I'm a 32 y.o male, and up till about 1-1/2 years ago, I was eating all the foods that I loved, like fried chicken, hot pastrami dip, carnitas burritos, etc (you get the idea), whenever I felt like it. I hadn't been to the doctor for a while, so I thought it might be a good idea to get a check up. What a reality check. I was 190 lbs (5'9" tall) and my blood pressure was 190/115. My doctor said that I could have a stroke at any time! They put me on meds (Atenolol) and told me that I had to change the way that I ate, by reducing my sodium intake. They also said that I would probably be on medication for the rest of my life. The normal recommended daily intake of sodium is 2400 mg. I was told to keep mine between 500 to 1000 mg.
I had never thought about checking the sodium level in foods. I always thought that if you were trying to eat more healthily, you would watch the calories, fat & cholesterol. That's when I noticed that the sodium levels of so many prepared and prepackaged foods was so high. I used to eat out or pick up at least 10 times/week (a couple of those times were usually fast food for lunch). Unfortunately, almost all restaurant food is high in sodium. That's how you get the nice taste. Even most home cooked recipes use a lot of salt.
I started cooking a lot more at home, making my own low sodium versions of the foods that I liked. After 3 months, I got my blood pressure down to 160/90, and lost about 10 lbs. The only things that I changed in my diet were minimizing my sodium intake, and cooking with olive or grapeseed oil instead of other oils. After 9 months, my BP was down to 90/56 and total weight loss was about 20 lbs!
I'm now off the meds (after only being on them for less than a year - much shorter than "the rest of my life" like they had predicted), and maintaining my low sodium lifestyle. Of course I occasionally do eat regular restaurant food, but just try not to make it a frequent thing. My BP has gone up some, but is now maintaining a normal level, without medicinal assistance.
I'm starting this blog to raise awareness of the health hazards of consuming too much sodium, and to emphasize the potential benefits of living a low sodium lifestyle.
2 comments:
Hi! Thanks for the cheese and bacon ideas. My husband has high blood pressure, too, and the low sodium diet is a huge help.
Congratulations on keeping with your low sodium diet for over one year.
We always try to eat healthy, however finding good low sodium packaged food is difficult. Thanks for your ideas.
I also have a web site http://www.sodiumselections.com/news.htm
You might enjoy reading about some of the low sodium products that we like.
Keep up the good work!
Jan M
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