Lose Weight or BP Meds?

tlspindor

Went to the Doc's this morning and of course my Blood Pressure is up for the 3 visit is a row. On the last visit he told me to exercise at least 30 min's a day for 4 days a week, Well I thought okay I can do that because I basically walk 30 min's weather permitting here at work. Plus I have been monitoring my BP for a few months now and it doesn't look that bad to me.

So today's visit he mentions about starting me on BP med's in order to keep it manageable. Of course I blurted out NO!! So he said okay, continue to exercise, watch what you eat, and lose some weight. He said I want to see you in 3 months and to bring my BP Log with me.

Now I am more determined to lose this weight and hopefully it will lower my BP again. Why do I say again, well when I first started NM I found out that my BP was high and through my diet and exercise it went down. Now I'm starting over again and I have been doing much more exercising and trying to remember all that I learned at NM about balance. I am having trouble with eating all my calories but I will strive to do my best just so I don't have to go on BP Med's.

mygnsac

I know you can do it Tammy! You have always been one of my inspirations!!

arobed53

Doing more exercise does mean more to eat. I know you can do it. And if need encouragement, just come here. Marcie, your picture reminded of that song - These boots are made for walking and that's just what I'll do. One of these days, these boots are gonna walk all over you. You'll show that doctor what you can do, Tammy. Go go go.

tlspindor

Thanks for the encouragement ladies. I am going to give it my best shot.

Your right Debora more exercise = more calories to eat, but I'm having trouble eating them all and without all my nutritional facts in front of me to tell me if I'm in balance it is hard to figure out what I'm lacking.

I still miss NM.

mygnsac

Tammy, if MFP isnt working for you, my Dad is loving MyNetDiary. Has the extended nutrients (he says even more than NM had) and is super fast in pulling up your foods. He pays $60 a year for the full site. May be something for you to check out.

arobed53

Tammy, my assumption would be you eat pretty healthy most of the time. So maybe the idea for now is to concentrate more on the calories. So come up with a high calorie food you can eat - ice cream, peanut butter, trail mix (my end of the day choice to finish up calories if I have any left).

Marcie, there are days I'm tempted to look at another site for logging and come here for the social. But they I just say I'll watch the calories more than the other things. People talk about how they weigh everything (which I pretty much do) but then when I go to log foods, there's no way to enter that food by weight. It's nice just to have just one place to go to.

tlspindor

Thanks for the ideals ladies.

Marcie, I can't afford to pay that much, heck I can't even afford to pay anything. That was just one of things that I like about NM. It was free and had so very much to offer.

Your right Debora, a few more higher calorie food might be just what I need.

You all are awesome, and because of all my NM Family peeps is what keeps me here other than yes it is a free site.

I'll just continue on here, until Lynn and Susan get their project up and running.

mygnsac

My Dad was hesitate to to pay anything for a logging site, but figured he could afford $6 a month. Not for me either.

tlspindor

Hi, Ladies, update, I had to go back and give some more blood. My red blood count was up slightly high, so he wanted to take another draw last Tuesday. The Dr's office called me today and my level was back down to normal.

It's amazing with drinking more water will accomplish. But the Nurse did say that he would be taking another blood draw on my next visit, he wants to monitor it.

I have drop a couple of pounds since I started taking Magnesium to help with my BP. I have done some research and found several things will help with my BP over time. So I'm still working hard at exercising and taking the vitamins plus eating more beets. I never knew that beets were good for the Heart/BP, I like beets

isyvanek

Tammy, you'd be amazed at what is good for BP. Watermelon is really good for BP. Any food high in potassium is good. A naturopath told my hubby to drink a 5 oz low sodium V-8 daily. Taking hawthorn is good for BP as is calcium and magnesium (which you've already added). Also a good omega 3 such as fish oil is good. Keep us posted on how it goes for you.

tlspindor

Mini Update - Since my last entry, I've eaten my beets and even blended raw beets in a morning smoothie, along with taking my Magnesium/Potassium and even started with Hawthorn Berries, Kril Oil (Omega 3) along with a 20 to 30 minute Cardio exercise. I have been monitoring my BP and it has come down and some days it looks so normal. I have logged it so on my next visit to the doc's, I will show this to him and hopefully it's down enough that he will be pleased.

Thanks Isyvanek, I'll have to get some watermelon to add to my morning smoothie. I'm not big on V-8 juice.

I have dropped another pound so now I'm down to 138 from 142, slow and steady will win the race.

arobed53

That's fantastic news. You have done a great job with the BP and the weight. Proud of you.

sannferris

Hi Tammy, I missed this post earlier, but am so pleased to read your updates. I encourage you to keep up what you're doing and control your BP with the diet and exercise, because once you're on meds, it's difficult to get the doctor to let you get off of them.
My BP was up when I was going through the diagnosis phase of my illness. The stress of being sick and not knowing what's wrong is what I think drove my pressure up. But, now that it's been normal for months, I want to get off the Rx but the doctor says it's the medication that's keeping it normal. I wish I knew for sure and could fight him on this, but I need to trust his judgment.

