Controlling blood pressure is the easiest thing to do, provided you know the fundamentals. It has to do much with your eating and drinking habits.

Look into the mirror. Do not see only your face. Look at your entire figure. There lies your future. How long do you think your body can go on accepting all that you stuff in, without applying any thought, just because your taste-buds like it? Do you know that overweight people have a higher chance of suffering from a stroke? Do you check your weight at regular intervals?

When you saw the weighing machine marking a fat gain of 16 pounds within a period of two months, why did you simply ignore it? It should have shocked you into action. The least you can do is find out what your weight is now and what your weight should be!

You need to be careful about what you eat as it is directly and proportionately related to your blood pressure. I agree that 'one has to be true to the salt,' but this does not hold true for you. You have to cut down on your intake of salt drastically, before your doctor tells you - no more salt! Avoid salty, and fried food. Adopt a diet that is low in saturated fat.

Two local remedies well known, to control high blood pressure are butter milk and lemon. Take butter milk regularly. It is good for both - low as well as high blood pressure. Lemon peel is also equally effective in high blood pressure. A shredded lemon peel may be added to soups and stews or sprinkled over your salads.

And tell me, have you stopped drinking or are you still contemplating the decision? If you have already made that decision, then let me congratulate you. But, if you think that you can not do it all at once, reduce the intake of alcohol. Just take a drink a day. If you are already under the watchful care of your family doctor, please follow their instructions sincerely. Let there be no holidays for the medicine and please keep sufficient stock in advance. If your doctor has called you this Sunday for a check up, then make sure that you reach there this Sunday itself and not, the next Monday.

Also, the doctor must have given you certain indications about the schedule of exercise that is necessary for you, such as, morning walk, light stretching exercises or light aerobics. Follow the schedule strictly. Your doctor treats hundreds of patients like you everyday. He has more practical wisdom about high blood pressure, than you. Go as per his advice and understand his treatments.

Regular check up of blood pressure is a must. You need to have such an arrangement at your home. Charts of your regular checkups will help your doctor tremendously in treating you. Let all the members of your family, your wife, and your children go for the check up, along with you, even if they do not have this ailment.

If you are taking basic precautions like controlling your diet and doing proper exercises - keep aside all imaginary worries and live a normal, relaxed life!