About This Blog

First of all, a bit about me and why I've started this blog. I'm Ann C, I'm in my mid-thirties, and am married with two small children. I work full-time in the City, and live just outside of London. My husband has recently been diagnosed with high blood pressure (hypertension). At the moment, we don't know if there's a root cause, and really it's all a bit mystifying - he's young, gets plenty of exercise, eats well, doesn't drink to excess, and, although he works in the City too, it's a job he enjoys and doesn't find particularly stressful.

Anyway, having Googled "hypertension" (isn't this how everyone gets health advice nowadays?) it seems it can have some pretty serious consequences, which I am trying hard not to think about too much. However, I also found that there is a large body of evidence that reducing the sodium in your diet can bring your blood pressure down considerably - some people suggest that you can even reduce it far enough to avoid having to take the (rather nasty-sounding) drugs that are usually prescribed for hypertension (although, unsurprisingly, the Salt Manufacturers Association disagree).

Our diet is already a good one - we eat a good range of foods with plenty of fruit, veg, fish etc. - but one area really needs addressing, and that's the sodium content. I have found very little practical guidance out there on how to do this (everything seems to be US-biased). So, welcome to my humble blog, where I will post my experiences of trying to reduce our sodium intake, and hopefully improve our health.

Please see here for details on the government guidance on salt intake, a good place to start.