Okay. A little over a month ago, I got the results back from my blood test. And despite my ongoing casual relationship with Subway and Soup-R-Salad, I just about sent the nurse practitioner into a conniption when she saw my cholesterol level. Cheese, you see. Red meat & fried foods too. But yeah, cheese. I'm embarrassed to say what the cholesterol level was, at this stage in my 'recovery', but it was nasty. I almost felt bad for the nurse, as she read the results and chewed on her cuticles. But her level of concern, and that horrible little 3 digit number put a pretty good fear into me. I'm still kindof scared. My liver enzyme level was elevated too. It could be the icky pinkeye infection I was fighting at the time, or it could be the first creaky steps into adult-onset diabetes. Ugh. Heart disease, liver failure, diabetes.
Anyway, instead of coming at it from the angle of handing me a 50 page diet guidelines booklet, they gave me a daily cholesterol fighting medication and a few simple abolitions: no cheese. no red meat. no fried foods. Check packaging labels, and look for 0% cholesterol. For some reason, thinking about what I can't have is making this simpler for me. I had a doctor give me a big meal planning and cholesterol management packet a few years ago, and I've checked out lowfat/low cholesterol recipe books before, and it's just more than I can handle. I don't have a proclivity for cooking. I require simple and fast. The recipe plans were chock full of all these delicious ideas on how to make bland things appetizing, and daily percentages of how much you can eat of this or that, and swapping this bad thing for that on such & such day, but it involved what seemed like lots of planning and prep time, and I couldn't get myself to delve into it.
So I've just stopped eating cheese, red meat, fried foods and cholesterolly packaged foods.
::sniffle:: cheese... ::sniffle::
The nurse asked me what it was about cheese I liked, and to find something that meets that need to some degree. I had to think about that one for a while. Nothing can match all the qualities of cheese, but what are the main things to me besides the wonderful aromas? Salty, Sour, Fatty. That pointed me to balsamic vinaigrette. It's got fat, but not bunches, and a little goes a long way. Most importantly, it has no bad 'ch' word in it. The biggest cholesterol food I'm left with now is chicken breast or sliced turkey. I've got a huge bag of red leaf lettuce, tomato, red onion, green pepper, sliced turkey, Bob Newhart's (Or whatever that guy's name is) Balsamic Vinaigrette, spring mix salad, and gala apples sitting in the refrigerator at work. And every day for lunch, I commune with nature as I wash and cut the vittles up for my salad and sandwich. And I actually look forward to it, it tastes so good. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but, I also found that giving thanks over that kind of a meal very quickly took on more meaning to me than saying a prayer over a Quarter Pounder with Fries.
If I'm in the mood for some quick filler at home, I sautee some onions, garlic, red pepper, oregano & cumin in a little olive oil and add rosarita refries, or sear some rice in it before boiling. It is a culinary travesty I know, but it's fast, and it tastes yummy to me. So there ya have it.
I hope I can keep this up and turn it into one of those lifestyle things. The only time it bums me out is when I smell somebody barbecuing or walk past the deli at the store when they're cooking up some juicy, meaty goodness. I about double over from the cramping and longing in my gut. Oh, and the occasional fantasy about a Carl's Jr. Six Dollar Burger...omg. But aside from that, it's working for me, and I've lost ten pounds over the past month. If that ain't a reward, I don't know what is.
I got a follow up blood test this morning, so I should know pretty soon if I've made a dent in my cholesterol fortress. And the liver thing too, but hopefully that was just a blip.
My salad and awesome veggie knife that I just like to look at while eating:
Good for you Jeremy. Good luck with keeping up with that. I go through periods where I try to "eat healthier", and you're right, it is really tough when you pass by someone enjoying a big dripping cheeseburger. I also have (1)laziness and (2)hating the grocery store against me.
At least you found something you like. I cannot stand any salad dressings; they all make me want to gag. It makes it harder to force myself to eat my fresh vegetables. Why oh why is all the yummy beefy cheesy stuff so bad for us and all the good-for-us stuff so green and bitter?
Way to go on the eating right tip. I'm proud of you. Bacon is my weakness, quickly followed with Mayo. Bacon and Mayo makes a "Zippity-Doo-Dah" leap right out of my mouth.