For years, I lived with extra weight. Okay, "extra weight" is underselling it a bit. I was obese. Not just that, but I suffered from a battery of related illnesses that often go hand-in-hand with obesity, namely high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. At one point, my doctor warned me that my dietary habits had me on a surefire collision course and if something in me didn't change, no amount of prescription-writing could save me from the fate that lay ahead - heart disease.Well, you know doctors. They offer lots of advice and plenty of stern warnings. You can get sort of immune. I did. Needless to say, I didn't listen. That is, until a bout with chest pain landed me in the ER.… I'd had a heart attack. That warning I heeded. I decided the doctor was right. If I was going to live and enjoy a good quality of life, I had to change my habits once and for all. It wasn't easy at first. If you have ever attempted to swap out your old habits for new habits, you probably know what I mean. Some habits, like eating, require more than just a simple menu change. In order for my changes to be effective long-term, I had to learn what it would take to stay healthy and promote my desire for a better lifestyle over my emotional desire for a temporary sugar-high, which food often provided for me. Not easy, but certainly doable.The first thing I did was cut back on my intake of refined sugars (love 'em) and simple carbs (doubly love 'em). Talk about painful. The next thing I did was conducted some serious research on alternative medicine and all-natural healing techniques. I studied Ayurveda. Ayurveda is the Hindu system of medicine that focuses on creating and maintaining balance in your body using diet and herbal remedies. I even took a trip to India to really gain some insight into ways to use Ayurvedic medicine to help my body heal from years and years of malnutrition (you can be both fat and malnourished) and dietary abuse. The trip was both eye-opening and, I believe, life-saving.