in salt
than the cans of soup? You may have been eating up
until that point? That's exactly what it was. Yeah. You didn't it
didn't have so much of the sodium in it. And yeah, that was it was salt. The hard thing for you to to really adjust in your diet
or do you have more of a sweet tooth? I find for people, it's either
you love your salt or you love your sugar. Yeah. Mine was more sweet. And that was what I that was
what was difficult for me. All in my adult
life was dealing with sweets. That was my addiction. I want to talk now about, you know, kind of your discovery
that these foods can be ultra addictive. And the story as it's been relayed to me was you actually discovered
this kind of on your own while you were working for this major
a weight loss program company. Is that correct? That is correct, yes. You know, live and learn. So tell me about how it is
that you stumbled onto this while you're working for a
a health company. I mean, it just seems like kind of weird that that discovery would come as you're
working for a weight loss program. Yeah, I was always concerned
about the weight loss issue. I never really connected the dots
too much about, you know, this food has everything to do with your health
and it has everything to do with the way that you feel.
It was all about weight loss for me. You know, we I have to eat this food
because I need to lose weight. So I've been one to keep health journals
down through the years on the journal or actually I have my my latest health
journal sitting right here beside me. And the cool thing about that is you can look back in a journal
and kind of see a pattern. And so as I'm working for this weight loss
organization, I'm feeling really guilty about myself because I can't stay
on the program myself. I'm preaching it. I think it's the healthiest thing
that I know at the time, but I could not stay on it myself
more than about eight weeks. And then I would end up getting off track. And usually it was because either
I felt like I needed to get off because I felt so deprived
and I wanted something sweet or my program told me
that I could have an allotted amount. So maybe you can have a donut
and it would count as this so you're allowed to have a donut. But when I ate a donut, I guess I've never been an alcoholic,
but I would think it would be similar. I couldn't stop with a donut. I would have to eat another donut. And then I felt really guilty. And then before the week was over,
maybe I've eaten six donuts and I would I would be embarrassed
I'm a little embarrassed to even say that now, but
I know other people go through it as well. So maybe it'll help someone,
but I could not control it. And then it was a downward spiral
so as I look back in my health journal, I started thinking, wait a minute,
this is a continual pattern. An entry would say, I'm on my program,
I'm doing really well. I've lost £7 so far. I'm so proud of me. I'm going to get this weight off. It was all about weight. And then the next entry would be
I ate the sweet thing, whatever it was. And I feel really badly about this,
but I'm going to get back on track. And then the next entry
would be I'm spiraling out of control. I've gained £3 back.
What is wrong with me? Why can I not be disciplined? And as I look back to the journal,
I realize that this replayed over and over for months, for years of my life,
never able to stay on the program and blaming it on myself
because I didn't have the discipline to stay on the program. And that that's
kind of like self-sabotage, too. You know, I had very similar experience is and that I would have a little bit
I couldn't stop. I would eat some more, I would feel bad,
and then I would eat some more on top of that
because I wanted to feel better, you know? And that food had always brought me
a sense of comfort, even though I knew I was sabotaging my health by consuming it and I think that, you know,
when it comes to those types of foods, it's a really kind of complicated issue, even though it can be really,
really, really simple as well. You know, I, too, have never struggled with alcohol or drugs, luckily,
but I do in my heart of heart believe that they can be just as addictive as as those two things. I mean, you talk about not being able
to stop after you have one. And I think about that smoker
who has gone a year without having a cigaret and then they're like, well,
I can probably have just one tonight. Kind of celebrating. It's a fun night out and I'll be okay. What happens? The next thing you know that smokers
buying another pack of Cigarets or an alcoholic who has been on the wagon
for a year or longer and thinks
that they can have just one beer and know the next thing you know,
they're right back to their old ways. Food is exactly totally the same. And so when you're telling me that story
about not being able to have just one donut, it echoes so true because I had that same experience time
and time and time again. And for me, more often than not,
it was fast food, you know, something like a natural
like one Nacho would just totally derail me and I would go from having lost £60,
a pretty good weight loss to gaining weight. So all everything that I had lost
and then some on top of it and Brenda,
it was the most frustrating thing in the entire world
because you put all the blame on yourself. You say, you know what's wrong with me? Everybody else has discipline. How come I don't have discipline? And you think if a little bit taste
