Day 29: Good news and World Vegan Month

Hey guys!

Thanks for all the well-wishes for my health assessment today. Thankfully, I received all good news.

Let this post serve as a testimony to healthy eating and exercise because I haven’t always had numbers like these.

• Blood pressure: 104/76
• Total cholesterol: 125
• LDL (bad) cholesterol: 65!
• HDL (good) cholesterol: 49!!!!!!!!!! (this is a huge improvement from my 34 this time last year, hoping for even higher next year)
• Triglycerides: 56 (normal range is 50-200)

In order to get my HDL cholesterol to come up, I’ve been doing a lot of different things over the past year.

• I have maintained my weight and I do not smoke.
• I used to eat tuna or salmon at least once a week (back when I still ate seafood), I took fish oil capsules for a while, and I’m always on the look out for products containing Omega-3′s (including a bottle of canola oil I had for a while).
• I’ve eaten lots of oatmeal, fruits and veggies.
• I’ve also used ground/milled flax seed in both my smoothies and oatmeal.
• I’ve also focused on getting more healthy fats in my diet by cooking with healthy oils, eating plenty of peanut butter, nuts and my good friend the avocado.
• I try to enjoy a glass of red wine every once in a while.
• I’ve kept up with my aerobic exercise.
• I’ve taken calcium supplements.
• I’ve remained very much anti-trans fat, avoiding it at all possible costs.

My body fat percentage and measurements were also down but those numbers above are the most important. With heart disease being the number one killer of men and women in the U.S., those are numbers we all need to know!

Stepping off of soap box…

Breakfast this morning, eaten so gladly at 9 a.m., was oatmeal with sliced apples (cooking the apples with the oats is the way to go) and some PB.

I was also pleased to learn that I inadvertently celebrated National Oatmeal Day which is October 29th every year! Woo hoo

In vegan news…

Vegan MoFo III is coming to an end in two days. After almost 29 days of eating vegan, there is no way I am going back now. I have never felt better! I’ve also had little to no digestive issues in this past month. I’ve tried a ton of new recipes with many more on the agenda. I’m feeling so confident in what I am putting into my body. But what will help me stay motivated?

World Vegan Month

That’s right…Vegan MoFo (October) comes to a close just as World Vegan Day (November 1) and World Vegan Month are approaching!

For more info, check out my friend Carrie’s Examiner article on World Vegan Month

Happy Thursday!