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02-21-21, 12:00 PM

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dogwalker

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Classtime

These numbers are bewildering to me. My wife makes me get them updated now and then. I just checked and one of my cholesterol numbers is just over the line: 104 when it is supposed to be <100. She would like me to eat more like her. The only animal products I eat are some goat cheese or occasionally fresh mozzerela on a pizza 2 out of three fridays. Before you start decreasing duration or intensity of your rides, try moving to a Whole Foods Plant Based Diet. Aside from some gas as your body adjusts, there are no negative side effects of following a Whole Foods Plant Based Diet. However, there are plenty of negative side effects that accompany statins. This thread got me looking at the CCS and it turns out that while it is a number derived from a test, getting that test, and knowing that number, does not improve outcomes. And I also read that knowing this number can increase stress which might lead one to conclude you should ride more as a way to relieve that stress.

Thanks. Good advice in general; however, as for me, I have exhausted lifestyle modification years ago. E.g., my diet was Mediterranean from the 1990s to 2012 and the extreme Esselstyn version of a plant-based diet during 2013-2018 (it didn't seem to improve my coronary markers), and now I'm back to a lean version of the pescatarian Mediterranean diet. I have always exercised vigorously and I now love to ride.

So I'm left with trying to evaluate the risks and rewards of continuing to push myself on my 40-mile/3 times a week rides or to ease off or cut back in some form. As discussed above, that evaluation is complicated because "conventional" cardiologists who don't deal regularly with athletes may not be the best source of advice while cardiologists who treat athletes seem to differ somewhat on the benefits and damage caused by fairly intense exercise for those over age 45.

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