Doctor's orders

I read an article in yesterday's San Jose Mercury News written by a doctor who was concerned about today's children not getting enough exercise. Today's kids have little or no PE in school these days. And parents often stress academics over physical fitness. What they don't know is that they go hand in hand! It's really a shame. He went on to cite increasing rates of diabetes, obesity, etc.

I knew I was overweight when I started on my trek to fitness. What I didn't know is that my cholesterol level was off the chart. With a total number of 340, my doctor said, "You have one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel." Man, if a statement like that doesn't wake you up, nothin will. I won't get into the significance of the numbers yet but LDL is "bad cholesterol" and HDL is "good cholesterol." The ratio between the two is vital. We have much control over these numbers and I'll delve into that later as well as other important nutritional issues. The first thing is to take baby steps.

The point I'm trying to make is that before you set off on this or any diet or physical fitness endeavor, by all means have your doctor give you the green light. You might just learn something like I did.