pure_insanity Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 ok, i went to the doc for a check up yesterday and he says ive got elevated blood pressure. not technically high blood pressure but its up a bit. he says i may need to take some blood pressure meds at a low dose for a while and alter my lifestyle a little. mostly in the way of what all i eat and get more exercise. so ive been scouring around the internet to find some ingredients in food, more particularly sodium("salt"), since the doc says ive been eating wayyyyy too much sodium and he thinks that is the largest part of the problem. however i cant find anything really worth much to tell me which foods have how much sodium and other basic stuff. anyone know of a good site that list out the items in certain foods and how much of this or that they contain ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanta Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 well - you can usually see on the side of the box of their nutrition value as for high blood pressure - eat garlic every once in awhile, it naturally lowers the blood pressure. Basically, avoid fast food now, any processed type of food, and try to avoid adding salt to your food as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kougar Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 well - you can usually see on the side of the box of their nutrition value as for high blood pressure - eat garlic every once in awhile, it naturally lowers the blood pressure. Basically, avoid fast food now, any processed type of food, and try to avoid adding salt to your food as well. What he said^ Almost anything you go buy in this country that somebody else makes for you has TONS of sodium in it. Most forms of fast food and stuff made at alot of sit-down restaurants are loaded with sodium. Good news is that all food "sellers" have to list their nutritional facts somewhere. The internet has TONS of this information and you can do a ton of research before buying. But, like Fanta said, just stay away from preprocessed foods and you've won half the battle. Some sites:http://www.nutritiondata.com/http://www.calorieking.com/foodshttp://fitday.com/ - this is great for tracking your daily intake of everything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanta Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 Also keep in mind though, most fast food restaurants now have a healthy menu to offer. For example - chickfila - we love the chicken sandwhiches, only instead of the standard fried one, opt to go for the grilled chicken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 read every package, every time. You'll see the patterns real quickly. When I was in my mid 20's I traveled a great deal for work and ate a lot of fast food. I BP was about 150/75. My dad died of a heart attack when I was 19, so I take this stuff seriously. When i was 26, I cut my salt intake a great deal, and also cut caffeine in half (from 3-4 cups of coffee equilivalant, to ~2). My BP went down to 115-125/65 in ~4 months. I made absolutely no other changes. Things to watch for: anything that comes out of a can or boxanything that comes from a fast food resturantmost things in a propper resturantThinks with hidden salt, like Cheese and sauces/condiments Do the obvious, quit adding salt to anything. You'll miss it for a few weeks, but after a few months, you won't miss it much, if at all. I still eat about 100% of my salt RDV, but I am always aware of what I'm at on my intake. One day at 300-400% RDV is fine, but be sure to average it out. caffeine has the most direct effect on my BP, watch that too, most don't realize how much they take in. a 24 oz of caffinated soda is like a cup of coffee. I can elevate my BP 20 points in just a few days of caffeine abuse. Get your cholesteral checked too, they go hand in hand. My dad died at 47, but his problems started at 30. It takes time to kill you, but it will get you if you ignore it. My cholesteral is only 102/65 (167 total), so I'll probalby never have a problem with that, but I still watch it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pure_insanity Posted December 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 What he said^ Almost anything you go buy in this country that somebody else makes for you has TONS of sodium in it. Most forms of fast food and stuff made at alot of sit-down restaurants are loaded with sodium. Good news is that all food "sellers" have to list their nutritional facts somewhere. The internet has TONS of this information and you can do a ton of research before buying. But, like Fanta said, just stay away from preprocessed foods and you've won half the battle. Some sites:http://www.nutritiondata.com/http://www.calorieking.com/foodshttp://fitday.com/ - this is great for tracking your daily intake of everything great info there kougar. thanks alot, that was just what i was looking for. holy geez its kinda scary when you look at how much sodium is in alot of the things i eat pretty regularly. im sure on a daily basis i may have been 2-3 times what your supposed to have. and ive been eating the same for years. hard to think i havent fell over dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanta Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 caffeine has the most direct effect on my BP, watch that too, most don't realize how much they take in. a 24 oz of caffinated soda is like a cup of coffee. I can elevate my BP 20 points in just a few days of caffeine abuse. Grant drinks Monster energy drinks more than he does water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Posted December 9, 2009 Report Share Posted December 9, 2009 Grant drinks Monster energy drinks more than he does water. He coudl probalby keep eating all the salt and junk food if he dropped all that caffeine. I refuse to give mine up entirely, but I do limit my intake. I found there is an added benifit of a much stronger responce to it when it's consumed in moderation. It's like most drugs, you get desensitized very quickly when abused. Good news is, caffeine is regarded as the shortest withdrawl drug of all addictive drugs, typical withdralws are only 1 week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanta Posted December 9, 2009 Report Share Posted December 9, 2009 He coudl probalby keep eating all the salt and junk food if he dropped all that caffeine. I refuse to give mine up entirely, but I do limit my intake. I found there is an added benifit of a much stronger responce to it when it's consumed in moderation. It's like most drugs, you get desensitized very quickly when abused. Good news is, caffeine is regarded as the shortest withdrawl drug of all addictive drugs, typical withdralws are only 1 week. Yeah, I ween myself every few months. Once I was up to almost 8 sodas a day. I'm talking 18-20oz bottles. Then went cold turkey. That was painful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pure_insanity Posted December 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2009 Grant drinks Monster energy drinks more than he does water. nope, i used to, ive actually been laid off them for about 5-6 mos. which is ironic because while i was drinking them pretty heavy, my blood pressure was fine. i was doing two of the big cans of monster every day for a while. now that ive quit them, my blood pressure wants to get out of whack. ive actually reduced coke's down to like one or 2 a week and no energy drinks in several mos. been drinking almost entirely water. im guessing it all has to do with the sodium intake. now that i start to count it up, i was wayyy over limit on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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