My new blood #'s w/ exercise:......................................................................
After 7 years of ZONE w/ Fish Oil, I only recently added exercise last August......................
And the new blood numbers show. ...................................................................
For comparison, Iam including three sets of numbers: ..............................................
1.) Pre-ZONE 7 years ago. ........................................................................
2.) Pre-Exercise, 1 year ago .....................................................................
3.) With Exercise 3-days ago .....................................................................
...................................................................................................
Time:.....7 yr.....1 yr.....3 day .................................................................
Total:.....284......184......174 ..................................................................
TriG.......160.......44.......40 .................................................................
HDL.........40.......58.......66 .................................................................
LDL........213......117......100 (Friedewald - inaccurate when TriG below 100?) ...................
LDL........n/a.......87.......69 (Iranian formula - accurate when TriG below 100) .................
Appo-B.....n/a......n/a.......79.00 ...............................................................
...................................................................................................
TriG/HDL. 4.0 .... .76...... .61 ..................................................................
. I had to use all the dots, otherwise this long-delayed, revamped, new forum scrunches everything together, it now ignores even Hard Returns, unlike the old forums, and the older forums before those. I did a preview, and it looks way different than what I type now matter how hard I try to make it look noce! I GIVE UP! This new formatting is TERRIBLE!

OKAY, so after submitting, it does not look so bad.
BUT WHY does the Preview NOT look like the final? Is that NOT the whole idea of Preview? the Preview looked worse than the original typing before submitting! Should it NOT look like the final? The Preview looks worse than the Final or the pre-submission entry. This SHOULD be FIXED!

Congrats, keep up the good work, John!

Nice job, John!

(agree with the formatting, but the end result looks fine)

The last time I had blood work, my only real downfall was my HDL, but I have not been a heavy exerciser, either. This year, I have been working on that with cycling. I never really felt like I was getting anywhere with walking, and would find all kinds of excuses to not get out there and do it (besides, we live in the country, with limited options for walking routes). So, this past May I dusted off my bicycle and started riding. I am trying to ride 5-10 miles per day, and also replacing some of the errands from car to bike.

As I said, we live in the country, but we are close enough to our town that the biking distance is ok for this, and is also favorable for the kids to tag along.

I am anxious to see how this affects my HDL when the bloodwork is done again in the fall!

P.S. My blood pressure has always been good, never any problems.
I attribute it too my Italian up-bringing - with lots of garlic.
.
Last year it was something like 118/68.
NOW, this year, and this AFTER adding salt back into my eating, though not a lot, and of course Himalayan salt - my blood pressure was measured at 94/68. never been that low, before. Always around 116-120 over 65-68. So after ADDING (Himalayan) SALT into my diet, it did not go up, but with the added exercise added to my life last August, it went down.....
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I read recently that adding an hour of hard exercise once per week can lower blood pressure by 11%.
Of course, I have very little stress in my life, and a happy wife makes a happy life!
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We just came back from a lovely late afternoon to early evening 1-1/2 hour 17 mile bicycle ride.
Kayaking, tomorrow afternoon, after church or maybe a hike. NASCAR race this evening.
Not much better than this ..... It's great that all 4 of our children are happy functioning, GROWN, and on their own .... This is sounding more like a blog than a forum for Health, so time to bid adeu.....

LOL! I think you have all of the right stufft!

On a similar note, I was paddling a couple of weeks ago, and met a young chiropractor.
(Who will now become my chiropractor, since I've needed some adjustments for some time, now, and she shares a similar life philosophy. (And with a small pay raise - can fit in the weekly fee.)
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She subscribes to a "Primal BluePrint" form a Dr. Mark. marksdailyapple dot com - very similar to the Zone. In fact, Zoners could fit his Primal Blueprint for exercise into their daily lives.
.
He does go a bit further and prescribes NO grains of any kind, as well as no sugar as an eating way of life. The more I read about grain and esp white flour, not just their high glycemic load value, but other potential harmful effects .... (Makes me even more cautious about Zone foods which use white flour and whole grain flour.....) And though, he, like Dr. Sears does (falsely) subscribe to evolution, I can get past that for the science behind their prescribed life-styles.
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On another note, I had been considering for some time the new 5-finger toe shoes from Vibram, for a while. Then our chiropractor paddling friend, she was wearing them on a paddling trip - and swore by them. And a co-worker purchased them, too. And finally Dr. Mark advocates them, too. But not being able to afford them after stopping by the local EMS store on Sunday after church and seeing their price, they were put on the back shelf. Then, 2 hours later our two boys called, and asked what I wanted for Fathers day - "glad you asked!" lol. So I've been wearing them for 4 weeks now, for all but two days, and I luv em!
(Yes, I do take them off at night, and I did wash them once, already.)
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Mind you, I have flat feet, low arches, and hard to fit feet. And even with the new Dr. Scholl's "custom ortodic" fitting machines at Wal-Mart - I still had tired feet/ankles/calves at night. Much better since wearing the 5-finger Vibram Toe shoes. Thank You boys.

Hmmm, may have to consider those shoes! I have been fighting off a plantar fasciitis in my right heel. Seems to get better, then I go and do something to flare it up again!

