our 90 day cholesterol lowering plan

On Friday, the news we already knew was confirmed.  Graham needs to lower his cholesterol.

Part of the adoption process is submitting doctor records and showing that you are under medical care {if you have any issues}.    Since it had been about a decade since Graham had been to see an actual doctor, and we learned of the high cholesterol issue from a health assessment done through his work, we knew he needed to go in.

On Friday, he got 90 days.  In that amount of time he needs to lower his cholesterol or he goes on meds.  At the age of 30.  As an otherwise healthy adult male.

So, yesterday we went back to our plan that we allowed to fizzle out a bit.  We are back to being focused on a plant based, whole foods diet.  We did really good on it for awhile, and Graham lost a bunch of weight for Hawaii, but we are meat-eaters.  We found that old habits really did die hard {and that Graham REALLY likes bacon}.

But that call on Friday really woke us up.

Are we going to be vegetarians or vegans?  No, absolutely not.  But, we are going to try and eat a variety of proteins {such as beans}, try to reduce our red meat and saturated fat intake, and be more focused on eating whole {non-processed} foods.  The produce department and I will become very good friends.

Even though we are not labeling ourselves as vegans, I did pick up a vegan cookbook this weekend.  I have found that vegan recipes most closely follow the plant based, whole foods diet.

It was the best purchase I have ever made!  The book is called 1,000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson.

 I know I will not be using any of the recipes that call for Tofu, but we grew up with meat and potatoes, so this book will be my lifesaver in cooking the way we need to help lower Graham’s cholesterol and not feel like we are depriving ourselves {and therefore falling back off the wagon}.

I used two recipes from it for dinner last night.  One was a corn salsa salad and the other was for a corn and potato chowder {it was my take on a soup and salad}.  Add in some fresh fruit and we were both pleasantly stuffed!

On top of trying to eat differently, the past two mornings have included 5 am cardio jaunts for Graham.  I joined him on Monday morning, but slept in today as I am still dealing with this blasted cold.  His goal is 5 am every morning!

90 days.  Halloween is our deadline.  Wish us luck!