Green Smoothier Blog #7 - Blood Pressure

My blood pressure 8 weeks ago was 130 over 76 and was considered pre hypertension by my doctor.  We have a blood pressure machine in our home to take weekly readings to monitor it.  Both my wife and I have reduced our blood pressure significalty just through diet change and adding in some exercise.  For her it's back to riding lessons and for me it's back to regular training at class and my I Ho Chuan requirments.  

We were discussing our blood pressure improvements this morning and the most significant change that we can attribute this improvement to is our diet.  Green smoothies have been an amazing addition to our diet.  The large amounts of raw leafy greens, raw broccoli, raw carrots, raw ginger, avacado with a low percentage of fruits has to be the #1 improvement to our diet.  The elimination of fast food is a close second as that food has been engineered with high amounts of salt, saturated fats and sugar.  And finally the last major change has been to reduce and almost completly eliminate processed foods such as salami's, crackers, store bought breads (I bake my breads weekly) etc.  The almost total emilimation of these foods has stablized our blood sugar levels, decreased our salt intake and the chemicals from processed foods have been decreased dramtically.  

Finally the last thing we've added into our diet routine has been intermitent fasting.  We no longer eat breakfast and stop eating around 8 pm and don't start eating until around 11am or noon.  We've found that IF has allowed our digestive system to have a nice little break.  In the past and before our sugar reduction IF was difficult to stick with.  I would have felt hungry and would have leaned toward being "hangry" when it came to my mood.  Now we're hungry but not "hangry" and I can stretch my fast well into the afternoon when I'm busy without much issue.

Green smoothies have become the cornerstore for our physical and mental health.  Our clothes are fitting better, we feel much more alert and our overall moods have stablized.  What an amazing feeling and it has everything to do with changing and improving our diet.

Green Smoothie recipe.

2 cups kale

1 cup spinach

1 cup shredded carrots

1 cup brocolli

1/4 cup frozen avacado (good fats and helps emulsify the smoothie)

1/4 cup each frozen apple, mango and pear

1 large nub of fresh ginger

750 ml's of water

Blend and enjoy.

Mr. Repay