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Hi everyone - test message

Postby Mrsmillyme » Sat Oct 03, 2020 3:35 am

Hi Im new here. Just joined up today. :-)

My husband and I have been plant powered since January and loving every minute of it. I thought we were doing really well. I have high blood pressure and he has various health issues and we seemed to be thriving on veggies. Ive got a great veggie plot growing and we eat fresh every day. In fact we had stopped thinking about what we eat and were just getting on with it - you know?

But I went to the doctors yesterday for my smear test and the nurse took my bp and gave me a lecture. Long story short my bp was high - very high - and it knocked me back a bit. :eek:

I have lost about 10lb since January. it was a bit more than that but just recently I have put back about 3lb and I have noticed the bags coming back under my eyes and my belly is pooching again. :oops:

So here I am - desperate for answers and needing some support.

I am damned if I will be beaten by my blood pressure. Obviously I have managed to get off the beaten track somehow and now I need to work out exactly what I have done wrong and then stop doing it.

Help please
Mrsmillyme
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2020 3:13 am

Re: Hi everyone - test message

Postby VeggieSue » Sat Oct 03, 2020 4:41 am

Mrsmillyme wrote:Hi Im new here. Just joined up today. :-)


Welcome! You may want to copy this post into the Lounge forum. The Sandbox is where people practice how to post emojis, check their signature, see how a graphic looks, etc. In other words, very few people even look at what's posted over here.


I have high blood pressure

But I went to the doctors yesterday for my smear test and the nurse took my bp and gave me a lecture. Long story short my bp was high - very high - and it knocked me back a bit. :eek:


First off, is this high blood pressure normal for you, or was this a one-time reading under the worst of circumstances? Yes, I equate going for one of those exams a worse-case scenario for stress! Millions of other women do, for this and for many people when they visit any doctor. It's so common it has a name - White Coat Hypertension.

You already are doing the best thing - changed your diet. As a general health measure, Dr. McDougall recommends cooking with no salt and using no-salt added ingredients, like no-salt added tomatoes, or no-salt added canned beans, etc. The dietitian for the McDougall Program, Jeff Novick, says to use this guideline when shopping - the amount of sodium per serving on the label should be equal to or less than the amount of calories, so if your canned beans are 120 calories per serving, the sodium on the label should be 120 mg or less. Dr. McD is not no-salt - we're allowed to add a sprinkle of salt to our food at the table if it's needed. It'll take a few weeks for your tastebuds to get used to the change, but it'll be worth it. Just explore the world of spices and herbs, like Mrs. Dash (now known just as Dash) products, McCormick no-salt spice blends, Benson's Table Tasty, even the Kirkland Organic No-Salt Seasoning from Costco (Mary McDougall's favorite, and also sold at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Kirkland-Signatu ... B002W5SDEQ).

The next thing you should do is get yourself a blood pressure cuff and check your pressure at home. For a while, do it a few times a day just to see how your pressure runs under normal conditions. Keep a chart of this and bring it to your primary care doc next visit. Most important - learn how to use it correctly! This is something no doctor's office ever does! Sit quietly for about 10 minutes, feet on the floor, not right after eating or doing strenuous activities, like doing your exercise or rushing to a doctor's office, stripping of your clothes, and hopping up on a table anticipating what's going to happen in a few minutes down in your nether regions. Be calm and unrushed. Make sure the temperature in the room is comfortable, too. My own BP can jump 10 points if the room is below 74 degrees. My doc didn't believe it until he moved me from the cold room to one that was warmer because the AC was off in that one and it went from 160/90 to something like 110/66 in minutes. So you see, stress, even a mild one like room temp, came do more damage than a bag of potato chips!

So, just make those little tweaks and I'm sure you'll see your blood pressure readings come down to normal levels.

Now go explore this website. Visit the Lounge and other forum sections and the main site, too. Don't forget to hit the drop-down menus and find all the wonderful articles written by Dr. McDougall, the YouTube webinars he did over the years, all the recipes by Mary McDougall and others in the Recipes section in the drop-down menu under Education. Be sure to watch the 3 videos by Doctor John and his wife Mary McDougall in the Quick Start section - they give you all the info you need right there:
https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/prog ... ick-start/
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VeggieSue
 
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