What's new on Saturday

Went to Wild Oats today to have my cholesterol, blood pressure and couple of other things checked at a portable lab they had setup there. They use a blood sample from pricking my finger, which may not be as representative as the flask they normally suck out of my arm at my regular doctor. The portable lab is probably not as accurate as the lab my doctor uses but I figured it's probably good enough to get some baseline numbers.

Overall the ticker (heart) seem to be running pretty good, they actually clocked me at 57 bpm resting rate, which is better than I ever clocked myself. I scored well on the blood pressure, but the total cholesterol is still kind of high. LDL is higher than I'd like (borderline), HDL is also high (better than average) so the ratio is actually pretty good. Tryglycerides level is excellent. I also got 'Framingham risk analysis' with the result of having 4% risk of coronary problems in next 10 years. That sounds pretty good, we'll see what happens when I visit my regular doctor in October.

Learned the difference between soluble and insoluble fiber:

1. Soluble fiber (oat bran) forms a gel when mixed with liquids and binds to bile acids, therefore prompting liver to produce some more. The major ingredient in the bile acid recipe seems to be cholesterol, therefore soluble fiber helps with removing cholesterol from your body.
2. Insoluble fiber (wheat bran) forms a sponge when mixed with liquids and acts largely as a scrubbing brush, seems to be beneficial in prevention of colon cancer, hemorrhoids and basically keeps your digestive track in balance.
3. Both fibers pass through the body largely undigested.

My right ankle didn't feel like a rusty hinge anymore, so I went to Boulder to Fleet Feet and got a pair of good running/walking shoes. Went for a 2.5 mile run/walk. Not too bad but as soon as I came back, I iced it and then soaked myself in the hottub. Hmmm, it starts feeling like the rusty hinge again. The shoes feel really good. Will I ever learn?