A heart attack

[O'Callaghan]

I had a bit of a scare with very high blood pressure a few years back. I had a minor accident with a kitchen knife and couldn't stop the bleeding, and it turned out to be because my BP was so high it was just pumping out too hard, as far as I can work out. I cut way back on fat and sodium in my diet, stopped having anything with caffeine, started cycling for exercise, started taking garlic pills and various other things from the health food store, and it brought me down to a 'high normal' level.

The trouble is, I have been backsliding a bit. By that I mean I often forget to take any pills and have not been out cycling in a long while, and am not as strict on my diet as I was. I have to replace one of the inner tubes on my bike before I can use it right now, so thanks for the reminder. Mind you, I think it is important not to over-exercise, as your BP goes up during exercise itself, and that can be an instant hazard. It's no good getting your weight down if you die in the process. I have also had caffeine sometimes, rather than fall asleep and drive off the road, balancing the respective risks. As for alcohol, that is one thing I have never given up. There's such a thing as quality of life!

My favourite foods are cheese, seafood and mushrooms. I'll never stop eating cheese, although I'm more careful about how much fat it contains. Seafood might be a minor hazard, as it comes from salt water, but I think mushrooms are safe enough. I also still eat chocolate, but only a couple of types of chocolate bar that have the least fat possible. If something is unhealthy and it isn't also something I really love, such as beer or cheese, then I just don't eat it, even if everyone else is and I have trouble finding something else to eat.

I can barely remember what a hamburger tastes like, and can't remember when I last drank soup or ate a hotdog. It's a revelation when you find out that even 'low-sodium' soup has way more sodium than most other things you can consume. Hotdogs are the other really high sodium food, they are full of it. I eat a couple of vege corn dogs before I realised that they were nearly as high sodium as the real ones. Every time I eat a vegeburger at work, which is most days, I get asked if I am a vegetarian and have to patiently explain that real hamburgers contain about ten times as much fat! (Sometimes I even have to explain why that would be a problem!).

The worst scenario is when you go to a picnic and all they have to eat is hotdogs and hamburgers, so there are stratospheric levels of sodium in the former and of fat and saturated fat in the latter! All that's left to eat are the buns they go on! Technically, even bread has a fair bit of sodium, but nothing compared with the amount in a hotdog. I've taken to bringing my own vegeburgers to such events, although people look at me as if I'm mad. Whoever is the grillmaster never knows that you only have to heat them through and that they are already cooked, somehow they are never anyone who's ever eaten one. They always give me that 'deer in the headlights' look and ask 'how long do I grill these for?'. Often they also have nothing to drink except caffeinated soda as well.

Mind you, camping out with the scouts is worse, as there is never any healthy food or drink for miles unless you remember to bring it yourself (except for literally bread and water).

[The Wizard of BC]

A quote from Rogerson....

"Before this incident I did drastically reduce my alcohol intake"

A quote from Steve....

Well, there's your whole problem.

[meinfs]

Oh -- do take care of yourself! Glad that it wasn't worse.


I've had to take care of myself as well. Heart problems run strong in my father's side (he, his dad and 3 brothers passed away from heart attack/stroke, cancer).

In the past, I've had stress tests done because of palpitations and anxiety attacks, etc.

I changed my diet to vegan/vegetarian 1.5 years ago and my weight's dropped and so has my cholesterol. With the removal of cheese and dairy from the diet, my allergies have drastically been reduced. I learned that milk/dairy has a lof of, uhm, negatives associated with it. I have more energy and best of all I ENJOY eating the food that I have and couldn't care less if I didn't have another steak in my life. Not that I'm telling anybody what to eat. It's choices. Take care.

[Streetcar]

A quote from Rogerson....

"Before this incident I did drastically reduce my alcohol intake"

A quote from Steve....

Well, there's your whole problem.

Steve beat me to it!

Get better Chris!!