After 27 yrs of being on meds for bp (highest being 200 something over 120 ), I have finally found what works for this body.

This past year I began using an autopap machine at night for sleep apnea and have been mostly doing neanderthin low carb. I fell off the low carb wagon for awhile and my weight bumped back up from 204 to 213 but now that I'm back on I'm confident its coming down again and will reach a healthy weight. Post menopausal 50 something women have a different challenge than young ones!

Anyway...back to the bp...after years of praying and asking God to either heal me or show me what to do so I could get off the bp meds (who needs the expense and the side effects?)....He showed me. Just dropped it inside of me that in addition to Neanderthin, I am to juice daily: a glass oif cabbage/carrot/garlic and celery followed by some water. Thats it. And if my bp seems to be rising, drinking a glass brings it right back down. Salt, grains (even brown rice), dairy, frankenfood, starches, complex or simple carbs, sugars (some fresh fruit is ok) all will cause my bp to spike....I spiked it a couple weeks ago when I decided I'd eat like the men in my family do...english muffins, pizza...BAM it went up 180/110. It does that with just a little sea salt or reg salt too...even a one time bit of it. There is NO wiggle room in this for me except for some peanut butter to dip my apple slices into. So...now I'm off of all medicines and bp is doing nicely at 124/76 and I'm sure that as I continue doing what God showed me it'll return to the 117/64 where it was before I blew it a couple weeks ago...Hope this helps anyone out there who may still have hypertension after doing neander/paleo...give the juice a try...probably has to do with potassium. Terry

If I can make a suggestion, try using salt substitute. It is made from potassium and it should help your BP!

Congrats on making the life style changes to make it work!

I can't eat grain or dairy either, unable to completely digest either one and it really messes up my body in ways too many to count.

Thats good to know my bp is up for some reason and I want it down again.
Diane

While I agree with the general thrust of your post my concern is that cabbage is one of the greens listed as being a possible suspect in thyroid problems but, there exists some dubeity about this feature so there is this uncertainty, or could it be someone trying to hide the truth? Undoubtedly others will have something to contribute on this moot point.

Duparc...what concerns specifically re thryoid and cabbage?

I ask because after 27 yrs on bp drugs, whose side effects negatively effected the quality of my life and impacted my health for the worst, cabbage seems like a better choice. Do educate me! T

Try the search engine for goitrogenic foods which should produce some interesting information.

Interesting read. From what I read for certain people cruciferous veggies like cabbage, broccolli, brussel sprouts and cauliflower and to a lesser extent, radish, spinach and strawberries can make it difficult for the body to absorb iodine which can effect your bp. Also cooking those veggies can decrease the "problem" for those who exp it. I do eat lots of those veggies besides juicing. Becaue they are nutrient dense, I tend to choose those very veggies! I only found one site which detailed an amount of raw veggies in that family that would be acceptable should someone have problems, that is 1 cup 3 days a week. I feel energetic and really great so I doubt that its a problem for me.

Also the recommendation is to increase iodine consumption by adding salt or kelp/dulse...I can't do that because it causes my bp to spike. Even the seaweed sheets from the Asian store that say "o" sodium must have sodium from the sea because it spikes from them too.

My body IS stubborn about hanging on to weight and my memory is foggy at times, both of which can be symptoms of hypothyroidism BUT I've been this way forever and I don't have any other symptoms and the benefit to my blood pressure is undeniable. I may adjust the amount of cabbage compared to celery in my juice to see how that effects my bp and weight loss. Terry

While it is thought that cooking those items could reduce their goitrogenic impact the cooking also reduces their nutrient value. Some of the articles suggest that those with thyroid problems should be cautious about eating goitrogenic foods and this raises two problems; whom among us knows that they have thyroid problems pending; and, I don't think those articles imply that only those with suspected thyroid problems should hesitate in eating them; it simply warns against consuming in large quantities. They also suggest that research in this area is limited which suggests an uncertainty as to their downside but, then, why mention the issue if their adverse effect has not been established? Sounds mysterious!

Good points Du...also most of the foods listed are also touted on other sites as "superfoods" because they are nutrient dense. The advice has been out there for a long while now that eating cruiciferous veggies and "colorful" ones provide antioxidants and phtyonutrients that are sposed to be protective against cancer and a host of other ills and keep us in tip top shape.

Re cooking veggies...I've read that its easier for the body to absorb nutrients from lightly cooked carrots than raw, although just llike most other "nutritional facts" floating around in cyberspace, it may be another unproven theory.

I am grateful to live in a place where there is such a wide variety of healthy foods available and I want to keep things simple and basic in my choices w/out being blown off course.
Lower carb veggies, raw nuts and seeds, fish & meat and minimal lower carb fruits along w/water/water/water. I love fruit but I see such a major stall in weight loss now when I eat it that I'm replacing it w/veggies at present (except for lemons and limes as conidments) If i could afford organic and meat from grazed animals I'd do that too, but its not happening now, so I'm doing the best I can w/the resources given to me. T

"Ohio, famous, fabulous, never to be forgotten".

An off-topic piece of information here as I note that you hail from the State of Ohio. Obviously I am not aware of whether you have heard the story of the WW2 Malta convoys when the island was under seige but there was a famous oil tanker, an American built ship, with the name of Ohio, captained by Dudley Mason (UK), that your State hopefully recognises.

The Ohio was in a convoy named Operation Pedestal that left the river Clyde (Scotland) on 3 August 1942 to bring relief to the island. During its journey it was heavily attacked and frequently bombed by enemy aircraft and almost sunk but managed to creep into Grand Harbour at Malta. Only 5 ships out of 14 reached Malta.

The fuel the Ohio carried enabled air strikes to be restarted from Malta just when Rommel was preparing for the offensive intended to drive the Allies out of Egypt and which he had to abandon. This turned the progress of the war to the Allies favour probably for the first time since hostilities started in 1939.

The ship was so badly damaged that after discharging her cargo of aircraft fuel it had to be towed out to deep water and sank.

Anyone interested in this piece of interesting history of the Ohio might be able to obtain the book, 'Malta Convoy' by Shankland and Hunter 1961 ISBN 0 00 632964 0.

I had no idea...what an interesting tale. You do keep things eclectic on this board dear Duparc! Terry

This is a great thread!

I'm trying to get my blood pressure down.

I've been told several things:
Use less salt
Cut out caffeine (i'm down to 2 cups of tea a day now)
perform cardio

I'm hoping eating paleo again helps. I lapsed for awhile, and am back to following it.

I was told by someone on paleo to also eat low carb, so i'll see if I need to do that.

Thank you all for any additional help.

--Elizabeth

The last two days my bp spiked again....not sure why. I have eaten eggs three days in a row (after not having eaten any eggs for a very long time).
And I've had beef a couple days in a row...I was tending to eat mostly veggies w/a little meat. I'll have to be my own guinea pig and see what seems to be doing it. Cutting out the eggs first. I'll let you know the results!
T

Congrats on the drop in BP. Mine was definitely too high for comfort when I was on my fast-food intensive diet, got as high as 156/92 after being low-normal most of my life. A few months on a lower-carb, no fast-food plan and I'm back to 112/70.

No eggs and the bp is today a nice level 124/76. Thank you Lord! T