Your arteries will thank you

Nearly a year ago, I lamented my bad cholesterol and a co-worker's evil candy dish. Well, Brian's candy dish is still there, taunting me daily with tempting treats. But the good news is that I've succumbed only three times in 11 months, my lousy, artery-clogging LDL cholesterol has fallen by a whopping 45 points and I'm about 8 pounds lighter.

I didn't have to kill myself to get there. And neither do you. Doctors and personal trainers tell us to approach fitness goals with small lifestyle changes that we can stick with. Smart advice.

If you are tackling a problem like borderline high cholesterol, get moving. Small diet and exercise changes make a big difference. As for exercise, walk every day or join a fun exercise class. Get a friend involved. My friend Pam now walks with me each weekend. My husband joined a new gym and got me a guest pass so I could try some new strength-training equipment and cardio classes. Now I teach there twice a week. The participants are a blast. We keep each other motivated, burn calories and keep our weight in check.

Exercise has never been my problem -- it's my food choices. But lots of health care providers offer wonderful classes to tackle high cholesterol.

Last week, HealthPartners dietitian Linda Block explained to her Woodbury class that some people inherit a tendency toward high cholesterol, but many people eat their way into a problem. "People have different risk factors and some are genetic," she said. But mostly, folks need to limit their animal fats and the partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in prepared foods. That's because "the saturated [and trans] fatty acids are easily turned into the [lousy] LDL cholesterol."

In their book "You: The Owners Manual," doctors Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz liken bad LDL cholesterol to sticky plaster that builds up in our arteries. In contrast, good HDL cholesterol "acts like the spatula of your arterial system [that] swoops through your arteries to try and take the extra plaster away," they write.

So eat up foods that raise HDL, such as olives, olive and canola oil and nuts, Block said. "The structure of an unsaturated fat is much more easily turned into [healthy] HDL cholesterol."

Prevention Magazine's "Complete Book of Natural and Medicinal Cures" lists study after study showing other foods that lower cholesterol. That wonder list includes fiber-rich foods such as carrots, beans, soy, barley, and fruits such as apples, kiwis, apricots, grapefruit and even unripe dried bananas.

"Fiber bonds with and removes cholesterol from the digestive track," Block said. It also makes you feel full and not hungry.

My cholesterol was borderline, so my doctor and I agreed to try exercise and diet changes -- not medication. Your situation may be different. I ditched my once-a-week treat of fries at lunch and asked my husband to stop surprising me with Ben & Jerry's ice cream. (That one nearly killed me. I mean, have you ever tried Coffee Heath Bar Crunch?)

I stiffened my resolve. We switched from ice cream to blueberries and apples for a sweet treat and loaded our cupboards with almonds. And this year, we skipped buying Halloween candy, because we often helped ourselves to it more than the neighborhood kids.

I stuck with the spinach and tofu salads I usually eat for lunch and my salmon or chicken dinners. But I had to revamp my breakfast. Years ago, a dietitian studied my diet and told me I wasn't getting enough protein. So I started eating two or three fried eggs for breakfast. No more. Now I opt for two hard-boiled eggs, minus the yolk.

Mayo Clinic cardiologist Dr. Thomas Behrenbeck gives us the real deal about eggs on www.MayoClinic.com. "Here are the facts: One large egg has about 213 milligrams (mg) of cholesterol -- all of which is found in the yolk. If you are healthy, it's recommended that you limit your dietary cholesterol intake to less than 300 mg a day. If you have cardiovascular disease, diabetes or high LDL (or 'bad') cholesterol, you should limit your dietary cholesterol intake to less than 200 mg a day."

Who the heck knew? I was consuming about two or three times the recommended daily limit of cholesterol with my very first meal. Easy remedy. Skip the yolk and eat the egg white.

It worked. My lab numbers came back last week and I'm back within the healthy range. And that's just where I plan to stay.

For more information on lowering cholesterol, check out www. mayoclinic.com, the Harvard School of Public Health website at www.hsph.harvard.edu, or Health Partners' site at www.health partners.com/files/39568.pdf.

Dee DePass • 612-673-7725