The 66-year-old also had to face his truths and some facts. He had not been watching what he was eating. He wasn’t always taking his medication properly. And he wasn’t habitually checking his levels. Plus, in his 23-year career with the Miami-Dade Police Department, Jackson took on multiple extra shifts, many overnight. It was during that time that Red Bull (27 grams of sugar), colada and fast food became his partners. Colada is a strong Cuban espresso with loads of sugar. They are typically served in 10-ounce cups with mini-shot-size plastic cups for sharing. Jackson however was consuming the full 10-ounce cup alone, ingesting 28 grams of sugar.

An avid angler, and the cook in his household, making the necessary changes to his food choices and food preparation was not difficult for Jackson. “It’s all about mindset. Once I decided I needed help and I asked for help. I did what I needed to do.”

Fortunately, the cooking skills he gleaned from his late father and grew up are (his sister Brenda and brother Herman are also top-notch cooks) helped eating better easier. Jackson began the ELB Well program with the 16-Day Detox. This detox eliminates all animal products and gradually eliminates food groups up the pyramid. By the end of tract, those brave enough to undertake it, are able to handle a raw, vegan diet. Jackson gets excited talking about the fun he has in creating a variety of tastes in vegan dishes for he and the family, although he admits his wife, daughter and grandkids wanted meat.

A key adjustment for the 27-year Army veteran was not cooking vegetables with meat, instead infusing things like Liquid Smoke. Now, when he does cook meat, it is from the catch of fish he is known to haul in and that works wonderfully, since the grandkids love fish. One of his favorite dishes to cook is baked cabbage steaks.

“I’m a cabbage fiend. I love me some cabbage. Your grab a cabbage, cut it about two inches thick, you’ll probably end up with about four nice sized steaks. You get some garlic butter and brush it on both sides. Then season one side to your taste. On the side of that, I sauté some onions and mushrooms, so I have something to go over that cabbage and man…” Jackson says you can do the same with cauliflower. Both are now highly requested family meals.

Jackson’s last A1C numbers were down to just a little over seven. Doctors have decreased his diabetes medication and are amazed at the progress he’s made. The plan is to begin to wean him off many of the medications that he has been taking; and one doctor even asked for the ELB Well information for his wife.

For men who really don’t like asking for assistance and would rather be unhealthy than say help me do better, Jackson has some advice.

“The first thing you have to do is take a look at yourself, you can’t point fingers anywhere else except at that person you are looking at in the mirror and accept what you see. For a lot of men, asking for help is seen as a sign of weakness. You don’t want to show weakness as a man, head of the household, but there comes a time when you have to take that pride and stick it in your backpack and go ask for help.”

Other praiseworthy progress on the ELB Well program for Jackson is the difference he feels in his body. He says it feels like working on a construction site all day, being covered in concrete and then taking a hot shower at the end of the day. You feel everything wash off you. Plus, he is enjoying the reduction in a beer belly and noticing the change in how his clothes fit. He is no longer fueled by fast food and high caffeine and excessively sweetened drinks. Jackson says he feels good and he’s paying attention to what he needs to do to be healthy; and trying to keep his family from sneaking off with his prepped meals.