last year, i set a goal to limit the amount of red meat i was eating in order to decrease my cholesterol. it's been difficult and i have whined a lot, as you may recall, and i have had to really expand my ... umm ... horizons ... ? (something. can't think right now.)
anyway. i got my lab results back today. here are the highlights:
PY (2007) | CY (2008) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| triglycerides | 97 mg/dL | 82 mg/dL | |
| cholesterol, total | 215 mg/dL | 211 mg/dL | (should be less than 200) |
| - hdl cholesterol | 60 mg/dL | 58 mg/dL | |
| - ldl cholesterol | 136 mg/dL | 137 mg/dL | (should be less than 130) |
| glucose | 80 mg/dL | 83 mg/dL | |
| sodium | 138 mmol/L | 138 mmol/L | |
| potassium | 4.0 mmol/L | 4.3 mmol/L | |
| white blood cell count | 5.9 thousand/uL | 5.7 thousand/uL | |
| red blood cell count | 4.91 million/uL | 4.71 million/uL | |
| hemoglobin | 13.0 g/dL | 13.4 g/dL | |
| hematocrit | 38.4 % | 39.0 % | |
| platelet count | 283 thousand/uL | 308 thousand/uL |
okay. so ... my cholesterol is still a high. grr. it went down 4 points. woohoo. but ... honestly, i kinda expected more. i mean, i cut my red meat consumption by roughly 73%. so ... yeah, i kinda expected more. [sigh.]
so now what? as i see it, there are a few options:
continue the red-meat-on-weekends-only regime.
amend the rules such that i can have red meat on any 2 days of the week. i mean, c'mon, it went down 4 points: that deserves some kind of reward.
eat oatmeal everyday (or on some regular schedule) to fight this with a little proactivity instead of just restraint.
give up entirely and eat red meat whenever i darnwell please since it's not making any difference anyway.
anyone care to vote? c'mon, we all did it a month ago ... let's exercise our right to vote again!!
8 comments:
How about taking Cheerios up on their claims?
I say just eat it whenever you want. Really I am all about being healthy but it is probably not your diet that is causing it if changing your diet didn't really do much. So enjoy life honey- maybe eating more chocolate would help:)
Congratulations on the 4 points. Maybe specific exercises are good for that kind of stuff.
i think eating more chocolate would precisely help!
i'm just going to say: Christianna, be happy!
Try playing Uno with really small cards. The smaller the cards, the lower your cholesterol will go. Come to think of it, I have the perfect deck for you to use.
Oh, and I believe studies show there is an inverse relationship to the amount of chocolate you consume and your cholesterol level. Eat up, I say.
I vote the oatmeal option because if it were me, there's no way I could cut out red meat! Way to be so dedicated though...it still decreased right? Hey, I would LOVE for you to come smell my baby's head whenever you want! Give me a call when you get into town!
eat meat. as much as you want, whenever you want.
and then run with scissors. weeeee.
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