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Sunday, February 6, 2005
Lamentations Revisited
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As if to answer my recent lamentation “When is all this good stuff that I am doing for myself going to kick in?” my phone jingled impatiently on Tuesday afternoon. After glancing at the caller ID, a sense of dread rose quickly. It was my doctor’s office calling and I recognized her private number. She must have the test results from my recent checkup. “Uh oh. That was fast.” After struggling with climbing cholesterol and triglyceride levels for several years and being too obstinate to take medication for it, I was prepared for another ~!<*-chewing. To my delight and amazement, the news was GOOD! Total cholesterol and triglycerides still slightly elevated, HDL and LDL well within normal ranges! “Yippeeee!” This was great…not perfect…but still great!
Now, I am not saying that this all happened within the last month. Eliminating meat from my diet 3+ years ago made a noticeable improvement in the numbers. Last summer, I started really and truly monitoring my fat intake….more improvement but still not enough. In December, after much research, I added daily supplements containing plant sterols, which support reduction of Total and LDL cholesterol levels. All of these measures made a definite impact, but it is the lifestyle changes of the past 5 weeks that have made the most difference….exercise, less stress, better rest, sensible diet, exercise, more fiber, less sugar, exercise.
And I will tell you what else is great about it…hearing the relief in my daughters’ voices when I gave them the good news.
Another thing that is different and good….last weekend when I couldn’t get out for my walk for two days, I was climbing the walls….I MISSED and NEEDED my walk! Doing a couple of miles on the dusty treadmill helped a little, but I practically sprang from the house as soon as my street was cleared of ice on Monday. I headed to the park with vigor.
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