CD Single and My Bad Genes

Well I finally went about uploading a couple of my songs to TuneCore and they are in the process of distributing them to Amazon, iTunes, and various other music sites.  Rather than put up my "less than spectacular" acoustic performances, I opted to simply publish a CD single for "Rat Race" with 2 b-side tracks:  "Agent No One", and a live performance of "Rat Race".

Sooo, In a few weeks, you'll be able to buy my CD-single on iTunes for 3 bucks.  I've also decided that any money I make from these music sales I am going to donate to the American Heart Association.  (see below for explanation).  I'll let you all know once everything is legitimately up for purchase.  

Bad Genes (AHA Donation):

I am in the unlucky position to have inherited some pretty crappy heart disease genes.  After my dad's passing a few years ago (at a relatively young age), I started to become very proactive about my fitness level and what kind of food I decided to put into my body.  Before going to Antarctica, I had a full blood test done in order to qualify me as "fit to deploy".  At the time, I had been running 4-5 days a week for over 9 months and by all intents and purposes, was in "great" shape.  Yet.....I still had elevated cholesterol levels.   Since early January while on the ice, the chefs had always made a vegetarian meal.  I started opting for these meals and I noticed that overall I just began feeling a little better.   Since then, I've been completely vegetarian (with a very rare splurge on salmon or tuna).  So other than dairy, chocolate, and a VERY rare fatty splurge (ie junkfood or pizza), I have pretty much cut out all cholesterol in my diet.   Well I recently had some new bloodwork done, and my cholesterol levels actually went UP since the last test!  How is this possible?  I am still running 4-5 times a week (30+ miles) and eat healthier than I ever have in my life.   I almost never drink anymore, I quit smoking years ago, and I don't feel I'm overly "stressed out".  Well the answer is simple......bad genes.  It seems that I will most likely have to deal with cholesterol and/or heart disease issues for my entire life.  The good news is that I am aware of it early in life and can start dealing with it.  I am a hardcore anti-pharmaceutical person and will fight kicking and screaming before I am forced to take any kind of medication on a regular basis.  In this case however, I may not have a choice.  I have some followup appointments, but I am very frustrated by all of this.  I would have no one to blame but myself if I sat on my couch all day, eating donuts and pizza.   But it annoys the heck out of me to be doing everything "right" and still have high numbers.  So, while I deal with this, I've decided to donate some of the profits from any sales to the AHA...maybe they'll develop some magic orange juice that you drink and it dissolves all the plaque from your arteries or something.   Guess we'll see.