When What We are Doing Isn’t Working And What To Do Instead.

Filling the gap where the old negative habit used to live.

If we don’t cover up the opening, left by a discontinued destructive habit, chances are that we will fall right back into the same hole.

Help, I received my Cholesterol lab results and I went Vegan, instantaneously.

Last week, I was forced agains the wall, after having received new lab results. Mind you, the blood was drawn on December 29, after feasting on Holiday food and wine. But the trend is real and I must get out of denial if I want to live.

When I read the report, the thought of getting my affairs in order, came to mind. I saw myself dead and buried within a short period of time. The news were not good.

The saying that life throws us curveballs, fit right into this scenario.

Imagine, here I am, a retired nurse, whose claim to fame is being strong and healthy without taking any medications. Teaching about health literacy and prevention of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the world, are among my favorite topics. This is what I write about, what I talk about, what I teach, and what fits under my unique ability.

My unique ability, it is who I am. If I go against advice that I would council a person in the same scenario, I would be a fraud. The undeniable truth is; What I have been doing is not working anymore.

A drastic change is imminent and vital to survival. I knew right away that I had to move from being an Omnivore to a Vegan.

Going Vegan and eliminate dietary saturated fats can save my life. But from experience, I have also learned that stopping ingrained habits and behaviors is far from easy. Relapse is common.

Eliminating habits that don’t serve us, and begin new and better lifestyle behaviors, is how we grow. Growth is an innate process. When the inner voice whispers that enough is enough, we ought to listen.

When we go against that internal recommendation, things don’t get better. This is no prescription for happiness; I write and talk from experience. Over the last four years, my cholesterol biomarkers have gone in the wrong directions.

See the chart with my numbers below. Normal test results are listed so it is easy to compare.

There are habits and there are habits. Some habits like, nail-biting, talking too much, and being messy, are annoying. Other habits, like alcohol abuse, unhealthy diets, and lack of physical activity can kill us. We have to pick our battles.

Let me explain why the lab test was devastating news for me. The same results may not be a problem for someone else, with a different genetic history.

Cholesterol levels are biomarkers that describe how the body is doing at the cellular level. Our cells, all 50+ trillion of them, are like a mini me. Your cells are a mini you, painting a picture of your cells characteristics.

My cholesterol levels have always been of concern because my Dad died of a sudden heart attack when he was only 41 years old. On top of that, my Mom had a debilitating stroke when she was 64. So, as family history goes, I am screwed.

I didn’t want any of that, no heart attack and no stroke for me, thank you very much. No cardiovascular disease (CVD) for me. I want clean arteries and live to be 113 years old, when my youngest grandchild is 50 years old.

Family history never scared me straight, until now. Family history, age, race, and gender are non-modifiable risk factors. We cannot change them. Besides non-modifiable risk factors, there are also modifiable risk factors.

Modifiable and non modifiable risk factors for heart disease and stroke are tattooed into my brain.

Modifiable risk factors are within our personal control. Smoking, being too sedentary, eating sugar and saturated fat laden food, stress, and poor sleep habits are all modifiable. We have the power to do something about about them.

Heaven knows, all my adult life I have tried to gear my lifestyle towards health in order to prevent dying prematurely from a heart attack, like my father.

• I quit smoking 25 years ago.
• I exercise on most days; alternating between swimming, biking, walking, and aerobics.
• I avoid trans-fat like the plague.
• I eat tons of fruit and vegetables.
• Fish is often for dinner.
• I spend daily time in silence, reducing stress, and sending thanks to the Universe, for all the goods in my life.

But, then again;

• As much as I try to avoid sugar, I forget about it when it comes to chocolate and desserts, having friends over, or going out to dinner.
• I know how saturated fats can mess up the lining of my arteries. Saturated fats from animal origin, often add plague and reduces the lumen size of my blood vessels, increasing blood pressure.
• A piece of the plaque can also break off and cause a heart attack like my Dad, or a stroke like my Mom. But somehow, at times I forget. Delicious American goodies, along with traditional Norwegian foods have a way of giving me amnesia during the Holidays.
• Practicing portion control has everything to do with a healthy body. Do I know? Of course, I do. But guess what? Often, I forget about portion size when I eat something delicious.
• I drink too much wine. More than one glass sends me straight to the pantry, “where the goodies for grandchildren and maybe guests” live. As I get older, this is bothering me more than it used to.

More and more studies, entering the market, are telling us about the unimaginable damage that alcohol does to our beautiful bodies. There is no safe amount of alcohol for our cells.

I know all this, but again, amnesia strikes again, especially when I pour myself a nice glass of red wine.

Here are my latest lab results from the Lipid panel. The blood was drawn on December 29, and I received the results at the beginning of January.

Because my Low Density Lipoprotein( LDL), (think L for Lousy), is high, my health care provider also ordered another test, to differentiate between what kind of LDL I have. The test was to find out how high the level of Lipoprotein (a) was because the number is significant to developing CVD and dying from a heart attack or a stroke.

With no further ado, the number is 186, the level of my Lipoprotein (a). It is very high. Optimal result is to have a number less than 75 nmol/L. A number over 125 nmol/L is considered to be in the high range. Imagine, where 186 nmol/L fits into this scenario.

No wonder I am scared straight. According to this report, I am a walking time bomb. I am at a higher risk, than the average person, of dying from a heart attack or a stroke.

I become Vegan. Lifestyle has apparently nothing to do with the number because it is caused by a genetic disposition. But I still believe that I can do something about it. I will try for six months by adopting a Vegan habit. In six months, I will repeat the test. I beg to say, it will be better. I pray, please, dear God.

When we stop doing one thing, we must do something else instead. Filling the gap is the secret. We must substitute the prior behavior. So far, eliminating animal products from my diet has been no loss because I filled it with appreciation for all the delicious foods that I can eat.

When I stopped smoking 25 years ago, I did two things. When the urge to smoke came over me, I took a five minutes breathing break. I breathed in deeply, and I breathing out slowly, for five minutes. That was the time it took to smoke one cigarette.

What a relief of knowing that I had not poisoned my lungs with another cigarette.

The other thing that I did was advice I had read in an article. I started holding the coffee cup with both hands. That left no room for holding a cigarette.

Then I told myself that I was a nonsmoker.

Now, after having given up all animal related foods, I just tell myself how lucky I am to have so many delicious foods to eat. There is no lack.

I can eat bread and potatoes, fruits and vegetables, brown rice and beans, nuts and seeds. I can eat so many delicious foods and I am the luckiest person on earth. This is what I say to myself when I prepare bacon for my family.

What do you have to do, about filling the gap, from your previous disposed bad habits?

You decide what that might be because you are the advocate of your own life. Only you know what works for you.

We are all working on different self improvement issues. It may be, weight loss, saving money, physical fitness, improve health, eliminating depths, going back to school, learning to play piano, become a better parent, help the homeless, write a book, start a business, stop smoking, and stop drinking alcohol.

My Norwegian countryman and Nobel Laureate in Literature in 2023, Jon Olav Fosse, once said in this beautiful interview about quitting alcohol.

After a hospital stay, from being alcohol intoxicated, he decided to quit alcohol for good. He had had enough and took charge of his life.

“One might wonder what sort of alcoholism that I had. I drank far too much, but it wasn’t difficult to refrain from drinking once i had stopped.” — Jon Fosse.

Between you and me, my beautiful and talented epic writer Jon Olav Fosse, my honored country man, I will whisper this into your ear,

“I know what kind of alcoholism you had, my dear fellow human being, you had the same kind as my Omnivore habit, the same kind that applies to all negative habits, the die if you don’t stop kind.”

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