really good, a whole lot is going to taste
really, really good. But what happens is
you actually feel terrible afterwards, physically and mentally,
you feel terrible. And now, like you said,
you've derailed what you were trying to do and you feel it all goes inward. It all feels like
it's something's wrong with you. But now that I'm eating plant based,
I don't have those cravings anymore. And and I actually feel freer and much more satisfied with my food
than I ever have before. And I don't feel deprived because there's so much
I can eat, so much variety. Have you been able to go back
and kind of replicate some of the foods that you used to enjoy
just in a far healthier fashion
now that you're eating a plant based diet? I do a few like
I don't do a lot of desserts you know, because I don't know,
I guess there's a part of me that thinks I don't really want to go down that road and, you know, feel like
I have to have desserts all the time. But occasionally I do replicate
some and and use like there's a pumpkin muffin recipe
that I love that has dates in it. And I make that from time to time
sort of a special treat. So, yeah, some of them I have. Yeah, I got you. And I know exactly what you're
talking about. You know,
I'm 13 years into this journey now, and it took me years before
I would even consider having something as simple as a healthy wrap, which had,
you know, nothing but vegetables and maybe a little bit of beans
and rice inside. You know, call that a healthy burrito,
if you will. Years before,
I would even entertain the idea of eating something as healthy as that,
because I thought that that then would be my trigger to go back to the Taco Bell. Drive-Thru So I guess, you know,
I completely understand where you're coming from. And I think that just from
my personal opinion here, it's a delicate balance
that everybody's going to need to figure out what line
they can walk for themselves over time. You know,
it has to be that level of comfort. And I think that if your gut is telling you at that moment,
your head is telling you and probably shouldn't be doing this,
or I just don't feel right about it, don't force yourself to eat it either, you know,
why even put yourself in that position? Because clearly, even without eating it,
you're doing just fine. Right? And I'm discovering food
that I never ate before, and I'm trying cuisines
that I've never eaten before. So I'm having a blast just trying
different things and I've never eaten. So I don't necessarily have to replicate
what I had in the past. I think what I had in
the past was actually very limited. And now, you know, I'm
exploring new things that I've never had. So it's exciting. Fun question. I mean, what is something that you're
eating today that the old Brenda would never in a million years
have thought that she would have enjoyed? I love veggie sushi and I've been trying to learn to make it. I'm not real good at it, but a local
restaurant sells it, so I eat it there. So that's one thing. And in my travels, I've also tried some Indian food
and I've never eaten Indian food before. And yeah, just a lot of good stuff that I'm, you know, I'm learning the doll is so good. I love the old dishes,
Indian dishes there. They're just so good or anything
with curry in it now. Like I'm a huge fan and back in the day,
you know, I'm exactly like you. Like, I had no idea about Indian cuisine. And then I got introduced to it
and I was like, Oh my God, where has this been my entire life? Right. You know, maybe, maybe, maybe we never
would have gotten into that pickle that we were in had we been introduced
to that at a young age. I don't know. I don't know either,
but I'm certainly glad that that is there. Now, you talk about travel,
and I know that that's something that you do a lot of
and one of the things that we hear from exam room is all the time,
Brenda, is that they get tripped up trying to maintain that healthy, hopefully
plant based diet when they're traveling, when they're on the road,
and their options are limited. So as a seasoned traveler,
what are some of the things that you do to make sure that you're still eating
that healthy diet? To answer that question, I'm going to get
a little deep with you for a minute. So so plant based
eating is now my identity. This is not a weight
loss program that I'm on temporarily. I have seen the benefits. I feel the benefits. So this is part of who I am now. So, you know, there's other things
in our life that we find very valuable and we hold true to those things
because they're valuable. We'll plant
based. Eating is valuable to me. Now, so it's who I am. So whether I'm visiting relatives
or whether I'm staying in a hotel, this is who I am. So I'm going to find plant based food whether I'm in an airport or wherever. So I do stay in hotels. I fly occasionally, but mostly
I drive places and I stay in hotels. I have a bag. It's actually a gardening bag
that has pockets on the outside and pockets on the inside. And I take in that bag a small rice cooker. It's tiny, and I take along with me oats because that's one thing I take
because during COVID, a lot of hotels only had packaged oats
and they were usually flavored. And so that's when I started
just taking my own oats. So I take oats and I may take raisins or nuts to go in there
many times, fresh fruit. And I make it in my a little rice
cooker in the hotel room. I also take rice, brown rice,
and I take different cans of beans and I'll cook rice
