Re: l-arginine and blood pressure

In article <TTcOe.10172$RS.5011@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"David Cohen" <sammiesdad@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> "OmManiPadmeOmelet" <Omelet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote
> > "Curt James" <curtjames@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >> OmManiPadmeOmelet wrote: (snipped here and there)
> >> I scribbled:
> >> > > Well, after seeing the 140/100. I renewed my
> >> > > efforts at keeping a regular date with the
> >> > > treadmill. And I purchased a Polar heart rate
> >> > > monitor as well.
> >>
> >> > > My what? I'm 17 and I have bangs. Oh, I'm 43
> >> > > and bald? Hnh. When'd that happen?
> >> >
> >> > <snort> I know exactly what you mean..... :-(
> >> > Seems like yesterday I was just graduating from college.
> >> > Now I'm 43 and having to really pay attention to my
> >> > health....
> >> >
> >> > My normal blood pressure for YEARS has been about
> >> > 110/60 but over time, it's been creeping up there.
> >> > When it hit 130/90, I decided to really concentrate
> >> > on the cardio and get stricter about low carb.
> >> > I do 30 to 40 minutes of cardio now 4 to 5 days
> >> > per week at the gym.
> >> >
> >> > Lifecycle.
> >> >
> >> > Last doctors visit it was 100/70.
> >> >
> >> > :-)
> >>
> >> Excellent news!
> >>
> >> > My resting heart rate is back down from 110 to
> >> > about 95. Still gotta work on that!!!!!!
> >>
> >> HA! No, not that your resting rate is 95, but I initially thought my
> >> heart rate monitor was BROKEN. The damn thing was reading 90 to 100 and
> >> I'm thinking, "Well, THAT's not right." Then I put my hand on my pulse
> >> and my eyeball on the second hand and discovered that my resting pulse
> >> rate was, yeah, 90 to 100. WTF?!
> >>
> >> Thanks for sharing your success story. I'll follow up with my bp drama.
> >> And if I see that old lady with the 22 pulse (okay, it's not that low),
> >> I'm gonna DROP HER! Just for general purposes.
> >>
> >> <g>
> >
> > Good luck! I know how difficult (and scary) that kind of thing can be!
> > And David's advice on sodium intake was also spot on.
>
> That was Ari's advice. It was as correct as my usual brilliant advice.
>
> > I'd forgotten
> > about that as I've been following low sodium for so long, it's become
> > habit.
> >
> > Worst sources of sodium:
> >
> > Canned foods (unless the canned veggie says "no salt added" which is
> > getting easier to get), luncheon/preserved meats, pretty much any highly
> > processed or packaged foods, salad dressings, boxed meal preparations.
>
> As Ari pointed out, only if he has sodium-responsive hypertension. Most
> people with hypertension do not.
>
> It's worth finding out, as low-sodium foods taste like ***.
>
> David
>
>

Initially, yes...
When I first made myself quit salt "cold turkey", everything tasted
bland. But I guess I was a serious salt-a-holic too. ;-)

Now that I've been eating low sodium for so long, there are a LOT of
foods that I cannot eat because they taste TOO salty! And it causes a
lot of problems if I try eating "out" as most establishments drastically
over-salt foods. Most of the food tastes like it came right out of the
salt shaker. Red Lobster is a classic example. I cannot even eat there
any more. Bacon is out, as are most luncheon meats. It's like sticking a
spoonful of pure salt in my mouth to try eating packaged ham for
instance.

You lose your taste for it rather quickly, and the "no salt added"
canned veggies taste fresher and less mushy. Two weeks and I could start
tasting the difference if I remember correctly.

For me, eating too much salt causes fluid retention and that will run my
blood pressure up a good 10 points. My doc says too that hypothyroidism
contributes to fluid retention, hence the Rx for Torosemide PRN.

Cheers!
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." -Jack Nicholson
.