My cousin-by-marriage Tim sent my this photo of the all-red (including shoes!) ensemble I wore as a flowergirl in his 1970 wedding to my cousin Kay.  May, the grandmother my cousin Kay and I share, bore nine children, survived the death of her husband during the Great Depression, smoked into her 60s, developed Type 2 Diabetes and still lived to be 86 years old.  My grandmother's only daughter, Kay's mom, is still alive well into her 80s. 

For most of my life people have told me I resemble my Aunt Sis. I had always hoped that I would take after Grandma May and Aunt Sis genetically, as they don't seem to have the propensity to heart disease as my mom's side of the family. Currently, however, there does not seem to be a genetic test that can tell people whether or not they have inherited a predisposition to heart disease, so I have always taken a pro-active, better-safe-than-sorry approach. In this I am my mother's daughter.When I was growing up Mom always pulled the skin of the chicken before she broiled it, did not add salt to our cooked vegetables, and served us margarine instead of butter (this was back before we knew that hydrogenated fat was bad for you.) And mom exercised, like crazy, from the time she was in her early 30s. But mom had a weakness: Binge eating.

Binge eating is the most common eating disorder .  Binge eating releases Serotonin in the brain, a chemical that produces feelings of calm and lessens anxiety and depression. Mom would periodically adopt a strict diet and lose weight, but sooner or later the compulsion to binge eat would return. I think she saw it as something that she could and should control on her own.

In college I started binging myself, to cope with the stress of trying to qualify for graduate school. After college I broke my compulsion to binge by rising early each morning to exercise.  Starting my day with an endorphin rush from morning exercise helped me resist the desire for the Serotonin from binging.  I'm glad I broke my compulsion early on, because current research suggests that sugar and other carbs may be as addictive as opioids.  I give my mom much of the credit for that, because she taught me healthy eating habits from an early age and helped me develop a taste for fruits, vegetables and whole grains. 

Mom resisted taking cholesterol-reducing drugs or supplements. She wanted to lower her cholesterol naturally through diet and exercise. Sadly, she died trying. I agree with her approach, and I'm hoping that by starting twenty years earlier when my cholesterol is not that bad I will have more luck, but if it doesn't work and a doctor tells me I need to do something more, I will make room for modern medicine.