Commoner dragon boats-Hangzhou, China
Happy Fitness Friday! It’s been a crazy and unsettling week! More about that later. First, look at the photo above carefully. How many boats do you see? Leave your answer in the comments or send me a message telling me how many boats. Photo is taken from www.StuckinCustoms.com from Trey Ratcliff on G+ (Creative Commons Noncommercial).
Bad news first because it ties into turning over a new leaf. Got my blood test results back from my annual physical and was shocked to learn that my LDL (“bad”) cholesterol level was high, same on triglycerides. HDL (“good”) cholesterol was high too (for marathon runners this is a very frequent and expected phenomenon to have high HDL but many marathoners have low LDL-that’s been my experience up to now). I thought I was doing well, running way more than last year, thought I was eating right. WRONG! My doctor (who was also surprised by this because she knows how much I run) suggested dietary changes and that sent me reeling and almost (but not quite) freaking out. You see, I really like to eat red meat. Not every day. But frequently. Too frequently. Even with meatless Fridays almost every Friday and eating healthy MOST of the time (unless it is a Catholic feast day, I have to check the church calendar), I still must make changes. I didn’t want to but I MUST. So I did lots of reading, lots of checking with friends and family (even checked on whether we have family history of high cholesterol/triglycerides-doesn’t sound like it so this one’s on me) on how to make these changes. I have finally had to concede I can’t eat/drink whatever I want whenever I want. I’m not 20 anymore. (My legs don’t concede that point.)
RESOLVED: I will turn over (and eat) a new leaf (or leaves, see photo above) and try to drop meat for at least one other day in the week and maybe try to go vegan on one of the two meatless days. I will diligently read food labels. I will cut out the processed “junk” that I overconsume. But puzzled, I wondered, how did this happen? Unlimited red meat (too many double-cheeseburgers)? Whey protein shakes from Target that are mysteriously high in cholesterol? Too much protein in general? Too many protein bars with cholesterol in them? First two answers might handle much of this. No more cholesterol-enhanced whey protein from Target (Market Pantry brand)-23% daily RDA of cholesterol! Yikes! Don’t buy that one ever again!
Fortunately, I do love fish/seafood a lot and love salads and fruit so I’ll be experimenting with new recipes and a new lifestyle so I can still be running around when I’m 144. Any special suggestions or tips from any of you would be very helpful to me. So far my friends and family have been extremely helpful with suggestions. I’ve never blended a kale smoothie but I’m longing to learn how. Eat/drink more kale to stay out of food jail? YES!
Part of me wonders, can I really do this? This is a total transformation of your nutrition lifestyle. But yes, seeing others that have transformed their nutritional lifestyle much more than this inspires me to do this. After all, in Red Green’s immortally famous words (his best ever):
Man’s Prayer from Red Green Show
As men we don’t like to change or want to change but let’s face it, when you get older, you have to make changes sometimes. I’ve accepted it. Ch-ch-changes!
Runner’s World Run Streak update (May 22-present-yes, I was an early bird): day 38 of streak, 154.4 miles during streak, projected to finish with 230 miles by July 4, last day of streak. July 5 is a rest day. (Or not-I’m torn;)
Happy running from the “new” leafy-green kale-consuming me, Jeremy
P.S. Keep your stick on the ice!
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