Cholesterol Sucks

Yesterday my doctor's office left me a message with the following information:

Overall cholesterol: 251
LDL: 129

Suggestions for improvements:

Exercise and eat better (well, duh).

I've always had borderline high cholesterol - around 215 - but this is BAD, even for me. The LDL should be below 100, and since high cholesterol runs in the family, I doubt I'll ever see 190 overall, but will aim to get it back to where it usually is.

The first thing I did when I heard the message was to run over to M and tell him "No more dessert!" So, even though it's only been 2 days of *healthier* eating, we're doing pretty well (Let's just say it was a good thing we tried the lemon meringue cheesecake before I found out my numbers - yikes).

The last time it spiked like this, I did a modified low carb diet and ended up losing 14 lbs. We like that.

So, between me, MacGeekette and LoQuesha, we've come up with a plan of attack to get my numbers down fast: 1) oatmeal for breakfast - apparently it just sucks all the cholesterol out of your blood - we like that, 2) once my shoulder's heeled and I'm off the meds, I get one glass of red wine a day - we like that too, 3) cinnamon continues to go in my coffee - yet another thing that just sucks the cholesterol out of your blood, 4) LoQuesha suggested pomegranate juice, which I will try with seltzer water and report back - she says it's strong like cranberry juice, 5) exercise is my friend - already hit the gym last night, and LoQuesha and I will go hiking over the weekend and finally 6) I will go back to my modified low carb diet - meaning I mostly eat lean protein and veggies, with occasional treats of bread - the wheat kind - and chocolate (hey, I'm not perfect) - the dark kind, which happens to be good for you (no more of the milk chocky that M likes so much).

Now that I've found Pocky, I can have my taste of dark chocolate without all the calories and cholesterol of Ritter Sport (if you haven't tried Ritter... mmmm.... milk chocolate with coconut is best, but there are many, many yummy flavors - I know, I've tried them all).

I go back to see my doctor in 3 weeks, so we'll see if there's any improvement...