Choice that changed it all
A popular American podcaster who grew up addicted to junk food looks back on his incredible weight-loss journey and how he became a vocal campaigner for cleaner eating
Looking at Chuck Carroll now, it is hard to imagine that the fit and trim 41-year-old American podcaster once weighed 190kg.
As a child, Carroll remembers eating whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, gradually developing an addiction to fast food. At the age of eight, he weighed 45kg, much more than his classmates.
“I didn’t know what healthy eating looked like or why I was overweight,” says Carroll, who lives in the US capital of Washington.
“My diet centred around hamburgers, fries, hot dogs, mac and cheese, cookies, pizza and sandwiches filled with bologna.
“Everyone in my family ate the same way. My mother did try to prepare healthy meals for me, and once served me millet, but it looked like birdseed and I refused to eat it.”
When he was a teenager, Carroll developed high blood pressure, and although he was prescribed medication, he continued to eat the same way. By the time he graduated from high school at 18, he weighed 136kg, considered obese for his 1.67 metre frame.
In his 20s, a typical lunch for Carroll consisted of half a rotisserie chicken plus side dishes such as creamed spinach, cheesy pasta and mashed potatoes with gravy. Dinner was often one or two whole pizzas, followed by burritos, quesadillas, nachos and dessert from his favourite Mexican restaurant.
“I was on a first-name basis with the staff – I never had to place my order because they always knew what I wanted,” he says.
At the peak of his addiction, Carroll was consuming about 10,000 calories a day and would get cranky if he did not get his fast-food fix. He often binged in secret, out of shame, and would then be consumed with guilt.
“I didn’t want people to know how much I was eating. At work, I would eat at my desk behind locked doors so nobody could
Chest pains were setting in and I knew I would not live to 30 with the way I was going CHUCK CARROLL
barge in on me. And if I went out for a meal with others, I would always order a salad because I was too embarrassed to eat anything else.”
In addition to high blood pressure, Carroll suffered from excruciating back pain and sleep apnoea. He could not walk more than a few steps without sweating or feeling tightness in his chest.
He had a family history of heart disease and was convinced that he was on a “heart attack superhighway”. He knew that if he did not do something, and quickly, he would die.
“At the time I was also depressed, but it never once crossed my mind that the food was largely to blame,” he adds.
Then 27, Carroll was working as a sports radio presenter. He weighed 190.5kg, wore a size 6XL shirt and had a 168cm waist. He knew a few people who had had bariatric surgery and lost weight, so he decided to have the procedure himself.
“Chest pains were setting in and I knew I would not live to 30 with the way I was going,” he says.
“I had tried every low-carb and calorie-restrictive diet, but whatever weight I lost on them always came back. I thought, ‘If I get bariatric surgery, I could lose some weight for good and at least make it to my 30th birthday.’”
The surgery, in 2009, was a success: Carroll’s stomach was considerably smaller and as he was unable to eat much. He lost a substantial amount of weight, dropping to about 70kg. Around this time, he also decided to quit eating fast food completely.
“My doctor told me not to have it for three to six months after the surgery, to avoid getting violently ill,” Carroll says.
“I could have resumed eating it after this time, in small amounts, because I was told that I could eat small amounts of whatever I wanted,” he says. “But I was a fastfood addict and I knew I couldn’t enjoy it in moderation; I had to stop eating it altogether.”
Still, that did not mean he ate healthily. He ate processed foods such as cheese and ham rolls and protein bars. Over the next few years, the weight piled back on and he got up to 81kg.
Around this time, Carroll was approached by the Washington-based, non-profit health organisation Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) to take part in a healthy eating campaign called Teaming Up for Health.
This is when Carroll learned about the wholefood, plant-based diet, made up of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, nuts and seeds.
A couple of years later, when he was 34, Carroll stopped eating animal products. He had interviewed a former WWE wrestler who had followed a plant-based lifestyle and he suggested Carroll look into this way of eating.
“I realised with this diet, I would not have to stress over what I ate or worry about heart disease or other lifestyle-related conditions – it seemed like a win-win.”
He and traffic news anchor Julie Wright wed in 2015, and he managed to convince her to switch to a plant-based diet, too. It did not take long for him to lose the extra weight he had gained after his surgery.
Now, Carroll’s mornings begin with overnight oats and toast with nut butter, while lunches and dinners are a feast of roasted vegetables with hummus and kimchi, colourful salads and grain bowls. He is no longer ashamed to be seen eating large amounts, and will proudly tuck into oversized platters of veggies, beans and grains in front of others.
Seven years after adopting a wholefood, plant-based diet, Carroll weighs a svelte 63kg. His blood pressure is excellent and he takes no medication. The back pains are gone, he is not depressed and he has more energy.
I realised with this diet, I would not have to stress over what I ate or worry about heart disease CHUCK CARROLL
If the cravings are intense … I sit with them, knowing that they will be gone in 15 minutes CHUCK CARROLL
“I still wake up every morning and think, ‘It’s so freeing to not have to worry about my weight any more.’ Eating this way has changed my life,” he adds.
He still craves unhealthy foods from time to time, but he has found a way to deal with this.
“Snacking on pineapple chunks or baby carrots with hummus helps, but if the cravings are intense, I don’t fight them. Instead, I sit with them, knowing they will be gone in 15 minutes,” he says.
Carroll was able to combine his media career with his passion for health and nutrition and now hosts a vegan podcast called The Exam Room by the Physicians Committee.
It is a job that allows him to share his knowledge about plant-based eating with others and hopefully make a positive difference in their lives.
Recent guests on his show included Irish plant-based bassist Tanya O’Callaghan, who plays with English rock band Whitesnake. The two of them wore a single pair of Carroll’s old denim jeans.
He is also more physically active.
“I’m doing all the things I used to dismiss when I was overweight. The little things that I thought would not make a difference at all actually make all the difference in the world … like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, using the restroom on another floor and taking the stairs, parking in a distant spot in parking lots,” he says.
“I calculated that by parking in the last spot at work I was walking an extra mile per week with zero effort. Over the course of the year, that was close to 50 miles [80km], and that little effort can make a huge difference.”
Since losing weight and getting his health under control, Carroll says that his future looks bright.
“I am more optimistic and cannot wait to see what’s ahead. There was a time when I could not even see a future for myself, but now I can totally imagine being in my eighties or nineties and relaxing on the porch with my wife,” he says. “Making it to old age is no longer a pipe dream. It’s within my grasp.”