Tim McNamara wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Bill Baka <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> It will be interesting to follow these numbers over the next decade or
>> so to see where they go next. During the peak of my bicycling and lowest
>> weight I had a total of 175 and an HDL of about 50. Without drugs that
>> is about the limit for me since I can't ride more than about 2 hours per
>> day on average. It sounds as if the Surgeon General would have us all
>> taking Lipitor or something along those lines. Since exercise and diet
>> determine Cholesterol in addition to family background, there is only so
>> much a person can do.
>
> When I was 31 and 250 pounds, my total cholesterol was around 145 or so
> and my non-fasting blood sugar was about 160. Oops. Family history of
> diabetes and heart disease, better do something! I resumed bicycling
> and cut out the junk food I was eating and dropped my weight down to 195
> by 1992. I started racing and raced for 9 years, winning one race (the
> state time trial championship. I was the only person entered in my
> category. Showing up is 100% of success). In about 1995 my *total*
> cholesterol was 99 on a nearly vegetarian diet and 200+ miles a week on
> my bike; my doctor suggested getting it up a smidge.
I think your doctor was right on that call. I don't know how low you can
go and still be healthy, but under 100 seems to be pushing it.
Since then my
> total cholesterol has crept up to 113 a couple of years ago, along with
> my weight which crept back up to 220 pounds. Now I'm back down to 210
> with a target of 200 pounds. And, oddly enough, I am also back to a
> mostly vegetarian diet as meat has really lost its appeal to me. So
> it'll be interesting to see what the numbers are next time.
Almost the same for me, except for the seafood / Chinese buffets that I
go to with a friend. I try to limit myself to Broccoli and white fish
with maybe some shrimp which should be good, but I think the stir fry
Wok oil ruins the low fat nature of the food. I definitely don't do
McFood places and never go out to dinner, much to my wife's dissent. I
try to only eat things that I can cook and control but due to having
kids around a certain amount of junk food gets through the door.
>
> One of the things we can do is to opt out of the toxic food culture that
> surrounds us. The highly processed, high fat high sugar low fiber
> minimal nutrient diet that most Americans eat is, I am convinced, 50% of
> the problem.
There was a lot of debate going on a while back about high fructose corn
syrup being the worst offender but it is still present in almost
everything you can buy. I worked for a while in a place that made
Nestles power bars under a contract arrangement and they used that stuff
for sweetener by the tons, literally.
The other 50% is our sedentary lifestyles.
Blame Pong and all the video games that have come with more computer
power. I am in the electronics industry and all the magazines are in
agreement that it is not business driving computing power, but gamers
who want more realism in their games. Hell, if they want realism, they
can get off their butts and go outside and do something.
Yes, genetics
> plays a role too but we can't control that factor, so I didn't include
> it. Heck, my total cholesterol dropped 40-50 points with diet change,
> regular exercise and weight loss.
That works about the same with me. I find that at a particular weight I
can lower my cholesterol about 40 points by exercising even if I don't
lose weight. Losing weight for me is good up to a point, that being
where my wife tells me I look like a POW. That point, though, is where I
feel the best physically and it sure does not hurt when I take the bike
into the mountains.
>
>> I think it may be age related, since the older I get the harder it is to
>> keep the numbers down, regardless of exercise. Perhaps I should plan on
>> becoming a 60 year old racer in a few years. Some battles you just can't
>> win.
>
> Like the ones with time and gravity. ;-) But I think you are indeed
> right, that cholesterol tends to increase with age.
No argument there, but I think it also has to do with the amount of
spontaneity that decreases with age. When I was 25 and someone suggested
something I would jump at the chance. Now it's more like "Let me check
my schedule.". I think part of the age thing is that you are always
having to balance out what you want to do with what you have to do.
Bill Baka
