Low Cholesterol Diet

I was looking at the suggested foods allowed/to avoid list that I got from the doctor for a low cholesterol diet. Apparently, when I thought I was eating within the guidelines this last year, I wasn't. At least not for dinner. My breakfast and lunches have fit into the guidelines perfectly. My agreement with Ashley was that I would fend for myself for breakfast and dinner so that I could eat better, then she could make whatever she wanted for dinner and I would adjust my portion size to stay within a reasonable limit. 

I guess the more I justified each meal, the more I truly believed I was still within the guidelines. Unfortunately though, that was not the case. So starting Monday, I'm going on a strict guideline-only diet for 3 months and then getting my blood checked again. Ashley is NOT happy about dinners but I really want to find out if I can control this.

Here's my timeline plan:

April 25 through July 25: low cholesterol meals only - get blood tested at HyVee

If results are still high:

August 1 through October 1: low cholesterol meals with exercise - get blood tested at HyVee

If results are still high:

October 3 through December 3: low cholesterol meals with exercise and fish oil capsules - get blood tested at HyVee

I went into a bit of a bender when I got these recent test results showing I was still high. I felt helpless and frustrated. I decided that if I couldn't control what happened with my cholesterol then I'd just go ahead and eat whatever sounded good. This morning though, I took a real hard look at that food list and realized I wasn't really trying as hard as I could have to control the outcome. I am not typically a person who allows that helpless "fate-like" thinking to settle in and I'm surprised really that I let it take over for even that short week. That's over now. I realize that I can still put forth a real effort to change things and I can do everything recommended to lower cholesterol within 9 months. If after that time I'm still testing high, then I'll go back to the doctor with my outline of what I've done and see what he recommends then. I'm really thinking I won't have to do that though. Genetics or not, I don't believe humans were designed to evolve with predetermined health issues. I think the closer I am to living as a human was originally intended to live, the closer I will be to my perfect health.