How to Lower Your Blood Pressure without Drugs
by Dr. Ruth Heidrich
"Without health, nothing else matters."
"Our point of view is you get cleaned out in One, and lose weight in Two, and then in Three add one or two new foods a week and see. If you find it's not easy to overeat and your blood pressure doesn't go up, eat some foods you enjoy."
— Kitty Rosati
"The findings suggest that we need to do whatever we can to keep the transplanted pancreas functioning because it may protect against development of long-term kidney transplant dysfunction. The findings also underscore the importance of controlling weight, blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol – the variables that define metabolic syndrome."
— Jeffrey Rogers
"Success is much less important than health. You can be the richest man in the world, and the most successful man alive, but if you lose your good health you will be a very unhappy man."
— Lord Beaverbrook
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it - even if I have said it - unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."
— Buddha
"This is a modified version of the old diet, ... The DASH diet was a real breakthrough for lowering blood pressure and we changed it. We reduced the carbohydrate content and replaced it with unsaturated fat or protein, and it lowered blood pressure more and improved lipids, and overall cardiovascular risk goes down."
— Frank Sacks
"It has been proven having a pet companion can lower blood pressure, so I think that's important as well. But mostly for companionship. It's great to have love waiting for you when you get home."
— Laurie Cook
"It's comparable to the effects you see for the health benefits that are so often advocated such as exercise [to] keep your blood pressure under control."
— Louise Hawkley
"Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success."
— Edith Sitwell
"There's more to life than increasing its speed."
— Mahatma Gandhi
"Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon, and sleep like a dog."
— Li Ching-Yuen, who lived to 256
"Caregivers of those with a traumatic brain injury had their blood pressure recorded at certain time of day -- at meals and during other activities, ... The blood pressure of the people who had adopted the pets went down dramatically."
— Karen Allen
"Besides the companionship of the animal, people who have animals have lower blood pressure, less depression and less stress. With a rescue dog you also get a good feeling because you are saving the dog and I think they are appreciative."
— Lorayn Wasler
"Fiber has a major influence on body weight, blood pressure."
— David Ludwig
"Old age is not a time of life. It is a condition of the body. It is not time that ages the body, it is abuse that does."
— Herbert M. Shelton
"A woman needs to know about blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. And she needs to know the kinds of things she can do to stay healthy."
— Elizabeth Ross
"Living in harmony with the universe is living totally alive, full of vitality, health, joy, inner peace, power, love, and abundance on every level."
— Shakti Gawain
I'd like to share an article from a dear friend of mine, Dr. Ruth Heidrich. She shares her tips on how you can lower your blood pressure without drugs. Keep your blood pressure low, It can help you live a longer healthier life.
Lorrin Lee
P.S. Without health, nothing else matters.
How to Lower Your
Blood Pressure without Drugs
Back in 1952 when I first studied Anatomy and Physiology in college, I was told that normal blood pressure was 100 plus your age, as it was assumed that the systolic (upper number) would naturally rise as you aged. We now know that this is not the case, and that a normal (or healthy) blood pressure is said to be 120/80. Some authorities are recommending lower, even 110/70.
It does make sense that the lower, the better, because you decrease your risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, and more. In my own case, before I started running at age 33, I was borderline high at 135/85. Once I started daily running, my blood pressure has remained low, generally 90/60, ever since.
Your BP is supposed to vary somewhat, depending on needs of your body. It varies while sleeping, after eating, and certainly during and after exercise. While mine is frequently 90/60, it'll go much higher when, for example, I am racing.
There are three factors that we can control that influence blood pressure: diet, exercise, and stress. What follows are strategies to optimize each of those factors.
Diet: The best diet is low-fat vegan, that is, no animal foods nor free oils. This thins the blood naturally and makes it free-flowing and easier for the heart to pump. In particular, celery, watermelon, and pure cocoa have been shown to be more helpful because they increase levels of nitric oxide which in turn dilates the arteries. With bigger “hoses,” there’s going to be less pressure on the arterial walls.
Depending on how willing you are to make changes, try raw vegan whole foods — fruits and veggies with lots of leafy greens, even for breakfast. It should go without saying that alcohol, cigarettes, coffee, and added salt should be avoided.
Exercise: Any aerobic exercise strengthens the heart muscle which keeps it strong and efficient. A bout of just 20 minutes of running, cycling, swimming, etc. will lower BP for about 24 hours. That’s the good news! The “bad” news is that you need to do this every day!
Actually, that, too, is good news because daily exercise has many other benefits. Also, since a Vitamin D deficiency may contribute to high blood pressure, getting outdoors for your exercise has an added bonus, or if you can’t get direct sunshine exposure, you might have to supplement your Vitamin D.
Adding an hour a day of vigorous exercise, with vigorous being relative to your present level of fitness, has so many benefits. Just make sure it's enough to get you huffin' and puffin'. That should do it. If you're already doing as much as you think you can and it's not coming down, we add the next strategy.
Stress Management: In the few cases where diet and exercise are not enough, the problem may be too much stress and anxiety. While daily exercise is a wonderful way to manage stress, it may not be enough.
In this case, add 20 minutes twice a day of meditation or progressive relaxation. There are other fields to explore for stress management such as Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Thought Field Therapy (TFT) or Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).
Monitoring BP: Because of the phenomenon known as “white coat hypertension,” an obvious case of stress causing a rise in BP, it may be more accurate to measure your BP at home. Make sure that you get an accurate sphymomanometer, the fancy word for blood pressure measuring device.
You should also make sure that the conditions are right for accurate measurement. Sit and relax for 5 minutes in a chair in which you can lean back before taking the measurement. Don’t take it immediately after eating, exercise or stress, waiting ideally an hour or two.
Be sure to record the reading and not try to rely on memory, and try to take it daily at about the same time each day. As your BP comes down, then you can start to expand the diet if you like, but I do recommend staying with the vegan diet. But daily exercise should be a lifelong habit, like the vegan diet, for many other reasons.
Disclaimer: This is in no way a substitute for your health provider’s care. Be sure to consult your physician if you have high blood pressure.
For questions or comments, email RuthHeidrich@juno.com.
©Ruth Heidrich, Ph.D.
Feb. 18, 2011
Ruth Heidrich at http://lorrinlee.info/bloodpressure Dr. Ruth Heidrich is a six-time Ironman Triathlon finisher, holder of more than 900 gold medals from every distance from 100 meter dashes to 5K road races to ultra marathons and triathlons.
She has completed more than 60 marathons all over the world, including Boston, New York, Moscow, and has held 3 world fitness records in her age group at the famed Cooper Clinic in Dallas, Texas.
She also was named one of the "Top Ten Fittest Women in North America" in 1999.
She is the author of Senior Fitness, A Race For Life, The CHEF Cook/Rawbook, several videos and co-host of a weekly talk show, Nutrition & You on KWAI, Honolulu, Hawaii.
She is a graduate of UCLA and holds a Master's degree in Psychology, and a doctorate in Health Education. She has also taught in this field at the University of Hawaii. As of the year 2007, she has been vegan for 25 years and a daily runner for 39 years.
Learn more about Dr. Ruth at: RuthHeidrich.com

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— Dr. William H. Sebrell, Jr.
"Do what you can to improve, with what you have, where you are."
— Theodore Roosevelt
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— Sonia Lupien
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— The Bible
"Remember, you are punished by your bad habits of living."
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"A strong healthy body makes the mind strong."
— Thomas Jefferson
"Good health and good sense are two of life's greatest blessings."
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"Things that matter most should never be at the mercy of things which matter least."
— Goethe