XP-modified bed rest and no sodium

NicoleN82 · August 2012

Hi ladies! Had my appointment yesterday....baby sounds great, bu my blood pressure is high. Doctor has put me on modified bed rest and no sodium for a week, and if it has not lowered by next Friday, I will be pulled off work and put on full bed rest...ugh.

Since I would prefer that not to happen, has anyone else struggled with their bp? Any no sodium meal ideas?

Tanks!

theimpossibleastronaut · August 2012

I haven't dealt with this, but I wanted to wish you luck! I hope your BP goes down.

Treschic81 · August 2012

Make sure you're eating a lot of protein. I had preeclampsia with my 1st and was told by a midwife after the fact that there is a direct link to protein and blood pressure. She told me pregant women should eat 75 mg of lean protein daily to keep blood pressure down. Hope you can get it down!

nk1220 · August 2012

Treschic81:
Make sure you're eating a lot of protein. I had preeclampsia with my 1st and was told by a midwife after the fact that there is a direct link to protein and blood pressure. She told me pregant women should eat 75 mg of lean protein daily to keep blood pressure down. Hope you can get it down!

Wrong information. Blood pressure is controlled by the amount of sodium in your diet. Watch your labels. Anything in a can, or instant will be LOADED with sodium. Even the "low sodium" brands or options are not low enough. Try to eat under 2000 mg of sodium a day. It's a healthy thing for anyone. Cook with spices instead of pre packaged seasonings like McCormick brand in the packets. Also, don't add salt to anything. Cook at home instead of going out. We eat under 1500 mg of sodium a day--it can be done and we do it.

We use fresh garlic and anything Mrs. Dash's for seasoning as well as aromatic herbs and foods. I make a ton of different things by simply watching labels and serving sizes. We have found that the items with the most sodium tend to be lunch meats, cheeses, bread (believe it or not!), red sauce, and anything boxed/canned or preserved. Try to eat frest produce or fresh frozen.

I wish you the best of luck! I promise it can be done and once you change to a lower sodium diet you won't miss it!

bearkatjen · August 2012

That sucks, especially to be dealing with this so early in your pregnancy. I dealt with high bp and pre-eclampsia starting around week 32, and by week 35 I was on modified bedrest until I had to be induced at week 38.

My advice for keeping your sodium intake low is to eat from scratch. No eating out, no microwave/prepared foods. The more from scratch the meal is, the less sodium you will encounter. I bet there are some ladies on the cooking board on the the nest who can give you some easy from scratch meal ideas, or point you in the direction of some blogs or other resources if you need some ideas.

Drink your water! That's more important now than ever.

mejane123 · August 2012

NicoleN82:
Hi ladies! Had my appointment yesterday....baby sounds great, bu my blood pressure is high. Doctor has put me on modified bed rest and no sodium for a week, and if it has not lowered by next Friday, I will be pulled off work and put on full bed rest...ugh.
Since I would prefer that not to happen, has anyone else struggled with their bp? Any no sodium meal ideas?
Tanks!

No sodium sounds incredibly difficult, I didn't even know that was possible! I was under the impression your body needed a certain amount of sodium in order to function properly. I've seen some pretty funky symptoms in people who's sodium was too low.

I tried Googling "no sodium meals" for you, but everything coming up is offering low-salt/no salt recipes, which I'm guessing doesn't account for any sodium found naturally in things. Regardless, ditto everyone else's suggestions and avoid prepackaged stuff. It's easy to avoid adding salt to dishes by using other herbs and spices or by reducing liquids in the pan, and I'm sure if you use any recipe and just omit the "pinch of salt" it calls for, you're not going to miss much. If you're making something with a sauce, definitely try to use pan juices (maybe thickened with some flour) instead of store-bought gravies.

Treschic81 · August 2012

nk1220:
Treschic81:
Make sure you're eating a lot of protein. I had preeclampsia with my 1st and was told by a midwife after the fact that there is a direct link to protein and blood pressure. She told me pregant women should eat 75 mg of lean protein daily to keep blood pressure down. Hope you can get it down!

Wrong information.  Blood pressure is controlled by the amount of sodium in your diet.  Watch your labels.  Anything in a can, or instant will be LOADED with sodium.  Even the "low sodium" brands or options are not low enough.  Try to eat under 2000 mg of sodium a day.  It's a healthy thing for anyone.  Cook with spices instead of pre packaged seasonings like McCormick brand in the packets.  Also, don't add salt to anything.  Cook at home instead of going out.  We eat under 1500 mg of sodium a day--it can be done and we do it. 

We use fresh garlic and anything Mrs. Dash's for seasoning as well as aromatic herbs and foods.  I make a ton of different things by simply watching labels and serving sizes.  We have found that the items with the most sodium tend to be lunch meats, cheeses, bread (believe it or not!), red sauce, and anything boxed/canned or preserved.  Try to eat frest produce or fresh frozen. 

I wish you the best of luck! I promise it can be done and once you change to a lower sodium diet you won't miss it!

Umm, no, It's not wrong but thanks for the 'tude. OF COURSE a low sodium diet is to be followed for hypertension. I NEVER said otherwise.

In addition to a low or no sodium diet, adding a lot of lean protein can greatly help in reducing blood pressure.

Perhaps in the future you can read a bit more thoroughly before telling someone they gave wrong info.

nk1220 · August 2012

Treschic81:
nk1220:

Treschic81:
Make sure you're eating a lot of protein. I had preeclampsia with my 1st and was told by a midwife after the fact that there is a direct link to protein and blood pressure. She told me pregant women should eat 75 mg of lean protein daily to keep blood pressure down. Hope you can get it down!

