"You are the salt of the earth"...but you don't have to eat it!

For my first-ever blog entry, I’m coming from a place of having been through some recent health concerns.  And while the principles I’m going to share have application for everyone, hopefully my post will resound specifically with readers like me, who are not as healthy as they know they should be, and help them make some easy—but impactful—adjustments.

This past fall, two very good friends of mine (who happen to be a married couple) told me that their blood pressure had risen to an alarming rate, and they’d both been placed on blood pressure meds immediately.  They weren’t too upset—it ran in their family, they were each 30-40 pounds overweight, they’re inconsistent, moderate exercisers—and since they’re in their early 40’s they’d more or less been expecting the news.  Since they weren’t concerned, I wasn’t concerned—until it happened to me.  

At a yearly check-up, out of nowhere, my doctor informed me that my blood pressure had risen to the “prehypertension” category, and that I had 90 days to bring it down or we’d need to consider BP meds.  Honestly, I didn’t make much of an effort to change at first, because physically I felt fine & I wasn’t really sure what to do about it anyway.  Within a month, however, I began to notice an increase in headaches and significant heart palpitations—a sensation of fluttering, or even thumping, in my chest—as though my heart was skipping a beat.  My doctor sent me to a top-notch cardiologist, who ordered a full work up of tests—I had an echocardiogram, blood work, and even wore a heart monitor for three days.  In the end, my heart was fine—for now.  But thankfully the cardiologist was not content to just prescribe the BP meds and send me on my self-destructive way (did I mention she’s top-notch?).  She put an invaluable packet in my hands, which contained the tools I needed to understand what was happening to me, and told me that I could affect change to my condition immediately.  The answer I found in this packet:  The DASH Diet. 

DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, and virtually all of the nutrition information I’m going to share with you comes from the packet, entitled “In Brief:  Your Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure With DASH.”  You can get your own copy here: 

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/dash_brief.pdf

In essence, the DASH plan helps to bring blood pressure down through your food choices, rather than medication.  It allows us to take control of the situation ourselves, rather than passively accepting meds as the answer.  The key for me with DASH was controlling my salt intake!!!  I have always liked salty, savory foods—I crave them, in fact, much more than sweets.  So hearing my doctor say I needed to cut sodium immediately was not shocking—but definitely depressing.  I was thinking about all I’d have to give up, imagining feeling hungry, having to eat the savory equivalent of baby food—and  also anticipating failure, as I expected to cave to my cravings soon after starting.  But here’s what actually happened:

•  My blood pressure dropped 18 points in three weeks, from “pre-hypertensive” to perfectly normal.  Bam!
• I dropped nine pounds in those same three weeks.  While that wasn’t the primary reason for going on the DASH diet, it was certainly a great bonus!  And really, it was pretty predictable—try eating an apple every time you want some Doritos—good things will happen!
• The diet did not leave me hungry, or feeling like I’d given up all of my favorite foods—in fact, many of them are perfectly acceptable.  And I really was full enough that I couldn’t even eat all of the servings of each category that I was allowed each day.
• It wasn’t difficult to follow the diet’s requirements.  I already pack my lunch anyway, and it doesn’t get much easier than making a turkey on wheat to go!
• The foods I ate were low in sodium--but I did not let them get low in flavor!  I experimented with lots of salt-free seasoning blends.  My favorites are Penzey's Mural of Flavor and Penzey's Arizona Dreaming. Order online here:  http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/shophome.html
• I learned a TON about hidden salt in the prepared foods we eat.  For example, my cardiologist said to check nutrition fact labels on all of the foods we purchase, and I should only eat foods that had 5% or less of the daily value for sodium.  Those foods are out there--but it takes effort to find them! This became a fun family challenge when we went grocery shopping; I’d put one child in charge of finding a salsa “that Mommy can eat,” while the other one was searching for an acceptable pasta sauce.  (Of course, homemade is best, but in our crazy, busy house, some prepared foods are a necessity.)
•  Eating out on the DASH diet can be tough; my cardiologist recommended avoiding it during my three week stretch.  For example, I always felt proud of myself for getting a salad with grilled chicken (halo, please) at Chick Fil-A…but did not know that my favorite avocado-lime dressing has 22% sodium!  (No wonder it was my favorite!)
• Because my DASH experience annihilated my blood pressure problem, I shared the packet with my friends that I’d mentioned above—who by that time had been on BP meds for a few months.  They embraced the DASH plan, are now completely off of their meds, and have added moderate exercise to increase their weight loss.

The DASH packet will give you everything you need to get started, but here are some specific things that worked for me.

My favorite breakfasts:  Toasted whole wheat English muffin with Olivio spread, or low fat/low sugar Greek yogurt, or scrambled egg whites with feta cheese & Penzey’s Mural of Flavor (Sodium-Free seasoning blend)...each with a piece of fruit.

My favorite lunch:  Reduced sodium turkey (available on request at deli counter) on whole wheat bread, with 2 Tbsp olive oil mayo, mustard, lettuce & tomato, with two clementines.

My favorite dinner:  Whole wheat pasta with low-sodium tomato sauce & a little parmesan, with my favorite salad: lettuce, diced tomatoes, cucumbers, &  yellow/red/orange peppers, “wet” minced garlic, Penzey's Mural of Flavor seasoning,  feta, low-sodium savory croutons, and oil & vinegar (whisk 3 tsp olive oil with 1 tsp cider, balsamic, or other flavored vinegar).

My favorite snacks:  Planters’ salt-free trail mixes, Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds (warning: these are totally addictive), hummus with red peppers & baby carrots.  

Eating the DASH way involves making some very easy, common sense adjustments to your diet.  But the benefits of keeping our blood pressure in the healthy range--reducing risk of strokes, heart attacks, kidney failure, shortness of breath, headaches--far outweigh the minor effort it takes to follow this healthy eating plan.  

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions, and if you try the DASH diet to reduce your own hypertension, I'd love to hear how it worked for you!  And here's a much healthier way that we can all use salt:  "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone."  Colossians 4:6  

By  Jennifer Margerum