Healthy B.P.M.

One question that kept popping one when I recanted my story about high cholesterol was, “What’s your triglyceride level? “. It was as routine as someone asking, “What’s your sign? “. Without missing a beat I could tell you that I’m a Capricorn, but as for the triglycerides, I was in the dark again. Man I dislike not knowing answers about my own health! After the last test that revealed that high cholesterol was no longer a problem you can bet your extra virgin olive oil that I know now. I was carrying around my test results and showing them off like a proud parent with a new baby.

The really cool thing is that the same healthy choices you’d make to shed those excess pounds will lower your triglycerides also. Isn’t it amazing how something as simple as eliminating or reducing process foods, eating lean cuts of meat and poultry, switching to low fat diary products can have such a profound effect on our lives? Notice I said simple and not easy. We tend to take the easy out of the equation when we try to take shortcuts to stay within our comfort zone. Trust me, I’m not different when it comes to my favorite foods, I want to have my cake and eat it too. Fortunately I love revamping recipes to make them healthier.

Before I share with you what I learned about triglycerides there’s something else to add to the mix. I’m not fond of using the word “should” because I believe everything is a matter of choice. However, to seal the deal with wellness exercise has to be part of the equation. If you’ve read my previous posts, you know that I’m a certified fitness professional, and I still had to deal with high cholesterol. That just reiterates the point that no one is immune. Despite doing everything I knew was good for me, that dastardly high cholesterol found me. Had I not been active and eating healthy the results could’ve been much worse. It’s not necessary to train and run a marathon, unless you want to, or spend endless hours in the gym. Just get up and move. Stop asking your kids to get the remote for you. Better yet, stop using the remote and walk to the television and change the channel. That’s asking a lot, huh? How valuable is your health?
Now on to those triglycerides.

Triglycerides are a type of fat in your blood, which can increase your risk of heart disease. When you eat, your body converts any calories it doesn’t need to use right away into triglycerides. The triglycerides are stored in your fat cells. Later, hormones release triglycerides for energy between meals. If you regularly eat more calories than you burn, you may have high triglycerides (hypertriglyceridemia). This is the part that I’m still trying to wrap my head around. Eating more calories than I burned wasn’t an issue for me. This could only mean that high cholesterol was/is hereditary. All the more reason to get a cholesterol screening. As the youngest in the family, and with four older brothers they tend to not take me seriously sometimes (even at this age). Hopefully this is one time when they’ll listen to their Lil Sis and have the blood work done.