and the rice cooker maybe for a dinner. One night, and when it's almost done,
I'll put beans in there with it. And then I usually take fresh tomatoes and fresh onions
and chop it on top of my rice and beans. And if I have, how AP knows that's a special treat,
and I'll put that on top as well. So, you know, some areas I go there's vegan options
and I can find what I need. Some places I go there's not sometimes
I'd have to go to the grocery store and pick up some hummus and veggies
and whole wheat bread or whatever. But I just I just know when I'm going,
I'm going to be eating plant based. So how can I make this work? You know, when you know better,
you do better, right? And so it's part of who I am now. And I visit relatives as well. And I usually go to the grocery store,
get what I need and just prepare my food at their house. Yep. That's the way to do it. I know that when I'm traveling, you know, I always make sure that I hit
the grocery store first thing I do is call to confirm with the hotel that it's
got a working mini fridge in the room. Has to be working. It's no good
if it's not has to be working. And then once I get the thumbs
up, on that, then the first stop
is always going to be the grocery store. Just so I'm not really backed
into a corner. The last thing you want is to be desperate, and then you're eating
just like bags of peanuts or pretzels or whatever
the case may be out of the vending machine because that's all the options
that are available, right? So, you know, I remember specifically
speaking out in Vancouver last year,
and on the way from the airport, the gentleman who had picked me up,
he was like, Do you want to stop somewhere
and get something to eat? I was like, yes, I would. He's like,
Where would you like to go? We have plenty of good restaurants. I was like,
I would like to go to Whole Foods. And I walked out with three bags
of groceries to get me through the week. And and that's just kind of what you have
to do to to take care of yourself. You prioritize your own health. But I think even though Brenda like it seems like a lot of work,
you're talking about making beans and rice and chopping up vegetables
in your hotel room, you can kind of get into a routine of it
where it's even not that laborious. It's just something that you do
and you knock out pretty quickly. Right. Right. And you do it over and over and it's just
part of the part of your life. It's our food is our medicine. You know, I'm now off cholesterol meds
and I'm off blood pressure meds. So my food is my medicine. Am I going to go without my medicine
when I travel? No. So I'm not going to do without my plant
based food. So I'll do what
I have to do to make it happen. And does it create more luggage to take with you
when you're going in and out of hotel? Yeah, does
does it take more preparation yet? Does is it worth it? Yeah, it is. Absolutely. No question about it. So what are you going to do
kind of now that you've got your whole future ahead of you? I would imagine that you have
a much more rosier outlook on life. So what are your plans for the future
now that you've got your health back? Well, I'm
trying to share this with my community. Unfortunately,
West Virginia is at the top of the country for diabetes and obesity
and heart disease. And and a lot of folks are very receptive
to plant based eating here. They just need some support
and some ideas and some encouragement. So as a Food for Life instructor,
I've started doing some classes. And then in this past spring,
I did a wellness weekend for women and had about 50 participants,
and that went very well and introduced plant based eating. And even the resort that we stayed
at prepared food for life recipes for us so they could taste, you know, plant based food
and see how good it was. So that's that's what I'm hoping for is
to continue to kind of share the message. My doctor is my biggest supporter. He puts my fliers
up in his examination room and encourages his patients
to come to my food for life classes. So it's working out well. So I wish I could just go all over West
Virginia and share this message
with with my fellow West Virginians. You know,
I have a funny feeling that soon enough you're going to have that whole state
blanketed. I wouldn't worry too much
about that, Brenda, but that's great. I mean, I would imagine
now that you've been doing these these classes,
teaching them for a little bit, I mean, you've heard from people
who have gone through them, who just have had this this amazing kind
of health epiphany the way that you did. I mean, that kind of feedback
must mean the world to you. Yes. I just received an email just last week
from someone who went through my class, and she said that she had gone
back to the doctor, got her lab work. Everything was improved. Her husband was doing it with her
and his health was also improved. She's lost weight. You're right. When you get those kind of emails
and you know it is making an impact, you know that it's worth it. You know, how many lives can you touch and change their health, change the course of their life? I want to ask you specifically
about those classes. Food for Life are big classes
here at the Physicians Committee. What is it about the Food for Life program
that you find so beneficial and special and sets it
kind of a notch above the rest Well,
I had started a speaking business and and I had a topic
that I was speaking on intentional living setting goals
and finding out what's a value to you and making those goals
