40 Years of Blood Pressure Advice in 1 Video

Lowering your blood pressure without medications is possible. People do it all the time.

But here's the problem. Most people trying to do it are making a mistake before they even begin. In this video, we're going to show you exactly how to lower your blood pressure naturally. Starting with something almost nobody gets right. How to measure it properly. This video is the most complete guide we've ever created on lowering blood pressure naturally.

But now you might be thinking, "Wait, this is a long video. I don't have time for this." I get it. We understand. That's exactly why we made this a compilation. We're taking our very best content on blood pressure and put it into one master class you can use at any time. You don't have to watch it all today. Save it, come back to it, go straight to the part that you need. Each section works like its own video. So, if you watch this all the way through, you'll start to see how everything connects and why most people never actually fix their blood pressure for good.

What if I were to tell you that you really don't have high blood pressure? Today, we're going to go over the top 10 errors that people make when they're taking their blood pressure. And then we're going to tell you how to do it the right way.

Mistake number one, using a wrist cuff. Wrist cuffs are convenient, but very inaccurate. There's a lot of position problems there. They just don't work. It's hard to use them and get them to work correctly, and therefore, you get a lot of errors. For a proper reading, the wrist cuff must be exactly level of your heart. Any deviation, even just a few inches up or down, can significantly skew those results, leading to falsely elevated readings and sometimes low readings. Wrist cuffs show more variability compared to upper arm cuffs. They are the gold standard, the upper arm cuff. To ensure accuracy, get a validated upper arm cuff that's been tested for reliability. This small change can dramatically improve the accuracy of your readings. If you must use a wrist cuff, ensure that your arm is fully supported and at the level of your heart and that you keep it move motionless. Don't move it at all. Keep it at heart level and try to mitigate those risks. And just better yet, don't use a wrist cuff.

Mistake number two, not resting before you measure your blood pressure. Imagine rushing into a doctor's office, climbing the stairs, or dealing with traffic stress, and running across the street and up the stairs before getting your blood pressure checked. That's very common, and it leads to a lot of errors. Remember, rest for 5 to 10 minutes before a measurement. At least five, preferably 10. That allows your heart rate and your blood pressure to stabilize. Also, remember not to drink coffee, energy drinks, or smoke at least 30 minutes before the test. And here's the thing, just don't smoke, period. And really, don't use energy drinks. Even mild exercise can influence your blood pressure reading. So remember that these scenarios are common and failing to rest before a measurement can lead to artificially high readings. Skipping this step can result in overdiagnosis of high blood pressure and unnecessary medication. For home measurements, create a calm environment by sitting in a quiet space and practicing deep breathing.

Mistake number three, incorrect arm positioning. The position of your arm during a blood pressure reading is critical. And if the arm is too low, the reading will be falsely high. Ideally, your arm should be supported and at heart level. Now, let's think about it. Think of yourself as a big sack of water. You know, when you're in a water tower or even when you're diving in the ocean or a lake, the lower you go in that column of water, the higher the pressure because water weighs more than air. So the lower you go in your body when you consider yourself a sack of water, the higher the pressure. So the highest pressure is going to be down in your ankles. The lowest pressure is going to be up here. Improper arm positioning can result in measurement errors of up to 10 millimeters of mercury. That's a big number. Many people unknowingly let their arm dangle or rest on their laps leading to incorrect result. Now, using an armrest or a table to support your arm can help you achieve that correct position where the cuff is at heart level. Consistency in arm positioning is key to obtaining reliable readings whether you're measuring at home or in a clinic. Also ensure that you're seated with your back supported and feet flat on the floor as improper posture can cause more problems, more inaccurate results and inaccurate inappropriate treatment.

Mistake number four, talking during measurement. Talking while getting your blood pressure taken is a problem. It might seem harmless, but it's not. It can significantly affect your results. Talking increases heart rate and it can raise systolic blood pressure by 10 to 15 millimeters of mercury. And again, that's a lot. Even breathing impacts your heart rate and your blood pressure. So think about that. Verbal distractions can lead to inaccurate readings, especially in clinical settings. So avoid this mistake. Remain silent and relaxed during the measurement and breathe deeply. A quiet environment can make a noticeable difference in the accuracy of your blood pressure reading. If you're measuring at home, turn off distractions like the TV or radio. Maintain a calm atmosphere.

Here's mistake number five. Using the wrong sized cuff. Using a cuff that doesn't fit properly is one of the most overlooked errors in blood pressure measurement. We see it time and time again, even in the doctor's office. A cuff that's too small is going to give you false high blood pressure, while one that's too large is going to give you false low blood pressure. For example, individuals with larger arms that use a standard size cuff, they'll consistently get high readings and don't actually have those high readings. To ensure accuracy, measure your arm circumference and select the cuff that fits within the manufacturer's recommended size range. Many devices now come with interchangeable cuffs or options for larger sizes to accommodate this specific issue and the various needs of larger arms. Now, not securing the cuff tightly enough can lead to errors as well. The cuff may not exert the necessary pressure to measure blood flow accurately. That cuff is measuring the pressure needed to impact the flow and even stop the flow of blood in that artery. So when purchasing a blood pressure cuff or monitor, look for models that include clear guidelines on cuff sizing and positioning as these are critical for reliable results. Regularly inspect the cuff for signs of wear and tear such as fraying or loss of elasticity to ensure ongoing accuracy.

But that's not all. We've got some more mistakes here and again they are common too.

Mistake number six, measuring at the wrong time of day. Blood pressure naturally fluctuates throughout the day, peaking in the morning and dipping at night. You know, cortisol tends to peak in the morning and dip at night, and it tends to impact your blood pressure, too. Measuring at inconsistent times can lead to misinterpretation of your readings. For example, a morning reading might be higher due to the body's natural circadium rhythms, circadian rhythms, and as we mentioned, cortisol, while an evening reading is likely to be a little bit lower. This variability can create confusion and result in improper treatment decisions if the trends aren't accurately tracked. So what I recommend is that you put the time of day beside every blood pressure reading that you record. Now, you can also just measure your blood pressure at the same time each day and preferably in the morning so we know what it is and you're looking at that what tends to be the highest level. Early morning, early evening, both of those are commonly checked. Those are generally recommended. Consistency is the key. And again, notifying us, marking whether it's morning or evening. Keep a log of your readings. Help your doctor identify patterns. One or two blood pressure readings does not I mean it helps but it does not give us the whole picture. It doesn't allow us to make informed decisions about your health. Consider using a digital monitor with memory storage to simplify tracking and provide accurate reports to your health care provider.

Mistake number seven, placing the cuff over clothing. Placing the cuff over clothing rather than directly on the skin is another very common error. And again, we even see it in doctor's offices. They make an assumption, oh, this is light, thin, it's not going to impact it. Don't trust that. Don't try to make an estimate. Especially thick or tight clothing clearly will interfere with the cuff's ability to compress the artery properly, leading to a false high or inconsistent result. Even clothing that might seem thin can sometimes do this, so just don't do it. The American Heart Association recommends rolling up your sleeves or removing restrictive clothing to ensure the cuff sits directly on your bare arm. And whether or not you have some arguments with the American Heart Association, most of us in the low carb community often do, and I have others as well, but I don't argue with them about this at all. They're right here. Don't wear restrictive clothing. Roll up your sleeves. Do your blood pressure measurement on the bare arm. For best results, choose loose-fitting attire, loose-fitting clothing. When you know your blood pressure is going to be checked when you go to the healthcare provider. Additionally, ensure that there's no bulky jewelry or accessories. You just don't want to obstruct the cuff's placement. Now, these simple adjustments can make a big difference in getting accurate readings.

Mistake number eight, not emptying your bladder first. A full bladder can increase systolic blood pressure by as much as 10 to 15 millimeters of mercury. Believe it or not, and yes, the evidence is out there. The research has been done. This is especially problematic, especially in clinical settings when patients just don't think about it. When they don't think about going to the bathroom, they don't think about emptying their bladder before the appointment. And then sometimes when you get in there and you're waiting in the evaluation room, you might have to pee, but at that point, maybe you're a little bit embarrassed. Don't be. To ensure an accurate reading, always empty your bladder before getting your blood pressure taken.

Mistake number nine, using a poorly calibrated device. Blood pressure monitors, like any medical equipment, require periodic calibration in order to maintain accuracy. A poorly calibrated device can consistently provide wrong inaccurate readings leading to misdiagnosis or again improper treatment. Many manufacturers recommend annual calibration checks which is often performed at a pharmacy or by the manufacturer. If you've been using the same device for years without maintenance or calibration, it's time for a checkup or an upgrade to a newer validated monitor. Investing in a reliable, well-maintained device is essential for long-term health monitoring. And if you think, "Oh, that's too expensive." It may not be. Compare that to the co-ay for inappropriate medications or compare that to the health impact of a wrong diagnosis. Look for monitors that meet international standards for accuracy and keep a record of calibration dates to ensure ongoing reliability.

Mistake number 10, not taking multiple measurements. A single reading can be misleading as blood pressure can fluctuate up and down due to stress, posture, or even room temperature. Taking two or three readings in quick succession and averaging them out provides a much more accurate picture of your blood pressure. Many modern devices include a feature to calculate the average of multiple readings automatically. Ensure that you wait 1 minute at least between those measurements to allow your blood vessels to return to their baseline state before pumping that cuff up again. This practice minimizes the impact of temporary factors and ensures that your readings are as accurate as possible. For even greater accuracy, measure your blood pressure over several days. Share the averaged results with your health care provider. In fact, give him or her the all the numbers. And don't forget to put down the time of day by each reading.

Now that you know the mistakes that you might have been making, see how to accurately take your blood pressure.

First of all, prepare before measurement.

Number one, avoid caffeine, alcohol, exercise. Refrain from using these things. Caffeine, alcohol, and smoking. All these things, don't do any of them before 30 minutes before measurement. Avoid intense physical activity. Intense physical activity within half an hour before taking your blood pressure. You do need in physical activity as part of your health behavior, but not when you're trying to measure your blood pressure.

Number two, empty your bladder.

Number three, sit in a quiet, comfortable place. Rest for at least five minutes. Take a deep breath before taking the measurement.

Correct your positioning. Sit with proper posture. That's number four, by the way. Sit with proper posture. Sit in a chair with back support, feet flat on the floor, and legs uncrossed. And if you're thinking about it, and yes, I heard it before. I did it wrong. I actually had my legs crossed on one of our more popular videos, the one where we looked at ABI, ankle brachial index. Oh, did I catch a lot of grief about that? And I should have. I was wrong. I don't do that anymore.

Number five, support your arm at heart level. Place your arm in a table or armrest where your upper arm is at heart level.

Number six, use the correct cuff size. The bladder on your cuff should wrap around 3/4 of your upper arm circumference.

Number seven, place the cuff properly. Wrap the cuff snugly around the arm, not too tight, not loose. 1 in or 2.5 cm above the crease in the elbow. The artery marker, if present, should align with the brachial artery. That's going to be right about here.

Number eight, remain still, silent. Avoid talking, moving, fidgeting during measurement. For some of us, that's kind of hard.

Number nine, take multiple readings. Take at least two readings, one minute apart, and average them. If readings differ by more than 5 millimeters of mercury, take more readings to get it into the average.

Number 10, measure both of your arms. Measure your blood pressure in one arm and then use the other arm. Take the higher reading as the reference arm for future checks.

After the measurement number 11, record your readings. Don't try to remember it. There's just too many of them. Record the readings. And what else did we say? Record the time of day of that reading. If monitoring blood pressure at home, take readings at the same time each day or at least make sure that you record the time that you're reading it.

Number 12, consult with a professional. If readings are consistently 140 over 90 or higher or 130 over 80 in people with diabetes. And remember, even if you think you don't have diabetes or pre-diabetes, most of us that think that actually do have it. So really focus a little bit more on the 130 over 80. And if you have 130 over 80 multiple times, see a health care professional.

But there's another reason your blood pressure might be high and we haven't covered it yet. It's called white coat hypertension. Now many people will say, "Oh, no. That's just not true. It doesn't exist." Well, it does exist, but it's not that simple. First of all, what is it? It's when you get blood pressure readings that are higher when you're in a clinical setting and it's due to anxiety, having the doctor and the nurse around, having your blood pressure checked. It's often used to explain away elevated numbers. Oh, I got white coat, high blood pressure, hypertension, so that means I'm really okay. Think a couple of times before you believe it. Because the condition is real. It's often overdiagnosed. And on a practical basis, here's the rest of the story. Research has shown, evidence is clear that most individuals with white coat hypertension also experienced elevated blood pressure outside of the doctor's office, indicating an underlying problem. And guess what? It's usually a problem associated with anxiety. So monitoring the blood pressure at home provides a clearer picture and often reveals trends that confirm genuine high blood pressure, real high blood pressure rather than an isolated spike due to the anxiety at the doctor's office. In other words, if you think the only place that you have anxiety is in the doctor's office, you should probably think again. The bottom line is that high blood pressure should be taken seriously regardless of whether it's attributed to anxiety from white coats or anxiety from something else or having a little bit too many pounds of fat around your middle or whatever reason. Take it seriously and don't look for excuses. Just take the blood pressure correctly and then you'll have a good diagnosis and then do the right thing.

Let's talk about the underlying cause of this problem. And we have to think about metabolic disease. Now, if you're saying that's not me, okay, are you remembering that only 10% of us are metabolically healthy? But there's another way of looking at why. Here's the biological reasons. The connection lies in connection with chronic high blood pressure and insulin levels. These things can cause our kidney to retain fluid. It also causes widespread inflammation of the arteries and damage to those blood vessel walls. Advanced glycation endroducts happen. And yes, advanced glycation endroducts, but it's not growing old. Here's the most common AGE. It's where glucose has bound to a protein. And I bet you, you've heard of the one. If you're thinking this sounds technical, the most common AGE, advanced glycation end product, is hemoglobin A1C. You see what happens is glucose binds to proteins. Now, why are we bringing up AGEs? Because AGEs, proteins like hemoglobin that have glucose bound to them, they're a product of prolonged high blood sugar levels. And these AGEs contribute to the stiffening of arteries and damage of pressure related centers in the kidneys. They cause us to retain fluid. And here's the thing, your blood pressure starts to go up. That causes more damage to the artery walls, which makes your blood pressure go up further, which often makes the metabolic disease worse. Does that sound like a vicious spiral? It is. And the problem is most people don't understand that vicious spiral. They don't check for it. And here's another thing to think about. By far the most common sign, first sign where people should be thinking, I might have metabolic disease. Of course, if you start gaining weight, but also if you discover you've got high blood pressure. Those are two of the most common first symptoms of metabolic disease. As we've said, pre-diabetes usually goes undiagnosed. Not often. It usually is undiagnosed. And it allows these harmful processes, this vicious spiral to wreck your metabolism, wreck the tissues and result long-term in heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney disease, arterial plaque, if you're a male, erectile dysfunction, all these bad things. Now, addressing metabolic health through lifestyle changes such as weight loss, improved diet, increased physical activity, all these things can reverse pre-diabetes, and dramatically reduce your blood pressure.

