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Just from reading this article, the first reaction I have is to think "Shouldn't the doctors be telling them to quit eating a cheeseburger, get their fat ass off of the couch, and take a run around the block, and I don't around down to the local Krispy Kreme either" However, one who knows me could also argue that I am a hypocrite for saying that, because I may end up as one of those young people who ends up on those drugs, as much as I hate the idea.
On my father's side of the family, a condition known as Hyperlipidemia type IIb occurs in many of the members. In our case, it's a genetic condition that results in our liver producing too much cholesterol and triglycerides. If it is not controlled, most members died of a massive heart attack in their early 50's. Unfortunately since my father has it, it means I could end up having it as well. It has meant for me that now every year I get bloodwork done to check my levels to make sure I am okay. Last April I had it done and while my overall cholesterol was fine, my triglycerides were high and so was my LDL cholesterol. They weren't high by much, but it was enough for me to notice. However, instead of demanding drugs as a quick fix, I decided I was going to make lifestyle changes. As it is, this reading does not mean I have Hyperlipidemia, there are other factors that could have created the high result.
My dietary habits had become awful over the last two years. I could easily go into a page or two of what went wrong, but it's completely off the subject. When I started dating Joshua he started pushing me towards some better eating habits, which I found made things easier for me to change. Weeks later, I was on IM with Brian and he basically said that he was looking to change his diet because he knew his was not that great either, so we started giving one another feedback on things we had read and things we had tried, and it seems to have worked for the both of us. I have dropped from a 34 inch waist to about a 32-33 inch waist, so that's real progress for me. I was shocked when I realized that on a belt Joshua had given me that I had gone from the third notch to the fifth notch.
So, I am going to continue to watch my diet carefully and start to push up my exercise more, and hopefully the next time I get my bloodwork done, my levels will be more normal. Maybe I will have lucked out and dodged a bullet genetically, but that doesn't give me an excuse to become a fatass either.
Oh, and also, that article doesn't mention the downside to a lot of those cholesterol drugs, which are that they will screw with your liver and even your pancreas, putting you at risk for even worse problems (Diabetes anyone?). That is especially the reason why I do not ever want to go on these drugs, if I do have a problem and I can control it by diet, I'd rather make the effort to control it that way than to just think I can take a pill and make it "go away." I have the discipline to be able to do things the right way.
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