Chip’s Cholesterol Story

I have always been an active person. As far back as I can remember, I ran around the neighborhood, climbed trees, biked, hiked…anything to use all the energy I had. Sports in grade school turned into cross-country in high school, which pushed me to being a gym rat in college, which then formed my love to run 5 and 10k’s every other weekend. As far as diets go, I ate for fuel and leanness. I ate what I perceived as a healthy diet. I was a well-oiled machine, consuming the same meals day-in, day-out for years: cereal in the morning, peanut butter and banana on whole wheat bread for lunch, and salad and lean meats for dinner along with a few whey protein shakes (with milk) throughout the day. I was getting my nutrients and burning calories. I considered myself to be healthy. I could push through hard workouts and extreme temp road races, so I must have been completely healthy, right?

Wrong. While I had my body going in the direction I wanted, my heart was going the opposite way. The past four years of physicals had revealed my heart health (lipids, cholesterol) to be heading down a dark path. I was in the 200’s in my 20s; could that be right? Each year told the same story, and it was getting worse. While the 210 cholesterol count stayed the same, my LDL (bad cholesterol) was rising and my HDL (good cholesterol) was way below normal…half of what is recommended. I wasn’t completely surprised; both my dad and grandfather have high cholesterol. I assumed I was genetically destined to have high cholesterol too and that I was doing the best I could. My physician pushed harder each year to take the pharmaceutical approach, but I turned them down each time. I hate the idea of taking pills. I always told them the same thing about how I felt human body is amazing and already has all the tools needed to last a lifetime.

After 5 years of the same downward trend, my heart found a way to save itself. It found what it needed. No, it wasn’t Lipitor, but my loving wife Rachel. She took quick notice of what was going on and put her foot down. She wasn’t going to spend the rest of her life with me if that was only going to be for 20 years. There are just too many stories out there about the guy in great shape who drops dead from a heart attack one week after running a marathon. Rachel wasn’t going to let that happen, so she started researching alternative approaches for solving my problem.

By this time, we had been taking Intro to Ashtanga classes every Sunday at Maya Yoga. We’d heard a little about Wade and Kathleen being vegan, but in all honesty, we hadn’t thought much of it. Then fate stepped in. While traveling, Rachel read an article about Whole Food’s CEO transitioning from omnivore to organic to vegetarian to eventually vegan. In the interview, he
referenced the Engine 2 Diet and the impact his diet made on his health. Intrigued, Rachel started doing more research. She read The Engine 2 Diet, The China Study, and Crazy Sexy Diet. All pointed to the same thing: go whole food and plant-based and get healty now!

To convince me to try a plant-based diet, she decided to go with Engine 2, created by Rip Esselstyn. The book speaks directly to how a plant-based diet can lower cholesterol dramatically. Rip was a professional triathlete turned fireman who noticed the unhealthy eating habits of the firemen in his unit. Some had cholesterol levels in excess of 300. His approach consisted of a 4 week “weaning” of dairy, meat and excess oils. Week 1 was dairy free, week 2 eliminated meat, and week 3 cut oils, leaving week 4 completely free from animal products and oils. The approach worked for firemen in Texas with cholesterol levels of 300+, dropping into the 150s in 4 weeks.

I can remember the conversation…

“We’re going vegan aren’t we?!” I protested. “What about my Friday barbecue with the guys?”

“It’s only 4 weeks, Chip. You think you can make it?” Rachel said.

She knew exactly how to push my buttons. I am a challenge based person. All she needed to do was to set the goal and give me a little push. She was even going to do it with me and be my cheerleader along the way. Awesome! I could do 4 weeks, no sweat. I’ll be honest, I was skeptical to see what would happen, but I was definitely up for the challenge. I figured my cholesterol was genetic and if exercise, eating whole grains and taking fish oils couldn’t change it, what good would anything else do? Little did I know, the challenge would stick. Four weeks later, my cholesterol dropped for the first time in, well, as long as I had been keeping track. I went from 205 to 153. My LDL dropped dramatically and my HDL was on the rise. Amazing! Not only were my numbers turning around, but I was FEELING healthier.

Armed with concrete results, I convinced my boss to try this radical idea as well. His cholesterol was much higher than mine, and he was literally on the verge of picking up his first prescription of Lipitor. It took some coaching, but in 4 weeks he was able to drop from 268 to 173. His blood pressure was through the roof and is beginning to drop due to the cholesterol changes. Seeing his results further solidified my new belief that a plant based diet can truly transform your health.

Those four weeks have now stretched into seven months. While we have splurged once or twice, and have slowly added healthier oils, this experiment has turned into a commitment to a plant based lifestyle. This former once per week barbeque man now looks forward to his weekly lunch at Eden Alley with his wife. If I can make the transition, so can you.

This story has been reposted with permission. Thanks to Maya Yoga. You can find the original here.

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