Morning:
Bowl of Cheerios (about 1.5 cups) w/Silk Lite Soy Milk, Vanilla
One cup Green Tea, w/2 tsp sugar, sipped throughout the morning
One tsp Carlson Fish oil
Noon and After
One serving Tabatchnick Yankee Bean soup, from Kroger, 160 calories, 1.5 g fat
One serving Tabatchnick Potato soup, from Kroger, 100 calories, 1.5 g fat
Cup of Green Tea, w/sugar sipped throughout the afternoon
Bought some plums, but they were not good. Going out to eat tonight. 97 degrees outside.
Evening
At the cafeteria I had tossed salad w/nonfat dressing, white rice, plain broccoli. I’ve got to stop eating at the cafeteria, or be very very careful. The other day the beans looked too greasy, so today I didn’t eat any at all. Besides, they were pinto, and I didn’t feel like having them. The broccoli usually seems like it has butter on it. I’ve asked them before how they cook it, and they say they boil it, but it still often seems like there is butter there, which I DO NOT WANT!!! I also bought some sliced tomatoes, but brought them home instead.
Walked 30 minutes at the mall.
Bought some hummus ($2.00) at the mall. Had hummus, a piece of pita bread, and a slice of tomato to finish off dinner.
One peach.
Night
2 glasses of wine
2 nonfat rice cakes from Kroger’s
Handful of roasted pumpkin seeds
1 slice whole wheat bread with grape jelly
1 slice whole wheat bread with bruschetta
Need to watch my fat intake. Key is low fat or non fat food. Also watch calories. Hopefully this is all I ate. I try to be conscientious and accurate.
cholesterol, diet, exercise, fat, food, health, heart disease, LDL, longevity, obesity, vegetarian, weight loss,
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Checking on That Cholesterol
I went to the doctor for a checkup recently and I just got the results of my blood work back. For the first time ever my cholesterol, lipids, etc. were relatively good. I am ecstatic.
When I had a checkup about 25 years ago the doctor told me for the first time that I had high triglycerides. This knowledge bothered me a lot at the time, but I didn’t know what to do about them. I tried to find out, but had no success. So as far as I know my triglycerides continued to be high. At about that time I quit smoking and started walking a lot, so those were two positive things I did for my health.
When I had a checkup in 2000 my cholesterol was still high as were my triglycerides. I still didn’t know what to do about any of that, so I am sure they continued to be high for quite awhile. In 2000 I started drinking a glass or two of wine in the evenings, and in 2001 I stopped eating meat as well as dairy and I adopted a low fat diet. For awhile I was a vegan. I lost a bunch of weight.
Fortunately my blood pressure is really good. I don’t know why. I think that is because of my exercising and my weight loss. Blood pressure is supposed to rise as you get older. Something like 120/85 is supposed to be normal. Whenever I go to the drug store I check it on their free machine, and usually it is about 110/70, which is low. When the nurse checked it the other day during my checkup it was 98/70.
Over the past several years I have done some more things to improve my health. In the past year I lost about 15 pounds. I now weigh 137 and have a better Body Mass Index (BMI). I started drinking two cups of green tea per day. I started consuming more soluble fiber, whether from foods like bananas and oatmeal, or from products like FiberSure. I started exercising more. I lost five pounds by just eating salads with nonfat dressing for lunch every day for a couple of weeks. Of course I continue to be a vegetarian. It was also important for me to limit my calories. I also ate a few walnuts every day, and watched my snacks in the evening, concentrating on fiber. My diet is complicated. I’ve touched on some things. I suppose I could be more specific. Maybe I will at some point. (Oh, don’t forget the fish oil.) Anyway, my diet has led to good results from my blood test about two weeks ago.
