Hypertension/High Blood Pressure and Keto * Low-Carb

I was diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure) a long time ago— even before I started doing low-carb. But I was low-to-no income, and not yet on SSI disability and Medicaid, and so couldn’t keep up with doctor visits to be able to keep taking hypertension pills.

I think when I first started doing low-carb (in the 1990s) that it brought down my blood pressure. After all, doing Keto * Low=Carb is a reliable way to get your blood sugar down— so much so that doctors warn people to go to their own doctor to get their blood pressure and blood sugar pills’ doses cut down when they start Keto * Low-Carb. It’s a reliable effect.

But not enough of a reliable effect to overcome my years of carb-eating and vegetarianism. I developed Type 2 diabetes, and not too long after I began to have bad kidney tests. My blood pressure was high— not super-high or scary-high as long as I was doing low-carb most of the time, but still, high. My ‘PCP’ (the non-doctor who is my government-approved health care provider) threatened that I would be put in ‘a home’ because of my Asperger Syndrome if I refused to go to a nephrologist (kidney doctor) in the city of Iron Mountain, even though that’s more of a drive than I could handle. [My therapist at the time confirmed that they don’t put people with Asperger Syndrome and high IQs into ‘homes’ for disobeying a non-doctor.]

One nephrologist was from India, and though a conventional low-fat advocate who tried to push the ‘DASH diet’ on me, had some medical smarts and ordered tests to see if I had some underlying kidney problem. They fired her though, and the nephrologist I had to go to next was a woman from the Philippines who told me that my diet could not affect my kidney disease (I knew there was at least one peer-reviewed study to the contrary) and she also demanded that I take home a DVD about dialysis— even after I told her I had no working DVD player! Maybe I was supposed to sleep with the DVD under my pillow and the info would leak into my head that way? Anyway, I quit going back to her after that. My ‘PCP’ didn’t try to have me put in a home after all (and now denies she ever said it) but the bad thing was that I went off my hypertension pill.

When I had a small stroke in Feb. of 2019, I ended up on two hypertension pills, and my PCP recently increased the dose of one of them. I am now getting better blood pressure readings every morning. My Keto * Low-Carb lifestyle has not brought down my blood pressure by itself, nor has it healed my kidney disease. But I do believe it is helping heal my body. I just need pills as well now.

RESEARCH:

A 2011 study in the scientific journal PLOS One showed that a ketogenic diet reversed diabetic kidney damage in diabetic mice in two months.

A 2013 study of a small human trial published in The Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology showed improvement of kidney function in diabetics on a ketogenic diet for 12 weeks.

90 days on Keto and Fasting: Results--- 35 pounds and controlled blood sugar

Today I celebrate day 90 of being on a strict low-carb ketogenic diet. I've had some good results both over the 90 days, and in my previous low-carb diet.

I have lost 35 pounds in the 90 days, which brings my total weight lost by low-carb keto to 89 pounds. I was mostly on lowcarb before, but less strict, and didn't do fasting other than skipping breakfast most days.

My BMI has gone down from 32.0 on day 10 of keto, to 27.0 this morning, which means I am no longer obese, just 'overweight.'

As a Type 2 diabetic, it was bad blood sugars that drove me to strict keto and fasting. I had a 336 blood sugar on day 1 of the current keto regime. I had a 84 yesterday, and was up to 99 this morning.

I am currently on a No-Breakfast Plan experiment, where I don't start eating until lunchtime. I'm also currently on the third day of a three-day fast. Or maybe a four-day fast. We'll see where I am tomorrow morning.

My blood pressure has been high, and while previously a low-carb diet lowered it without help, it hasn't helped much. I decided to try taking some good kind of garlic capsules. I found one kind which was allicin powder, the active ingredient in garlic, Buy Naturally bioactive Mega Allicin. My blood pressure has gone down slightly since I started to take it. I may add a cinnamon capsule--- I have used Cinnulin in the past--- and see if that helps even more.

No-Breakfast Plan experiment
The problem with this experiment as an experiment is that I was already mostly not a morning eater. And then I decided I had to do a 3 day fast, so any results will be a part of that. I think if I experiment again I might experiment on eating breakfasts, and see what that does. Anyway, I will report on the results at the official end of the experiment on Monday.

My July results on Keto

It's the beginning of a new month, and time to consider what keto has done for me the past July. And I think it's pretty good!

July was days 10 to 40 of my renewed keto lifestyle. And it had some great results. My blood glucose was 170 and 156 on the first two days of July. It was 101 and 93 on the last two days, and today it is 88. Compare those results to when I was on 2 diabetes meds, and still had readings in the mid 200s unless I was on strict low-carb--- a diet at least 1 of my doctors actively discouraged. She wanted me on the dreadful DASH diet, and thought that telling me it was a government-approved diet would encourage me to like it. There was no way to make me like the constant hunger, non-weight-loss, and higher blood sugars on that diet, though.

Fasting: I had 8 fasting days during July, mostly individual days with one 5 day fast. Each time I fasted, my blood glucose became more normal, and since I was on keto the other days, it stayed more normal.

Weight: I weighed 196.8 pounds at the beginning of July, and 185.2 by the end. I had not weighed under 190 since college, maybe since high school! My BMI (body mass index) went from 32.0 to 30.1. My Ketonix says I was in high level ketosis for almost all the days of July.

Clothing size: I bought two pairs of jeans and a pair of shorts in a new, smaller size: XL. And they fit really loose on me. I really want to buy a new pair of jeans in 'L' just to see if it would fit!

There are bad sides to my new keto life, though. I've been feeling so much more energetic, I got a lot of things done, including starting on a major house cleaning. But with all that energy, I spent too much money. Since government disability doesn't PAY much, I have to be very, very careful in August. Which is too bad since I want to buy some new clothes. And I can't even afford a trip to the grocery store this week.

Also, my blood pressure has not improved any. I'm hoping another month will see some changes in that. Keto is supposed to be good for your blood pressure. If I don't see improvement, I will probably have to resort to blood pressure pills. If my 'health care provider' (not a doctor) is willing to prescribe a kind I am willing to take.