I Lost 63 Pounds By Questioning Everything I Was Told
For twenty years, I did everything right:
Low-fat diet ✓
Whole grains ✓
Limited red meat ✓
Regular exercise ✓
Never missed my statin ✓
My reward? 310 pounds, constant fatigue, and a calcium score of 450—placing me in the 92nd percentile for arterial plaque despite two decades of cholesterol-lowering medication.
Then I started asking why the conventional approach had failed so completely. And everything changed.
The Turning Point
April 2024. Driving back from Nashville, feeling terrible despite a great weekend. I looked at my fiancée and said: "I'm done feeling this way."
We made a pact. Not a resolution. A decision.
Next morning: 310 pounds.
The difference this time wasn't willpower or a new diet plan. It was understanding why the conventional advice had failed. Not just for me—but for millions of people following the same guidelines and getting the same disappointing results.
What Changed (And Why It Worked)
I stopped eating "heart-healthy" processed foods
The low-fat yogurt, whole grain cereals, and vegetable oil spreads I'd been choosing? Loaded with sugar and inflammatory oils while stripped of the nutrients that actually satisfy hunger.
I started eating foods I'd been told to fear
Eggs with the yolks. Red meat. Butter. Full-fat dairy. The foods that kept me satisfied for hours instead of hungry again in 90 minutes.
I stopped eating constantly
Turns out that eating every few hours keeps insulin elevated, which prevents your body from accessing stored fat for energy. The "metabolism-boosting" frequent meals? Not supported by the research.
I started intermittent fasting
Giving my digestive system 16 hours of rest allowed my body to finally tap into fat stores. The "breakfast is essential" dogma? Turns out it originated from cereal company marketing campaigns in the 1940s.
The Results
August 2025: 247 pounds
63 pounds lost in 16 months
Stable energy without crashes
Mental clarity I haven't had in years
No more constant hunger and cravings
But here's what matters more than the weight: I understand why it's working.
That understanding is what makes it sustainable. When you know how sugar affects dopamine pathways, you don't feel deprived avoiding it. When you understand how insulin resistance develops, you know which interventions actually address the root cause.
The Knowledge That Changed Everything
The breakthrough came from reading Dr. Robert Lufkin's Lies I Taught in Medical School. He didn't just tell me to cut carbs—he explained the mechanisms:
How insulin blocks fat burning and promotes storage
How processed carbs trigger inflammation
How metabolic dysfunction develops over decades
Why conventional markers often miss early warning signs
Suddenly I wasn't "giving up" bread and pasta. I was protecting myself from foods that were keeping me metabolically dysfunctional.
This is what We're Not Sick, We're Being Sold provides: not just the "what" of better health choices, but the "why" that makes them stick.
What The Book Reveals
The patterns behind the myths:
How the breakfast myth was created by cereal companies
Why the cholesterol hypothesis has significant gaps in the evidence
How the low-fat movement replaced fat with sugar
Why industrial seed oils became "heart-healthy" despite their origins
How focusing on calories distracted from hormonal dysfunction
The uncomfortable truths:
How the sugar industry funded research to shift blame to fat (documented in JAMA Internal Medicine)
Why insulin resistance—not cholesterol—is the primary driver of most chronic disease
The statistical manipulation that makes tiny benefits sound dramatic
How industry funding shapes research conclusions and clinical guidelines
The tools to think critically:
How to read studies like an investigative journalist
Identifying conflicts of interest and funding sources
Recognizing when relative risk statistics obscure absolute benefits
Building a healthcare team that understands metabolic health
When conventional medicine is necessary and when alternatives make sense
What I'm Not Claiming
I'm not saying cholesterol is irrelevant—just that the hypothesis that it's the primary driver of heart disease has serious flaws that deserve scrutiny.
I'm not promising you'll get my exact results—your biology and situation are unique.
I'm not suggesting you ignore all conventional medical advice—acute and emergency care saves lives.
I'm not selling supplements, meal plans, or coaching programs.
What I Am Offering
The investigation I wish I'd read twenty years ago. The patterns I couldn't unsee once I learned to spot them. The questions that revealed why conventional advice so often produces disappointing results.
380+ peer-reviewed citations because claims should be verifiable.
Transparent methodology because you deserve to evaluate the evidence yourself.
The tools to become an informed participant in your own healthcare rather than a passive recipient of whatever treatment happens to be most profitable.
The Cost of Not Knowing
Twenty years of trusting the system without questioning cost me my metabolic health. One year of critical thinking gave me tools to finally make progress.
My calcium score revealed that the approach I'd been following—despite pharmaceutical intervention—hadn't prevented the exact problem it was supposed to solve. That disconnect forced me to ask uncomfortable questions about whether the underlying hypothesis was sound.
The knowledge in this book might help you make progress on health goals that have felt impossible. Not because you lacked willpower, but because the conventional framework may be addressing the wrong variables.
We're Not Sick, We're Being Sold - available now wherever books are sold.
Because your health is too important to leave entirely in the hands of institutions that profit from managing your symptoms rather than addressing root causes.