I am a sixty year old man. I am not on any medication whatsoever, thank God. Currently my total cholesterol is under 200 (181). My triglycerides are under 150 (128). My HDL is greater than 40 (52), and my LDL is 103. My VLDL is less than 40 (26). All in all I am very happy with the results of my blood test. OK, so my LDL is a little high (>100), but my LDL/HDL ratio is <2, so that is not bad. I am really glad that I had my blood checked. I have been wondering for a long time how I was doing with my diet, etc. Now I know. What I am doing actually works, at least for me. Following a low fat vegetarian diet, along with some other things like the green tea, fish oil, wine, exercise, etc., have helped me get my lipids to more healthy levels. Now that I know where I am I can take steps to try and improve my blood. I need to reduce my LDL and my total cholesterol. I also need to increase my HDL. I have some ideas about what to do now.
By the way, I don’t think it is ever too late to do positive things for your health. Seven years ago my lipids were still bad, and yet now they are good. What you do can have an impact on your health.
A lot of people are surprised when I tell them I am not on any medication. Sure, I am a sixty year old man, but not a typical sixty year old man. I avoid fast food restaurants like the plague. I exercise 30-60 minutes per day. I watch my diet carefully. I do research on how to eat healthy and live naturally. I cook. I consider that I am constantly evolving. The results of all that show up in my blood test. Hooray.
(BTW, I am lucky I was married to Arlene Malinowski for 18 years before she died. Many of the things I am doing now with my diet I learned from her.)
cholesterol, diet, exercise, fat, food, health, heart disease, LDL, obesity, vegetarian, weight loss, triglycerides
When I had a checkup about 25 years ago the doctor told me for the first time that I had high triglycerides. This knowledge bothered me a lot at the time, but I didn’t know what to do about them. I tried to find out, but had no success. So as far as I know my triglycerides continued to be high. At about that time I quit smoking and started walking a lot, so those were two positive things I did for my health.
When I had a checkup in 2000 my cholesterol was still high as were my triglycerides. I still didn’t know what to do about any of that, so I am sure they continued to be high for quite awhile. In 2000 I started drinking a glass or two of wine in the evenings, and in 2001 I stopped eating meat as well as dairy and I adopted a low fat diet. For awhile I was a vegan. I lost a bunch of weight.
Fortunately my blood pressure is really good. I don’t know why. I think that is because of my exercising and my weight loss. Blood pressure is supposed to rise as you get older. Something like 120/85 is supposed to be normal. Whenever I go to the drug store I check it on their free machine, and usually it is about 110/70, which is low. When the nurse checked it the other day during my checkup it was 98/70.
Over the past several years I have done some more things to improve my health. In the past year I lost about 15 pounds. I now weigh 137 and have a better Body Mass Index (BMI). I started drinking two cups of green tea per day. I started consuming more soluble fiber, whether from foods like bananas and oatmeal, or from products like FiberSure. I started exercising more. I lost five pounds by just eating salads with nonfat dressing for lunch every day for a couple of weeks. Of course I continue to be a vegetarian. It was also important for me to limit my calories. I also ate a few walnuts every day, and watched my snacks in the evening, concentrating on fiber. My diet is complicated. I’ve touched on some things. I suppose I could be more specific. Maybe I will at some point. (Oh, don’t forget the fish oil.) Anyway, my diet has led to good results from my blood test about two weeks ago.
I am a sixty year old man. I am not on any medication whatsoever, thank God. Currently my total cholesterol is under 200 (181). My triglycerides are under 150 (128). My HDL is greater than 40 (52), and my LDL is 103. My VLDL is less than 40 (26). All in all I am very happy with the results of my blood test. OK, so my LDL is a little high (>100), but my LDL/HDL ratio is <2, so that is not bad. I am really glad that I had my blood checked. I have been wondering for a long time how I was doing with my diet, etc. Now I know. What I am doing actually works, at least for me. Following a low fat vegetarian diet, along with some other things like the green tea, fish oil, wine, exercise, etc., have helped me get my lipids to more healthy levels. Now that I know where I am I can take steps to try and improve my blood. I need to reduce my LDL and my total cholesterol. I also need to increase my HDL. I have some ideas about what to do now.
By the way, I don’t think it is ever too late to do positive things for your health. Seven years ago my lipids were still bad, and yet now they are good. What you do can have an impact on your health.
