Not Again!

No matter how hard you try, we will not be erased. We will not be eradicated. We are like ants. We are resilient. We are industrious. Regardless of the industry, good or bad. We ARE industrious. The skills our ancestors possessed on the plantation they brought with them from Africa. Our ancestors had societal structures:government, commerce, agriculture, and construction. What was learned from slavery was how to avoid the whip. How to live with rape. How to swallow pride for the sake of survival. I won’t talk about methodology. We might need to use them again.

Mr. DeSantis and those of like mind, all the whitewash in the world will not hide the atrocities done to our ancestors. We will always BLEED through. The TRUTH will always come through. Your children will discover that you lied to them.

We, as a people, survived slavery. We survived Jim Crow. We will survive the “Jim Crow” you are trying to create. You say slavery taught us skills we needed. You are correct. You taught us how to survive people and attitudes like you. We can navigate the ploys you implement. Our ancestors passed those lessons down. We may have forgotten that we needed them, but we did not forget them.

So, I implore my people teach those lessons to our kids and grandkids. Teach them our history, good and bad. Teach them self-sufficiency. Fraternal organizations and churches increase your community activities that include teaching our people. Use the tools you’ve learned in business and law to strengthen us. We are strong because of our ancestors. We are stronger because of what we’ve personally experienced. We will become stronger still.

Let’s learn from those who HAD to teach our kids our history at home and through those aforementioned organizations. They did not depend on others to teach US about US.

Let’s Get Busy

I Surrender – For NOW

Those who have followed me and know me know that I am resistant to pharmaceuticals. It is my very last resort. The health issue that I have is the source of any other potential issues: high blood pressure. I didn’t know I had the condition until a blood vessel burst in my eye. I had to have surgery on my eye. The day of the surgery, my BP was so high that they rescheduled. That was the day this battle began.

Since then I have been regulating my BP with vegetables, specifically beets. It was going well, but I did get periodic spikes. The spikes in BP measurements are my Dr’s concern. She said they were just as damaging to my blood vessels. So for now I will take a very low dose of lisinipril. One of the side affects is allowing a build-up in potassium that damages your kidneys. To me that is trading one problem for another. My goal is to eventually get off this medication. In the meantime, I will eat clean and exercise and take this poison. Those who pray to the Heavenly Father, please pray for me.

was j

The Veggie Burger Search Continues

A few posts ago, actually, quite a while ago I made my own veggie burger blend. A few days ago I discovered Javant’s Healthy Vegan Eating on YouTube. I made it. It is pictured below. His mix is made with no oil and no soy, so I had to give it a try. It was very good. I guess the walnuts along with the mushrooms gave it the fatty moisture mouth feel, aka texture.

I had forgotten that I made a veggie burger mix posted in My Vegan Burger. There are differences that could make a big difference to some people. First of all,Javant’s recipe is to be cooked. It uses cauliflower, walnuts, mushrooms, carrots, red onions and seasonings. Javant’s ground is designed to be used for multiple purposes.Therefore, no specific seasoning was used. It was very general. Mine is raw; designed for raw vegan lifestyle. My mixture included mushrooms, carrots, green onions,ground flax seed, soaked sunflower, jalepeno, and liquid smoke. There were other seasonings used, but they were specific to burger flavors, or at least they might have conflicted with Italian or Mexican flavors. I thought I had resolved my search for a homemade vegan burger blend. I’m down to two. I’m going to take a little from his and and add to mine. I will then cook a batch and dehydrate another batch. I learned a lot from Javant. I will continue to checkout his videos.

Javant’s Veggie Grou

Loss Replaced With Better

I was so excited about getting the great results of beet and celery juicing. I began to plan for other juice meals and then……

Silence. My Caynel Masticating Juicer stopped. I thought it had over heated. I waited. Turned the switch. Silence. I tried again. Silence. My juicer died. Of course the warranty had expired. It was laid to rest last night in the dumpster.

Now I await the arrival of my new juicer. Didn’t plan to spend that much money on a juicer but it is my medication provider. It cost about 4x as much as the other. I will let you know if it provides 4x the quality.

It is my expectation that the loss will be replaced with better.

Daya 6 & 7: The Battle is Won

Seven days ago I engaged in a battle with my Blood Pressure. I was determine to defeat this adversary with natural means. I had tried several different pharmaceuticals prescribed by my primary care provider and my cardiologist. My doctors’ felt the side affects to them were out weighed by the decrease in my pressure. However, I was the one feeling those side effects. All but one made me extremely ill. The one that was tolerable wasn’t as effective. I stopped taking them. I researched the vegetable and herb world to find answers to my situation. I found beets decreased the blood pressure quickly. I also found a herbal tea that reported decreasing blood pressure. On last Sunday I began. Three hours after drinking 8 oz of fresh non-pasteurized beet juice my pressure had dropped 20mmHg units. I was hopeful. You can read the details in the preceding posts.

