When it comes to knowing their personal numbers, most women tend to focus on their dress size or jeans size, their weight, or perhaps their key body measurements--like 36-24-36. Guys always know their waist measurement for buying their favorite pants. While weight and body measurements can be factors in your health, they don't always tell the whole story.
There's a frequently-played commercial out for a cholesterol-lowering drug that shows either a man or woman who looks thin and in perfect shape, and then reveals that they have a sky-high cholesterol number. The point they make is that just because you are thin and look good doesn't mean you are healthier than someone who wears a tiny dress size--or even that you are healthy at all. I agree with this idea--not just because I am not a size 6 like the woman in the ad--but because I think it's a lot more important to focus on important health numbers like cholesterol, HDL cholesterol (that's the good-guy cholesterol for those of you who don't know--this is actually the one cholesterol number you want to see increase), blood pressure, triglycerides and some new health markers like homocysteine and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels.
Just as a quick aside, researchers are finding that high levels of homocysteine, an amino acid, can lead to arteries that become narrower, harden and more prone to blood clots. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein, in a nutshell, measures inflammation in the body and researchers are discovering that it can be a strong predictor of heart attack and stroke. It is considered to be one of the possible explanations of why someone who seems to have a great cholesterol number, and is otherwise in good shape, could suddenly have a heart attack or stroke. According to the article "New Clue To An Old Killer: Inflammation & Heart Disease" in the September 2000 "Nutrition Action Health Letter", "half of all heart attacks occur in people who do not have high cholesterol".
While I am fortunate that my major health numbers have always been within the normal ranges, my physical in May, after I just turned 40, showed results of which I am truly proud. I had a 47% increase in my HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) which has tended to be on the very low end of the range for normal; a 22% decrease in my LDL (bad cholesterol); a 34% decrease in my trigylcerides; my blood sugar remained at a nice low 84 (the normal range is 70 to 105); and my blood pressure was a healthy 100/70. My homocysteine level which was already good, dropped another 25% to virtually the bottom of the normal range (a great thing), and my high-sensitivity C-reactive protein number--the first time I had this checked, was right in the middle of the normal range.
These changes have all occurred when I adopted my current healthy "NMP" eating style, including fish, full time. So even though the genetic odds may be against me in terms of diabetes and heart disease, so far, so good, thanks to my healthy "NMP" diet and my regular exercise program (but since I have been a regular exerciser for years, I believe my "NMP" eating style was the biggest factor in these great results). I may never even need that cholesterol-lowering drug--sorry big pharaceutical company!
The best part is knowing that every day I follow my "NMP" eating style, it positively impacts my health, yet I still eat all the foods I love--cheeseburgers, chicken caesar salad, BLTs, macaroni and cheese and more, but in their healthy "NMP" variations. Who says you can't have it all--especially your cheeseburger--and keep your health too?
