Eating Clean: Step Two

So a few weeks ago I wrote this post about all the lifestyle changes Hubs and I have made to work on some Hubs' health issues.  The changes were pretty drastic and some days it was hard to stay on track, but I have to say...I'm pretty proud of Hubs' as he stayed on course the whole way.  Anyways...as a follow up to his initial blood work where we discovered he had elevated cholesterol, blood sugars and blood pressure, Hubs' had some more blood tests recently at the three month point to make sure that the changes we were made were working.

I'm so happy and absolutely thrilled to say, Hubs' cholesterol levels have dropped and are well within normal ranges!  The doctor was so impressed, he thought that he had put Hubs' on meds and just couldn't believe his eyes that the changes were all done through diet and exercise and in just three short months.  Here are the numbers, so you can see how things have improved:

Total cholesterol (normal range 2.00 - 5.19)
Before:   5.97
After:  3.37

LDL (normal range 1.50 - 3.39)
Before:  3.39
After:  1.78

HDL (normal range, higher than 0.90)
Before:  0.93
After:  0.84 (booooo!)

Triglycerides (normal range 0.42 - 2.29)
Before:  3.62
After:  1.66

Chol/HDL ratio (normal range, lower than 4.9)
Before:  6.42
After:  4.01

So while we're thrilled that things are going in the right direction, we still have a bit of work to do to get his HDL up (I'm thinking more omegas).  Blood sugars have dropped and are at the high end of normal, so still some improvement to be made there...this in particular is something I want to work on as Hubs' grandma and dad both have Type 2 diabetes.  Blood pressure has dropped but still a teeny tiny bit high.  But overall, I'm so happy to see the improvements and it's confirmed that we're on the right track.  This whole thing has just confirmed to me how absolutely important nutrition is to health...as Socrates said "let food be thy medicine and medicine by thy food".  Smart man.