Health Frets

I always thought I'd be a focused blogger, but naw, just like the usual me, I'm all over the board! 

Today, I'm fretting about health.  My doctor's office called yesterday afternoon, and said my "cholesterol is up, triglycerides are up, and I need to cut out meat, chicken and dairy; to only eat plants.  To eat better, exercise every day, then come back in 3 months to be retested."

Hmm.  Well, I suppose I could eat better, and try to get just a bit more exercise.  I realize that while I'm getting over 10k steps a day (my goal), I usually average just over 12k steps a day on a work day.  But while I may be in constant movement, it's not enough exertion to make my heart rate increase, so maybe it doesn't count as much???   Hard to say.  When my BigBox store is done with its annual inventory, my schedule should go back to being more "normal" and I can focus on some better exercise routines. 

In the mean time, I'm back to adding a cup of brown rice to my daily meal.  I boil my skinless, boneless chicken to reduce fat and sodium, and make sure that I eat an apple a day --- to keep the doctor away!  hehehe  It can get a little boring, but ... its for my health, so it's necessary.  I can always just add in a small treat to make things interesting, and still fill up on the "boring stuff".

I thought I was keeping good records of my cholesterol and such numbers, but I couldn't locate where I'd tucked that info away.  I have one log book where I write down all the medical procedures I've had because ... I'm finding that as I get older when I think about needing this or that, it always seems to me that I just did that!  Because Dad had colon cancer, I'm good about making sure I have a colonoscopy as recommended.  I had one in Dec 2014 and I can't believe it's already been 3 years!   I swear it feels like I just DID THAT!   But I'm the same way with the dentist as well.  lol  Probably because I dislike having to go to either of those places!?! 

I am pretty certain that the slight jump my doc saw in the cholesterol number was just a one time thing - maybe I didn't fast long enough?  or maybe before the office visit, I ate something that skewed the numbers just a bit?   We'll see in three months' time.

Meanwhile, here in the Valley of the Sun, summer is hitting us early; it was 104 on my drive home, and this isn't the first day we've had temps over 100!  Usually, we hope it holds off until the 15th of May --- not this year!  I wonder what that means for the rest of the summer?   Yikes!