Enjoy!

I’m sitting to write this post trying to figure out how not to sound like some of the most irritating videos I’ve seen on YouTube. I’ll do my best… but the story as it’s unfolding just lends itself to being a bit cheesy.

But I assure you ever word is true, and I’m selling nothing. (And I’ll try not to sound ridiculous!)

Triglycerides in the Red Zone

It started about a year ago. I get relatively frequent blood tests on account of my Diabetes, and I try to take the results very seriously. And that’s when I got the frustrating news that my triglycerides had shot into the red zone. In fact, my whole cholesterol panel was completely out of whack.

My doctor jumped on the results, and went exactly where people like him tend to go. Drugs. No hesitation. He wanted me on statins immediately.

Now, in general I always look at drugs as my last resort. But I was particularly fearful of statins. Everything I read about them was awful, and I really wanted to avoid putting that garbage in my routine.

Intro to Triglycerides

Now a little background, so you understand the full picture.

The recommendation is to keep triglycerides below 150, and mine were in the 160s. I did a bit of research, and I was told most doctors don’t get too concerned until you reach 200. However, this is where it gets complicated. That’s only for regular folk. For diabetics, they say it’s absolutely vital to always be below 150.

My doctor thought I was an idiot for not wanting to take statins. In his view this was the only option, and nothing could possibly go wrong.

But instead I dove into the topic, evaluated my diet, and made some changes.

And sure enough… nothing got any better. My doctor doubled down. He was not happy with me for ignoring his “advice”. And he even said that it is completely impossible for a diabetic to get their triglycerides below 150 without statins.

I left the conversation frustrated.

New World Order

But I’m stubborn. No statins for me. And I started looking for a new doctor.

Last week I decided to get my blood checked. I just wanted an update on where I’m holding. My mouth dropped when I saw my triglycerides. 129! In fact, all my cholesterol issues were gone. Everything was better!

And to date, no statin has ever entered this body!

I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Something was finally going in the right direction health-wise. And it was done the way I preferred. Completely naturally, barely even noticing it had happened.

The only problem: I have no idea what got me these incredible results.

How the heck did this happen?

I was doing things more similarly than differently. If anything, I was no longer taking some of the earlier advice I’d been given. Originally I evaluated my diet, and it looked some culprits may have been techina, coconut oil, and high-fat cheeses. So I started cutting back on all three. And after a whole chunk of time of seeing no changes (besides being hungrier), they all started trickling back into my diet. Why torment my alrighty limited food choices if I’m demonstrably getting nothing from it?

So far I have only three theories (maybe a fourth) of what actually worked. But I’m not confident in any of them.

The first is I lost a little bit of weight.

I’d be way more confident if I had lost 20 or 30 pounds. But it was more like five. And extremely recently. So the odds that this nominal amount was enough or that enough time had passed to make an impact are really low. This certainly could be a long-term contributor to better health for me. But I don’t think it’s how I received my most recent bonuses.

The Mighty ACV

The second and third possibilities are ingredients I’ve been tinkering with lately.

I’m currently in a little weight-loss competition with a friend. However, I kind of panicked when I got started. I was already eating pretty well and exercising regularly. If I wanted to spark real changes in my system, I wasn’t even sure what to do. I had no extra time for more exercise and I was already doing plenty. And if I reduced my calories, I would be miserable and hungry.

I decided to experiment with some ingredients I heard were really good for you, and worked on creating various beverages to have in the morning and before I went to sleep.

I had to tweak them again and again, for an assortment of reasons. Sometimes they were undrinkably disgusting. Other times creating them was simply not sustainable. I can’t use half a lemon every time I want to drink something!

I finally arrived at recipes I could live with, and I’ve been fairly consistent for a few weeks now. Are they responsible for the moderate weight loss? Maybe. Did they finally kick my triglycerides in the ass? Also maybe.

But a little research told me two ingredients were the biggest candidates for these great results: Apple cider vinegar and ginger. If you, like me, are having some issues and the doctor is pushing you to take drugs that make you nervous, try these first! I’d love to see if others can repeat my results. (And I’m happy to share recipes with anyone interested.)

Super Foods?

Now, I am not a big fan of concepts like “super foods“.

I think with health, like just about anything else in life, we can always apply the golden rule: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Health is hard. Really hard. If someone promises you lower blood sugar and rock hard abs in one month by taking a daily supplement, just walk away. It’s garbage. That stuff never works. And usually leads to frustration… and empty wallets.

But something worked here. I can’t yet say for sure what it was, but I’m not complaining. I will live a longer, healthier life. And I’ll do it without dangerous drugs that might make my life significantly worse.

Qualitative Sleep

My fourth quasi-theory is highly connected to the previous ones. For a while now I’ve been exploring the concept of qualitative sleep. I am well aware I don’t get nearly enough sleep. That’s no secret. And it’s an obvious issue for me.

However, I believe the quality of ones sleep is far more important than the quantity. We’ve all had naps where we woke up feeling like a million dollars. And we’ve all had long nights of sleep in which we woke up feeling like trash. There’s a lot going on here, some of which I can’t get into at the moment, and other details I completely don’t understand (yet). But I can say this: I believe there are things we can do to enhance sleep quality. And I think my bedtime concoction may be doing just that.

So what?

Higher quality sleep with no other change in my life may have led to great, unintended benefits. Like lower triglycerides, perhaps.

I will certainly keep experimenting. And I will keep reporting. I strongly encourage others to do the same.

But I want to leave you with this message: We have more control over our health than we are normally led to believe. Keep fighting the good fight to be the healthiest and best version of yourself. Great things are absolutely possible!

The post Busting Up Some Triglycerides is featured at Jaffe World.