The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I considered having blood work done before and after my vegan experiment, to see if it affected me health wise. I chose not to because my insurance doesn't cover that sort of thing just for the heck of it, and it's kinda pointless to spend several hundred dollars for a service that I can get for free from my employer once a year. Today we had health screening day.

The nurses and lab techs on hand assured me that my health is nothing to worry about. Lose a little weight if you can, exercise a little more if you can, good job quitting smoking, etc. They had this BS scale that said I weighed 167 pounds. I told the girl manning it that earlier that morning I weighed 160.5, and that was after breakfast. She told me in return that some other people had been reporting it weighing a little heavy; however, if their calculations were correct my BMI (body mass index) is 26.2. The ideal BMI is between 18.5 and 25; 25 to 30 is overweight; 30 to 40 is obese; and 40 and above is morbidly obese. So I am slightly above my healthy weight. Gotta work on that.

My blood pressure was perfect, at 112/73. Anything less than 120/80 is good, and it is possible for your blood pressure to be too low. Blood sugar was also in the healthy range- it had been about two hours since I had eaten, and it clocked in at 95. For two hours after a meal, a healthy range is 70 to 145 (a pretty wide range) and it usually takes a 200 to warrant any serious concern. So I'm good there too.

My cholesterol is what was a little confounding. A little over two years ago I had my cholesterol checked and it was a 195. Which is a tad high, but not unhealthy. Today it was 137. Huh?! The nurse congratulated me- "Wow! Have you been eating better, or exercising more often? Have you lost a large amount of weight?"- and I merely explained that, while I was on a perpetual quest to better myself, I had done nothing major enough to merit a nearly sixty point drop in only two years. Of course, this isn't all good. My LDL (bad cholesterol) was at 106 when it should be less than 100, and my HDL (good cholesterol) was 31 when it should be at least 40 and optimally about 60. Also, my ratio of good to bad cholesterol is 4.4, when it should be less than 4.0, and optimally 3.5.

What did they advise me to do to raise my good cholesterol and lower my bad, to make the ratio a little more in line?

• Eat red meats 3 times a week or less. (Shuh)
• Ease up on the high-fat luncheon meats, such as bologna, bacon and hot dogs. (Double shuh)
• Avoid organ meats such as liver and kidney. (I have never eaten these by choice.)
• Limit or avoid egg yolks and butter
• Limit or avoid whole milk, cheeses, and dairy products made from whole milk
• Eat more soy products, nuts, and garlic, as they are found to be beneficial to people in my situation.
• Eat foods high in monounsaturated fat, such as, say, olive oil. (Lately I have practically guzzled that stuff.)

So next year when company health screening day comes up I'll rock the house, eh? EH?