Marching Into The Peace Corps, pt 16: How To Lower Your Blood Pressure Naturally

In a recent email exchange with a friend, we were talking about soaking salty foods in a water bath for a half an hour before consuming them. She’s quite petite and has about eight pounds she’d like to lose, but I tease her and ask where she’s hiding it since she’s quite beautiful. In the ensuing emails, I realized I hadn’t passed down any information in regards to blood pressure since I wrote about removing excessive salt from my diet. So I decided it might be time to update my progress and pass on the information I’ve learned to you.

Salt is necessary for regulating blood pressure, so everyone needs some in their diets. It’s like fat – you must have some in your diet because fats make up cell walls, among other things in the body structure. It’s never wise to eliminate all from your diet in these two cases because they do serve critical functions. There are “good” fats and “bad” fats; omega-3 is a good fat whereas trans-fats are bad. In the case of salt, I’ve heard arguments you need iodine and this and that…and you can only get it from table salt. I think you can probably get all of the “missing” elements from table salt from a balanced diet; I suspect this is more marketing brainwashing to sell salt in a time where it’s demonized.

My initial blood pressure reading was 150/102 , which according to the charts meant I was half way through stage one of a four stage ranking system. The higher up you are on the chart, the greater your health risk becomes, which should scare anyone into making fundamental changes to prolong your life. At this point in time, I’m happy to report my blood pressure has substantially dropped. I’m on average maintaining around 120/80, which eases my mind. There are things I’ve learned about this process that could be beneficial to you or someone you love. I recommend you investigate them yourself and talk with your doctor about such remedies as they might not be suitable for you due to your unique health condition(s).

If your blood pressure is too high, the first thing you should do is get into the habit of reading the product labels while in the store. If you can leave the high salt products on the store shelves, it will not only remove the temptation from your pantry shelves, it will save you money, too. This advice sounds so boring, but it’s easy to waste money by accident.

As I started on my diet, I thought it might be nice to have a jar of low fat peanut butter in the house for those occasional indulgences. I don’t consider peanut butter to be a diet food by any stretch, but there are times when you first start out that the cravings are the worst because you’re going to the detoxification stage. It’s a temporary crutch to help you over the sweet/fat tooth stretches without going wild and falling off the wagon. I found a peanut butter that was a small container, had 2.5 grams of fat, and cost me $4.00. I got it home, it tasted like hell, and then to my horror I discovered I had missed the sodium and caloric intakes because I was watching for low fat. The peanut butter had 2.5 grams of fat, 110 calories per teaspoon, and 400 mg of salt! I threw it away instantly and was mad at myself for not noticing such things. Lesson: don’t selectively read nutrition labels!

For a short-term start, you might want to consider a natural diuretic like dandelion root. I say short term because you don’t want to dehydrate your system, and generally speaking, a water intake level that matches your health and exercise profile should tell you how much water your body requires . It’s a huge myth that if you drink too much water, you will become bloated. By consuming the right amount of water for your body, your system will not hold onto it – just like fat in response to diet starvation. You are also “telling” the body to flush out excess fat and toxins (this includes excess sodium) that are stored up in the fat cells.

Garlic is a wonderful natural substance that many swear will not only help lower blood pressure, but performs a whole host of other blood “cleaning” functions. If you wish to go this route, let me save you some time and frustration: the odor-free garlic capsules over the counter do not work. You’re going to have to dice the old fashioned smelly clove up and eat it in your food. This will make everyone stay far away from you, but you can temper the garlic breath by chasing the meal with lemon water.

Co-Q10 is considered by many to be something of a “miracle drug” that’s over the counter. The Mayo Clinic reports good blood pressure reductions with use of this substance , but their trials do not support other claims. Some sites claim it helps a variety of heart ailments as well as weight loss but that doesn’t mean you should go wild taking high doses. It is also being looked at for possible links that aid the body in battling certain types of cancers and infections.

Vitamin E and Vitamin C should always be ingested together as they feed off each other. They are a strong antioxidant cocktail that helps the body fight free radical damage. Reports came out a few years ago stating that mega doses of vitamin E could be potentially hazardous to your health and recommended the daily dose not exceed 400 I.U.’s, which is helpful to know.

Pomegranates are also a wonderful natural fruit (when you can find them) that is sky high in antioxidants and are beneficial to your body. They are worth their weight in gold, nutritionally speaking, and should be snapped up in quick order! Pomegranate juice is another story; I have tried it and quite frankly, it doesn’t taste anything like pomegranate. If you read the labels carefully, you will notice most have added salt and they are produced from concentrate. Save your $3 to $5 per container price tag because it’s not worth it!

