I got the lab results back from my physical a few weeks ago. Apparantly I am "healthy". Here was my breakdown:
Cholesterol was 141
LDL (Bad Cholesterol) was 83
HDL (Good Cholesterol) was 43
Tryglycerides 77
Blood Sugar 93
Good was checked next to cholesterol overall, I guess because my number was less than 200. Technically speaking,though, my good cholesterol is on the low side (less than 50 mg/dL for women is considered low according to the American Heart Association and to be considered "protective against heart disease" it should really be above 60).
The ratio between overall cholesterol to HDL is even more important than the overall number alone. The smaller the difference the better according to The Harvard Medical School Family Guide. My ratio is 3.3 so I am at about half the average risk going by just my numbers alone. Which is good, I am happy to see that.
Still I am not content to sit back, kick my feet up and think I don't have to work at my health. Emotional health (I believe) has a profound impact on your physical health. So even if my weight did nothing more than make me depressed, it's reason enough to do something about it.
However, I do realize that there is more going on with my weight than the fact that it makes me sad. I am winded by small amounts of normal behavior, I'm tired a LOT, playing with my children totally wipes me out to the point that I feel I hold them back from the proper amount of activity they should be having, my knees hurt...all due to my weight. That to me isn't the sign of a healthy person. And I'm not so naieve to believe that all because my genetics may be on my side as far as my cholesterol goes, that my weight does not pose an additional risk of heart attack, stroke and diabetes. One risk does not get nullified by another. Weight is still a risk factor.
So yes, I've got a clean bill of health. But health is not something that just happens to us. My blood sugar and cholesterol may be okay now, but if I take that as a free pass to neglect watching myself it might not be that way next year (or however long it takes to catch up). We have the power to improve or degrade our health by how we live our lives, and so I will continue to work on mine even though my numbers came back as "normal". I have enough excuses to keep me from taking care of myself, I'm not going to use good test scores as another one.
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5 comments:
That's great you received a clean bill of health, but you're right about still seeking improvement. I had to get a bunch of tests done at Princeton the first day I was admitted to their outpatient program, and everything came back fine. I was lucky enough not to have any imbalances or deficiencies. At first I felt like that means my problem isn't so bad, but I slowly realized that your mental health is just as important as your physical health - if not more. You hit it on the head when you said our emotional health has a profound impact on our physical health.
Yea! That's great! I should really have my numbers done...never did it. I keep forgetting to take care of myself. LOL!
Those numbers are impressive. I think my triglycerides were around 179 the last time they were checked! My mother, who is half my size, has identical blood work. So...either my numbers are effected by genetics, or I have the blood work of a 59 year old.
My husband has me taking krill oil to help with my good cholesterol and to actually help with depression. Krill is just a more potent form of fish oil. Maybe you could supplement with that to help increase your HDL.
I just started taking a fish oil supplement last week actually. I want to say I already notice a difference in having it help with cravings. Hopefully it will help improve my HDL by next year's physical(well that along with exercising and eating better if I can manage to get consistent with it!)
Those numbers are pretty good. I know you'll get them even better!