Ok, My Heart’s Beating, but They just Made it Stop Cold
This one raised the most questions for me. I do have heart issues, but they aren’t the ones typically associated with overweight. My blood pressure used to be very low and now is well within the healthy range of normal (usually around 100/70), my resting pulse rate is very low (hovering around 50 – average is 60-80). I do regularly skip a few beats, (but sadly, this doesn’t appear to be related to that certain someone making my socks go up and down).
So, why would I have variations in my genes that affect blood flow, but my blood pressure and heart rate are low rather than high? Does it affect blood flow both ways? So, I asked my trusty Sciona staffers who are here to answer my questions. And, frankly, the answer is pretty technical (to me at least), but I’ve posted it below if your curiosity is overwhelming.* Suffice it to say, that I either have other genes with variations that are helpful and/or I’m doing a good job with diet and lifestyle. Hooray for me and/or my genes.
So to review the recommendations:
I’m consuming as much A, B, C and E vitamins as anyone might hope (for the most part, 3X the minimum). My antioxidants are all good. I need to increase my Omega-3’s (I’m already on that with the insulin sensitivity results); reduce my cholesterol intake; lose weight and exercise more. So I’m pretty much already on target for all the recommendations, since these are pretty much the same ones they made for insulin sensitivity.
Again, this is an area where I need to move the bar a fair distance left to right. The one thing they recommend that has never come up for me before is to reduce my cholesterol intake. Since my cholesterol levels were all good the last time I had them tested, (which admittedly, was a while ago), I haven’t focused on this.
I do have an egg for breakfast about three times a week (and I do cook it in saturated fat – I know, I know, this habit has to go – but it tastes so good), and I eat the yolk (in fact, without the yolk, I doubt I’d bother with an egg, unlike my friend who only eats egg whites – Yuck). Other than that I eat very little butter and cook everything else in olive oil, so I’m good there. The only other thing I can do is cut down on how much meat and – gasp! – dairy fat I eat, which will probably help the weight thing anyway.
This means the cheese has got to go. (Be still my heart.) And based on my need to reduce HGL (High Glycemic Load) foods (see insulin sensitivity entry), - which includes crackers - my very favorite cheese/crackers and wine pastime will be history, or, at least, a rare treat. They’re killing me here. Over the last decade or so, I have learned not to have cheese, wine, crackers and dinner. So, on the nights I’m really in the mood for this, I make it my dinner. I only do this about once a week at most. Maybe I still can if I watch the other stuff – I’ll have to see how this goes. I would rather eat meat only once a week and give up the eggs altogether than give up my cheese and crackers. In the following weeks, I’m going to investigate the relative merits of each.
All right, I’m getting tired of analyzing the results and want to get on to actually implementing all of this learning, however, I have two more to go. Next entry is about inflammation.
Questions:
How much meat do you eat? Is that the worst saturated fat you consume? What’s your weakness?
If you had to choose between eggs, meat and cheese, which would be the hardest to give up (or reduce drastically)?
How much do you worry about your blood pressure and cholesterol?
Do you know your resting pulse rate? How is it?
* For the eNOS and ACE genes, you actually have one common version (in genetic speak, “allele”) and one variant allele–you’re a “carrier” for the variant rather than having two variants. Usually having two variants is a double whammy and only one gives you an intermediate result sort of between the common (”normal”) version and the variant version.
Remember, too, that there are many other genes that influence blood pressure and pulse rate. These two are important and their impact can be modified by diet and lifestyle but they’re not the only factors contributing to BP and pulse rate. Sounds like you have other genes with versions that are helpful here and/or you’re doing a good job with your diet and lifestyle choices.
I’m a 50-year old woman who thinks I live a fundamentally healthy life. Obviously, there’s always room for improvement, no matter what you do. But I mostly eat well (we’ll discuss my Red Bull and Chee-tos habit another time); I exercise (all right, not enough, but with a very lively dog, every day); I take supplements; and I visit doctors regularly, both mainstream and alternative, to stay on top of my health issues.
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