Cholesterol

What is the deal with cholesterol? Yes, yes, I know fatty crap in your arteries gets stuck and blocks the flow leading to strokes, high blood pressure and heart attacks. That's not news. Cholesterol is high in most people with a Western diet, because we eat way too much junk. That's the current thinking.

My cholesterol was 5.4, which I was told was 'below average' but still 'too high', which kind of doesn't bear out much hope for the rest of the population. If the fat woman has lower than average cholesterol, everyone else must live on lard.

On the other hand, cholesterol isn't all bad. We need some to keep our nerves working properly. We also use it to make serotonin, which helps to make us happy. Very low cholesterol is linked to depression, aggression and high suicide rates.

Anyway, being a good girl (or at least trying to avoid sugary fatty stuff so I don't feel diabetically awful), I cut out some of the bad stuff; not all of it, by any means - I haven't had a personality transplant - and guess what? My cholesterol is now 4.6. How good is that?

I have no idea if my arteries are rejoicing with a new-found anti-atherosclerosis, plaque-free existence, but I have a revived belief that maybe, just maybe, I can change my future.