What if you could lower your blood pressure without prescriptions? Using things that might already be in your kitchen, things like teas, even juices and roots, things that your grandma probably used long ago, but science is only just now catching up with. Sounds too simple, too easy, too good to be true, right? Well, just hang in with me. Today in this video, we're going to go over the top five home remedies that actually work for blood pressure.

Number one, beets. Now, hang in there with me. Beets are full of nitrates. Nitrates are a chemical in the beets that your body turns into nitric oxide. You may have heard of nitric oxide. Maybe if you saw our video with Dr. Lou Ignaro, Dr. NO, nitric oxide. He won a Nobel Prize by finding this chemical nitric oxide that naturally relaxes your arteries. It's not a chemical from outside. Your body even makes nitric oxide. And what is one of the biggest sources of nitric oxide for your body? Nitrates. So you may be asking nitrates, nitric oxide, Dr. NO, Nobel Prize. What what does all that mean for me and my body? Nitric oxide is a chemical that your body makes to relax your blood vessels. Relaxing your blood vessels is what this is all about that lowers your blood pressure. Now, if you're thinking like I used to think, you know, I grew up hating beets. I did develop a taste for them. I thought they're a quote acquired taste. And if you're thinking, you know, does this mean I need to eat three beet salads a day? and get a juicer the size of a lawnmower and just overdose on beets every day. No, that's not the point. Let's make it simple. I know it can get complicated, especially when you have some concerns like I do, and I'm not alone. Most of us have this concern. A lot of beets have sugars as well. So, how do we balance all of these things? Here's what I did. I just got a simple beetroot supplement and take that on a regular basis. You know, with everything there's also a word, another word of caution. Have you ever heard of beet ura? Beet ura. It's beets in the urine. Beets can turn your urine pink. It's not a big deal, but just be aware. Don't get worried when you see it if it happens. So remember, like all high-fiber foods, some people get bloating with fiber. So uh be aware of the fiber in beets as well. The biggest thing to be aware of, I think, with beets is oxalates. If you've had kidney stones, be aware of this.

Now, let's go to another one. If I told you that there was an herbal tea that could lower your blood pressure by 10 points without medication, without other supplements, 10 points. Would you believe me? It's a tea and it's made from a flower. You see it a lot. You may have walked past it. My mom has a huge bed of hibiscus flowers. You can make a tea out of it. There's a couple of cool things about hibiscus. Believe it or not, a natural ACE inhibitor. ACE inhibitor stands for again technical geek speak, angiotensin conversion enzyme inhibitor. What is all this stuff? An ACE, an angiotensin converter enzyme makes your blood pressure go up. If you've got an ACE inhibitor, it makes the blood pressure go down. In fact, some of the most important blood pressure medications these days are ACE inhibitors. You may have heard of one like lisinopril. So, that's one of the biggest things about hibiscus tea. It's a natural nonprescription ACE inhibitor. Now, there's something else really big about hibiscus tea. It also is an antioxidant, a natural one. So, if you're wondering which ones, what you may have heard of them, polyphenols, those are the antioxidants that you see in hibiscus tea. But on a practical matter, you may know this. Blueberries, red wine, you know, people say blueberries are healthy for you, red wine is healthy for you. It's because they have polyphenols, the same thing that you find in hibiscus tea. You know, these polyphenols help with what we call endothelial function. Again, geek word. It just means the lining of the artery wall. So, your artery wall has two major components that you need to remember. One is the muscles that hold it and we loosen them up with those ACE inhibitors. The other part that's very important is the lining. It's where all the metabolic processes happen. The polyphenols help those metabolic processes. They help that lining, what's called the intima or endothelium. Now, if you've seen other videos on this channel, you might be familiar with the fact that one of the biggest risks for heart attack and stroke is what we call cardiovascular or arterial inflammation. So, now you begin to see that with hibiscus tea, you're getting a double whammy. You're relaxing those artery walls to lower the blood pressure, but you're also decreasing cardiovascular inflammation. So again, just think of your arteries like garden hoses. We want to keep them clean, open, and flowing freely. So you start adding too many kinks, too many little blockages, and you start getting more and more problems. The pressure has to increase to get flow beyond that. Hibiscus tea helps both ways. It helps relax that garden hose and it helps keep the kinks out. Now, studies have shown drinking two to three cups of hibiscus tea per day for 2 to four weeks can lower your blood pressure 10 millimeters of mercury. That's as much as a blood pressure medicine. It's also a good blood pressure medicine and very natural. So, here are the doses of this medication. Put two or three grams of the leaves in hot water. Steep it for a few minutes, 10 to 15 minutes, and then drink two or three cups a day for a couple of weeks. So, ready for the side effects? All of these things have side effects. With this tea, you can get interactions with blood pressure medicines. Remember, it is like a blood pressure medicine. Number two, it can cause some allergic reactions. They're rare, but they happen. It's similar to the ACE inhibitors. They have those, too. Also note, it can speed up how you metabolize acetaminophen or Tylenol. So, be careful if you're taking Tylenol.

This next ingredient has been fighting vampires for centuries. Guess what it is? It's right here in your kitchen. It's garlic. Especially aged garlic extract. You may not have that. You may want to consider getting some. Most people think of pasta sauces when they think of garlics. Please don't eat pasta, especially if it's a grain pasta. Uh if it's a konjac pasta, that's a different issue, and I'm not going to go down that bunny hole on this video. But here's the simple thing. The simple thing is garlic has a couple of chemicals that help lower your blood pressure. And if you're a geek and you want to hear those words that those two chemicals, one of them you may have heard of, allicin, A L L I C I N, allicin. The other one is you might not have heard of. I rarely hear of it. S-allicysteine, and I'm not going to spell that one. So again, it's fairly simple. It's like that that concept with the ACE inhibitor, the natural ACE inhibitor in the hibiscus. You've got a couple of chemicals here that relax that muscle layer of the artery wall here in garlic, the allicin, the S-allicysteine. Now, we try to avoid politics, but I have to make something that might be a political statement here. People get politically fired up about science these days. They also get politically fired up about just old folklore. The bottom line is these are both. It's old folklore to use garlic and it's new science. The evidence is clearly there. Garlic, hibiscus tea, both of them are excellent. Beetroot is good, too. You just got to know how to use it. Some people take it as a tea, some people put it on their food. I put it on my food. If you take it as a supplement, just one tablet in the morning and one in the evening. So, if you're wondering about the difference between regular garlic, raw garlic, and aged garlic extract, it's just quote fermented. The bottom line is this is what it does. It's not as pungent as regular garlic. Aged garlic extract isn't as pungent. It also concentrates those chemicals, the allicin and the S-allicysteine, and it stabilizes them. So, in many ways, it's a better form, but raw garlic is still great. And yes, if you're wondering about cooked, so is cooked garlic. That's where I get mine. So, another advantage if to the aged garlic extract is if you take that rather than the regular garlic, you don't walk around all day smelling like a garlic festival. Ready for the side effects? Okay. So, like the others, it can cause a little bit of bloating, a little bit of GI distress. Garlic can also thin the blood a little bit. So, be careful if you're on blood thinners. Just check on it. You can usually take both. And the third thing is, like a couple of the others, it does have some interactions with some medications. So, just check on the interactions before you take it.

Now, next is a wonderful tasting red juice. I've taken a lot of it in the past, but I have a problem because of the sugars in it. It's called pomegranate juice. That pomegranate juice has been shown to lower blood pressure by about seven points. So, before we talk about how to manage the problems with pomegranate juice, let's talk about what's good about it. It clearly does lower blood pressure. There's no question about that. And it's also got polyphenols. Remember those nice antioxidants. So it does both of those things. Sort of like hibiscus tea. Helps lower blood pressure and improves inflammation. Now my friend Jesus would say drink a cup of 8 ounces 100% pomegranate juice a day. And I think that's great. I actually used to do that when I was his age or when I was younger. But the problem for me is I'm older and diabetic now. I do something different. I take a pomegranate extract. Now with the hibiscus tea and the pomegranate, remember they are natural ACE inhibitors. One thing you might want to be aware of is you don't want to take a lot of those if you're taking some types of blood pressure medicines, the ones called ARBs, angiotensin receptor blockers. Again, geek alert and a little bit of complication. You don't want to take ACE inhibitors and ARBs at the same time. So, just remember if you're trying to control your blood pressure with lots of hibiscus tea and lots of pomegranate juice, talk with your doc about what medications you're taking for your blood pressure. If you're taking an ARB like losartan, I'm taking that. Then you don't want to try to control your blood pressure with a lot of hibiscus tea and garlic extract because then you're taking both an ACE and an ARB. I do take, like I said, losartan and I occasionally drink some hibiscus tea and I get a a moderate amount of garlic, but not enough doses of any of those to make an issue. Just be aware of it. If you're just early pre-diabetic like Jesus, you can take pomegranate juice. You just need to measure your blood sugar and keep an eye on it.

Now, this next supplement actually lowers blood pressure by 17 points. 17. 17 points. Hawthorne is seen all over the world and it's been used for eons or maybe millennia. I'm not a long time. Hawthorne is a small tree or native bush, again seen throughout the world in more temperate regions. He also wanted me to give you the scientific name of the two chemicals that are in Hawthorne that make a difference. I can't even pronounce one of them. I'm just going to give you one though because we've all heard of that. Flavonoids. So, at the end of the day, uh Hawthorne is like some of the other things that we've talked about like garlic, like hibiscus tea. It helps the uh relax the blood vessels and it helps the metabolism involved in the lining of the blood vessels as well. And okay, I guess we've got to talk about science. Maybe list one study. Here's a 12-week randomized clinical trial, double blinded. People took 450 milligrams of Hawthorne extract. They took it twice a day for 12 weeks. Nobody knew who took the placebo and who took the Hawthorne. But at the end of the 12-week study, the people that took the Hawthorne had much better blood pressure and metabolism. Specifically, diastolic and systolic. Remember diastolic's the lower blood pressure that dropped by an average of 9 millimeters of mercury and the systolic the higher one 17 millimeters of mercury on 450 mg of Hawthorne extract twice a day for 12 weeks. Big deal. So bottom line, you know, this is a video about home remedies, supplements for blood pressure. If you're interested in doing that, Hawthorne's on the must-do list. And again, if you're unclear and wondering how does it actually do it, I know I mentioned it a minute ago, probably worth repeating. All of the mechanisms that we've talked about before, you remember we talked earlier about nitric oxide. Yep, Hawthorne helps with nitric oxide. We talked about relaxing the the muscle layer of the artery wall. Yep, Hawthorne does that, too. We also talked about helping the metabolism, that lining of the artery wall. Hawthorne does that, too. Now, just remember, these are home remedies. They're like a supplement and as you could see even somewhat like a prescription medication but supplements and medications are not a replacement for lifestyle. Lifestyle is king and among the different lifestyle components like exercise and sleep diet is most important. So let me make a what I think is one of the most important points about this area. Blood pressure is a major increase, five to eight times increase for stroke specifically. Stroke is the number one cause of permanent disability. I have patients come to me and and say at first they're worried about heart attack. Then later on as they get more mature in this space, they realize they say, "You know what? I wouldn't mind having a heart attack and just going nearly as much as having a stroke and being bedridden or wheelchair ridden for decades. So don't mess around with blood pressure. This is serious stuff. If you can't get your blood pressure down using supplements, you need to talk to a health care provider. So, let me repeat again just to make sure that you've heard this. If you have blood pressure problems, don't mess around with it. And if you think I'm saying just go see a doc, go get on a blood pressure medication. Medication is going to fix it. No, that's actually not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that blood pressure is one of the most common canaries in the coal mine. It's a common first warning sign that you've got a life-threatening condition. A life-threatening condition that is the most important, the number one killer of humans worldwide. Unfortunately, it's way underdiagnosed and in fact medications are not the best way to deal with this. Lifestyle is.

This one simple trick lowers blood pressure. If your blood pressure is consistently high, it quietly damages the arteries that feed your brain, your kidneys, and your heart. It raises your risk of heart attack, stroke, cognitive decline, kidney disease, even if you don't have any symptoms at all. So, here's a part most people don't realize. You can lower your blood pressure immediately safely at home without drugs and without waiting for months to see if the drug's going to make this go down. But there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. Today, I'll show you a protocol that's been studied, published, and proven multiple times to drop blood pressure within minutes and add decades to your life if you repeat this activity. Later in the video, I'll also share a bonus tip, a simple exercise that trains your arteries to stay more flexible long term. So, I'm excited to share this method with you. We've talked about other methods. This is going to be a different one.

Let's first understand what blood pressure is. What your doctor or nurse are actually measuring when they measure your blood pressure. So, most people hear these numbers, maybe 130 over 80, and they don't really know what they're measuring. So, here's what it is. Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of your arteries. Every time your heart beats, it sends out a wave of pressure through those arteries. The top number, well, that's the pressure that's created in the peak of that wave. And the bottom number, that's the pressure that you still have in that artery at that time when it gets to the bottom of that wave. And so, the further you get from the heart, the lower the blood pressure. The uh pressure in your aorta is going to be higher than the pressure uh in the artery out here. So why does this matter? Well, because over time if that pressure stays too high, it puts mechanical stress on your arteries. The overinflation, it's, you know, like putting too much pressure inside a garden hose. It's going to blow it up. And that's not just the pressure itself. It's the constant force. It can cause injuries in the lining of the artery. And that's the problem. Your body responds by sending in repair signals, immune cells, and cholesterol, and things we call cytokines. You may have heard of it back during the pandemic. It's like things that called immune cells to come function. So, you get inflammation, which is how plaque begins to start in the very beginning. So, when we talk about reversing plaque or preventing heart disease, blood pressure is one of the most important levers we can pull. Here's the thing, though. Most people think high blood pressure is just about salt, weight, and genetics, and maybe age. That's not it. There's more to it than that. Actually, it's a reflection of how your nervous system is working. Your arteries aren't just passive tubes. They're dynamic. They expand and contract all the time. And that process is controlled by your autonomic nervous system. Now, wait a minute. I know I just used one of those big medical words, autonomic. Here, here's what this is. It's specifically the balance between your stress responses, your epinephrine, your fight or flight, and your relaxation responses, what we would also call the vagus nerve or parasympathetic, you know, to use a couple of those jargon words. Uh, it's basically rest and digest, you know, slow your body down, be calm. So, that balance is a critical piece of blood pressure. If you've got stress constantly turned on, cortisol constantly going, epinephrine firing all the time, your arteries are going to stay tense, your heart rate rises, your blood pressure stays too high. So to lower blood pressure safely and immediately, we have to shift that balance from maybe too much too much what we call again sympathetic or fight or flight and make it a little bit more rest toward recovery toward calm.

