My Cholesterol Results Came Back High — So I Went Back to Basics on Blood Pressure Too

I got my lab results back recently. Total cholesterol at 242. LDL at 166.54. Both flagged above normal range. Doctor appointment is scheduled.

While I wait for that conversation, I have been doing what any IT professional with a health concern does — running diagnostics. Reading everything. Cross-referencing. Building a picture of what my cardiovascular system is actually dealing with and what lifestyle inputs I can adjust right now before the appointment.

Blood pressure and cholesterol are not the same problem, but they live in the same neighborhood. High LDL damages artery walls over time, making them stiffer and narrower — which directly contributes to elevated blood pressure. You fix one, you are usually helping the other. So this post is as much for me as it is for anyone reading it.

Here is what the evidence actually says — filtered through the reality of living in the Philippines, eating Filipino food, and working a desk job that does not exactly encourage movement.

The Salt Problem Is a Filipino Problem

Every blood pressure article leads with sodium reduction. Most of them tell you to stop adding salt to your food and call it done. That advice is fine but it misses the actual problem for most Filipinos.

We do not just add salt. We cook with bagoong, patis, toyo, soy sauce, instant seasoning cubes, and canned goods that contain more sodium per serving than most people realize. A single tablespoon of patis has around 1,300 milligrams of sodium. The recommended daily limit is 2,300 milligrams — which means two tablespoons of fish sauce and you are already close to the ceiling before the rice hits the plate.

This is not a reason to stop eating Filipino food. It is a reason to be aware of the cumulative sodium load in a typical day's eating. Cook at home when you can — you control what goes in. Use herbs to build flavor before reaching for the salt. When using canned goods, rinsing them reduces sodium content significantly. Small adjustments across multiple meals add up to a meaningful difference over time.

The science is clear on this: reducing sodium intake can lower blood pressure by five to six points for many people. For a Filipino diet that regularly runs high on sodium from condiments and preserved foods, the potential impact is real.

The Potassium Connection — And Why Our Diet Already Has the Answer

Potassium is sodium's counterweight in the body. It helps your kidneys excrete excess sodium and relaxes the walls of blood vessels, both of which lower blood pressure. The problem is most people focus on reducing sodium without increasing potassium simultaneously — and you need both sides of that equation working.

The good news for Filipinos is that the most potassium-rich foods are already in our regular diet — or at least in our backyard.

Kamote — sweet potato — is one of the highest potassium foods available anywhere. I eat this regularly because my mom peels it and soaks it directly into the rice pot with mixed white and red rice. She has been doing this my entire life without knowing she was running a cardiovascular support protocol. The kamote softens into the rice and nobody complains.

Avocado is another excellent source — and I recently wrote a full post about avocado specifically in the context of LDL cholesterol, which connects directly to this. My mom hunts for it at the palengke every season.

Saging na saba, malunggay, papaya, and buko juice — all potassium-rich, all available at any Filipino market or backyard, all things most Filipino households already eat in some form. The infrastructure for a blood-pressure-friendly diet is already built into Filipino food culture. It just needs to be used consistently.

Movement — The One I Can Speak to Personally

I walk 2km home from work every single day. I wear a Huawei smartwatch that tracks the route, pace, and heart rate. My daily target is 6,000 to 8,000 steps and the walk home accounts for a significant portion of that count.

I started this habit primarily for general health and step count discipline. But regular moderate-intensity exercise — the kind where you can talk but you are working — consistently lowers blood pressure by five to eight points in people who maintain it. The mechanism is straightforward: physical activity makes the heart stronger, and a stronger heart pumps blood with less force, reducing pressure on artery walls.

You do not need a gym. You do not need equipment. You need thirty minutes of movement most days — brisk walking, cycling, swimming, even vigorous cleaning counts. The consistency matters more than the intensity. Five days a week of walking beats one heroic gym session followed by a week on the couch.

