Pardon the accidental e-mail with no message! Speculation is still welcomed
and encouraged. Way back in October of 2003 I had my cholesterol checked and
the numbers were a little concerning, especially because I had just spent
the previous two months trying really hard to be "good," in a paleo kind of
way.

Well, after a whole lot of procrastination, I finally had my bloodwork done
again. As you can see from the numbers below, they changed quite a bit.

                             6/98     3/00     2/01     8/03     10/03
4/05

Cholesterol               266      244      281      358      389      250

HDL                            74        76        73        78        79
58

LDL                             169      150      196      259      281
181

Triglycerides                 113      88        61        105      142
90

hs-CRP
<0.50   4.24

Homocysteine
6.01     11.1



Chol/HDL ratio            3.59     3.21     3.85     4.59     4.9       4.31

LDL/HDL ratio            2.64     1.98     2.68     3.32     3.56     3.12

TG/HDL ratio             1.53     1.16     0.84     1.35     1.8       1.55



Like many of you, I've read The Cholesterol Myths, so I'm not in any rush to
see my doctor and get a prescription for Lipitor! Still, I'd like to see my
HDL come back up, my LDL go down a little more, and my triglycerides come
down a little more as well. The homocysteine measurement is questionable
because LabOne screwed up the lab work -- both times!



Anyway, not being a scientist, I manipulated more than one variable between
my October 2003 measurements and April 2005. And I didn't keep records of
the things I changed. This is where the speculation comes in. So here are
all the things I can think of that I do differently now from what I was
doing then:

I exercise more. I used to exercise with great intensity at every workout,
whether it was weightlifting, playing basketball, sprinting, whatever. So my
workouts always made me really sore, and often so fatigued that I would feel
rundown for a day or two. Now in between my more intense and vigorous
workouts, I do less taxing exercise. Often my wife and I will take brisk 15
to 30 minute walks, usually wearing our weighted vests (mine weighs 40
pounds). I rarely go more than a couple days now without some sort of
exercise. I think it's important for me to note here that I have not lost or
gained any weight, nor am I in much better or worse shape. I ran a
quarter-mile a few days ago with no intention of setting a personal best and
managed to run it in only two seconds off my best time (oddly enough, set
back in October of 2003).

I ate more nuts in the month or so proceeding my most recent bloodwork. I
made up my own mix of almonds, walnuts, macadamia's, Brazil nuts, and
pumpkin seeds. Some are roasted, some are raw, and some are salted.

I cut down a little bit on my coffee consumption in the month preceding my
April testing.

Those are the only things I can think of that I have changed. One thing I
definitely did not change was my daily breakfast. Just about every morning,
I have three eggs and six pieces of bacon. According to the packages, this
adds up to 33 g of protein, 34.5 g of fat, for a total of 444 cal. I'm not
sure how long I've been eating my bacon and egg breakfast, but it may have
started after 2001, when my members started going up. Can't remember....

Anyway, I'd like to get a follow-up test in a month or so and alter just one
variable leading up to it. Things I'm considering: increasing the amount of
Mono unsaturated fat I consume by adding more macadamia 's to my nut mix and
more olive oil to various meals. Or perhaps I'll try cutting out coffee.

Let the speculation begin!

Mike