Dear Rachel,
As mentioned or possibly not mentioned before for the past couple of years now I have been struggling with hypertension also known as high blood pressure. A year ago when I went to the doctor. She told me that if my blood pressure did not go down then I would have to be placed on medication for it.
This may not sound like a horribly dreadful thing to people, but I was twenty-five at the time, merely a quarter of a century old, and I was going to have to take a daily pill that wasn't birth control! Meaning with birth control I would be taking two pills a day? Old people take pills, I don't want too.
On July 2nd, I will return to the doctor for this year's physical. I have had my blood pressure taken since she told me I'd have to go on medication and it had gone down significantly, but it is still high. So this time I am hoping they will tell me I am fine. Here is my plan:
I will continue doing 30minute cardio workouts at least twice a week. Ideally, I would like this to be as many days as it was a few months ago, but my life is very busy right now, so I'm trying to be honest and realistic. However, I will TRY to go everyday either before or after work.
There is also certain foods that are supposed to lower your blood pressure and certain foods that will raise it. Until July 2nd, I plan to eat mostly the food that lower blood pressure everyday, avoiding the ones that higher it.
Foods that higher blood pressure are foods that are harder to digest and clog your arteries. These include red meat, cheese and thick-creamy-dairy such as ice cream or milk chocolate. Also no caffeine, it puts pressure too much pressure on the heart and speeds it up.
Food that lowers blood pressure that I want my diet to include:
1) Celery
2) Coldwater Fish- salmon, tuna, mackerel, cod, trout, halibut, herring and sardines
3) Broccoli
4) Dandelion (I don't know if this will actually happen, but it was on the list)
5) Whole Grain Oats (Oatmeal! Yum!)
6) Black Beans/ beans in general (making sure not to get canned beans overloaded with sodium)
7) Berries- Raspberries, Strawberries, Blueberries (Best part of diet!)
8) Low-fat dairy (Good thing, I already drink Skim milk!)
9) Spinach
10) Sunflower seeds
11) White baked Potato (watch any toppings)
12) Bananas (I like to eat! I like to eat! Apples and Bananas....)
13) Soybeans (Does soy milk count?)
14) One square of dark chocolate a day (REALLY!!? I have your permission to eat chocolate!)
15) Kiwis
16) Watermelon
17) Raisins
18) Water with Lemon
Let's see if I have the self-control to do this. I am not saying I am restricting my diet to these 18 food items and only these 18 food items, but I am planning meals around them. For example, for dinner I bought some frozen fish fillets to cook and broccoli...for lunch I am making a black bean roll-up...for breakfast oatmeal with skim-milk and fruit on top. Okay, okay...so all those food are on the list, but trust me it's hard not to stray just a little when offered other food and that's where I break the rules, but if my diet consists MOSTLY of this...I really hope the doctor will give me good news this time.
I will let you know either way....but please don't assume I was a failure or please let me know its ok if for some reason after a diet and exercise change I still don't pass the blood pressure test!
Biting my fingernails, (Hey wait! That's not on the list)
Angela
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