New Castle woman says UPMC program helped her lose 100 pounds

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Walking around New Castle and picking up litter has become a weekly activity for Jennifer Houston.

“I feel like I’m 9 years old again,” Houston said. “I’m running circles around people. We had young men come up and cut trees down – I ran circles around football players.”

It’s a drastic difference from a year-and-a-half ago when she was barely able to get out of bed, took 23 medications a day and lived every day in pain.

“I was a size 22, now I’m a size four, and a small shirt. I am 25 lbs. lighter than I was in high school,” Houston said.

In total, she’s lost 100 lbs., thanks, in part, to a virtual program offered through UPMC Lifestyle Medicine, with various classes available based on a patient’s needs and each online group session led by a doctor.

“Some of her diagnoses, really she learned, were more inflammation, and her total body inflammation from food allergies, so she went on a whole food plant-based diet and really started to use her food as her medicine,” said Dr. Michelle Thompson, medical director for UPMC Lifestyle Medicine.

Thompson said this is an opportunity for patients like Houston, who now only takes two pills a day, to get the tools they need to be successful and feel empowered in their healthcare journey.

“We’re leveraging technology to reach more improving access and accepting all insurance plans so that our patients can get healthier and off of medications,” Thompson said.

Houston told Channel 11 she’s met a lot of great people on this health journey who have kept her going and encourages others to follow her path in taking the first step towards a new life.

“I’m almost 95% pain-free now,” Houston said. “We don’t have to be sick. We don’t have to be fat. We don’t have to depend on all these pills.”

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