And I Left the Restaurant In An Ambulance (Update)

Well it took a long time to get the results of the physical and blood tests.  Bottom line - everything looks good.  The only potential problem is that my blood pressure should be lower.  Also, I had preeclampsia with my first pregnancy and that raises your risk for hypertension later.  So this is something I really need to watch.  Also, I didn't realize before this how serious high blood pressure can be over time.  Left untreated, it can damage organs, like your kidneys and heart, and lead to hardening of the arteries, which increases risk of heart disease and stroke.

So I will make the lifestyle changes I mentioned previously to get healthier and now also to decrease my blood pressure.  Specifically, I will keep up with the exercising I already do but try to fit in little spurts here and there.  I usually walk 3x/week for 45 minutes and get on my exercise bike 2x/week for 50 minutes.  I also do some arm weight exercises 2x/week and a bit of yoga.  Now I'm starting to do lunges and squats while I cook dinner, some crunches and leg lifts in the evenings and I'll stop every so often and do 25 jumping jacks just to get my metabolism going.  I aim to do that 4x each day and then that adds up to 100 jumping jacks.

I'm also watching what I eat more.  My diet was always fairly healthy, I just ate too much and would snack in the evening after dinner.  So now I'm trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables (at least 1/meal), replace "white" starches for whole grain ones and watch my portions!  Also, I'm trying not to eat after dinner.

So far since my last post, I've done pretty well.  However, my youngest son got sick for a few days and now I've been sick for about 3 days and my husband has just come down with it.  So I haven't had the energy to exercise for a few days and didn't do as much when my son was sick.  So I'll just try harder next week.  I am also trying to meditate whenever I can and de-stress as much as possible.  It's hard to find time to meditate, but I will keep working on that because that should help the blood pressure.  I just can't get up earlier in the morning to meditate - I just fall back asleep :)  Then during the day, there are too many things going on so I'm trying to work it in in the evening.

Let me know if any of you are on similar health/well-being quests.  We can give each other inspiration and tips.  In the meantime, take care.