No exercise for a few days, up it goes

I haven't done anything remotely physical since Monday's 64 mile bike ride. This morning's reading:
138/87

The Omron machine I use to take readings has a nice feature that averages three readings taken one minute apart. Those are:
138/89
137/87
138/85

Top number is pretty darn consistent, as is the bottom, though I'll take that slight downward diastolic trend from 89 to 85 as I remained still for a few minutes.

Given this morning's reading, I would usually motivate to run around Green Lake or go on a bike ride to pull my bp down, but this weekend myself and seven others are climbing Mt. Adams, so I will save my weary muscles and bones for that and assume that it will be enough exercise for several days to come.

Also of note: my pulse rate this morning is 45. When in the 40's I used to assume the low number was due to Atenalol, which my doctor says lowers your heart rate. Now that I've been off it for a while, it's kind of nice to see that it's still in the 40's.

This blog's next post will be next week after this weekend's Mt. Adams trip. In the future I plan on writing about some of the many topics in The High Blood Pressure Solution, like why exercise lowers blood pressure, why the potassium/sodium ratio matters, my experience with two different blood pressure home monitors, and more.

As a final note, yesterday it was confirmed that I will be showing photos from our May Eastern Europe trip at Motore Coffee next month. The show will focus on Romania. Below is a Bucharest scene I think I'll include.

Still not so shabby

This morning's reading is better than I expected given last night's activities:
127/85

I'm still feeling the effects of pre-Sounder's game beers and post celebratory beers. A delicious hamburger at St. Andrews pub isn't exactly heart-conscious food, either. However, I skipped the bacon and the meat was 100% antibiotic free and organic, so there you go.

The reading above is especially pleasing given that I haven't popped an Atenalol in well over a month, and my readings in my pre-Atenalol days, about 4 years ago, were sometimes nastily high. Still, having the top number below 120 and the bottom number below 80 are my goal, so no resting on laurels!

Still down

After yesterday's bike ride, and a day of eating well, the reading is still good. Just a few minutes ago, my morning bp read:
126/79

Richard Moore in his book The High Blood Pressure Solution makes it clear that changes to diet do not take affect immediately. In many cases it can take weeks or months, especially when the bp has been high for a long time. Consequently, I don't pretend to think that a quick fix in diet can readjust blood pressure. However, my hope is that after doing this thing for a couple months and having good blood pressure for a little while that a brief respite from conscientious eating can quickly return the body back to where it was.

Time will tell. I am taking today off exercise to give my bones a rest, and I'll be having a few beers at the Seattle Sounders game tonight, so check in tomorrow to see where things stand.

For inspiration, I'll leave you with another picture from last week's Stujack Pass hike. The notch is the pass. Mt. Pugh is up to the right.

Just one reason exercise is good

I finished a 64 bike ride with lots of hills about two hours ago. My bp reading is now:
115/72

Sure this is temporary and will rise with time as capillaries constrict post-exercise, but it sure is nice to see.

The effects of salty, meaty, indulgence

Inspiration took hold after watching yesterday morning's rerun of the Tour de France so, despite threatening rain, I jumped on my bike and headed for a ride around the north half of Lake Washington. Despite feeling a bit sluggish in the beginning, the over sized portion of spaghetti for dinner the night before seemed to be doing its job because my energy felt like it grew with each mile - for the first half of the ride anyway. Three hours later I was home and had ridden 49 miles on a route that took me past Bill Gates' driveway in the hilly neighborhood of Medina.

Just before dinner, about three and half hours after completing the ride, my bp read a stellar:
119/68

Then came dinner with two old friends from Visio at Brauer's in Fremont. The menu is chock full of meaty goodness, and it all sounded so good! Knowing I've been paying close attention to sodium and potassium while exercising regularly, it seemed a good time to indulge in the mixed grill platter. The platter arrived with a healthy portion of roast duck, a giant sausage, and a juicy medium-rare chunk of steak. It was mighty tasty, and, after doing all I can to eliminate sodium, man did it taste salty good!

After indulging in meal so bad for one who has a low tolerance for salt, I was eager to see how it affected my blood pressure the next morning. The answer:
126/83

As stated before, I am no doctor, so am not sure what to make of the diastolic increasing by 15 points from the night before. I'm guessing that the low 68 from the day before is partially due to exercise temporarily expanding the capillaries, thus decreasing blood pressure. The bottom line, however, is that it is still better than readings I would get months ago when I was taking a daily dose of a beta-blocker. My change in habits appears to be working well enough to handle an occasional culinary setback.

Last night's mixed grill was good, and I'd be lying if I said I will not eat a meal like that again, but staying off big business meds to me is much more important than an ephemeral meal that is pooped out the next day. Today the diet returns to a tasty and healthy mostly-vegetarian fare.

SiCKO

This morning, after yesterday's hike up Mt. Pilchuck, my blood pressure is still nice and low:
124/75

Hooray for exercise beating the expensive little white pill! And as an added benefit I experienced some of the wonderous beauty in the outdoors of the Pacific Northwest.

I recently saw Michael Moore's wonderful movie Sicko. Given my feelings about the US health care system, there is no question I am one of the converted to whom it is preaching and I walked out shaking my head at how sad it is that a nation as rich and supposedly advanced as ours has such broken health care.

I find it a little amusing that the movie claims the United States ranks just behind Slovenia in health care when I was just there in May. I actually almost needed to see a doctor for an ear infection. The pharmacist I communicated with (to say "spoke with" isn't quite accurate given the language barrier) offered to have me see a doctor and asked for absolutely zero insurance information.

Another emotion hit me while walking out of the theater: despair. I mean, what really can those without health insurance, or those who fall through health insurance's cracks do? That's when I thought about this little blog here and why I started it. One of my goals it to rid myself of all dependence on pharmaceuticals. I had asthma and know that Albuterol inhalers are expensive, and I've dealt with chronic sinusitis and know that a round of antibiotics can run over $200. It is insane and I was lucky to have stellar insurance through Microsoft's carrier. It's no surprise that millions of people in this country aren't so lucky.

What to do then? Until the powers that be can learn from the socialized success stories of medicine in countries like Canada, England, and France, among others, you and I can find homeopathic, naturopathic, and other methods to cure problems the big business pharmaceutical companies want to charge you an arm and a leg for.

This blog has been going for only a few days, but perhaps it can inspire the use of non-drug solutions to help:

• Asthma - the Buteyko breathing method works. I know. I use it and went from 2x a day inhaler usage for over a decade to zero usage. I haven't used one in going on four years.
• Sinusitis - J's Nosedrops helps fight infection, especially combined with saline solution irrigation using a water pick and other non-drug solutions.
• Hypertension - Read "The High Blood Pressure Solution: A Scientifically Proven Program for Preventing Strokes and Heart Disease" by Richard D. Moore. Follow this blog. Having a low-salt, potassium-rich diet can do wonders.

My hope is that this blog can provide brief insights on all three items above using known sources and my own personal experience. It will also contain other relevant information about taking control of your health while minimizing dependence on the failure that is our for-profit health care system.

Until the next post...

Up and down Pilchuck brings bp down

It's been about two and half hours since completing a climb of Mt Pilchuck and my current bp reading is:
120/77

That's quite a drop from this morning. Ahhhh, the wonders of a little physical activity. Time for a cold beer.

Mt. Pilchuck is at the left side of the ridge in the photo below. The peak on the right is actually much lower and can be looked down upon from Mt. Pilchuck.


Happy Bastille Day!