January 2011 - January 2012 Progress Report - Barrett
I have the luxury of working for a company that provides all its employees/spouses with a yearly "Biometric Screening." Every one gets the standard, height, weight, umbilicus circumference and basic blood work done. I am pretty excited to show the differences in my 2011 numbers vs my current numbers. Some changes are were positive while others we not. However, I did anticipate these changes both ways. The main difference this year vs last is that I am sleeping more, eating an ancestral diet and focusing on more strength instead of "beat me into the ground" high intensity workouts.
Positive Changes:
Weight - 218lbs (2011), 198lbs (2012)
Umbilicus Circumference - 35'' (2011), 30'' (2012)
HDL - 55 (2011), 71 (2012)
Blood Sugar - 87 (2011), 78 (2012)
Blood Pressure - 122/78 (2011), 115/72 (2012)
No changes in basic blood chemistry, including TRIGS - 66
Negative/Questionable Changes:
LDL - 160 (2011), 250 (2012)
So what does this all mean? I don't completely know. Most everything improved or stayed the same, with the exception of LDL. However, I went into the biometric screening fully aware to see an increase in my "cholesterol" numbers. Mostly due to the fact that I was eating 70% of my calories from fat, 20% from protein, and 10% from carbs.
I hope to explore more into what this can mean and how it may help/hurt my health. Surly my ancestors of Northern Europe didn't eat may carbs during the winter and maybe we are meant to have higher numbers this time of year to deal with the cold harsh weather? Just a thought, maybe I'm wrong.
The neat thing about all of this is that we can explore further to see what kinds of eating may affect my biochemistry. As the days get longer, plants become more abundant, and as plant become a larger staple in our diet I will have a decreased need for dietary fat. Hopefully I will see a different blood chemistry this mid summer.
I also intend to study the anthropological diets of my Northern Europe ancestry to gather more insight how I am wired to eat.
A Note on Coffee:
Hilary and I made it 21 days with out coffee or any caffeine. Honestly, it wasn't as hard as I initially thought. I think the ease of it had something to do with our switch to a ketogenic diet at the same time. Perhaps our bodies were able to make due without the influx of caffeine due to our ketogenic nature.
We also found out that we really missed having a warm beverage in the morning. This lead us to find several alternatives that we still rotate through.
1. Ginger Tea - Brewed from fresh ginger root.
2. Bone Broth - You know you made it right when you have to use a knife to scoop it out of the jar in the fridge.
3. Teeccino - Roasted organic carob, organic chicory, organic dandelion root, and organic ramon nuts. Not quite the same as coffee but pretty darn close. Pairs great when you blend it with cinnamon, coconut oil and butter. I do stress that you must try this in your daily cup of joe. Please note that it works best when blended in a blender in order to homogenize the fats.
During the weekdays we rotate through the above mentioned, and on the weekends (Friday, Sat and Sunday) we drink coffee.
