Health Assessment

We had our annual health assessment and blood work draw at the end of December and I got an excellent report from the doctor. She was really excited and said that based on the blood work alone she would estimate that I would live to be 100! Everything (other than my BMI which I am working on) came back perfect! When going over my family history of diabetes, blood pressure, heart disease, strokes, high cholesterol, etc she jokingly asked me if I was adopted. I had no signs or indicators at this time that I had any of those problems. For those who do not know, I am a 42 year old married woman who has three children ages 24, 22, and 8. Here are some of the results from my test.

Heart
Total Cholesterol Reading 125 Optimal
HDL Cholesterol Reading 52 Protective
LDL Cholesterol Reading 64 Optimal
Triglycerides Reading 47 Normal
Ratio of Cholesterol to HDL 2.4 Normal

Endocrine/Misc
Glucose 91 Normal

My vitals, my liver, and my kidney readings were also all in the normal range. Even though I continued to eat too much over the last couple of years and it took me time to lose the weight, I had started to make healthier choices. I kept fluctuating between 200-188ish by making some changes such as eating grilled chicken when I eat fast food instead of devouring that greasy burger. I do not fry any foods when I cook at home, instead I bake things in the oven that I used to fry. Just those small changes seemed to have really shown up in my blood work. I have read recenlty that you should limit red meat to 2 times a week. I tend to only eat it 2 to 3 times a week anyway just because it is higher in calories. I did not realize the impact it was having on my health. Looking at these results have really got me examining what caused them because I want to make sure that I continue to keep my body healthy. All these choices, and more, will be the topic of future blogs. I am so excited I just can't wait to share it all!