Monday, August 4, 2008

The results are in!


I just received the lab results from my blood lipid test.
The numbers on the left are my points and the numbers on the right represent Kaiser Hospital’s “healthy” or normal ranges.

Triglycerides 55 Less than 199

HDL 97 Greater than 45

LDL 98 Less than 129

Glucose 85 60-99

I was in a fasted state, as one should be when they take this; however I had just returned from my trip and hadn’t slept in more than 24hours. I think this may be the reason why my glucose level is a bit high. Or it may just be a symptom of my carb-sensativity. Nonetheless, it is slightly more elevated than I would like it to be.

On the bright side, my triglycerides are low and HDL are high. Still, I am not so sure about the LDL levels. I was informed that it is more important to know the partical SIZE rather than the quantity. Ideally, the partical size should be large. I will keep this in mind for the next time.

After doing a fair amount of research, I am pretty happy with my test results in general. I am concerned that my glucose levels are on the high end and hope that the next time I test it will be lower.
According to Dr. Barry Sears, a good and easy method of measuring your state of health is to take the triglyceride count and divide it by your HDL (the good cholesterol) count.

Here is mine 0.57 (55/97). Looks like I am doing pretty well.

From page 120 of his Omega Rx Zone book the lower the number, the better.
4: Diseased
3: Poor
2: Good
1: Ideal

Yesterday's WOD from CF national site:
"Griff"
For time:
Run 800 meters
Run 400 meters backwards
Run 800 meters
Run 400 meters backwards
=13:37

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Connie,

The blood glucose score is more like a math or an English test. The higher the number, the better. Who wants an 85 when you could have a 100? It's time to really set things right and start consuming some serious portions of high glycemic carbohydrates. I will cook up a pound or two of pasta and bring it with me to the gym tonight. Please consume it before during and after your workout. I will also bring a 2 Liter bottle of Coca Cola for you to wash down the pasta.

MBL100 said...

Connie, the particle size you are referring to is discussed extensively in "Good Calories, Bad Calories". You want large particles, not small sand-like ones that are more permeable. I think one of the reasons that such tests are not so reliable is that there is not a good method available to MDs to test this metric.

Also, according to Robb Wolf, if you are eating a low-GI, low carb diet your IS number may be skewed as your body may freak out when faced with pure glucose after staying away from it. I have not had much in the way of refined carbs in the last month of so, I bet the same thing would happen to me.

Your genes load the gun but your lifestyle pulls the trigger. -Dr. Houston