Markemmanuel

The college’s health services department gave me the results of my lab work.  Everything came out better than expect but there are a few things I need to work on.  Fortunately, the actions I initiated last month will help me resolve these problems.

Kidney and liver functions are normal.  The results for my thyroid test came up normal as well.  The possiblity of thyroid disease causing my episodes of depression and anxiety has been eliminated.  A yellow flag appeared on my lipid profile.

The lipid profile measures the cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood.  My total cholesterol is under 200 mg/dL at 153 mg/dL.  Triglycerides, a type of fat was high at 171 mg/dL.  It should be between 30 to 150 mg/dL.  My HDL, the good cholesterol, was low at 39 mg/dL.  It’s supposed to be over 40 mg/dL.  Now that I know what I have, I can be proactive about treating this problem before it turns into something unpleasant.

The nurse practitioner gave me advice on how to bring my triglycerides and HDL into its good range.  Exercise seems to be a reoccurring theme in preventative medicine.  She suggested that I engage in cardiovascular exercise.  I run or walk at least three times a week.  Those numbers could have been worse if I hadn’t been exercising.  There have been weeks where I burned out and stopped training. During my last episode with depression, I stopped exercising for a month.  Hopefully becoming consistent will bring that HDL number up. According to the Mayo Clinic, exercise can increase the HDL of a healthy sedentary adult.    She recommended adding foods in my diet that has Omega-3 fatty acids.

Further research online suggests the following things for me to do…

1. Maintain a healthy weight.  Apparently, for every 6 pounds an overweight person (ahem…ME!) looses, HDL goes up 1mg/dL.  I can gain almost 6mg/dL if I reach my goal weight.
2. Choosing better fat. Saturated fat is a no-no.  It’s supposed to be less that 7% of my total calories.  I have to cut back on red meat and make healthier choices like salmon and skinless chicken breasts.  It’s not so bad.  I like breasts.  Trans fat is also a bad fat that needs to be avoided.  My meals have to have more mono and poly-saturated fats found in nuts, olive oil, and the like.
3. Consistent physical activity. I love running and that’s how I get my exercise.  I am not consistent with it.  Other things get in the way.  Getting consistent has to be a priority.
4. Eat Less. Triglycerides are a type of fat that our body makes and it also comes from the food we eat.  The calories we don’t use immediately is converted to triglycerides so they can be stored in our body fat.  As I interpret this, the less excess calories I eat, triglyceride levels will be lower.

It all comes back to healthy eating and exercise.   I know where my health stands. It’s time to work on the more difficult phase, developing good healthy habits.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.