I have mentioned before, I found out this spring that my cholesterol was off the chart! I went to my regular doctor check-up and I said to him. “I’ve never had my cholesterol checked, can you check it?” All it takes is a sample of my blood and you get the results the next day. The next day he called me, a little alarmed. “You’re cholesterol is way high! I’m calling in a prescription right now for medication that you have to pick up and start taking today!”
My first response was “are you kidding me?” I feel fine. That’s the problem, you don’t feel sick, so it would take a long time to prompt you to go to the doctor. For me, my triglycerides were the worst. They should be below 150 and mine were 421! Your total cholesterol including HDL and LDL should be below 200. For those of you who don’t know, your LDL should be below 70 if you are high risk for heart disease or below 100 if you at average risk of heart disease. And your HDL should be 60 or above. There is a great article about cholesterol from the Mayo Clinic. After losing 17 pounds, exercising more, taking medication since April, my triglycerides are now 231! My doctor said as long as I limit my carbs, move more and lose more weight, in another 3 months, I should be in the “healthy” range! So my advice, if you have never had your cholesterol checked…do it! It takes only a few minutes, and if you are like me, and at age 40 had never had it checked, at least it will give you peace of mind to know if you need to make some changes in your life.
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