Despite looking perfectly fit, Matthew Stafford’s wife, Kelly Stafford, admits that she is someone who indulges in unhealthy eating habits. For instance, when Kelly eats chicken and rice for lunch, she pours a little “yum yum sauce on top, filled with sugar.”
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According to the mom of four children, she “needs that kick in the a*s,” especially during the spring break. Unfortunately, everything comes at a cost.
And for Kelly, her eating habits have led to extremely high cholesterol levels. This was revealed after she gave her samples for testing to a company that sponsored Matthew and her. And the results were a wake-up call.
“I got some results back, and my cholesterol is extremely high. It gives you numbers, and it’s like above outer range and need to seek medical attention, and I’m in that range…. Obviously, there’s genetics, but sugar in your diet and processed foods. And if you guys know me very well, I go to bed with 10 Swedish Fish in my hand at night or hot chocolate,” Kelly explained on The Morning After Media podcast on Thursday.
Notably, Kelly isn’t all alone. As per her admission, “high cholesterol runs in her family.” But, she also confessed that compared to her father or mother, her sugar intake is even higher. “Everything I tend to eat has sugar,” she admitted.
To put things in perspective, for an adult woman in the US, a healthy total cholesterol level is considered to be below 200 mg/dL. The recommended ranges are: total cholesterol 125–200 mg/dL, LDL cholesterol less than 100 mg/dL, HDL cholesterol 50 mg/dL or higher, and triglycerides less than 150 mg/dL.
While Kelly’s cholesterol has gotten to a higher level, she admitted that she is working on getting rid of the sugar. The 35-year-old also added that the situation of high cholesterol indeed scared her.
“I’m going to spend like a month and kind of like get rid of all the sugar at night situation and go back and retest. And once I do that, I’ll let you guys know if it changes. If it doesn’t change, I definitely think it’s genetic. And I’m going to have to figure out a way to work on it. But it scared me, yeah.”
Despite having high cholesterol, Kelly has not experienced any physical difficulties so far. However, she has made a promise that once Matthew is back from spring break, she will train alongside him to get back to full fitness.
“From the outside, I feel very in shape, like somewhat in the best shape of my life. But on the inside, those numbers say differently. I told Matthew, once you are back from spring break—I can’t do that now because honestly, spring break, I’m going to have to have my sugar too, that’s like my happy place, which is a problem,” Kelly outlined.
Apparently, Kelly is not alone. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 86 million U.S. adults aged 20 and older have total cholesterol levels above 200 mg/dL. This means that about 1 in 10 U.S. adults has high cholesterol.
However, being the wife of an athlete like Matthew, Kelly now has the perfect opportunity to get back to a healthy lifestyle and lead many others by example, with a diet change.
