Where did I go wrong? Interesting question. Unfortunately you can't do much about genetics, so a family history of heart disease (both mother and father) certainly plays a part. Add to that the fact that I took a medication (for the last 28 years) to treat the arthritis I have that is not exactly heart friendly, and that is most certainly another factor. I see my rheumatologist on Tuesday to hopefully switch to something that has less of an impact on the heart.
I am sure my "Canadian" (not American thanks!) diet was not 100% healthy, so I was taking in more fat and sodium than I should be eating, but I am about 6 feet tall and have weighed about 164 pounds for the last 25 years - obesity is certainly not in play in my case. Yes my LDL was a bit high, and my HDL was a bit low, so I am on a medication to improve those numbers, but the doctors said the numbers were not all that bad.
My wife is Australian, and I have been there many times, so I am quite familiar with how at least some Australians eat. Let's just say it's a good thing I can't get snags here...and we don't have counter meals...no dim sims here, and I don't get fish and chips as much as a typical Australian would for example (I really only have it when we are in Australia). No meat pies, pasties, sausage rolls, etc. I actually ate very little in the way of fast food (maybe ate out once every 2 weeks) and generally speaking Canadians do not eat out nearly as much as Americans do. Polls show that most Canadians in my region eat out 2 times per week, so I am way below the average for the region of Canada that I am in. In contrast studies indicate that Americans eat out over 4 times per week on average.
One of the challenges is that I did eat pretty healthy to start with, so we are finding it challenging in some respects to make my diet even more healthy. My big weakness is snacking in the evening, and that was typically some potato chips...but looking through the pantry the sodium numbers on pretty much any prepared food are quite high, so I am cutting out those things even though I didn't eat a lot of them to begin with.
So I am focused on diet changes because it is something that I can do to improve my health. I think saying this is a diet problem though is quite simplistic. I plan to spend less time at my bench (no more working 7 days a week) and to get more exercise as well. Less work, and less stress, more exercise, plus diet changes - these are the things I can control.
Cheers, Al
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