As I mentioned in an earlier post, I would like to get enough potassium in my diet to stop taking pills altogether for my blood pressure. My family seems to have a history of higher-than-normal blood pressure, and I already considered it wonderful that mine is now much lower than it was a few months ago. But when I visited my doctor today, the first thing he wanted to do after measuring it (was 135/100) was add another pill to the one I'm already taking. He said the systolic number (135) was okay considering my age and predisposition to slightly higher pressure, but that the diastolic number (100) was too high.
I flatly refused to take another pill daily, and then explained to him what I was doing to get my blood pressure down so that I wouldn't have to take any medications. Until yesterday I wasn't really getting much exercise, which may be the reason the diastolic number (and to some degree also the systolic) is so high. I need a stronger heart, so it doesn't have to work as hard to do its job. Gotta increase the exercise along with the dietary changes and see if I can make enough of a difference voluntarily to get my BP closer to a "normal" range. He seemed optimistic that it was possible. I'm going to keep doing what I can and continue monitoring the numbers.
Can you please give us a tour of your juicer and talk about how you decided on a model? Also, what benefits/changes have you noticed so far and where do you get your produce?
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts about my juicer and how I selected it are on the Juicer and juicing tips page (see upper right).
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have increased energy and people are telling me I look better and have better skin, my primary goal is lowering my blood pressure. Juicing alone is apparently not going to get me there; I do need to increase the amount of exercise I do.
I buy organic produce whenever possible, and that comes from Whole Foods, Stanley's (at North and Elston in Chicago), and to a lesser degree, chain stores or smaller produce stands. Whole Foods stocks and sells a lot of organic produce, so their prices are reasonable and the quality is good. Stanley's has good prices but I will only buy what I can use within a few days because their produce doesn't seem to last beyond that.