Fat-free fruit!

Fresh melon, kiwi fruit, raspberry and banana:
Ate the same thing yesterday; perhaps I will mañana.

Feeling fed up: grey skies, pouring rain and gales all day! Decided to blip my bowl of fresh fruit - again. Although I've done so before, when I looked back, I find it wasn't 'just the other day' - it was three months ago.

Ah, yes - three months ago! That was when I had a blood test, which showed my cholesterol level had risen from four-point-something to 10.9. Oh, I said, the only change in my diet over these three months is I've stopped having porridge for breakfast. OK, says the doctor; try reintroducing daily porridge and we'll test it again in three months. That was Monday. Yesterday, I had the result: an impressive 24-hour turnround. Less impressive is the poor reduction in my cholesterol level - it has gone down - but only to a still-high 9.4 so the doctor wants to see me. (Not till next month; appointments are slower than blood-test results.)

I'm guessing she will want to discuss statins with me. I don't want to go on statins. They've had such a bad press. And as medical practices get financial bonuses each time they prescribe them, the threshhold has lowered. (Same goes for diabetes, I'm led to believe.) However, it doesn't necessarily mean that I don't need them. I am telling myself I must listen to what the doctor has to say before closing my mind.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's had experience of statins or anyone with medical knowledge who feels like putting their oar in. (FWIW, I consider I have a healthy diet. Only have meat - usually chicken - 2 or 3 times a week - apart from lean, thin-cut ham in sarnies. Have low-fat dairy foods - and not much of 'em. What more can I do?!)