HOW I LOWERED MY CHOLESTEROL NATURALLY

Many of you have asked me questions about my cholesterol since I posted on facebook about how I lowered it the natural way from 263 to 204 in the last year. Let me start off by saying I am no expert or nutritionist. I have learned a lot along the way and obviously what I learned and implemented has helped. So here is a break down of how my levels have dropped over the last year and what I have done......

Aug. 28, 2013
Cholesterol- 263 (needs to be under 200)
Triglyceride- 153 (needs to be under 150)
HDL (good cholesterol)- 63 (needs to be 40-60)
LDL (bad cholesterol)- 170 (needs to be under 99)

The above was my blood work done when we were doing our physicals for our adoption. I knew it was elevated and had been for several years but I didn't know it was that high. At the time this blood work was done I really wasn't a horribly unhealthy eater. I have always chosen turkey & chicken over ground beef, we love fish and eat it often, I seldom if ever bread and fry my food, I always either bake, grill, or pan sear almost everything in olive oil with some garlic, for dinner we almost always have a meat (usually a pretty lean one) and 2 veggies and we cook almost all our meals at home. So when I went over my diet with my doctor he gave me little hope that I could lower it naturally because my problem seemed to be more of a genetic issue than what I was eating. So for several months I did nothing. The best word I could use to describe my feelings is defeated!
But the closer I got to my next blood draw and doctors appointment the more I started researching and trying to figure out what I could do. I made a few diet changes. Switched to low fat cheese, cream cheese, & sour cream and I went back to using Smart Balance butter. The first of November I began taking fish oil & Red Yeast Rice. I went back to the doctor on January 14, 2014 and here were my results.......

January 14, 2014
Cholesterol- 245
Triglyceride- 179
HDL- 73.6
LDL- 135.6

Still not great but there was some improvement. Although my triglycerides had went up for some reason. Like I said before.... I'm no expert so I have no idea what caused that and haven't really done a whole lot of research to figure it out. But I knew I had more work to do. So I increased my fish oil for one. Below is a picture of the fish oil I take now. I bought it at Walmart.

The other thing I did was began regular exercise. The first of April I started working out 5-6 days a week and even was running some. A little side note here about running..... I hate it!! I gave it about a month and a half and tried my darndest to like it but it never happened. So why do something you hate? The first of June we joined the YMCA. One thing I do love to do is dance! I always have and lets face it I'm not exactly going to go to a club anymore to get my dance on. So I started taking Zumba/Quake classes! They are so much fun & really get that heart rate up and going!!
Prior to joining the Y I was just doing a variety of work out DVDs I already have at home. The ones that worked the best though were Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred & Ripped in 30. But lets face it, doing the same DVDs over and over again gets boring and in my experience you don't push yourself through every move because you have it memorized and know you need to save strength to do what you already know is coming up. But in group classes you not only usually don't know whats coming next but you have a whole class full of people and I swear just their presence causes you to push through and give it all you've got!!
The third thing I started doing was praying about it! I often times don't pray about things for myself. I think sometimes we think we are being selfish or that God has bigger issues to worry about. But I covered it in prayer and I even prayed driving to the doctors office to get my results. God hears us and He wants us to pray boldly.
So then I went back to the doctor for another blood draw to recheck my levels. I knew this was my last chance. If I didn't significantly lower it then he was putting me on prescription medication. I was nervous to go get my results because I knew if they weren't good then that would be so discouraging for me and would quite possibly cause me to just stop trying to be healthy. But I was beyond excited when I heard my levels and I think I can say with confidence that my doctor was a little surprised! Woo Hoo!!!

June 11, 2014
Cholesterol- 204
Triglyceride- 61
HDL- 72.7
LDL- 119.1

It is still a little high and I am having them checked again in December and will probably have to get it rechecked yearly just to make sure it stays down. But I am so proud of what I have been able to do on my own!! Notice my triglycerides compared to the last time! I dropped them 118 points!!! 
For those of you that do struggle with healthy eating, there is this page on facebook that is AWESOME! It's called Foodfitfact and she has the most amazing recipes! Here is a link to it..... https://www.facebook.com/Foodfitfact You must check it out! My main issue with food is that I get bored and I'm not very creative. But Heather comes up with some really great food! Every time she posts something I immediately get hungry.
The most amazing thing that I found because of her page is PB2 (pictured below). I found it at Target. It is powdered peanut butter. I know it sounds weird. I was skeptical but I bought it anyway & I am so glad I did. I try to eat as much natural and organic as I can with very few ingredients as possible. But as much as I have tried to like healthier and organic peanut butter I just haven't found one that compares to Peter Pan. Well, I can honestly say I like PB2 better!! PB2 has 45 calories as opposed to 210 in PP, 1.5 grams of fat as opposed to 17. It's awesome and it tastes amazing!! You have to try it if you are a peanut butter fan like I am. You just mix it with water! Buy it.... I promise its amazing!

