Body

Physical Wellness

Blood Pressure Battle

by ladypbwiggins

A few months ago I discovered that I was in a critical hypertensive condition. I just thought I was tired and stressed out. While that was true, it was not the real problem. My blood pressure was in the 200/180 neighborhood. I don’t know how long I had been walking around like that. I had mild headaches but I just took acetomeniphine and kept it moving. It was only because of God’s grace that I did not stroke out or lose my eyesight.

I discovered this condition when I went in to have surgery on my eye. They couldn’t do it because my pressure was so high. I had to get it down quickly. I went to my primary care provider and she prescribed some powerful medication. It made me so sick that I couldn’t function. I went back and she prescribed a different one which got it down sufficiently enough to have the surgery but my system didn’t like it either. By the way, the blood pressure caused the eye problem. Blood vessels burst in my eye. After the surgery I continued to take the medication until my follow-up exam. I know high blood pressure can damage your heart so I went to my husband’s cardiologist to get mine checked out. While there I told them how the medication was making me feel so another one was prescribed. That one made me even sicker. I thought I was dying after the third dose. I had a blinding headache accompanied with nausea and weakness. I stopped taking it.

So what do I now. Clearly the pharmaceuticals are not my friends. I had planned to return to a nutrition solution after everything was stabilized but I am forced to begin it sooner. I knew that was where my long term solution lay but I needed a quicker reduction. I have no choice but to look to fruit and vegetables. (Some of you know I had been on a raw vegan life plan. Had I behaved I would not be having these issues. More on that later.)

First I looked to herbal teas that I could add a few drops of CBD oil into. Thought that would be faster. My list is beginning with pure chamomile and linden tea. I had never heard of linden tea. Some of it’s benefits are:

  • May promote relaxation. …
  • May help fight inflammation. …
  • May reduce mild pain. …
  • May have diuretic effects. …
  • Linked to lower blood pressure. …
  • May help you sleep. …
  • Soothes your digestive tract. …
  • Easy to add to your diet.

This worked but did not get my pressure low enough. I searched for the specific types of foods that were good for lowering blood pressure. There are many and I will share those in a future post. The first is beets. I know someone is saying yuck but beet juice is really sweet. I began drinking fresh beet juice today. One glass of beet juice is reported to significantly lower your blood pressure quickly. It is suppose to be effective for 24 hours. Other veggies are spinach, ginger, and garlic. That looks like a salad!

I watched a video tonight of a chiropractor named Dr. Story. He discussed what he prescribed to his patients to lower their blood pressure naturally. It coincides with what I found on the GoodRx website and our cardiologist. To reduce blood pressure without medications you should, I should

  1. Exercise most days of the week. Exercise is the most effective way to lower your blood pressure. …
  2. Consume a low-sodium diet. Too much sodium (or salt) causes blood pressure to rise. …
  3. Limit alcohol intake to no more than 1 to 2 drinks per day. …
  4. Make stress reduction a priority.

Jun 22, 2019
What’s the Fastest Way to Lower My Blood Pressure Safely? – GoodRx

I plan to begin this journey on tomorrow. Nothing here is new or a surprise but I am not doing it. I don’t like to exercise but I know it’s necessafy. I know a low or no salt diet is best for everybody but I don’t always eat that way. I’ll talk about that more later. Alcohol is not an issue. I drink wine very infrequently. Now here is the kicker. I live a highly stressful life. My stressor cannot be eliminated so I have to find a way to reduce the stress or release the pressure it causes. I basically have to learn how to relax. If you have suggestions on that, please share them. Until tomorrow, have a good evening. I’m going to try to relax now.

Refined and Polished

by ladypbwiggins

Yesterday I celebrated my 70th birthday. Today is the beginning of my 71st year of life. Leading up to this time I had determined that it was time to re-invent myself. I planned to address my insecurities that are responsible for me living an impactless life. My plans have changed some what. Yesterday as part of my birthday celebration my baby daughter orchestrated a video presentation. She invited my family and people she knows have known me for a long time to express how I had impacted their life and to share a memory. I sat there listening to those who shared and thought I didn’t know they felt like that. I was just being me. Some cited incidents that they felt showed my strength. I felt they just seemed to me in trouble and caused people to dislike me. i really thought I was just tolerated because I was attached to Carl. I thought who are they talking about. They believe that I am strong. One even said I was fierce. I had been shot down and stomped on so often that I felt like there really was no reason that I should be using up the space and air others could have benefited from. To some extent this attitude caused me to deny myself of things I wanted or the quality of things I did get.

