Is the Truth Really in the Numbers?

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?!