I went in for my yearly physical last week and found out that my cholesterol was high. The good news is that this is actually the least of what could have been wrong... I was having some minor health issues (any elaboration falls under TMI, trust me) so they checked my thyroid and my blood count just to be safe, and threw in the cholesterol screening since they were going to draw blood anyway. Thyroid is great and I'm not anemic, which brings us back to the high cholesterol.
My count was 253
LDL -- bad cholesterol -- was 193 (not good)
HDL -- good cholesterol -- was 60 (not bad)
The best part is I'm finally over the whole "oh woe is me" phase and have started to research and find out what I can do to combat this for my next screening.
1. no fatty, fried foods (but I live in the South!)
2. Increase my exercise, which means that I have to get back up to at least 4 days a week
3. Watch out for saturated fats, trans fats and carbs.
4. Continue with no red meat, lots of veggies & fruits
As someone who loves to eat crappy food - fast food, sweets, anything that tastes good - this is highly depressing (and don't get me started on exercising more). It's so easy after a hard day of work to go pick up a couple of burgers... or a milkshake... or fried chicken... *sigh* Luckily for me Sonja is on eDiets so I have someone to back me up when the cravings hit.. or when the Creative Director brings in another round of pies. This week has been tough!
Does anyone have any cholesterol friendly recipes to share or know where I can find them? A girl cannot exist on fruits, veggies, & Cheerios alone!
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This sounds very bad but...AARP.org. Old people have all kinds of dietary restrictions and you can search for low-cholesterol recipes. Also you could hit up a book store old-fashioned like, I'm sure there are ones that specialize in low-cholesterol meals.
ReplyDeleteMarinated Veggies & Grilled Pork
ReplyDeleteMarinade:
1/4 c olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
dried oregano (or whatever)
salt & pepper
Mix marinade in a bowl and put 2 tbsp in a ziploc baggie. Add 1 lb pork tenderloin. Marinate for 1-2 hours. Grill on medium-hot grill for 20 minutes, turning a couple of times. Let stand 5-10 min before cutting (much jucier, trust me)
With the remaining marinade, pour over chopped veggies and let marinate until you're ready to eat. Peppers & cukes are yummy!
Feeds 4, according to the recipe in The Fat Belly Diet Cook Book. 276 cal. per serving, 25 g protein, 1 g fiber, 74 mg cholesterol, and 3 g sat. fat. (but it's a good fat, cuz it's olive oil!!!)
Thanks Natalie & Kristen - I'll try both ideas out! I actually really like AARP.org - they have good games but I never tried out their nutritional stuff.
ReplyDeleteYou should also check out allrecipes.com. You can narrow your search by different types of meals (ie. low cholesterol). :)
ReplyDeleteAutumn - thanks for the great idea! I had taken a peek at that website awhile back but never got back to it to really dig in. I'll have to make it a priority.
ReplyDelete