Day 6: Oven Roasted Taters & Cholesterol/Blood Test

Roasted Yams and Potatoes

It's -19F and feels like -42F here in Minnesota today. What better time than to go to the Target Clinic to get my cholesterol levels checked?  According to the Engine 2 Diet, the people in his pilot study had their cholesterol levels drop by as much as 40 points after eating plants for only 28 days. Although I'm already feeling better than I have in previous months, I'd like some science behind this adventure as well. So I went in a got my levels checked.

Total Cholesterol is 149, which is pretty good.

HDL = 46, which is low. The Dr. suggested doing more cardio, which is fine with me as I'm planning to do that anyway

LDL = 89, which he also said was great, but I'd like it below 80.

Trg = 70, which is fantastic. He said that is basically from what I've been eating over the past week, so this plant powered diet is working.
My Glucose was 97, which is still in the normal range, but on the higher end.
My blood pressure was also high.

I plan to go back in 3-4 months to have all of my levels re-checked to see if this diet/exercise has some scientific results as well as anecdotal. I'll keep you posted!

Sliced and ready to bake!

Now onto one of our favorite sides/snacks at home. Roasted Potatoes & Yams or Sweet Potatoes! We're going to start experimenting with additional vegetables, but this has been a staple for a while that we just love. I've always been fond of French Fries, but that's on my naughty list with my new eating plan.

For this, we just brush some olive oil on a pan, slice up some taters/tubers/yams about 1/8-1/4" thick, sprinkle a little salt or cajun spice on and bake at 425 for 10 min, use a spatula to flip them and bake another 10 min or until desired crispness.