Raising A Family

As this new year has begun, I’ve really been trying to focus more on my health. I’ve always looked at my efforts to be healthy merely a path to lose weight or be thin. Now that I’m older I understand it’s much more than that. Your health is your number one priority. Weight loss is a result of being healthy. I’ve been trying to read more lately about all the things I need to be aware of and what I can do to be more proactive in taking care of my body. Cholesterol is something that needs attention. In our society of high fat foods, it’s quite easy to have an elevated level. Make sure you are getting your annual physical including blood tests to check all of your levels.

I read a great article on CNN.com the other day about some critical things to know about cholesterol. It mentions 7 different areas to pay attention to. They are:

1. High cholesterol is surprisingly common. Nearly a quarter of women who are in their 30’s have border-line high levels of bad cholesterol, as do more than a third in their early 40’s and more than half in their early 50’s.
2. Your doctor may miss the problem. Women are better than men about seeing the doctor regularly, but the care they receive isn’t as good when it comes to preventing and treating cardiovascular disease.
3. Your numbers may trick you. Many people misunderstand the roles of so-called good and bad cholesterols.
4. You may need an inflammation test. The math used to estimate your heart disease risk is a little misleading. You may need additional testing.
5. Certain foods should be your best friend. Certain classes of food chemicals can actively and powerfully lower a person’s bad cholesterol.
6. Good cholesterol may have a bad side. We’ve been misled to think that a high HDL number is good. Studies are showing that HDL may actually have harmful proteins capable of boosting heart disease risks.
7. Your heart loves long walks. Walking 10 miles a week brings lasting improvements in your heart heath.

The article goes into quite a bit of detail on all seven areas listed above. You can read it here. I really enjoyed the read and have a better idea of how I need to understand what my cholesterol numbers should mean to me.