A lot of people are surprised when I tell them I am not on any medication. Sure, I am a sixty year old man, but not a typical sixty year old man. I avoid fast food restaurants like the plague. I exercise 30-60 minutes per day. I watch my diet carefully. I do research on how to eat healthy and live naturally. I cook. I consider that I am constantly evolving. The results of all that show up in my blood test. Hooray.
(BTW, I am lucky I was married to Arlene Malinowski for 18 years before she died. Many of the things I am doing now with my diet I learned from her.)
cholesterol, diet, exercise, fat, food, health, heart disease, LDL, obesity, vegetarian, weight loss, triglycerides
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Food Diary, Sunday, June 17
Morning:
Bowl of Cheerios (about 1.5 cups) w/Silk Lite Soy Milk, Vanilla
One cup Green Tea, w/2 tsp sugar, sipped throughout the morning
One tsp Carlson Fish oil
Cut the grass, front yard and back, before it got too hot. Good workout.
Noon and After
One banana, organic
One bowl Quaker instant oatmeal, heart healthy, with a tsp of FiberSure added plus extra cinnamon
One serving Tabatchnick Cabbage soup, from Kroger, 100 calories
Cup of Green Tea, w/sugar, sipped throughout the afternoon
Evening
One bowl blackeye peas with elbow macaroni, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, vinegar which I cooked from “scratch”. Really good.
4 nonfat Nabisco saltine crackers
Walked 30 minutes at the mall
Night
3 plums
One peach
2 glasses of wine
1 nonfat rice cake from Kroger’s
1 slice whole wheat bread with grape jelly
Need to watch my fat intake. Key is low fat or non fat food. Also watch calories. Hopefully this is all I ate. I try to be conscientious and accurate.
diet, exercise, fat, food, health, heart disease, LDL, obesity, vegetarian, weight loss,
Bowl of Cheerios (about 1.5 cups) w/Silk Lite Soy Milk, Vanilla
One cup Green Tea, w/2 tsp sugar, sipped throughout the morning
One tsp Carlson Fish oil
Cut the grass, front yard and back, before it got too hot. Good workout.
Noon and After
One banana, organic
One bowl Quaker instant oatmeal, heart healthy, with a tsp of FiberSure added plus extra cinnamon
One serving Tabatchnick Cabbage soup, from Kroger, 100 calories
Cup of Green Tea, w/sugar, sipped throughout the afternoon
Evening
One bowl blackeye peas with elbow macaroni, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, vinegar which I cooked from “scratch”. Really good.
4 nonfat Nabisco saltine crackers
Walked 30 minutes at the mall
Night
3 plums
One peach
2 glasses of wine
1 nonfat rice cake from Kroger’s
1 slice whole wheat bread with grape jelly
Need to watch my fat intake. Key is low fat or non fat food. Also watch calories. Hopefully this is all I ate. I try to be conscientious and accurate.
diet, exercise, fat, food, health, heart disease, LDL, obesity, vegetarian, weight loss,
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Food Diary, Saturday, June 16
Morning:
Bowl of Cheerios (about 1.5 cups) w/Silk Soy Milk, Vanilla
One cup Green Tea, w/2 tsp sugar, sipped throughout the morning
Noon and After
Bowl of Chili and Beans, low fat, vegetarian, from Kroger, with couscous added
4 nonfat Nabisco saltine crackers
Cup of Green Tea, w/sugar sipped throughout the afternoon
Evening
Went out to eat at local cafeteria: tossed salad w/nonfat French dressing, Veggie plate with Great Northern beans, white rice, and plain broccoli. Drink water as needed. It looked like there was grease in the beans, but I ate them anyway. These beans are cooked with meat, Southern style, but you rarely see any, and usually they seem relatively fat free.
