No to Lipitor

In dreaming up the concept for this blog, out of boredom during a quiet spell in my day job, I thought this would be a forum where I could pay homage to the finer things in life. My favorite thing in the world, other than my husband, is food. I love food. I work in the biopharma industry to pay for my habit, hence the name of my blog. Though let me clarify - I seek out good food. I'm one of those people who go out of my way to try restaurants featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, No Reservations, NY Times, etc. I read about food - new recipes, memoirs, essays, travelogues - and I talk about where I've gone to eat and what I've eaten with a passion that people probably think is a little weird. My husband's the same way as I am about food, though people seem to ask him for restaurant recommendations.

But I digress. So I had planned to write mostly about my food adventures, general complaints on my exercise regimen to balance the calorie intake, a little bit on my latest fashion purchases (my second addiction) and maybe throw in the occasional comment on my work. However, just I was planning to start this blog, I received the results of my routine blood tests in the mail from my doctor. And horror of all horrors, I have high cholesterol. High LDL, the bad cholesterol. I also have high HDL, which is the good stuff, so my ratio isn't bad, but my LDL numbers have been steadily climbing over the past couple of years. While I generally eat healthy, I should explain that I'm a big believer in full fat, natural dairy products and I'm a hardcore carnivore, so I guess I really shouldn't be surprised to find myself in this predicament.

Now the easy thing to do (and I think the reason why my doctor wants to see me in the next two weeks) would be to take a statin like Lipitor, but while I work in the drug industry and I'm a big believer in taking medicines in general, statins are one of the few things I don't want to take. I don't feel like putting up with muscle pains for something that's asymptomatic and not immediately impacting my quality of life. I recognize there's a risk in not doing anything, but I don't think the risk benefit tradeoff is worth it in my current situation.

I'm also not planning on ignoring the problem, so I will be trying to eat a low-fat and heart-healthy diet. We'll see how long that lasts. I'm not trying to radically change my lifestyle but to start cutting back on my best friend (aka butter) and to be a little less enthusiastic about red meat. Wish me luck and any encouragement or recipes would be welcome!