Friday, October 10, 2008

Diet 101 : Lettuce a saver

I was actually diagnosed of LVH or left ventricular hypertrophy the last physical examination I had. According to wikipedia, it is the thickening of the myocardium of the heart's left ventricle which is a pathological reaction to cardiovascular disease or high blood pressure. A little sad but true, that me being hypertensive must have caused it. I have a lot of stresses in life to endure plus a bad diet. The doctor who examined actually advised me to get myself a checkup with a cardiologist. He even scheduled me for a blood lipid screening. He gave me a maintenance drug as well to be taken every morning and for a lifetime I guess. I did know then what to do. All I know is that I don't want to take any medication in a form of a drug. I just thought that two tablets a day might have serious side effects when I grow older. So I searched over the net of what are the food that I needed to eat and not. I knew that I have to stop eating junk food. I knew that I need to stop if not minimize my intake of red meat. I knew I had to go organic - simply back to basics. I scoured the internet and there were many results. There is this high fiber diet, banana a day or apple a day regimen. They all talked about fruits and vegetables. The one thing got my attention was the garlic cloves a day. I checked about the health benefits of garlic. I read through about it. I took my chances of take a clove of garlic before bedtime. I sort of had my hypertension from 150/100 to 130/90. I included eating carrots raw and all the salad recipe every dinner for five days. It got my blood pressure under control to 130/90. I was satisfied with the results. I decided to eat wheat bread and oats for my breakfast. It has helped me maintain everything. One thing I noticed was I smelled awful with garlic. So I stopped the garlic clove diet as a night pill. So I checked on-line about how to go vegan. I tried cavendish banana which was helpful for my potassium and vitamin C needs. Not satisfied of it, I always buy myself cantaloupes or honey dew melons at least once a week. In short I was eating seriously healthy. I also bought a China made sphymomanometer for my blood pressure monitoring. By the way, I lessen red meat like pork or chicken in my meals, so boneless milk fish was in. If ever I eat tuna in can, I put in fresh tomatoes on it. I then added lettuce to my healthy diet. What I have noticed is that, it has some calming effects on me. I checked my blood pressure like three days ago and it was 120/80 which was so normal already. I was so happy about it. If I ran out of lettuce supply, I made it a point to go to the supermarket to buy myself with one. I mixed it up with grapes for a sweet taste. I also bought cheap wine, not made in China. I drink wine if I need to eat red meat instead of carbonated drinks.

For some nutritional write up about lettuce, you may want to check these links I found on the net.
1.) Lettuce health benefits
2.)How stuff works : Health benefits of lettuce

Of course I found this link when I started wondering what could have improved my condition for the better and I am totally convinced that lettuce made the difference. It's because I only eat lettuce with grapes and bread for my carbohydrates needs and sometimes just lettuce. Though I crave for hot and spicy chicken meals, I made sure that everything is in moderation. Hope I can sustain this diet and become a habit of mine to pick the right food to eat.

3 comments:

linnor said...

thanks for sharing your experience. i will have to agree about starting a healthy diet. :) in the midst of stressful circumstances, i hope you are able to maintain the healthy lifestyle. ;)

found your blog on fb.

http://moonlight-mom.blogspot.com/
http://linnormarikit.wordpress.com/

Anonymous said...

Thanks for reading this entry moonlight-mom and liking it.

Have a nice day.

splendor said...

gen wui.. di nako makaya ang walay pork.. hehehe.