Night
2 glasses of wine
10 pistachio nuts
1 non fat rice cake from Kroger’s
1 slice whole wheat bread with grape jelly
Need to watch my fat intake. I thought it would be interesting to start and keep a food diary. It is really difficult to limit your fat intake. As I've said before, a bowl of Cheerios in the morning with soy milk can amount to substantial amt of fat. I tried this in 2001 and had very good success, but as time has gone by it has been easy to relax. If I want to be really healthy, though, I think I need to limit my fat intake even further. I want to get and keep my cholesterol down, and that is one way. I'll talk about that further in a couple of days.
cholesterol, diet, fat, food, health, heart disease, LDL, obesity, vegetarian, weight loss,
Bowl of Cheerios (about 1.5 cups) w/Silk Soy Milk, Vanilla
One cup Green Tea, w/2 tsp sugar, sipped throughout the morning
Noon and After
Bowl of Chili and Beans, low fat, vegetarian, from Kroger, with couscous added
4 nonfat Nabisco saltine crackers
Cup of Green Tea, w/sugar sipped throughout the afternoon
Evening
Went out to eat at local cafeteria: tossed salad w/nonfat French dressing, Veggie plate with Great Northern beans, white rice, and plain broccoli. Drink water as needed. It looked like there was grease in the beans, but I ate them anyway. These beans are cooked with meat, Southern style, but you rarely see any, and usually they seem relatively fat free.
Night
2 glasses of wine
10 pistachio nuts
1 non fat rice cake from Kroger’s
1 slice whole wheat bread with grape jelly
Need to watch my fat intake. I thought it would be interesting to start and keep a food diary. It is really difficult to limit your fat intake. As I've said before, a bowl of Cheerios in the morning with soy milk can amount to substantial amt of fat. I tried this in 2001 and had very good success, but as time has gone by it has been easy to relax. If I want to be really healthy, though, I think I need to limit my fat intake even further. I want to get and keep my cholesterol down, and that is one way. I'll talk about that further in a couple of days.
cholesterol, diet, fat, food, health, heart disease, LDL, obesity, vegetarian, weight loss,
TrueBlue Encore
In this article, apparently blueberries are better at lowering LDL cholesterol than even statin drugs. Wow, isn’t that cool? Some people, like me, will opt for the blueberries. Most everyone else will opt for the statins, even though there could be some troubling side effects involved.
HOWEVER, this article says that blackberries are better at lowering LDL cholesterol than blueberries are. How cool is that? I’m always looking for ways to naturally lower my cholesterol, and now all I’ve got to do is have a few berries for my snack.
Of course some of this research is a few years old, but the bottom line on all this, I think, is that berries are good for you. They’re good at helping control cholesterol. They may help fight cancer. What’s not to like about them?
I spoke recently about TrueBlue blueberry juice. Thing is, TrueBlue puts out a juice cocktail I guess that is a combination blackberry and blueberry juice in addition to their regular blueberry juice. I’ve tried the blueberry/blackberry and it is really good. And apparently, according to research regarding the blackberry, it might be really good for you, particularly in helping lower cholesterol or fighting cancer.
aging, blueberries, blackberries, antioxidants, juice, cancer, pterostilbene, anthocyanins, cholesterol, polyphenols, diet, memory, fat, food, health, heart disease, berries, LDL, statins, vegetables, vegetarian, weight loss, women,
HOWEVER, this article says that blackberries are better at lowering LDL cholesterol than blueberries are. How cool is that? I’m always looking for ways to naturally lower my cholesterol, and now all I’ve got to do is have a few berries for my snack.
Of course some of this research is a few years old, but the bottom line on all this, I think, is that berries are good for you. They’re good at helping control cholesterol. They may help fight cancer. What’s not to like about them?
I spoke recently about TrueBlue blueberry juice. Thing is, TrueBlue puts out a juice cocktail I guess that is a combination blackberry and blueberry juice in addition to their regular blueberry juice. I’ve tried the blueberry/blackberry and it is really good. And apparently, according to research regarding the blackberry, it might be really good for you, particularly in helping lower cholesterol or fighting cancer.
aging, blueberries, blackberries, antioxidants, juice, cancer, pterostilbene, anthocyanins, cholesterol, polyphenols, diet, memory, fat, food, health, heart disease, berries, LDL, statins, vegetables, vegetarian, weight loss, women,
Sunday, June 3, 2007
TrueBlue Blueberry Juice
There used to be a program on TV in the 1950s called Tightrope. Sometimes I feel that dealing with my diet and health is like walking on a tightrope. I drink a little wine, take a little fish oil, have a cup of green tea. I try to maintain a healthy weight, so I don’t have too many calories, but all the while I want to have stuff that I like, not torture myself with stuff I don’t like.
