Pat: …about foods that you don’t eat. It’s also about what food you do eat. And the team at Soza is back with amazing weight loss stories, important ideas on redirecting your food so you can redirect your future. With us, Darlene Courter and Marlene Morrison who will tell us their stories in just a moment, but we’re gonna begin with Rocco Cima, the owner of Fuel Philadelphia, a Soza Healthy Circle Partner. Fuel Philadelphia, 100% organic restaurant. And so, give us a sense of why using organic food is important for weight loss, Rocco?
Rocco: Well, I think people nowadays just want a pure product, the pure food dish, and they don’t want all those hidden ingredients that they don’t know. They wanna be able to understand what they’re eating now.
Pat: Okay, and so, a clean diet makes a big difference?
Rocco: Absolutely.
Pat: All right. Well, now, look at these two ladies. So, Darlene, show everybody first how size does make a big difference. Whoa. Isn’t that something okay? That is just amazing. And so, what inspired you? What was your breaking point?
Darlene: My health. I was scared. I was with a cane, and I was having heart problems, and I needed to do something. I still have a lot to do in my life.
Pat: Sure. Let’s just show the before and after. There you are. Was it difficult to get to this point where you are now? How many pounds lost?
Darlene: One hundred and fifty four.
Pat: Wow.
Darlene: The first two weeks were the hardest. Learning how to live without things that I was used to eating. Giving up all white things and eating… I went in there and I said, “I wanna eat real food. If you can do this for me without anything else, this what I wanna do.”
Pat: Okay. And so, Marlene, we wanna see your before and after as well. Tell me about how much weight you’ve lost too because it’s always the proof.
Marlene: I’ve lost 35 pounds.
Pat: In what period of time?
Marlene: I did it within six months and it’s been over a year that I’ve kept it off.
Pat: Wow. Okay, so, and again, how difficult was it for you?
Marlene: It was difficult. It’s a total change of how you eat, and how you look at things, and it’s something you need to do. Health-wise, for me, I came off of my blood pressure medicine and cholesterol medicine and have not taken it for a year and a half. So, it was very healthy.
Pat: But that is just amazing. And did you find yourself turning to more organic type food, to more clean foods?
Marlene: Absolutely. The preservatives and the sodiums are not good, and it makes a big difference on just how you feel internally.
Pat: Okay, so in one word, the two of you, how do you feel?
Marlene: Awesome.
Darlene: Great.
Marlene: Awesome.
Pat: Okay, terrific. And Rocco, at your restaurant, the dishes are 500 calories and…
Rocco: Everything at Fuel is under 500 calories, organic, and we actually teamed up with a local farmer’s market so we’re getting produce locally now.
Pat: Good. That’s really great. Okay, terrific. So glad to hear, great, great, and local produce is also excellent. So, the Soza Clinic is offering $100 off their program for the first 20 people to call in. You can go to cbsphilly.com and click on to Talk Philly. We’re gonna come right back with Kate’s forecast after this.