Thursday, February 11, 2016

Hum Honge Kamayab!

3 months of strict diet and exercise, and I am SURE I will beat the excess cholesterol out of my body!!! I am also hoping my doc. will prescribe me with medicines to help. I don't think 3 months is enough to naturally lower cholesterol especially lower the high triglycerides running in my blood. Sad but true..

But I will WIN!
I know I can and I will !!!
Just like the GM diet was a cakewalk for me, this too will. It will take some time for me to adjust to the new diet. But it's not so bad. I am liking it!

Healthy Fat Free Baked Potato - Without Cheesez

For snack today, I baked two small potatoes. I did not twice bake them with cheese. I omitted that step and went ahead and seasoned the potatoes for some good taste.

Ingredients:

  • Potatoes - 1 or 2 depending on size
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Oregano
  • Onion greens - cut finely to garnish
  • Pumpkin - grated for garnish
Method:
  • Bake the potato in the oven or microwave.
    I did not have one and so baked in my cooker. Will give away details on how to bake in cooker in some other post soon.
  • You can add salt when baking potatoes.
  • Once baked, add rest of the seasonings.
  • Garnish and serve.
These potatoes tasted awesome. Absolutely OIL Free. If you wish, you can surely add some olive oil. But I did not feel the need, and it tasted just as good.




Steamed Fish

Now that I am not allowed to have Fried Fish, I have decided to go for Steamed Fish. I searched for a lot of recipes and found a good and simple one. In fact, its closest to the way we make anyway, as it has almost same ingredients as we make the fried Fish.

I totally enjoyed the Steamed fish along with Rice.

Ingredients:
  • Pomfret Fish - 1 Whole with a few cuts on both sides
  • Coriander leaves - 1 cup
  • Garlic cloves - 3-4
  • Green chillies - 1
  • Salt to taste
  • Turmeric powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Method:
  • Grind the ingredients to form a thick paste
  • Coat the fish thoroughly especially fill inside the cuts.
  • Let it marinate for an hour or so.
  • You can also refrigerate for 30 mins.
  • Pour water in a heavy pot.
  • Place a stand. Make sure, water is not above stand. 
  • Place a flat tray or bowl with the fish on the stand.
  • Put the lid and let it steam away.
  • Check if fish is done.
  • Place the fish along with rice in a plate and enjoy :-)
Pics for this recipe will be up soon. I will prepare again and upload pics then.

Simple and Quick Chickpeas Salad

Earlier I had written the recipe of my Chickpeas Salad, where I had not used tomatoes. This one is with tomatoes and it tastes equally awesome. Here is link to the Chickpeas Salad without Tomatoes.

Any type of Beans is very good for lowering Bad Cholesterol ie. LDL Cholesterol. So, I make sure alternate days I have a salad for dinner. In this recipe I will use Chickpeas but you can use Cannellini beans, Black eyed peas or Rajma beans.

Ingredients: 
  • Chickpeas - 1 cup soaked for 4-5 hours prior
  • Onion - 1/2 cup cut finely
  • Tomato - 1/2 cup cut finely
  • Spring Onion Greens - 2 table spoon cut finely
  • Cabbage - 2 table spoon cut finely
  • Cilantro - 2 table spoon cut finely
  • Lemon Juice - 1/2 lemon
  • Salt & Pepper to taste


This pic does not include the cilantro I cut.

Method:
  • Cook the chickpeas in pressure cooker till cooked completely.
  • Once cooled, remove peas from cooker.
  • Add all the ingredients
  • Mix well and Enjoy :-)


Changes in my Diet

I have decided to take these 3 months seriously and have a strict diet before I go for another Lipid Profile check 3 months from now. After my last test, soon after my GM diet, I used to have ONLY Oats in the morning for breakfast. I think, that has helped lower my LDL substantially, though still need to improve on those numbers. I also went on morning walks. Walked briskly for whole 1 hour which would be around 5000-5400 steps by the time I got home.

I have taken a break on my walks for last month due to various reasons, but getting back on it, is becoming challenging. Earlier I woke up from bed easily by 5.30pm and now its close to impossible. I switch off the alarm and go back to sleep. Self motivation has totally disappeared. I need it badly as of today. I will work on that.

In any case, my plan is to complete 10,000 steps daily as before, start my morning walks for 1 hour and control my diet completely.

Of Course, I need to still go visit my family physician who will surely prescribe medicines to lower the cholesterol directly. But meanwhile, I will follow a strict diet.

Oats for Breakfast
Phulkas for Lunch along with Vegetables made in less oil.
Snacks would be only biscuits or Carrots.
Dinner is Bean Salad or Bhakari (no oil) and some curry.

Say NO to Prawns and Fish to have as Steamed Fish only. 
NO MORE Fried Fish !!!
I am not a fan of Papad, Bhajiyas and Oily snacks anyway.. so that helps!

Health Check again..

Just got a health check done again. The last one I had done was in June last year. So, its been 8 Months. This was a comprehensive check up and not just Lipid Profile which I did last year.

I did the test in Bethany Hospital, Thane. The package was Good Health Executive which costs around 2500/-. I did not do the Good Health Total which is similar but has additional Stress Test and 2D Echo - Only because I did not the whole day for the test. as it was a weekday. Weekends were already booked for the whole month.


As usual though other parameters are Normal, Cholesterol is Not so good. Though my LDL is lower than last time's report, Triglycerides has shot up like anything. I am not sure why?


I still need to go visit my doctor with the reports. The physician counselling at the hospital was terrible. I was not at all satisfied. So, I won't be taking any of her medicines prescribed and plan to visit my family physician soon. Till then have started working out on a STRICT diet. 


The GM plan worked very well for me, as my diet was very well controlled after that. Except in Diwali when I went crazy for sweets and hogged on them. Soon, I did put a limit to that too.


So, now I do not eat sweets unless it is some Prasad of Pooja, or exception cases when I can't say NO. But then I make the serving really small. Also, I have stopped eating sweets at night and only eat in morning. This is because, the body has a lot of movement in the morning to break down the sweet. At night, body tends to rest and that's when all the sweet will stay within converting to fat.


Chocolates, ice creams and desserts are a big No for me now.


As of now, my weight is 57Kgs. I was at 59 after my GM diet. So, I must say, I am satisfied in terms of my weight. I can try for loosing another couple of Kgs. though according to my BMI, I have Normal Body Weight.


BMI is: 22.3

Normal weight: 18.5 - 24.9

Coming back to my Health check reports, I will concentrate on the Lipid Profile since rest of the tests are all normal.


Investigation  Latest Result Old Result Reference
       
Cholesterol 239 245 DESIRABLE < 200 |
BODERLINE HIGH 201-239 |
HIGH > 239
       
Triglycerides 199 94 NORMAL < 150 |
BODERLINE HIGH 150 - 199
HIGH 200 - 499
       
HDL Cholesterol 52 50 MAJOR RISK for HEART < 40 |
NEGATIVE RISK >= 60
       
LDL Cholesterol  147 176.2 OPTIMAL < 100 |
ABOVE OPTIMAL 100 - 129 |
BODERLINE HIGH 130 - 159
HIGH 160 - 189






So, as you can see the cholesterol results are all above desired levels in a negative way :-)


I have now decided to take Diet seriously and watch the Oil and cheese intake.

I will be posting my diet plan and recipes so that it can help you all too.
Keep watching this space.