Recently I came across a great new drink called TrueBlue Blueberry Juice.
If anyone knows me they know I am really big into taking antioxidants, watching calories, avoiding stuff like high fructose corn syrup, etc. TrueBlue Blueberry Juice addresses all of those concerns: blueberry juices are full of antioxidants. They are very healthy, especially when compared to soft drinks and most other juice products. I know I sound like a commercial here, but it’s all true. TrueBlue only has about 110 calories per serving, it contains none of that corn syrup, and is FULL of stuff that is good for you.
Recently I have occasionally tried to add juices to my daily diet. For awhile there I was drinking pomegranate juice. The only problem with that was that it was so sweet that I stopped drinking it, even though it was supposed to be good for me. I found that TrueBlue blueberry juice was not all that sweet, which is a good thing because it made it easier to drink. I personally don’t want a really, really sweet drink.
So, where can I get TrueBlue? Well, I found it at my local grocery store, Kroger. There it was, up there with all the other fruit juices, but of course totally unlike all the other fruit juices. And it was only $3.99 for a half gallon, compared to my pomegranate juice which was six or seven dollars a quart. So TrueBlue is a really great value, with a lot of health benefits concentrated in one glass of juice, and for a very reasonable price. When you visit the TrueBlue website they have a link where you print off free coupons, as well as a link where you can find stores that carry the product. Also there is a wealth of information, including the fact that blueberry juice is supposed to help lower cholesterol and protect against heart disease, which I did not know. That is really cool. You all know how concerned I am about heart disease.
So, I plan to continue drinking TrueBlue for quite awhile. Not only is it good but it’s good for me.
blueberries, aging, juice, pterostilbene, anthocyanins, polyphenols, memory, cholesterol, diet, food, health, heart disease, inflammation, LDL, longevity, sugar, weight loss, women,
Recently I came across a great new drink called TrueBlue Blueberry Juice.
If anyone knows me they know I am really big into taking antioxidants, watching calories, avoiding stuff like high fructose corn syrup, etc. TrueBlue Blueberry Juice addresses all of those concerns: blueberry juices are full of antioxidants. They are very healthy, especially when compared to soft drinks and most other juice products. I know I sound like a commercial here, but it’s all true. TrueBlue only has about 110 calories per serving, it contains none of that corn syrup, and is FULL of stuff that is good for you.
Recently I have occasionally tried to add juices to my daily diet. For awhile there I was drinking pomegranate juice. The only problem with that was that it was so sweet that I stopped drinking it, even though it was supposed to be good for me. I found that TrueBlue blueberry juice was not all that sweet, which is a good thing because it made it easier to drink. I personally don’t want a really, really sweet drink.
So, where can I get TrueBlue? Well, I found it at my local grocery store, Kroger. There it was, up there with all the other fruit juices, but of course totally unlike all the other fruit juices. And it was only $3.99 for a half gallon, compared to my pomegranate juice which was six or seven dollars a quart. So TrueBlue is a really great value, with a lot of health benefits concentrated in one glass of juice, and for a very reasonable price. When you visit the TrueBlue website they have a link where you print off free coupons, as well as a link where you can find stores that carry the product. Also there is a wealth of information, including the fact that blueberry juice is supposed to help lower cholesterol and protect against heart disease, which I did not know. That is really cool. You all know how concerned I am about heart disease.
So, I plan to continue drinking TrueBlue for quite awhile. Not only is it good but it’s good for me.
blueberries, aging, juice, pterostilbene, anthocyanins, polyphenols, memory, cholesterol, diet, food, health, heart disease, inflammation, LDL, longevity, sugar, weight loss, women,
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