Eat Less, Move More… and then some!

Six months ago, at a routine appointment, my primary doctor sat me down and told me that if I didn’t make some drastic changes soon, he would be expecting a phone call stating that I'd had a heart attack or a stroke. That news nearly stopped my heart. My cholesterol was 292, A1C was too high, and my blood pressure was all over the place. 

Some of you may know that I have been on the Eat Less, Move More journey for a little over a year. I've been eating smaller portions and walking more, and my weight has dropped nearly thirty pounds. Even though the weight loss has been a positive for me, I was still baffled at the rise in some critical lab numbers. My doctor put in orders for heart scans  and I started making plans to change my diet. 

I was scared. 

At 55, I know my body needs different nutrients in various forms, and that it doesn’t react the same as it did when I was in my 20’s, or even 30’s. I had to find a way to lower my bad cholesterol without the assistance of medication. This is what I did.  

• I cut my dairy intake by 90%. 

• I added more salmon to my diet, and only ate red meat once, sometimes twice a week, in small portions. 

• Old fashioned oats! 

• More grains were added to my meals and I make sure I have a little bit of olive oil every day. 

• Taking the stairs when possible and walking, walking, walking. 

• Last, but not least, a gallon of water a day, if not more. 

Yesterday I met with my doctor.  My cholesterol dropped by nearly 100 points in six months! He couldn't believe I wasn’t on medication. My A1C was back under a normal reading, my blood pressure was good, and while I haven't lost a lot more weight, the number is still moving. 

His last bit of advice, after I told him I was eating a lot of fresh spinach, was to grow it in my own garden. He talked about how we need the good bacteria from our own, local soil. Or, to try getting fresh fruits and vegetables from a farmers market. He mentioned how grocery chains sanitize them so much that we aren’t getting the good bacteria that we need.

This article in Gardening Know How talks about the benefits to our health of microbes in soil.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm

It took a serious wake up call to start making changes, but it gets easier every day that I do.

This is my personal journey. I can only talk about the things that have worked for me.

When I started this journey my goals were to lose weight, strengthen my body and remove negative eating habits. My goals are the same, but with a little more passion and more emphasis on glorifying God along the way.