Low Cholesterol Levels

Last year my cholesterol level was 84 which included both good and bad cholesterol and this year my cholesterol level was 70, which also included both good and bad cholesterol.

I am sure my cholesterol levels prior to last year were equally as low but I never paid any attention to the results of my blood work unless my doctor brought it to my attention, which was never the case.

In 1987, at the age of 40, I accomplished the following goals/tasks:

• Quit smoking cigarettes
• Quit drinking alcohol
• Quit eating red met
• Quit eating fried foods
• Quit eating sweets and sugars

I also made sure:

• I exercised daily
• Got plenty of sleep
• Learned how to manage stress
• Ate a healthy diet

For the last 36 years, I have allowed myself to violate the agreement I made to myself by:

1. drinking 4-6 glasses of red wine each year
2. eating pizza once every quarter
3. having 1-2 cheeseburgers each year
4. eating strawberry preserves on English Muffin once or twice a month
5. not exercising on the weekends
6. having a slice of apple pie twice a year
7. had a ribeye steak 6 times in 36 years
8. eating a 6 times in 36 years

My ability to do this is based upon discipline and determination.

I eat the following foods:  fish, chicken, turkey, beans, all kinds of vegetables, turkey burgers, turkey hot dogs, soups, salads, sugar free deserts, eggs, turkey sausage, noodles, rice, coffee, tea, and SAMS flavored water.

I am 6 foot - 1 inch and weigh around 210-215 pounds after weight 260 for several years.

The key to losing weight is not exercise or specialized diets but monitoring how much you eat on a daily basis.  I try to eat 5 small meals a day that offer me no more daily calories than 2,000, really trying to focus of 1,600 to 1,800.

Why am I doing this?

I want to live as long as I can providing I am in good health.  My mother lived to almost 96 years old with her health failing when she was 94.  I would like to live longer than my mother.

I have gotten so used to eating what I do that when I eat a steak or hamburger now, they taste horrible and not just because of all the grease.    It is good that these foods no longer taste good because it helps me not to want them any longer.

Life is too short and I would rather live my life like this than live my life being OBESE and eating whatever is out there and not worrying about how much.

I have also lost my taste for alcohol, and I stopped smoking COLD TURKEY and never looked back.