Marco Islander Jeff Popick is on a crusade to help overweight people by encouraging them to adopt his own vegan lifestyle.

Popick, 46, who remembers weighing in at about 300 pounds when he was 26 years old, says giving up meat and dairy products and concentrating on plant foods resulted in him losing about 150 pounds down the years.

In addition, he says, it improved his health immeasurably by radically improving his cholesterol count and also enabling him to discontinue some medications he had to take for gout.

“The irony,” he says, “is that the weight loss was an unwitting result of giving up meat and dairy. One day I just decided I didn’t want to eat dead animals and birds and dairy, and the pounds literally started to strip off.”

Popick is writing a book about his experiences, and also plans a community service series of meetings for 20 volunteers.

The four-section book outlines his personal story, examines the science of weight loss (in conjunction with two contributing physicians), provides a planning and motivational section, and also features meal plans and recipes.

Popoff will limit volunteers to about 20, who will meet twice a week for a month, and then decide on his philosophy.

The meetings will be essentially free, but to ensure people don’t default, he’ll ask for nominal deposits of around $50 to $100 that will be refundable if they complete the series.

Passionate about his cause, Popick has one previous book under his belt called “The Real Forbidden Fruit.”

“I wrote that book not to convert people to veganism,” he says, “but to validate those who had already made the choice.”

Popick knows only too well that converting people to his philosophy is an uphill battle, and that he might tick off the various meat and dairy industries.

But he stands by his convictions, pointing out that he doesn’t diet as such, instead simply adding a host of plant food options to his meal regimen.

“I don’t count carbs or calories,” he says. “In fact, I’m still something of a glutton.”

On another level, Popick says a panel of United Nations scientists has reported that meat and dairy industries cause more greenhouse gases than planes, trains, cars and boats combined.

“Most governments don’t want to deliver that message, because there are obvious economic issues attached to that,” he says.

The working title of the new book is “Eradicate Obesity.”

People interested in joining Popick’s upcoming series of classes should call him at 394-4000.

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