Now that you understand what blood pressure really reflects and how closely it's tied to your nervous system, let's talk about a technique that can help bring it down safely. Starting today, here's a technique. And you know, I sometimes have a little bit of problems pronouncing it. It's not in my native language. Bhramari pranayama. Bhramari pranayama. And if you might have guessed that that sounds Indian, like the Indian subcontinent, it's a good guess. Remember those guys knew what they were doing. They've been into meditation for not years, not decades, not centuries, for thousands of years, millennia, and they got something really good out of it. And the western world still struggles to understand it. There's a component of meditation. And I'm not going to be asking you to meditate here. I'm going to be asking you to consider something else. Slowing your breathing down, slow, controlled breathing practices, they come from yoga, as you know, but they've now been studied in modern clinical research, western medicine, put to the test, up one side and down the other. And believe it or not, the controlled breathing, some of these components work very, very well. Here's some stuff that's important about that. In a 2010 clinical study, participants practiced uh this breathing for just five minutes a day. And within 3 days, 1 month, at 5 minutes a day, their average systolic blood pressure dropped by eight points. Eight points is a big big deal. That's like going from 128 to 120, 138 to 130. And for many people, the benefits started showing up far earlier than the one month. They started showing up within a week or two. Again, that's without medications, without workouts, without a bunch of uh physical exercise, without changing what they ate. Nothing but changing the way they breathed. Consistent structured breathing. And not even all day, just for five minutes once a day. So, if your numbers are creeping up or you're trying to avoid another prescription, this is one of the simplest and most effective tools you can use to start changing direction. Here's the protocol. Sit comfortably upright, and I'm going to try to do it with you here on the video. Inhale slowly through your nose for 5 seconds. Five. Okay. And then exhale for five seconds. I'm not so good with my seconds. We need to get a timer to do that. But you get the point. Even just if my seconds are not so good, even as we slow this down, we start to have an impact. We start to move from that sympathetic fight or flight back down to rest, helping those uh blood pressure receptors slow things down, decrease blood pressure. Now, do this for 5 to 10 minutes once a day. Again, even if you do 10 minutes twice a day, that is a really big deal because the study showed improvement at five minutes once a day. That gentle rhythm and sound stimulate your vagus nerve. It tells your body it's okay to shift out of stress mode and into recovery. So to for those of you that are geeks and want to know mechanisms, and we've got a lot that watch our channel, it's been shown that that vagus nerve, the nerve that slows us down, helps us rest and recuperate. That nerve is stimulated especially when you do a couple of things. Number one, when you exhale through your mouth in. Number two, when you slow that exhalation down, those things stimulate the vagus nerve, which in turn stimulates decreased fight or flight. When that happens, your heart rate slows down, your blood vessels relax, and your body's baroreflexers, pardon that term, baroreflex means pressure, uh reflex means it's an internal pressure control system is what it is. Those things start working better again. But most doctors never really mention this cuz it doesn't come with a prescription and it's not part of standard training. And that doesn't mean that it's not effective. It just means that it's overlooked. So let's not just talk about it. Let's try it. Let's try it together. You don't need to do these perfectly. I've already demonstrated that. Just follow along and notice how your body begins to feel. Most of you will begin to feel a little bit of calming. Let's go through about a minute of breathing. Right now, we will breathe in for 5 seconds and out for 5 seconds. And let me see if I can get this geared up with my watch here. I'm not so good with technology, so we'll see how far I can get. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. Now, that was just one minute. If if humming feels comfortable, you can do that on the exhale. And I'll give you an example of that as well. Let's do the in out. So that's another way of doing it. And a lot of people just feel better doing that. Uh in a lot of the um the meditation practices, you hear them vocalizing a little bit. You don't have to do that. If you don't, just breathe quietly the way we did in the very beginning. Either way works. Sit upright. Relax your shoulders. Get into a comfortable position. That's all it takes to start telling your system, "Calm down." If you practice this daily, again, 5 minutes, 10 minutes is even better in the morning and again in the evening, you're getting a head start. You're giving your body repeated signals that it's safe to relax, even in this modern, scary world. And that allows your blood pressure to regulate itself rather than just constantly reacting to stressors. And if you're tracking things like resting heart rate or heart rate variability, HRV, and people ask me, why are you wearing two Oura? This is an Oura. This is a a a competitor called Ultrahuman. This is um a Whoop. And this is an Apple Watch. And it's part of my job. It's part of what I do. I am studying wearables and this is a key area where wearables are going to be a big advantage as people begin to learn to use them. You see these more and more often now. You the Whoop is becoming very popular. The Oura is becoming very popular. All of these go on some similar technology and that technology keys on your basal heart rate and how fast that heart rate is. 60 is a good number for most people and when they start climbing up into 65, 70, that's in that's a sure sign of stress for their basal or resting heart rate. Heart rate variability, it's the same thing except the opposite. You want to have increased heart rate variability. That's what you want because that's a sign of being in a place of less stress. And this is just one tool. So now let's take a look at another thing. I mentioned exercise earlier on. Here's an exercise protocol that helps retrain your arteries so your arteries respond better to pressure over time.

So, now that you've got a technique to bring blood pressure down right now, let's talk about how to keep it down long term. This part is for those of us who want something that's simple, scalable. In other words, you can expand it and proven to work without needing hours in the gym or a prescription bottle, a bunch of chemicals. It's called isometric handgrip training and it's been shown to significantly lower resting blood pressure after just 10 weeks, 2 and 1/2 months of short structured exercise sessions. And when you think exercise? I don't want to go to a gym. You don't need to go to a gym. We're talking about isometric exercises for your forearms, your wrists, your hands, hand grip stuff. Here's how the protocol works. First, you'll need a hand grip device. This can be a rehab style grip trainer, a spring-loaded dynamometer, or even a rubber dog bone. I I I do things called dog bones. It's a basically a like a a broom handle with weights on the on one end of a rope, the broom handle on the other, and you do that to exercise your grip. Anything you can squeeze and hold steadily gives you much more of the isometric component. That's what we're talking about here. Isometric means you're not moving the muscles. You're just squeezing them at one level. No movement. So start by finding your maximum grip strength. Squeeze the device as hard as you can for four or 5 seconds. Rest.

for 10 seconds. Then repeat two more times. Take the average of the three to estimate your T-max, your maximum isometric tension.

Rest for 5 minutes. Then begin your session. Squeeze the hand grip device at least 30% of your T-max. Hold it for 3 minutes. Rest for 5 minutes. Repeat that sequence five times. That's one complete session. Do that session three times per week for 10 weeks. That's it.

It's been shown to decrease blood pressure. It may not sound like much, but this kind of low-level isometric training stimulates changes in your vascular tone, your nervous system, your regulation on on tone, endothelial function, and the inner lining of your arteries. So, that's what leads to a real measurable drop in both the systolic and diastolic blood pressure over time, especially in people with elevated starting values. You can do it at home. You can do it with a $10 grip tool in less than 30 minutes. So, if you're looking for something practical, something that works, this is worth your time.

You've just learned two powerful ways to lower blood pressure. One that works right away and one that builds up change over time. Breathing grip strength. They're only part of the picture. Because if you're still eating in a way that spikes inflammation, spikes insulin, spikes vascular stress, your body's still fighting an uphill battle. So again, these things are are not as important as diet.

The next step in changing um your blood pressure is changing that internal environment that allowed the blood pressure to get started in the first place that created that high blood pressure. And that starts with food. Not just what you avoid, but what you add consistently to support better vascular health.

These 10 foods lower your blood pressure naturally. In this video, I'll show you how to easily add these 10 foods into your diet and help them support lowering your blood pressure. The last one, most people didn't see this one coming.

Number one, let's talk about tomatoes. It's not just because they're tasty. It's because they're very effective at what they do. And you won't believe it how effective they are. They have a natural compound called lycopine. That's what gives them their bright red color. But lycopine is not just for looks. Lycopine is an antioxidant. You know, antioxidants are one of the most important things we have. They've been discovered in supplements and the supplement industry especially for antioxidants which are usually vitamins A, C and E that has mushroomed over the past decade.

Now number one why are antioxidants so important? The biggest components the things that we think of as natural aging the things that that cause heart attack stroke risk problems with our arteries they are oxidation. Now what is oxidation? It's the major cause of inflammation. Again, what is oxidation? Another way to think of it is it's burning fuel incorrectly. Most common cause, pre-diabetes, diabetes, and metabolic disease. When you get an impact from lycopine, it helps relax your blood vessels. Antioxidants can do that. You relax your blood vessels and your blood pressure decreases and your heart just does not have to work as hard. That's a good thing.

In 2021, researchers looked at a lot of studies. This was a metaanalysis. They found that a special tomato extract lowered blood pressure by about 8 points. That's huge. Doctors will tell you even a small drop in blood pressure, less than eight points, is going to really lower your risk of heart attacks and stroke. So, here's something important to know about this, though. It wasn't just any tomato. It was that standardized tomato extract. In other words, it was that lycopine. The more lycopine, the better it lowered your blood pressure. So, lycopine is very, very important.

Now, if you're eating low carb, you might think tomatoes are off limits. Think again. Don't worry about it. Tomatoes are naturally low in carbs. One medium tomato, it only has about 4 g of carbs. that fits very well with low carb and keto diets. The key is how you prepare them. Now, here are a few ideas. Make a simple tomato salad. Use olive oil, garlic, and basil. That's classic Italian. It's great. Roast cherry tomatoes with olive oil and herbs, and they burst with flavor. Before I went low carb, I loved to put sundried tomatoes in my grits. classic southern maybe southern Italian dish. Blend your tomatoes into a cold tomato soup that's called gaspacho. Cook them down into a low carb sauce. Use it on zucchini noodles or conjac noodles. When you're making the sauce though, just remember not to add carbs. You know, so many people tomatoes get a bad rap. And one of the reasons they do is well like ketchup. You know, one of the previous presidents thought ketchup was a vegetable. Ketchup has too much sugar in it. And that's the problem with most tomato sauces. They have too much sugar and they have too much salt, sodium. And I know sodium and salt are not nearly the same issue for somebody who's already watching their carbs, but for people who are eating a lot of sugars, you usually need to be careful about sodium.

Number two, celery. Yep, that crunchy green vegetable. You usually use it, or at least I usually use it for dips. You see it on the dip tray. It's a lot healthier than a chip, for sure. or at least a potato chip. But it turns out that celery does a lot more than just scoop up dips. You see, celery contains a natural compound. It's got a long name. I didn't even know about it till we researched this video. It's 3N butthalide. And you got to get that in there. Phalide. Now, you don't have to remember any of that. I can tell you I'm not going to remember it. Just call it NBP. NBP does help relax the muscles around the blood vessels. And you won't believe the impact that it has on blood pressure. When those muscles around your vessels, we call it the media. It's the muscles that hold the blood vessels together. When those relax, that helps lower your blood pressure. But there's something else that has an impact from celery on your blood pressure. It has to do with salt. Celery helps your body get rid of salt. Salt raises your blood pressure. So getting rid of it helps keep those numbers down. Now people that are on a low carb diet, they naturally tend to lose salt. But if you're not on a low carb diet, you're probably retaining too much. You ever hear of the DASH diet? It's that diet developed by the government with the assumption that everybody was retaining too much salt. And that's a pretty safe assumption for at least for the non low carb crowd.

So here's what the science says. In 2022, researchers did a study where people with high blood pressure took celery seed extract every day for four weeks. After that, their blood pressure dropped over 10 points on average. That's 10 points. That's huge. That's multiple times of what you need to drop blood pressure to help decrease your risk for heart attack and stroke and kidney disease and blindness and erectile dysfunction. So, and that's not all. When you're thinking about eating celery, you don't have to worry about carbs. You know, one of these big stalks has about one gram of carbs. I'm ketoic. I'm on a keto low carb diet and I spill ketones about five, six days a week. When I eat celery, I can eat all of the celery that I want. It's great.

Now, if you don't like crunching celery like this, there are other ways to eat it. Remember, we talked about celery seed extract. You can use that in your food, but there are other ways, too. Cook with it. Chop up celery and put the chopped pieces in soups or stews. It gives it a a new kind of flavor. Sauté the chopped celery. You know, that's just putting it in a pan, pan cooking it with butter. You can sauté chopped celery with garlic and onions. That creates a wonderful base for sauces or stir fries, things like that. Now, you can even blend it into green juice or like a green smoothie with cucumber and lemon, but you see my non-verbals here. I'm a little bit nervous about that because I'm I get nervous about people talking about green smoothies or things like that because they tend to put fruits in them and bananas and they tend to just carb those things up to where they're no longer healthy. So, be careful with the carb stuff. If you're going to do a a green juice or smoothie, just use the low carb stuff. You can fill these uh celery sticks with nut butter or cream cheese. That makes a great low carb snack. So, celery is full of water. That's what it's full of. It's also full of fiber for those of us who don't have problems with fiber. And it's also got that compound. Remember that NBP that I can't pronounce? I'm not going to try pronouncing it again. And I'm not going to remember it again. It helps calm your V blood vessels, relax the muscles around the vessels, and lower your blood pressure and improve your your heart flow. So again, remember the next time you crunch into a celery stick, you're probably crunching your way into a better health and a lower blood pressure.

Number three, berries. Berries like blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, even chokeberries, if you know what those are. They're full of something called antioxidants. Now, there's a special group of antioxidants in berries. They're called anthocyanins. These strawberries their red color. I don't have blackberries here, but that's what gives blackberries that deep purplish blue color. But anthocyanins don't just look pretty. They actually have a big positive impact. They help your blood vessels, guess what? relax and lower your blood pressure.

Now for the science part. Back in 2022, at this point 2 and a half years ago, researchers looked at 128 clinical trials. Each trial is an experiment and each of those had to do with anthocyanins and fruits, berries. So a lot of data. What did they find? People who ate berries often had lower blood pressure than those who didn't. Now, what do I mean by often and what did they mean by often? We'll talk about that in just a minute. Some berries like chokeberries had the strongest results. Others like blueberries, raspberries, they helped, especially when eaten regularly. Now, remember, we said we were going to talk about what does often mean. Most of these studies showed good results when people ate berries a few times a week, three to five times a week, even up to daily in small amounts.

