I've made an appointment with my doctor for next Monday to get some bloodwork done - and this will be interesting because my Crestor prescription runs out this Saturday. I had intended to ask him about going off the statin (Crestor) for the blood tests to see how my bloodwork does without this drug in my system. I guess I won't have to ask him, I'll tell him. Crestor is supposed to have a half life of about 19 hours in the body, so if I go for 3-4 days without it, it should give me a fair representation of the trend.
In all I've read, the general consensus is that it may take 6 months of the no-sugar-no-grain diet for your bloodwork to reach some kind of new stability.
I've been warned that:
- Total Cholesterol will likely rise - but it's been shown not to matter unless it's a huge number
- LDL Cholesterol will likely rise - the fat in the diet will cause it to go up - but again this number is not important
- VLDL (Very Low Density LDL) will be a small number - this is the deadly stuff - the stuff that gets into your arteries and causes plaques - low is good
- Triglycerides will go down - although mine were already low
- HDL will go up - this has been the problem for me - I could never raise it about 0.9mmol/L without niacin and a statin - I plan to remain on the niacin unless there is a good reason to go off
- CRP (C-Reactive Protein) is an inflammation marker in the blood - and this number has traditionally been good as well, although the statin probably had something to do with that - it should be low
This inflammation is quite likely caused by excess carbohydrate consumption in the form of sugars and grains. It all fits with my situation.
Years of eating little/no meat, compensated with an excess consumption of "good carbs" (whole wheat everything) led to chronic inflammation in my arteries. Which led to both the bypass surgery and the stroke.
Slightly Relaxing the Diet
I've read more about this topic than I did before making the vegetarian choice sixteen years ago. And I've been sure to look for "anti-paleo" arguments along the way.
As with any diet/fad/lifestyle, there are zeolots that require you to stick to a rigid formula. I'm not a big fan of zeolots, regardless of who they are, so I happened upon Dr. Kurt Harris who has taken the Paleo idea and turned it into something achievable for most of us - he calls it Archevore or Paleo 2.0. The basic guidelines are as follows - they become less important as you go down the list, so if you can hit the top few, you're doing well:
- Get plenty of sleep and deal with any non-food addictions
- Eliminate sugar and all caloric drinks
- Eliminate gluten grains and all wheat flour
- Eliminate grain and seed-derived oils (soy, canola, etc)
- 2 or 3 meals a day is best - no snacking
- Eat whole foods from animals (grass-fed ruminants, eggs, fish, seafood)
- Get lots of vitamin D - supplement if necessary
- Eat a wide variety of vegetables and fruit - easy on the fruit
- Get regular exercise
My diet program typically looks as simple as this:
- Breakfast - smoothie with coconut milk, eggs, banana, flax seed, vanilla and berries - and a couple of cups of coffee
- Lunch - big spinach salad with tomato, cucumber, onion, soft cheese, 1/2 can of tuna, olive oil and balsamic
- Dinner - a piece of chicken/fish, sweet potato, brocolli
- Dessert - Greek yogurt with berries, 1/3 dark chocolate bar (>85%), apple, hard cheese
I'll update the blood numbers as I get them (in a couple of weeks).
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