My Blood on Spuds

I know the challenge ended last week but the holidays made it near impossible to get these thoughts together.  I had my blood drawn last Monday.  I had one arm extended, my fist balled up bracing for the needle (have I mentioned that I hate needles?).  A banana in the other hand.  As soon as the blood filled the vials I ate the best banana of my life!  Then off to the Juice Bar for a Sweet Greens juice and a Superfood acai smoothie bowl.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  So good!

I know you are anxious to get your questions answered on blood sugar, protein and calcium on spuds.  A little explanation first:

The “before” blood work is what my blood looks like on a clean, whole food plant based diet.  There were a few vegan desserts prior to the challenge since we knew we were going to be depriving ourselves of these options as soon as the next day dawned.  That would explain my triglycerides…although they weren’t awful.  Also since our skin doesn’t see much sunlight in the winter, we started supplementing vitamin D on the Spud diet.

I decided to throw in the results from the last Raw food challenge so everyone can see them side by side.  For a full description of the Raw food results see this blog. 

	Normal Range	WFPB diet	Spuds only	Raw Food Diet
Cholesterol	100-199	169	147	162
HDL (happy cholesterol)	>39	40	39	35
LDL (lousy cholesterol)	0-99	98	90	107
Triglycerides (fat floating in the blood)	0-149	156	88	102
Hemoglobin	11.1-15.9	12.1	12.1	12.2
Hematocrit	34-46.6	38.3	38.6	38.7
Glucose (blood sugar)	65-99	59	84	Didn’t check
Sodium	136-144	140	140	141
Potassium	3.5-5.2	4.3	4.6	4.2
Calcium	8.7-10.2	8.7	9.2	8.7
Protein	6.0-8.5	6.9	6.8	7.2
Iron, serum (iron in the blood)	27-159	89	51	35
Iron, saturation (iron stores)	15-55	21%	12%	9%
Vitamin B12	211-946	614	611	968
Folate (folic acid)	>3.0	11.7	13.7	7.4
Vitamin D	30-100	16.7	26.7	Didn’t check

So, what does all this tell us?  A whole food plant based diet, supplementing Vitamin D and B12 can give you excellent cholesterol numbers, great blood sugar, normal potassium, calcium and protein.  If you are a female you need to watch your iron.  Or at least I do.  So if you are to try the spud diet, add in spinach or beans.  On a normal clean WFPB diet my iron is fine.  Beans, greens, edamame and Grape Nuts take care of it.  I do, however, need to watch my fat intake.  This shows in the triglycerides which is the fat floating around in the blood.  So junk food vegans likely do not have great numbers with respect to their triglycerides.   And even with a clean diet, if the intake of high fat foods or desserts is increased it will show up..

This also tells us that if you have food addictions, bad habits and need a break from "food" you can sustain yourself very well on potatoes while you try to figure it out.  It was a great time for us to reflect on our relationship with food and remember that going to parties and church events can be all about the people and not all about the food.  And it can give someone a way to lose weight safely with easy to follow rules and not alot of confusion.  Guys like that.  (Cliff's blood work is coming and just to put some of you guys mind at ease, his iron was perfect.  Everything was perfect)

Now what?  Well, many of you have joined the Journey to Incredible Health group on Facebook where we have been sharing great recipes and tips for getting through the holidays.  Starting on 1/9 we will begin our very first Journey to Incredible Health Challenge.  There will be one each quarter of the new year lasting 3 months each.  A chance of winning some great prizes will be awareded to those who complete the challenge and you can join more than one!  We will be addressing the physical as well as the psychological side to food and health.  It’s not all about weight loss.  It’s about gaining a healthy body and mind. 

How do you begin?  Search on Facebook for the group “Journey to Incredible Health” and ask to join.  Once accepted you will have access to the support and accountability that goes with the challenge.  I will be posting this weekend the details of the challenge on this blog as well as the Facebook group page.  I hope you join us and make 2017 your year to start your journey to a BETTER YOU!