Are You in Denial About Your Blood Pressure?

Do you have high blood pressure? 

Come on - be honest.  Isn't it just a little high?  Just a little?  I know, because people lie to me.  Even my own mother (sorry, Mom). 

My conversation with Mom goes something like this: 

ME:  Mom,  how's your blood pressure?
MOM:  Fine.
ME:  What was it?
MOM:  Oh, 138 over 85.  It's fine.
ME:  Mom, you know it's not fine.
MOM:  Well, that's high, but it's lower.
ME:  Mom, if it's high, meaning over 120 or over 80, then, it's high.
MOM:  You're right.


High blood pressure is known as the silent killer for two very good reasons:

• First, many people do not routinely go to their doctor and/or have their blood pressure checked. 

• Second, a majority of people diagnosed with prehypertension or higher, will stay in a state of denial about their condition, thinking it's not serious yet.

As I tell my mom, and numerous clients and friends, if your blood pressure is starting to "creep" upwards, don't wait for it to become "high" before you do something about it.  Clinically, if your blood pressure is higher than 120/80, you are prehypertensive.  In my books, you're heading down that slippery slope where you'll soon be on high blood pressure medication.  Do you think it's not a big deal?  After all, lots of people are on high blood pressure medication.  In fact, 1 in 3 Americans have high blood pressure, costing us more than $93.5 billion annually.  That's a big deal!

On a personal note, I too have noticed my blood pressure creeping upwards.  I could always count on a 110/60 blood pressure reading when I went to see the doctor.  Recently though, it's been "creeping" upwards towards 115/72.  It's still under the prehypertensive numbers, but, it's getting higher, and I'm doing something about it BEFORE it gets prehypertensive.  I'm ramping up my exercise and I'm watching my diet, the two things your doctor will tell you to do either before giving you medication, or in conjunction with medication.

You should exercise at a moderate intensity for 30-60 minutes most days of the week and should eat a diet high in fiber and low in saturated fat, and should avoid processed and fast foods.

When was the last time you had your blood pressure checked?  Are you doing something about it?

Let me know if you have any questions.  In the meantime,

Live 365fitt,
Kathy

Kathy is available for Healthy Active Living Coaching.  Contact Kathy@365fitt.com.

Lifestyle-induced Chronic Disease

CAUTION:  YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU READ.  

 

WHY?  BECAUSE IT'S THE TRUTH, AND YOU'RE IN DENIAL.  IF YOU HAVE HEART DISEASE, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, TYPE II DIABETES, AND ANY COMBINATION OF SECONDARY DISEASES SUCH AS DEPRESSION, OBESITY, OR HIGH CHOLESTEROL, TO NAME JUST A FEW...READ THIS:

"Certain facts are clear. Lifestyle-induced chronic disease is on the rise, and accounts for nearly 80 percent of our health care costs. Nearly 70 percent of our population is overweight or obese. Almost 1 in 4 teenagers have pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes, up from only 9 percent in 2000 and almost zero in 1960. Most chronic disease is best prevented and even treated with lifestyle medicine and a systems approach to disease. By 2042, 100 percent of our federal budget will be needed to pay for Medicare and Medicaid. Today, 1 in 3 Medicare dollars is spent on Type 2 diabetes. This is unsustainable."

AND I EMPHASIZE: PUT YOUR MONEY INTO LIFESTYLE CHANGE!

and this:

"If money rules politics, then the most profitable medical therapies, not the best treatments, are researched and implemented. If hospitals and doctors are paid for volume and piecework, they produce more visits and procedures, but not better health. If hospitals suddenly cut cardiac bypasses and angioplasties in half by implementing proven intensive lifestyle therapies, they would go bankrupt. If Medicare refused to reimburse for cardiac bypasses or angioplasties proven to work in less than 5 percent of patients that receive them, and instead reimbursed for intensive lifestyle treatment programs for those with heart disease and diabetes, health care costs, as estimated by the Cleveland Clinic, would be reduced by almost one trillion dollars over the next 10 years. But since lifestyle treatment is not reimbursed it is not profitable, so it is not done.

AND I EMPHASIZE AGAIN: PUT YOUR MONEY INTO LIFESTYLE CHANGE!

These are just two excepts from the blog below by Dr. Mark Hyman, MD. Please take the time to read it.  The health of our nation, and perhaps you or your close family and friends, are in jeopardy.  Our healthcare system is overloaded.  I'm not about politics and who pays for what and how things get done, but I am about YOU.  I'm about YOU making a difference in the only one that counts:  YOU.

What can YOU do? Hire me! This is what I do! I am in the business of helping you change your lifestyle so that you are not one of the 80% suffering from lifestyle-induced chronic disease. Do not be in denial about your health. Here's the short list:

Get Moving!
Eat Nutritious Foods!
Do not eat Processed Foods!
Get Moving!
Do Not Make Excuses Any Longer!
Change Your Lifestyle!

For starters, join my Change Your Lifestyle: Change Your Weight program. It's an 8 week email program where you receive 3 emails a week on physical, nutritional and emotional support. The program starts the first Sunday of every month.  Email me. kathy@365fitt.com, or facebook me, 365fitt.

YOU ARE OUT OF EXCUSES!  MAKE A DIFFERENCE.  MAKE A CHANGE.

KATHY

Money, Politics and Health Care: A Disease-Creation Economy

experiencelife.com

“There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order.” - Nic…