Amazing Results

I became a little concerned with my health in 2003 after a bad hiking experience in New Hampshire heading up into Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington.  I didn't do well with it and my hiking partner and I had to turn back when it became too late in the day to hike safely.  We also needed to drive further north to get to our campsite. The rest of the trip went ok that weekend even getting up Old Speck in Maine a couple days later, but I was nagged by my failure on that hike.  I had a physical not long after and came through that ok, with no problems found other than not being a teenager anymore, had a sedentary job, lousy diet, and very little activity compared to what I had in my 20s.  My total cholesterol then was 175.  I wasn't concerned about this because I really had no idea what the numbers meant.  Fast forward to 2008 when I took on running as a form of exercise.  We had also started eating a little better in that we tried to get away from factory farmed meats, buying from farmers as much as we could.  I would travel to upstate New York for pastured poultry and we had pastured beef delivered from Vermont.    Unfortunately, my habits of addiction to cheese and ice cream along with the piles of meat we were eating took their toll.  My cholesterol in 2009 approached the 200 mark, though still technically under the high mark by a single point.

I began incorporating more and more plant-based meals into my life and cutting way back on meat.  Mrs and I had watched the documentary, Forks Over Knives and things started to click for me, though I didn't go totally plant-based.  My running became much more frequent and I was participating in 5k and longer road races.  In 2011 my total cholesterol had dropped to 148.

At some point we watched Forks Over Knives again and I finally got it.  It wasn't just about cholesterol, though for me that was a big concern having seen my father go through a femoral bypass at 63 (the surgery was a success, but he developed sepsis in the hospital and died three weeks later).  I was also concerned about diabetes and cancer which are also focused on in the film.  Late in 2012 I decided to go low fat plant-based.  The transition was not hard at all.  I contiued to absorb material from the film as well as offshoot videos on YouTube and other sources featured in the film including Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, his son Rip Esselstyn of The Engine 2 Diet, Dr. Colin Campell, Jeff Novick, Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. Dean Ornish, and Dr John McDougall to name a few.  Another great resource,  is Dr Frank Sabatino who explains in depth the concepts of plant-based nutrition and also goes into the subjects of addiction, stress and sleep and how they play into weight gain and other diseases.  I've watched this video series several times.  I'm doing better, but still have some improvements I can make.

The shorter version of this story is this.  I had a physical earlier this month.  I had a goal in mind for my total cholesterol to be at or near 130.  I was shocked and pleasantly surprised to hear the doctor say "Whatever you're doing, keep doing it." before he told me my total was 110.  Better than that, the HDL & LDL levels were better, up and down respectively.

The slightly longer story.  For me, this was not really about weight loss, but for the most part that's what usually is the catalyst for taking this lifestyle on.  True, I was getting a bit pudgy and dropped quickly about 15 pounds.  For me now it is about getting in as many calories each day as I can, so I have gone to a more starch based approach to the plant based lifestyle.  Many people envision vegetarians and vegans (both labels I try to avoid) as eating fistful after fistful of lettuce and carrots.  This is wrong and NOT the way to go.  It took me a little bit to figure out and get away from the belief that is drilled into our heads that carbs are bad and will make you fat.

It's been an interesting experience.  I was giving myself a year and that came and went in December.  I can count on one hand the number of pieces of cheese I had in 2013.  Three of those were on purpose and two were somewhat in error and my fault for not reading menus properly.  I don't miss the crappy diet at all and I definitely don't miss meat.  I am SO pleased to have gotten away from the western diet that is making so many people sick.

 One of the big challenges is meal planning for backpacking, but there are good options available and I also can make up my own meals in Ziplock freezer bags or vacuum bags using our FoodSaver device.

I leave you with this: