My plan is to drastically cut sodium and caffeine. I already eat about 3 bananas per day so I'm sure I'm getting enough potassium. I also stopped my birth control pills in case they are contributing to the high blood pressure. I going to give yoga a try to see if that helps me relax.

Hi Cheryl! increasing my potassium has made a huge impact on lowering my bp. I would suggest eating twice as much potassium as sodium. The actual numbers don't seem to matter as much as the ratio. And bananas are overrated... potatoes on the other hand.

Once you start the meds, the doctors won't let you off even if you bp goes down

At my last dr visit my bp was 118/77. The dr says in my follow up visit if the weight loss continues we can explore reducing some on the meds.

Good for you Greg...!

Well my story is kind of a mixed bag. I'm 6'2, and my highest weight was 354 lbs, and got down to 330 lbs before I started having heart palpitations at night that would wake me up out of sleep and cause my pulse to go up to 140. They thought it was an arrythmia. When they were taking my BP measurements at the cardiologists office, they were up to 166/119, or something ridiculous like that. I was eventually diagnosed with mild sleep apnea, and given a prescription for Bisoprolol. It also turns out I have a heart defect that contributes to the high blood pressure.

So I had enough by this point. I'm 27, and I have to take a BP medication and a CPAP machine. This is crazy. So I made a point to change my life. I started cooking more and going to the gym. Just getting off my butt and trying to be active. Well after 10 months, I'm proud to say I've lost 52 lbs. I feel a lot better than I used to, but not quite where I need to be though. I think the important thing is to change your habits to something sustainable for the long term

Hi all, thanks for sharing your personal hypertension histories, struggles, tips, etc. I am a 56 y.o. man presently living a mostly sedentary life. I am 5'10" and weighed in this morning at 208. Five years ago, I was pretty fit at around 170#, working out regularly and on an Isagenix maintenance regime. But then we had another kid and I blew off the exercise routine plus arthritis set in -- I am now contemplating double hip replacement, and even walking as an exercise is difficult. So I was not surprised to learn six months ago from my GP that my BP was too high and it has only risen since then. It has been higher since them but this morning the reading was 161/93.

i am *not* a pharma fan, so I want to try to bring it down through diet and natural methods and give them a chance before I consider going onto meds. I am open to ideas and want to learn from others' successes (and failures too). I am presently focusing on these things:
- reducing sodium intake to the 1500 level
- reducing caloric intake to the sub-1500 level
- consuming herbs and other natural supplements that are known to be helpful in the treatment of hypertension.

Today, I have re-started an Isagenix regime since it is consistent with these things and to track everything here on MFP. Please feel free to "friend" me.

Thanks,

Jim

Hello! My name is Tiffany and I actually joined this group more for my husband than myself. December 5th 2012 we had a scare, my husband's blood pressure was SCARY high; I thought he was just having a panic attack (which *I* get frequently) and had him lay down and relax. Come to find out it wasn't -just- the panic attack it was also his BP.

So long story short, my husband has high BP and is on pills for it, he also got tested for diabetes which results should come soon (highly likely he has it). I was hoping that this group would really help out with recipes and the like; it's really hard to find low sugar AND sodium.

On another note, he weighed in the high 300's at the time but has been consistantly working out and is currently around mid-high 300s.

Thanks Brian! We're working hard, I think it helps that I'm doing this with him. We've tried stuff like this before but we weren't on the same page so we ended up yo-yo-ing; but now we're both dead set on getting him healthy and it's just a bonus in health for me too.

Hi,

On Friday, I had a major headache and I self-checked my BP and it was 148/102. I started using myfitness pal back in September and I was not tracking my sodium intake just my calories. After joining this group, I've realized why my BP spiked. My sodium intake on average was 3000 per day. My mother currently suffers from High BP so this is in my family. I am 28, very active, I work out 6 days a week and I am currently 10lbs away from my healthy weight. I am happy I joined this group! I am a little more educated on how much sodium I should be eating and I am learning new recipes. I hope I can decrease my BP.. I really do not want to get on meds.

I pray everything goes well with my doctor’s appointment on Saturday!

Thanks... I am excited to be apart of a group.

I am learning more every day

Yeah subway is only the "healthy" option for people that are already healthy. My husband and I found that out after I entered it in on MFP. The salt is so high! And congrats on being off the pills.

I know how you feel Ariel!

I work full time during the day (with fairly frequent overtime), have class twice a week at night and work on homework or my art portfolio inbetween (not to mention trying to find time to spend with the hubby too!). So I definitely understand where you're coming from with time restraints and not having the time (or some days really just not wanting to) cook.

