SUCCESS STORIES

MEET LUZ ALLENDE

Luz Allende was overweight throughout childhood, adolescence, and most of her adulthood. Numerous unsuccessful dieting attempts had left her feeling frustrated and hopeless. A friend invited her to attend a speech at the Worthington Inn in Columbus Ohio; given by Dr. Neil Barnard, President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. It was at this lecture that she learned about Dr. Pam Popper and the following spring of 2008 she attended a weekend conference sponsored by the Wellness Forum. It was at this conference that Luz changed her mindset and her priorities. She became a member of the Wellness Forum and started attending the weekly Wellness 101 classes. Here she learned how to work smarter towards her health goals rather than harder and she learned that being thin does not necessarily mean you are healthy.

Luz also learned the importance of meal planning and found herself attending one of the many cooking classes conducted by Chef Del Sroufe. Following that, it took little to no effort to apply what she had known all along but was unable to persist in doing.

Two of the things that made an impact on her life while attending Wellness 101 was first, to eliminate all oils from the diet and second, by consuming less than 10% animal protein in the diet you could lower the risk of diabetes and all the other epidemic illness in our society.

Luz then adopted an animal protein free diet vegan diet, and once she combined plant strong eating and exercise she began to feel healthy and in control of her life. In fact, she feels so good, she has become an avid exerciser combining cardio-vascular with strength training and yoga, six days a week. She continually challenges herself, not allowing her workouts to become easy. In fact, only the men attending the strength training class lift more weight than she does.

The Wellness Forum classes also taught her how to distinguish between research and science from stories and advertising and Luz's library of good reading includes The China Study, The Pleasure Trap, The Engine 2 Diet to name a few.

Luz describes her current challenge as, "Finding ways to help others find what I have found." She is a role model for her friends and they call her to share their accomplishments and she is right there to help and encourage them. Her greatest success has been guiding her older sister who is a diabetic with heart disease. By following Luz's good example, her sister has become a vegan since April of 2010 and by making this dramatic lifestyle change, she is now able to discontinue taking insulin with a monthly glucose reading of 127. She calls Luz everyday to report what she is eating and how great and wonderful she feels.

"For all of you that are still striving towards your weight loss goals I'd say... don't give up - join the Wellness Forum and attend the 101 classes - it really is so motivating. Just as beauty is from the inside out, so is wellness. If you feel great it will show on the outside. We are all works in progress and only making moves in the right direction will begin the journey. And what a journey it is. Enjoy and be present in the moment."

"I want to thank all of the Wellness Forum's staff for the quality customer service and personalization."