I got this in my email the other day:

When you look at this pic close you see Albert Einstein. But if you stand at a 5 meter distance, it will become Marilyn Monroe. Give it a try.
Amazing!!

Which reminded me of an old joke I heard ages ago:

A beautiful airheaded supermodel once approached Albert Einstein and suggested that they marry and have children. “Our children could have the best of both worlds,” she exclaims, “with your brains and my looks!”

“Ahh,” Albert smiled, “But the reverse could also happen. They could end up having my looks and your brains!”

I’m serious. I have high cholesterol.

Yesterday I finally collected the results for a blood test which I did a few weeks ago… and I was pretty shocked to see my LDL cholesterol level being higher than the healthy range!

Of course I would have loved to be in denial but let’s face it, that’s not going to help anything. So I paged Bronya, my ever-reliable nutritionist whom I met today and she gave me a long list of what I need to avoid eating and what I should eat… but more importantly, she says, I need to make a lifestyle change. That means not only my diet, but my sleeping habits (I don’t get enough sleep), my stress management (too much stress!!!), and my exercise habits (have you seen the flab around my waist?).

Having been someone who is used to eating whatever she wants without suffering the consequences, this is now quite a drastic change for me. I have to cut out sugars, and reduce oils and salts from my food intake. I also had to pull out of my breakfast group (I’m part of a group of four who take turns buying breakfast for one another every week) so that I can monitor my food intake more closely. I’m also now trying to force myself to go to bed earlier (unfortunately however, going to bed earlier does NOT equal to getting up earlier).

Bronya explained to me that my high cholestrol with the other health alert on my blood test resuls (immunity booster recommended, it says) is an early symptom of what is known as Metabllic Syndrome, which has been brought about by our affluent society. It is a cocktail of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and Diabetes Type II. The good news is, I’ve caught the symptoms early, which means that I can now do something about it without undergoing medication.

I’ve told my parents about this and unfortunately they pooh-poohed it. My dad was like, “You gotta look at the overall cholesterol levels” i..e the HDL/LDL ratio. “I have high LDL levels,” he says, “but my doctor says it’s OK because my HDL level is high.” And “you need to do more resistance training.” Whereas my mom was like, “You shouldn’t take these results too seriously.” And “I thought you exercise a lot?” My mom, having an extremely high metabolic rate, never has to worry about weight gain, so she doesn’t really bother too much putting healthy food on the table. She reuses oils and puts way too much salt in her cooking.

It’s frustrating because the reason I told my parents is not to be laughed at, but to get support in my bid to become healthier. Looks like this is a battle I have to fight alone at home. I suppose the idea of someone so young having high cholesterol is not something they can comprehend because they’re just not used to the idea. To be honest, I thought if I’d ever get diagnosed, it would be when I’m in my mid-30s.

Sigh… well I’d always wanted to live a healthier lifestyle but was always too lazy to get started. I suppose this is a good time than any other to start.