Lowering Your Blood Pressure

thomaslh83

I'm fairly new to this site, but I am very encouraged by the number of people on here who are looking at trying to develop a healthier lifestyle! With that being said, I'd like to share some useful info to those of you who struggle with blood pressure.

Most of my blood pressure problems stem from stress and being overweight, and I'm hoping to manage these areas through the help of MyFitnessPal and regular exercise. Hypertension is a silent killer in our country, and we should monitor our blood pressure periodically, especially if you have a history of heart disease in your family. Along with cardiovascular exercise, it's important to make sure you monitor your fat and sodium intake daily .

I've found a helpful website that gives more info on managing and controlling your blood pressure from the National Institute of Health:
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/hbp_low/hbp_low.pdf

I hope this is helpful info, and hope everyone has a great week! Here's to a healthy heart and lifestyle!

Thomas

ShellyMacchi

one thing i wish this site did was have 'sodium' as one of the default settings as so many folks never realize just how much they are ingesting from hidden sources.. and of course keeping your sodium usage low is critical for anyone with hypertension. (as well as simply for those not wanting to retain fluids)

i was thrilled though to find out i could customize my food diary listings to include a sodium tracker though.. wow.. what an eye opener!

dmmsquared

I have what my doctor calls prehypertension, but both my parents have high blood pressure, so I really need to watch. For quite a while I thought that just stopping putting salt on my food at the table was good enough... boy was I wrong! It wasn't until I joined MFP and started tracking my sodium intake in my diary that I realized just how much sodium I was actually consuming. Then I started really looking at labels and WOW!!! There's a ton of sodium in just about everything.

I have since been very diligent in lowering my sodium intake and making changes in my diet. My hubby and I went through our freezer and pantry and got rid of so much pre-packaged, processed, and canned foods that are very high in sodium. He's been a wonderful help with this, especially since he does not need to really watch his sodium. I've been altering my recipes to leave out as much sodium as I can, and you know what.... I really don't miss it. I'm actually starting to taste the food again... lol. And my hubby and 4-year-old son are also enjoying the meals.

It's been paying off... Not only have I been losing weight, but my blood pressure is down quite a bit as well.

I'm going to read that guide you shared and thank you.

Have a wonderful week!!!

rileysowner

Welcome. I am currently on a bunch of medications for hypertension. I have had then reduced and some eliminated since last January when I had a small stroke and very high blood pressure 220/180. I now maintain a blood pressure averaging about 114/74 which occasionally goes lower and seldom goes higher (woot, woot). I see my internist tomorrow and hopefully that will mean another reduction in meds. My goal is to get rid of all of them, but that will still take some time.

I agree that it would be good to have sodium as a default display on the food diary. I don't think most people realize how much sodium they consume. It would be good if the MFP default level for sodium was lower as well as 2500mg is more than the highest that is recommended currently. I set mine on 1800, but more often than not am several 100 below that.

thomaslh83

I'm very encouraged by the posts that everyone has shared. Thank you all for sharing and for your encouraging words. I'm currently dealing with prehypertension, but I hope to get to a point where I will not have to be dependent on my medicine. With my meds, I can keep my BP between 120/70 and 130/80. Without it, it can range anywhere from 140/90 to 150/100.

Thank you again to everyone who has shared and I hope that we can all hold each other accountable and build each other up. Please keep me in your prayers, and I will do the same for you all.