Shortly after my 51st birthday, my doctor told me that I should purchase a cemetery plot—because I would likely need one in the next five years.
That was seven years ago. I weighed 340 pounds back then. My waist was 52 inches around. I had been “morbidly obese” since my 20s, but still, I never expected to hear that.
I had tried—and failed at—almost every fad diet and weight loss plan ever marketed. I failed because those diets were unsustainable, requiring extreme exercise, food deprivation, unpalatable (and expensive) prepackaged “meals,” or a dangerous regime of all meat and no carbohydrates. The result of all that trying and failing was the opposite of anything healthy: My cholesterol had climbed to 400, my blood pressure was out of control, and I was taking daily insulin injections for type 2 diabetes. I was on about 15 other prescribed drugs as well, including antidepressants, statins, weight loss medications, and drugs intended to mitigate the side effects of all those other drugs—all of which cost me (and my insurance provider) tens of thousands of dollars annually.
Not long after that doctor’s visit, I hit rock bottom. I found myself praying to a God I wasn’t even sure I believed in to take my life. And somehow, the very next day, I woke up determined to change. I scheduled an appointment with a licensed naturopathic doctor. For years, I had dismissed naturopaths as “kooks” and “hippies.” The doctor I would soon meet was neither of those things. She went to medical school and had thorough training in nutrition—something that I was surprised to learn most traditional doctors don’t receive in medical school.
My new doctor spent over an hour with me during our first meeting and invited me to commit to weekly visits for the next six months. She asked questions about my history and lifestyle, and I was surprised when she didn’t prescribe more drugs. Instead, she prescribed vegan eating and told me to go adopt a dog from my local animal shelter. I was taken aback by her advice. I’d never owned an animal companion. How could a dog help me lose weight and improve my health?
She explained that the root cause of my health problems was my poor diet, which was exacerbated by the fact that I had stopped engaging in life. I didn’t really regard my not going outside as a choice. It was difficult and painful for me to travel and even to walk. Because of this, I had not only stopped going outside but had also lost contact with all my friends.
At the end of our first meeting, my doctor predicted that if I walked my new dog for 30 minutes twice each day and followed her dietary recommendations, I would have a good chance of regaining my health, getting off all my medications, and achieving a healthy weight in one year.
While getting acclimated to my new vegan way of life, I called a local animal shelter and told the woman who answered the phone that I wanted to adopt an obese middle-aged dog (so at least we would have something in common). And that’s how I met Peety, a scruffy mixed-breed dog who had survived two shelters and seen better days. He was 7 years old, at least 25 pounds overweight, and, like me, appeared to have given up on life. After initially looking at each other with mutual disappointment, we decided to go home together and give each other a try.
Peety and I soon overcame our mutual skepticism and formed a bond of unconditional love more powerful than I had ever experienced with any human. Seeing how uncomfortable he was in his own body, I began to feel sorry for him (rather than for myself) and vowed to do everything that I could to help him get healthy.
Since we were starting this journey together, I switched him to a vegan diet, too, and I was shocked at the results: In a matter of months, that once-cantankerous pup dropped 25 pounds to become my happy-go-lucky, travel-anywhere companion. Witnessing that transformation gave me hope about my own future.
As soon as Peety knew that he could trust me, he looked at me as if I were the greatest person on Earth. He looked at me that way even before I lost any weight. It restored my self-confidence and caused me to experience a new sense of purpose and happiness. Because of his love for me, I decided to become the person Peety thought I was—and over the course of that year, by following my doctor’s advice, switching to all vegan food, and walking Peety twice a day every day, I lost 150 pounds. I looked like a whole new person. Better yet, I felt like a whole new person. I was able to get off all my medications, including insulin. I started dating again. I became the person I had always wanted to be—all because I found the right doctor, adopted a dog and a vegan way of eating, and made what turned out to be relatively easy changes to my lifestyle.
It makes me wonder why other doctors aren’t prescribing this “miracle cure” of eating vegan and adopting a dog. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 70 percent of Americans are obese or overweight. Almost 3 million unwanted dogs are euthanized each year. What if the solution to both these problems is healthy lifestyles and loving relationships between humans and animals?
That was the prescription that worked for me. And for Peety.
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Eric O’Grey is an inspirational speaker with a bachelor of science in finance from San Jose State University and a juris doctor from Emory University. He enjoys long-distance running with his current dog, Jake; gourmet vegan cooking; and spending time with his wife, Jaye. He’s passionate about animal kindness, vegan nutrition, and helping others reverse obesity and achieve their optimal weight and happiness. Learn more about him and his initiatives at EricAndPeety.com and in his new book, Walking With Peety.