I find that eating fresh is not only the best way for the lowest sodium intake but also in feeling better all around. I feel like I have so much more energy when I make the meals I eat fresh, VS the pre-made ones at the school I work in. That being said, it's unfortunately not very 'convinient' to have a freshly made meal every day for every meal (hence why I sadly still eat the pre-made ones at lunch)...

I'm lucky enough to have Saturday's and Sunday's off (and so does the hubby), so we generally dedicate Sunday as a 'cooking day'. It's nice because it gives us both quality time together and goof around in the kitchen; make several meals throughout the week, and it forces me to take a real breather once a week. I don't know what your schedule looks like, but by doing this at least once a week (ideally twice would get you more meals and more variety of meals) you can stock up on freshly made meals and can freeze whatever you don't eat for another day. Plus! You can always do something different with the leftovers (which ultimately takes less time).

What it comes down to is how badly you want to make sure he's healthy. If you want to make sure he's healthy for a long time, you'll find the time somehow. But don't get me wrong, it's ok to have a quick meal once in awhile, just make sure it's less frequent than the healthy meals.

I hope this helps! This site and group (and google) have helped me out so much! I also suggest watching "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" It's very eye opening and when I know I need my calories but am not that hungry, I tend to make a 'mean green'

Hi all, thanks for sharing your personal hypertension histories, struggles, tips, etc. I am a 56 y.o. man presently living a mostly sedentary life. I am 5'10" and weighed in this morning at 208. Five years ago, I was pretty fit at around 170#, working out regularly and on an Isagenix maintenance regime. But then we had another kid and I blew off the exercise routine plus arthritis set in -- I am now contemplating double hip replacement, and even walking as an exercise is difficult. So I was not surprised to learn six months ago from my GP that my BP was too high and it has only risen since then. It has been higher since them but this morning the reading was 161/93.

i am *not* a pharma fan, so I want to try to bring it down through diet and natural methods and give them a chance before I consider going onto meds. I am open to ideas and want to learn from others' successes (and failures too). I am presently focusing on these things:
- reducing sodium intake to the 1500 level
- reducing caloric intake to the sub-1500 level
- consuming herbs and other natural supplements that are known to be helpful in the treatment of hypertension.

Today, I have re-started an Isagenix regime since it is consistent with these things and to track everything here on MFP. Please feel free to "friend" me.

Thanks,

Jim

Jim! You had a baby at 56! You go boy! Im glad you're back to fighting the good fight and let us know if we can help :-)

Hey, it's me again (I'm 57 now :-(). I completely forgot about this thread and my posting. Actually, I was reading the first part of it thinking "this guy's story is just like mine"! Anyway, here's an update...

Late June, I went Low Carb / High Fat (LCHF) and then, after reading Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint, I adjusted my regime in line with Paleo/Primal, which is actually a lot easier. There are a lot of reasons I went this way but it boils down to eating and living healthily the way our genes were programmed over the course of 100,000s of years. So now:
- no highly processed foods
- no wheat/gluten
- no grains of any kind, including corn, rice, oats, etc.
- no sugars
- no bad fats: canola, high omega-6 soy/veggie based, transfats, etc.
- grass fed meat and dairy
- mostly organic veggies, fruits, poultry, eggs (lots of eggs)
- wild caught fish, especially sardines, mackerel, salmon that are high in omega-3
- healthy fats (EVOO, coconut, butter, ghee, lard)
- targeting 55g carbs, 90g protein and 95g fat /day during weight loss period

For this month I am doing the "Whole30" and have dropped all booze, dark chocolate and dairy and am experiencing:
- weight loss
- deeper sleep
- high energy level
- amazing [apparent] drop in inflammation (arthritic)

Ecka723, How are you doing now?

Hi Everyone

So I'm kind of embarrassed to tell my story, because I basically only have myself to blame.

I am 29 years old, obese and on very strong bp meds. BP is a big problem in my family, so I actually now better.

I got the shock of my life when, two weeks ago my bp shot up to 189/110-ish and didn't want to come down. Doc wanted to admit me right away but I basically begged my way into more meds. I promised her to immediately change my habits as I am an admitted salt addict and couch potato.

I am sticking to my promise as I have since then cut out all extra salt, sugar, fat, carbs etc. I VERY CLOSELY research every.single.item I buy or put in my mouth. The first week was hard. Very hard. But I must admit the prospect of imminent stroke or heart attack pulled me through and I've now settled into our new routine. My husband and I have also taken up light walking in the afternoons. BP has finally equalled out to 115/80-ish, but there's NO WAY I'm going back to my old habits. I have been threatening to lose the tons of weight I put on since getting married and now that I've lost the first 3kg, I'm really motivated. I can actually see my toes again!!

Good for you and great inspiration for the rest of us
I'm hoping that together (all in this group) we can motivate, encourage, and support one another to do what we all know we need to do.