This week... Well, James returned from Michigan late Friday/early Saturdy, with a sinus infection causing a bloody nose, and very impressive test scores on the Domino’s exams. Not sure if the 2 have anything to do with the other. ;-)

He went to see his doctor this week for his monthly visit (he goes monthly for monitoring of rheumatoid arthritis and renewal of prescriptions) and found out now he’s got high blood pressure. His doctor, in all his infinite wisdom (insert sarcasm here), chooses to do nothing about it, other than to say “come in for regular monitoring”. Ugh! This guy has totally got on my last nerve! >:-| He’s a cardiologist for crissakes, and here’s a 42, almost 43 year old, overweight patient with high blood pressure and he says don’t worry about it, just come in to check it regularly! GAH! Doesn’t give him a schedule, other than the regular monthly visits he’s already on, no suggestions about diet or anything. This is the state of US medical care. What a load of crap!

So of course I do a little researching myself on WebMD and it seems not all that difficult to lower blood pressure. Just simple dietary changes that really aren’t all that drastic. James of course is convinced he’ll have to give up all yummy foods and will never be able to eat junk food again (I’ve been trying to get him to cut down on junk food anyway :-p ) But really, its not that bad. Here are the diet suggestions from webmd.

• Add a serving of vegetables at lunch and at dinner.
• Add a serving of fruit to your meals or as a snack. Canned and dried fruits are easy to use.
• Use only half the butter, margarine, or salad dressing, and use low-fat or fat-free condiments.
• Drink low-fat or skim dairy products three times a day.
• Limit meat to six ounces a day. Try eating some vegetarian meals.
• Add more vegetables, rice, pasta, and dry beans to your diet.
• Instead of typical snacks (chips, etc.), eat unsalted pretzels or nuts, raisins, graham crackers, low-fat and fat-free yogurt and frozen yogurt; unsalted plain popcorn with no butter, and raw vegetables.
• Read food labels carefully to choose products that are lower in sodium.

Staying on the DASH Diet
The following is a list of food groups and suggested serving amounts for the DASH diet:
• Grains: 7-8 daily servings
• Vegetables: 4-5 daily servings
• Fruits: 4-5 daily servings
• Low-fat or fat-free dairy products: 2-3 daily servings
• Meat, poultry and fish: less than 2 daily servings
• Nuts, seeds, and dry beans: 4-5 servings per week
• Fats and oils: 2-3 daily servings
• Sweets: try to limit to less than 5 servings per week
• Salt: 1,500 mg per day (about 2/3 teaspoon)

There was also an article that said drinking dark colas (Coke, Pepsi, etc…diet or regular) could also be a contributing factor to high blood pressure. James drinks about 2 litres of diet Coke a day. The study showed that coffee and tea does not have the same affect, so its not the caffien, its something else in the colas. He said he’d switch to (sweet) tea.

Last night I made a really nice supper, one of my favourites. Crimson Pork chops with potatoes and a side salad with a light balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Very yummy, and James even ate it. He doesn’t like pork chops. Infidel!

Here’s the recipe (taken from Chatelaine (??) magazine decades ago, and modified now for ingredients at hand). My Mum used to make this for us when I was little, and its always been a fave. You can also substitute chicken breasts for pork chops if you don’t eat pork.

In a high sided frying pan or soup pot, sear pork chops with a small amount of vegetable oil. (I used Watkins Citrus & Cilantro grapeseed oil last night).

Peel and slice 2 large potatoes and par boil.

In a 2 cup measuring cup mix ¼ cup of Heinz Organic Ketchup, 2 heaping teaspoons of Watkins Honey Mustard, 1 tbsp Watkins Meat Magic add water to the 2 cup mark. Stir until well blended. Once the pork chops are seared on both sides, pour in the sauce. Slice one orange, and put slices into the pot. Add the potato slices, cover and simmer until done. Enjoy!

For dessert we had Breyer’s Heart Healthy chocolate ice-cream (98% fat free, and no added sugars) with a sliced kiwi fruit each. Very yummy, and the ice cream does not taste the worse for wear, without all that fat. I think I’ll switch for good! Oh! There was also another article that says cocoa is good for reducing blood pressure. So yes ladies chocolate is good for you! If its not laden with sugar and extra fats. The higher cocoa content the better. Which has always been my opinion anyway. ;-)

See, you really don’t have to sacrifice good taste or have a “special” diet to manage heart health. You just need to have a “proper” diet. And you can still have treats, just read the labels and check the ingredients and daily % on the nutrition information. Just because something says “Low Fat” or “Lite”, doesn’t necessarily mean its healthy. You have to look at the whole picture. It may have a lower percentage of fats, but it could also be loaded down with 18 different kinds of sugars, and full of salts. Marketing can be very deceiving. Don’t just look at the packaging.

Now, if I could just get him out walking more than once every other week…

Oh, btw, no I didn’t get to see Brokeback Mountain last week. I drove all the way down to Hickory, and for some idiotic reason the on-line listings hadn’t been updated recently. The listings said they had it playing 4 times a day, so I wanted to catch the 4pm show. They only had it playing at 9pm tho. :-p I wasn’t well pleased. Now I’ll have to wait for it on DVD, its gone.  ¶ 2:18 PM