Sunday, October 25, 2015

When Food Labels Rule Your Life

 
Seriously folks, yesterday I went to two different stores for groceries and not only spent a whopping 300.00 , but also 4 hours trying to decipher what was good for me to yet. Yes, I had already done a bit of research through some websites and books from the library. The problem is with a heart healthy diet you are not only looking at fat, calories, and such, but also sodium. It makes it very difficult to get all those things to line up, especially with any pre-made or processed products.
 
I've gotten to that point in my life where I really don't enjoy cooking very much so pre-made food or fast food has been my close friend over the past couple of years. I am usually still able to control my weight through exercise and through a couple of rounds on Trim Healthy Mama. That is another problem - my mind thinks like Trim Healthy Mama for purchasing and cooking food, but a heart healthy diet goes against nearly everything they suggest. Puts me in kind of a quandary as to who to listen to.

 
This is very much a learning process. The high blood pressure meds keep all my numbers good but thinking of the future makes me want to clean up my eating habits and diet. Both my parents have cardiovascular disease and my dad has had multiple strokes. Getting used to the fact that I have cardiovascular disease (yes, high blood pressure is that) was very hard. I have passed all my tests with flying colors and the heart is healthy. So why do I have high blood pressure? Genetics? Carrying 10 - 15 too many pounds, eating the wrong things? Not sure. Maybe a collection of everything. While visiting my doctor for a recheck on Friday he said that many people with high blood pressure are idiopathic. This means no real reason as to why.
 
All I know is I want to be around for a long time. Not because I'm afraid to go to Heaven and meet my maker, but I have a lot of living left to do. I want to watch my kids have families of their own. I want to be a grandparent and see what it feels like to go through empty nest syndrome. In other words its time to pull myself up by the boot straps and get it together.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

I have high bp too, but not cardiovascular disease, thankfully however my current meds either aren't controlling it or my anxiety is so high it doesn't matter. I'm doing THM and my cholesterol numbers and A1C are all improving - If I were to go low fat then my carbs would increase meaning my chances of getting off metformin would be zero. I agree though it's hard to know who to listen to - definitely our bodies.