Why I Am A Nutrition Nut

Three things happened in my life that fired me up to be a nutrition enthusiast. Number 1: I was told by a doctor to start taking a powerful cholesterol-lowering drug to bring my cholesterol down. Number 2: My niece was diagnosed with Lupus. Number 3: I was given an assignment to design a signing program for a grocery store produce department.

It was at my yearly physical in June 2003 that my doctor told me that I would have to start taking a statin. A statin is a prescription drug that stops an enzyme that controls the rate the body produces cholesterol. Problem with statins is once you’re on them, you’re on them for life.

I told the doctor I would rather see if I could lower it by diet and exercise first. I did not want to be on any kind of medication for the rest of my life. He said it was too late for that. He gave me the prescription. I took it but never had it filled. And I never saw that doctor again.

This was the kick in the butt I needed. I immediately started doing research to see if I could bring the cholesterol down without drugs. My total was 229 and from what I read the acceptable range was 180-199. I had some work to do.

I quit eating fried foods. I cut down on red meat. I started reading the nutrition labels on everything I bought at the grocery store. If the label said anything about hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils I considered it poison and put it back on the shelf.

I had already stopped drinking milk years ago. Now I had to cut down on eating cheese. I love cheese. And I cut down on eating eggs. I read that anything high in saturated fat should be eliminated from my diet.

I started exercising. And by December 2003 I also quit smoking. I had read that when you smoke you lower the amount of good cholesterol in your blood. I was one of those guys that always said it was easy to quit smoking, because I had quit 100 times already. This time I put the cigarettes down and never picked one up again. Cold turkey. I just stopped.

I had my cholesterol checked again. It had dropped from 229 to 215 in 6 months. I still had a lot of work to do. So it was back to the books to find out what else I could do to improve my cholesterol level.

In January 2004 we had moved closer to my wife’s family and started our own graphic design company. One of our nieces had recently been diagnosed with Lupus, a disease I had absolutely no knowledge about.

I started doing research to find out about Lupus. I found a book on the internet called “The Lupus Recovery Diet” by Jill Harrington. It was the book that energized me even further into my nutrition craze. The book had testimonials from people with Lupus who had put the disease into remission by changing their diet.

I found out that Lupus is an autoimmune disease. And because of that I learned a lot about the immune system. I also learned a lot about the foods you can eat to strengthen your immune system.

It was in February 2004 that I got a job to design a signing program for a grocery store produce department. The job required me to learn the nutrition facts of every vegetable and fruit on the planet. It seemed like everything about nutrition was falling into my lap.

In June 2004, I had my cholesterol checked again. It was at 216. One point higher than 6 months ago! I was upset and more determined than ever to eat better and exercise more. I felt more confident now that I was armed with more nutritional information than I ever had before.

I drove my wife crazy by stopping to read every label on every product when we went grocery shopping. She still thinks I am a little nuts.

I didn’t have my cholesterol checked again for another 4 years. I just knew that I was going in the right direction and did not need to worry anymore. I had it checked in March 2008 and my total cholesterol was 197, HDL at 51, LDL at 117 and my CHOL/HDL ratio at 3.9.

I was happy. Changing my eating habits did work. But now I just read “The Okinawan Program” and found that Okinawan elders average a total cholesterol level of 170 with a 3.3 ratio. Here I go again. Looks like I still have a lot of work to do!