That is all certainly true, Oak. I once went for a walk with a friend, down to a beautiful nature reservation about 2.5 miles from my old house. It was kind of a hot day and my friend brought a large towel, put it around her neck, and then proceeded to wipe the sweat with it and complain and sigh loudly with every step. I thought I was going to kill her.
Emily, I meant the red wine has helped my cholesterol. I also have very high HDL, low LDL, and good triglycerides. But my total is high.... so over the past 2 years I have been tweaking my diet with the red wine, dark chocolate, and more salmon and tuna. Right before I started cycling, my total was 244. I had totally burned out on the exercise I had been doing and had gained almost 20 lbs. I had it down to 220 after a year of riding, and now ten years later it's 208. I really want to get it below 200, even though my doctor has told me my ratio is the best she has ever seen.