Libby was diagnosed with chronic hypertension at the age of 23, with blood pressure more than twice safe levels. She was told she would be on medication for life and probably never have kids. This is her story.
Libby Babet was working in a pub in the heart of London in her early 20s when she started experiencing “weird” symptoms out of the blue.
“I’d get these terrible migraines and vision disturbance,” the personal trainer and entrepreneur from Sydney recalls. “One minute I was fine, the next I’d have such a bad headache I literally thought my brain would explode. Then I’d go red all over my face and neck, start shaking and sweating, and then feel this awful nausea and fatigue.
“This went on for about a year – fine one moment, then shaking, red, terrified and nauseous the next.”
While on a trip with her dad and sister in Far North Queensland, although Libby was a very experienced diver who could normally reach significant depths, she felt enormous pressure in her head after being submerged just two metres.
“Once again, I felt like my head was going to explode,” she recalls. “And I just couldn’t work out what was going on.”
Libby went to see a number of doctors, who put her symptoms down to anxiety. She stopped socialising and exercising and became nervous going outside.
It wasn’t until Libby went to donate blood one day that she finally discovered just how serious her condition was.
“The nurse looked confused as she took my blood pressure.”
Libby went on to star on Channel 10's The Biggest Loser
“She thought the machine was broken, so went and got another one. After taking my reading again she looked at me and said, ‘OK honey, I think we need to call an ambulance.’”
Libby’s blood pressure was so high, more than twice the normal levels, she could have had a stroke at any moment.
She started shaking, and her teeth were chattering. Finally, her symptoms were beginning to make sense.
At hospital, Libby was diagnosed with chronic, unexplained hypertension.
“It was incredibly scary and stressful,” she explains. “Overnight, my blood pressure reading had gone from a normal 115 over 70 to a reading of about 250 over 120. High blood pressure didn’t run in my family, and nobody could figure out the root cause.
“To be in a situation where I could have a stroke young petrified me. And obviously I was quite crippled by the ongoing symptoms of high blood pressure too.”
“I had a migraine every day and had such high anxiety. Then I was told I would need to be on medication for life and probably never be able to have kids. I felt very powerless and very upset,” she adds.
However, Libby, who was a journalist at the time, put her research skills into use to see how she could try and reduce her hypertension. She saw every specialist she possibly could and studied nutrition and fitness.
“I really didn’t want to accept that this was a life-long diagnosis, and started to wonder how I could improve my situation,” she says. “But still, no one could work out the cause.”
This marked the beginning of Libby’s health and fitness journey. Trying to heal herself through the right kinds of exercise and nutrition was also the start of her mission to inspire others to move more, eat better and live life to the full.
“They say that a healthy man has 1,000 things they would like to achieve, and an unhealthy man has only one goal. I definitely felt that. When your health is taken away from you, nothing else really matters. And while mine is a minor example compared to what other people are going through, this condition had taken over my life. I felt like I was out of control.”
After thinking she was infertile as a result of her chronic health condition, Libby had two beautiful children
It was a long journey, but eventually Libby saw an improvement in her condition and was even able to stop taking blood pressure medication.
“It took me seven years to get off the medication and another four to five years until I would get my menstrual cycle back,” she explains. “And incredibly, I am now a mum to two beautiful children.”
When it comes to fitness, Libby, who runs a fitness studio in Bondi, The Upbeat, and is a former trainer on Channel 10's hit show The Biggest Loser, believes that movement makes people feel better about life and good nutrition starts with the basics.
“I always say to people that you don't have to go to crazy extremes,” she says. “Just make some small changes. If you’re about to have a meal or a snack, just look at it and think, how can I make it better? Instead of peanut butter on your toast, could you have some mashed-up avocado? If you’re used to having a soft drink, could you switch that to sparkling water?
“You know, 10 minutes of movement after you eat something has a huge metabolic benefit, so if you can go for a quick walk after lunch, do it.”
It’s also why she co-founded Chief Nutrition, after noticing the alarming number of inflammatory, sugar snacks lining the supermarket shelves.
The biggest lessons for Libby as a result of her health journey are the importance of managing stress, sleep, nutrition and connection.
Libby with her husband Justin and two children, Izzy and Harry
Libby is delighted to come on board as an ambassador for HRI and is very passionate about keeping up with the latest health research – and the impact on the heart and other organs.
“Your heart is the core of your body and as I found out, if it's not operating correctly, then every system struggles,” she says.
“That was certainly something that I found out first-hand and that I want to prevent happening again to me and to anyone else I can.”
Libby is not just a personal trainer, she’s also a speaker, author, entrepreneur and mum of two. Outside of her work in media, Libby is the founder of multiple businesses including her Bondi training studio The Upbeat. She also co-founded sustainable activewear brand Earthletica and healthy snacks company Chief Nutrition and written a best selling book, Totally BUF. With her incredible passion for health and fitness plus her lived experience with hypertension, Libby is thrilled to be an HRI ambassador.