The Kidney Chronicles

Share your daily McDougall menus and/or keep a journal describing your personal progress.

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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Fri Mar 26, 2021 3:23 am

This morning's blood pressure readings were:

120 over 78
120 over 77
112 over 79

Yesterday I ate quinoa with collard greens, no salt added diced tomatoes, Mrs. Dash spice blend, ground flax seed and nutritional yeast with water for breakfast. I ate quinoa with red beans for lunch and brown rice for dinner.

I skipped my walk-jog yesterday. I hope to get back into it today.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Principality » Fri Mar 26, 2021 2:12 pm

Spiral wrote:This morning's blood pressure readings were:

120 over 77
107 over 74
107 over 75

Yesterday I did my walk-jog workout, which lasted 1:03:35 and covered 4.57 miles while burning, according to my Garmin Forerunner 235 watch, 434 calories.

Yesterday I ate leftover quinoa (instead of oats), collard greens, ground flax seed, no salt added diced tomatoes, nutritional yeast, Mrs. Dash Original spice blend and water for breakfast. I had red beans and quinoa for lunch and for dinner. Also I had a bag of frozen brocolli, cauliflower and carrots for dinner along with a very large salad.

Great day.

I just got my own blood pressure machine. Seeing your numbers always makes me curious about mine. Now the 3 times you do it, is that just to rule out a faulty reading?
Starting weight : 240lbs, current 235.9 change -4.1
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Sat Mar 27, 2021 4:29 am

This morning's blood pressure readings were:

112 over 76
108 over 70
113 over 72

Yesterday I ate split pea soup for breakfast. For lunch I used my restaurant grade potato shredder to shred some potatoes and made french fries with my air fryer. I used about 6 potatoes. My wife and I enjoyed them. I made a large salad also. For dinner I had corn and rice and more split pea soup.

I did my jog-walk which lasted 1 hour, covered 4.25 miles, at a 14:08 pace. It consisted of 4 iterations of 0.75 miles jogging and 0.25 miles walking.

Great day.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Sun Mar 28, 2021 5:38 am

This morning's blood pressure readings were:

110 over 78
115 over 78
116 over 80

I watched a YouTube video of Chef AJ making Mushroom chili in her Instant Pot. I made Mushroom Chili in my Instant Pot but I added some vegetable broth and some water. So, it came out less like a chili or more like a soup. But it is delicious. Next time I won't add so much water/broth. I guess I am paranoid that if I don't add lots of water to my Instant Pot the bottom of the pot will get burned.

I also cooked up some brown rice and quinoa pasta that I purchased from Trader Joe's and made some marinara sauce. It was delicious too.

I did my walk-jog workout. This time I did 4 iterations of 0.8 mile jogging and 0.2 mile walking. My over all time in the workout was 1:05:58, distance was 4.71 miles, average pace was 14:00 minutes per mile. My Garmin Forerunner 235 GPS watch says I burned 444 calories.

It was a nice day outside. Is Spring already here?
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Mon Mar 29, 2021 3:28 am

Blood pressure readings this morning were:

122 over 76
119 over 77
109 over 75

I skipped my walk jog workout yesterday because it was so windy. I'll try to get a workout in today.

I made some potato and lentil soup in my Instant Pot, which I have not tasted yet. But I did make some brown rice and quinoa pasta to eat with my marinara sauce. It was delicious.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Ejeff » Mon Mar 29, 2021 8:26 am

Spiral, thanks for mentioning the mushroom Chili. After reading your post I decided to make it also. There seem to be a couple versions, I made the one with cumin, oregano and chipotle for the spices. It sure is delicious, I had it over brown rice.

Erin
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Tue Mar 30, 2021 3:35 am

Ejeff wrote:Spiral, thanks for mentioning the mushroom Chili. After reading your post I decided to make it also. There seem to be a couple versions, I made the one with cumin, oregano and chipotle for the spices. It sure is delicious, I had it over brown rice.

Erin

Eric,

I want to make it again and have it turn out like chili instead of a watery soup. I added water and broth and that was a mistake. But next time it will be chili. :)
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Tue Mar 30, 2021 3:39 am

This morning's blood pressure readings were:

113 over 76
123 over 77
109 over 74

I did my walk-jog workout yesterday. I did 4 iterations of 0.8 mile jog and 0.2 mile walk. But I accidentally jogged the first 0.2 walk. So, my workout lasted 58:40 minutes at a 13:55 minute per mile pace covering 4.22 miles.

I ate lentil-potato soup yesterday over . . . potatoes!
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Wed Mar 31, 2021 4:20 am

This morning's blood pressure readings were:

121 over 75
113 over 74
116 over 72

Yesterday I did my walk-jog workout. I did 4 iterations of 0.85 mile jogging and 0.15 mile walking. The entire workout covered 4.63 miles in 1:04:05 for an average pace of 13:50, burning 453 calories, according to my Garmin Forerunner 235 watch.