My friends and family have a different opinion of me. For that I am grateful and thankful. I awoke this morning realizing I like their view, their perspective. I have purposed to see myself through their eyes, I have decided not to re-invent myself. Apparently the core of who they see is who I wanted to be. Therefore I will leave the essence of who I am unchanged. I an asking for Yaweh’s help to refine that which needs refining and polish that which needs to shine brighter.

I am renewing my thinking about myself . I purpose to give myself the same grace and compassion that I give others. I give my best to others and now I purpose to give it to myself. I am moving myself up on my list . Oh, don’t worry. I am not going to become haughty and self-centered. I’m just going to treat myself better. I know this is not going to be something that happens overnite but I am beginning.

This post is my first step. Now you all know and those near and dear will hold me accountable, Second step is to become more consistent with my Bible study. Thirdly, I will wear more of what I like. People have seen glimpses of my style but not on a consistent level or the quality that I really like. I spent the money on my kids and my husband. They were in the public eye more than I. Really, who neede to dress up to clean bathrooms. 😀 The kids are grown and hubby is no longer Pastor Carl and community activist. I am making it my turn now. Not making do any more. I’ve wanted to sew, so sew I will. Before the pandemic I had lost weight and was wearing clothes that I loved. I had replaced the fat clothes. Over this last year of isolation, I have regained the weight. Food was my only physical comfort. I will eliminate the vegan fast food and return to the healthier versions. I will lose the weight again but I will dress the fat body well in the mean time. Not waiting.

Let the refining and polishing begin. 70 is the new 40.

Vegan – Raw Vegan Again

by ladypbwiggins

I wrote this post in February 2021. I was trying very hard to get back to raw veganism but I failed. I didn’t realize how fatigued and depressed I had become in that last year. So my next post will be my beginning again. I must fight through all of this. Our mental and physical health depend on it.

It has been a few months since we have done a completely raw eating plan. It was mainly because of my fatigue amd the ease of eating vegan but not completely raw. Have been preparing foods to eat that need to be dehydrated to get ahead of the game. The plan is to wean ourselves from processed vegan foods and return to clean. The next step is majority meals raw without nuts until detoxification has had ample time to accomplish its job.

I had wanted to make a recipe that would be a great snack. It was called a raspberry buckwheat crumble. I didn’t have raspberries so I used dried cranberries instead. Success.

There has been much talk about juicing during detoxification. I made some juice and my juicer died. I purchased a new one. I decided to try the Caynel masticating juicer. I discovered I could make juice with pulp and without pulp. I made graepfuit juice. Great job. I then made nut milk with it. Almond milk to be specific. I didnt have to strain it and I had dry pulp to be used in a veggie burger recipe. All that’s left is to try the sorbet/ice cream maker.

Today breakfast was raw and dinner was raw. But every meal was vegan.

Began Yogurt Experience

by ladypbwiggins

When I gave up dairy I discovered how much I liked yogurt and cheese. Good tasting non-dairy cheese is hard to find. Non-dairy yogurt was almost impossible. Only certain stores carried it and they were not close to me. I discovered recipes from other vegans. Some were good and others not so much. Of course the good tasting were not time friendly. A few weeks ago I found a vegan cheese recipe that was simple so I decided to try it. I had already bought 1 young coconut but the recipe called for 6. I thought this is a trial and trying to get the meat from one was hard much less 6. I understood why most of the recipes used coconut cream or milk. I used the meat from the one I had and added a cup of dry coconut flakes and a cup of water. It never got it as silky smooth as I wanted I pureed this mix in my Vitamix. I wanted it raw but in my efforts to get it silky smooth the Vitamix heated it up. I did not add sweetener. I added some pure vanilla extract. I put the mix in a glass container and added the probiotic tablet. It was warmer than I thought. I was afraid I killed the bacteria in the tablet. Fortunately enough survived to ferment the coconut blend.