If you are starting from zero, the most sustainable approach is to attach the walk to something you already do. Walk to and from somewhere you go every day. That is it. The habit builds itself once the attachment point is established.

Sleep Is Doing More Work Than You Think

During deep sleep, blood pressure naturally drops. This is not optional — it is how the cardiovascular system recovers from the day's demands. People who consistently sleep less than six hours miss a significant portion of this recovery window, and the cumulative effect is chronically elevated blood pressure even in people who otherwise live reasonably healthy lives.

My smartwatch tracks my sleep stages every night. The correlation between nights when deep sleep is logged adequately and how I feel the next morning is consistent enough that I take it seriously. If you are doing everything right on the diet and exercise side but your sleep is consistently poor — that is a gap the other habits cannot fully compensate for.

The practical moves: consistent sleep and wake times even on weekends, a room that is dark and reasonably cool, no screens for at least thirty minutes before bed, and avoiding heavy meals in the last two to three hours before sleeping. None of these are complicated. Most of them just require deciding that sleep is a priority rather than what you do after everything else is finished.

Stress — The One Nobody Wants to Measure

Stress triggers the release of hormones that temporarily spike blood pressure. Chronic stress keeps blood pressure elevated long-term. The problem in the Philippines — and I am saying this from inside the situation — is that stress is normalized to a degree that makes it nearly invisible. Overwork is a badge. Not sleeping is called dedication. The physical cost of that culture is real and it shows up in cardiovascular health over time.

I am not going to suggest meditation apps or elaborate breathing protocols because I know myself well enough to know I will not maintain them. What I do maintain is the 2km walk, the evening sikwate ritual, and the conscious habit of leaving work at work at least most of the time. None of these are dramatic interventions. They are quiet, consistent pressure valves that keep the baseline manageable.

Find yours. Something physical is usually more effective than something mental for stress management — movement processes the hormones that stress produces, which is why a walk after a difficult day genuinely changes how you feel.

Know Your Numbers

You cannot manage what you do not measure. A home blood pressure monitor — the automatic upper-arm cuff type, available at most pharmacies for around ₱1,500 to ₱3,000 — gives you far more information than a single clinic reading. Blood pressure fluctuates throughout the day. A morning reading before medication or coffee and an evening reading after a full day gives you the trend data that actually matters.

Take readings at the same time each day. Sit quietly for five minutes before measuring. Take two or three readings a minute apart and use the average. Log the numbers. Bring the log to your doctor appointment — that context is significantly more useful to a physician than one number taken in a clinical setting where half the population experiences elevated readings just from being in a clinical setting.

I have my lab results. I have my appointment scheduled. I am bringing data.

Mavs' Final Diagnosis

Blood pressure management is not complicated in principle. It is consistent in practice. Reduce the sodium load in your diet — which for Filipinos means being honest about bagoong and patis. Increase potassium through foods already in your culture. Move your body daily — a walk works fine. Protect your sleep. Manage stress through whatever sustainable outlet works for you.

None of these require money. None require a gym membership or a special diet or expensive supplements. They require the decision to treat your cardiovascular health as a system that needs regular maintenance — which, as any IT person will tell you, is always cheaper than emergency repair.

My cholesterol numbers are a reminder that I am not exempt from this maintenance requirement regardless of how many steps I log. The appointment is coming. The adjustments are already in progress.

Do your own diagnostics. Know your numbers. Act on what you find.

You might want to read also my blog about "Your Blood Test is Free — And Most Filipinos Have No Idea"

System Disclaimer: The information in this post is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a licensed healthcare provider before making changes to your health routine. Think of this post as a diagnostic report — your doctor is the one who runs the actual repair.

Sources: American Heart Association — Understanding Blood Pressure Readings: https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/understanding-blood-pressure-readings Healthline — How to Lower Blood Pressure: https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-lower-blood-pressure Mayo Clinic — High Blood Pressure and Diet: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/in-depth/dash-diet/art-20048456