High Blood Pressure

[Evol]

I've actually been working on my diet over the last month. Ive gone from to 245 to 229 by cutting out the sodas, fried foods & adding more fiber to my diet. I love fruits and vegetables so that wont be no biggie. But what type of fish would be best and is grilled chicken ok as well?

Oh man, grilled chicken, indeed, you can eat the hell out of that , all you want. Any poultry that doesn't have skin attached or that is fried is good for you, no matter the cause of your bp.

Lean beef and fish every now and then are fine too, if your doctor says you can have it.

I ate chicken and turkey only, veggies too of course, no fried anything for the first couple of years, then slowly re-introduced lean meat back into my diet, it's nice to have a steak or burger every now and then, makes it a nice treat

[xxxcreaturexxx]

Thanks for the additional suggestions Evol. Luckily they did run alot of labwork at both hospitals and they both found the results to be normal. The EKG also showed no acute abnormalities.

[Evol]

Awesome!

[gotwtt]

eat less sugar less salt and. eat more fruit and veg .and do more cardio exercise too.
for a good all round workout buy a rowing machine they pretty much do everything
legs arms stomach chest

[xxxcreaturexxx]

Cool idea on the rowing machine. I was actually thinking about swimming since my daughter always wants to go to the pool.

[gotwtt]

Cool idea on the rowing machine. I was actually thinking about swimming since my daughter always wants to go to the pool.

cool go for it. but don't over exercise tho that does more harm than good.
take it slow at first and up your work rate a little every week on

[Emthrax]

But what type of fish would be best and is grilled chicken ok as well?

grilled chicken... yes. do you mean outdoor grill? sure! just watch the sauces/marinades if you use them.
stay away from anything loaded with sodium/salt and butter (fats).

a light stir-fry in olive oil with garlic and veggies and chicken - now there ya go.
as for fish - salmon.

go wander over to your bookstore and look at the cookbooks specifically targeted towards heart health. there are loads of them and you'll find lots of goodies.

[Emthrax]

Cool idea on the rowing machine. I was actually thinking about swimming since my daughter always wants to go to the pool.

swimming - great! especially wonderful because you can spend time with your daughter. good times, good memories!

also - walking. just plain walking, but at a good pace for you. you can do a google about walking for your heart health and get lots of info on that.
my grandmother is a heart patient and she has maintained her amazing health just with daily walking. but definitely double check your exercise plans with a doctor if you can. do pick up a blood pressure monitor at the drug store (if you haven't already) and keep a log so you can see how you're doing. ask the pharmacist if you have any questions about bp monitors.

as gotwtt said - don't over-exert yourself. listen to your body, and don't forget to stretch gently (warm-up and warm-down). and stay hydrated too. even while swimming.

[Emthrax]

While people mean well, and not to be an ass here, but speaking from my experience ... for some people exercise and diet are simply not enough. Some of us have actual medical conditions that have to be treated.

you're not being an ass at all, Evol!
you're totally right. exercise and diet can help, but if you have a heart condition then you most definitely need to be treated. it's wise to find out what the cause is.
excellent advice, man.

[Jayster]

grilled chicken... yes. do you mean outdoor grill? sure! just watch the sauces/marinades if you use them.
stay away from anything loaded with sodium/salt and butter (fats).

a light stir-fry in olive oil with garlic and veggies and chicken - now there ya go.
as for fish - salmon.


Yumm - Hey Emthrax whens dinner ?????

[Emthrax]

oh i LOVE to cook, Jay. and i'm a damn good cook too.
JCFers are welcome anytime. yum!

[lerxstcat]

I second the idea that you take meds until you can control the bp by other means. sure meds do have side effects, but I can tell you from experience that STROKES have side effects too, like paralysis on one side. I'm lucky, I only lost about 30% of my left-hand dexterity. Could be a lot worse, though it does suck anyway.

Don't be a hero, take the meds AND work towards diet and exercise control.

[Jayster]

Copy that ,

Of course if your situation needs to have meds , then take them (religously ).What I think the rest of us are trying to say is , today it seems like doctors just want to give meds (maybe they think were to lazy to make changes , or maybe thier training is so anti holistic ??)

But many problems can be treated with a little research and hard work , as for excercise I have a gazzelle and weight bench (I'm a fan of light strength training as well as cardio )

Evol - you don't sound anyway but concerned , it seems your situation is definitly more progressed then borderline high blood pressure (sorry to hear that )

last thought - don't expect overnight changes \ the lifestyle choices you've made took time to get to this point - meaning it might take a little time to realize full benefits of making changes -- good luck sir

[ken]

After another trip to the hospital I found out I am borderline High Blood Pressure. Any of you guys got any tips for me. I would really appreciate it.

I'm in a similar situation to you with borderline high blood pressure. In my case it is basically due to lack of fittness. I wasn't overweight and was exercising, but not pushing hard enough. By running (rather than jogging) a minimum of half an hour every other day, it dropped to normal within the normal range (less than 120 over 80) couple of months. Hopefully you'll get yours to drop just as quickly.

I bought a blood pressure monitor to keep an eye on it myself. They're only 50-100 bucks. If you do buy one, make sure it measures on your upper-arm, has been scientifically tested and is approved by a society, like the British Hyper-Tension Society http://www.bhsoc.org/blood_pressure_list.stm. The wrist-based ones are all inaccurate. Many of the upper-arm ones also check for cardiac arrhythmia.

[xxxcreaturexxx]

Awesome advice everyone. I definitely need to check out some cookbooks & am going to buy a BP cuff in a few