Virgil

I had my annual physical last week and got my blood test results. Well, I’m healthy. All that exercise has really paid off. My total cholesterol is 172, well below the 200 max. But what’s really good is that my HDL cholesterol (that’s the good kind) is 60, way above the 46 min and the LDL (bad cholesterol) is 103, well below the 130 max. And triglycerides are down to an almost non-existent 45. Those are very good numbers. The ratio of total chol to HDL, perhaps the most important number, is down to 2.9. That’s a heart disease risk factor number and you want to keep that below 4.0 I don’t think I’ve ever had below 3.1 before.

So I’m pretty happy. How did I do it? Diet? Nope? Converted to vegetarianism? Nope. In fact I practice the opposite. I believe that protein is the most important nutrient to take in, and nothing beats meat of some sort for protein and total nutrition. I believe that one should have some sort of protein, even if its just a small amount, with every meal. Everyone thinks that meat and fats gives you high cholesterol. Well, it gives you good and bad cholesterol almost equally, so it is not what drives your cholesterol levels. And in the meantime one needs protein to maintain healthy muscle and tissue and organs. I know I’ve had my arguments with the vegetarians on lit net, but I want to reiterate, if you’re a vegetarian because you think it’s healthier, I think you’re wrong. What drives cholesterol down is exercise, or to state the converse, what raises cholesterol is inactivity. And you don’t need to kill yourself in a gym for exercise. A simple half hour walk every day will work wonders.

I’ve been reading my Men’s Health magazine (Sept 2008, yes I’m behind) and there were a few little sidebars related to my subject here that I’d thought I’d share.

Keep your pipes clean. University of Connecticut researchers found that men who cut carbs reduced markers of plaque buildup on their artery walls to a greater extent than men who cut their fat intake.

Almonds have long been known to have a beneficial effect on on your cholesterol. But Canadian scientists recently found that adding almonds to a healthy diet helps significantly lower blood pressure.

If you skimp on protein, losing weight could lead to bone loss, report University of Illinois researchers. In their study, men who consumed the least protein (74g a day on average) experienced a 2 percent reduction in bone mass. But men who ate the highest amounts (128g a day) actually strengthened their skeletons. “Protein helps you absorb the calcium you eat and also helps you build new bone,” says study coauthor…

Trading some of the carbs in your diet for protein can help you feel full longer, say Austrailian scientists. And that’s the key to losing your gut.

I’ve been trying to do most of those things already. I’ve tried to cut back on carbs (except for the beer and wine of course ), replace it with protein, and snack on mixed nuts. I prefer mixed nuts to just almonds. Walnuts and other nuts also have positive features.

Back to my blood test, my iron was actually low. I had the blood test one week after I had donated blood, so the doctor understood why. In an earlier blog I had mentioned I had a history of high iron, and high iron can be bad for you, so all those blood donations have done their trick in lowering it. Now that it’s low I can go back to eating some iron rich foods like raisins. I also mentioned in another blog back there that I had a strain in my groin area. The doctor checked it and doesn’t believe it’s a hernia, just a strain. So that’s a relief.

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So why did I name this blog after the line in the song “Summertime Blues?” Well, I had just bought a CD by the great 50’s rock and roller Dion called “Heroes: Giants of Early Guitar Rock” and was playing it all night He recorded it last year and was released in October, so it’s new. He’s 69 years old and still rocking. If you don’t know who Dion is, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dion_DiMucci. He was the lead of Dion and the Belmonts and their great songs are Run Around Sue (“So if you don't wanna cry like I do/A-keep away from-a Runaround Sue”), A Teenager In Love (“Each night I ask the stars up above/Why must I be a teenager in love”), and The Wanderer (“Oh well I'm the type of guy who will never settle down /Where pretty girls are, well you know that I'm around”). I hope you’ve heard them, they are part of the roots of rock and are great and deserve to be in one's rock music collection. Plus he’s a New Yorker and Italian-American, so I have a particular affinity to him. His new album is a remake of his favorite 1950s songs by some of the greats of the fifties: Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Bo Diddley, Ritchie Valens, Ricky Nelson, and others. It’s great! Here: http://www.amazon.com/Heroes-Giants-.../dp/B001DXF9N6.

Now here’s a video clip of him doing Eddie Cochran’s Summertime Blues:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9Tqwg6_gk0. Turn it up!!

Well, there aint no cure for the summertime blues. I just wish it were summertime. These wintertime blues are actually worse. How come there’s no song on that?