Nowadays I like the taste of low-fat cheese too

So I changed my diet. I tried to eat less animal fats. My cholesterol levels didn’t really improve, but they didn’t get worse either.

I’ve always been quite athletic. Nowadays I exercise about four times a week. I go jogging, do pilates and play table tennis. So I didn’t have to make any big changes as far as exercise is concerned. Not getting any exercise generally makes me feel bad anyway. I need exercise to make up for the fact that I spend a lot of time sitting when I’m at work.

My doctor thought my cholesterol was still too high so she prescribed medication – a statin. I took it for three months. But I didn’t feel good about taking it. I didn’t have any side effects or anything, but I just didn’t want to be on medication. My doctor eventually agreed to let me stop taking it.

Then I went through a very stressful time in my life due to a private situation, followed by a quieter phase. During that time I thought exercise and watching what I eat weren’t helping to keep my cholesterol within the normal range anyway, so I might as well eat anything I fancy again. Which is exactly what I did: I started eating butter, cream, bacon and lots of other things again. But the next time I went for a check-up my cholesterol levels were really high.

That’s when I truly realized that eating animal fats increases my cholesterol. So I changed my diet again. And I came to accept the fact that, although I can keep my cholesterol levels within a certain range by doing sports and watching what I eat, I won’t achieve normal cholesterol levels that way. That really bothers me. I have to learn to live with the fact that my cholesterol levels are higher than normal.

I always have to be careful and avoid eating certain things, which isn’t particularly great. But I know that my cholesterol levels will shoot up if I don’t stick to my special diet. I now avoid high-fat cheeses, butter and cream again. These are all things that I used to enjoy eating. But I’ve got used to it. Nowadays I like the taste of low-fat cheese too.

I have my cholesterol levels checked regularly. That makes me feel safer. Last year I went to a cardiologist to have my heart checked, and everything was okay.

While I was there I asked the cardiologist about my risk of having a heart attack or stroke. High cholesterol is only one of many risk factors, and I don’t have any other risk factors. That made me feel less anxious. I still think about it sometimes but it doesn’t stress me out that much.

I try not to let the fact that I have high cholesterol get to me too much. I don’t ignore it, but I try to live with it – to deal with it in a healthy way.