I recently got the results back on a routine cholesterol check. eGads, I'm dying.  My total cholesterol was 260 which isn't great but the really awful number was the HDL "Good" cholesterol number -- 19.  Any amount lower than 40 is considered bad and normal is 60 or higher.  At 19, I'm at the 1%tile of HDL.

Unlike bad cholesterol, good cholesterol is hard to improve.  Diet has little effect on it.  Excercise can help and there are some natural suplements that may help (like flax seed oil) but other than that, there's not too much one can do to easily improve it.

Since I got the results late last month, I've been dieting and excercising.  I've lost 10 pounds (I'm now162 -- well into my ideal weight area), cut out most red meat, significantly lowered how many eggs I eat (I confess, I ate a boiled egg a day), reduced fast food dramatically.  In another 2 months, I'll be going back in for a re-evaluation to see what sort of prescriptions I should be put on. 

My blood pressure is 110 over 70 so I'm doing well there. I don't smoke. I'm not overweight.  The only theory my doctor and I have come up with is that Acutane, which I was on for a few months about 10 years ago, did something to my liver.  Unfortunately, I hadn't had my cholesterol taken since that time period.  Before I had gone on Acutane, my cholesterol was normal (total cholesterol was 125, don't know what the HDL was other than it was in the normal range). My diet since then is much better than it used to (I used to live on Whoppers practically).  I don't know if it was Acutane or not I just don't know what other things might have changed for things to have gone to hell.

But either way, I have been feeling a lot more energetic since excercising more.  I've been walking roughly 4 miles every other day which is enjoyable. And while I wasn't overweight before, the weight loss has made me feel better and I think look better (my face was starting to get a little full).