Friday, October 9

So, it's been a while. This is what discouragment and/or laziness looks like:

I went to the doctor for my physical and blood work results. Well, it’s about as I expected: I’m overweight with high cholesterol.
Weight (according to his sadistic scale): 244lbs (naked and 1st thing in the morning, mine says 237lbs) – this is OBESE for me, either way.
Overall cholesterol: 265
HDL (good stuff): 90 (anything over 39 is good, so this is really an “excellent number” according to him) – my secret: salmon and avocados
LDL (bad stuff): 150 (even considering how good my HDL is, he wants this number to be below 130)
Triglycerides: 123 (under 150 is good)
Fasting glucose: 88 (no problem with diabetes - super)

If I can’t lower my LDL by my next blood draw in six months, then he will put me on cholesterol medicine. I have to aim for a 2,000 calorie diet that is low in fats, particularly; low carb isn’t necessary, I just need to watch the calories with things such as sodas. My thyroid marker is still within normal range, but it has gone up since 2006 (his last record), and considering it runs in the family, we have to keep monitoring this. Something else that runs in the family that my aunt made me aware of is hemochromatosis. http://www.hemochromatosis.org/
So he ran some tests to see if I had this. The findings were a bit mixed. One overall key result shows everything is okay, but the breakdowns of the amount of iron serum and iron-rich blood cells were high. People who have hemochromatosis have to have their blood drawn monthly basically to flush your body of the iron-rich blood so that it can’t poison your organs. Sooo, he thinks that since my monthly flow is heavier than average, my body is flushing things on its own. We’ll keep watching the numbers and see if they go up. It does look like I’ll need to be especially on guard when I hit menopause, though. This is a chromosomal thing, so if my numbers do go up, he’ll send me to get genetic testing done to see if I have the genetic markers for this. And no multi-vitamins!

The rest of my blood looks great, urinalysis was fine, too. Good blood pressure, EKG, etc.

So, doctor’s orders are to exercise and eat right. Do the things I know I should be doing only now I HAVE to do them. I really don’t want to have to take medicine for something that’s in my control.



What I've eaten today:

2 - 8oz glasses of orange juice
2ea bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast tacos (the protein is good, right?)
1ea sausage w/cheese kolache (I'm weak, what can I say?)

What should I have for lunch? I'll try to find a good salad; Wendy's has a good grilled chicken Ceasar salad, so I may go for that.

Dinner? I have to cook some chicken breasts before they go bad. Broiled w/seasonings on it. Not sure what veggies are in the house. I have to stop at the store, so I'll get some broccoli. I've been trying to cut out the boxed pastas for dinner, but the boys and my husband really like them, so I'm doing it in small steps. I've been substituting slices of honey wheat bread for the pasta on occasion. Slightly better, right?

That's all for now. Peace out.