I am no nutritionist but I do have a few rules I personally try to follow when it comes to food:

1) If I buy it I will eat it! I try to enter the grocery store with the right mind set and stay away from
the junk entirely (although I'm not perfect and sometimes I fail miserably).

 2) I try not to make some imaginary list of things that are completely off limits. For example, I love a good Mountain Dew every now and then or a Dr. Enuf. But every time I have tried to go cold turkey I fail miserably and crave it even more. Now I allow myself a soda a couple times a week and I increased my water intake. I have a 33 oz. Camelbak cup and I drink at least 2 of those a day. That alone has helped more than I ever imagined at curbing my craving for soda. I hate diet drinks and in my opinion if I'm going to drink soda I might as well go big or go home! Haha

3) I try to make sure as much of my cart as possible is from the produce section or the meat dept. of the grocery store. If you can grow it or kill it..... then eat it! There are things that I buy in the other isles but my goal is as much as possible for my family needs to be natural and not processed.

Now I bend my own rules a lot and its a daily battle to eat only whats good for me and every now and then I have to fulfill my craving for some Chick-Fil-A with those delicious waffle fries. These are just some personal "rules" I've made for myself that have helped me a lot. I have been on a healthy food journey for a while now and it has been very gradual. As I learn more I adjust my diet accordingly. It seems to me that if you change everything all at once you fail much easier than if you make gradual changes. After all this isn't a crash diet.... its gradual changes that will last a life time. Let's be clear... I still eat like crap sometimes and I love sugar!! So don't judge if you see potato chips in my cart at the grocery store one day. Because I do eat them every now and then along with other not so healthy stuff. : )
So if you have any questions don't ask me.... ask a nutritionist or your doctor!! Haha These are just the things that have worked for me and I'm still a work in progress!
          

GOOD NEWS

I just finished watching a movie about Peter, one of the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ. Like always I wept as the movie played out the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. I admire Peter's boldness in sharing this good news with the world even when he faced his death. I like to think that if a gun was held to my head and I faced death if I didn't deny Jesus, that I would stand firm in my faith. But would I?? After all, even Peter denied Jesus 3 times. Is my faith strong enough to die for the one who died for me?? I pray that it is!! I pray that I would be willing to lose my life on earth to gain it in Heaven. I pray that I would never deny Him!

Peter challenges me to share Jesus with the world. Why would I deny someone the cure to death? Why wouldn't I tell you? If I had the cure to cancer would I keep it to myself? NO. So why would I keep this to myself? Cancer may take our earthly bodies but our souls were created to live on with our Heavenly Father if we choose to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. THAT is a truth worth shouting from the rooftops!!!

God did not intend for things to be the way they are. He created us for himself and we weren't meant to live with cancer, heartache, divorce, sexual immorality, deceit, anger, sickness, mental illness, etc... But the Devil sought to destroy this perfect world God had created. He is the ultimate deceiver and deception is exactly the tactic he used with Adam & Eve. When Adam & Eve disobeyed God and ate from the forbidden tree our world was changed drastically and the flood gates of sin and the consequences of them opened up. They could no longer walk with God in the garden as they had before. He is too holy and righteous to be in the presence of sinful beings like us. We were separated from Him. THAT is the bad news! But my friends, God made a way for us and it is an amazing truth of rescue and redemption!

Jesus was born into this world as God in the flesh. Lived among the sinfulness of the humanly flesh that is in us and yet lived a perfect life free of any sin. He was the perfect, unblemished sacrifice!  He taught love and service. He taught that to be first we must be last. He came to bring us inner peace and to offer fulfillment of our souls. He came to bridge the gap between us and the creator of the world, our Heavenly Father, God. His life was given up to be the ultimate sacrifice. All of Heaven looked away as He hung on the cross with all our filthy sins laid upon Him. He died the death we all deserve but because of a love that we simply cannot understand, He willingly gave His life up. He took our place. "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." (John15:13)

The beauty of all this is that all we have to do is accept this gift of atonement. When we do, God looks upon us and sees the righteousness of Jesus instead of our sin.  Jesus becomes our high priest, our intercessor. His death forever removed the barrier that separated us from God's holy presence. Praise God for setting out on a rescue mission so that we may be adopted sons and daughters and enjoy an inheritance that we were born undeserving of.  Can you imagine eternal life in a heavenly home where we will no longer experience heartache, pain, and suffering? That is the inheritance that He wants to freely give to us!

If you died today do you know what would happen to you? Are you sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have placed saving faith in Jesus Christ? Have you truly allowed the Holy Spirit to take up residence in your heart and dictate your path and govern your life?

Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." Will you accept Jesus as the bridge to God the father? If you deny Him, He will deny you before God.

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30
 
WILL YOU COME TO HIM AND FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS??