Cholesterol and the Meaning of Life

On January 4, 2010, I began a low cholesterol diet. My cholesterol was fairly high, but in some ways that was good news (depending upon how masochistic you are) because I desperately wanted to lose weight and couldn't seem to motivate myself.

When you are presented with the opportunity to have a piece of cake, which might come with a heart attack somewhere down the road, it's much easier to say no to the cake. And pretty soon I was on a fairly nice roll with the diet.

I discovered some great things about myself. Like: I had forgotten how to tell myself no. Or maybe I'd forgotten how to listen when I told myself no! LOL In general I ate too much. I ate for entertainment. I ate when I was bored. I ate when I was happy. I ate when I was sad. There wasn't an event or reason I could add a slab of baloney to.

Plus I had forgotten what it felt like to be genuinely hungry, to eat because my body needed fuel. Worse, I rarely got off my butt. I work in a chair, played cards and Yahtzee with my son in the afternoons also in a chair, and watched TV at night laying on the couch. The invention of the remote, I've decided, was not such a good thing. I'll bet if we studied this out, we'd learn America's sudden explosion of weight is as much the fault of the television remote as it is the fault of fast food. But I digress...

Realizing I had some really, really bad habits, rather than look at this adventure as a diet, I began to realize I needed to look at it as an opportunity to fix those bad habits. To change the way I looked at food. To get myself back to eating because I was hungry. (What a concept!)

After months or arguing with myself, battling the desire to scarf down a ho-ho when my writing didn't go well or the absolute whiny need for a beer on Friday nights, I managed to make some significant changes. I lost nearly 20 pounds and could once again fit into most of my clothes. When it came time to check my invisible cholestrol progress, I went to the doctor wearing my favorite capris and a cute little top. There was a spring in my step and a lilt in my laugh! I was absolutely positive I'd aced this thing!

But I didn't do as well with the cholesterol lowering as I had hoped. Still, the good news is this will keep me watching what I eat for another several months and maybe I'll drop another ten or fifteen pounds? And really ingrain my new eating habits.

Sometimes it's all a matter of perspective.

And that takes me the meaning of life portion of this blog. Really, a lot of life is a matter of perspective. So if you have a choice, it's always wise to look on the sunny side. It rarely does any good to rant and rail. But it does a lot of good to find the silver lining in your clouds!

So the next time life hands you lemons, think of me and my cholesterol. In finding the silver lining I'll eventually succeed. And, really, what else am I going to do for the next six months! LOL

Have a good week...Oh and skip on over to Amazon and take a look at the cover for MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE. I just love it! It won't be out until July, but you can drool over the cover! LOL


susan