I just wish it didn't come in the way it did. And its a kick in the ass for both my husband and I.

I found out last night that my grandfather (my mom's dad, we call him Vo Vo, that's Portugese for grandpa) has to have emergency quintuple bypass surgery this afternoon. Since my mom is very close to her parents, she the one the doctors talk to ans such.

She said that with the information they got, artery clogging begins IN YOUR TEENS. But, the good news is that if you start on the right path, and change your diet and lifestyle, you can make some good changes.

I know with my diet the way it is that this has already begun. But like I looked up on webmd, and my mom has heard, your heart has the ability to heal if you give it the chance to.

My husband and I are already on the right track with cutting bad fats from our diet (we only have low-fat dairy, buy lean cuts of meat) but we need to do more. Like exercise, we need to be more active. We pretty much don't eat fast food anymore, but there are times when we do. After this, I won't touch the shit anymore. Not at all. I don't care what it is, I will not eat a thing from a fast food restaurant. Becuase if it isn't fried, its probably so refined that its just as bad.

I needed a wakeup call to tell me "HELLOOOOO! What you're doing isn't HEALTHY!!!!!". I just wish it wasn't like this. :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
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well, it's good that the experience has encouraged you to eat healthier, but don't forget that there are other risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking and just plain heredity. this is especially true with cholesterol. since cholesterol can be synthesized by our liver, a person can eat very healthily/exercise yet still have high cholesterol because they just have one of those livers that makes a lot of it. also, being a female puts you at a lower risk (at least until you reach menopause). estrogen protects us in some way from heart disease (i'm not really sure how, but it does).

anyway, maybe you could go get your cholesterol checked to see where you stand right now. i just had mine drawn yesterday. results:

total cholesterol: 171 (should be under 200)
HDL: 41 (should be over 35)
LDL: 120 (should be under 130)
triglycerides: 49 (should be under 200)

that's good, but there's room for improvement. i would especially like to raise my HDL (i was kinda surprised it was that low, since i've been exercising regularly since i started grad school, but oh well. i guess it takes a long time). if you can get your HDL up over 60, it is actually a negative risk factor, which means that it would cancel out another number that was not so good.

anyway, i don't really know what my point is, but it's good that you are thinking about these things. i think a good nutrition class should be required in high school so we could get on the right track earlier.

and i'm sorry to hear about your grandfather :(
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I plan on having that done, once my job straightens out all of their health plan issues. (don't know if my doctors are gonna change, etc.)

I was talking with my husband about this, and he also thinks that our main problem is exercise and how we don't get enough of it. One thing I forbade us from buying is a deep fryer, and that has seriously cut back how much fried food we eat.

If this is something to think positively about, this is the first instance of any heart trouble on either side of my family. And up until a couple years ago, my grandparents *never* watched what they ate. They only started a couple years ago when my grandmother began having digestive problems and ended up having her gall bladder removed.I'm trying to make these changes for us now while my husband and I are still young.

Luckily for my husband, there's no history of heart trouble in his family either.
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Wow, that's scary, RoseBud! But it's a good thing you're in the know, now. I'm sure you'll develop and keep these good habits!
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