This is how I did it... It began with my doctor telling me in September 2008 that I must go on cholesterol-lowering medication. He was concerned with my numbers. (See yesterday's post.) I'm always up for a good challenge and this was no exception. I told him, "Just give me 6 months to try some things to lower it on my own through diet and exercise." I got busy fine-tuning my plan to incorporate everything I had in my arsenal.
Most every morning, I was already eating a bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal topped with a tbsp of ground flaxseed, an apple, raisins, cinnamon, and milk (nonhomgenized, low temperature pasteurized or raw) with no sweetener, so I continued that. I also began to introduce other hot cereals (e.g., buckwheat groats, quinoa, and brown rice). We had already reduced meat intake, but I reduced it even further by preparing more vegetarian dishes. The meat we consumed was lean grass-fed/finished ground beef or buffalo/bison and free-range poultry. I increased fiber even more by buying whole grain products with a minimum of 4 grams per serving, grinding my own whole grain flours like amaranth, quinoa, teff, and buckwheat adding in flaxseed and wheat germ in my baking, prepared bean and sprouted brown rice and quinoa dishes, and ate more fresh veggies and fruit. I still used butter in my baking, but I adapted recipes substituting applesauce for some of the butter. I started taking fish oil capsules daily. I began to exercise consistently 5 days a week (walking, riding bike, aquasize, and yoga). I lost 10 pounds. Since I made a number of changes, I can't say what specifically was the magic bullet. I'd say it all worked together to produce the results I was aiming for.
While listening to Bruce Springsteen's Super Bowl half-time performance in January, some lyrics in his Working on a Dream song reverberated through my mind and gave me a renewed determination to rise above this hurdle to regain control of my runaway cholesterol. "I'm working on a dream. Though sometimes it feels so far away, I'm working on a dream. I know it will be mine someday."
April 1, 2009 Today's mileage: 2-mile walk Total mileage for April: 2 miles Bible reading? Yes.