A Sixty-Something Woman With Coronary Artery Disease

Under Chef AJ 's guidance, I've adopted a few strange habits, not the least of which is salad for breakfast. I know this is pretty crazy stuff, because my therapist acted shocked when I told her about it. Not acting shocked - about anything - is a therapist's stock in trade, so like I said, this is big. This is one pound of chopped lettuce and cruciferous vegetables (plus carrots) topped with a couple of mandarin oranges and half a banana with two tablespoons of ground flax seed sprinkled on top. Still to come is my homemade white balsamic-based mustard dressing. I don't think I even told her what to me is the craziest part. This isn't just any salad. This is a one-pound salad. I've been doing this for two weeks, but today is the first time I weighed up one pound of greens and cruciferous vegetables before adding the fruit that makes this all possible. Also, today is the first time in two weeks that it occurred to me to put ground flax seeds in it. Duh. It took

 Where in the heck has the first half of 2021 disappeared to! I just re-read my last post from January and had to laugh. Turns out it WAS the steroids messing with my triglycerides. Had a lipid panel done in March and my total cholesterol was down to 102 from 170 in June 2020 (before my “adventure “ started) with triglycerides down to 132 from 245 while in the steroids! My total cholesterol level last June was wasn’t nearly high enough to get me diagnosed with high cholesterol (under 200 is “desirable” and you’re considered “borderline” up to 239), but apparently for me, 170 is too high. Lesson learned — don’t put too much stock in comparing your numbers to the charts of normal ranges. Clearly avoiding oil is is working. I’ve done a few things that are really helping me stay on track. I read constantly and will add a list of recommended books and cookbooks to the blog soon. I signed up for the Forks Meal Planner mostly because I love the help with the grocery list. But so many of the