It worked. I have yogurt in my life once again. It tasted good but I would like some without the coconut flavor. What else can I use besides nuts to make yogurt? Seeds maybe? Anyone have a suggestion?

Coconut yogurt

Thank Henrietta Lacks You’re Alive.

by ladypbwiggins

Just watched “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” an HBO presentation on Hulu. I knew the story of her life from the medical perspective but I didn’t know the story from her family’s perspective. Her contributions to life is of global proportions. It is worth watching and not just for black people. I wondered while watching how many people who hate us have received life saving treatments made possible by the cells of Henrietta Lacks. I know there are more details not given in the movie. There always are.

Aguafaba

by ladypbwiggins

For several months I’ve been reading about aguafaba and it’s uses. I even saved it in the fridge. Didn’t use it though. Oh, wait. I assume you know what it is. It’s the liquid or pot liquor as they call it in the south left after you cook chickpeas. Most of us toss it after straining the chickpeas. I finally used it in my gluten free waffle recipe.

Now you can’t just pour it in. It has to be whipped. I am lazy so I used my immersion blender instead of a whisk to do the work.

After I achieved a whipped egg white consistency, I added it to my batter. Like egg whites, the aguafaba adds moisture so I slowly added the milk a little at a time. I didn’t want to make the batter to liquidy. The results were beautifully crispy on the outside, tender on the inside waffles. Aguafaba will definitely be added to my egg replacement arsenal.

Partially eaten waffles😄

I forgot to take a picture before we began eating so I had to snatch my hubby’s plate from his hands.

Mourning My Friends

by ladypbwiggins

Recently I lost several friends. They have been my companions for over 25 years. We have seen the ups and downs and the short and long of it. Today I begin anew. Today I begin life without dreadlocks!

😄😄😄

Raw Bread

by ladypbwiggins

One of the things I am always in the search for since changing our dietary lifestyle is a good bread for sandwiches. I found one made of nuts. It was good but I thought could there be one without nuts. So to the internet I went. I found one that uses cauliflower and zucchini as its base.

This particular recipe gave the mouth feel of soft fresh baked bread but the taste left a lot to be desired. For one thing it was too salty. I am not printing the recipe because I don’t want to give another raw foodie a negative comment. Some people liked it. I will continue my search and experimentation. Hemp and sunflower seedseds as the base is next. In the mean time I have my bread made with nuts.

Excalibur HELP!

by ladypbwiggins

I have been wanting to return to more of a raw eating lifestyle but a lot of things I wanted to prepare could not be done on my dehydrater. I wasn’t sure we would continue this lifestyle so I bought a cheapy. I decided to use some of that stimulus money to stimulate myself. I bought an Excalibur. I bought a refurbished 5 tray. The size is enough for my husband and I and the price was great. My first goal was to dry onions, veggie burgers and to SAVE the mushrooms. I am tired of mushrooms going bad before I get to use them. Dried veggies are going to stock my pantry.

Today (Tuesday) I made 2 trays of crackers and 3 bread loaves. Tomorrow I plan to make croquettes. Yum,yum.

We have been vegan but the cold weather encouraged cooking. The Impossible Whopper and Beyond Meat Burger made it convenient so I got lazy. Now I am back and ready. We want be 100% raw because my husband wants some cooked meals but most will be. I can already feel the difference.

I have more planned, especially my weakness, baked goods.

Chickpea Flour Tofu

by ladypbwiggins

The other day, I made chickpea flour tofu. The person’s whose instructions I used said, the recipe was simple but you had to master the process or technique. She wasn’t kidding. The first batch, I let get too firm. The second was just smooth enough to give me a firm, sliceable tofu.

I cubed a portion of the firm to bake and added it to some vegetable Lo Mein. The too, too firm I crumbled and added to a vegan pot pie filling to replace chicken. Normally, it would be vegetables only in the filling. Both meals were delicious. My husband said they were a repeat. It might be a while before I buy soy based tofu again. This was cheaper and convenient.

They say necessity requires you to get inventive. I doubt if I would have tried this if I had been able to find regular tofu in this grocery store wasteland.