And so it goes, on another wild goose chase, of sorts.
Since around December, I have drastically changed what I
eat and for the most part my entire daily routine. The drive for the change was
my latest echo-cardiogram that showed a “not quite yet operable”, degrading aortic
valve that has been regressing into bad and worse over the years.
I eat no meat, or animal products (no dairy, eggs), about
95% of the time. I eat cooked veggies only at home, because you see, in the
restaurants they cook everything in butter. Even ‘unbuttered toast’ is absolutely
impossible to order in the US of A!
I eat salads out, almost exclusively, except when I
travel, when I indulge in bread or fish. I do eat fish about once or twice a
week on an average (some weeks, I eat more). To top that, I have had allergies
to foods, and the list there has grown every day, it seems. So, I am staying
away from soy, too, and because of the fat content, I eat very little nuts, avocadoes,
or any oils too. So, yeah, my list of foods is shrinking and shrinking. People
ask for labels nowadays, so they ask me all the time if I am vegetarian. I hate
labels, but for sake of simplicity I call myself “soy free vegan”, and it’s
mostly accurate, except for the days when I eat fish and (very rarely) a piece
of turkey (as close to 99% fat free as I find).
And just last week, I went in for the repeat blood tests.
I am still allergic “to something”, but even after months of seeing doctors and
trying to figure out “what” that something is, we still cannot tell for sure.
But all my cholesterol values have dropped unbelievably since September:
| Test | September Value | March Value | Difference | Regular Range |
| Cholesterol | 410 | 284 | -126 | 100-199 |
| HDL Chol | 40 | 31 | -9 | 40-59 |
| LDL Chol | 344 | 225 | -119 | 0-130 |
| Triglycerides | 133 | 142 | 9 | 48-149 |
| Chol/HDL ratio | 10.3 | 9.2 | -1.1 | 0-3.1 |
| LDL/HDL ratio | 8.6 | 7.2 | -1.4 | 0 |
I can tell you that this diet is agreeing with my level
of energy, too. I wake up earlier, I snooze less and I work 12 hour days most
days. I feel horrible in my stomach for the most part, because I still think
something, somewhere is wrong with my digestive tract, but I feel great
anywhere else. My one wish is still to exercise more, to make my heart
stronger.
I still won’t know for sure whether the diet changes will
slow down the valve’s degradation, till the following echo-cardiogram in
December, but here’s hoping.
One puzzling thought I do still have is my increasing
triglycerides: they were hardly ever elevated before, and they typically tell
you that if your diet is healthy, they should be low. Well, mine went up! The
only fat fraction that did so. Again: am I ever easy to figure out?!