And here's even more good news. Berries, for the most part, are low in carbs, especially standard strawberries like this, raspberries, blackberries. Now, blueberries can get a few more carbs in them, especially if if you eat large bowls full. Remember, you're not a bear. Don't eat a bowl full of blueberries, but just eat appropriate smaller portions. And remember, like before, like celery, you've got a lot of uh water in these. You've got some good fiber for those of us who don't have problems with fiber and low carb. So, these work great, too, for keto diets.

Here are some low carb ways to enjoy berries. Have a handful of berries and just add them to plain Greek yogurt. Now, be careful though. Don't add the sugary versions. Be careful and note that Greek yogurts are one of the most notorious forms of stealth carbs. What do I mean by that? You get Greek yogurt at the store, you think you're eating healthy, you forget to look at the food label and you get it home or you you eat it and then you happen to look at the food label and it's got 26 or 30 g of carbs. That was a stealth carb. Don't do that. Get the very low carb Greek yogurts. Add the strawberries, the uh raspberries, the blueberries. It's wonderful. It's good for you. You can blend them into a smoothie. And again, you know, I get nervous anytime somebody starts talking about smoothies. So, be careful there, too. Same reason. Stealth carbs. Use almond milk or coconut milk. If you're going to make a a milk smoothie with these, freeze them. You can get a nice cool treat on a hot day with a frozen berry. Toss them on a salad for a pop of color and flavor. Cook them down with a little lemon and cinnamon for a quick berry sauce. No sugar needed. Again, strawberries are wonderful, great sources of uh antioxidants, fiber if you're good for fiber, and a great pop of flavor and that nice color. And even though they're sweet or they taste sweet, they're good for a keto or low carb diet.

Onions, these strong smelling tearjerkers, you would say little bulbs. This is not too little a bulb. This is a big onion. They pack a lot of health. They've got a chemical in them. It's called queretin. You might have heard of that. It's also given as a supplement. So yes, as we said, these things contain queretin. They do a lot of good things. They're a powerful antioxidant. You remember we talked about antioxidant already a couple of times. Queretin is one of those antioxidants along with the uh cyanins, polyphenols, and some of the other plant chemicals that can help.

Queretin does something else too, and it's very specific to blood pressure. You see, queretin is a an ACE blocker. What is an ACE blocker? Well, two of the most common types of blood pressure medicines have to do with ACE angotensin converting enzyme. That's a part of our body. It raises our blood pressure. So an ACE inhibitor like the drugs that end with prill like capril, bonazipril, lysinopril, all those are very very popular blood pressure medicines. And there are ARBs which are similar types of blood pressure class lowartan things like that. Now this is very similar queretin is it's an ACE blocker. So guess what like those other medications those blood pressure prescription medications it can also lower your blood pressure too.

Now here's what the research says about this. In 2015, they did a study where they took onion extract, they gave it to study participants. It was full of queretin. The people that took the queretin, their blood pressure numbers were 3 to four points lower. Now, that's doesn't sound as big as what we saw with celery extract. But 3 to four points lower on your blood pressure, that's a big deal. So, three or four points lower is a big deal. It decreases your risk for heart attack and stroke.

Now, don't worry. We're not talking about eating this every day, especially not raw. We're also not talking about eating some kind of onion pill, although queretin is a supplement that you can take in a pill form. All kinds of onions have it. Yellow onions, white onions, green onions, but guess which onions have the most queretin? The red onions. So, if you've got a choice, take the red ones. And again, like the other veggies that we've talked about already, you're worried about carbs. A/2 cup of chopped red onion, about 5 g of carbs. So, it's not a big deal for somebody who's eating a low carb or keto diet.

So, how do you eat onions? Oh, I mean, I don't have to tell you that. You chop them up, you sauté them, you add them to salads, you add them to omelets, you add it to sauteed greens. greens dishes can make onion rings and grill them. You can even make the old-fashioned onion rings with breaded, but don't use breading. Use chopped uh pistachios or like I do, use pork panco. You can just grill these big onion rings. They're great and they've got almost a sweet taste when you grill them. They're really nice. You can use them as a flavor base in soup. Chop onions into small bits. Sauté them. Again, you can try it with garlic as well. Add the two together. Add some chopped celery. These things make great bases for soups, for all kinds of things.

Number five, kiwi fruit. Kiwis are full of vitamin C, potassium, and antioxidants. All three of these can help support healthy blood pressure. Let's start with vitamin C. You remember we've said it multiple times, antioxidants. And you look at the the supplement industry, antioxidants have mushroomed. The classic antioxidants in the supplement industry are vitamins A, C, and E. And kiwis are full of vitamin C. The antioxidants help decrease inflammation because they help decrease oxidation or the impact of oxidation. And as we've said a couple of times, that comes from burning fuels poorly. the major fuels being carbs and fats. So, metabolic dysfunction. When you decrease that inflammation, you decrease the burning of the lining of your arteries, you decrease the formation of plaque. And that's what arterial health and decrease blood pressure and decrease risk of heart attack and stroke. That's what it's all about.

Now, we talked about vitamin C. What else do you see in kiwi fruits that's good for you? Potassium. Potassium helps balance out the effects of salt in your body. And again, for those of us that are not on a low carb diet, I am, uh, but those that are not, tend to retain salt, sodium. Salt can raise your blood pressure. Remember, we we mentioned that DASH diet a few minutes ago. Potassium helps bring that blood pressure down.

Here's what the research says about all of this. A study looked at people who had high blood pressure. One group had three kiwi fruits a day. The other group ate one apple a day. You know, I can't resist that. A an apple a day, trying to keep the doctor away. Well, after 8 weeks, the people eating the kiwis had lower blood pressure than the people eating the apples. So, guess what? You know, that's a pretty good comparison, especially compared to the classic fruit that everybody thinks is so healthy.

So, how do you eat kiwis? Especially if you're watching your carbs, don't they have a lot of carbs? Well, not really. Each kiwi has about 10 gram of carbs. So, one or two kiwis, even each day, is just not a major carb loaded. And as we mentioned, they got so much vitamin C, potassium, they've got the nutrients to where you don't need to eat three and four and five of these a day.

Here are some low carb ways to enjoy kiwis. Slice them. Eat them fresh. Skin on or off, your choice. I cut them in half and spoon it out. Add kiwi slices to a spinach salad with nuts, with feta, cheese. Or you can just do the classic, you know, chill and cube the kiwis and put it in a fruit cup with other chilled fruits like strawberries and blackberries. It's wonderful. Freeze kiwi slices to put in in a salad or a glass of tea as a cool, healthy treat.

Number six, pistachios. So, pistachios are great. They might be small, but they're packed with nutrients. They can help lower your blood pressure. Pistachios are loaded with potassium, and we talked about potassium. It helps replace sodium, especially for people that are not on a low carb diet. So, that helps already. It can help your blood vessels relax. And again, relaxing those blood vessels helps lower your blood pressure.

Now, pistachios have healthy fats. The kind of fats that your heart loves. These fats help lower the I hate the term bad cholesterol. They help lower LDL. And if that's a problem for you, you if you don't know it, I think LDL or quote bad cholesterol is grossly overestimated as a as a problem. I'm far more concerned about your carbs. But let's get off of that for a second and talk about antioxidants. Pistachios are rich in antioxidants, especially the kind called polyphenols. These antioxidants help protect blood vessels and reduce inflammation. And I'm not going to go through it again. We've already talked about three or four times antioxidants and why they're so important and what they do in terms of helping clean up the mess that happens when your body is not burning its fuel, especially its carbs correctly.

Now, here's what the science says. In 2021, researchers looked at 13 studies. people ate pistachios regularly. In these studies, there were over 500 people. You see, it wasn't that difficult to find volunteers to eat pistachios. What were the results? Well, the pistachios lowered systolic blood pressure. That's the top number by about two points on average. Now, that doesn't sound like very much, but again, remember, we don't have to get a 10point blood pressure drop to have us a significant decrease in risk of heart attack and stroke.

Now, let's talk carbs because you hear about carbs and pistachios. 1 oz of pistachios, about 49 nuts. It's only eight grams of carbs. So, they do have carbs and you can't eat a bowl full like this every day and still remain ketoic or low carb. Now, if you want to talk about net carbs, that same 49 pistachios is going to have about 3 g of fiber in it. So, well, 8 g of carbs total minus the 3 g of fiber, about five net carbs. Again, that's not too bad. And let's hope you're not eating a bowl full of these every day. You just shouldn't do that. You know, it's just like with any snack. Portion size matters. People tend to say, "Okay, well, I went low carb, so I can eat all I want." Maybe at the beginning, but sooner or later, all of us are going to have to start looking at portion size in order to maintain a healthy weight. stick to a small handful. Clearly, what you think, a third or a quarter of this bowl. And I'm going on eating maybe 10% so far of these.

Now, let's talk about some great ways to enjoy pistachios. You know, a lot of people don't like eating them from the shell. It's a great way to eat them, though, because if I were to just get a scoop of those shelled pistachios, I'd eat way too many way too fast. Chop up some pistachios or just put them whole in with roasted cauliflower or green beans. That makes a heart-healthy side dish. Blend pistachios in with olive oil, with lemon, with herbs. It's delicious on grilled chicken or veggies. And again, as we said, you can chop them up and use them as a coating to make southern fried fish with. Again, not breadcrumb coverings, but pistachio breading. So, let's break it down. Pistachios give you potassium, healthy fats, antioxidants, and a blood pressure drop that's proven by science. So, they're a great deal. Plus, they're tasty. They're portable. You don't have to have a refrigerator to carry them around with you. So, you can take them on vacation. You can take them out for a hike.

Number seven, dark chocolate. That rich, slightly bitter treat. Many of us love dark chocolate, but did you know it can help lower blood pressure? Dark chocolate's packed with something called flavven3. These flavven 3Ls are antioxidants help your blood vessels relax. When your blood vessels relax, the blood pools easier, it flows better, uh your blood pressure drops.

There was a large study that looked at over a 100 trials. Remember a metaanalysis looking at multiple trials, very large study. It found that eating foods rich in flavvenths, the dark chocolate chemical, it leads to noticeable drops in both oxidation, inflammation and blood pressure. And when we're talking about a drop, noticeable drop in blood pressure from dark chocolate, we're not talking about just the top or bottom number. We're talking about both numbers.

But before you rush to the candy aisle in your grocery store to get this dark chocolate, you need to know something. You need to be aware of it. A lot of chocolate has been found to have heavy metals. Yes, heavy metals. Cadmium lead, things that'll cause damage if you eat too much over time. Now, there was a study by Consumer Reports. It tested 28 different brands of dark chocolate. There were a few brands that came out okay, but most didn't. Most of them actually had enough heavy metals in them for experts to say these can lead to toxic levels. In fact, they tested 28 brands. 23 of those brands had too high a level. So what do you do? Look for the brands that had lower levels and you monitor your your doses, the amount that you're taking. The good news is that some of these brands had lower levels. They were fine. Now you're probably wondering which brands are we talking about? Well, hopefully you can guess from looking at this. Gerardelli was one of those brands. Jardelli Intense dark 72% cacao. Taza chocolate organic deliciously dark 76% cacao. Mast mast organic dark chocolate 80% cacao and valona and valona abanal dark chocolate 85% cacao. Now when you're choosing dark chocolate don't get the 50% the 40%. Get 72% or higher. Um, and I usually get 86 or 90%. The higher the cacao content, the more flavven 3s that it's going to contain. Also, check the ingredients lists. The fewer ingredients, the better. You want to see things in it like cocoa mass, cocoa butter, maybe a little bit of sugar. You're going to see that in there. Avoid things with a long list of additives on it. So, again, I love dark chocolate. This stuff does very good. You know, biting into this reminds me if you've grown up eating milk chocolate, this stuff's going to taste a little bit bitter and a little bit it's you got to acquire the taste just like you do for most healthy foods.

Fatty fish. I'm talking about fatty fish like salmon. Just think of the mass fish, mackerel, anchovies, salmon, sardines, herring, hippers. All these foods, like I mentioned before, like most healthy foods, at least the typical modern diet taste, you don't grow up liking them. You grow up liking sugared up stuff with fructose in it. And then you have to learn how to enjoy healthier foods. Now, these fish are rich in something called omega3 fatty acids. They're good fats. They help your heart. Omega-3s do several things. They are sort of a natural blood thinner. They also again have some antioxidant properties. They decrease inflammation in your arteries.

You know, to get back to the meta analyses, there was another one in 2022 looking at fatty fish. It looked at over 70 studies. There were 5,000 people total in these studies, and they found that eating just uh two or three grams of omega-3s a day lowered your blood pressure. both the top and the bottom number. And again, we're talking about numbers that are going to decrease your risk of heart attack and stroke. So, how much fish is that anyway? Two or three grams. You could eat two servings of salmon a week or a small can of sardines daily or include mackerel in your meals a couple of times a week. All of that's enough to hit the target.

But before you load up on fish, there's a couple of things you want to know. Some fish have mercury, especially the larger fish, the top of the food chain. Swordfish, for example, are fish that tend to have more mercury in them. Mercury can build up in these large fish. Also, king mackerel shark. All of these can have mercury. Now, when I was in med school, I got shark, but it was these little ones about that big. Those guys are not top of the food chain, and they're not going to be a major repository uh collecting mercury. But the big shark, yeah, people eat shark steaks and clearly swordfish. That used to be one of my favorite types of fish steak and you just got to be careful with those.

Now, unfortunately, there's something else you need to know. Plastics are tiny pieces of plastics that end up in the ocean. Fish sometimes eat them and they get caught into the fish meat and that means we eat them, too. So, scientists are still figuring that out. You know, it hit about a year ago, the news did. Uh it got everybody's attention, at least in our communities. They're still trying to figure out exactly how do you get microplastics? Where are they, you know, what is the pathway for them getting into the environment? What are they actually doing? Is it chemicals that are leeching out of the microplastics or is there some sort of immune problem that they're creating, maybe disrupting our immune systems, or is there something mechanical going on? Or both?

Now, does this mean you should stop eating fish? I certainly have it. It just means you need to be smart. So, for example, try eating different types of seafood instead of the same thing day after day. Eat wild caught responsibly uh farmed fish when you can. Trim the skin or fat where contaminants might end up. Another option is to, especially for those that are concerned and for those that trust it more, just look into more of a purified fish oil supplement. Is it really that purified? H. We all take our chances there. But at least it's been tested for mercury and microplastics. Probably need to do some study on it.

You might be wondering, do I need to spend a lot of money to eat fish every week? No, you don't. The mashfish, these small non-baked fish, they tend to be inexpensive anyway. Canned sardines, canned mackerel, even canned salmon, herring, all those tend to be very inexpensive. They don't even need to be refrigerated. Frozen fish is another option. it can be healthy enough and it lasts a lot longer. And if you're eating low carb or keto, obviously fatty fish is a great option. It's got zero carbs. Just skip the sugary glazes or the breaded coatings, unless, as we mentioned before, your bread in the breading coatings and ends up being crushed pistachios or pork panco.

