I love studying the genealogy of my family. Obtaining passenger lists from the Father Land, old photos from Romanian immigrants, and death certificates from back in the day. Unfortunately, a pattern quickly emerged from the deaths of most of my family - heart disease.
It really wasn't a surprise as the majority of the family funerals I attended were the result of heart disease. Heart disease still kills more Americans than all cancers combined and is, for the most part, preventable. I realized I had issues with cholesterol several years ago and began making changes to my eating habits. I saw some favorable results but the numbers see-sawed more than I wanted. When my lipids became alarmingly high and the good doc wanted to prescribe medicine I realized I needed to be unreasonable.
I did some research and ordered three books: Engine 2 Diet, The China Study, and You Can Reverse Heart Disease and began to read. It took some time but a picture began to form in my mind of how to eradicate the ugly, sticky mess from my blood stream. I needed to go "plant strong" for an experiment.
My blood total cholesterol was 259 at the time and the goal was to get it less than 150. I removed all animal based products from my eating for 60 days. Would it work? I really didn't know but realized I didn't want to take a drug that would destroy one organ to save another. Kind of like slowly burning down your bathroom in order to remodel your kitchen.
The long and short of it is that it worked well. My total cholesterol dropped from 259 to 138 during the 60-day experiment and I was hooked. Is it easy to maintain? I don't think that it is. I struggle daily and have a strong repertoire of plant-based recipes. And that's why I'm blogging.
Consider this a supportive, encouraging place to learn and try new things.
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment