My dad gave me this mower that he’d been holding on to, which is just cool. It is human-powered, makes a clean cut, and is much easier to push around than a standard gas-powered push mower. I don’t have much need for it at the moment, but I was more than willing to take it.

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.

I spent the better part of this morning plowing the garden with my new 16″ rear-tine Huskee tiller. It’s a little late in Alabama for the usual planting season to start, but we’ve had a late winter with wildly fluctuating weather. I’m excited about the months to come and the tasty homegrown food that awaits.

A few weeks ago, I showed you the first round of design ideas for my brother’s graduation invitations. We decided on the third design, which no one seemed to favor. Granted, I didn’t have a good photo to work with at the time, so it wasn’t my favorite either. The above is a view of the original versus the current draft of what I have in mind for the invitation.

If there’s one thing southerners love, it’s pickled foods. Pickled pigs feet, sausage, and eggs are staples in many homes in Alabama. Tonight, my housemate and I decided to pickle just over 100 eggs. We’ll sell most of them at a nearby auction (they easily bring $5/pint) and eat the rest.

I haven’t done any print work since college, but I figured this might be a neat project. He opted for a fun, “high school” look rather than classy and elegant, so that’s what this design idea is based on.

The following are quick rough drafts of what I have in mind. Ignore the photo (I’m getting a better one) and the extremely rough spacing.

Do you like the general direction? Hate it? Ideas and feedback are welcome.

I took a break from my vegan diet for one night and went vegetarian. I wanted to try my hand at a more traditional Pizza Margherita (well, as close as I can get with the ingredients at hand). It’s about as simple at it gets, but when it comes to pizza, the quality of the ingredients is worth much more than quantity.

After the semi-success of my homemade tortillas, I decided to make my own bread. Let me just say that if you’ve never had homemade bread, you’re missing out on one of life’s greatest pleasures. Plus, it’s super cheap to make.

I tried my hand at making some tortillas tonight. My car battery died, which meant I couldn’t drive to town to get any pre-packaged ones. I had already made some bean/rice mix and guacamole on Sunday. So, I just threw them on my first ever homemade tortillas. They were not perfect, but they’ll beat store-bought ones any day.