Number nine, fermented dairy. These are foods that are made by adding friendly bacteria to milk and letting them ferment. While that might sound strange, those bacteria can be pretty amazing. When milk is fermented, proteins inside it are broken down and carbs inside it are broken down into special little chains called uh peptides for the protein side. Two of the most important peptides are named IP and VPP. Those peptides have a very cool superpower. They block a chemical in your body called ACE angotensin converting enzyme. You remember we heard about that already before. So again when we talked about it before that was the ACE inhibitors lacinipril bonazipril that's a commonly used and very good type of blood pressure medication. Once these those friendly bacteria ferment some of the the proteins in milk, it makes ACE inhibitors too. So in simple terms, these natural proteins get fermented and form ACE inhibitors.

Now if you're thinking this is a guess or not significant, it's not. This is backed by real research, real evidence. There was one study, for example, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and reviewed by the National Institutes of Health. In this study, they looked at people who consumed these bioactive peptides, VPP and IP, and they weren't given pills. They just took the fermented milk products rich in VPP and IP. The results, their blood pressure, the top number dropped by an average of six points. And the bottom number, it dropped two. It dropped as well. It went down by four points. Six points systolic, four points diastolic. That's a really good blood pressure drop just from things like kafir or kefir. Some people call it kefir. I think the correct name is kafir. And obviously it also includes other things like yogurts. We're talking about numbers that move people out of the high blood pressure zone and into normal blood pressure, especially with people who are already dealing with mild hypertension. So, that's one of the things to think about if you're starting to tiptoe into that mild hypertensive area. Start eating some of these foods that we're talking about. They can make the difference.

So, yep, foods like yogurt and keafir, they're not just snacks. They can actually be doing real work inside of your body. They can be helping you with your blood pressure. Now, let's get a little bit more specific. Not all yogurt, not all caffir is created equal. Here's a great way to get the wrong kind of yogurt. You know that sugary fruit on the bottom of the cup? There's not a single brand out there of that that's good for you. What you want are plain, unsweetened, fermented dairy products that contain live and active cultures. Now again, if you're having the typical taste of the standard American diet, high sugar, you're usually going to have to take some time to get used to these foods. They're good once you get used to them, but you got to work at it. These are not your typical sweet tasting foods.

Here's a list of the best ones. Plain Greek yogurt, thick, high in protein, lower in sugar. Kafir. Kafir can be even more powerful. It's tangy. It's a drinkable yogurt. It tended to be, you saw it in Russia. Most of it, the habit comes from Russia. It can have even more probiotics, more peptides, but there are fewer options. And of the options that are out there, be careful. This one, for example, 18 g of carbohydrates. I do not recommend this brand of yogurt. That's too many carbohydrates for such a small container. Here's a another couple of options. Aan Leban. These are traditional fermented milk drinks. They're often used in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern diets. Film Joy. It's a Swedish style drinkable yogurt. It's popular in Scandinavia. Probiotic cottage cheese. Look for the ones that list live cultures on the label.

But what about people watching carbs? You'll be happy to know that some of these foods can fit very well into a low carb or keto lifestyle. But again, these are major sources of stealth carbs. Be buyer beware. For example, one cup of plain Greek yogurt has about what? 6 g of carbs. Kafir is a little higher. Usually around 8 to 10 g, but you're getting a lot of extra benefits. Leen and Film Joy, they're similar, especially the plain unsweetened versions, but make sure it's plain and unsweetened. Here's how to keep it healthy and low carb. Add cinnamon. Add vanilla extract instead of sugar. Don't add sugar. Mix in some chia seeds for fiber and u texture. Use it as a base for smoothies. And again, be careful with smoothies. If you do have it, you can add some berries and spinach to it. But again, make sure you watch the carbs going into that. Blend it into a salad. Put it in a salad dressing, uh, dips, sauces. use that instead of mayonnaise or sour cream.

Don't forget, even if you're lactose intolerant, you might still be able to enjoy some fermented dairy. The fermentation process breaks down most of the lactose, that sugar in milk that causes trouble for some people. So, yogurt and cafir are often easier to take or eat than plain milk or ice cream. Of course, if dairy just doesn't work for you, there's some other plant-based fermented options that are available, like tempeh. That's fermented soy. Miso fermented soy is a paste. Kimchi, now it took me a long time to learn how to like kimchi. One of the things that I did to learn to like it was to add a little bit of butter. Sauerkraut, same thing. It didn't take me as long to learn how to like sauerkraut. But again, both of these are fermented vegetables. and they both have some good evidence supporting them. These don't contain lacto tripeptides, but they can still support gut health and uh decrease inflammation.

For a long time, red meat was it's got a bad rap. It's got a bad reputation. It comes to heart health anyway. And people say, well, it makes you gain weight. There's a lot of saturated fats, and especially with some of the highly processed meats, like the bacon around this, sausages, fatty cuts loaded with salt. But here's the twist. Lean beef in the right amount and part of a healthy diet can actually help lower blood pressure. Now, if you're on a keto or low carb diet, you should actually think of adding more fatty meats like ribeye. But let's talk about the science on the lean meats first. In 2025, here's a major study that looked at people following a Mediterranean style diet. It was rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, olive oils, but this version of the diet included lean beef. And researchers wanted to see how it impacted health compared to the standard Mediterranean diet. And what they wanted to do specifically was look at the impact on blood pressure. It was a randomized controlled clinical trial and the data it produced some high quality evidence and science. So, people who ate the lean beef, either just half an ounce a day or up to two and a half ounces per day, had lower blood pressure. Let me repeat that because so many people just don't believe this. People eating beef had lower blood pressure. Now, in this study, the best results were with people that were eating lean beef. Now, again, for those of you, especially the the keto folks, are going to be looking at that saying, "Well, wait a minute. You got to have some fat in there." That's true. This is not a study of people that were on a keto diet. This was people that were on some version of a Mediterranean diet, some version of a standard American diet. And so, yes, for those people, eating lean beef along with that helped. So, again, this is not for people that are on keto diet. If you're on a standard American diet and you're looking to improve your health, start looking at the marbled beef. Don't get as much as that of that beef marbling. Trim some of that fat off. And again, most of all, start cutting those carbs out of that standard American diet.

So, if you're eating beef, how do you do it in a way that helps lower your blood pressure? Here are some tips. Eat it with a lot of vegetables, like a beef stir fry, bell peppers, broccoli, the things that we've already talked about in this video. Sauté it in a sauce made from sauteed celery chips, chopped celery, onion, garlic. All of those things will help with blood pressure. Try using lemon. Again, like I said, garlic, herbs, spices, and as we said before, if you're already following a low carb or keto diet, this can fit right in as part of that diet for sure.

But food is a only a part of the picture in terms of decreasing your blood pressure. People in their 50s, 60s, and even 70s are lowering their blood pressure faster than anyone thought possible using simple tools their doctors just forgot to mention. Every point your blood pressure goes up, your arteries age faster. And this gets you closer to a heart attack or a stroke, especially a stroke. That's why in the next few minutes, I'm going to show you 10 proven natural strategies to lower your blood pressure. Proven by evidence and by experience. These are the methods I use with my patients, and that helps them reverse their numbers and heal their arteries and heal their hearts. But I'm not just going to list them. We'll answer the following questions. How effective are these methods? Can they replace medications? How do you execute them the right way? But also along the way, I'll share stories from real patients who use these exact strategies to lower their blood pressure, regain their energy, avoid prescriptions they thought they'd have to use for life. but we'll change their names to protect their privacy. So, if high blood pressure is something you're dealing with, even slightly high, don't skip this because by the end of this video, you'll know exactly what's been keeping your numbers high and more importantly how to keep them down for good.

Timerestricted eating or intermittent fasting. Let me tell you about somebody we'll call Susan. She's 61 years old, works part-time at a local library, and lives alone. And for years, her blood pressure hovered around 145 over 90, sometimes higher. Her doctor kept offering newer prescriptions, newer drugs, more drugs, but she was already on two medications and really didn't want to have to take a third. When Susan came to see us, she wasn't overeing. She wasn't really sedentary either, but she did have a late night snacking habit. She didn't think much about it. Crackers while reading, toast before bed. So, we made this one change. She stopped eating after 4:00 p.m. She kept breakfast around 8:00 p.m., not earlier. Nothing extreme. This was just an 8hour eating window. Within a month, her blood pressure dropped below 135 systolic. Just by one small change.

So, how effective is timerestricted eating for blood pressure? It's very effective. And here's why. That small change made such a big difference. When you eat matters almost as much as what you eat. You see, late night meals keep your insulin levels elevated overnight, but when insulin stays high, your body holds on to sodium. Your blood vessels stay constricted and your blood pressure doesn't come down like it should during sleep. But by tightening your eating window, especially towards the earlier part of the day, slowing down or decreasing that eating in the evening, you give your system a real chance to reset. Insulin comes down, inflammation drops, and your arteries get the signal to relax. A new 2025 systemic review looked at this closely. So this was 15 clinical trials totaling about a thousand people. They were overweight or obese and the results were consistent. Systolic pressure dropped by over four points. Diastolic pressure had a more modest drop of around two. It might not sound like much, but for people like Susan, who'd already tried everything else, it finally gave her body a chance to respond. But not everyone needs to fast all day. This doesn't require skipping meals. But if you're eating from early morning until late at night, your body never gets a break.

Here's the key question. Can intermittent fasting replace medications? In the case of Susan, more intervention was needed. Some of the ones we'll discuss today. But for some people in early stages that are taking just one medication, intermittent fasting can be the difference between taking medications, more medications or managing this in a natural way. And for someone who's not on any medications, again, this can make the difference between medications and not. We have established how effective intermittent fasting can be, but let's explain how to do it the right way. Here's the simplest protocol. Eating in an 8 hour window, also known as a 168 window. Eat between 8:00 a.m. and 400 p.m. Don't eat between 12 noon and 8:00 p.m. A lot of people want to do that. And that's really better than doing nothing. It's clearly better than eating from uh 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., but 8 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. is better than 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m. It gives our body that chance to rest and recuperate and heal without insulin on board while we're asleep. Either one of those gives you a 16-hour overnight non-eing window. Prolonged fasting over 24 hours is actually very good for you and it can really reset your metabolism, but it's hard and it's hard to get used to. A lot of people really back off from that. If you can successfully make it through, then good. Uh, but get to a a pattern, an intermittent fasting pattern like a 168 that you can tolerate and make what you do every day. The most important piece is to be consistent. It's got to be something you can be consistently doing every day of every week. These changes work better over time. It's part of a lifestyle change. Once or twice is just not going to get you there. But the 168 is not the only protocol. There are other options that can be helpful, including OMAD. Have you ever heard of that? One meal a day or prolonged fasting. As I mentioned, those are good as well, but you've got to be able to do something on a regular basis. Now, obviously, you're not going to do prolonged fasting, fasting all day, every day, week after week, month after month, but try prolonged fasting one day a week for week after week. It can be a gamecher. These interventions require being careful, no overeating when refeeding. Um, okay.

Let now let's go to number two. Strategy number two, low carbohydrate eating, very low carb diet. Let me tell you about Carlos. He's 58. He works construction. He's been battling his blood pressure for over a decade. He already gave up sugary foods like pastries and cookies. And he cut down on soda. He even started walking after dinner. But his numbers just barely moved. By the time he came to see us, he was taking two medications, and his doctor had just recommended a third. Now, Carlos had a big appetite. Sandwiches for lunch, a big plate of rice for dinner, things he thought were harmless. But we ran some deeper tests and found he was already insulin resistant, borderline diabetic. So instead of lowering sodium like the DASH diet recommends, we changed something else, something more foundational. We helped him shift his meals away from the starches he'd grown used to. Okay, you can eat that sandwich, just don't eat the bread. And yes, you can have the the uh meat and rice, but just don't eat the rice. That took him a little bit of time. We didn't cut everything. We just cut the carbs. And we didn't do it all overnight. That would have been too much of a crash for Carl. But we just had him do that a little bit every day. And within about a month, Carlos was low carb dieting and he was comfortable. It wasn't a diet for him. It was what he ate, the style that he ate. By building meals around proteins like eggs or fish and adding healthy fats and choosing vegetables that wouldn't spike his blood pressure, Carlos got to where he needed to be. And it didn't take long. Within about 4 weeks, his blood pressure dropped below 135 over 85. Within 4 months, he had lost nearly 20 lbs. Cut his medications for blood pressure in half. And here's what matters. You see, most high blood pressure starts with metabolic dysfunction or pre-diabetes. Again, that's so common. 90% of it is just not been diagnosed by patients because it has not been diagnosed by their doctors. And that's because 3/arters of doctors really don't know how to diagnose it. So, what's the fastest way to reverse that, that metabolic disease? Stop spiking insulin all day. That's what a low carb diet does. especially when you

Keep carbs under 100 g a day. But we're not just guessing here. You may think, "Oh, that's all theoretical. I just came up with that." No, no.

Look, look, look at this uh study. It was a 2023 randomized clinical trial. It looked at people just like Carlos, overweight, high blood pressure, early diabetes, and they compared two diets. A very low carb plan versus the standard DASH diet or low sodium diet that most doctors recommend.

Here are the results after 4 months. The low carb diet dropped their systolic blood pressure by nearly 10 points. That's huge. Nearly 10 points. The DASH diet group dropped their blood pressure as well, but just over five. Half that.

So, can these kind of diets replace medications? Of course they can. I've seen it happen over and over again. People not having to go on medications because they went on a low carb diet and lost a few pounds. It happens all the time.

So for some people, there's no question this can replace medications, especially those with early stage hypertension, high blood pressure, who are insulin resistant like Carlos. This doesn't mean cutting carbs for a week and calling it a day and say, "Okay, I'm done." It's a shift in how you eat. Carlos has kept the carbs off. He's kept those 20 lbs off and that's what got him where he needed to be. It's a shift in how you eat. One that quiets the metabolic engine behind rising blood pressure.

So, how do you do that the right way? Start by dialing back on the starches that sneak into every meal. Things like white rice, sandwich bread like Carlos did, baked goods, even certain healthy cereals, they all add up fast. Instead of just think of this, any grain product, be very, very afraid.

Also, be very concerned about using the government's MyPlate because it still builds on carbs. Unfortunately, the majority of people that are eating MyPlate style recommended by the government have undiagnosed metabolic disease and unfortunately, they don't know that.

So instead of building your uh plate around starches, breads, grain products, potatoes, build your plate around protein, fish, chicken, eggs, and fill it in with grains, olive oil, nuts, seeds, and don't fear fat. It keeps you full, and it helps stabilize your insulin.

