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There are loads of different ways to live a healthy life. We all wanted to live longer but are we doing what we should do to keep our body fit and strong?
It was in the news a couple of weeks ago that now, the leading cause of death among Filipinos is heart attack, beating cancer. This little story I want to share may be a simple reminder to all of us during this Heart Month.
Yesterday, I accompanied my father to the hospital. We endured almost two hours of waiting in line to consult to this cardiologist. My dad’s blood pressure reached 200/130 (or something) last Friday and got double vision due to his skyrocketing BP.
He kept on telling the doctor that his normal systolic is between 140 to 160. The cardiologist, Dr. Michael Charles Tabora of Mary Mediatrix Medical Center, refused to agree with my dad terming it ‘normal’ because it’s not. My Dad’s regular (I refused to term it normal, too) BP swings between Hypertension Stage 1 and 2 categories. His BP last Friday was under the Hypertensive Crisis category (emergency care needed) according to American Heart Association.
I’m writing this because I want to share what I’ve learned from my Dad’s consultation. Sa tuwing may isa sa amin na nagkakasakit o may nararamdamang hindi maganda, instant ang pagwo-worry ko. I kept on reminding myself that health is wealth nga naman.
Now, I want you to be reminded of that as well. The cardiologist said that if my Dad does not work on bringing his blood pressure to normal, heart attack or stroke is possibly on its way. And we don’t want that to happen.
Then appeared this diet plan and blood pressure monitoring sheet. Hahaha. I was first to check on it while Dr. Tabora was asking Dad a few more questions. Foods allowed and Not Allowed. Uh-oh. Although mas marami yung under ng ‘Allowed’ column, when I checked on the ‘Not Allowed’ column, lahat nang nandun kinakain ng Daddy! Medyo bad.
Bawal ang processed at canned meats, canned vegetables (kahit tomato sauce), fruit juice, at iba pa dahil mataas sa sodium content. Bawal ang chicken skin, full-fat dairy, butter, margarine, dahil sa saturated fat at trans fat. No caffeinated drinks like coffee, softdrinks, and tea (with caffeine). Marami pang ngayon ko lang nalaman na bawal pala.
He did this low-salt-low fat-low-cholesterol diet five years ago when he was hospitalized due to hypertension and numbness of extremities. Dr. Tabora suspected that it was “stroke na hindi tumuloy” so to prevent that from happening again, he prescribed a maintenance drug and instructed me to monitor if my Dad will do as told.
Listed below the BP monitoring chart given by the doctor are old-time guidelines on how to prevent high blood pressure. Avoid stress. Do not smoke. Avoid alcohol (control or limit intake). Know your weight. And so on.
Ngayon, damay damay na sa bahay sa pag-embrace sa healthy living. Ehem. Sana mapanindigan.
This, is ‘be careful with my heart’ beyond the Jose Mari Chan love song and the mega-hit TV series.
Photo: www.hammies.com
