Lately, I find myself struggling with a few food and health questions. At the end of March I had a physical and decided to send my bloodwork to Berkeley Labs in CA to have a more thorough analysis of both my cholesterol and overall risk of heart disease. The results came back pretty much as I suspected: my LDL was high, but my HDL levels were also high, leading to a good overall ratio. Everything else was fairly uneventful – good triglycerides level, particle sizes were the way they needed to be, etc. However, my doctor would like to put me on medicine to bring down my LDL level, and I am admittedly confused and uncertain as to what I should do. One, I am fairly young (42) and am left wondering why my doctor did not suggest other non-medicinal methods to try first…I am assuming my genetic factor is the main reason for this. Two, this is my primary care doctor, not a cardiologist. I would like to consult a heart specialist before making a decision to embark on such a long-term commitment with medicine (and I have already been informed this would be long-term). I also worry what reaction my body will have to the medicine. I typically do not tolerate drugs all that well. Even something as simple as Motrin caused havoc in my intestines a couple of years back – ultimately resulting in 2 weeks of severe stomach pain, an endoscopy and an ultrasound – all to find nothing wrong (no ulcer, no gallbladder problems, no odd intestinal cancers) – and ultimately blamed on the Motrin. So I feel fairly justified in my concern as to what side-effects these pills would inflict in my body.

This raises another issue for me…namely, what price am I willing to pay for a longer life? Do I want to take a pill which may prolong my life in the long run, yet may necessitate changing my eating habits and perhaps lower the quality of my life? I already feel I do a great job of eating and living my life with moderation. I don’t deny myself good foods, but I do make sure I don’t overindulge. I’d rather have a small scoop of real, fat laden ice-cream than a bowlful of a reduced calorie, ice-cream-like substitute. I like cream in my coffee – my at most one cup of coffee a day – that I drink. I barely use refined sugars (again, in that same cup of coffee as the cream). We generally eat whole grains and fresh produce. Our meats are from sustainable, 100% grass-fed farms. I don’t use trans-fats or HFCS when I cook. I know that those times we go out it is generally unavoidable, but we don’t even eat out all that much anymore. I don’t want to give up the way I eat because I truly believe it is healthy.

What I have decided for now is to not take the meds. Instead, I will continue my research and also plan to meet with a true heart specialist to assess my risk factors and options, both medicinal and otherwise. In the meantime I have finally gotten back into exercise. I have not regularly exercised for the past 2 years. This is, I am sure, a large part of why my LDL levels shot up. So I have been power walking several times a week, taking Pilates classes, and trying out other classes such as yoga, Nia, Zumba, and even belly-dancing. I found a fabulous studio not far from where we live that offers a wonderful variety to keep up my level of interest. My life has generally been balanced with the exception of exercise, and I am hopeful this new phase of my life will add that missing level of balance, thus bringing my health concerns into balance as well.

~~Namaste~~

Well, not so funny and not to me. My husband has been stuck in London since Friday due to a certain ‘not-to-be-named’ volcano in Iceland. (The not-to-be-named part has nothing to do with it being evil…it has everything to do with me not being able to spell or pronounce it.)This has been quite the adventure – a real European version of ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles’ with a ferry trip thrown in for good measure! In the end we have resigned ourselved to the fact that he most likely will not be home anytime sooner than Wednesday, so he should relax a bit and enjoy the country. I am planning to get the scoop on his food adventures – among other things – upon his return. I know he has made sure to enjoy the occassional pint or two for good measure. Poor guy!!

Tonight’s dinner was something I decided to call ‘Surprise Soup’. Part of the ‘surprise’ was finding out whether or not it passed the taste test. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that yes, it did indeed pass the taste test. This soup was made up of anything leftover in my refrigerator that needed to be used up. If I thought the the senses would be delighted by adding any ingredient in question, in it went! My list of ingredients included carrots, celery, onion and garlic as the base flavors. I added two potatoes whose lives were nearing an end, a can of black beans, diced tomatoes, white wine, a splash of balsamic vinegar and chicken stock. For spices I used salt, pepper, thyme, and a dash of red pepper flakes. There was some brown rice and pork chops leftover from last night’s dinner, so I diced the pork and threw it in alongside the rice, added a little water to round it all out, and let it simmer away. When I dished it up I squeezed some fresh lemon juice over each serving and grated a little parmesano-reggiano cheese on top for good measure. Most delicious! The only thing missing was a crusty loaf of bread to dip into the soup juices…And a benefit I had not considered was my fridge gaining a bit of breathing room inside. Nice, very nice!!

So here’s to my husband and everyone else stuck due to a certain Icelandic volcano…Cheers and Godspeed!

Wow, the days are flying by at warp speed! I cannot believe Easter has come and gone. Growing up, I remember having either turkey or ham (canned of course!) for Easter Dinner. We hunted for Easter eggs first thing in the morning, and spent the day eating from our baskets, which were filled with all sorts of candy: jellybeans, chocolate bunnies, malted milk balls, and – of course – marshmallow peeps…I think our sugar high probably lasted for at least a week. Looking back, it makes complete sense that we had Spring Break the week after Easter. Can you imagine the teachers having to deal with a classroom full of students coming down from a sugar high? My kids have always had Spring Break prior to Easter…bad idea for the teachers, fabulous idea for parents!!!

Fast forward to present day: I have changed up our Easter dinner. I love traditions, all sorts of traditions, and one year I researched how others celebrate Easter. I came across many feasts featuring lamb as the meat of choice. I had not ever cooked lamb, and being ever curious I sought out information on how it should be prepared, traditional Easter recipes and dishes to serve with it. I ended up serving more of a Mediterranean-type feast: Leg of lamb roasted with garlic and herbs; roasted potatoes with onions and peppers, Greek salad (admittedly American-style Greek salad which includes lettuce); hummus and tzitziki with pita.

So leg of lamb it was for many years. My husband does not prefer lamb, but he has tolerated it over the years for this one day…I have since switched to rack of lamb, which is not as gamey as leg of lamb and therefore, a little easier for my husband to ‘digest’. This year we had a domestic rack of lamb which was 100% grass-fed. Delicious! And the entire meal was finished off with our traditional coconut cake for dessert.

Oh, and by the way, the new dishwasher did FABULOUS with the clean-up!! 😉

The new dishwasher arrived on Tuesday, and I ran my first load today. Can you say ‘clean dishes’??? I have always been one to rinse before loading but as an experiment I did not for this first run. Squeaky clean, from my lean mean dishwash machine!! Plus, it looks beautiful and fits in flush with my cabinets…more updates to come! 🙂

Got the call late afternoon yesterday: my Asko did not make it in, and as a result I will not have the new dishwasher installed today. Oh well…