The new rising star in the antioxidant fruit world are goji berries from Tibet . Goji berries are the color of cranberries and look like over dried raisins, but reportedly pack and even bigger wallop than pomegranates. There are things you need to watch out for when you’re looking for gojis to supplement your diet is to avoid the goji juice! Antioxidants are sensitive to heat, and most of the processes that produce goji juice are heated, which kills the nutrients you want, so steer clear of it. The taste of the goji berry is mild and a little tart, but nothing your taste buds will revolt against. One more good thing about goji berries is that you don’t need much; the reports I’ve read suggest as little as 18 berries a day will go a long way, and they are a little calorie heavy to be used as snack food.

As always, watch the nutritional labels as some companies add salt or sugar, and you don’t want that. The price for this product varies widely, and as long as you get the Tibetan brand of dried berries (they’re the most potent), you should shop around, including over the Internet. I have seen one pound of goji berries run as cheap as $12 and as high as $50! So be careful!

An old star that’s often forgotten or ignored is bee pollen . If you are allergic to bee stings, stay away from this product. Some claim it will help you to become de-sensitized to the venom, but I can’t medically support or debunk this either way, so err on the safe side for health’s sake. With that said, bee pollen is controversial at best – some say it’s a natural super food, while others insist it’s complete quackery. Since it’s natural, I decided to give it a try; it claims to help lower blood pressure as well as help you to lose weight (because of its high lecithin content).

There are things you need to watch for if you’re going to purchase bee pollen:

• look for as much color as possible in the grains – it shows pollen from multiple types of flowers and gives you a broader range of pollen and in theory, better results.
• If at all possible, look for it in a cold refrigerated case. Store it in your refrigerator at home once opened to keep it fresh.

Bee pollen is without a doubt, and acquired taste. It is awful and hard to describe, and best choked down with a couple of sips from a low fat, low sugar smoothie. In time, you will get used to the taste and it will no longer bother you, but the initial taste bud shock is almost enough to make you never lift the spoon to your lips ever again. For your own benefit, don’t swallow it whole – chew it and break it up in your mouth. I will confess it has taken me one month to get used to the taste, but now it doesn’t bother me in the least.

Folic acid in 400 mcg doses reportedly also helps to lower blood pressure in some women. If you think taking more will help you reduce it faster, you’re out of luck and it doesn’t work that way. Stick faithfully to this small dose for best results.

Omega-3’s admittedly my favorite of all supplements that I take because they do so much good. My mood is always good, it helps to keep my hunger in check, and ladies, when it is teamed up with vitamin E, and you’ll notice a drastic reduction in monthly cycle pain and bloating. In truth, I have thrown out my pain relievers because this keeps my body virtually pain free. Omega-3 can be found in fish oil and flax seed oils ; if you choose to ingest the flax seeds, grind them up first or they will pass through your system without releasing any of the oil.

Of course the biggie no one likes to hear is the best one: exercise. There’s no getting around it, so you might as well make friends with it, or at least, convenient enemies with it. You may be able to divorce your spouse and get rid of them, but you can’t divorce exercise and blood pressure. I’ve tried, and it doesn’t work. Exercise doesn’t have to be strenuous, it can be as light as a daily walk with Fido. Your heart’s a muscle, and you have to exercise it to make it stronger so it will pump a little more efficiently. Diet and exercise are your consummate “one- two” punch combination to knock out high blood pressure, and this fundamental should never be overlooked or dismissed.

In terms of my results, I know the cumulative effect, but I cannot point to any one specific aspect that has lowered my blood pressure. Then again, does it really matter? The main point is it has been reduced, and that’s a big relief and nearly twenty pounds off my frame.

There was a report that I heard the other day stating that 120/80 is a recommended set of numbers to aim for, but the medical establishments are pushing for even lower numbers for the health of the country. If I had kids, I would want to be in the best shape to see them grow up, marry, and give me the gift of grandchildren. Since I’m not married, I am instead aiming for a life in the Peace Corps so I can help other peoples’ children.

What’s your reason for wanting to live a good, long, healthy life?

If you don’t like trying to find all the segments of this series, you can locate the links to them here and they will return you the exact spot on the socyberty.com site.

quazen.com articles by this writer can be found here

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relijournal.com articles are here

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