A B+ you say?  What?
Well I kind of expected it.

Life stuff over the summer caused some stress and a wavering in focus on our exercise program and even some on our diet.  And there’s the irony! Because when motivation suffers, we all know that exercise and eating well are the best things you can do to combat the blues and stressful life stuff!

We haven’t been terrible.. we didn’t completely fall off the wagon and abandon our healthy focus.  Still plant-based, mostly whole foods, avoiding sugar and so on, but too often our dinner meals were getting skimpy on the greens for example.

And the gym..  well.. sometimes talking about the stress stuff, or computer time on Bill’s photography passion gobbled up the day before we knew it and we’d miss the gym.  So we didn’t always get the cardio time we know we need.   And this seemed to lead to staying up too late, a little too much late-night popcorn (no butter of course), along with broken sleep and wakefulness in the night.  So things have not been going as well as they had been.  Our daily routine just plain got out of whack.

And even though it doesn’t seem to alarm any of the doctors, for the first time in a long while Bill was having multiple flare-ups of his old “benign” arrhythmia.  Even though I’ve researched it and read NOT to worry about it … it worries me a little.  In the past we’ve successfully kept it at bay with supplemental magnesium, but this summer it’s been a nuisance, especially since these episodes seem to make Bill feel more draggy and tired.

BUT … here’s the good news!  In spite of not doing everything we know we need to, Bill’s total cholesterol, HDL, LDL and ratio were all actually improved!  I believe this has to do with the probiotic Dr. Crandall recommended during our last visit.  I have a new post about that in the works coming to you on the heels of this post, so stay tuned!

Even though Bill’s labs have been very good and well within the generally recommended healthy (optimal) range, Dr. Crandall wants to see if we can get them even better with a total cholesterol below 150 and LDL below 70.  Bill’s numbers are currently 175 and 94 respectively.   Getting back on track and continuing the probiotic, we’ll reach this goal on our next checkup, or at least get closer.

Before leaving, we talked to Dr. Crandall about the arrhythmia.  He feels this is absolutely caused by all the recent stress.  He had a good talk with Bill, telling him he has to manage stress better, and also reminding him that he has to give himself two hours a day.  Two hours for exercise which includes getting there, getting back, showering, etc.    So we’re doing better, and I’m happy to say that since this checkup there have been no new episodes of the pesky arrhythmia.

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” ~Denis Waitley