Some people do better with strict keto. Others do better with moderate low carb, under 75 grams a day. I vacillate between the two. For most of my uh early years when I had dropped my carbs, it was more of a 100 grams a day or less of carbs. And I was very, very physically active. Uh more recently, I've gotten to to lower carbs and sometimes probably half the week less than uh 50 grams a day, sometimes even less than 30 grams a day. But you get used to it as you continue to change your low carb diet. As you continue to knock out, okay, I don't have to have that rice. I don't really need to have these crackers. As you continue to knock out more and more of those glycemic carbs, what matters most, as you can see, is consistency.

In fact, any diet that's less that has less sugar than the standard American diet will have beneficial effects. Even some versions of the Mediterranean diet or DASH or even DASH diet, all of these can help, but not the way you think and not really the way they were proposed to you. They were proposed to you with the assumption that you were going to be eating grains or carb products because they were proposed to you with the assumption that you didn't have any metabolic disease. So assume that you do and then just go ahead and start taking those sources of carbs out of your diet.

Now let's move on to the next strategy. This one has a lot to do with key interventions to lower blood pressure. Strategy number three, weight loss.

Now, let me introduce you to Malcolm. He's 57, runs a hardware store in a small town, and for the past decade, he'd been stuck in a frustrating loop. Every year, his blood pressure edged higher. 138, then 142, then 148, all over 92. So, his systolic was climbing. His diastolic was a little bit high, not too bad, but it was stuck uh at that 92 level.

Every year, his doctor suggested cutting sodium, taking another medication, maybe trying to lose some weight. But Malcolm had already tried. He cut carbs. He went on walks. He even joined a gym once. But the scale just didn't move for Malcolm, and neither did his blood pressure.

So when he came to see us, we changed the conversation. Instead of pushing weight loss as the goal, we made blood pressure the target and used weight as a tool to get there. It may sound a little bit, well, just hang on.

Malcolm started a structured program focused on metabolic flexibility, time-restricted eating, low insulin load meals, and resistance training three times a week. Then we started asking him to get some exercise snacks in between those resistance training sessions. You know, just simple things like uh one-legged step squats on the stairs, um calf raises on the stairs. He didn't count every calorie. He didn't obsess over the scale, but over the next 3 months, he successfully dropped over 20 pounds. And a lot of those pounds uh he actually did better than that when you look at his um his body composition because a lot of pounds of fat pounds were replaced by muscle pounds. He changed 3.5 points on his BMI. That's what changed. His systolic pressure fell by nearly 9 points. Diastolic dropped by more than four down to about 87, 86, and his morning readings were consistently under 130. He had done it, but not by adding more meds, not by going on strict or weird diets, but just changing his lifestyle, upping his burn, his calorie burn, increasing his muscle use, his resistance training, and again, keeping those carbs down.

A 2022 meta-analysis looked at over 3,000 adults who were overweight or obese. As the pounds came off for these people, their blood pressure dropped. Sometimes six points, sometimes eight, even 10 or more. But in people who lost more than just a few pounds, the effect was stronger. Those who lost just a few pounds, enough to lower their BMI by about two points, still saw a drop in systolic pressure over five points. Those who dropped their BMI three or more points, closer to the 20 pounds than most adults, the improvements were dramatic. Systolic pressure dropped by more than eight points. Diastolic dropped by four points. That's not a small change. That's the kind of shift that can take someone from stage one high blood pressure or hypertension back into the normal range without needing additional medications.

And here's the key point. Weight isn't just a number. It's a signal. When you lose excess fat, especially visceral fat around the organs, you reduce inflammation, improve insulin sensitivity, and allow your arteries to relax again.

Strategy number four, reducing alcohol. Let me tell you about Mark. He's 58, works in real estate. He's a friendly guy, always quick with a joke. But like a lot of folks in his circle, he'd gotten into a routine. A couple of glasses of wine with dinner, maybe a nightcap while catching up on emails. You know, completely normal routine. But his blood pressure told a different story. Holding steady at 150 over 92, even while on medication.

So when Mark came to see us, he didn't really have to overhaul his entire lifestyle. We just asked him to track how much he was actually drinking. It was closer to three or four drinks a night, not one or two.

So how exactly does alcohol impact your blood pressure anyway? And it does. It's not just about the extra calories or dehydration. Those can matter, especially the extra calories, especially if that alcohol is something like beer. But alcohol hits your system in five different ways, and they all make your numbers go up.

First, it cranks up your stress hormones. That's your fight and flight system. And when it stays switched on, your heart pumps harder and your blood vessels stay tight. That can raise blood pressure even when you're at rest.

Second, it can mess with your kidneys, how they handle salt. Alcohol makes you hold on to sodium and fluid, and that extra volume pushes your pressure up.

Third, it interferes with your liver. The same place where many blood pressure meds get processed, your liver. That can mean medications don't work as well or they build up in the wrong way.

Fourth, drinking often throws off your routine. You miss medications. You sleep poorly. You eat worse. That right there is often the biggest problem of all. You eat worse. Decreases your ability to watch what you eat. It improves your appetite. Increases your appetite. Some people say improves. Not for me. And uh again, that's my biggest issue personally with alcohol. I'm not alone. It's the biggest issue for a lot of people. You get a little bit of alcohol and all of a sudden you're off to the races in terms of eating dinner.

And fifth, if you're already drinking more than two drinks a day, your baseline blood pressure is probably already elevated, which makes medications less effective to begin with.

So that's why even a small cutback in alcohol, just one or two fewer drinks a day, and that's a small cutback for a lot of people, that can help your blood pressure respond better. For some people, it's the turning point that finally gets things under control.

So, we made that one change for Mark. Cut his alcohol intake in half. No pressure to quit entirely, just reduce. Within a few weeks, his numbers began to shift. And here's why that happens. Alcohol raises blood pressure, especially when intake creeps beyond two drinks per day. Cutting back even just by a couple of drinks by 50%, it has a significant impact.

A large meta-analysis, remember that meta-analysis is a study of all the studies done in this space, looked at 36 clinical trials with nearly 3,000 adults in those drinking more than two drinks a day. Cutting back reduced systolic pressure by over five points. Diastolic pressure came down by nearly four points. This was especially true for people drinking six or more drinks per day who made even modest changes.

For people like Mark, it was eye-opening. After making the shift, his blood pressure dropped to somewhere between uh usually about 138 over 85. There was still room to improve, but for the first time in years, he was heading in the right direction.

Strategy number five, beetroot nitrates. One of my patients, we'll call him Ray. Didn't want another pill. He was 57. He was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure, but he was active. He ate decently and he didn't drink. But when I explained his numbers, he just looked at me and said, "Look, I I've done everything right. I've done everything I can, or at least that I'm aware of. What else can I do?"

We went over several different strategies and one of them was a simple one. Every morning, a glass of beetroot juice, about 250 ml, not that much. At first, he was skeptical. He agreed to try it. We didn't change his medications or overhaul his routine. We just added this one habit.

About a month later, he came back with his home blood pressure logs. His systolic pressure had dropped 6 to eight points without any other change and it stayed down. Now, I know this sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Look at this evidence, though.

A 2024 another meta-analysis just last year looked at 11 clinical trials. Nothing but beetroot juice. Nothing else. Specifically in people with blood pressure over 140 over 90. And what it found was real. A daily dose of natural nitrates 200 to 800 mg. It lowered blood pressure, systolic pressure by more than five points. And that's on par with what we expect from early stage medications.

But to be clear, this isn't about skipping treatment. Some people when they investigate blood pressure management, all they're looking to do is decrease treatment. Don't think that way. Think about getting to the right blood pressure. Beetroot juice isn't magic or replacement. But for people like Ray, already trying and frustrated, this gave his body a chance. It gave him the edge he needed.

So, here's how it works. Beets are packed with natural nitrates. Once in your body, these convert into nitric oxide, a molecule that helps your arteries relax. That means better flow, lower resistance, lower pressure. And unlike some medications, there's no sign of it wearing off over time, but it's not for everybody. If you're on blood thinners or have kidney issues, uh, you need to check with your doc before you just start these. You need closer monitoring.

But beware of the other side effect, too. Just be aware of it. Some people get pink urine. That's surprising sometimes. Don't think that it it's dangerous. Just be aware that that can happen.

So, if you're managing stage one hypertension and if you want one more natural lever to pull, beet juice just might be the thing.

All right, let's move on to the next one. Strategy number six. Let me tell you about someone we'll call James. He's 58. He owned a landscaping business and he's been waking up at 5:00 a.m. for as long as he can remember. Built his life around hard work. Tough, dependable, sharp with his tools, but not so much with his sleep. For years, he barely made it past 5 and 1/2 hours a night, sometimes less. He thought that made him disciplined and productive. He said, "Doc, sleep's for lazy people. It's just a waste of time."

But his blood pressure told a different story, hovering around 150 over 95. His A1C creeped toward diabetes. And no matter how clean he ate, the numbers weren't budging. So instead of adding another pill, we worked on his nights, his sleep, not with pills.

We started with sleep hygiene. We helped him build a wind-down routine off any screen by 9:00. Dim your lighting. Short walks after dinner. Reading instead of watching TV or other screens. One of the most critical pieces is consistency. Same bedtime every night, even weekends. Same time to get up in the morning. That's the only thing we focused on changing in the beginning.

And within a month, his systolic pressure dropped almost 10 points. Now, why did that make such a difference? Because poor sleep doesn't just make you tired for a few hours. It drives up pressure through multiple pathways. Your sympathetic nervous system stays stuck in overdrive. Your cortisol stays high. Your arteries lose their flexibility. Insulin sensitivity drops. Your body can't repair. When your insulin sensitivity drops, your insulin goes up and insulin causes you to retain sodium, your kidney to retain sodium. If all these cycles continue, blood pressure continues to go up day after day, night after night, whether you feel it or not.

But when you give your body proper sleep, proper rest, proper recalibration, that's exactly what you want. And that's exactly what a 2025 meta-analysis found. This year, a study of studies in this area included 15 sleep intervention studies with nearly 900 people. Every one of them was struggling with sleep quality or duration. So what happened when they improved their sleep? Systolic pressure came down by about 5 mm, diastolic by three. The intervention was extending sleep and improving sleep. In other words, just helping people get a couple more hours, an hour or two more sleep, the results were even stronger. People lowered their systolic pressure by over 7 mm of mercury. Diastolic drop by close to five. That is when you can sleep just a little bit longer. Remember the intervention was sleep hygiene, not medications.

Some people think poor sleep is just their normal. James did too until we fixed it. He started sleeping till 6:00 in the morning and then his numbers and his energy started to shift.

So, how do you actually improve sleep in a way that helps blood pressure? Well, there's a complete book filled with uh this kind of information. It's called Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. I've read it at least eight times. You see, what I do is exactly what he recommends. Listen to the book. And he says, "If this book helps you go to sleep, that's great. You find tons and tons of easy tips on how to improve your sleep."

Now, here's some practical recommendations. Again, go to bed and wake up at the same time every time. Increase that sleep time if you can. That is a game changer. Cut the screens at least an hour before you go to sleep. Make the room dark. Make it quiet. Make the room cool. Keep the evenings calm and predictable. Think about relaxing, not about sleeping. Because if your brain is racing late into the night, your pressure won't come down like it should. And if you're doing everything else right, eating clean, exercising, uh, and skipping sleep, you're driving with the brakes on. You can't eat clean. You can't do the right exercise and then not get enough sleep. Like I said, you might as well be driving with the brakes on.

James didn't need a new prescription. He needed rest. That's what his body needed. His numbers proved it. So before you add something new, check how your nights are going. You might already be missing the most powerful part of your recovery.

Strategy number seven, Brahman pranayama or slow-paced humming breath. Let me introduce you to Carol. She's 65, retired school teacher, grandmother of four, kind, meticulous, but prone to worry. Her blood pressure wasn't dangerously high, 138 over 88, maybe 140 over 90 on a stressful day, but it hovered there year after year. And she felt it, the racing heart when she watched the news and tightness in her chest while lying in bed, wondering if she should be doing more. She didn't want to start another medication, but she felt like her brain was always in overdrive.

So we tried something very simple, a breathing pattern. Each morning before breakfast, she sat quietly and practiced. Oh, it's what's known as Bhramari pranayama. It's a slow breathing pattern. That's what I can tell you. And I've we've talked about this starting years ago. We use a device uh called Resperate. It's a a belt that helps you understand how your breathing is working and helps you slow and control your breathing. Typical breathing is like 20 breaths per minute. You want to get to less than 10. You don't want to slow it just a little bit. You want to slow it a lot.

Bhramari pranayama actually uses gentle humming during the exhalation. So she'd close her eyes, gently cover her ears, and breathe like this over 5 seconds. Then exhale more slowly over 15 seconds while humming softly. See, so she did this for 5 minutes a day. At first, it felt strange. After a few days, she started to look forward to it. The stillness, the sound, that humming, that vibrating of her lips, the way it softened her anxiety without needing anything from a bottle or a pill.

But here's what changed. Her blood pressure began to drop. Not just that first day, but gradually over a few weeks. Her heart rate slowed. She began sleeping better. She no longer felt that constant sense of "something's wrong."

But this wasn't just anecdotal. A recent study tested Bhramari breathing on healthy volunteers. Just 5 minutes of practice. So even in that short window, 5 minutes a day, systolic and diastolic blood pressure dropped. Heart rate came down too. The body's rest and repair network was taking over. It got healthier. She was exercising. The rest and repair, rest and digest. What's more, the drop in diastolic pressure was statistically significant. It's a sign that blood vessels were relaxing. The heart rate was slowing down. The cardiovascular system was stepping out of fight or flight, which Carol spent too much time in because she was always anxious.

For Carol, just 5 minutes a day of this quiet time helped remind her nervous system it's safe to relax. So, if your mornings feel tense or your evenings, if your body's carrying stress you can't quite name, if your numbers are stubborn even when you're doing the right things, give this a try. One breath at a time. Slow in, even slower coming out. Try it with a hum like the Bhramari pranayama. Your arteries will feel it.

Strategy number eight, grip strength training. I have another patient, Mark. He's 56, works in IT, sits around a lot in front of a computer, has to travel for uh conferences. His previous doctor noticed his blood pressure had slowly climbed to the 140s over 90s. But he wasn't feeling any different. The usual suggestions came up, eat better, move more, lose some weight. But Mark had already developed a decent diet and between work and family, he wasn't ready to start training for a marathon. He told me, and a marathon wouldn't have been the right thing anyway. But he told me, "I just don't have time for another hour at the gym."

