BP: 126/79

At the beginning of the year, I set a few goals for myself as I do every year. One of those goals was to bring my blood pressure down via diet and exercise.

Needless to say, many people had a lot to say (both online and off) when I told them my diet would be vegan. My favorite comment was left on that post:

First of all, if you the type of person who thinks green tea can cure cancer and high blood pressure can be regulated with a vegan diet, you are practicing voodoo on yourself.

I’m not trying to call anyone out in particular. I had many comments just like that from friends, family members, and even a cashier at the supermarket (she asked why I bought so much fruit). Many people flat out told me that I was crazy.

Of course, there were many people interested in my experiment. There were even people who told me this simple change in diet would absolutely work.

Current blood pressure

As of today, my blood pressure is 126 (systolic) over 79 (diastolic). That’s 126/79.

Granted, this is not a perfect number. However, it’s a far cry from the 146/104 that I had when I started this experiment. It’s a number I’m happy with right now and something I will continue trying to improve.

Just in case you were wondering, this is not a one-off measurement. My numbers have been around that over the last few weeks. The numbers above are from today’s reading.

What changed?

I started with a vegan diet. However, I’ve since adjusted that to a vegetarian or ovo-lacto vegetarian diet. Basically, I eat a plant-strong diet with a focus on legumes, grains, potatoes, fruits and veggies. I occasionally consume dairy and eggs in moderation.

Outside of diet, I’ve changed little about my lifestyle. I’ve probably exercised less over the past few months than normal because of the crazy weather fluctuations we’ve had in south Alabama.

Conclusion

It’s entirely possible to change and manage your blood pressure through diet.

My current experiment only includes one non-randomized guinea pig, but I think the results speak for themselves. I’ll continue monitoring my blood pressure and other health-related items (I’ve got lots of data I’ll share one day). If anything changes, I’ll post an update.

For now, I think I’ll relax and eat a homemade bean and rice burrito from my vegan torture diet.