Results: from vegan to whole foods plant based vegan

Wow, it’s been over six months since I cleaned up my diet and moved towards a whole foods plant-based plan. And I owe you guys an update!

To recap, since the heart attack, I no longer cook with oil of any type, have cut out refined sugars, and focus on whole plant foods.

Yes, I do occasionally eat processed food, but stick to those that are minimally processed with emphasis on occasionally. If curious, this post has more specifics about the changes made.

And I do eat out at restaurants sometimes, but not nearly as much as we used to and, again, I choose the options that are as close to whole foods as possible.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to see a doctor. I tried in Portland, but the earliest open appointment was a week after we were leaving. I got on a waiting list for cancelations, but never got a call.

When we get back to the lower-48, I will make another run at getting in to see a doctor. But in the meantime, I wanted to know if the changes I made were helping. Enter Grassroots Labs.

What is Grassroots Labs?

Through Grassroots Labs, you can order tests online at reasonable prices. Then you go into a local testing facility to have your blood drawn. When your test results are ready, you get a notification by email.

I went to Quest Diagnostics in Fairbanks, Alaska for the tests. It was a quick in and out, no appointment necessary. And the results arrived in less than a week. It’s an excellent solution for people that don’t have insurance.

The results are in!

The goals I had were to get my triglycerides down, my HDL up and my LDL down. I wasn’t explicitly trying for weight loss, but it was a nice side effect. And I’ve continued to lose weight slowly.

Here is my results side by side with the lab results from when I was in the hospital.

I know that this is not the entire story, but seeing everything going in the right direction is a relief. I’m hoping this puts me in an excellent position to come off of or reduce some medications, but I’ll wait for a doctor’s okay before making any changes.

Now, some of you might be looking at my “before” lab results and think they look pretty good. And yet I still had a heart attack. Am I ever going to have an answer as to why that happened? I’m not holding out hope.

So if you were curious as to how my changes in diet have worked out, I’d say pretty well! Do you have a success story to share? Or would you like to see results like this but don’t know how to proceed? I’d love to hear from you! Drop a comment below, and I’ll get right back to you!