And the winner is . . . my HEART!
\”Happy Heart\” by Andy Williams
I promised I’d let you know the results of my JUST SAY NO TO LIPITOR! regime and here it is:
Total cholesterol down 42 points to 216, HDL (good) up from 56 to 62, LDL (“bad”) down from 184 to 142 with a ratio of 3.5.
My doctor is thrilled and flabbergasted and has advised me to “keep up the good work” without any backsliding because he wants the total count down to 180. PIECE O’ CAKE . . . or, rather, square of heart-healthy dark chocolate!
I will post specifics on how I did it, but please feel free to drop me a comment or email and it’d be my honor to create a program for you, too!
Suffice to say that I had only 1 piece of pizza since November, no cheese (or Christmas eggnog)whatsoever, drinking water, having oatmeal daily for breakfast with some ultra-healthy additions (more later), no beef, lots of fish, nuts, veggies and fruit.
It was actually fun and look at the reward I get to reap . . . hardly seems any sacrifice at all now.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )water. who knew?
Really, people – you have no idea how I never thought I’d be writing this . . . which is exactly why I’m writing it.
I grew up being told to drink 8 glasses of water a day and I pretty much did that. We drank water or juice at my house – almost never soda.
At some point I got derailed. I decided I hated water and that it tasted like “liquid steel”.
Then I used the differing opinions about water intake to validate my resistance: “8 glasses of water a day is a myth“, “drink 10 glasses of water a day,” “you can drink too much water!” etc. I also whined about how far away the water cooler was, how many times I’d have to trudge to the ladies’ room, how nocturnal “loo” visits interrupted my sleep and presented a health hazard.
In the past several months, Wendy Battles has enthusiastically encouraged water drinking, which got me up to a glass a day . . . maybe . . . when I saw her tweets . . .
Then, as you know, my doc told me I had a total cholesterol count of 258 and gave me 6 weeks to “get religion” about my health or start taking Lipitor. During the course of my research and planning my JUST SAY NO TO LIPITOR program, I read that dehydration can contribute to high cholesterol (or at least doesn’t help). Besides, excess weight is a contributor to high cholesterol and drinking water reportedly aids in weight loss. That meant I had to give up my refusal to drink water or wonder if I did everything possible to avoid cholesterol medication.
Day 1. I drank 2 whole glasses of water. 200% more than usual.
Day 2. I experimented with simply doubling what I’d done the day before. 4 glasses of water imbibed.
And so it went until I found myself having drunk (drunken? . . . drank?) 8 glasses in a single day.
To combat the gripes listed above, I got a lovely, cobalt-blue 16 oz. glass so I could I’d feel the victory of having consumed “2 8-oz. glasses” with every refill while minimizing trips to the water cooler and drank most of my water before 6 or 7 pm to avoid sleep interruptions.
While I don’t get retested for my cholesterol until January 20, I have lost weight; but that could be because I now also eat breakfast daily, never going more than 3-4 hours without a healthful snack, cut out all the junk, and exercise more.
So, what’s that got to do with water? Nothing. Here’s what does: my ability to distinguish thirst from hunger and my unwillingness any longer to ignore my body’s signals. Those are BIG! I’d been ignoring my body for so long I couldn’t even tell if I was hungry or thirsty, both of which I mostly ignored until I could stand it no longer and sat down with a big bucket-o’something-unhealthy. I’m back in tune with my systems and that certainly has me feeling healthier and more grounded.
Do I know whether I need 4 glasses or 10? Nope and I probably don’t even care. I’m doing all I can to avoid cholesterol medication and actually feel better for it. We’ll see what the doc says next week, but now that I’ve turned the faucet on, I won’t be turning it off again.
“When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.” ~Benjamin Franklin
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )There is nothing interesting about being a cliche.
I am now 49 years old and proudly presented myself to my physician for my annual physical.
My pride was not entirely appropriate.
My total cholesterol is 258 and my LDL (“bad”) cholesterol is 184. Ignominy.
Doc says in order to avoid meds, I have 4 to 6 weeks to “get religion”. So, while my little weasle mind tried to figure out ways to avoid tending to myself holistically or tried to convince myself that “hey 49 and cholesterol meds isn’t a big deal” . . . I realized I was completely full of donkey dust.
Here are my options as I see them:
(1) take the meds and acquiesce to the middle-age cliches and schlepping myself to the Upper East Side for montly blood tests (that is simply not interesting),
(2) do nothing (could be uninteresting, could be kamikaze – don’t like the odds),
(3) take this thing in hand, make it interesting and fun, and blog about it to help others (and keep myself motivated).
I refuse to eat tree bark or to get on a gerbil wheel at the gym. Hey, that’s just my take on things. What I am interested in doing is eating a variety of delicious foods and doing a variety of exercise I enjoy.
I have a blog called VintageAWESOME for pity’s sake and a neighborhood farmers’ market and an Urban Rebounder and a magnificent park with HILLS across the street!
I’m very interested in your feedback, questions, comments, suggestions (all except for the website that recommended Metamucil 3 times a day).
January 14, 2010 is 6 weeks from tomorrow.
OK, here we go . . .
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 10 so far )
Vintage Awesome! 