Look Mom, Straight A's!

Healthy nutrition in action!  Yesterday there was a free health screening at work, where a bunch of nurses came in and set up a little circuit to measure height, weight, waist:hip ratio, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol.  I am stoked to report that my results were great, no doubt due to clean nutrition and regular exercise. 

I was especially excited about a cholesterol total level of 154; my brother has high cholesterol and had me convinced that it was a hereditary thing.  (Total cholesterol level should be under 200.)  It may or may not be, but I seem to be kicking its butt regardless.  The waist:hip ratio was also an interesting health measurement.  I ranked a 71, which means I'm in a group of decreased risk for diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.  Hooray!

The only two blips I encountered, one of which I was already aware, is that I tend to have lower blood sugar and I have low blood pressure.  The nurse verified that these were likely due to a healthy cardiovascular system and a sodium-controlled diet.  I do get a little dizzy occasionally upon standing, but I've had low blood pressure ever since I lost the first 30 pounds and I'm careful about it.  I wish I had my exact results from a physical from when I was 40 pounds heaveier for comparison.  I think I intentionally blacked out the specifics, but I remember it wasn't pretty.  The nurses were definitely singing a different tune this round!


Which brings me to my tidbit o' the day: get a physical.  However your body looks, however you feel, however whatever, it's nice to know what's going on inside you.  I'll never forget the story of a woman who felt perfectly fine, and decided to participate in the free health screening at her office.  Some of her esults were fine, but she ended up having incredibly high blood pressure.  She left work right from the health screening and went to the hospital, and had to have an immediate medical attention.  She ended up having some rare disorder that entailed risk of stroke with every step she took. (I apologize for blanking on the name of her disorder, I will edit if I can properly locate the information.) Scary stuff!  But it's scarier to think that she had no idea something was amiss.  So even if you feel great, or even if you intend to use your current stats as a 'Before' set, you will have that many more comparisons on how to measure your health improvement.

A lot of workplaces offer free health screenings, and that is awesome.  If yours doesn't, talk to your HR rep or department and suggest it or ask about your options.  If it's just not happening at wrk, please take it upon yourself and get your butt to your Doc.  If you get a basic health screening and a result isn't sitting right, take the extra step and get a full physical to learn more.  I need to follow my own advice and make sure that my occasional dizziness is the low blood pressure, as I suspect.

I'm glad to be validated by my health screening results, and I feel like I have some more oomph as both a nutrition 'blogger' here and as a grocer of organic and natural foods.  I acknowledge that I also need that full physical in my physician's office.  I will if you will! 

Have a healthy weekend, and keep an eye out for some cholesterol-busting recipes and info soon.