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Wow, very interesting thread. It is pretty cool to see a bunch of "car guys" talking about eating and living healthy.

My deal started a little over 2 years ago now. I was 45 years old, 6'0" and weighed about 180 pounds, pretty healthy I thought, just a little bit of a spare tire forming. Went for my annual physical, nailed the EKG, Stress test, everything looked good...until the blood work came back.

July 2011
Cholesterol 179
HDL Direct 32
Triglyceride 191
LDL Calculated 109

The Doc was mainly concerned about my Triglyceride levels, wanted to put me on a Statin. I refused and started a workout regimen, 30 minutes on treadmill 5 days a week, started drinking 8 oz of Grape juice a day (to raise good cholesterol) and taking an Omega supplement once a day.


Went back for more blood work in Oct 2011
Cholesterol 218
HDL Direct 29
Non-HDL Cholesterol 199
Triglyceride 195
LDL Calculated 150

This pissed me off enough that I stopped working out (aggravating knee trouble contributed as well), but continued with grape juice and omega supplement.


In Jan 2013 went back for more blood work
Cholesterol 243
HDL Direct 34
Non-HDL Cholesterol 209
Triglyceride 291
LDL Calculated 151

Again, the doc stressed that I need to be on a Statin, diagnosed me as "pre-diabetic". Well, just about everyone in my family has been diagnosed as "pre-diabetic" at one time or another due to Triglyceride levels, yet none of them have developed actual heart disease.

The wife and I sat down and decided to change the way we live, drastically. First although we thought that we ate pretty healthy, we reevaluated everything we consume and took out anything that would be considered "processed food". We committed to a fresh fruit, fresh vegetable and sensible protein diet, morning noon and night. We learned about better fish to eat, not just any fish, we learned about adding almonds to the mix, we learned ways of cooking food in a healthier manner. And the wife quit her high stress job and took some time off to just chill and spend a lot of time running to the grocery store for fresh food and making my lunches for me. I've always packed a lunch, but now my lunches have bags of carrots, cut fresh green peppers, nuts, and a light sammich in them instead of jello pudding, applesauce, and cookies along with a big ol honking sammich in there.

We also researched omegas...and learned a TON. I'm convinced the Omega supplement I was taking was wreaking havoc with my system. We found a supplement that was better fit and I started taking it once a day and I quit the grape juice

It's a life change for sure, but one for the better. I lost close to 10 pounds pretty quickly, lost about an inch off my waist and my spare tire went away...and I was eating MORE than I was before portion size, meaning I wasn't starving myself to do this. After 3 months I went back in for more blood work.

May 2013
Cholesterol 211
HDL Direct 29
Triglyceride 184 (the big one)
LDL Calculated 145

Ir was unbelievable to me that just a strict dietary change could lower my Triglyceride level over 100 points in a 3 month period.

You'll never guess what the doc said... "you still need to start taking a statin..." I just glared at her and she understood.

Anyway, it's 5 or 6 months later now, we are still on the "healthy eating kick", weight has stayed right at 170#s or so, feel great and I haven't been back for any more blood work. I wear a fitbit to track my footsteps per day, and try to keep as active as I can, but I don't see me becoming any sort of a workout warrior. My schedule and sore knees just don't fit into that plan. But I like the healthy living and seriously...it is becoming more and more regular all of the time and hopefully society as a whole will head further down this road which will just give us more and more good choices of food instead of more of the crap that is in the center sections of the grocery stores.