Here's MY proof!

I talk a lot about the health benefits of a Paleo style diet. I truly believe that it is the diet best suited for human consumption. And to be honest, I'd better be right. You see, I break nearly every nutrition rule put out there by the so called experts of the Dietitian's Association of Australia and Nutrition Australia. While they encourage people to eat a diet that looks like the old food pyramid or the USDA's new 'My Plate',
I eat a diet that is totally at odds.

I consume grass fed red meat at least twice and often up to 3 times a day. I eat eggs on most days. I eat bacon at least 3 days per week. I abstain totally from all wheat products and most grain products in general ( I am experimenting by reintroducing a small amount of rice, maybe once every couple of weeks.) I also limit fruit consumption to some blueberries morning and night, as I don't want to overdo the fructose consumption, and I tend not to eat any dairy products.  But perhaps my most cardinal sin is the fact that I consume a lot of saturated fat. Some of this comes from the meat that I eat, but mostly it comes from coconut in the form of coconut milk (used in my omelettes), coconut cream (on top of my frozen blueberries - YUM!!), or coconut oil (used for all of my cooking.

Now conventional wisdom would tell you that I am setting myself up for a very short lifespan. My cholesterol is probably through the roof and a heart attack is just around the corner. Well in this case conventional wisdom would be wrong and I have the proof.

A couple of weeks ago, simply out of curiosity, Iwent and had  my blood profiles done. Here are the results;

Cholesterol
Total - 4.5mmol/L  (Healthy Range - 0.0-5.5)
HDL - 1.4mmol/L (Healthy Range - 0.9-2.2)
LDL - 2.9mmol/L (Healthy range <3.4)
Cholesterol/HDL ratio - 3.2 (Healthy range <5.0)

Hmmm, so no problems there apparently. All blood work well within the healthy range (although I'm not sure a cholesterol reading of 0.0 would be healthy considering what cholesterol actually does).

If I was being picky I would say that I would have liked to have seen my HDL numbers a little higher. What these numbers do not tell you is the particle size of my LDL cholesterol. This is a much better marker of heart health. However, one number that you can look at to give you an indication of whether your LDL particles are large and fluffy (good) or small and dense (bad) is to look at your C-reactive protein  numbers. CRP is a marker of systemic inflammation. Inflammation plays a major role in all of today's diseases of society (Cancer, Heart disease, stroke etc) How did my CRP fare?

C-Reactive Protein
CRP - 6.8mg/L  (Healthy range <10mg/L)

Once again well within the healthy range. Now take in to consideration that at the time of the test I was suffering from a severe case of man flu and spent the day off work sick (a rarity since being paleo). Colds and Flu's are viruses attacking the body and raise the level of inflammation in the body. So, even in an unwell, inflamed state my numbers were still well within the healthy range.

What do all of these numbers really mean? Well, essentially not much. It does go to show that, for me at least, eating Paleo has kept my cardiovascular system healthy as opposed to killing me which many seem to think it will do. Perhaps I am a special, freakishly gifted individual, and others will not get the same results. However, I doubt it. The internet is full of examples from the medical community as well as others own personal experiences that match my results.

What does it mean for you? Well, if you are thinking of going paleo, go and get some blood work done first. Then 3 months into your journey, have it checked again. I think you'll find you are pleasantly surprised!