Considering that that healthy lifestyle change tends to involve eating more vegetables, I'm not sure what the point is of attaching that message to these threads is. As I see it, since you can't wave a magic wand and *poof* suddenly a person is living a whole new healthy lifestyle, discussing vegetables that can help a person's individual health concerns is a valid and interesting route towards a healthier lifestyle. And if a person wants to do more gardening as a result, then even more health may ensue. But those comments sound like "don't bother"...? Re: medications. Medications do not "cure" any of the conditions currently discussed here. Like the herbs and vegetables under discussion they help mitigate the symptoms while doing nothing about the underlying cause. Unlike vegetables and many herbs (I'm speaking of them in their whole, fresh form, not as concentrated supplements), modern medications tend to have certain unpleasant side-effects that can cause a marked decrease in quality (and sometimes quantity) of life. Pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer from your blood sugar-lowering medication, anyone? Or maybe just struggling through every day, unable to get anything done because of overwhelming tiredness despite getting 10, 11, 12 hours of sleep only to find that the cause of your inablity to function is actually a result of the blood-pressure-lowering medication your Dr just prescribed? (That little gem is listed innocuously as "fatigue".) There is plenty of good, current, scientifically validated litereature out there for anyone who wishes to read more about the subject. The book I mentioned by Mr. Duke in the other thread really is a good starting point. He used to work for the USDA. Dr. Andrew Weil also writes accessibly on the subject.

I am 73 years old. Some 30 years ago, my BP started going up, and I was advised to reduce salt. I did it and monitored my BP every day, and watched it go down gradually but steadily. and it stayed down for a few years. Then it started climbing again, and I started taking anti-hypertensive medications. I now take two different such medications to keep my BP within normal range, and I watch my diet. Eliminating salt from your diet is very difficult because so many things contain salt. It's not just avoiding the salt shaker and avoiding salt in the food you cook. Most people do not know it, but milk, bread and most cold cuts and cheeses contain salt. Meats and fishes also contain some salt. The only things that contain no salt are potatoes, fruit and veggies, rice, grains, beans and unsalted nuts. You can accustom your taste buds to "like" unsalted food and, after a few weeks, you will find even lightly salted things too salty and wonder how you ever ate them. Depending on your personal situation, you might make life very complicated for the people you live with. If you decide to embark on this low sodium effort, make sure your BP elevation is not so high as to pose a serious risk, because you could do yourself harm if you do not get your BP under control promptly. Another thing to consider is that some people with high BP have a form of the disease that is particularly salt-sensitive. They respond especially well to reduced sodium intake. If your illness is not of that type, then you will probably eventually find that sodium restriction does not afford you the degree of BP control that you need, and you will have to start taking medication. Of you can try calcium supplements, but they can be constipating. The cheapest and for most people safest starting antihypertensive medication is hydochlorthiazide (HCZT), which is available as a generic and costs less than $20 per month. It's a very safe drug, and you will probably not experience any unpleasant side effects. Blood pressure control is one of the few areas where the drug industry has succeeded very well. The available treatments are highly effective and extremely safe. You will hardly know you are taking any medication, and the "silent killer" can be kept safely at bay.

I have HoMedics from Walgreens and can not recommend it. I bought my unit about 3 yrs ago, so changes could have been made in the intrim. It is easy enough to use and has a good display. My gripe: Suspected accuracy. I have to take more than one reading to get a repeat reading. The first reading is always higher than the next try, and its is high by a significant amount. The pressure sensor seems to have hysteresis.

oldgardener unfortunately that is definitely not an absolute, I and my mother experience the severe coughing with every type, some are rated as lower chance of causing it but any can cause it. Even the atenolol will cause me to cough when I have tried a stronger dose. I am not the norm, my doctors reached that conclusion pretty quickly, but they do try when new ones come out that are not a high coughing risk, I give it a try but so far no luck. Which will be bad if I ever had to stop the atenolol.