Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Rednesday & the Fight for Good Cholesterol





What a beautiful REDnesday. I planted annuals over the weekend, so I have a few red splashes in my garden today.
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There's a beautiful New Guinea Impatiens in the hanging box on my front deck. It does have a coating of pollen (which cannot be helped these days!) And in the front driveway bed, here are some red Verbena.







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The other red thing I want to share today is my favorite cooking pot. I bought it last year when I had my first International student; she had a boiled egg every morning. I've found that it's the perfect size for my shrinking family. It's boiled many eggs and single or double servings of veg since then. And lately, it's found a new occupation. It's my morning oatmeal pot.
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As I mentioned on Friday, my doctor told me that my cholesterol was high. Then he mentioned medications!
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I hate the thought of adding a bottle of cholesterol meds to my nightstand next to my throid medication. Next thing you know, my dentures will be in the tupperware container with my hearing aid on top and empty prune juice glass beside it! And following that will be loud snoring while I sleep and drool dripping onto my pillow and waking with crusty stuff in the corners of my eyes!
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"Nooooo!" I cry unbelieveingly!
I'm young! I'm much too young!"
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Enter Doris the Great! Defender of this sacred temple of the Most High God! And now her resume can list another superpower -- Unrecognized Cholesterol Scholar!
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High cholesterol is known as the silent killer: you don't have any warning signs but must have blood work done to know that it's there. If it goes undetected and untreated, it can lead to heart disease and stroke.
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High cholesterol is easily controlled with diet, and the negative effects can even be reversed. It's your basic healthy diet.

  • Lots of veg and fruit (which contain no cholesterol!)
  • Hold the red meat and bring on the chicken & fatty fish (full of omega-3)

  • Eliminate bad fat -- trans and sats -- at least until those levels are down! (And no more living like I have been for the past 2 months ... full-fat ice cream, trifle, all that butter on my popcorn. Naughty Sandy!)

  • Exercise (At last! One thing that I'm already doing right!)

  • Supplements such as Omega 3 fish oil capsules, B complex, chromium (Phew! I re-started taking those about 3 weeks ago!)

  • And finally, the nemsis of high cholesterol - OATMEAL! The Quaker Oats people describe it as this: "Think of rolled oats as tiny sponges that soak up cholesterol and carry it from your body".
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(Now, if only they could find some little sponges to carry all those nasty fat cells from our body. And if only those sponges tasted like chocolate. Get back to work food scientists! )


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Doris the Great is proactive, people! She looks high cholesterol in the face and laughs heartily! "Ha ha!!!" Armed with her trusty sidekick "Google", she is a superwoman in the know! Donning her full-figured underwire bra" and her support hose (and a cover-up because she doesn't want to scare the children), she hefts her cereal bowl and soup spoon aloft and says.
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"Yes!

This crappy aging stuff sure is educational!

And mighty tasty too!"





21 comments:

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

YOU ROCK! I loved it!
I hope your dentures are soaking and not your hearing aid.

Unknown said...

Go girl! You can do it!

The Words Crafter said...

You're so funny! Good for you, with the exercise and oatmeal...does instant oatmeal count? I can't make the real stuff-my grandma did and added brown sugar, cinnamon, and sometimes honey. I'm trying to eat better, too...good luck! Sounds like you're well on the way to wellness!!! Doris the Great-my hero!

Marie Rayner said...

Good luck with getting your cholesterol down Sandy!! Sounds like you are doing everything you should be doing! xxoo

Unknown said...

I hope you will take care of the high cholesterol by your diet instead of meds. You crack me up too...love how you gave us that insight of your nightstand..... Sweet pot too by the way...the flowers are pretty... as flowers are. Mica/The Child's Paper

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

I think it is great that diet and exercise can control things rather than taking medicine but giving up those tasty chocolates would be hard. I wish you well and hope it does the trick.

Wendy said...

The one thing I've realized with my little guy is that it is AMAZING what dietary interventions can do. Enjoy your oatmeal, and all those fruits and veggies! For me the red meat thing would be hardest.
Oh, and that red pot would really liven up my kitchen. Awesome!

