1st Day

So I recently went to my OBGYN for my annual check up.  They checked my blood pressure twice and both times were high.  Not over the top but above the level you should be at.  So when they set me up with an appointment with a GP on March 20th.  But I thought that maybe it had been the stress that I had going on that week (My in laws coming into town, we as a family were getting a reward for our volunteer work, and I was throwing a 16th birthday party for my step-son) and I had taken 2 doses of migraine medication that day (which does have caffeine in it).  I figured it would be fine when I went and checked it at the CVS the next week.  NOPE!!!! Still in the pre-hypertension area.  So I decided to give my self one last week of freedom and then it was time to change my lifestyle.  No more not paying attention to what I was eating (and really over consuming).  No more not getting up to go to the gym.  It's time to get my butt into gear and really change my life.

Since this is happened I've done a little research and found out about the DASH diet (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension).  I am hoping by starting to live this DASH lifestyle that number one I stop this whole hypertension thing all together.  Number two, lose weight.  I am the heaviest I've ever been and I am not proud of that, 232 is not a number you want to see on your scale EVER!  (that is what I weighed in at this morning) Number three, be more active.  I have a very active husband (he is currently training for a tough mudder) and a 16 year old step son that also loves to be active and doing things.  I feel like I should be more active along with them.  And last but certainly not least number 4, just be a healthier person.  I know it sounds simple to do but if you really think about it, it's not! Getting up to go work out before work (and your work day starts at 7:30am) not stopping for fast food or just grabbing something premade.  I mean there are so many things that you don't think about.

So I downloaded the book and am currently reading it but seeing as my doctors appointment is coming up on the 20th I wanted to put this into place right away to hopefully have a difference by the time I go next.  So every weekend my friend Rachel and I go grocery shopping together.  We find it's a great time to catch up on things and get a chore done while we are at it.  So it usually takes us a couple of hours to do our shopping.  Well so I needed to look for things that are lower in sodium.  It took a lot longer then usual to do this.  So if you do start this diet just know that the first few times you go out shopping it will take extra time.  But once you start reading the labels you will realize that why blood pressures are so high in this day and age.    I needed to find a jar of pasta sauce and you look at the label and come to find out most have 400-550mg of sodium per serving.  I had to read about 5 jars to find one that was less then that.  Just something to be aware of.

The first day has actually been great so far.  I got to have 2 slices of toast, peanut butter, strawberries and blueberries for breakfast.  I got to have a mid morning snack of an orange and a yogurt.  Lunch was a roast beef sandwich.  Afternoon snack was unsalted pretzels and pineapple.  For dinner I had beef stir fry and brown rice.  And I still have dessert of frozen yogurt and chocolate sauce.

I also started doing Couch to 5K today.  It was definitely tough getting up this morning.  I think the time change didn't help at all.  But I the gym did win over staying in bed today.  It was a tough run but I did it and hopefully I will get my butt out of bed on Wednesday and do the same thing.  I hope this blog will help people out with this same issues and I hope that I can be an encouragement to all those people who are already doing it.  Until tomorrow!