Sounds like a good idea... If only I had chef skills Tomato and basil are two things that I can generally get to thrive in my vegetable garden though...

I am a little nervous about repeating my test since now my diet is not as clean and has more sugar and refined carbs. Truthfully for me watching the refined carbs did more for my cholesterol than watching saturated fat. Eggs, meat, cheese...those were ok although I usually went lowfat or lean.

I SOOOOO know what you mean there! I think it was that for years people were led to believe that fat was the enemy. Just like anything there is a yin and a yang of fats/sugars/carbs. A " Fat Free" anything usually has a crap load of sugar or other processed things in it. My rule of thumb is " Always eat as close to the ground as possilbe" meaning real whole foods. Don't get me wrong, I loves me a juicy steak now and then, but have learned to love alot more beans/grains/greens just as much. My weakness has always been pasta. I Now eat strictly whole grain varieties, or once upon a blue moon, make my own. The grainy pasta takes a bit of getting used to, but I no longer crave white pasta at all. Once you feed your body the really good foods, your brain and body will begin to reject the crap foods by making you feel physically sick after you eat too many of them..... I likes that.

The whole cholesterol thing is a pet peeve of mine. I am very careful about what I eat, run quite a lot (just did a marathon) as well as play tennis. Have lost a ton of weight. Blood test 3 weeks before the marathon still shows cholesterol at near medication intervention levels . I am still not sold on the whole Statin thing - I don't trust the damn drug companies as far as I can throw them. Seems like every doctor is on the payroll.

< rant>
Well, then when then do I get my check? I guess science is bad because it is inconvenient, eh? Actually, it appears that statins are among the safest medications we have, and some have advocated pushing them over the counter (which would reduce drug company profits). But yeah, the evil drug empire does make a bit too much money, eh? Let me ask, what is wrong with making a buck to save lives and reduce illness? I guess drug companies created diabetes and measles and pneumonia just to rape the consumer, eh? And no, I own no drug stocks, do no consulting for drug companies, and am still waiting for the check you promised me I'd get.
< /rant>

She's having a hard time wrapping her brain around sugar being the bad part of her diet after decades of being fed the idea that fat is evil and all carbs are benign.