" When Eugene Stroud visited the health fair at St. Louis Children's Hospital in August, he felt fine. Little did he know he was being stalked by a killer."

" "My blood pressure was high, 160 over 90-something. Then my cholesterol was bad, around 265 - everything was bad," he recalled. "They told me I was in trouble for diabetes and heart trouble if I didn't get a cardiovascular workout.""

" He had grown to more than 340 pounds, which wasn't so noticeable on his 6-foot-3, big-boned frame. But his system had noticed it."

" He was on blood-pressure medication already, but didn't know his pressure was out of hand again. "

" Stroud has a close relative who suffers from diabetes and is on kidney dialysis. He didn't want that fate for himself or for his family."

" "I was overweight. I weighed 340; I was up there. I used to wear a 48 (waist inches)," he said. "I just took it seriously after the health fair.""

" Today, he is around 260, his blood pressure is normal, his cardiovascular system is healthy and his waistline keeps trying to drop below 38, which is where he wants it."

" "I didn't try to lose weight. I just wanted to be healthy; I wanted to get ahold of my cholesterol and what I ate," he said. "I changed my diet and started exercising hard.""

" He cut out excessive sweets, junk food, prepared foods, pork and beef. If it wasn't fresh food, he avoided it. So meals became baked fish and chicken, vegetables, potatoes and such. Snacks included nothing fried."

" In addition, he began to work out at the hospital's gym daily. "I got on the treadmill, and I couldn't go five minutes," he said. Now he does up to an hour and a half."

" "At first I used to get to work and I'd be sweating; my chest would feel like I was catching a cold," he said. "Now I'm not even sweating when I get to work.""

" A year before the fateful health fair, his church, Trinity Full Gospel Church in north St. Louis County, was in a crisis. The minister called for a 21-day fast as a spiritual enhancement to the members' prayers. They weren't to eat from noon until midnight."

" "That fast took me to a new level," Stroud said. "It disciplined my mind. I was able to do that, so when this happened, I didn't have any trouble with making the changes."

" "The fast taught me discipline. That's what you need. Your flesh wants the food, but your spirit, your body, just wants to be nourished. Had I not fasted then, I wouldn't be where I am now. I tried to do it, I prayed on it, I did it.""

" That's why working in food service for the hospital, being surrounded by so much food, didn't present a challenge."

" "It wasn't hard because it was a choice that I made in my mind," he said. "I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. Whatever you put in your system, you are what you eat. On that basis, it became easy to me.""

" "I was on blood-pressure medicine, and one day I was feeling light, like dizzy and light on my feet. That was because of the way I was eating and exercising - I ate light and worked out hard. The blood-pressure medicine made my blood pressure too low."

" "The number got real low, like 109 over 30. I didn't feel sick, just off-balance. So the doctor told me to stop taking that two months ago. I've felt OK since then."

" His last pressure check at work - he has it taken every day - was 121/83 with no medication."

" "I didn't feel right
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