Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Improvements

My workplace provides free annual health screenings, which has provided some insight into how what I eat (and my physical activity) affects my health. I have been working on eating better for several years with gradual (though in some ways drastic) improvements. I was surprised in some ways to find out 2 years ago, that my cholesterol and blood pressure weren't ideal. I lost the information for that test, but I know that my total cholesterol was somewhere between 180 and 195 (LDL between 100 and 110) and my blood pressure was between 130/80 and 140/90. I was especially surprised that even though I've been vegan for so many years, my cholesterol wasn't as low as it could be (since cholesterol comes from animal products, though it is also produced by the body).

In the next year, and especially leading up to the next test, I tried to eat many more greens, raw veggies, fruits, and less oils, and even less processed foods (which was already pretty low). I was also riding my bike a bit more and had started an exercise routine that I stuck with better. The next test showed great results. My total cholesterol had dropped to 147 with LDL at 68. I didn't do much to improve my diet or exercise over the course of this past year, although I have maintained a better diet than ever before. I just received my newest test results which weren't drastically different but still showed marked improvement: Total cholesterol was 141 and LDL was 56. My HDL (good cholesterol) went up from 68 to 76. My triglycerides, which I have no information about from 2 years ago, were 49 last year and 45 this year. I don't have my blood pressure information from last year, but this year it was 100/72.

It was nice to be able to see such a big difference from 2010 to 2011 and then still an improvement from 2011 to 2012. It gives me more confidence that nearly anyone is capable of making similar and potentially even greater improvements to their health.