Health Fitness

Do you want to lower high blood pressure?

I was diagnosed with high blood pressure (hypertension) about three years ago. After a series of tests, my doctor told me there was no medical reason for my having high blood pressure; it had to be hereditary. Since there is no medical reason why you had high blood pressure, then it could be changed. I decided to lower it and leave the medicines. I was taking 2 cartia pills a day, time released.

After taking the medication to lower my high blood pressure, I noticed a difference in how I felt. It seemed to calm me down and I had fewer headaches. Even though the medication was helping me, I didn’t want to be dependent on it. I was afraid my 2 pills would increase to 3, then 4 and so on. I took this as a wake up call to make a change and drop the 2 pickups down to 1 and then none.

Here is what I did…

I found a way to lose weight. I don’t like to work out, but I did too. I did the least amount of exercise that I could. I have a treadmill in my house and I walk while I watch the shows I like. Some of my favorite shows are Bones, Haven, The Middle, and Modern Family. I would record the shows and watch them while walking on the treadmill. I would skip all the commercials by doing a 1 hour show that is about 30 minutes long. This is how long he needed to walk to have a healthy heart. Those 30 minutes would take me anywhere from 1 mile to almost 2 miles depending on how fast I am walking. Every day is different and I would adapt according to how I felt. However, I made sure to always walk, even when I didn’t want to.

I also changed the way I ate.. I didn’t want to be on a diet, but I needed a little help with what to eat, so I found a site where I could do this. It wasn’t a place where they sold food, just a place where I could learn about the right foods and how and when to eat them.

First I got rid of anything easy to do. All those boxed meals like tuna helper and stuff. They are very high in salt. Think about it. Companies need to preserve them somehow and I think the way they do that is by adding a ton of salt. The salt was not only contributing to my high blood pressure, it was also preventing me from losing weight. Eliminate canned soup, too. After eating canned soup, people would ask me if I felt okay, but I never understand why. Yes now. They said I looked blushing; that my cheeks were red and my nose too. I think to this day it was all the salt in the soup.

I started buying fresh fruits and vegetables before shopping at the grocery store. I bought fresh fruits and vegetables. The stall is much cheaper than the grocery store and the produce tastes better. The stall I shop at packs small pots full of plums or tomatoes for a low price. Every week the items in the pots change, which helps me change the products I buy. I spend an average of $15 for a week or more. I can tell you with certainty that the same items I buy at the stand cost twice as much at the grocery store and are tasteless.

I cut out the white items to include bread and sugar. I buy brown rice pasta and spinach pasta now. If I eat bread, I try to only have one slice of bread and make my sandwich thicker in the middle. I buy multigrain breads. I gave up the sugar and used honey instead. I even cook with honey.

All these things I did are easy to do.

In 1 year I was completely off meds and lost 19 pounds. I still want to lose more weight, but I seem to have a really hard time doing it. I’ve been slacking off my treadmill workouts a bit and that might be why. Even when life gets hectic, I try to find time to work on myself and stay healthy.

I don’t want to be dependent on medication again. I recommend you get a blood pressure machine and monitor your pressure, check it several times a day at first and only once or twice a week after making sure your blood pressure stays below 120/80.

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