Late last spring, when I got my cholesterol and triglyceride levels from my doctor, I realized that I was going to have to change my eating habits. The constant acid reflux should have been a hint, too (my wife brought that up more than once). Looking at my diet, I had been eating tons of junk - potato chips, fries - and some stuff that wasn't necessarily junk, but that I shouldn't eat a lot of - pasta and bread.

I also started making more time to exercise, and I've increased my daily jog from 20 minutes to 45+. Importantly, I've made sure to carve out time for exercise while I've been on the road, too - something I had stopped doing. The results have been pretty good - I've dropped about 20 pounds, I feel a lot better, the acid reflux is gone, and - more importantly - the cholesterol and triglyceride numbers dropped to safe levels.

This came to mind because a friend of mine had a friend of his (acquaintance of mine) die of a sudden heart attack last week. He was still in his 30's, a decade younger than me. That's sobering news, and made me realize that taking better care of myself isn't just about better fitting clothes.

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