Monday, March 19, 2007

Lipitor: How I Beat Lipitor in 6 Months (And You Can Too!)

So, in my original blog post on How To lower high triglycerides and high cholesterol, I told you that my personal physician gave me a prescription for a book called Ultrametabolism and told me to read it a live it. And so I did. I have to apologize to my family for driving them nuts over the past 6 months. I’ve taught my children to read ingredient labels to look out for evil things such as hydrogenated oils, partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup. All of which have no place being inside a human and all of which your body has no physiological idea how to process. As I learned, so did they.

My goal specifically was to lower my cholesterol from 290 to under 200. “Woolfie” (More professionally known as Islon Woolf, MD) called me while taking a break on Friday and told me the good news. My follow-up cholesterol test measured my total cholesterol at 195. I did it - I Hit My Goal! Now I want to bring it to 170.

Lipitor is not even a remote consideration at this point. My cholesterol and all the subfractions of cholesterol were great. So, now I am proud to say that I am not in a heart disease risk category any longer and it only took 6 months. I probably did it in 3-4 months but I couldn’t get back in to see Dr. Woolf to get my bloodwork due to my own busy schedule.

What did I do in the past 6 months? Basically, it was good food and exercise. More specifically, I’ve followed the guidelines in Mark Hyman MD’s book Ultrametabolism and I’ve been in the gym 4-5 days per week doing a combination of interval training on the Life Fitness elliptical machine and the Stairmaster; cardio kickboxing classes & group power classes at Equinox and good ‘ole weight training. For those who want to see an outline of what I do and don’t eat, see my earlier blog post Dr. T’s Guidelines to Reduce High Cholesterol & High Triglycerides.

I’ve become very comfortable with what I can and cannot eat at this point. So much so it feels normal. I cook various foods that I use to love but just with healthier ingredients. I eat out, but am more selective and will ask for things to be cooked in Olive oil, without cheese, broiled or grilled instead of fried. If I’m going out for the day, I prepare ahead of time a meal and a snack or two just in case I get stuck, at least I’ll have something healthy to prevent that hunger sensation from coming on.

Bottom line; regaining your health and losing weight isn’t as much a chore as it is a mindset. Get your attitude in-line with your goals and then it’s easy simply because there is no other choice. If you decide to do it, then you will. If you say you will try, then you will fail because saying you will try is leaving yourself a way out.

Today I did 70 minutes of speed intervals on the Stairmaster. For my cardio it's either that or the (Life Fitness) Elliptical trainer. I just had my suits altered in the jacket and 2 ½ inches taken in on the pants. I easily fit back into a size 36 jeans with a bit of room to spare and I have to go buy new belts because I’m on the 6th belt loop. Yes, by reducing your cholesterol and triglycerides you will lose weight too. But, I warn you, don’t try to lose weight to lower your cholesterol and triglycerides. No, it's not the same. The mindset is all wrong and the results could be disastrous . Thre are a lot of ways to lose weight that are very unhealthy. Just because you are thin doesn’t mean you are healthy. Trust me, I’m living it.

Healthfully yours


DocT.

PS, yes I eat fruit, veggies, Larabars; Steel Cut Oatmeal, Ezekiel Breads pastas and wraps & "Flat Out" wraps. I eat a whole food diet with virtually no refined foods. In my opinion, no & low carb diets are crap. You need carbs. You just need the right ones at the right times. Read Ultrametabolism and discover the truth. You can order it by simply clicking on the link to the right------->.

Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

2 comments:

Kyra said...

Congrats on reaching your goal!!

What I'm always amazed about is how people rediscover how good real food tastes, once they get back to eating it. It's like living in a fog, and finally coming out into the sun.

Anonymous said...

My name is Giulia White and i would like to show you my personal experience with Lipitor.

I have taken for 9 years. I am 60 years old. I took 20 mg for 9 years and I told numerous physicians about my pain and stiffness and was told that I had arthritis and to keep taking it. I left it at home by accident when we went on vacation and within 3 days, the pain in my legs began to go away. After 2 weeks I knew it was a very dangerous medication. I went to my new physician and he wanted me to try Pravachol. Afer 4 days on it, I was in a fog and thought I had the flu. I have been off it for just 36 hours and feel better. I am an RN and should have known that I was experiencing side effects with Lipitor, but you listen to your Doctor because you trust him. I now tell my patients to trust what their bodies are telling them. Statins can't be good for anyone but the drug companies!!!!!!!!!! They keep lowering the recommended levels so that almost everyone is considered to have "high" cholesterol. If someone is 30 and on this for 30 or 40 years there is not telling what the long term effects will be.

I have experienced some of these side effects-
Joint and Muscle Pain / Stiffness.

I hope this information will be useful to others,
Giulia White