my doc has given me until April to reduce mine naturally, as she has considered puting me on a statin.
How did you do it?
Karina
Hi Karina. It's impossible to say what was the most important factor in my improved results but I suspect diet was the key factor. Maybe they all had an effect, but for what it's worth, here's what worked for me.
Exercise - I went from no exercise to 3 sessions a week at the gym. About 30 minutes aerobic exercise per session (bicycle, cross trainer, rowing machine). I am now doing weights as well. I didn't do weights at the start because my doc said not to - my BP was high at 180/120. Once it reduced to 140/90 on average, the doc said ok, add in the weights. It's seriously boring, but an iPod helps.
Diet - Obviously all the normal nasties were cut out of my diet - pastries, sweets, crisps, sugar, full fat Coke, most breads etc. I try to have no more than 80-120g of carb per day - not low carb in the purist sense but certainly reduced carb and carefully chosen ones. I try to make the carbs that I do have low GI - wholewheat pasta, brown rice. I have found that I can tolerate quite large portions of lentils and beans. Wholewheat pasta and brown rice do raise my levels higher than other foods but I can control that by having a smaller serving. At the start I tested everything to see what it did to my levels. Now, I test much less often as my post-prandial rises are quite predictable - if I've eaten it before, I generally know what it will do. I still test on new foods, before and 2 hours after. I don't worry about eating saturated fats or non-lean protein. I haven't gone out of my way to have fatty meats or full fat anything but neither have I gone out of my way to avoid them. I trim excess fat from meat simply because that's what I prefer. I snack on cheese, sliced ham, salami and pepperoni and not on carbs and, as you can see, my lipid profile seems OK.
That's about it really - it wasn't complicated to develop a meal plan that worked - the hard part was sticking to it. I feel fitter than I have in years. I am 43lbs lighter, my BMI is almost back in to the top end of normal, my waist has gone from 42'' to 36'', my chest from 48'' to 44'' and my neck from 18'' to 16.5''. The headaches are gone as are the leg pains and the constant trips to the loo. It can be done!
I hope this helps.
x
