GREAT NEWS and a FIRST!

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11 years 5 months ago #26903 by OleCowboy
GREAT NEWS and a FIRST! was created by OleCowboy
Not often you come out of the Docs office with a huge smile on your face, but I just did. And for what may be the first time in my life every single thing they test me for, which is a LOT, was not just good, but GREAT! The Doc was beside himself. In addition I have lost 7+ lbs. Even my life long SKY HIGH Cholesterol was the lowest in my life and the good was great and the bad was low. As the doc said, if you were 21 I would tell you that you had a great report…even I was stunned by the numbers. I have had cholesterol into the 1000's and historically it ran in the 800's when I was watching what I ate. We have juggled my cholesterol meds around to using a 3 pronged approach:

Niacin (Niaspan) 1000mg tab x 2

Zetia 10mg tab x 1

Simvastatin 400mg tab (1Ž2 tab) x 1

Now its below 100 and no liver side effects...

And what I believe what has given me the good numbers and a loss of 7+ lbs has been a diet I have been on or rather going back to the way I ate most of my life or at least till I met DONNA!

When I was stationed at Ft Monroe Va back in the mid 80's I arrived at 185 lbs +/- 2 lbs. Life was good for a couple of years and I met Donna who had a degree in Nutrition and she followed the Govt pyramid which as many will remember was CARBO HEAVY. Donna beat me up because I ate so much protein and she was dead set on changing my ways. Well she did and I did and the weight starting coming on. I did not change my daily 5 mile runs or anything else, I just got heavier and climbed up to 212 and worked hard to keep it there. But I was hooked on carbs and they are not that easy to kick. Plus you need to know that you need to kick them.

Then not too long ago I was just doing some reading and stumbled upon something called the "Paleo Diet". [here is a link to info about it, but there is a lot, not pushing this one, just giving some info: thepaleodiet.com/

I hesitate to call Paleo a diet because for many us it was the way we ate most of our lives. Its a protein focused diet. It still leaves room for carbs but the results are I feel better than I have in years, have more energy, slowly losing weight and my numbers are the best they have been in my life.

I have a spreadsheet (MS Excel) that is a listing of things you can eat and things you need to avoid. It was seeing this list that was an aha moment. With some exceptions this is how I ate most of my life and maybe I should get back to it. I did and I also cut out a lot of stuff I ate that I did not really think twice about. Sure its a bit hard at first to kick the pasta, Coke and other things, but in short order they fall by the wayside with out much effort. You do have other stuff you can eat. Fresh fruit satisfies your sweet tooth just as good a coke or candy. And I assure you that you can still drink a coke from time to time and eat some candies. But the daily and even weekly consumption has to go. Trust me, the desire goes quicker than you may think and without any issues.

That said not sure it will cure what ails you. I still have all my ills, but what I have is more get up and go, less weight and an overall better feeling everyday. And that is worth it, plus you get to eat some great food.

Lastly it was the govt that gave us the carbs, told us it is good for us and meat is bad, since when has our govt EVER got anything right?

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11 years 5 months ago - 11 years 5 months ago #26907 by Siscowet
Replied by Siscowet on topic GREAT NEWS and a FIRST!
:thumbs: that's great news Cowboy, congratulations. I think you are absolutely right about the diet thing. Read Gary Taubes, "Good Calorie, Bad Calorie" about the food pyramid, and the real problem, complex carbohydrates.
Last edit: 11 years 5 months ago by Siscowet.

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11 years 5 months ago #26910 by OleCowboy
Replied by OleCowboy on topic GREAT NEWS and a FIRST!

Siscowet wrote: :thumbs: that's great news Cowboy, congratulations. I think you are absolutely right about the diet thing. Read Michael Taubes, "Good Calorie, Bad Calorie" about the food pyramid, and the real problem, complex carbohydrates.

You are right Sisco, its how I ate most of my life up till the late 80's, I believed Donna nd the Govt with its new pyramid...they were WRONG!

I have far more energy, not that I was a low drive couch potato or anything like that. I mean I can tell the difference in drive, energy and feeling better than I did. Today I loaded two loads of cut wood on my 18 foot trailer, some of the logs I loaded weighed in over 100 lbs. I also cut all this slinging a 18 lb Husky Rancher chain saw, then drug it up to the road. I can out work the 2 ranch hands I have who are teen football players. I push them hard and told them the other day I do more work in 4 hrs than the 2 of them in 8 and I was not kidding.

What a difference this is...

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