I get a yearly panel7 blood test, and I read those HDL/LDL numbers like a hawk. And glucose et al to watch for diabetes, sodium to gauge salt intake, and so on.

Exercise matters more than anything, I think, even when it hurts. I was caught between a rock and a hard place when I started to feel chest pains a couple months ago, because I felt bad when I walked, and felt bad when I didn’t–walking every day has become that integral to my sense of health. Even when my heart is strong it hurts to walk because of peripheral vascular disease, yet I credit walking despite the pain with being the major factor why I can still walk at all today–walking made me one of the lucky 25% who get better with PVD.

Jeez we’ve gotten old, haven’t we? Enough of sitting around comparing ailments!

Still exercising daily, like it or not.

Lots of fish (which keeps hair on my head – oily fish like salmon & cod). Lots of cruciferous veggies (for the vitamin K — and the flavor), lots of water.

Did you know that eggs will actually lower cholesterol (but don’t eat too many)!

I have no idea what too many eggs are (when I have them, I have 4), but … according to a paper I read in Scientific American, eggs contain both good and bad cholesterol. What makes them so cool is:

The human body has a hard time processing (getting rid of) naturally occurring bad low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and apparently does not have enough high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. High levels of LDL cholesterol raise the risk for heart disease and stroke … but eggs are magical.

What makes bad cholesterol bad is that the particles are too small for the human body to efficiently dispose of them. they stick together and coat the blood vessels, hardens arteries, clogs valves. Just bad news all over the place.

The LDL particles in eggs, however, are larger and the human body can handle them just fine. The magic, though, is that these newly introduced larger clumps of LDL in the human system tends to entice the smaller, natural LDL to clump together as well, so that the human body can dispose of them.

Eating eggs, your cholesterol levels will shoot through the roof, but you’re actually processing the smaller, nastier LDL bits from your system.

Ask a knowledgeable physician. It’s like magic. The incredible, edible egg!

(…and, no, I do not raise chickens…)

With cats as with Zoners, you can only express how glad you are to see them when they show up, pet them and fuss over them. And know that someday they won’t show up, and you’ll never really know their fate.

That makes each checkin precious. It means a lot to me to know you still draw breath, Dan!