A Salty Post

Studying: Still Reading in the Psalms
Thoughts: Good

I came to the realization the other day that I'm getting old. Now before you laugh, let me explain. Yes, I know I'm only 31 and by all accounts still fall under the "spring chicken" category, but I think I'm in the late May stages of my "spring" days. It struck me on my birthday just how fast the last ten years passed by. I'm starting to say things like "I haven't seen that person in 15 years" now. I get on Facebook and look at pictures of old high school and college classmates and they are almost all in the beginning stages of baldness with either developed or developing spare tires around the midsection, and the guys aren't looking too good either.

To top it all off last week I took my blood pressure just out of curiosity. To my surprise it was 140 over 85, which is called "prehypertension" in medical terms. I took it several times over several days, and it still was registering in the high 130's and mid 80's. In other words, too high. In some ways I wasn't surprised though since the main staple of most people's diets here in Russia is salt. It doesn't help either that salt is one of my favorite seasonings too. So the first thing I did was consult Dr. Google. I visited all of the reputable websites like webMD, and read up on what I was supposed to do. The advice was fairly straightforward, limit salt and caffeine and get plenty of potassium and exercise. The exercise part hasn't been a huge problem since coming here since we tend to walk quite a bit. I figure on average I get about 2 miles a day if not more. But my problem has been the salt and caffeine. I had been drinking about 3 cups of coffee a day, sometimes 4 and I usually topped that off with a glass of two of Diet Coke. On top of that for some time now I have had the very bad habit of adding salt to almost everything I eat. So when I saw the blood pressure numbers I knew some changes had to be made. I did the math. The recommended amount of sodium one should get each day is about 2500mg. I was probably getting more than twice that.

So I started immediately. I limited myself to about one-and-a-half cups of coffee per day and completely cut out any other caffeinated drinks. I started eating foods low in salt and quit adding salt all together to anything. Then I started eating more fruit. So I took my blood pressure last night and to my surprise it was 122 over 75. Now, I don't know if things are supposed to drop that fast, but I took it four times, even in the other arm to make sure. Sure enough, my blood pressure was back to basically "normal" levels.

It's things like this though that make me think about how short life is. I look at myself in the mirror and see that the rug is thinning on top, the back aches more and my eyesight is not getting any better. While I can "take care of myself" and do all I can to maintain my health, I cannot escape the fact that I'm a machine that is constantly in a state of breaking and wearing down. Don't worry, I'm not depressing over this, but I'm being practical and trying to look at from a Biblical perspective, asking the question "What can I do with the days that I have left?" My hope is to better serve Christ and do the work that he has called me to do.