A Silver Lining... actually it's usually red!

Stick with me folks - once we get past all the medical talk and informational stuff, it gets interesting.

Before Jeremy was discharged from the hospital his cardiologist, Dr. Hess (he went to medical school at Tulane and interned in New Orleans as well - what's not to love???), came in to talk to us about all kinds of things. While he was there, he went over Jeremy's blood work with us. Predictably, his total cholesterol count was high, his LDL (bad cholesterol) was high and his HDL (good cholesterol) was low. I already knew that to lower his LDL level he'd need to start exercising, watch his fat intake and cut out as much transfat and saturated fat as possible. But I didn't know much about increasing his HDL - so let me tell you what we learned.

Your HDL kind works like a janitorial service for your blood vessels. It scours the excess cholesterol from the walls of your blood vessels and transports it to your liver for processing and disposal. So when your HDL level is taken, it's a reflection of how thoroughly your blood vessel walls are being scrubbed. HDL levels between 40 and 60 mg/L are considered the normal range. And here's the best part - an HDL level greater than 60 mg/L is now thought to actually PROTECT AGAINST HEART DISEASE. Let me repeat that part - PROTECT AGAINST HEART DISEASE. For those of you at home that aren't taking notes, let me spell it out for you - this is a very good thing.

Jeremy's HDL level on the day of his surgery was 37 mg/L. We just received his lab results from the physical he had the week prior to his surgery and it was 40 mg/L in that report. Anyway - not good enough. Dr. Hess said he wants Jeremy's HDL at 60 mg/L. He also said that raising your HDL isn't an easy process. Here's what you can do:

• Aerobic exercise, more specifically, at least 20 to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise that raises your heart rate. But that's a minimum. Recent research shows that it's the duration of the exercise that counts as far as raising your HDL, rather than the intensity. So as far as our desired outcome goes, it's better to jog for 40 minutes than it is to run for 20. Done deal - he bought tennis shoes, we're walking an hour every day and just as soon as Dr. Hess clears him to work out he's going to start jogging/biking.
• Lose weight. Obesity contributes to both raised LDL and a low HDL. So losing weight can improve things for folks that are overweight (Why hello there, mirror!). But Jeremy was blessed with a genetic metabolism that makes me want to punch him in the kidneys. Suffice it to say that Jeremy isn't obese and he is well within the normal BMI range. Shrug.
• Cut trans fat from your diet. Cut. Them. Out. An explanation of what trans fatty acids are would be even more boring than learning how to calculate cash flows from a company's annual report (guess what I'm studying...). So if you want to know, go here. But basically trans fat is liquid oil that's had hydrogen added to it to create a solid fat - this gives processed food a longer shelf life... but gives you a much shorter shelf life. Suffice it to say that they're mostly man-made (very small amounts occur naturally), and there's nothing good about them. Check your labels. Avoid fast food. Cut. Them. Out. Done deal.
• Alcohol. And here, ladies and gentlemen, we've come to our silver lining. While the American Heart Association doesn't want doctors encouraging their patients to start drinking, if you already drink - here's the scoop. One drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men can significantly increase your HDL levels. Again, I'll repeat that for those of you who aren't taking notes... can significantly increase your HDL levels. Particularly red wine. And I will directly quote Dr. Hess here, "So a glass or two of red wine every night would be a great idea." I love Dr. Hess. (I will note, however, that going over that moderate amount has the opposite effect - so don't try to rationalize that if 2 is good then 3 is great. Jeremy.) And of course, if you already have health issues related to alcohol - ignore this one.
• Increase the monounsaturated fats. This means more canola oil, avocado oil, olive oil, avocados and peanut butter! Yay. This doesn't suck.
• Add soluble fiber to your diet. Really this means you need to eat a lot more fruits, vegetables and legumes than most of us do now. The American diet is totally effed up. Meat should be an occasional side dish - not the main course of every meal. And by occasional I mean once or twice a week. Red meat and processed meat also contributes to colon cancer as well as horrendous cholesterol levels. We're working on this one, and it's going pretty well, shockingly enough. Especially for the hunting-obsessed...
• Increase Omega-3 fatty acids. This means oily fish (halibut, tuna, salmon, etc) - so we're trying to get at least two serving a week in. We're getting more than that so far. We both love fish and seafood - so it's not a burden, trust me.

So now all the teaching and stuff is over. Let's get back to bullet #4 - DRINK RED WINE! We like this one. Neither of us were particularly fond of red wine before, we both liked dry whites. However, some sacrifices must be made... Sigh. (/snerk)

So the Saturday after his surgery, we hit The Wine Cellar with our friends, Dan and Juliet. And I think it's fair to say we tasted every single red wine they had. Every. Single. One. Keep in mind though, there were only 8 or 9. Anyway, we took home a couple of bottles to get us started. We bought a bottle of Jeunette Rouge from Les Bourgeois Winery. It's a mild, medium bodied blend of Chambourcin, St. Vincent and Syrah with a fruity character and a soft finish suitable for an array of occasions. No I did NOT just copy that from the website. Leave me alone. Okay, maybe a I did - but you don't know that stuff either. Anyway, we also bought a bottle of Charleville Chambourcin. We'd just been in Saint Genevieve (where Charleville Winery is) to visit the wineries the weekend before this for my birthday, so we already knew about that one. But we're going to become red wine connoisseurs. It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.

Tonight we're having Gascon Malbec while Skyping with Roy and Cathy (Jeremy's mom and stepdad). So far this one is our favorite - but it's pretty full-bodied. It's much more an occasional sipping wine rather than a regular rotation wine.

So that's Jeremy's silver lining. He has official permission to have two glasses of red wine every night before bed. But that's no the only silver lining - we've reconnected with several friends, our relationship has always been strong but it's stronger than ever, we're both improving our health, many friends have been inspired to get their butts to the doctor, etc. There are good things that have come of this - and as cliche as it sounds, we have many reasons to count our blessings!