The cholesterol game

I found an interesting blog today, written by a 20-something in Texas called Happy Vegan Runner. She explains in the blog that she found out she had high cholesterol despite being a healthy eater and an active person. So, she went vegan. That's also my story, but one that I don't find much. Even doctors sometimes tend to look at us 20-somethings and assume things are fine, especially if in our medial history we indicate that we don't smoke, don't drink much, exercise and aren't eating doughnuts and fried chicken for every meal.

I was lucky, and had a really good nurse practitioner as my primary care person years ago who saw my family history and decided I needed to have a cholesterol check. And it came back high. So, even healthier eating, courtesy of the American Heart Association cookbooks, and more working out followed. Not much changed over the years, and I finally decided that all the exercise in the world wasn't going to be enough, nor was I going to start taking pills in my mid-20s. Enter veganism. For me, it worked. Last time I had my cholesterol checked (this time it was a new doctor who wasn't going to do it, and didn't understand why I wanted to have my cholesterol checked) my numbers were much better.

So, in an effort to have a healthy life despite my genes, I continue to do cardio, strength train, do yoga and stick to my vegan diet.