Angela said...

My goodness girl, I just LOVED this post...Thanks so much for sharing. It truly blessed my heart with joy.

craftyles said...

Great post, good luck on the cholesterol thing. I also have a favorite pot-mine isn't as cute as yours though. Happy Reds!

Sweet Bee Cottage said...

You are a riot!

Tonia said...

Love the red! LOL at the Prune juice and all other "old people things" description.
Also for cholesterol is a small handfull of Raw Almonds everyday. If oatmeal is a sponge then almonds are like a Brillo pad!lol Most things caught early enough can be taken care of through careful diet and less meds. Good luck!

Unknown said...

ooohhhhahahhehehehoho...please stop you got me laughin so hard and I forgot my depends...I'll be 50 this coming Dec. and the family Doc said it was time once again to do some blood work. Mom has thyroid trouble...Dad diabetes.
Now when I was 45 I had an allergic reaction to Neproxen and it it ruined my system..the day after the reaction I began Blood pressure meds. Now, I have never had high BP before this, but he was quick to point out I am over 40and overwieght..fine I said..I'm now old and fat, but I never had high BP?!?! Now the next few months I began having terrible allergy attacks to where I wasn't able to breath. I am now acutely allergic to mold, mildew, and fungus. I again said fine..now I am old, fat, and moldy!!! tell me the rest of the bad news with the other blood tests...he looked so disheartened....all the other tests came back normal. (happy dance). He dejectedly said I must take after both my Grandma's hoopee for genes. Not to say I won't come up with somethin as soon as I turn 50..God seems to have a wierd sense of humor, or, he's the original passive aggressive personality type...It's not my job to question why......
You have a red letter day!!

CACHANILLA73 said...

LOL.... you are funny, you made me laugh, just when I needed it most. Love the red pot and those little flowers, so cute.

Sally Annie Magundy said...

I love New Guinea Impatiens, so pretty! And I love your little pot. I rediscovered a tiny pot I have had for years and find that it's so very perfect these days.

Happy Rednesday,
Sally, eating more oatmeal these days too!

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

Beautiful reds!!! Oh baby, been there and done that on the cholesterol thing. All they want to do is sell ya more meds...meds that ruin your liver! I turned mine around over summer break five or six years ago by diet and exercise after bein' told I would never bring it within normal range without the drugs. Don't tell me I can't do something!

I've been too sick to blog but have been missin' all my wonderful blogsisters.

God bless ya and good luck taking the cholesterol for a dive.

Tonia said...

Just make sure they are Raw Almonds!

Maryjane-The Beehive Cottage said...

Love your RED post! What a darling red cooking pot! It would be my favorite to!

Joyce said...

Well this post made me smile and I was wondering if Quaker Oat cookies count because I whipped up a bathc of them today and added raisins which is a fruit so it must be the answer to our cholesterol issues. I take one pill a day and then I have to have my blood tested to make sure that the cholesterol pill is not going to kill me or cause other issues. See my post this week as I was already in the ER and that was from eating FISH! Gotta love chicken:-) because it is my last and only choice. What is next for me ...pizza with no cheese or meat only crust because they told me no tomatoes? Glad I have a good sense of humor:-)
Joyce

Joyce said...

Well this post made me smile and I was wondering if Quaker Oat cookies count because I whipped up a bathc of them today and added raisins which is a fruit so it must be the answer to our cholesterol issues. I take one pill a day and then I have to have my blood tested to make sure that the cholesterol pill is not going to kill me or cause other issues. See my post this week as I was already in the ER and that was from eating FISH! Gotta love chicken:-) because it is my last and only choice. What is next for me ...pizza with no cheese or meat only crust because they told me no tomatoes? Glad I have a good sense of humor:-)
Joyce

SueLovesCherries said...

What a funny and inspirational post! I may be 54 on the outside, but inside I think I'll always be 30!

prashant said...

Good luck with getting your cholesterol down
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