Blood work

A trip to the doctor’s office yesterday to get the results of my annual blood work. Pretty much as it should be. As always, everything is great except my slightly elevated cholesterol. Sorry, what’s that? No longer “slightly” elevated? If five or lower is “yeah, okay, don’t worry about it”, seven is an actual concern. Bugger.

Questions about diet follow. No, I don’t eat fatty meats (okay, the occasional burger at the pub) or processed food (okay, the occasional frozen pizza if that counts). Yes, vegetables are definitely involved my dinners. And I do eat a fair bit of fruit. Not as good as vegetables? That’s too bad. Oats? Yes, I have granola made with lots of oats for breakfast most mornings with fruit and yoghurt. What? Granola doesn’t really cut it? Well, that’s annoying, because I hate porridge. Yeah, okay, I do eat a fair few prawns, because I really like them, but I know, yeah, lots of cholesterol*. How much do I drink? Well, you know, a couple of glasses of wine in the evening. (Three or four? But that’s spritzers, so really two, right?) Maybe knock that on the head? Bad for cholesterol? Really? I did not know that. (Well, I probably did, but chose to block the information out of my wine-soaked brain.) Cheese? Oh, yes. I love cheese. Less cheese? Hmm.

I should consider adding bran buds to my diet? What the hell are bran buds? Easily found? Oh, okay. Maybe Metamucil? Isn’t that for constipation? Oh, also good generally as a fibre supplement? I see. Oh, you have a brochure from the Heart and Stroke Foundation I might find helpful? Oh, okay.

I guess I should be taking this seriously. I guess I should consider some changes to my diet. I guess I should look at the brochure – and I will.

But before I do that, I have a question. What do people who don’t drink wine in the evening drink instead? I’m serious. I have no idea. There’s only so much herbal tea I can drink and I don’t like any soft drinks. (Not that soft drinks are a good thing.) I’m not going to sit here drinking plain water all evening. So, you know, if you have any helpful suggestions, feel free to share them.

* Just did the first of what I’m sure will be many “cholesterol” internet searches I’ll be doing in the next little while. Seems prawns aren’t that bad. Well, that’s something.