Public Service Announcement

**trkykilr** · 09-17-2014, 06:33 AM

I sent this to a couple of folks yesterday after my annual physical, and a few urged me to post it here.

Boys, I don't try to tell people what to do, but I thought I'd share this. A couple guys on here know my family history of heart problems so I'll just say it's bad. 2.5 years ago, at age 33, my Cholesterol was high as hell and my doctor tried to put me on Lipitor. My triglycerides were also ridiculous. After two months of Lipitor I felt like shit and ached all over. I told her to give me a year to take care of it on my own. To say she was opposed to managing cholesterol with animal fat would be an understatement. She insisted that I have blood work after 6 months. After 6 months of Paleo and no drugs she was shocked at my improvement. After the next 6 months she put her husband on Paleo. Now, 2.5 years later, I have gained 10 pounds, single digit body fat, total cholesterol down 78 points, good cholesterol UP 21 points and triglycerides ridiculously low. I may drop dead tomorrow, but she can't believe my progress. I still drink as much beer as ever. If y'all have bad numbers, it's worth a shot. I have never done it with any regard for my weight I just don't care to die at 50.

For the excuse makers, during this time we had a child, so it isn't like I'm over run with time. I travel every day for work so I eat out a lot. I entertain clients and have to eat a lot of dinners where it's hard to behave. I don't shy away from beer/liquor/wine.

Yes I do crossfit 3-5 days per week and yes that makes a difference, and I know that's not for everyone. The point is that it's not fair to your parents/wife/children/friends to have these issues and not at least start working on them.

Paleo requires making some changes, and don't shy away because you can't follow it to the letter. I certainly don't. If you could do anything, get off of sugar, sugar subs, soft drinks. It will suck for two weeks, but you will realize how addicted your body is to that shit. After several months, sweet things will be obnoxiously sweet to you. It's amazing. Them try to cut out grains and start making smarter choices with the oils you use. I don't do as well as I could but any change is better.

Please understand that this is going to make your wiener bigger, so if you are one of those guys who have always been told by women that their wiener is too big for sex, Lipitor may be for you.

**SCWoody** · 09-17-2014, 07:49 AM

Good Job and great read. I really think I will give this Paleo diet a shot. My problem is going to be diet sodas. Dang I'm addicted to those.

**SCFoxman** · 09-17-2014, 08:17 AM

Good on you. Keep it up!

From someone with similar family history and genetics, I can tell you I was still shocked to find myself in the cardiac ward @ 39 years old getting a stent put into one of the arteries around my heart.

Not obese or "fat". 6ft/180. Helluva wakeup call I tell ya.

**Slaya** · 09-18-2014, 09:20 AM

That's the same reason I jumped on the Crossfit/Paleo bandwagon last October. I went in around my birthday for the physical and my cholesterol had spiked, significantly in only a year's time. The year prior it was down, but I was mainly eating Paleo at that time. In between, I'd gotten lazy, eating more fast food, and put the pounds back on.

The weight is coming back up the past two months, but the weights on the bar are moving up again of late. I have been doing 85-95% Paleo for a year, excluding a vacation where we ate crap until we were sick. I still drink beer, not a lot at a sitting, but if the itch arises, I scratch it.

I am anxious to see what the numbers look like in October. I was informed yesterday, that I have low blood oxygen levels, which explains some struggle with the heavy aerobic days. Gotta get that looked at soon.

**GBelly** · 09-18-2014, 10:57 PM

I don't do crossfit or paleo. don't have the patience for either but I did start a cardio workout for 4 days/week and cut out a lot of shit of the diet. even beer for the most part. titos and water with a lime is my go to

its been 4 months pretty consistent...physical was a few weeks ago and all was good on my #s

still need to drop 20 more and that will come in due time

my old busted knees and wrenched elbow keep me off the weights for the most part. I enjoy the hour and 15 mins on cardio. feel so much better the rest of the day. I skip the weekends and generally start to feel like shit come Mondays

anyhow, I applaud all of you however you are getting in shape and eating healthy. its not easy but def has its rewards.

**Slaya** · 09-19-2014, 10:03 AM

Good stuff, Geno.

Stay with it. My back is reminding me that I'm getting a bit old to try and be a hero on heavy deadlift day.

**Glenn** · 09-19-2014, 10:14 AM

That's good stuff man. Fires me up!

**duckduckdog** · 09-19-2014, 10:20 AM

Awesome TK!

**carolinaboy06** · 09-19-2014, 10:41 AM

**KJDGW** · 09-19-2014, 10:57 AM

I'm about convinced. Anyone recommend a book on the subject?

**CRowland** · 09-19-2014, 11:21 AM

Check out this blog: http://nomnompaleo.com/

She's got recipes, reviews, books, links to other paleo cooking blogs - everything you've ever wanted to know about paleo cooking.

Best thing I ever bought based on reviews from her site was an [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Pot-IP-DUO60-Programmable-Generation/dp/B00FLYWNYQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411143572&sr=8-1&keywords=instapot"]Instant Pot[/ame] - crock pot on steroids.

**Simple Man** · 09-19-2014, 11:24 AM

This stuff didn't matter all that much to me 6 months ago, but now it turns my crank.

I played sports the entire time I was growing up - all the way through college, at some level. Ate the hell outta pizza and drank some beers in college - then I got married. It wasn't the perfect storm, per se, but undoubtedly I had set myself up with bad health habits (mostly to do with food) that carried through the remainder of my 20's and all of my 30's.

I wanted to at least try to feel like I used to before I stopped exercising. I never really ate all that great, but I never had really bad numbers at the doctor's office either. Meh, I'll live forever, says I. Then I started back to giving blood when the blood mobile rolled up here to work and the past few times I noticed that my BP was creeping up. Enough was enough.

Rewind to April 26. One of my best friends from all the way back in high school had been urging me to join a CrossFit affiliate in Fountain Inn that was owned by a mutual friend. I put him off for a while because I thought I was too busy to give it a commitment. That was just an excuse. I didn't see it that way at the time, but that's exactly what it was. I jumped in on 4/26 at their open house with both feet, signed up that day, and told myself that I was going to stick to 3 days/wk for the first 2 months - just so I didn't do something stupid and get injured to the point that not going back would be convenient. I felt MUCH better after 6 weeks and thought I was ready to step it up to 4 days/wk but stuck to my guns and waited the 8 weeks to add the 4th day..

At the same time, I thought I might as well change my diet. It's a lot of investment of $$, time, sweat and soreness to delay the gratification any more than necessary. If there was a way I could speed all that up, then it would be silly not to do it. I had dabbled with a Paleo diet, losing a few lbs without changing my activity, but in the end, I wasn't committed to the result. Actually, I wasn't committed to the sacrifice.

Soooooo - it's been about 4 1/2mos of CrossFit, a largely Paleo diet and since the end of June, I've been in the gym 4-5 times a week. Sure, I cheat - but I get right back on the horse with my better health in mind. It's not a sacrifice now as much since I've wrapped my head around the fact that this feels so much better than eating crap and being lazy ever did.

I just scheduled a physical because I haven't had one in a while. Mostly, I was curious to see what my numbers look like now that I've invested the time and effort in this. Had it a couple of weeks ago and I was astounded at how much better my numbers were. My total cholesterol had hit 200 once, but normally hovered around 180. It is now at 135. HDL/LDL ratio is much better. BP had gotten up to 145/95 - it's now at 119/83. Glucose is 99 and triglycerides are 65.

Keep on keepin' on....