The guy in the photograph above is Tim Smith, and one of the reasons he might look so happy is that he’s changed his life for the better. For years, Tim has been promoting healthy eating through his urban farm initiative Community Greenhouse Partners, (CGP) in Cleveland’s St. Clair – Superior district. Now, Tim isn’t just talking about healthy eating, he’s become a living example of health by losing more than 80 pounds since the fall of 2015.
As the face of CGP, Tim’s two-pronged approach of educating the public about the importance and viability of locally grown food, as well as producing products for market, took a lot of effort. The CGP campaign also took a toll on Tim’s health; as a Type I diabetic and weighing more than 330 pounds, health problems would often hospitalize him or have him recovering for extended periods of time.
After health screening and clearance in the fall of 2015, Tim underwent one of the most extreme elective body modification surgeries, a Roux-en-Y laparoscopic gastric bypass. Now, Tim is physically limited to the amount of food he can consume, because surgery has reduced his stomach to the size of an egg. This food restriction, coupled with regular exercise, puts Tim well on his way to next weight loss goal, losing 100 pounds.