Our Family

Our Family

Saturday, July 24, 2010

High Cholesterol

I found out this week that I have high cholesterol - SUPER HIGH cholesterol....like a french fry away from a heart attack high cholesterol. The doctor was very serious with me that I was in bad shape. She frightened me a little, and I left feeling shocked. I thought I was doing things right by eating a much healthier diet, exercising consistently and such. The doc believes it's genetic...and so my journey of further learning about how to "fix" my cholesterol problem begins.

I decided to up my exercising by walking every night (bc that's the only sane time to walk after the sun is mostly down in Fl) with the kids in tow.

The first night, we ended up dumpster diving. Well, really this is the story. We walked a long way, and along our walk there were two families who had put some seriously nice stuff out on the curb for the garbage pickup. We drove back after our walk to pick through the mess. We had our eye specifically on this one really nice children's table, but someone grabbed it up before I could get back. There are TONS of foreclosures in my neighborhood. They weren't kidding when they said the market is bad in Florida. Boy, I wish our Dacula house would sell. There is a HUGE house completely upgraded in the neighborhood for only $180 on a lake lot. We saw an owl sitting on top of this house on our walk - kinda creepy and way cool! We ended our walk with some time at one of the neighborhood playgrounds. On the way home, Andrew completely freaked out when a cat sneaked up beside him. He cried and carried on in his state of delirium (as it was like 9pm by that point). He claims that he thought it was a dog that was going to attack him. Kinda scared me too cause we've seen lots of dog attack victims on TV lately.

The second night, we decided to walk a good bit and then stop at another neighborhood playground. Even though we had fully applied bug spray, we were still attacked by some large vicious mosquitoes. It was completely dark on our way home, and I got a little creeped out thinking that someone was going to attack me and the kids....and I was still thinking about the dog attacks too or even worse an alligator attack (there are tons of lakes in my neighborhood).

So...today I decided to go a different route. I decided to go to Disney's Boardwalk and walk around the lake. Then we got there and I decided...well, Epcot is just right over the bridge so we ended up in Epcot where Andrew played Kim Possible (totally awesome scavenger hunt adventure if you have kids with you and a great way to see the countries too). We visited the Cool Zone where they have free Cokes from around the world. Andrew forgot how BAD Italian Coke is. He took a huge cup full and spewed it all over. I would have gotten mad at him, but if you've ever tasted it, you would understand the intense desire to get it out of your mouth as fast as possible. Poor little guy! We left Coke with tummy aches from too much sweet syrup. Our afternoon ended with a visit to the Boardwalk Bakery - for a healthy lunch and NO sweets for the lady with high cholesterol.

I hope to figure out a good exercise routine that the kids will be able to take part in as I work on my cholesterol. It'll be good for them to walk through this with me so they can learn how to have strong healthy bodies!

3 comments:

  1. I can relate, when I went in for my 30 year check up mine was up there, genetic as well, or maybe it was the ice cream ;-) Anyhow, I hope your journey to find a good exercise for you doesn't take long and that you find something you can enjoy. I have taken to swimming at the college and walking as well. I found a community center with an indoor track overlooking the basketball courts. I've only been once but plan to go back. Well, take care of yourself and all.

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  2. Wow, Jenny. I had no idea! I like your Boardwalk idea. Seems much safer than walking around at night w/the kids. Plus, you are right. You do have Epcot right over the bridge, and that will also give you a lot of walking area.

    I guess it would all depend on how your mood is at night. Sometimes, it's just easier to walk the neighborhood and just come back inside.

    If you get a chance, will you send me the information for that house in your neighborhood? I'm sure it's on the internet somewhere. Thanks Jenny!

    Take care of yourself girl!

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  3. Wow I am sorry about your high cholestorol . I too have it and am medication for it. I also take a vitamin I buy at Sams called Cholestorol off. Anyway when I went back to the doctor for the last check up it was down to 135. I am surprised yours is up considering that you do exercise and eat well. Please take good care of yourself. We need you.

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