Getting Personal...

For years I have had an ongoing battle with my primary care physician over my cholesterol levels.

The numbers have been inching higher and higher year by year.

Dr. Kyle has repeatedly perscribed statin drug to lower the cholesterol levels, and I have repeatedly said no.

So... I am stubborn.  And so is he...

Perhaps you are having a similar battle?  Maybe not... but this is where the story gets personal for me.

Last year my total cholesterol topped 260.  It was 263 to be exact.

A desirable normal total cholesterol level would be below 200 mg/dL.

200 -239 is borderline high.

Over 240 is considered high and dangerous.

Obviously I have fallen into the dangerously high levels.

It is something of a family "gift" I suppose... my mom was on statin drugs and so is my brother because of abnormally high cholesterol levels.

Dr. Kyle said it is not up for discussion.  The high levels of cholesterol in my system will set me up for heart disease... take the statins he said!

And this is where my struggle lies.  There are so many side effects associated with statin drugs.  Such as muscle pain and damage, liver damage, increased chance of developing type 2 diabetes and neurological effects (memory loss and confusion).

There had to be a better way!

Enter The China Study...

Remember, I had picked up the book because of our cancer research... I was intrigued by the claims of being able to "dramatically reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes just by changing your diet."

I was not prepared to read that Dr. Campbell's research in China and the corresponding studies in England had established an indisputable link between elevated cholesterol rates and cancer risk...

"We compared the prevalence of Western diseases with diet and lifestyle variables and, to our surprise, one of the strongest predictors of Western diseases was blood cholesterol."

Seriously, what was cholesterol doing in the middle of a cancer study??

What Dr. Campbell and his team had found as they studied the rural Chinese communities was that as blood cholesterol levels rose the incidence of Western diseases (cancer, heart disease and diabetes) also rose.

The other astonishing finding was that rural Chinese participants had blood cholesterol levels far, far below the Western average... like really, really low cholesterol readings...

In America, our average blood cholesterol readings are between 170-290mg/dL.  In China, the average readings were between 94-129mg/dL.  That's almost 100 points lower!

My brain started setting off alarm bells... with my high cholesterol was I at a higher risk for cancer too?  Maybe it's not just heart disease that I should be worrying about!

Ok, now you've got my attention.

And as mom and I often did, I decided to set up my own "unscientific" test...

I had 6 weeks until my follow-up physical and blood work (to see if the statins were lowering my cholesterol).  What I chose to do is perhaps not the smartest thing to do (according to Dr. Kyle), but I needed to know if there was anything to this China Study Diet...

For the next 6 weeks I chose to follow the Whole-Food Plant-Based diet as closely as I could.  And not take the statin drug.  (Please know that this should never be construed as medical advice for you or a loved one... this is just a personal journal of my truly unscientific experiment!)

The first week on the diet was the hardest (more on that in the coming days!) but I knew if there was any chance to tell if the diet worked on lowering my cholesterol I needed to be as consistent as I could...

Amazingly I made it through the 6 weeks (and actually found I missed the animal-protein foods less and less!)

The results were well worth it... After 6 weeks on the diet, my total cholesterol level had dropped to 231!!!!

From 263... a 32 point drop in 6 weeks.  Dr. Kyle was impressed. 

I was doing a happy dance (and just a little shocked to be honest) but incredibly impressed by the results.

I am continuing to apply the diet in my life and hope to see the numbers drop to even healthier levels.  But now I know that The China Study has merit, and have begun to advocate strongly for a Whole-Food Plant-Based Diet.

That is the reason I am sharing in this 31 Day Write Journal: Beating Cancer, 31 Days to Healing.  If you or a loved one is searching for answers.  A plan. For a bit of hope... Keep on trucking with me...

The China Study Diet is simple, wholesome and surprisingly delicious.  It is very do-able,  It reaps amazing benefits.  And can be started today.

Looking forward to sharing the tips and recipes that made a transition to Healthy easy and fun...

See you back tomorrow!