My Average Blood Pressure
Came Down. How About Yours?

I'm going to give you a sense of what to expect your average blood pressure to be if you follow your ideal blood pressure plan.

I started too late. My normal blood pressure had long gone before I became concerned about it. The fact that the medical and drug industries invented the term "silent killer" to describe high blood pressure didn't help any.

Whether you are starting like I did with already existing high blood pressure or are smart enough to begin a program of hypertension prevention while your average blood pressure is normal, read on and take hope.

One word before I let you in on my success - "Silent killer" isn't completely accurate. A massive study published in a respected medical journal in the mid 1990s showed that the average age of death between people with high blood pressure who were taking blood pressure drugs was about the same as that of people with high blood pressure who weren't on the drugs.

I'm in no way saying that you shouldn't take the medicine your doctor has prescribed. In fact, I believe you should take it for now.

I do believe, however, that high blood pressure may not be as serious as we have been led to believe. Hypertension treatment puts 100s of millions of dollars in the pockets of drug companies and doctors. Draw your own conclusions.

As of 4/29/09, my average blood pressure was 138/74. That falls in the prehypertension range of 120 - 140 systolic. My weight on that date was 159.6 lbs.

On 9/17/08, my average blood pressure was 145/78. Weight was 163.0 lbs.

Three years ago, my blood pressure averaged 170/85. I weighed around 171 lbs.

All these figures are without drugs. Three years ago, I was on Lisinopril for several weeks. That knocked my average blood pressure down into the lower 140s systolic from 170.

As you can see, my average blood pressure is now lower than it was with the drug. Yeah!

Okay, how did I do it?

1. I changed my attitude to I am responsible for my health, and all other people are at best advisors.

2. I became dedicated to achieving normal blood pressure.

3. Goals - Reach an ideal blood pressure of 115/75 and weight of 150 lbs. in five years (2011) through natural means.

4. I measure my progress weekly on a digital scale and blood pressure monitor and record the values. I weigh in on Wednesday mornings. Usually on Mondays, I start checking my weight, then I do whatever I need to do to meet my target weight of 1/10th of a pound less than the Wednesday before.

Everybody's blood pressure varies during a day and from day to day, so the best way to judge progress with it is to take it at the same time each week and average it over time.

I take it on Wednesday mornings and keep a running record of the values, which I average over 10 weeks. That's called a 10 week moving average. Over the last 10 weeks, I had the following systolic readings: 138, 137, 140, 138, 141, 127, 143, 135, 140 and 133. These 10 readings average 137.

To give you an indication of my progress, 10 weeks ago my moving average blood pressure was 142. That's five points systolic, and I am very happy with it.

5. My diet has changed over the past three years. It is basically a Blood Type O Diet with a slant toward a Mediterranean Diet.

I violate it at least one day a week, but it is what I always come back to. It is my standard. Yours might be different, so be sure to check out the various diets to find what's best for you.

I don't use processed foods (foods that come in packages). I feel that is major no matter what diet you are on.

For protein, I eat beef and poultry ( small portions), fish, tofu, nuts and seeds.

I avoid wheat and milk products. I eat all other grains except for oats and corn, but I'm a popcorn freak, so eat that once a week usually. I drink soy milk and almond milk (my favorite).

One violation - my wife and I go for ice cream once a week.

I eat lots of vegetables, cooked or raw.

I eat several servings of fruit each day.

I am not a zealot on food. I can violate my diet without suffering a guilt trip. And, I usually enjoy my violations, but I always come back to my standard diet with pleasure.

6. I make sure I get enough sleep. For me, that is 8 hours a night on average. I relax reading or in front of the computer or at the dinner table. On weekends, I watch a movie with my wife.

7. I take a range of supplements because the vitamin, mineral and phytonutrient value of commercially produced food has decreased about 75% of the last forty years.

But specifically, here are three supplements that have lowered my average blood pressure - Coenzyme Q10, pomegranate extract, and dark chocolate.

I have taken pomegranate extract in liquid and capsule forms for about a year. The extract helps clean out the arteries.

I added Coenzyme Q10 two months ago. Within two weeks of starting 50 mg a day, my systolic pressure dropped 2-3 points.

I started a square of 85% dark chocolate daily about three weeks ago. I don't know its exact effect, but it feels right. Some reports state 2-3 point drop in systolic. I believe it.

8. I exercise by walking three times a week for 30 minutes. I can't tell you what effect this has had, but I feel better for it, and most reports highly encourage moderate exercise.

9. I use a blood pressure lowering device called BPDown. It requires paced breathing and hand tension exercise. Like the exercise, I can't tell you what it's done to my blood pressure, but it feels right so I keep it up. Many experts recommend deep breathing.

10. I have decreased my weight from 172 to 159 in three years. Weight loss is highly recommended for blood pressure reduction. I have no idea what it's done for me although my blood pressure has gone down along with my weight.

11. I changed my lifestyle by passing up most sweets, starting to exercise, and avoiding the common vices of smoking and drinking. I relapse occasionally.

12. My former doctor was a drug pusher. I feel that any doctor who pushes drugs as the main attack against a disease doesn't understand the disease or its cause. I found an Osteopathic doctor (DO) who doesn't push drugs as the sole handling (although he recommends them).

13. This last is controversial, and I can't give you medical advice, but this is what I did - I took a blood pressure drug for several weeks, then stopped taking it. I could have continued it and maybe I should have.

For me though, I feel that I would have come to depend upon the drug and would not have done all I have done to lower my blood pressure naturally. Call it my weakness, but I think the necessity to eat right and make other healthy changes would have been submerged by the drug.

I'm glad I dropped the drug, but you need to take a good look at what you are going to do.

Okay. That's what I did. My average blood pressure proves my success. Over to you.

Return to Your Plan
Return to Home Page from Average Blood Pressure