WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG

WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG

For an Important Announcement!

Dear Readers,

WOW, WOW, WOW and more WOW!  I just came, heels a-clicking, heart a-pumping, lungs a-filling, from the doctor's office.  In my car I was overcome by a primal and demonic laugh of joy to (and with) the universe (is that oxymoronic?).  A few of you have heard this before and know exactly what I mean.

Why, you ask?  Well, here's the story.

I'd made this doctor's appointment a while back, at least 5 or 6 weeks ago, probably during or just after I finished my juice fast.  The more I read and watched about health, nutrition and lifestyle in January and February, the more I realized I needed to get myself checkd out and know where I stood in terms of cholesterol and all those other blood chemistry vitals.  I knew I possibly had some predispositions, considering my family's history, and when I made the appointment I picked up copies of my medical history to get a handle on where I was.

What I found was not very uplifitng.  As I mentioned in Who Is Sausage Boy?, I was boderline on everything: cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar (glucose) levels and, obviously, weight.  One scary thing about these medical records was that they were nothing like current.  I had two sets of records: one from a visit in 2006 and one from a visit in 2010.  Far scarier still, though, was the progression these records showed.  Every single indicator got worse between those two visits, and considering my lifestyle and eating habits had only stayed the same or even got worse, it stood to reason that by now, in 2012, two years after my last visit, all those indicators would have worsened further still!  That's why I wished I had had the appointment before I started making those health and lifestyle changes in January, so I could have had a real baseline to look at.  These would have to do.  The doctor even warned me today to not get discouraged if the results weren't stellar, considering the possbility that things had gotten wose before I started to make them better.

So back to today.  This gorgeous, beautiful, cool, breezy, sunny spring Friday - birds chirping, flowers blooming, and me, howling at the sun with delight on my out of the doctor's office.  Here's what happened in that little room:

Total Cholesterol: went from 198 to 142

LDL Cholesterol (the "bad" cholestersol): went from 130 to 84

Blood Pressure: went from 136/90 to 122/80

Glucose (blood sugar) Level: went from 6.1% to 5.1%.  (The lowest it can be is 4.5%)

BMI: went from 30.1 to 25.8

I was practically floored.  My doctor was exicted and the nurse said I could be a "poster boy" for change.  I think I blushed.

And for all those doubters out there (not doubters about me, but those who doubt that they could effect a major health change in their life), you have to remember that these are changes have occrured over only the past 8 weeks or so!  Just imagine the next few months!

The only "bad" pece of news was that my HDL cholesterol (the "good" kind) went down, from 46 to 33.  It's supposed to be above 40.  Dr. Levin says it's partially just because of the rather drasatic nature of the change, and that if I continue to seek out healthy sources of omega-3s (fish, nuts, flax), that issue should eventually even itself out.

It's hard to describe how great I feel about this.  It obviously calls for a celebration.  Sausage anyone?  A bottle of wine?  Chocoloate chip cookies?  I'm joking, of course.  If anything, this strengthens my resolve to continue this path of Real Food.  I now know that I not only feel good, I am good.  I'm already thinking about the salad I'm going to make for dinner tonight!  I will, however, have at least one glass of red wine with it, though.  Cheers!

Have a great weekend, everyone!