 |
| Native Wellington - take home and bake for 1 hour |
The past few weeks have been very busy for me and now here it is almost Thanksgiving! Where does the time fly? This year we are opting for convenience and trying a new thing. For our main course we have ordered the Native Wellington from the Native Foods Cafe. The Wellington is filled with kale, portobello mushrooms, orange glazed yams, stuffing, caramelized onions, and it comes with shallot mushroom gravy on the side. Along with the main course we will have steamed kale, corn on the cob, and cauliflower mashed potatoes. I am so happy that Thanksgiving will be stress free!
Last week I was re-reading the book Keep It Simple, Keep It Whole by Alona Pulde M.D., and Matthew Lederman M.D. In their book they talk about something I am constantly concerned with - my numbers.
Everyday as I plan my food I instinctively consider the foods and how they will affect numbers (cholesterol & blood pressure). One of my main goals is to get my cholesterol numbers down so that I will be able to stop taking my statin medication. Now please understand me, my numbers are good--just not low enough to quit the medication. One of the take home messages in Pulde & Lederman’s book was:
Normal numbers DO NOT mean normal health
IF you are manipulating those numbers with pills
Yep - they are right about that and that’s why I am concerned everyday with my numbers.
Recently, I had the opportunity to see Dr. Greger M.D., in person and was able to ask him how I could convince my cardiologist to take me off of statin medication. Dr. Greger said the same thing that I have read in Dr. Esselstyn’s book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. Basically, I would need to have my LDL cholesterol at 60 mg/L or less. The last blood work I had done measured my LDL cholesterol at 78 mg/L.
 |
| Michael Greger M.D., NutritionFacts.org |
About a week later I had my annual visit with my cardiologist and I asked her about getting off the statin. She said she was willing to work with me to achieve my goal and acknowledged my hard work. Then she gave me a great compliment! She said I looked so much better than I did when I first started seeing her. To top it off she cut my statin medication in half! I was so happy.
So I will be back in 3 months to see her again and I am hoping with some minor changes to my diet I will be able to go off the statin. However, one thing I am sure of is that I am on the right path. My numbers continue to improve, my weight continues to go down, and my blood pressure is great. Soon I am hopeful that I can have low numbers without medication and stop any progression of heart disease in my life.
Check out this interesting article from another doctor, Dr. Klaper called Nutrition For Optimum Health, in which he talks about the effects of oil in the blood. He’s included some great photos which shows how blood becomes sludge-like after eating a high fat meal.
No comments:
Post a Comment