I'm glad that you're hanging around here and posting when you can, it's nice to see as many familiar faces as possible.

isyvanek

Excellent job Tammy! Thanks for the update. You should be very proud! You are doing all the right things. Keep up the great work and please keep us posted!

isyvanek

Tammy, I forgot to mention - don't throw away the beet greens. They are also wonderful! I put them in my green shake or sauté them with swiss chard or kale. Delicious and nutritious! Nothing gets wasted when you buy beets. I do this with turnip greens also.

tlspindor

Hi Sheryl, good to see you.

Isyvanek, I have to throw out the beet greens, they are so very wilted when I get the beets from WalMart, but I will keep that in mind when I see some nice fresh ones. I got to get back to work see you all later.

arobed53

Would canned beets work as good as fresh?

tlspindor

Store bought or home canned? I'm not sure, I would read the label on the store bought beets just to make sure that there isn't any extra preservatives.

As far as putting canned beets in a smoothie well, I just don't know if you would get the same benefits as you do from fresh. Mainly because some of the nutrients have been cooked out.

I always bought beets from the store in the past just to eat with dinner, but now that I know fresh is so much more tastier it will be hard to go back expect in a pinch.

I'm thinking about trying to grow some beets in my garden and then canning them. But what I remember from years ago helping my sister canning beets, is the mess it makes and it took all day. That can be a show stopper for me.

arobed53

I don't do smoothies so that wouldn't be a factor. The few times I've had fresh beets, it always seems I have a mess. Maybe I need to try them again. Something in a can is just quick.

mygnsac

Love the raw beets and beet tops in a smoothie! They add such a nice, earthy flavor. Now I want some beets!! I love the canned beets too (not the pickled variety). The pickled beets are good, but they can be high in added sugar and sodium if that's an issue. I Iike to toss raw beets with a little coconut oil and OJ and roast them. So yummy. I've read that canned beets maintain about the same nutritional value as fresh beets.

arobed53

I've never tried roasting beets. Sounds good. I got a good batch of asparagus tonight. One friend brought what she picked today and I took what was left. It will be some yummy eating.

tlspindor

Marcie, that's some good info about canned beets, I wasn't sure about the nutritional value. You mention roasting beets you must give details on how you do that - please!!!!!

Debora, fresh asparagus is yummy. I have a patch of asparagus but they never come up at the same time, all I get is 1 or 2 at a time, and then when I do see that there are more ready it's way too late, they are too tall and getting ready to fern out. Which is okay as long as they seed which will just bring more asparagus over time.

Time to go for my lunchtime walk, I'm late going. See you all later.

mygnsac

Here you go...

Citrus Coconut Roasted Beets

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees F with the rack in the middle.

• 1 bunch of Beets, cleaned, peeled and chopped into quarters
• 1 tablespoon fresh Orange Juice
• 1 tablespoon melted Unrefined Coconut Oil
• a pinch of fine Sea Salt
• Orange Zest

Toss beets with oil, orange juice and sea salt. Arrange in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet sheet or casserole dish. Roast 20 minutes and flip beets over so they roast evenly. Roast an additional 20-25 minutes until beets are tender. Garnish with some orange zest before serving.

Optional: Add a splash of nutty oil (Walnut, Hazelnut, Pistachio or more Coconut Oil) to finish.

Tip: Roast a few bunches of beets at a time. They last a while in the fridge. Add enough oil and orange juice so they are glistening.

tlspindor

Awesome, thanks I've got it saved and will give it a try the next time the hubby is out of town. He doesn't like Beets.

isyvanek

I like to roast several root vegetables together such as beets, carrots, turnips, parsnips, etc. I cut them up, toss them in a bag with some herbs and olive oil then put them on a pan and roast until tender probably approx. 45 minutes. Very tasty and as Marcie said they last in the fridge for a while.

arobed53

I didn't roast veggies much this year. Seems like we always eat them all that meal - so good. Tammy, if you only have one or two at a time, they are great straight out of the garden too. We used to have a huge asparagus and it died off - not sure why. We all miss it but too lazy to start a new one. But I got to have a nice big serving today. We killed off the rhubarb too but it was by the propane tank and we think there was a small leak.

arobed53

Whew, I was going to buy fresh beets today but stopped when I saw they were $1.99 for one beet. Too bad I don't garden anymore.

isyvanek

Wow, that's really expensive Debora! I usually pay $.99 to $1.99 for a bunch of beets (3). Or $.99 per lb for loose beets without the greens.

arobed53

That's much more reasonable. I'll check them off and on in hopes I can find them for less sometime.

tlspindor

Debora, Wow!! that is high dollar for just one beet. As isy (isyvanek) said I get mine for around .99 cents to 1.69 for a bunch of beets (3). This last time I bought some they were supper small for 1.69 so I bought 2 bunches but the greens were great so I got an extra bonus for my salad plus I'm putting a little bit in my smoothie.

I made salad's last week and put a small amount of the beet green in my hubby's salad and he didn't even know the difference.

Something else I'm doing is making my own Kefir Milk and adding that in my smoothie. I now have about 7 different ingredients that goes in my smoothie, but mostly I use 5 when I'm in a hurry.

isyvanek

I love when the beet greens are nice enough to put in salads, smoothies and sautés! So yummy!