April 2015 Moms
KatyInNH
member
DH with high BP
KatyInNH
member
Happy Wednesday, Ladies!
My husband hadn't gone to see a doctor in years but with the baby coming, he finally decided he should get a check up. Every time we had tested his blood pressure on the machines they have in stores, he was always a little high and the doctor confirmed that he does in fact have high blood pressure. Thankfully, that's the only test/lab that came back bad.
DH really does not want to be medicated for it unless he has to be, so the doctor told him to exercise and eat better for the next 3 months and he'll recheck it at that point to decided our next steps. So, I've been googling the heck out of this and found some helpful information- less salt, more exercise, less red meat, etc. Yet, I still feel a little lost. I'm terrible at meal planning and feel slightly overwhelmed with the idea of spending the next 3 months meshing eating right for the baby and eating right to lower DH's BP.
Does anyone have any experience with naturally lowering their blood pressure? Any healthy (and easy!) recipes? Or even any experience with being medicated for it? For some reason, the idea of being medicated for it scares me and my husband. Although, maybe not medicating it should scare us more?
Thanks in advance for your help! Here's a cat-
My husband hadn't gone to see a doctor in years but with the baby coming, he finally decided he should get a check up. Every time we had tested his blood pressure on the machines they have in stores, he was always a little high and the doctor confirmed that he does in fact have high blood pressure. Thankfully, that's the only test/lab that came back bad.
DH really does not want to be medicated for it unless he has to be, so the doctor told him to exercise and eat better for the next 3 months and he'll recheck it at that point to decided our next steps. So, I've been googling the heck out of this and found some helpful information- less salt, more exercise, less red meat, etc. Yet, I still feel a little lost. I'm terrible at meal planning and feel slightly overwhelmed with the idea of spending the next 3 months meshing eating right for the baby and eating right to lower DH's BP.
Does anyone have any experience with naturally lowering their blood pressure? Any healthy (and easy!) recipes? Or even any experience with being medicated for it? For some reason, the idea of being medicated for it scares me and my husband. Although, maybe not medicating it should scare us more?
Thanks in advance for your help! Here's a cat-
~
Married May 18, 2013
Expecting our first child April 3, 2015
This discussion has been closed.
Re: DH with high BP
I upped my water intake, reduced my sodium mostly by working on cutting out as much prepackaged food as I could. I reduced the red meat and we have swapped it out for fish, which lucky for me my husband actually loves. Lastly I added in walking 30 minutes a day. We made room for a treadmill in the house since we live in Oregon and it rains a lot. It helps me get the extra walking in. I purchased a BP monitor for use at home and used it pretty regularly for awhile. Within 6 months my borderline high BP was back in normal range. It's easier to do when you're able to monitor it yourself at home, it really helped me get a feel for what caused it to rise or drop.
Good luck and good for your husband for wanting to be healthy and take care of himself for the sake of your child. That's great!
Yeah, I'm really hoping we can get his numbers down by March or else I guess we'll have to consider him being medicated. With him being only 29, it's hard for me to imagine him being medicated. We're still young enough to think we're invincible!
My DH has hypertension (and diabetes) and is medicated for it. I had pregnancy hypertension with #1 & #2. This time I don't b/c I lost 100 pounds between #2 and #3.
Anyways...the biggest thing I noticed was that when I stopped eating processed foods - canned soup, lean cuisines, jarred sauces, deli/lunch meat, snack foods like chips and pretzels - my blood pressure was much easier to control.
Convenience foods have sodium...lots of sodium in them to preserve them and make them taste good. Low fat/fat free/light things are sneaky and usually have lots of sodium and other additives to make them taste better...avoid that!
Cooking from scratch at home allows you to limit the amount of salt/sodium in your foods.
Swap chicken, shrimp, fish, turkey, pork, beans, tofu, and eggs for red meat at a few meals each week.
There's tons of blogs and recipe sites out there...just google low sodium recipes.
keep things simple...grill, bake, pan sear with a little olive oil for your proteins, serve with steamed/boiled/roasted veggies, add a whole grain carb option like brown rice, whole wheat pasta, sweet potato, quiona, any of the other little grains that you boil until soft...
_________________________________________________________________
DD 7/2010, DS 3/2012, #3 due 4/24/2015
Also...if you feel you need more guidance...get your DH to go see a nutritionist. A diagnosis of hypertension usually gets insurance to cover a nutrition visit. Go together, get ideas, ask questions.
_________________________________________________________________
DD 7/2010, DS 3/2012, #3 due 4/24/2015
I've seen anywhere from 3.5 to 7 miles quoted but either way it's pretty shocking! And crazy that you reabsorb those vessels if you burn the fat!
Here's a pic of the page in the book:
I'm probably over-thinking the eating part of it. I find myself questioning every little thing in our meals now. Like, is the carb portion of the meal too large, how much olive oil is is too much, is that baked russet potato I'm craving bad for him to eat, how much cheese can I use, etc. Between my pregnancy and his high blood pressure, I feel like I'm spending half my life on Google.
I'm way up near Lebanon but I bet our co-op here has it. Luckily we both love garlic so adding it to our food would not be a problem but taking it as a supplement is a good idea.
<a href="http://www.thebump.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Trying to Conceive"><img src="http://global.thebump.com/tickers/tt1d63ef" alt=" Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker" border="0" /></a>
<a href="http://www.thebump.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Parenting Advice"><img src="http://global.thebump.com/tickers/tt1d63f0" alt=" Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker" border="0" /></a>