60 Days Plant Based Diet. New Bloods.

60 days now. To keep it brief my blood results are shown below with the latest high lighted with the orange arrow.

Our  mission started on the 23rd of December 2010.

Since then we have eaten an exclusively plant based, no oils and fats and whole grain diet.

Our targets were to achieve a total cholesterol of 3.88 or below and an LDL of 2.07 or below.

This has been achieved and maintained over just under two months so it looks like we are well on the right track.

If you look at the results between 19/01/11 and 16/02/11 there are a couple of significant numbers that need investigation. HDL and Triglycerides. The latter increased 60% within a month!

So in regard to Tri's I need to research the reason for this and it may be due to too much sugar intake even though I am not aware of doing this. However I am still within the limits set not only by the chart below but by Esselstyn and Ornish. So I am not too concerned about that but I will be looking closely at my sugar and refined foods aspects. The HDL change from 1.32 to 1.09 was a concern as I have always believed a high HDL to be a good thing and a protective situation.

On consulting Esselstyn and Ornish I am relieved to know that HDL will drop as cholesterol drops.

Here is an extract from The Spectrum by Dean Ornish, MD states "Your HDL level may stay the same or even decrease because there is less need for it". Ornish explains that HDL is made by the body to deal with damaging LDL levels and as these decrease HDL is not needed at the higher levels. From further reading I suspect this is an area of knowledge that is evolving.

So how is progress aside from the numbers? 

General Health = Good high energy.

Exercise = Walking hard and biking moderately with no chest pain.

Weight = Now lost over 6 kgs (In 60 days) without this being a focus of what we are doing its just happening.

Other = In the past week or so my breathing and recovery has improved during and after exercise. Not that I was aware of a problem but I can feel an improvement.

Otherwise we are trucking on with our new way of life.

Rob has been amazing. She is at the frontier for us in regard to meals and shopping. Its early days yet. Back to the Cardiologist tomorrow. That will be interesting to see what he thinks of the progress. I need to explain why I never took his prescribed drugs and if he agrees with what we are doing.