Benefits of a sensible diet
On December 23rd, I weighed ~225 pounds when I went to the doctor's office and discovered that my blood pressure was somewhere in the ballpark of "if your heart doesn't explode, you're likely to have a projectile bleedout if you cut yourself." The doctor suggested dangerous drugs, and when I expressed my extreme reluctance to fix a new problem by the application of a drug that cost US$70/month after my pitiful excuse for insurance kicked in, said that I could try to tweak my diet instead. Mind you, tweaking my diet isn't much cheaper than drugs (the best thinks that "tweak" is a bit of an understatement, and I do suppose that eating US$15 worth of apples a week is a bit of a dietary change), but at least it keeps the drugs as a good last line of defence if the sky falls and I have to reduce my blood pressure ASAP.
Today, I went back to the doctor's office for a routine physical (provoked by the december visit) and weighed in at 194.3 pounds. I knew that my weight was going down, but I didn't know it would be dropping two stone and change (another stone and a half and I'll be down to what a lot of people think is the appropriate weight for a 6'1" man) by simply tweaking my diet.
Comments
Congratulations! Sounds like a New Lifestyle!
Wow, congratulations. I must admit I am envious. Tweaking doesn’t work for a woman my age, especially one who used to diet obsessively, as I did in my younger years. Your body just doesn’t want to give it up. But good on ya.
I hope you don’t need meds Dave, but you should know there are a WIDE variety of blood-pressure meds on the market and not all of the newer ones are pricey. Verapamil and benazepril are both 4 bucks at Target and Walmart pharmacies. While you might not be crazy about patronizing them, I know that benazepril is around 22-25/mo. elsewhere, so it’s a substantial savings(and all the numbers I’m mentioning are w/o insurance.)
Unfortunately doctors are pressured by the pharmaceutical reps to prescribe mainly the latest and most pricey stuff, but that’s a rant for another day.
That’s good to know, but I still loathe the idea of going on some sort of perpetual drug regime to keep my body actually functioning. I’m already dealing with a few drugs just to deal with my idiotic corporate masters (can’t quit, because the so-called American Healthcare system would drive me to the poorhouse as soon as anything more serious than a hangnail occurred) and I’d hate to pile even more chemicals on top of that.
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Tweaking your diet for such a radical change … that’s terrific! I’m glad that you are stiving for a healthier lifestyle. What might “Dust Mite” say about all this? ;-)