Never did talk with a nutritionist bc…life.
I’ve pretty much been following a low(er) sodium diet for 16 months. My blood pressure is tending to not be scary high. But it’s not so low that I can reduce my meds.
Hoping to exercise a lot more this year, given that I was dealing with a bad ankle all last year.
Do you just take one reading on your BP or will you take a few consecutively? I’ve had issues with this ever since i read originally diagnosed with HBP, i think the initial uncertainty causes it to spike to the point where it will drop 15+ points in a few minutes just by taking several readings. Same thing happens at the doctor as happens at home. I have gone from 165/110 to about 135/90 at the doctor in <10 minutes and have taken my home machine in at the same time to verify. At home after a few measurements it would usually get to something like 125/85… still a bit high but not quite requiring a med increase.
I honestly haven’t been taking it at home much. If I get a high reading they will sometimes retake it and it’s nearly always lower. But it’s not always super high the first time.
I’m not worried about it any more. 135/80 is much better than 140/90+.
It would be nice to get off some of these meds but it would require a level of focus on my food intake that I’m not sure I want to do.
I’ve found that taking a 2-3 mile walk each morning reduces some of those health numbers people worry about.
Yeah I’m trying to get my exercise up now that my ankle is healed. That should definitely help.
I’ve heard 4 wall sits (hold for 2 min, rest for 2 min, total of 4 times) is supposed to reduce systolic pressure about 10 points and diastolic pressure 5 points.
I’d rank that up there with “People are saying …” in terms of believability.
An exercise that involves exertion lowering your BP? Even if there were a drop post rest I’d have trouble imagining it has anything other than a temporary effect.
I’ll admit I didn’t read the actual study but it’s linked in the article. There’s a family history of hypertension so these articles catch my attention.
It strikes me as odd that sodium is a problem. Not saying it isn’t a problem for some, but salts have been part of our environment and diet for our entire evolutionary history. Our bodies have systems capable of processing and managing a very wide range of salt intake. Assaults of the modern world (food, environment, lighting, etc.) are taking a toll on us and damaging our capacity lead healthy lives.
Mrs. yoyo and I eat very little processed foods and seldom eat at restaurants. We use sea salt to season our food and supplement with a little potassium and magnesium.
The Dash diet, which limits sodium in part by limiting highly processed foods, has been widely proven to decrease blood pressure.
Sounds like you are already doing that.
Yeah, viewing the world through an ancestral lens helps us make healthier choices. What Would Caveman Yoyo Do?
Did they measure the effect on BP due to reduction of highly processed foods vs reduction in sodium intake? Not sure if it is possible but from listening to experts, it seems like reduction of highly processed foods has a more profound impact on BP than reducing sodium in take. In general, highly processed foods also contain a lot more sugar/sodium than less-processed foods so it may be a chicken or the egg kind of situation.
As yoyo pointed out, it seems like sodium is one of today’s prime targets for health/nutrition influencers to demonize. Sugar being another good example. Of course there are medical conditions where you SHOULD limit sodium, but our bodies absolutely need sodium to operate at an optimal level. Physically and mentally, you will perform at a much, much higher level if you are getting an adequate amount of sodium.
Pretty sure any diet that includes a lot of processed foods will greatly exceed the daily recommended amount of sodium, that sodium has long been proven to lead to hypertension, and that any diet that excludes processed foods will lower your blood pressure.
But refined sugar can also raise blood pressure, so processed food is going to be doubly bad for that. You really need to go out of your way to have a true low sodium diet. My dad really struggled when he was in the hospital for a heart issue and was tracking the sodium intake.
Buy fresh food, cook and eat at home/take to work. It may be challenging initially to reorganize your life to make this your routine, and people have competing priorities, but I believe doing so is worth the initial effort. I’ve lived this way for many years and it’s not out of my way at all.
Sure, I eat fast food occasionally, have a soda now and then, enjoy sweets and treats during the holidays, etc., but not part of my day to day diet.
This is the way.
Right…it takes a change in habits to get there, and actively avoiding many of the conveniences that exist in our every day diets. I do agree that this is worth the effort.
Cooking meals at home and avoiding junk processed foods probably gets you to around the proper salt intake. Where do bottled sauces, canned goods, or anything that is fresh but pre-prepared fit in to all of this? They are usually packed with sodium as well. One example I have from WFH during COVID is the world of salsa as I would regularly have a sandwich and side of chips and salsa for lunch. Salsa from the store is generally low calorie, but even the fresh variety you find the refrigerator is loaded with salt. A serving is something like 2 TBS of salsa and has 10% of your recommended sodium for the day…and if you enjoy salsa like I did, that was enough salsa for about 4-5 chips. I quickly switched to making my own using either fresh tomatoes in season or canned no-salt tomatoes otherwise.
It is all certainly doable, with a bit of a learning curve to understand just where all that hidden salt exists even when you are preparing meals at home.
The learning curve bit is probably the most important. Tracking what you eat can be helpful to identify nutrient info for different types of food.
Knowing what is adequate vs excessive is a bit tricky nowadays. A looooootttttt of misinformation out there with fitfluencers.
Right, but most bottled sauces and most canned goods shouldn’t be included in the “fresh food” category. Same for chips.
There’s all sorts of junk in US prepared foods.
What do you most commonly see, or the worst examples?
(thread drift alert)