happen in your life. And I happen to mention as I was out
and about doing presentation that I, I was eating plant
based and achieving my goals. And then all of a sudden
I started getting requests. Can you come speak to our staff
about plant based eating can you come speak at our conference
about plant based eating? And I knew I needed to credential myself. I could certainly share my story
and I would be glad to do that. But I needed some authority. I guess you could say
I needed some credentials. So I'm going through the plant,
going through the food for life training not only gave me a lot of information at the time
as I was going through the training, but there's many things that are archived
that I can go back to. And there are seasoned Food for Life
instructors who've been doing this for years. And I have one who is my mentor
who I think she knows everything, but I go back to her and ask questions. So I have that support. But when I go to do a class job,
I take Dr. Barnard with me by video,
and he talks about data and he talks
about what the studies are showing, and he can speak
from a doctor's perspective. I take PCRM dietitians with me by video. And so to me, that helps credential
what I'm doing. And then I can share my personal testimony
about how my life has changed, eating this way
and how my health has changed. So it has given me the credentialing
and the support that I needed in order to to share
this topic with folks that are interested and what was the training experience
like for you to get the Food for Life certification? It was good. It was it was very informative. Give it. It was something that, you know, like
I had to stay up on it. I couldn't slack
because it was so much information and mine was delivered online completely, but just so much beneficial information
just across the board about nutrition, but
also about how to how to do a business. If you're going to do food for life classes and
and check your your presentation was good too
on how to talk to the media. And I've had to do that
since doing my food for live classes. So very, very beneficial information that that I feel like I've used already. Yeah. You know, and that's one of the things
when I went through the training, I was surprised about as well was that it does kind of give you
that business background or the business acumen to know how to make this
more than just, you know, a hobby. I mean, you can make this
a real legitimate business, you know, with a little bit of elbow
grease and hard work. You know,
you can make this work for yourself. Absolutely. Bask in all of your plant
based glory and help others along the way. And to me, like,
it just does not get any better than that. Like, I just love it so much. Do you have any classes right
now that are coming up? I do. I have one in the town over. It's Bluefield, West Virginia,
and it's going to be their library. And it's coming up
July the 25th it's on a Saturday. And then I've got another wellness
weekend for women plans in the fall
and it'll be on my website. It's going to be at another West
Virginia State Park Resort. And so that's coming up. But I when I finish one class,
then I'm ready to start another one. So they just kind of roll one
and then another and then another. So yeah, people can go to my website. Brenda Workman speaks dot
com and I keep those classes on my website so that you know where they are
and how to register and all the details and we'll go ahead and drop a link to that
in the show description down below here. Make sure that everybody can get that one
click access to it. So Brenda, Food for Life instructor
applications are now being accepted. We really are only looking for people
who are super committed to this program like you. So it's really highly competitive
to get in this. But the pool is now open for applications
and it will remain open through June. First so what would your message be
to somebody who is considering following in your footsteps
and becoming a Food for Life instructor? I've heard you say this before. When you do what you love,
you're in a happy place, you know when you're passionate
about something and then you can share that passion
with other people then it's a happy spot in life to be,
and so I would highly recommend it. You're constantly getting information that makes you even more educated in plant based eating,
and you have all the resources that you need to go out
and teach other people that's it. So here's the deal. We're going
to put a link to the applications right now, also right down below there
in the show description or in the episode notes. So go ahead and click on that
get that in there. We would love for you to join the Food
for Life family. And Brenda,
thank you so much for your time today. Congratulations on all of your success. Yours is one of the the more fun
stories I've had on the show in a while. I just love the fact that for so long
you were working for a major weight loss program, and it wasn't until you left
that fad diet program that you were finally able
to find your own healthy path, and now you're teaching others
how to follow suit. So I just think that that is fantastic. And I'm so thrilled for you and just congratulations on all of your success
and what's still to come. Thank you. I appreciate it. Freedom at last. If your health IQ is a couple of points
higher than it was a few minutes ago. Go ahead and light this video
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