So as some people may know (or will now) I have high blood pressure. No need to go into the stats on how this affects black people because the reality is HPB is a problem for many people. What’s crazy is how much I never realized how serious this disease is. Maybe I should’ve paid attention when I spent some time temping in an emergency room and noticed how every individual who came into the hospital who had a heart attack or stroke under 40, DIED! Recently, I have maintained a blood pressure of 145-160 over 85-100. Yeah, I know, HORRIBLE. I could feel the effects by waking up with headaches, my heart racing and a general fatigue.
Now I realize that I’m getting older, but I am by no means old. So I had to do start doing something. Well, I’ve read all the documentation my doctor told me and started going to the gym regularly. Hit the doc’s again, no change in the blood pressure. He made me realize that the biggest part of blood pressure is diet. Uggghhhh!!! I knew that would be the hardest part for me, but I had to buckle down. So, I tried Atkins. Works like a charm. Blood pressure dropped 12 points across the board. Problem tho….ATKINS IS DAMN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO FOLLOW IF YOU LIKE ENJOYING GOOD FOOD!!! Sorry Atkins fans. I can admit that it’s an effective diet, but its just not reasonable for people that enjoy pasta, rice and potatoes (which makes up damn near EVERYBODY!) While cooking at home and preparing my meals ahead of time might help, I just don’t have the time….who does. So I looked up those healthy eating sections in the supermarket. What I noticed is that while many of these dishes are low-calorie and low-fat, they are not necessarily HEART HEALTHY. Why? Because they are ridiculously HIGH in sodium which is a major contributor to high blood pressure. Well, I guess I need to go back to preparing my own food then. I think that’s the way to go. Next time, I’ll hit yall off with a dinner recipe or two. And oh yeah, check out this video on ways to lower your blood pressure. You’d be surprised how many different factors can improve your heart health outside of just losing weight.
GM
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