A New Direction....

I am 38, a young woman still, I am a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend, a co-worker, a day care provider, a PTA member.  Needless to say, I am a busy woman.  I am able to walk freely, I can touch my toes, I have great cholesterol numbers, my blood pressure is decent, and yet, I have been fooling myself for 20+ years pretending that I am healthy.  No one can be 5'8 and healthy weighing 300+ pounds.   Back in January, I had a bunch of blood work done.  My hubby's company offers a yearly screening to their employees and this time they opened it up to spouses.  When I received the booklet of results, I was pretty impressed,

BP 112/83 - slight risk
Glucose 85 - optimal
Total cholesterol 150 - optimal
HDL 60 - optimal
LDL 74 - optimal
Triglycerides 82 - optimal

Not too shabby for a morbidly obese woman right?  Pat myself on the back, for a fatty, you're doing pretty damn good!  But wait....  what's this CRP test?

CRP stands for “C-reactive protein” which is made by the liver in response to infection, tissue injury or inflammation. Even low values, previously regarded as normal, have been shown to be a risk factor for atherosclerosis (fatty deposits lining the walls of blood vessels). Results of this test can help predict your risk of developing atherosclerotic heart disease. Build up of these fatty deposits can cause chest pain, called angina, and eventually lead to a heart attack. Your risk increases with increasing levels of CRP.

CRP 8.2 - high cardiovascular risk, anything over 3.1 is considered high, and I am 5 points over that

(I re-did this test in April and it was still very high at 6.2)

But wait a minute, my cholesterol levels are great?  How is this possible?  I don't really understand the science, but I do know that I am scared.  Remember that list above?  I am a wife, a mother...   these people depend on me to be there for them, and I WANT to be there for them, for a very long time!  So what to do?  Well, my Doctor wants me to have a stress test, so that is on the agenda, but what else?  How can I prevent or possibly reverse heart disease?   Initiate a Google search.... 

  

http://howtopreventandreverseheartdisease.com/esselstyn-diet/    

http://forksoverknives.com    

http://engine2diet.com/

Hmmmm, sounds interesting, Netflix has the documentary Forks Over Knives on their streaming site,   they also have The Engine 2 Diet Kitchen Rescue.  Watch them both with the Hubby and think, We Can Do This....    We are both just crazy enough to think that we can really do this! 

No Meat

No Dairy

No Oils

On Monday April 16th, we are starting the Engine 2 / 28 day challenge, here is a video to check out.

I am really excited to see where this leads and I can't wait to share my experiences with you.  Please follow my blog and check back often to see my progress.