Adora Matthews M.D.

The Background

Adora Matthews M.D.
The Background

A Tale of Two Pregnancies and 100+ Extra Pounds

I will admit at the outset that for many years I was as susceptible to dietary confusion as the average layperson.  As a teen and a young woman, I was "effortlessly" thin and fit, and I ate a LOT of food that I now consider poor quality food.  The "effortless" thinness was actually the result of consistent and rigorous exercise which counter-balanced my less than optimal food choices.

During my pregnancies. I ate WHATEVER I craved, in mass quantities, and told myself that it was all "for the baby".  I gained 70 pounds with my first child and 45 pounds with my second, and for the first time in my life I had to put in a concerted effort to get back to a weight that I considered desirable.  I flirted with "clean" eating for as long it took to take off the weight, and then returned to my old eating habits .

As my children got older and life became more and more busy, I found it more difficult to fit in my old rigorous exercise habits, and slowly but surely, the pounds began to accumulate on my small boned frame in a distribution that I found well - unattractive and potentially unhealthy.

My medical training told me that the extra weight was unhealthy, but the medical literature offered no clear pathway to the "best" way to eat.   I began to pore through alternative medical literature and even popular media in a quest for a more healthful and balanced way of eating that would take off the pounds and lend itself to a more permanent lifestyle change.

I studied the Mediterranean diet, the Paleo diet, pesco-vegetarianism, lacto-ovo-vegetarianism and veganism.

In the end, the data and my personal experiences have led me to choose veganism.

In the next installment, I'll tell you why!