I've been hinting at changes I've made to my diet and today I'm finally ready to talk about them. About 3 months ago at one of Larry's doctor appointments, the doctor decided that I needed a check up too, so right there and then he gave me one. Blood was drawn and 2 weeks later I was back in his office to find out that my cholesterol had skyrocketed to 304!
My cholesterol has always run a little high, especially for a vegan but it has never been this high and he wanted to put me on drugs right away. I knew I had not been taking care of myself. My diet, while still vegan was not the healthiest. We were spending long hours at the hospital and many times I had to eat whatever was available. I found myself nervously munching on potato chips and candy to keep me going. I was having 3 big cups of coffee each morning and barely getting my walks in. I had gained 10 lbs and had round the clock indigestion. I asked the doc to please give me 3 months to see if to give I could lower it myself and get healthier. He agreed and last week I received my results. I'm happy to say that my cholesterol went from 304 to 238, a full 66 points, in 10 weeks. I also lost 10 lbs and my indigestion is completely gone.
So what did I do? First I started researching ways to lower my cholesterol without drugs. I also went on YouTube and found a wealth of videos (I'm linking a couple of favorites below). I decided to keep a journal on what was working and what wasn't. Like I said, I had terrible stomach aches and wanted them gone asap. By recording what I was eating I could see what was causing the flare ups.
My number one task was to eliminate processed foods. My goal was to eat food in its most natural state. Next I knew I had to eliminate salt, oil and sugar (SOS). Oil, especially olive oil is touted as a health food and after researching it, I realize it isn't. The only sugar I get now is from dates and maple syrup and I eat those in very tiny amounts. I don't add any salt to my food at all and there are some things that I buy that have trace amounts but I'm ok with that.
So here is a sample of what I'm eating these days that is healing me.
Breakfast would be overnight oats with blueberries, cinnamon, flax, almonds and homemade almond milk.
Lunch is usually a potato and a giant salad with beans and veggies.
Dinner is usually soup, salad, rice with veggies or brown rice pasta with veggies or potato tacos.
Snacks and desserts are fruits, veggies and hummus, nuts or a smoothie.
My health has improved significantly. My taste buds have adjusted to this new way of eating and food tastes so dang fresh. I've joined a new yoga studio just around the corner from my house so that is very nice.
To simplify, I'm eating whole fresh foods that are vegan with no oil and no sugar and a tiny bit of salt. I am not counting calories at all. I just eat fresh foods with reckless abandon.
Here are some links if you are interested. Warning, you will fall down the rabbit hole of nutritional information. I will begin to post recipes if you are interested. I've come up with 2 salad dressings that I really love and are pretty versatile.
NutritionFacts.Org
Dr. Gregor's Nutritional Facts.Org on YouTube
Well Your World YouTube
Dr. Mcdougall YouTube
There are tons of other sites too, you'll see. xo
