From 3 Drugs to None. Hypertension Gone!
Want to learn how you can get off your high blood pressure medication?
Today’s inspiration is to learn 3 surprising changes that helped my client Meredith when she was struggling with hypertension, low energy, and fatigue.
What concerned her the most was she had spoken with her primary care physician about her elevated blood pressure levels and hypertension while being on diuretic medication and was told to cut sodium, exercise more, and reduce fat. But this wasn’t working for her.
Watch this video below to learn the three interventions that we customized for her unique body. These are actually counterintuitive to what we hear in a lot of health circles.
Find out why these 3 common health strategies were not a fit for Meredith.
#1 Reduce Sodium:
Most people think you have to decrease your sodium, in Meredith's case, she actually was not taking in too much sodium. In fact, she didn't have adequate potassium absorption sodium and potassium work together to create an important balance of electrolytes.
Meredith was taking in some fruits and vegetables she didn't have adequate magnesium. Magnesium is necessary to absorb, at a cellular level, an adequate amount of potassium to help balance out sodium.
One of the first things we did was increase her magnesium supplementation so that she could balance sodium levels.
#2 Increase Exercise:
A common recommendation for those struggling with high blood pressure is to increase exercise. In her case, we actually shifted into the opposite because Meredith enjoyed running and had a high amount of intense exercise that was actually contributing to her elevated hypertension because of excess cortisol and stress hormone levels.
Once we saw what her actual cortisol curve looked like, were able to shift, and have some really insightful conversations about the benefit of different types of movement and flexibility.
Meredith took up yoga exercise some days of the week and even started incorporating meditation. This was a huge improvement for her stress levels overall.
#3 Reduce Fat:
The third thing that's often a commonly accepted strategy for optimizing blood pressure is to reduce fat. In her case, she actually did the opposite because we saw when reviewing her lab work, that her primary care physician had not notified her of being pre-diabetic for 4 years prior to our time working together.
She was right at that pre-diabetic range of hemoglobin A1C around 5.7 and crept up to the 5.9 range that actually indicated insulin resistance.
We knew that she would benefit from adding more fat into her diet and changing out some of her carbohydrates, removing grains, and swapping those out for some different low-glycemic fruits and vegetables.
By making those shifts, she was able to bring her hemoglobin A1C from 5.9 down to 5.3, a really healthy range. This meant she no longer required blood pressure medications, and her hypertension was completely resolved!
My hope is to inspire you today with the insight that sometimes strategies are different than what we have been told for years.
You are unique, your circumstances and your body's biochemistry is different, and this is why it's so critical to know specifically what's happening in your body so that you can have the most targeted support possible.
Congratulations to Meredith for the amazing health transformation!
She has completely changed the trajectory of her health over the next 5, 10, and 15 years, by getting her insulin under control, and relieving the need for hypertension medication because as we know, that's a diuretic that helps to deplete nutrients even faster.
If Meredith’s story has inspired you to learn more about the root cause of symptoms in your body. I’m here to help. Let’s connect for a short 15-minute call to see what may be most beneficial for you. Find a time that works for you here.