For breakfast I had oats with collard greens and no salt added diced tomatoes with ground flaxseed and nutritional yeast and Mrs Dash original blend spice. I had a Subway veggie delight without cheese on 9 grain wheat bread for lunch and lentil-potato soup for dinner.

Also, in the morning my wife and I were interviewed by our hospital so that we could describe what being a living kidney donor was like. The story should be printed soon, though I don't know how many people read the hospital newspaper.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby BmoreChris » Thu Apr 01, 2021 12:59 pm

when do you generally take your blood pressure readings each day? is it after your workout in the morning or first thing before you get going?

i've had previous doctors instruct me to do it before i can even get out of the bed, well after a workout session to give my body enough time to rest, etc.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:30 pm

BmoreChris wrote:when do you generally take your blood pressure readings each day? is it after your workout in the morning or first thing before you get going?

i've had previous doctors instruct me to do it before i can even get out of the bed, well after a workout session to give my body enough time to rest, etc.

Hi,

I take my blood pressure readings almost first thing each morning. Almost first thing because the first thing I have to do is feed the cats and make sure they don't bother me while I am taking my blood pressure or else my blood pressure will be high. :D

If I need to use the restroom, I use the restroom before I take my blood pressure. But I do not eat breakfast or exercise before I take my blood pressure. I realize that because I am getting these blood pressure readings almost first thing each morning, they are likely lower than they would be if I took them in the evening.

Do you check your blood pressure regularly? I have never done this until I was told I needed to take medication for blood pressure based on a few bad blood pressure readings taken at the doctor's office over a year or so. So, I have been using these at home readings to persuade my physicians that I do not need to take these medications. So far, so good.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby BmoreChris » Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:52 pm

Hey, I have a fur baby of my own that makes me take him out immediately when waking up lol. I had a former family doctor tell me to take mine closer to the afternoon cause it could be really high when we wake up in the morning. But another dr also told me it's best to take it first thing in the morning (like you're doing) before eating or drinking anything.

I started checking mine at home at the suggestion of my old family dr. I had an odd chest pain one day and wanted to check it out at the dr. That's when I found out my pressure was high. They prescribed meds and told me to check it daily. I eventually lost a 100 lbs of weight, cleaned up my diet following starch solution and got my readings at home low enough to stop taking meds. I still check it twice a week and I'm trying to lower my salt intake to see if I can get my numbers more consistent. I also get a touch of white coat hypertension when it's taken in the office and my initial reading at home. I get anxious/nervous even at home taking it. :-)
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Fri Apr 02, 2021 5:25 am

I think I understand what you mean not only by the white-coat hypertension but also the at-home hypertension. One reason why I decided to take my blood pressure every morning and 3 times each morning is to try to take make blood pressure taking a routine thing so I wouldn't get nervous. Also, if I have a bad reading because I am nervous, that bad reading should be diluted by several other good ones. I don't know.

I do sort of wonder if by only taking my blood pressure in the morning I am biasing my readings, making my cardiovascular health appear better than it really is.

When I was in the process of trying to become a living kidney donor, they had me do a 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure test. This is where I have something strapped on me that takes my blood pressure every 20 minutes all day and while sleeping every 60 minutes. I passed that test. But that was before they removed my right kidney and gave it to my wife.

Anyhoo. It's a fascinating topic, really. I am really impressed by what you have accomplished. I think so many people in your situation would have just taken the meds and continued on their merry way. So, kudos to you.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Fri Apr 02, 2021 5:31 am

Yesterday morning my blood pressure readings were

114 over 70
114 over 77
116 over 77

This morning my readings were

115 over 79
115 over 75
118 over 82

I didn't do my walk-jog workout yesterday. But on Wednesday I did one and it lasted 1:01:51, 4.5 miles and burned 401 calories, according to my Garmin Forerunner 235 GPS watch.

I feel like I have been eating pretty good, but I need to eat more broccoli, cauliflower and carrots or other non-starchy vegetables or green leafy vegetables. I did make some air fried french fries yesterday. I like them. But I do wonder what the calorie density of those things are once some of the moisture is removed by the air fryer. So, I'll have to take it easy on those.

Looking forward to the weekend. April is here. Maybe the cold weather here in Indianapolis will be gone soon. We can hope.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Wed May 26, 2021 11:38 am

I had my 4 month follow up appointment with the surgeon who removed my kidney a few days ago. He indicated that everything looks good and that I would not have to see him anymore and I could see my primary care physician instead.

It's surreal to think that 4 months ago I donated a kidney to my wife. I feel the same. My wife just had shoulder surgery so for her it is out of the frying pan into the fire in a sense. But we look forward to when she has fully recovered and can go on a great vacation. Time to celebrate.
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