What Helps Sherra, 72, With High Blood Pressure
Editor's Note
Any medical information included is based on a personal experience. For questions or concerns regarding health, please consult a doctor or medical professional.
With our ongoing “What Helps Me” series, The Mighty is leaning into what sets us apart from other health sites: We aim to provide real health advice from real people who live it.
In this spirit, we asked our community for the best insights and tips they’ve developed for managing their conditions. As always, they responded with their unique health stories, and we are happy to pass along their well-tested resources to you.
Today, we meet Mighty member Sherra. She is 72 years old and lives with high blood pressure.
Sherra, what helps you?
THE MIGHTY: What helps you most when your condition affects your physical health?
SHERRA: Eating a plant-based diet and eliminating meat, seafood, and dairy allows me to keep my blood pressure at healthy levels without medication. I also eat primarily unprocessed foods [and stay] away from processed oils and sugars.
What helps you most when your condition affects your mental health?
Gratitude! I am so grateful for the health I do have, and practice that gratitude daily through my eating, self-care, and lifestyle habits. My book, “Joyful, Delicious, Vegan: Life Without Heart Disease,” shares the ups and downs of my struggles with heart disease. The lessons I learned in the tough periods have helped both my physical healing and my overall resilience.
How do you cope when your normal self-care isn’t working?
Good health is a lifelong journey. When something is not working, I put that in the perspective of what is working well. Then I focus on listening to my body [and] considering possible triggers [like] my stress [level], activity level, quality and amount of sleep, exposure to toxins, [and] even certain foods [I eat]. If [my health] doesn’t resolve, I go to a medical provider for professional advice and diagnostics as needed. After weighing all of the above, including some research on my own, I decide on my next steps in consultation with my healthcare provider.
Thank you to Sherra for her contributions to our community. Did you find this helpful? Add your gratitude in the comments.
If you want to tell us what helps you, you can complete our survey here.
Image via contributor.