Home Remedies For High Blood Pressure

Have you ever seen a horror movie?  Oh, let’s say Friday the 13^th series.  Just humor me (well, this example is not actually humor. But, work with me here!).   Let me paint the scene for you.  An unsuspecting victim is in an old and dusty cabin (why are the victims in scary flicks most of the time in old and dusty cabins?  Why not a fresh, decked-out cabin?  I digress.).  The evening is blanketing the area with a winter chill and solid darkness. A wolf is howling as though he is communicating that a death is about happen.  The cabin air is thick and heavy with raw fear.  A blond lady is biting her nails nervously as she looks out of the window (why are women in these types of films are typically the defenseless ones? What would happen if the killer met a woman who had martial arts or survival skills? Someone like Zena the Warrior Princess. Not much of a story, I know.  But I can imagine, can’t I?).  Her heart is slamming into her chest with sheer terror because she has managed to escape Jason Voorhees, the unstoppable hockey masked killer.  Her eyes scan the landscape as she is looking out of a window for any sign of him. Suddenly, a shadowy figure is in the room that she did not know was there.  A hulking man with a blood-stained hockey mask holding an axe in his meaty hands waiting like a lion for its prey behind her. She is totally clueless that her fifteen minutes of fame is almost over. By this time, as a viewer you are jumping up and down while screaming for the girl to turn around and run. Or shaking your head in disbelief at the character’s stupidity.  Who doesn’t hear a 300-plus man enter into a cabin while hiding?    

Just like the killer Jason Voorhees can silently kill his victims, high blood pressure (commonly called hypertension) can also silently kill those who are diagnosed if not addressed properly.  For the rest of this article, high blood pressure will be abbreviated as HBP and if any mention of the word “hypertension” will be abbreviated as HT.

What is High Blood Pressure?

If you have been recently diagnosed with HBP/HT or currently have this condition, take a deep breath.  You can work through this condition one step at a time and possibly master this “disease.”

I would like to illustrate what exactly HBP without using technical jargon to confuse you because medical terms can twist a layman’s mind like a German pretzel (you remember the biology tests in high school, don’t you? I make my case). Once you understand what HBP is, the fear holding you will be released.    

“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.”~ Marie Curie

I’m a firm believer in the K.I.S.S. system: Keep It Simple, Silly.  You like illustrations? Good. Let’s take an automobile as an example.  What does an automobile run off of?  If you say, your car payments, that is half of it.  I’m actually talking about gasoline.  Now if you were to take gasoline can and pour gas into the tank, the car would get the fuel needed to run.  Correct?  Let’s take that same gas and pour sand into the gas can.  Mix it up into a sludge.  Pour into the tank of the car.  Start the car. What would happen?  The car would be damaged and possibly explode. Why? Cars are not meant to drive on gas and sand for optimum performance.

Your blood is the fuel that runs inside of your body.  When your blood is tainted through poor consumption habits (processed foods, white flour, pasteurized milk, white sugar, refined salt), sedentary lifestyle, genetics, toxic products you use, or toxic environment; your blood becomes like the gas/sand sludge.  If your blood has to work harder in order to get to where it needs to go, the heart will need to pump harder to push the blood to the places the body needs.  According to Mike Adams of Natural News, he sums up the difference of free flowing blood and thick blood: “It’s like the difference between sucking water through a straw versus sucking honey through a straw… the more sticky and thick the honey, the more pressure it takes to move it.”

What can you do?

The great news is that instead of taking pharmaceutical drugs, which can do more damage in a long term protocol; there is solutions made in nature that may work just as effectively. We will explore home remedies that you probably have in your cupboard or home. The remedies may help you begin the amazing journey to wellness without breaking the bank.  Remedies that are so simple, you will end up hitting your head against the wall because they are so easy to implement. If you are looking to wean off of the high blood pressure medicine altogether, please make sure to work hand and hand with a licensed physician or naturopathic/homeopathic doctor to make the transition smoother. 

What is the first step?

Before I continue please note that this information is not in any shape, form, or fashion intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease and have not been evaluated by the FDA. 

Now before you implement the below remedies, this is a first step you would need to take.  According to Medical Doctor Al Sears, he recommends to get your blood pressure checked either by your doctor or one of the free machines in the supermarket. Why? The numbers will help you to establish a baseline and you can check to see if you are improving or not. Sears provides the following chart below.

Once you know your scores, take a look at the chart below and see where you fall between the normal and high blood pressure (hypertension) range:

Home Remedies for High Blood Pressure

Good job.  You have gotten your baseline numbers.  Next, let’s look at the home remedies that may help with high blood pressure:

• Garlic: Ah, there is nothing more appealing than the smell of cooked garlic permeating the home.  I bet you are thinking of memories of Ragu sauce commercials, right? This tempting little herb may help to soften your arteries in order to let blood flow more readily. According to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that garlic can relax blood vessel tension by an amazing 72 percent!  This result alone is to make anyone with hypertension to say “Mamma Mia!” 

  • Suggested use: one to two fresh organic cloves a day.

    • Alternative: Garlic supplementation.  Look for the active ingredient “Allicin” with at least 3,600 mcg if you are one who cringes at eating garlic everyday.  On the flip side, one study has shown that fresh garlic is more potent than supplement form. 

• Sesame Oil.  There is a reason (whether known to the Asian cultures or not) that this oil is listed as a remedy.   The ingredient in this oil called “Sesamin” has been found by researchers to relax the blood vessels to allow blood flow. 

  • Suggested use: Use on salads or in place of cooking oil for your meats and sauteing.

• Dark Chocolate.  Chocoholics rejoice!  Break into song and pump your fists with excitement! Dark chocolate is showing promise in dealing with high blood pressure.  Dark chocolate releases the powerful antioxidants of polyphenols and flavanols which have a positive impact on cardiovascular health. 

• Water.  Yes, you know that stuff that you wash with or cook with?  It’s wet?  Called H2O?  Oh, yeah.  That stuff.  A majority of people are chronically dehydrated and do not know it (by the way, a dry mouth is not an indicator of dehydration – your urine is).  According to the ground-breaking research of Medical Doctor Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, symptoms and “diseases” are manifested by the body as its warning siren to signal its need for water.  Batmanghelidj suggested as a rule of thumb the following guidelines:

  • Drink purified water that is half your body weight spaced throughout the day.

  • In combination with the water, dissolve 1/8 tsp of salt on your tongue per 16 oz (½ liter) of water. If you are drinking 8 oz of water, use 1/16 tsp salt.

  In his research, this simple combination has been able to reverse many of the common “diseases” that people have because the body was signaling its dehydration.  Try it and you may be amazed at the results. 

So now that you have the knowledge, you have the power to change your health for the better.  The real power is manifested when you apply what you learn to your health in order to achieve your fullest potential.