Wrong information. Blood pressure is controlled by the amount of sodium in your diet. Watch your labels. Anything in a can, or instant will be LOADED with sodium. Even the "low sodium" brands or options are not low enough. Try to eat under 2000 mg of sodium a day. It's a healthy thing for anyone. Cook with spices instead of pre packaged seasonings like McCormick brand in the packets. Also, don't add salt to anything. Cook at home instead of going out. We eat under 1500 mg of sodium a day--it can be done and we do it.

We use fresh garlic and anything Mrs. Dash's for seasoning as well as aromatic herbs and foods. I make a ton of different things by simply watching labels and serving sizes. We have found that the items with the most sodium tend to be lunch meats, cheeses, bread (believe it or not!), red sauce, and anything boxed/canned or preserved. Try to eat frest produce or fresh frozen.

I wish you the best of luck! I promise it can be done and once you change to a lower sodium diet you won't miss it!

Umm, no, It's not wrong but thanks for the 'tude. OF COURSE a low sodium diet is to be followed for hypertension. I NEVER said otherwise. In addition to a low or no sodium diet, adding a lot of lean protein can greatly help in reducing blood pressure. Perhaps in the future you can read a bit more thoroughly before telling someone they gave wrong info.

No 'tude. Just simple facts. Eating a high protein diet has not been proven to decrease blood pressure!! Therefore it is not rec'd for treating it!!!!! Can you cite specific articles or research to support your claims? I am genuinely interested in this argument.

sararn2004 · August 2012

mejane123:
NicoleN82:

Hi ladies! Had my appointment yesterday....baby sounds great, bu my blood pressure is high. Doctor has put me on modified bed rest and no sodium for a week, and if it has not lowered by next Friday, I will be pulled off work and put on full bed rest...ugh.

Since I would prefer that not to happen, has anyone else struggled with their bp? Any no sodium meal ideas?

Tanks!

Hyponatremia is bad, you are right, but no one eating low sodium without some other pathiology is going to get hyponatremic. Low blood sodium(hyponatremia) generally happens from certain diuretics that deplete the body of certain electrolytes, water overload( like retarded amt's of water, sometimes called water intoxication and can lead to cerebral edema and death), or some other type of pathophysiology causing it.

On another note...it's going to be difficult to do a no sodium diet, but probably very educational.

No sodium sounds incredibly difficult, I didn't even know that was possible! I was under the impression your body needed a certain amount of sodium in order to function properly. I've seen some pretty funky symptoms in people who's sodium was too low.

I tried Googling "no sodium meals" for you, but everything coming up is offering low-salt/no salt recipes, which I'm guessing doesn't account for any sodium found naturally in things. Regardless, ditto everyone else's suggestions and avoid prepackaged stuff. It's easy to avoid adding salt to dishes by using other herbs and spices or by reducing liquids in the pan, and I'm sure if you use any recipe and just omit the "pinch of salt" it calls for, you're not going to miss much. If you're making something with a sauce, definitely try to use pan juices (maybe thickened with some flour) instead of store-bought gravies.

Treschic81 · August 2012

nk1220:
Treschic81:
nk1220:

Treschic81:
Make sure you're eating a lot of protein. I had preeclampsia with my 1st and was told by a midwife after the fact that there is a direct link to protein and blood pressure. She told me pregant women should eat 75 mg of lean protein daily to keep blood pressure down. Hope you can get it down!

Wrong information. Blood pressure is controlled by the amount of sodium in your diet. Watch your labels. Anything in a can, or instant will be LOADED with sodium. Even the "low sodium" brands or options are not low enough. Try to eat under 2000 mg of sodium a day. It's a healthy thing for anyone. Cook with spices instead of pre packaged seasonings like McCormick brand in the packets. Also, don't add salt to anything. Cook at home instead of going out. We eat under 1500 mg of sodium a day--it can be done and we do it.

We use fresh garlic and anything Mrs. Dash's for seasoning as well as aromatic herbs and foods. I make a ton of different things by simply watching labels and serving sizes. We have found that the items with the most sodium tend to be lunch meats, cheeses, bread (believe it or not!), red sauce, and anything boxed/canned or preserved. Try to eat frest produce or fresh frozen.

I wish you the best of luck! I promise it can be done and once you change to a lower sodium diet you won't miss it!

Umm, no, It's not wrong but thanks for the 'tude. OF COURSE a low sodium diet is to be followed for hypertension. I NEVER said otherwise. In addition to a low or no sodium diet, adding a lot of lean protein can greatly help in reducing blood pressure. Perhaps in the future you can read a bit more thoroughly before telling someone they gave wrong info.

No 'tude. Just simple facts. Eating a high protein diet has not been proven to decrease blood pressure!! Therefore it is not rec'd for treating it!!!!! Can you cite specific articles or research to support your claims? I am genuinely interested in this argument.

So because you've never heard it before, "it hasn't been proven!" ?

You must be a doctor, because that kind of arrogance only seems to exist within the western medical profession.

Good thing you're on this board to make sure people don't try natural, common sense healthy living to treat possible problems in their pregnancy. 75 mg of protein is recommended for ALL pregnant and lactating women. Eating healthy is not wrong information and I don't need specific articles to support a "claim" that my very experienced, knowledgable midwife, who's had many patients with BP problems, made to support a healthy pregnancy. Calm down, you might raise your blood pressure.

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