We gave him something that took less than 20 minutes a week, isometric hand grip training. And one of the things that you begin to realize as you as I describe this is he could do the isometric hand grip training right there in front of his computer. So twice a week he sat at his desk in front of the computer with a grip trainer, the kind that looks like a thick dog bone. He squeezed it at 30% of his maximum strength. As you see, it's not like as much as he could. It's just a gentle amount. He did it with consistency. He held that squeeze for two minutes. Then he rested for two minutes and then he repeated. He did four rounds of that. He did it in under 15 minutes and that was it. He was watching his timer and making sure that he had that isometric grip at 30%. For 2 minutes and then off for 2 minutes.

After a couple of months, his blood pressure dropped from 144 over 92 to 128 over 84. He didn't change anything else. Now, that sounds weird. Your doctor's not going to believe it, but here's what's happening. When you engage your muscles in static contraction, ever wonder why I work at a standing desk? Static contraction, like holding a squeeze, activates your blood vessels in a unique way. Over time, this strengthens the lining of your arteries, improves the elasticity of the arteries, and helps your body regulate pressure more efficiently. It also reduces what's called sympathetic drive, the constant tension in your nervous system that keeps your pressure high.

A controlled study published in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research tested this same method on healthy adults, three times a week, 15 minutes per session. Over 10 weeks, both systolic and diastolic blood pressure dropped significantly. Mark wasn't able to create significant new habits like going to the gym, but he really didn't need to. But by adding a simple tool and a specific exercise that fit his routine, he saw significant improvements. You remember we keep talking about exercise snacks. Mark's grip strength activity was a way of snacking while he was at work. Exercise snacking. This is strength training for your arteries. It doesn't require a gym. It doesn't require going to classes. It doesn't require a change of clothes. And it doesn't even require that you that Mark get up from his computer. All it took was showing up for a few quiet minutes a few times a week and sticking with it.

Strategy number nine, isometric wall squats. There's a woman, I'll call her Rosa. She's 58. She's a retired nurse, proud grandma, lives with her daughter's family, and despite all her years working in health care, she never thought much about her own blood pressure. That changed at a routine checkup, 149 over 93. Her doctor gave her a prescription, but she didn't want to fill it just yet. She said, "I've been on my feet for 30 years. I don't want to be sitting the rest of my life taking pills." I wasn't I didn't really understand the connections, but I appreciated her attitude.

We gave her a different kind of prescription. One she could do right at home in less than 10 minutes a day. Wall squats or wall sits some people call them. She didn't need equipment, just a wall and a timer. She started with two sets of 45 seconds, bending her knees, keeping her back flat into the wall and holding the uh the position. She could feel her thighs burning by um just a few seconds in the beginning, but then she got to where she could hold it the whole time. She liked the way it felt. She liked the work after, you know, it took her some time to get used to it, but once she did, she liked it. She kept doing it.

Within a couple of months, about six weeks, her blood pressure dropped to 132 over 84 without taking medications. Now, again, another meta-analysis, a study of studies, 2023, massive study showed 270 randomized control trials, over 16,000 people. It compared every form of exercise you can think of. Cardio, strength training, intervals, stretching, they all helped. But there was one method that came out on top. Isometric training. Wall squats specifically were the number one intervention for lowering systolic pressure. They caused an average drop of 8.2 points on the systolic blood pressure. Four points on diastolic. Better than cardio. Better than weights.

And here's why. When you hold a squat, especially at a 90° angle, your muscles engage in a way that sends a signal to your arteries. Over time, this improves vascular resistance and boosts nitric oxide production that relaxes your vessels and regulates pressure more efficiently. So, because it doesn't raise your heart rate like traditional cardio, it's especially helpful for people who cannot tolerate high exertion.

Strategy number 10. There's a man I'll call Barry. He's 67, recently retired, lives alone in a quiet neighborhood outside Atlanta. After his wife passed, the days felt longer and longer, and it got worse. His motivation to improve his health started to fade. He stopped walking every morning. His meals got simpler, more processed. And at his last checkup, his doctor gave him the news. His pressure was back up 142 over 92. Even with two medications, Barry didn't want to talk about another pill.

Instead, he did something just you wouldn't have expected. He adopted a dog. Not even a puppy. He adopted a quiet older lab mix named Gus. Big brown eyes. Didn't say much. Just followed Barry from room to room. But the effect was it was incredible. Barry started walking again. For obvious reasons, he needed to walk Gus. Then twice a day, not for himself, for Gus. His meals got better, too. Something about feeding another living creature reminded him to feed himself better.

Within six weeks, he'd actually lost 5 lbs. Even better than that, his blood pressure went back down to 134 over 85. Now, was it just the dog? Not entirely. The science behind this connection is real. A large meta-analysis. Again, another big study looking at 26 other studies, thousands of participants, looked at pet ownership and cardiovascular risk. Here's what they found. Pet owners had significantly lower resting heart rates, lower mean arterial pressure, and yes, even lower systolic pressure by about two points on average. It went deeper. The adjusted risk of cardiovascular death was lower in pet owners, about 19% lower. That wasn't insignificant. Cat owners seem to benefit more from reduced cardiovascular mortality. I'm not a big cat fan, and that's hard for me to understand, but you cat fans probably understand it. Dog owners had stronger behavioral benefits like increased daily movement. That's easy to understand.

Barry didn't need another prescription. He needed a reason to go outside. A dog companion was perfect for that. Sometimes the best medicine doesn't come in a bottle. It walks beside you.

There's one specific trick that will lower your blood pressure fast. And in fact, most people take the blood pressure wrong. So, make sure you're doing it the right way first. Most people who drop dead from a heart attack have one thing in common. It was slowly damaging their arteries for years, but they didn't feel anything. Here's the worst part. 80% of nurses and doctors, including cardiologists, still measure it wrong. So, that leads to two serious problems. False high readings that trigger unnecessary medication or even worse, false reassurance that everything's fine when it's not. Obviously, I'm talking about blood pressure. If you want to avoid a heart attack, blood pressure has to be measured correctly and monitored.

So, in this video, I'll walk you through exactly how to do that at home and then show you how that same blood pressure cuff can expose one of the biggest silent killers. There's a lot of confusion about blood pressure and that confusion leads to missed warning signs and dangerous assumptions. So, let me walk you through the top 10 misperceptions I see.

Misperception number one, my blood pressure was normal at the doctor's, so I'm fine. Let me tell you about George. He's 52. He runs a small repair business, and he thought he was doing fine. A little weight gain for sure, but he figured that came with age. His doctor checked his blood pressure once a year, always fine. Until one day, his legs started hurting during walks. He he brushed it off. He ignored it. He said, "Ah, that's probably nothing." But something didn't sit right. So, he picked up a home monitor for his blood pressure. And started checking himself. It turns out his blood pressure was regularly hovering around 140 over 90. Now, if blood pressure is not measured properly, normal might not be safe. You know what I mean? You think it's normal, but it's actually higher. Most clinics don't follow proper technique. Now, this is medical clinics don't follow proper technique. They skip the rest period, they use the wrong cuff size, or they don't position the arm correctly. All of that throws off the result. But here's the biggest danger. Even though most of the time some of those mistakes push the number too high, other times they make it look normal when it's not. You leave thinking everything's fine while the damage keeps building under the surface.

Misperception number two, blood pressure doesn't change much. Ah, not very not true. Blood pressure changes constantly. Stress, caffeine, lack of sleep, even just standing up changes your blood pressure. That's why we look at blood pressure trends over time. Not a single reading. A number that looks fine today could be 20 points higher in just a few minutes.

Misperception number three, only older people get high blood pressure. H, I wish that were true. I I see it in 45-year-olds all the time and often even younger. Usually, it's tied to insulin resistance, poor sleep, weight gain, cardiovascular inflammation. Aging does increase the risk, but it's not the whole story. Actually, this is similar to my own story. Years before I found out I had arterial plaque, I actually noticed my blood pressure started to rise. It was barely high at 130 over 90, but it stayed consistently high. The first time I saw the 130 over 90, I didn't worry too much about it, but it was when I kept seeing it over and over and over again. Now, back then, I thought I was doing everything right in regards to lifestyle. Back then, this was 15 years ago, uh, I was running marathons, following a low-fat diet. Well, I was doing what standard medical care suggested and I did something else according to standard medical care. I started a blood pressure medication. Now, I know that there are other lifestyle changes to do before considering medications.

Misperception number four. If I'm active and I eat well, I don't need to worry about blood pressure. That's sort of the way I felt 15 years ago. And that's just not how it works. You can be fit, eat clean, and still have high blood pressure, especially if you have insulin resistance, chronic stress, and/or poor sleep. And that's exactly what happened to me.

Misperception number five. I feel fine, so my blood pressure must be fine. That's one of the most dangerous beliefs out there. High blood pressure usually doesn't cause symptoms until it's already caused real damage. If you're waiting for headaches or dizziness to take your blood pressure seriously, you might be too late.

Misperception number six, a single reading is enough. One reading is just the beginning. To really understand your blood pressure, you need to measure both arms and repeat the test on different days and at different times. At least three readings taken under similar conditions. That's what gives us a true picture of your baseline, not just a snapshot of how your body was reacting in a single moment. I actually remember one time I had a blood pressure reading of 130 over 90 in college that young and I didn't have a problem at that point in time. I did check it multiple times. Uh I went to the clinic. I was worried and I went to the clinic and uh they were pretty clear I did not have a problem.

Misperception number seven. The cuff at the pharmacy is just as good. It's not. Most of the machines at pharmacies are uncalibrated. They're overused. They're beat up. They're placed too low on the arm and you can get a false high or false low just by sitting the wrong way. Home monitoring done correctly is far more accurate.

Misperception number eight, my blood pressure is only high at the doctor's office, so it doesn't count. That's called white coat hypertension and it's a common reason for high blood pressure readings. Now, this may not mean that you have constant high blood pressure, but it's still a warning sign. Think about it. Stress is causing my high blood pressure. And the only time I have stress is when I'm sitting in the doctor's office getting a blood pressure, not when somebody cuts in front of me on the highway or not when I've got a financial challenge or family challenge. Get real. Think about it. If you have white coat hypertension, you have some risk. And in fact, you look at the the data, the evidence, the research that's out there. Yes. White coat high blood pressure does bring risk.

Misperception number nine. Blood pressure meds fix the problem. Yes, they help manage the numbers. They don't fix the root cause. Blood pressure is a symptom. It's a sign. The real drivers are inflammation, insulin resistance, lifestyle, and stress. If if we don't address those, uh, we're just putting a band-aid on a deeper problem. So that's exactly what I do now, both personally myself and with my patients. Even though medications help, they're not the answer to the root cause. That is lifestyle.

Misperception number 10. There's nothing I can do about it at home. Well, that's just flat out wrong. The most powerful thing you can do is track yourself correctly, consistently, and calmly. Understand root cause issues, and deal with the lifestyle that corrects it. So if you do it right, you're going to catch issues early. That's how we prevent strokes, the number one cause of permanent disability. Heart attacks the number one cause of death. In most countries, a rapidly climbing number two cause of permanent disability. And in some countries, now number one. But all this gets prevented only if you follow the right steps.

First, give your body a few minutes to settle down. Don't take your blood pressure right after walking around the house or talking or climbing the stairs. Sit down, rest for about five minutes. Just breathe. Let your heart rate calm down. If you skip this step, there's a good chance your numbers will be higher than they really are, and that can lead to over medication or unnecessary worry.

Next, sit the right way. Back supported, feet flat on the floor, legs uncrossed. Your arm should be on a table or a pillow, and it should be level with your heart. If it's hanging down or unsupported, the reading won't be accurate. It sounds like a small thing, but it makes a big difference.

So, let's talk about the cuff. This part gets overlooked a lot, even in doctor's offices. If the cuff is too small, it can give you an artificially high number because it's struggling to measure that pressure inside your your arteries. If it's too big, it pushes on the arteries in too many places and gives you a false low reading. Most home monitors come with a standard cuff, but if your arm is larger than average, you may need a bigger one. Check the manual. It usually has a sizing guide. Place the cuff around your arm. Make sure the artery mark in the cuff is pointing right here where the brachial artery is located.

Once you're set up, stay quiet. Don't talk. Don't move. Don't look at your phone. Even mild conversation or shifting in your seat can raise your blood pressure a few points. And a few points can be important. Just sit still, relax while the monitor does its thing.

Take at least two readings, one minute apart. Sometimes the first reading is a little off because your body's adjusting. Take two or three, write them down. Use the average of the last two. That gives you the most reliable number.

Here's one more thing I always tell patients. Check both arms the first time. Some people have consistently higher readings on one side. If that's the case, always use the arm with a higher number going forward. But don't just check once and forget about it. Try taking your blood pressure at different times of the day, morning, afternoon, and evening. And do it for several days in a row. We're looking for patterns here, not one-time numbers. Don't ever react to a single one-time number. You need repetition. That's how you catch early warning signs.

Now, there's another thing, too. This brings this up. A mistake I see a lot of patients make when they start monitoring their blood pressure. You know, it's the kind of personality that's disciplined, sometimes worried, that starts doing the right things in terms of monitoring blood pressure. You can get overly stressed about your numbers. I've seen patients stress themselves out so much about getting a perfect reading that their blood pressure actually goes up because of the anxiety, the cortisol. This is about spotting trends over time, not chasing a single number. Stay calm, be consistent, and trust the process.

Now, once you're measuring blood pressure the right way, calmly and consistently, you can go one step further. Most people walking around with plaque in their arteries have no idea that it's there. In fact, over 50% of heart attacks, the first symptom is sudden death with no clear warning at all. But here's what almost no one realizes. There are ways to detect early signs of plaque, even at home, just using regular blood pressure cuff. Most doctors never bring this up, but if you know how to do it right, that cuff can sometimes show you if blood flow is already being blocked. And that can be your window to act before it's too late. It's a simple test. You can do it at home with just a blood pressure cuff and a pen and paper and a clock. It can tell you if there's restricted blood flow. One of the clearest signs that plaque is building up. Let me show you how it works.

First, lie down and rest for at least 5 minutes. Don't skip this part. If you take your readings too quickly, the numbers won't mean that much. Let your heart rate settle and your body relax. Then take your blood pressure in both arms. Use the proper cuff size, place it correctly, stay quiet during the measurement. When checking blood pressure for this test, lying down is more accurate than sitting. It keeps the blood level, the body level, and avoids pressure changes caused by posture. Write down the systolic number. That's the top number from each arm.

And here's the fun part. Now, you'll measure your blood pressure in your ankles. That's because many times plaque arteries, especially in the pelvic area, start reflecting on reduced leg blood flow. Here's a quick warning. If you've been diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis or if you have painful swollen legs, don't do this test.

Once both arms are done, wait at least one full minute before moving on to the legs. You want to give your circulation time to stabilize again. Next, take your blood pressure at each ankle. Place the cuff above the ankle bone over the artery. Again, stay still and quiet. After the first ankle reading, wait another minute before doing the second leg. This reduces any carryover effect from the last reading and keeps the numbers clean.

