5 Things My Dad Failed To Do When He Suffered From High Blood Pressure

I've been thinking a lot about heart disease and how it's greatly affected so many families including my own. Everyone is connected to someone who's suffered from heart disease.

My dad suffered from high blood pressure and it was problematic on a daily basis.  I am thankful that he was able to reverse his high blood pressure and get off the medication for good.

Here is a list of the top five things that DID NOT help my dad when he had hypertension.  I thought that this list could help those who are currently suffering.

5 Things My Dad Failed To Do When He Suffered From High Blood Pressure 

1. He didn't quit coffee and caffeine. He easily drank more than a pot of coffee a day. At the time he wasn't aware that caffeine was affecting his heart condition. 

2. He refused to give up the junk. My dad loved Krispy Kreme Donuts, cream and sugar in his coffee, cereal, and all kinds of frozen novelties and coffee cakes. Fast food was easy to grab at McDonald's, KFC, Wendy's, etc. especially when my mom and dad owned a beauty salon. And table salt (including Morton's salt), the chemicalized crap with no minerals, was used in all the home cooking. All the crap and junk were addictions that he thought he couldn't live without.

3. Regular exercise was not a priority after my dad retired from the Navy. My dad enjoyed a relaxed, slow paced lifestyle like some retirees but he did not exert himself physically. He knew something was the matter when he was in NYC visiting family and had trouble catching his breath. Like everyone in his shoes he saw the doctor. What was the result? The dosage of his HBP medication increased. End of story and no questions asked. 

4. My dad never read the side effects of his HBP medication, Losartan. My dad just shrugged off the visible bruising that suddenly appeared all over his body. He never noticed it until my mom mentioned it. He had tightness in the chest area, anxiety, problems urinating, fatigue, and other issues. All of these are current side effects of the drug Losartan. 

5. My dad took everything too seriously. He always kept checking his blood pressure. He was quite stern, hardly smiled or laughed. How could he when he was scared and anxious all the time? 

We make things way too complicated. There is an easier way. People keep taking their meds hoping that these things are the cure and miracle to make them get better. That's fine and all if you want to live the hard way and continue to struggle.

The good news is that I've got something really cool cooking!  I'm hoping to launch it very soon.  If you or someone you know would be interested in reversing their high blood pressure, heart disease and/or high cholesterol, you'll want to stay tuned.

This is a picture of my dear dad when he was in active duty more than three decades ago. He wasn't on HBP medication then but it was to come and he ended up being on medication for ten years. My dad chose better and greater for himself. And that's truly awesome! How does it get any better than that?! 

Health For The Holidays

Earlier this year we had a party at home to celebrate my 40th birthday.   As we were nearing the end of a night well spent with good friends and food, everyone was beginning to wonder why Martin had not come back down.  It was getting pretty late so we all thought that Martin was putting our little boy to bed.  But that was not the case.

Constantine was crying loudly.  And he had not stopped for several minutes.  Everyone had said their goodbyes already except for my next door neighbor who was so kind to stay and help clean up.  Finally, we started to hear footsteps.  Martin and Constantine were slowly walking down the stairs.  

I asked, "Martin, how are you?"  He replied, "Not so well."  We were astonished and realized the reason for Constantine's ongoing cries.  His daddy needed help! 

Martin was seated slumped on the last step of the stairwell, sweating profusely and looking completely wiped out.  He said that his chest felt a tightness he had never felt before.  We all were feeling the shock of the moment and wondered out loud, "Could this be a heart attack?"  

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the U.S.  In 2013, it accounted for 32.1% of deaths in the country -- that's one out of every three deaths is due to heart disease.  

However, there is good news!  There are a number of studies that show heart disease can be prevented and even reversible.  

If you are interested in learning more, stay tuned for my upcoming series called Health For The Holidays.  I will be putting up a series of blog posts about how we can support the heart, the kidneys, the gut, and your overall health, holistically.  This series is for everyone -- men, women, and children -- anyone who is interested in preventing disease.   

So was it a heart attack?  After spending some hours in the ER, visiting his general practitioner, and getting all of the test results back, Martin found out that it was not a heart attack.  Thank God for that!  But this series of events certainly gave us pause to worry.  It's so easy to get caught up with the rush in life.  We think that we can be the superhero character in the movies but we forget that we are just human and fragile.  

The body gives us signs.  Pain is actually a very good thing.  Our society is so scared to feel pain.  Let's just pop a pill here and there so we don't feel a thing, right?  We should be grateful whenever we feel pain.  It's the body's way of telling us that something is wrong and it needs help.  Many times we shrug off a little pain on the foot or an ache in the back but those are sure telling signs that something internally is going on.

As a health coach, I believe it's important to pinpoint the reason for the pain and to get to the root cause of the problem.  My Health For The Holidays series will go over important factors to consider when dealing with the heart, the kidneys, the gut, and the body as a whole.  And I'll offer ways to support each of these organs.  Talk to you soon! 

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Coming soon!  Introducing a new series...

Health For The Holidays

This upcoming blog post series is for anyone interested in preventing disease and who wants to learn how to better support major body organs.  It's for everyone --  men, women, and children.  

At the end of the series, one participant will win a Health For The Holidays gift set.

We will be learning how to support:

• The Heart
• The Kidneys
• The Gut

“We all were feeling the shock of the moment and wondered out loud, ‘Could this be a heart attack?’ ”

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