All of this lead me to recent issues of high blood pressure, shortness of breath, random headaches, and a persistent mental fog that was getting very alarming. I'm 55. Four weeks ago I took my resistant self to the doctor (actually a nurse practitioner) to check all these things out, and she recorded my BP at 146/98 and my BMI at 29. I got an EKG, chest x-ray, and blood work done, and all to my thankful relief showed everything normal. This was so encouraging to me, because now I knew I had the option of choosing to control my fate and my weight with diet. My NP was all for me trying to better myself without medicine. She did give me an inhaler which has helped and I've used that once a week when I work with horses and am trotting around the arena. My goal is to not have to use it at all.
Previously I hadn't been watching my salt intake. After she gave me a printout suggesting 1500 mg or less a day, I was stunned to see just how much processed food was in my kitchen, and how high the level of salt intake I'd been consuming was.
I made immediate changes of limiting salt, no processed foods, switched from soy milk to almond milk, and taking a daily B-12 (which took care of the mental fog). Then just 5 days ago I committed myself fully to the McDougall way of eating. Yesterday I went to check my BP with the doctor and it was 126/74 and I've lost 2 pounds.
Thank you Dr. McDougall for all the testimonies and success stories and information you share here. It keeps me on the path that I want to be on.
