Worry, stress - bad stuff for our hearts. I try to do what's right for mine. That has changed over the years. My previous GP specialized in heart health. Saw my highish cholesterol and immediately told me to go out and buy "The Omega Diet:, read it and adjust my diet. (Also had the book in all his exam rooms the entire 17 years I went to him.) He put me on on a statin and between it and diet, now lots of dark green veggies (I call them weeds and goat food), the low cholesterol came down to acceptable.

Then I changed GPs to a nurse with more words in her title than I can keep straight. Her focus was on healthy life and where appropriate, non-traditional medical approaches. She very much wanted me off the statin. Also off dairy. So I've been off both a few years now. Feel great. I'm past feeling the hole from no cheddar cheese. (My dad passed on to me the love of the sharp Vermont cheddars. I settled in region years later where the local cheese is from a cooperative that makes really good cheddar! My cholesterol has crept up some. Due for blood work and next physical soon so we'll see where I am at. I'll go in evaluating whether I should stick to her services or change to someone who specializes in older patients as I just hit 70. (My time with her has been a gift. She listened to me talk from my first visit of using and being intimately exposed to fiberglass resin building boats and that I'd lived the symptoms we all heard about in former fiberglass workers. Wrapping up my second physical, she said there was a naturopathic "liver cleanser" that would be a mini-chemo to clean out toxins. 90 days, two pill a day. I did it. Middle 5 weeks were not fun. But it was life changing. Allergy-like sensitivities and symptoms went from ruling my life for 35 years to barely noticeable. The very expensive inhalants that I went through two bottles of every 8 weeks now was one OTC generic and one one of those prescriptions - per year.