So as you faithful readers know, my ego was recently severely bruised when I was told that my cholesterol was super high. It was a whopping 6.8 and it should be 5. Of course, the dramatic side of me informed family and friends that I was a walking time bomb…psssshhh!
Anyway after being brushed off I went for a full test.
It turns out to be a genetic issue and not dietary…which should be the case for a dietitian, right? Furthermore, the full lipogram revealed good results. PHEW! So my good cholesterol is very high, which is protective against heart disease….probably also from all the unsaturated fat in my diet. However the bad cholesterol is still borderline! It is due to genetics as I said which means your body just produces too much bad cholesterol…thanks bod! Dammit! Also very important is that my total cholesterol to healthy cholesterol ratio is ideal, further reducing risk. Check out the link to calculate the ratios…http://www.hughchou.org/calc/chol-si.php
So my job as your online dietitian is to encourage you all to get your cholesterol checked, no matter how well you eat. High cholesterol is way more common than statistics even report, because so few people get it checked.
Pop to the pharmacy and get a finger prick test. This tells you total cholesterol. If it is above 5, go for a full lipogram (blood test) and check it out properly. Know your numbers guys. If the bad cholesterol is high, please see a dietitian and make some changes. We only have one body and we need to look after it…
Your body is your temple