Wednesday 25 February 2009

Bye!

If this is your first visit to this blog, and you are looking to reduce your sodium intake, then do take a look at my Top Ten Tips as a starting point. That post links through to lots of other parts of the blog.

A low sodium diet has now become a way of life for us at home, although we still allow ourselves to lapse on holiday and when eating out (we're not angels, so perfect behaviour would be an unrealistic goal!). Together with regular use of Resperate, and a switch to low/alcohol-free beer, it has brought down Mr. C's blood pressure from the dizzy heights of 174/112 to a level that is at the top end of the normal range (under 140/90). It's a fantastic result after slightly under a year, and without resorting to drugs, and just goes to show how much diet and lifestyle really do have a direct impact on your health. I think that he is also a calmer person now, and suspect that this may be down to having lower blood pressure (not that he was overly stressed-out before).

I also think our kids are benefiting. Our eldest is nearly 7 and now shows much more of an interest in eating mummy's home cooking (and in watching and helping me cook), and our youngest was weaned after our low salt diet started, so has never got into our bad habits. I hope they stick with a healthy lifestyle as they get older. I'm delighted with the positive effects on Mr. C's health, but the potential effect on our daughters' future eating habits is even more important, especially if they have inherited their dad's tendency to high blood pressure.

Now that we've achieved our goal, I have decided to stop posting to this blog, and to direct my energy and time elsewhere (although of course we need to continue with our good habits!). I hope the information here has helped someone. Any comments posted below will still come through to my email inbox, and I'll reply when I can. Good luck with your own journeys towards a healthier lifestyle - I hope you see the same positive effects that we have seen.

6 comments:

Joanna said...

Sorry you're stopping, but hope that you will leave your blog up for reference, as it's all good stuff. Salt in food not cooked at home is just dreadful / too much

Anyway, I'm glad you've all got your diet sorted - our heart-healthy journey is a bit of an on-going project, I'm still experimenting three years after my husband's heart attack (and the advice changes, too, eggs are officially okay these days)

Thanks for all your posts
Joanna

AnnC said...

Hi Joanna - I'll certainly be leaving the blog here (must check and make sure it won't be automatically removed if I don't access it for a while). Thanks for your kind comments! A

Anonymous said...

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Mellie Ferrier said...

Thanks so much for all your facts, figures, advice and relating of your family's experience - this blog must have taken ages to do!

I found it really useful and have started a list on Excel of acceptable foods and copied loads of your recipes.

I'm amazed that you found time to do this with a full time job, 2 kiddies, etc. You are some Lady!

Thanks again, Mellie

Anonymous said...

Your blog has encouraged me down the low salt route combined with 40 minutes three times a week fast walking. So far my BP is down from 170/115 + to 130 / 85

I would not have done this without finding your blog and being inspired to take control of my own destiny.

Thank you.

AnnC said...

Thanks so much for the positive feedback. It's great to see that a few people have found this blog useful, and that it's helping people to be healthier.

A