When you google “How to lower blood pressure”, you are flooded with hundreds of results!
You are presented with a plethora of ways to do it, and that includes pathways like nutrition, exercise, herbal remedies etc.
I am not going to write an article summarising all these different ways.
And this article is definitely not medical advice.
ALWAYS consult your doctor about your blood pressure and any changes you want to make on medication, lifestyle changes like diet, etc.
Instead, I will tell you how I lowered my own blood pressure from around 155/85 mm Hg to around 130/77 mm Hg through only nutrition and NO exercise at all!
In this article I will discuss:
My High Blood Pressure History
First and foremost, let me clearly state: There is no such thing as lowering your blood pressure quickly.
If you have a stressful situation that causes a short term spike, yes, you can do that. Just get rid of the factor causing it.
I am referring to the lowering of your average everyday blood pressure.
It took me 7 years to do it!
BUT, it could have been done MUCH quicker than that because I only started actively working on my blood pressure about 8 months ago.
Before that, I only used medication to get my blood pressure lower.
I should also add that it’s my systolic pressure (the higher reading) that was the problem, not the diastolic pressure (the lower reading). I had a condition known as systolic hypertension.
Blood Pressure Medication
At my first doctors appointment where they realized I had high blood pressure, the doctor prescribed blood pressure medication (I didn’t visit doctors often, I tried avoiding them as much as possible).
You get many different kinds, but in my case, I was prescribed amlodipine.
I started off on 5mg, but the doctor raised that dose to 10mg due to the lower dose not being enough.
And I stayed on this for many years and my blood pressure hovered around the 140/80 mm Hg mark with the medication’s help.
Lowering My Blood Pressure Medication Dose
About 3 years ago, my circumstances changed, and I got a less stressful job.
Over the course of more than 2 years after that, my blood pressure dropped slightly so that my dose could be brought down again to 5mg amlodipine, and my blood pressure still hovering around the 140/80 mm Hg mark.
Lowering My Blood Pressure
At the start of 2022, I decided to really look into lowering my blood pressure.
I did a heap of research and spoke to my doctor.
It’s now 10 months later, and I have been off blood pressure medicine for a month and my blood pressure hovers around the 130/77 mm Hg mark!
Here is how I did it, without any exercise at all!
I plan to start exercising soon, and I know that will make a difference as well.
When I see more results due to that, I will add it into this article when the time comes.
1. Cut out sugar
Firstly, I cut out sugar. And by sugar, I mean mainly refined sugar that you put in your coffee.
I did also cut down on chocolate and sweet stuff, although I still have the occasional chocolate.
The main reason I cut out sugar was to lose weight, which is necessary for lowering blood pressure.
In 10 months I went from 103 kg down to 89 kg.
Besides for weight loss, I cut out sugar because it is bad for your health, and there is plenty of literature supporting that.
I wanted to live a healthier lifestyle, so sugar had to go.
2. Cut out coffee
I drank a lot of coffee. I LOVED coffee! Not instant coffee, but proper ground coffee.
But coffee contains caffeine, and I had mine with sugar as well.
There are a lot of articles with contradictory info on the effects of caffeine on blood pressure. I decided to cut it out because caffeine is a stimulant drug that is addictive.
Why didn’t I just go decaf? Well, decaf coffee isn’t coffee to me, I really dislike it. When I had a decaf coffee a couple of months ago, it gave me a headache. So you have to wonder what is in there that does that.
Also, cutting out coffee contributed to the cutting out of the sugar in the coffee, which in turn helped me lose weight.
3. Cut down on salt
I didn’t cut out salt completely, I only lowered my intake.
Salt is one of those well known culprits when it comes to high blood pressure.
I used less salt on my food and lowered my intake of salty dishes and snacks.
Again, I didn’t cut it out completely, and I lowered my blood pressure while still enjoying some of my salty treats.
4. Downsized my meals
One of surest ways to lose weight (which will lower blood pressure) is just to eat in moderation.
It’s not necessary to starve yourself.
I just downsized my meals and fought the temptation for seconds.
You’ll be surprised to see that although you actually feel hungry for more at the time, when you wait a little, you’re less hungry or not even hungry at all.
5. Cut down on junk food
I love pizza, and still have the occasional one, or a takeaway burger or fried chicken.
But instead of weekly, I’ll have one every second week, or sometimes every third.
Again, moderation is key.
6. Cut out alcohol
I cut out alcohol firstly because like caffeine, it’s and addictive substance and not good for you.
Secondly, I cut it out so I could cut out all the carbs in my beers that came with it.
7. Drink vegetable juice
I started drinking different vegetable juices.
There are 2 main ones that I focussed on:
- Beetroot, purple carrot and apple juice mix
- Pomegranate juice
I only drank about half a cup of each every day. There are some days I skipped, but that wasn’t the end of the world.
8. Cut down on meat
By no means am I a vegetarian. On the contrary.
But we would usually BBQ once a week, or at least every other week.
I love steaks and tjops!
But the problem with that for me was not so much the meat itself, but the salt in the spices that went with it.
We still BBQ, but not so often anymore, and when we do, I pay attention to go easy on the salt.
Final thoughts
I followed these easy 8 steps and 10 months after I started, I am totally off blood pressure medication and feeling GREAT!
Through these nutritional steps, without the need to resort to extreme exercise or anything, I lost 13 kgs in weight and brought down my blood pressure from around 155/85 mm Hg to 130/77 mm Hg and I am fully off any blood pressure medication.
It’s REALLY not that hard.
And you will also find that you can taste the natural sweetness or natural saltiness of foods without having to add all that sugar or salt with a heap of additives.
