Two Hundred Six
Today was a wake up call. Actually, the alarm went off yesterday, but I pressed the snooze button.
At work, I earned a $25 American Express gift card just by going to the health clinic to have my blood pressure, height, weight, and percent body fat measured; and to have a couple vials of blood drawn for some blood tests. I'll get another $25 after I fill out an online survey and meet with a health coach. Anyone who doesn't take advantage of the opportunity either believes they're in excellent health but too busy to bother (sounds like a contradiction to me), or they're in denial.
I'm never sure what's going on inside my body. (Kinda hard to see in there.) On the outside, I don't think I look too bad given the hand my parents dealt me. If you've been following the blog, you know that I get a fair amount of regular exercise. But for a few years I have been liberal with my use of fatty dairy products, salt, and red meat. Coffee is one of those on again off again things. My alcohol consumption is very moderate. So what's it all add up to?
Well, yesterday the "nurse" (was she a nurse? "health specialist" - how 'bout that?) took my blood pressure using my left arm. I wasn't paying much attention until she seemed a little surprised by my numbers. The top number ("systolic" - just looked it up) was 130 (I think). I'm not sure, but I believe the diastolic was around 80. My friendly health specialist thought we should check the other arm to be sure. When we did, my systolic pressure measured 123. So what's the logical thing to do? Cross out the higher number and go with the lower one! (Make sense to you?)
Today I decided to check again. There's a machine in the cafeteria that measures blood pressure. I checked both arms (it was a bit awkward with my right arm, because the machine is set up to measure your left). Both times my systolic pressure measured 130: pre-hypertension!
After watching one of my RAAM videos a few times, I've started thinking about how hard RAAM can be on the kidneys. Now I'm thinking about my blood pressure too! What would I look like without all those miles under my legs?
Time to start watching what I eat...
For dinner I had a microwaved baked potato, a bowl full of raw veggies (tomato, peppers, carrot, celery, and cucumber), hummus and artichoke/jalapeno dips, some fresh pineapple, and a banana. It tasted pretty good, actually.
Cold turkey!
At work, I earned a $25 American Express gift card just by going to the health clinic to have my blood pressure, height, weight, and percent body fat measured; and to have a couple vials of blood drawn for some blood tests. I'll get another $25 after I fill out an online survey and meet with a health coach. Anyone who doesn't take advantage of the opportunity either believes they're in excellent health but too busy to bother (sounds like a contradiction to me), or they're in denial.
I'm never sure what's going on inside my body. (Kinda hard to see in there.) On the outside, I don't think I look too bad given the hand my parents dealt me. If you've been following the blog, you know that I get a fair amount of regular exercise. But for a few years I have been liberal with my use of fatty dairy products, salt, and red meat. Coffee is one of those on again off again things. My alcohol consumption is very moderate. So what's it all add up to?
Well, yesterday the "nurse" (was she a nurse? "health specialist" - how 'bout that?) took my blood pressure using my left arm. I wasn't paying much attention until she seemed a little surprised by my numbers. The top number ("systolic" - just looked it up) was 130 (I think). I'm not sure, but I believe the diastolic was around 80. My friendly health specialist thought we should check the other arm to be sure. When we did, my systolic pressure measured 123. So what's the logical thing to do? Cross out the higher number and go with the lower one! (Make sense to you?)
Today I decided to check again. There's a machine in the cafeteria that measures blood pressure. I checked both arms (it was a bit awkward with my right arm, because the machine is set up to measure your left). Both times my systolic pressure measured 130: pre-hypertension!
After watching one of my RAAM videos a few times, I've started thinking about how hard RAAM can be on the kidneys. Now I'm thinking about my blood pressure too! What would I look like without all those miles under my legs?
Time to start watching what I eat...
For dinner I had a microwaved baked potato, a bowl full of raw veggies (tomato, peppers, carrot, celery, and cucumber), hummus and artichoke/jalapeno dips, some fresh pineapple, and a banana. It tasted pretty good, actually.
Cold turkey!
posted by Sabertooth Salmon at 6:17 PM
1 Comments:
Baked potato with, or without, butter?
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