When I was told my cholesterol was too high last year, and the doctor wanted to put me on statins, I was determined to get it under control through changes to my eating habits. I ate too much saturated fat, my daily menu included too much dairy and refined flours and starches.
The recommended daily intake of saturated fat for a woman is 20gms, for a man it's 30gms. As I started to check the fat content of my various foods I was horrified to see the amount I was getting through in a day and along with a fairly sedentary lifestyle, I could see I was not doing myself any good. I needed a complete change to my eating habits and overnight we changed everything in our cupboards. We swapped white bread for brown, white normal pasta for wholemeal, bacon rashers for turkey rashers etc. Cheese was cut out completely and even eggs were restricted to 3 per week.
My target was to reduce my daily intake of saturated fat to less than 10 gms. Some days it was easier than others, weekends were worst and eating out was a nightmare but gradually I found places I could eat and keep to my limits. Eventually, the swapped foods became second nature and I felt able to plan menus without constant reference to my sheet of good and bad foods. I became an expert at reading food content labels and shopping no longer took twice as long to do.
It was tough at first and meals had to be planned well in advance to avoid lapses but over the first 6 months my weight fell by 20lbs and my cholesterol check showed my levels were normal again.
It's been 12 months since that blood test and during the last year I have allowed my daily intake to increase to around 10-12 grams, I have allowed bacon back into my weekend treat and I even enjoy the occasional cream bun so it was quite stressful as time progressed to my annual cholesterol check. Coming so soon after Christmas, it felt as if I was sure to fail and I prepared myself for a difficult discussion with the doctor, who I felt sure would be back on the statin's route.
They decided to do a full set of bloods and test me for diabetes, thyroid and cholesterol problems. I fasted for 12 hours before the blood test and waited for my results to come back. 3 days later I rang for my results. It reminded me of the day I went in to find the outcome of my school exams all those years ago as the nerves kicked in.
"They're all normal, doctor says no further action necessary." The receptionist seemed too casual about something so significant to me.
"All normal? Even my cholesterol?"
"Yes, all normal," she confirmed.
As I put the phone down I felt as if I'd passed an important milestone. Not only had I got my cholesterol under control through changes to my eating habits, I had maintained it for a whole year. My heart health is continuing to be good.
In a couple of weeks I have my appointment for my annual pacemaker check. This is the first check since I had the pacemaker fine tuned to my demands, so it will be interesting to find out how frequently it is working. It will give me the first real indication how bad the condition is and how long the battery is likely to last before being changed. Obviously I will need a further year to get any idea how quickly the condition is deteriorating, so there are still questions to be answered.
Still, for now I feel content that my cholesterol is behaving itself, and as a reward a feel a large slice a cheesecake heading my way.
