In part 2 of my interview with David, he and I explored his dramatic weight loss and how he gained control of his health. If you’ve already read that, then skip the introduction below and go directly to the interview that follows it. In this part 3 of the article, David and I take a deep dive into his super healthy diet that has kept him slim and off his diabetes medication for years.

Introduction

My friend David Mendosa writes on the HealthCentral Diabetes site. Although we have not yet met, David and I have become friends because we share a common bond – we each were fat and sick with diabetes and other obesity-related diseases. And each of us has taken similar, yet slightly different, journeys to wellness.

The common thread is that we each lost a significant amount of our body weight, and have made lifestyle and dietary changes to maintain that weight loss for the long term. This has affected the remission of our diabetes and improved our overall health and quality of life. I cannot stress that last point enough: Improved our quality of life.

Oh yes, and our journeys have led us to health activism. David is well-regarded as a diabetes advocate. In this interview, David and I discuss his transformation from fat and sick to total wellness and his health activist endeavors. In fact, David and I talked about his journey in such detail that I had to break the interview into several parts to make it easily to digest. Believe me; you do not want to miss a word he says. David has a fascinating patient journey conquering not only obesity but also several obesity-related conditions. Please read on…

David Mendosa before and after his 156-lb weight loss.

Interview

Q: Please tell us what do you typically eat in a day?

Essentially, my diet is to eat no more than about 50 or 60 grams of total (not net) carbohydrates per day. My typical meals keep changing. But lately this is what I generally eat when I am at home:

Breakfast: Two poached eggs, 4 oz. of smoked wild salmon with capers added, and a little kimchi or sauerkraut.

Lunch: A large salad consisting of baby greens (including spinach and, when available, kale), bok choy, and broccoli. For salad dressing I use apple cider vinegar and either extra virgin olive oil or extra virgin coconut oil. Sometimes the salad will also have green onions, green peppers, a small avocado, a can of sardines, mackerel, or salmon, a little hard cheese, a little summer squash, cucumber or radish slices, or a few pitted green olives. I always add a sprinkling of chia seeds.

Dinner: This is the meal that varies a lot. Sometimes it’s just a bowl of plain whole yogurt with a few organic blueberries and a sprinkling of chia seeds. Often instead it is a quarter pound of fish; wild ahi tuna is my favorite, but wild salmon is the healthiest, because of its high omega-3 level.  Rarely it is beef, and only if it is grass-fed.