When “Doing Everything Right” Isn’t Enough
Turning 50 last year wasn’t just a birthday. It was an inflection point, especially in how I’m thinking about my health in this next decade.
I want to age and move well, be strong and pain free, and full of vitality as long as I possibly can. This is part of my vision. And in this climate, we’re led to believe that you need to do “all the things” to even remotely accomplish this.
I started the year off intentionally with some advanced bloodwork with my functional medicine doctor, already knowing I’d likely have to put in some work to make some changes. I was in for a rude awakening.
Sure, you look at me….on the outside, you see someone who puts in the work, does the ‘right things’, seemingly ‘aging gracefully’. Not quite.
What scared me wasn’t a single number, it was the pattern. Despite doing “the right things,” the markers tied to heart disease were quietly moving in the wrong direction: cholesterol levels (total and LDL) slowly creeping and staying elevated, ApoB level shot up 14 points since last year and LDL particles significantly increased since I last tested them in 2021. F*ck this.
Heart disease is pretty strong on my mom’s side of the family. Honestly, this wasn’t really on my radar until a cardiac scare Mom had back in 2023, even though her father/my grandfather died of a stroke at 53 (her sister/my aunt just died of a heart attack this past Christmas). My brother and I now show signs that the familial risk is present. And after losing my late husband suddenly in 2018, I don’t take this lightly.
If your doctor’s only answer is “let’s wait and see,” or “here’s a prescription” without a real conversation about lifestyle, risk, and options, that’s not informed care. That’s passive care. That’s why we need agency and to advocate for ourselves.
Now for most people reading this, ApoB and LDL particle size are likely not tests on your radar because they aren’t common labs your primary care doc will order…unless you ask them to. Knowing I had this risk, it was necessary.
These next three months for me will be the test. They aren’t about perfection. They’re about responsibility. I have a better sense of my risk now. And pretending I don’t—or outsourcing it entirely—isn’t an option.
That saying you may have heard, ‘genetics loads the gun, environment pulls the trigger’? My gun is loaded and it’s up to me to make sure that trigger never gets pulled.