Join us for a rejuvenating nutrition and lifestyle medicine retreat. Although I continue to struggle with obesity, switching to a whole food, plant-based WFPB way of eating saved my life. When I first made the switch to WFPB, I initially lost weight and came off medication for pre-diabetes, hypothyroidism, high cholesterol, elevated triglycerides, and high blood pressure.
My C-reactive protein CRP number of 5. This journey to a healthier lifestyle began in December ofand my numbers continue to amaze my doctors, despite my constant struggle with weight loss. I did end up losing 50 pounds and felt better than before, but I still have about 70 to go.
At the end ofhowever, my blood pressure began to elevate. For many of us, was a year of struggles, and mine was no different. Nevertheless, my doctor approached me with the possibility of taking blood pressure medicine. She said that despite my otherwise healthy lifestyle, my age and ongoing obesity even with weight-loss successes were contributing to my elevated blood pressure.
The systolic reading hovered between andbut my diastolic reading remained below She called this condition isolated hypertensionwhich can occur naturally with age when other health issues are present, such as obesity. Besides supplements of vitamins D and B12, I was taking no medicines and wanted to keep it that way, so I told her that I preferred to try to reduce my blood pressure with more concentrated efforts toward a cleaner lifestyle.
Despite my best efforts, though, I could not get my blood pressure stabilized and agreed to begin taking blood pressure medicine in March Earn your plant-based nutrition certificate. Learn more. At first, the medicine seemed to lower my blood pressure.
But then, the systolic began to creep back up, even with the medication. When my doctor wanted to put me on a stronger blood pressure medicine, I began researching other natural options to address my hypertension. In doing so, I stumbled upon an article by Dr.
Alan Goldhamer and Dr. Colin Campbell on medically supervised water-only fasting for treating hypertension. Goldhamer has decades of experience with water-only fasting as the founder of the TrueNorth Health Center, and Dr.
Although the idea of water-only fasting seemed daunting, I was intent on giving this type of intervention a try. In addition to getting my head in the right place to attempt such a feat, I knew that I needed to find a doctor or facility to assist me. Another more recent article chronicled the effects of a supervised fasting approach to address hypertension and concluded that water-only fasting is safe and effective in normalizing blood pressure in both medicated and unmedicated participants.
Because Dr. Goldhamer is one of the leading doctors on long-term water-only fasting, I went through the process of registering with the TrueNorth Health Center.