Mulling on lipids

I'm guessing that not many of you have had the privilege of feeling an atherosclerotic vessel (calcified due to cholesterol plaque buildup) between your own fingers. It provides a visceral understanding of cholesterol that, stronger than any biochemistry or randomized control trials, makes me want to run in the other direction towards fiber and vegetables. Instead of rubbery like most arteries, the vessel feels hard: forgive the metaphor, but it is like old plumbing with years of grime collected on the inside. If you press down, you can feel the calcification crack and crumble between your fingers.

So, what are we going to do to avoid cholesterol? I recently learned what everybody else already knew: the first thing to do is attempt for control with diet and exercise, and if that's still not working, then to use drugs to bring levels down. For those of us in our 20s, it's diet and exercise. I also just learned that signs of future high cholesterol can be seen even in adolescents!

Hearty and healthy barley and beet-green salad:

• Beet greens from the tops of ~3 beets (beets are sold in bundles of three at my grocery store); or any green vegetable such as chard, spinach, kale, or even broccoli
• 1 other vegetable, such as sliced mushrooms, carrots, etc.
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1 cup pearled barley, cooked in a rice cooker
• 2 tbsp pesto
• olive oil

Cook the beet greens as you would spinach: blanch for 2-3 minutes in boiling water, then drain and chop finely. Saute onion in the olive oil, then add the mushrooms and cook to your liking. Add beet greens, barley, pesto, and some water, and cook for 1-2 minutes longer, until the mix becomes creamy. Makes about two servings. I pack it as my school lunch!