“I was at my wits end and stressed out beyond anything I have ever been before”

By: Brian Beck

It all started nearly 14 years ago. I had been working at this great job that kept me in good shape physically. You see, my job was to maintain the buildings and fix the equipment for two locations of a local gym, and some days I’d help out with projects on the other 15 locations. I’d joke with everyone that I walked at least 3-5 miles per day (from the front of the building to the back, up ladders and scissor lifts) to get a tool or a part to fix a stair stepper, and then to the roof to find out why the AC wasn’t working. I hauled everything from light bulbs to treadmills . . . even hauled those up flights of stairs. It would take 4 of us to do it, but we did it. The ‘gym rats’ (body builders mostly) would give it an honest try, but 4 or 5 steps up the stairway was all they were good for. We would laugh because they had bigger muscles than we had, and we would move the rest of the treadmills ourselves. We even moved the giant weight machines. We did everything from painting to plumbing as well.

During my employment at these gyms, I was diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia. You see, it turns out that when I ate something with any sugar in it, my blood sugar would spike up with little control from my pancreas (which produces insulin). My body would put out too much insulin, too late from a slow reaction to the rapid rise of sugar in my bloodstream, and I would ‘crash’ (extreme drop in blood sugar). The worst part of this was that I would get really angry right before I would crash. I only saw it as though I had a really good reason to be annoyed. Sadly, it didn’t look that way from the outside looking in, and my family suffered.

I’d heard about Atkins, and I thought, “Hey let’s look into that. These guys here at the gym seem really healthy.” So our whole family started eating all the meat, dairy, and cheese we wanted, just no carbohydrates and no fruit because I was told that “eating sugar makes your body store fat.” Carbs became evil really fast.

But I had missed a little thing . . .

And over the course of six months I gained muscle and lost about 20 lbs. At the same time, I was dead tired at the end of a day, but hey I had a good reason to be tired—our team had just worked a 16 hour day for three weeks straight getting a new gym ready to open. But around this time my health started getting worse. First the doctors called it “low T.” It turns out that my testosterone levels were running very low. The doctor had a solution, a twice a month office visit for some juice from a long needle in the rump, just enough to bring me back to normal levels. After adjusting the dosage, life was good again. A year or so after that I started having trouble sleeping at night. The doctor sent me in for a sleep study, and it turns out I was snoring so bad that I wasn’t breathing during the night. I’d stop breathing something like 70 times an hour—bring on the CPAP machine! I fought with that machine’s mask strapped to my face for a good six months before I could sleep again.

But I had missed a little thing . . . nutrition and the Word of Wisdom revelation.

When the doctors started to call my reactive hypoglycemia Type II Diabetes, I fought to get a prescription for insulin. I wanted to control exactly how much sugar I consumed and add the correct amount of insulin. I had heard all the bad news about how little effect the pills had while the body continued to get worse, and I didn’t want to go down that path. I also cut my carbohydrate intake even more.

Now with the diabetes under control I had to count, when possible, every carbohydrate I ate. The math was not so easy for me to figure out in order to know how much insulin I needed. Every food thought had to go through this new filter to decide if it was worth eating. Anything with carbohydrates in it became the enemy, while anything that was meat, dairy, or egg got a green light because it didn’t require a new hole in my finger and an injection, usually in my stomach.

Then roughly 7 years ago my right foot started hurting. I went to more than eight different doctors to find a solution. I was told everything from a simple plantar fasciitis (heel pain), to the most extreme diagnosis of degenerative arthritis. Now I had Type II diabetes as well as intense heel pain to deal with. Soon I couldn’t walk across the room without extreme pain and to get outside was excruciating. I went on a 6-month leave from work to try to get better. Most days I could make it pain free to the master bathroom—about twelve steps, but to stand up in the shower just was not going to happen. We bought a shower chair and a wheelchair. I tried so many different types of shoes, inserts, and medical opinions that it cost us thousands of dollars over a four-year time period.

But I didn’t have any reason to question the high animal protein Atkins diet. When I was a teenager I had developed a bad heart arrhythmia from drinking coffee, which over the years has needed multiple surgeries. I had three different doctors (my general doc, the endocrinologist, and my heart doctor) tell me the high animal protein diet (Atkins) was the best diet for me, so I didn’t want to override what the medical professionals told me. They were the professionals after all.

Then I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and they wanted to start taking things much faster – biopsy, surgery, chemotherapy, etc. I was at my wits end and stressed out beyond anything I have ever been before. I swear I literally saw the dollar signs pop up in this surgeon’s eyes—like the old-time cartoons. I was in shock and trying to deal with the confusing feelings of my heart vs. what the doctor was telling me. By this time, I had the very distinct feeling that this was the wrong path for me.

Later that night I prayed like I have never prayed before. Even though my answer didn’t come until the next day, right after the prayer I did receive a feeling of peace. The exact wording of the answer I keep to myself, but it quickly (less than one week later) led to a PA (physician’s assistant) telling me about the book, The China Study. After reading this book, going whole food, plant-based “cold turkey” was pretty easy.

In less than 6 months my PSA number went from over an 8 to a 4, and I quit testing. I’ve not had a serious arrhythmia in months and the heel pain has improved incredibly. I no longer take any diabetic medication or give myself insulin shots, and I no longer need my CPAP machine. We’ve been following the Word of Wisdom and eating only plant-based for a couple of years now, and I’ll never go back to eating the way I was.

I had such an amazing support team at home. Between myself, my wife, and my daughter who is still at home, we have lost over 170 lbs, and our overall health is incredibly improved. We go on hikes and bike rides on the weekends together. As a side note, my youngest daughter has cerebral palsy and a developmental delay. I have seen her cognitive abilities improve markedly in the past year, and she’s off of her seizure medication. I am so excited for her improvement. She may still never live on her own, but she now holds a job and has become so improved in her cognitive skills that for that reason alone we’ll not change the way we are currently eating. We have been so blessed to have the inspiration I did a couple of years ago. I know my Heavenly Father loves us and will help us whenever and wherever we need Him.

I don’t know what the future holds, but after going through all of this, I do know that the Lord is with us. We were not meant to go through this life alone. He cares for us more deeply than we could ever comprehend. I credit both Him and those who He has sent into my life to help me get where I am today. My new motto: No God, No Love; Know God, Know Love.

Brian Beck (50) lives in Tremonton, Utah. He has a degree in digital art and photography but runs his own handyman business. He and his wife have three wonderful daughters, an amazing son-in-law and two beautiful granddaughters. They enjoy hiking, biking and camping as a family. He feels blessed to be able to work at his own leisure while he continues to recover from health ailments.