Blood Work

Basta went in for his annual physical last week.

When I met him, 8 years ago, his doctor had just put him on high-blood pressure medication. He was also taking Prevacid almost daily to combat chronic acid reflux (heartburn). He was thin, because he's a hyperactive ectomorph with OCD, but his diet was not great. He didn't eat fast food, which was refreshing, but he ate for taste, not for nutrition. He's a good cook, and he cooked rich, buttery sauces, cheese-based delights, and meats. Not many veggies. He had frequent hemorrhoids. Plus, he drank way too much. He smoked around 7-10 cigarettes a day. He didn't do any intentional exercise. He thought he was healthier than his peers, and he probably was.

Enter me. I've always been fairly fit and I've always been interested in nutrition, thus I eat a pretty healthy diet. I have my fair share of desires for taste sensations and choose flavor over health quite often, but overall I'm pretty healthy. Slowly, gradually, I changed the way Basta lives his life to be one with a focus on health.

First to go were the medications. I convinced him that with a few dietary changes he didn't need modern medicine to suppress his symptoms and give him a host of side effects.

Key to that was quitting smoking. He felt that since he didn't smoke "much" it probably wasn't hurting him. I suggested that since he didn't smoke much, it wouldn't be that dramatic to not smoke at all. It wasn't easy, and it didn't happen quickly, but he did quit smoking.

Next was the diet. The addition of vegetables to his outstanding culinary creations. Fats are not bad for you, in and of themselves, but his percentage of fat intake to everything else was way too high. Changing that, also, was not easy or quick. Thanks in huge part to the publication of the South Beach Diet book, he now understands what is healthy and what is not, and why. He still cooks fantastic meals, but now they are always with fresh ingredients, and always with vegetables.

The results were quick and encouraging. His blood pressure went down below hypertensive level and the brief foray into bp-lowering drugs seemed ridiculous. He also stopped taking the heartburn pills daily and just took them whenever needed, mainly whenever he ate tomatoes.

Over the years we got progressively healthier and healthier. He began happily using quinoa instead of rice most of the time. He grudgingly stopped serving bread with every meal. He came up with other sides besides baked potatoes. He started paying attention to partially hydrogenated oils and refuses to buy anything containing them. We have plenty of setbacks, of course. Forays into chocolate and ice cream weekends. Rich, heavy, calorie-obscene meals consumed just for the sake of decadence. Outstanding wines consumed in abundance. We are far from perfect.

But overall we strive for health. We try to keep a very high ratio of good meals to bad. Basta is the first to say that he feels so much better now than he did a few years ago. He can eat all the tomatoes he wants -- raw, cooked, sauced, juiced, in a bloody mary, whatever -- without a hint of heartburn.

The final step was exercise. I started running about three years ago and decided to run a marathon. He started running with me. He liked it. He ended up running the marathon with me. We both got injured during training and our run/walk time was hardly impressive, but we did it. We both now had the fitness bug.

Last year, after several years of eating a mostly-healthy diet and a few years of random running, Basta's blood work was pretty good. Resting HR 75. BP 115/78. Normal. Close to pre-hypertensive stage, but ok now. Cholesterol 205. Since his father has heart disease and has needed a quintuple bypass, this concerned his doctor. I contended that the ratio was more important than the total number, and his ratio was outstanding. Since we eat so much healthy olive oil, avocadoes, nuts, etc, his good cholesterol was sky-high: 68. His LDL cholesterol was 135. Not high enough to cause real concern. Yet, perhaps in an abundance of caution based on his family history, his doctor recommended a stress test. Basta did it and passed with flying colors. His heart is fine.

Then triathlon entered his life. We went from being runners to being run/bike/swimmers. He decided he wanted to do a Half Ironman. I started this training program (and blog) for him. He went from being an occasional exerciser to a 7-15 hour per week athlete with specific focus on fitness and performance.

His diet changed somewhat, too. He now starts his morning with a whey-protein shake mixed with a banana, psyllium husks, crushed flax seed, and a 1 oz shot of some superfruit juice (blueberry, cranberry, pomegranite, acai, mangosteen, noni -- whatever looks good and maybe is on sale at the health food store). He carries a bag of nuts, a hard-boiled egg, a hamburger (vegetarian-fed beef, of course), some veggies sticks, and water to snack on throughout the day. He still cooks fantastically tasty and healthy dinners.

As a result of the significantly increased exercise these past four months and the addition of the health-packed shake in the morning, Basta has lost 15 pounds. His stomach is perfectly flat. His muscles, all over, are hard and well-defined. His hemorrhoids are gone. He looks at least 10 years younger than he is. He had high hopes for this latest blood work test.

And the results are in:
Resting HR: 64. Down from 75 last year.
BP: 94/63. Down from 115/78. Outstanding.
Cholesterol: 174. Down from 205. Huge change!
HDL: 68. 65 last year. Essentially the same. This is high, and this is good.
LDL: 101. Down from 135 last year. This is huge. Remember, he takes no drugs (other than a multi-vitamin and glucosamine). This is all diet and exercise, baby.

All other tests were normal.

So, my 53-year-old husband has the blood and cardiovascular system of a very healthy and much younger man. If he can do it, anyone can.

Like me. I eat pretty much what he eats, but I don't work out as much. If I up my exercise to 6-7 hours per week, and up the intensity rather dramatically, I can see these outstanding results, too. My blood work is like his was last year: Good, healthy, fine, but not outstanding. I want outstanding.

He says that he feels like he'll live to 100 now. I point out that no matter what age he lives to, he feels great now. Every day he reaps the benefits of this abundant health.