[caitlink]

help my husband went to the doctor today and we realized that he has high blood pressure. The doctor wants to give us a few weeks to fix it before he puts him on any kind of medication...what can i do to help him? Ive never known anyone with high blood pressure so i dont know what to do...any suggestions would be appreciated...thanks!

[fropvd]

First, have him remove as much salt from his diet as possible. Be sure to look for hidden sodium in processed foods, because there is a ton of it there. If he can reduce stress, that will also help, as will losing any excess weight. As we all know, the weight loss is the slow portion of the equation, but every bit helps. Even a drop of 10% of the excess weight can lead to a significant drop in blood pressure. I wish him the best--I'm dealing with the same problem right now!

[Justwant2Bhealthy]

I concur with FROPVD ~ good advice there -- SALT is well-known to bring the blood pressure up, so a switch to WHOLE FOODS could help a lot and using spices and herbs as a salt substitute; and I would add CAFFEINE to that list. Get him to cut down how many coffees he drinks per day (I now only have 2 in the AM and only the odd one later); usually have tea which has less caffeine. I now add non-caffeine Chicory coffee with our regular coffee and that tastes great; can't even notice the difference.

STRESS is a big factor; needs to have some relaxing down time and can try any kind of soothing activities from music to massage, yoga or tai chi, etc. Whatever things that he finds peaceful, like fishing, etc.

Weightloss can help some people; but not everyone -- I have a friend that lost 50 lbs and still has high blood pressure, which can be hereditary ... so there is likely another cause (stress being the most common, if it isn't the diet). Try all these things first and see what happens ...