Once you've got all your readings, do a simple calculation. Take the highest systolic number from your ankles and divide it by the highest systolic number from your arms. It doesn't matter which arm or which leg scored higher. You could compare right arm with left leg and vice versa. Just use the higher number. This has a name. It's called ankle brachial index or ABI, which is also the name of the test.

So, let's talk about the results. If the result is between 1.0 and 1.4, that's normal. Good. Congratulations. But if it's between 0.9 and 1.0, that's borderline. Less than .9, that's a warning sign. It likely means plaque is reducing blood flow to your legs. And if it's over 1.4, that suggests your arteries may be stiff or calcified. Also something to take seriously. Now this test won't pick up every single case of plaque. Think about it. If it's too high, it can be a problem. If it's too low, it can be be a problem. Sometimes you get a mix of uh impacts and it looks like it's okay when it's not. If your ABI is low, you can be fairly certain there's plaque and that means a higher risk for heart attack and stroke.

If you remember George, you remember we talked about him earlier in the video. After watching one of our videos, he did an ABI test. And it turned out he did have a low number. It was plaque building silently, just like most people who have heart attacks. But here's the part that matters. He didn't ignore it. He made changes. He cleaned up his diet. He started strength training, HIIT training, high-intensity interval training. He managed his stress. He got serious about tracking his numbers. And a year later, his blood pressure is routinely in the 11s, like systolic of 116 or 118. Now, he's still running a shop, but now with a lot more confidence that he's not a ticking time bomb.

Now, there's one more question to answer, and I get it asked. People ask this all the time. What's the best blood pressure cuff to use at home? You want an upper arm cuff, not a wrist cuff. Wrist cuffs are less accurate just because they're harder to use. They're more sensitive to positioning. You just move your wrist a little bit and you get high blood pressure, which was not accurate. So, they overestimate the problem. Stick with a validated automatic monitor. Brands like Omron, A&D, Microlife, and Welch Allen, they all have solid track records and are used in clinical studies. Just make sure that the cuff size fits your arm. A too small cuff can give you false high numbers, and a too large cuff, false low numbers.

I know I've hit you with a whole lot. Trying to take control of your health on your own can feel overwhelming. Most of the time, it's hard to know if you're doing everything right. And guess what? You know, doctors make mistakes, too. There's just so much to know and to think about. You might second guess your numbers, worried that you missed a step, feel like you're flying blind. Now, here's the truth. You can do this with the right guidance. I've seen thousands of patients take charge, track their own blood pressure, their own biomarkers, and catch silent plaque early and completely change their risk scores, not with more medication, but with better understanding and the right plan and the discipline to do something about it.

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for things like stroke especially, but also heart attack. So, you want your blood pressure to be nice and low and healthy. And you'll see that mine is. We're going to show you three ways to lower your blood pressure within minutes without drugs naturally. Now, the downside is those three ways are great, but they only last for a couple of hours. So, you need to do them every day. And I do. I do these every day. But here's another thing to think about. You can lower this permanently if you know the root cause. And we'll go up to the studio in just a minute and talk about root cause because you can deal with that, too. Great way to lower your blood pressure without medications. As you can see, my number is pretty good here.

So, here's what you can do to lower your blood pressure. The first intervention, breathing exercises, is very simple and easy. Slow breathing has been shown to decrease blood pressure significantly in multiple meta-analyses. And remember, meta-analyses are some of the highest forms of scientific evidence. It's multiple studies and looking at that same question. Some studies suggest a decrease of up to 10 points. So, there are multiple ways to do breathing exercises, but here's the key. You should be able to lower your breathing rate 6 to 10 breaths per minute. Studies have shown that things like yoga are very effective, or even trying machines like Resperate. This can help you get trained. What I like to recommend is a straightforward exercise that anyone can do. Here is what you do. Take a deep breath for about 4 seconds. Then hold your breath for about four seconds and then let the air out for about eight seconds. This is called the 4-4-8 technique and it's also sometimes called the box breath using a 4-4-8 count. Even one paper showed that it can decrease arterial stiffness which is associated with high blood pressure. So again, these are some interesting results. In reality, almost all breathing exercises that take you to that breathing frequency, that lower frequency, 6 to 10 breaths per minute, they all work. And this is an easy one to do.

But why does this lower blood pressure? That's an interesting point. And let's get geeky, but just for a moment. So, here we go. There are three significant components to blood pressure. One, the amount of blood going through your arteries. That's about 12% of all your blood, 1.2 to 1.5 gallons. Your body

moves all that blood within a minute. Every minute.

The second component of your blood pressure is your heart rate, especially the volume of blood that your heart can pump out with every heartbeat. The third component is the stiffness of your artery walls, which we will call peripheral resistance.

Imagine your arteries as pipes transporting water. When you pump the water, the smaller the pipe, the higher the pressure. If the pipe gets wider or larger, the pressure goes down. You'll need more water volume to increase the pressure.

Your brain can control both heart rate and peripheral resistance through the nervous system. This is an involuntary response, though, so you can't just say, "Okay, brain, lower my blood pressure." It's not going to work that way.

But you can stimulate it when you take deep breaths and slow your breathing down. Slow that breathing rate. The amount of air that it takes to fill your lungs will create pressure inside your chest. That increased pressure in your chest will stimulate a key nerve that travels closely to the esophagus, your heart, and the diaphragm. The muscle that controls your breathing.

That nerve is called the vagus nerve. It's called vagus from the Latin vagorus, meaning wandering. This nerve goes from the top of your spine all the way down to your anus. And it seems like everywhere in between, all of your organs. It stimulates what we call vegetative signs. It slows down your heart rate. It opens up those artery vessels. It stimulates digestion. It can help you go to sleep.

Anyway, what happens here is that when you stimulate that vagus nerve, it's like when you take a deep breath and hold the air, that stimulation affects your heart, slowing it down, decreasing that heart rate. It will also cause your vessels to open, lowering that blood pressure.

The next proven method to decrease blood pressure in minutes is called isometric exercise. Now, isometrics are not the greatest for muscle development. So, I don't really prefer them because I want you to have good, strong, metabolically active and healthy muscles. But again, we're talking about the actual evidence that's available on lowering blood pressure naturally. We're not talking about muscle development in this video.

Now, I'd suggest you do the real exercises instead if you're going to go to the effort of exercise. Don't develop a pattern of daily doing isometrics. Do the real thing. But let's get back to the evidence.

This first exercise, hand grip for two minutes using a dynamometer or dynamo meaning power and meter being measurement. It's a measurement device for grip strength. This might be an exception. It might be something you want to do more often. I prefer a thing called dog bones. You lift a weight by rolling it or winding it up on a cord or belt.

Specifically, what we're talking about here in this study, this evidence is hand grip exercises. This is what you do. You can use a round pillow or something fairly bland you can grab your hand on. Ideally, again, a dynamometer. They're 20 bucks on Amazon.

Here's what to do. Squeeze the dynamometer or the pillow with about 20 to 30% of your maximum strength. That dynamometer will help you measure this. You keep that effort for about 2 minutes. You're going to start feeling it and it's going to wear you out your arm. Anyway, then rest for about 1 to 3 minutes. Repeat this two or three times. That is no more than 10 minutes a day.

So, what you're doing is something similar to high-intensity intervals for your grip strength. This exercise has been shown to lower systolic blood pressure. That is the upper number you see on your blood pressure machine. Systolic upper number, diastolic lower number. In the mean arterial, that's the average. Mean means average. So you average the two together and you get your mean arterial blood pressure.

The mechanism of why this works is not really clear yet. Current theories are include things like exercise improve artery function, improve the elasticity of the artery, they cause the arteries to dilate or get bigger. Most of the current theories about the mechanism promoting the opening of the vessels after effort and low blood pressure in major vessels like the aorta and others. These are common ways of improving blood pressure.

You might remember I told you these methods will not last very long. maybe a couple of hours. So that means you need to do them every single day. And again, getting good muscle exercise every single day is a good thing, especially if you have the most common major cause of high blood pressure.

There's one more thing that's critical to do, one thing that will ensure you can fix your blood pressure for good, and that is find that root cause. There are a lot of causes, but the number one neglected cause of high blood pressure is, you probably already guessed it, metabolic disease. Insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, diabetes. Elevated levels of insulin and or glucose significantly impact blood pressure. That is directly on blood vessels or through body fat having a hormonal impact.

So, let me tell you three things you should not do. First, this will help you reduce your blood pressure in the short term, and it will spread out and give you much more of a long-term effect. Number one, just don't smoke. There's no benefit to smoking that's worth all the damage that it causes. People worry about lung cancer with smoking. Smoking kills more people through heart attacks and strokes than lung cancer.

Number two, don't drink alcohol or at least don't drink much of it. The mechanism with alcohol is still unclear, but again, it tends to raise blood pressure. Some studies suggest a little bit of alcohol can decrease blood pressure, but similar to smoking, at the end of the day, more and more of us are just finding it's just not worth it.

Number three, don't eat junk food that goes back to our root cause. Processed and especially ultrarocessed foods are keeping people fat, sick, and addicted.

Let's set up a plan that most people will find useful for lowering blood pressure. Number one, cut your carbohydrates. Evidence shows a low carb diet can reduce blood pressure significantly. That is avoiding carbohydrates that raise your blood sugar. One rule of thumb is no processed or ultrarocessed carbohydrates like good old breakfast cereal.

If you want to eat carbohydrates, look for natural sources. Anything with a low glycemic index. That's a glaze means glucose and emic means in the blood. So a low impact of glucose in your blood. You want a glycemic index of less than 55. A low glycemic load is far better in the area of 10, maybe up to 20, but clearly uh 10 is fantastic. A carbohydrate to fiber ratio of less than seven and ideally less than five.

Now, a lot of people will want to get into the debate, do we really need fiber? We can get into that debate a little bit later, but I'm talking about for people that do eat plant-based products, they get fiber. For those of you that do that, look at your ratio.

Let me explain real quick what these terms are. As I said, glycemic index is a measure used to predict how much of food will spike your blood sugar. Glycemic load is similar to glycemic index, but it talks about the whole meal. So if you have a steak and broccoli and some sweet potato, the sweet potato may have one glycemic index, but the whole meal includes that steak and the broccoli. So the whole meal is going to have a lower glycemic load than that sweet potatoes glycemic index. Like I said, it takes into consideration how much people usually eat of a single food and its impact on blood glucose in relation to the entire meal. The carbohydrate to fiber ratio is the relationship between how many carbohydrates, which are all sugars, a food has, and the amount of fiber in it. The more fiber, the better. I usually avoid carbs, but if I do eat them, I choose those that meet these criteria.

Now, have you ever heard about the DASH diet? Let me tell you a little bit about that. That stands for dietary approaches to stop hypertension. This diet focuses on lowering sodium. For some people, lower sodium means no salt on the table. The reality is the excess of sodium most people consume actually comes from processed and ultrarocessed foods. I don't think unprocessed meat and fermented foods that can have sodium in them are actually a problem.

Number two, exercise every day. A clear exercise plan that includes aerobic exercise, resistance training, that is weightlifting, and highintensity interval training or reduced exertion highintensity interval training, hit or reit. All of these are necessary. Back in the old days, 30, 40, 50 years ago, they thought, and all of us thought, all you have to do is that jogging. It's not so simple. You really do need to get the hit, the reit, and the resistance training.

Evidence over the past decade or two has made it very clear. You got to do it all. Exercise will raise your blood pressure momentarily. That's true. But the long-term benefits of exercise in reducing blood pressure are just not questioned. Don't question those. There's just way too much evidence showing that exercise helps.

Fix your sleep. Your sleep. Fix it. Sleep impacts both metabolic disease and blood pressure. The number one error I see with people who can't have a good night's sleep is this. They don't have a sleep hygiene routine. That is creating a stepbystep process that helps them fall asleep and stay asleep. We can talk about things like sleep apnnea a little bit later, but first of all, take a look at the book Why We Sleep. It was written by Matthew Walker, and it gives you great information in this space.

Number four, manage stress. Stress, depression, and anxiety are major factors affecting both metabolic disease and blood pressure. Now, this is not a video about how to fix metabolic disease associated with stress and stress associated with depression and anxiety. Depression and anxiety are the biggest, most common long-term causes of this kind of stress. They're a big deal, but they are very much related to metabolic diseases.

Now, we did mention something here that does help immensely. Those breathing exercises, they clearly help to minimize anxiety. But similar to the blood pressure issue itself, finding the stress, the depression or anxiety root cause is critical to being able to get a long-term solution.

There's one type of blood pressure phenomenon I want to address. It's called white coat hypertension. Have you ever heard of it? It happens to people who just by looking at a doctor, a nurse, or other health care professionals going anywhere near the clinic, they'll see their blood pressure start to rise. If you're one of those people, you don't have to worry about this. You do need to understand it's possible to see high blood pressure at a clinic. So, just keep measuring at home. Create a log of your blood pressure numbers. Take those to your doctor.

You'll also start losing body fat, especially when you start taking those ultrarocessed carbs out of your diet. That's a change that also impacts your blood pressure in a positive way and improves that body fat.

Now, what if all these don't work? I'd recommend looking for the cause and reaching out to a doctor who knows where to look. You see, there are hundreds of other causes that can raise blood pressure, from genetic conditions to medications and even supplements. believe it or not.

But one thing I wanted to include in this video is supplements. So, let me share with you at least three supplements that can lower blood pressure. These have good evidence to back them up. The first one is vitamin C. 500 milligrams a day has been shown to lower systolic blood pressure by about three points and diastolic blood pressure by about 1 and a half points.

The second one is garlic. A metaanalysis. Remember that's a study of multiple studies. It's one of the highest best forms of evidence, highest quality. This meta analysis showed that 300 to 960 mg of garlic every day can lower systolic blood pressure by about four points and diastolic pressure by about two points.

The third one, this is the third supplement. It's been shown to reduce blood pressure the systolic pressure by four points and the diastolic by two points and this is by increasing nitric oxide. You remember Dr. No Louo the he won the Pulitzer Prize for discovering nitric oxide which expands the walls of those arteries. We had him on the show. Nitric oxide causes vessels to relax. It improves blood flow and can even decrease inflammation. So 3 to n gram of citrine I take it every day 3 to n grams of citrine a day can have positive impact on your blood pressure.

But as you can see a reduction of 2 to four points in blood pressure is nowhere near the effect of lifestyle interventions like cutting carbs if you're eating ultrarocessed carbs. Even medications those two things have a big impact. So keep that in mind.

Now, believe it or not, there is one more major mistake that might be causing your high blood pressure readings. A mistake 97% of people and 80% of cardiologists are making now, even now. That is measuring the blood pressure.