Interesting about the Primal Blueprint. I have heard others (can't name references) who also speak about no grains or sugar, as well. Was thinking about all of that as we were picking some black raspberries (wild) today!

We have a LOT of pick-your-own farms in the area, but short seasons.
Just need the time to do so. Sprinted on bicycle 17-18 mph Fri. evening,
Paddled 10 miles (leisurely, for the most part), today (Saturday). Church on Sunday, then will probably need a short nap, afterwards - LOL.
Maybe, I just need to take a day off work mid-week to pick local fruit. Hmmm, there's an idea.....
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Also, heard about this week, and now thinking about trying indoor rock climbing - for those winter weekends when just too frigid for a winter mountain, hike. (Or for on those winter weekends when I just feel like sleeping in....)

I have been doing more biking this summer, really enjoying it. Got my kids riding more, and my hubby is getting into it now, too, just bought a bike (seriously, I don't think that he has had a bike or even an interest in having one since he was a kid). Did a 48 mile ride today.

My blood work from 5/2011:
HDL 93
LDL 129
TRI 43
So does this make my TRI / HDL ratio 0.43 ?

If so, should this be an indication of low inflammation? I'm wondering because I am having a lot of pain from osteoarthritis in most of my joints. If not, what blood test should I ask for when I go for my next Physical in a few weeks from now?
I should mention that I have been straying in and out of the Zone lately so I think that could be contributing to the pain.
I'm also curious to see how my numbers have changed do to not being as faithful to my eating plan.

The TG/HDL ratio is more reflective of insulin control since the TG/HDL ratio is a marker of metabolic syndrome. It is true that fish oil will lower TG levels, but if they are already low due to good insulin control, then the impact on the TG/HDL ratio will not be as great. After doing more than 2,000 tests, we are finding a number of individuals with good to excellent TG/HDL ratios, but with relatively high AA/EPA ratios that still require more fish oil to bring them into an appropriate range.

The AA/EPA ratio is an indication of the levels of cellular inflammation in your body. High levels of cellular inflammation do not mean you have a disease state, but it does indicate that you are not as well as you could be. Your future state of wellness can be determined by the levels of cellular inflammation in the blood.(follow the link)
http://www.drsears.com/tabId/399/it...lness.aspx

Sometimes I just have a difficult time making the connection between physical inflammation and inflammation at the cellular level (a.k.a. silent inflammation).

Anyone can experience inflammation in the body due to an injury which causes pain, or an infection, or some other type of insult--using your osteoarthritis as an example. The presence of these conditions may or may not have an impact on your numbers when talking about silent inflammation.

For instance, I experience pain on a daily basis from an old injury to my knee. It is not going to heal or get better no matter how much fish oil I take. Fish oil can help reduce SOME of the inflammation, but it is not going to take care of all of it. In the same respect, an anti-inflammatory diet can also help, but is not going to take care of all of it.

The bloodwork will help to predict your state of wellness (or level silent inflammation). You would dose your fish oil based upon the results. I think that the question to answer is whether the presence of chronic pain (due to arthritis or an injury) would increase your blood levels? No doubt, Dr. Sears would recommend increased doses of fish oil for physical inflammation, but just keep in mind that I believe it is possible to have a good state of wellness (low numbers) in the presence of a physical inflammation.

My doctor is not familiar with the AA/EPA blood test and the lab she uses doesn't do the test but she is going to find out more about it. The blood work I did have done was about what I expected, HDL 85, LDL 97 TRI 69. TRI/HDL ratio 0.81. (if I am figuring it out correctly).
Well Cran, whether or not the pain I have is reflective of silent inflammation, I sure wish it would get better :-) I guess the best I can do is to keep eating in the Zone and to keep exercising!

Hi Paula,

Congrats you your great lab results! There's a list of AA/EPA testing facilities in the book "Toxic Fat". If you don't have a copy, you could email or call Zone Labs (1-800-404-8171) for the info. I've used NutraSource Diagnostics. It's very easy. You call them, purchase the test, it's mailed to you with instructions, your dr's office draws the blood and returns it to Nutra Source along with a lab order (they need a dr's order) and you receive the results in a week or so.

A tip, if you happen to change the amount of your fish oil dosage, between now and the time you have the AA/EPA done, make sure you've been at the new dosage for at least 30 days prior to testing. It takes 30 days to receive the full benefit of a fish oil dosage change.

Good luck! :)
_____________________________________________________

Sue
Consultant of Zone Labs
Certified Zone Affiliate

Good results, Paula! Sounds like the "diet" portion of the Zone is going very well for you, and you must be fairly active with that excellent HDL.

The AA/EPA testing can be quite expensive, and I am not aware of it being covered by any insurance (let us know if you find out otherwise). You could maintain a specific dose for a month and see if it helps. If not, raise the dose by increments and give it another month to see if you are feeling any better.

Dr. Sears used to have a "Silent Inflammation Profile" posted on his website, www.drsears.com. You could search around to see if it is still there. If not, I think the same thing is in his book THE ANTI-INFLAMMATION ZONE. It is a series of questions that you can ask yourself to judge whether your fish oil dosage is effective, or if you need to increase it or decrease it. Might save you some money!