My father died of his third heart attack at the age of 47. His brother had the first of several heart attacks at age 50. For a long time now, I’ve known that I’m going to have to run a little harder from The Reaper than most. If there’s one thing you can’t deny, it’s your DNA.<\/p>\n
I’ve always worked hard to maintain a decent weight and I’ve been running regularly all my adult life. But since I turned forty, I’ve noticed the pounds creeping up and last winter after an extended bout of bronchitis and inactivity, things really got out of hand. A visit to my doctor last February was the straw that broke the camel’s back. My weight was up to 202 lbs and my total cholesterol over 200 mg\/dL for the first time in my life.<\/p>\n
I changed the way I ate and increased my running mileage, producing a nice drop back down to 163 lbs, well within my ideal weight range. Last week, I went back to my doctor for another physical. He just about dropped his stethoscope when he saw my weight loss and measured my blood pressure at 114\/78, not to mention my pulse of 56 bpm. I eagerly awaited my lab results. Last night, my doctor called me with the verdict:<\/p>\n
Total cholesterol: 175 mg\/dL (desirable less than 200)<\/p>\n
LDL cholesterol (the “bad kind”): 101 mg\/dL (optimal 100 or less)<\/p>\n
HDL cholesterol (the “good kind”): 62 mg\/dL (optimal 60 or above)<\/p>\n
Triglycerides: 59 mg\/dL (optimal 150 or below)<\/p>\n