My “beginning the day” blood pressure was always less than it had been the day before. The last two days I have had measurements in the 120/80 -ish range in the late afternoon. This morning, I drank 12oz of a combination juice of beet, celery, carrot and apple. At about 5pm I took my pressure and it was 122/71. This will be my daily prescription for my blood pressure along with potassium and magnesium tablets and a decrease in salt intake. I will continue to try to reduce my stress and increase my exercise. This is my self-care plan. I am making an appointment with the cardiologist. I expect that will be a positive visit, except for the stress test I have to take. 🙂 I am not a doctor or a medical expert. I can only share my experience. If this appeals to you, discuss it with your doctor and give it a try.

I am continuing the war of taking care of my body on all levels. I still have difficulty prioritizing myself but I am getting better. My next battle is returning to the weight and dietary practice pre-quarantine. I liked how I felt and I like how I looked. Seventy is my new 40. I am going to get there. It took 18 months to get here, so I know it will not happen over night. First order is to get back into the habit of making my raw food that needs to be dehydrated in a timely manner.

Next experiment is making veggie burger patties with the pulp from the beets and celery. Hope they taste as good as the juice.

Day 4: Self Care: Not So Easy

Self Care. That’s what I was told I needed to do. But just like a doctor telling a patient to eat right without an eating plan or what eating right looks like, telling me I needed to self care without offering a plan or what it should look like. I know the admonishments were for my good and they meant well but sometimes you just can’t get a handle on what you are suppose to do to correct your situation. My eldest gave me a massage treatment gift and it was wonderful. If my budget allows I may make it a monthly or bi-monthly thing. That alone is just a bandaid. To alleviate the source of my issues more must be done. I am returning to our raw eating plan, at least 90%. I made scheduling my day to get at least 6 hours of restful sleep. I am taking breaks after each major activity. I am EXERCISING. All of these are necessary for my self care. Yet, I haven’t figured out how to relieve the stress. It’s as if the release valve on my pressure cooker is stuck and releases the pressure too slow. The main source of my stress is not going away so I have to find a way to unstick the valve.

I am told self care means making yourself a priority. I get that but how do you accomplish that when something else has a higher priority , time wise, over the course of the day and you are exhausted at the end of the day. There is little energy left for self care. I am trying to create a plan that takes care of my responsibilities and place myself high on the list as well. It is not as easy as it sounds. I trust God to guide me.

After I finished the with the tags, the two thought came to me, that self care was doing what makes you feel good in addition to all the above stated healthy things. The other was self care stems from self love.What makes me feel good? What gives me the most joy? What could I do all day and enjoy even after I get tired? Thanks Lord. How do I weave it into my day? I have always struggled with loving myself. Or at least showing love to myself in a tangible way. This is the war I have to win. It is time. The struggle has gone on too long. Silence the negative voices in my head and replace them with the few positive thing said. Most of all replace them with the two most powerful voices in my life. Mine and the Lord’s. He said a lot of positive things about me. I am the negative one. I have to come to agreement with God. I embrace me. I have said this before but now is the time I need to stick with it until it manifest and the voices are silenced. This is the best care I can give to myself. Everything else will fall in line. Thanks Chef Babette for the inspiration.

Day 3: Caregivers Don’t Ignore The Signs

Thirty Percent of Caregivers Die Before The People They Care For Do. Rough statistics show that 30% of caregivers die before those they are caring for. Some studies show deaths higher. Illness that doesn’t lead to death is rampant, as well – depression and auto-immune diseases are high on the list.
Thirty Percent of Caregivers Die Before The People They Care …

I heard this in passing several years ago and I wondered how that could be or why. After all, the caregivers are not sick. Now I understand. After being my husband’s primary caregiver for the last six years I can clearly see it. You don’t see the toll it takes on your body or mind but others see. You know you don’t feel 100% but you just chalk it up to being tired and keep going. This person is depending on you. So you push on to get it done.

Recently I have had to come to terms with the behavior that might have killed me. I am in no hurry to be in that 30%. The blood pressure opened my eyes but if I have paid more attention to me sooner, I never would have gotten here. So what could I have done. Simply prioritize my needs. I ignored my pains. I ignored my lack of sleep. I ignored my moments of depression. I ignored body’s cry for rest, mental and physical. I had warnings of what this stress was doing to me but of course I ignored them. I wasn’t going for the strongest woman award or affirmation from others. I had just put myself so far on the back burner. My needs didn’t seem as important. I was wrong and if you are doing this, you are too.

Caregivers don’t ignore tyourself.

Don’t ignore he stress.

Don’t ignore the signs.

BP update: 159/95 7:30am 8oz Beet Juice 11:35am 154/100 5:30pm 143/86 after .5 ml CBD oil

Day 2 How I Got Here

Some of you know that my husband and I began a raw vegan/vegan lifestyle in 2017. It was prescribed by Dr. Baxter Montgomery to treat hubby’s cardiac problems. This is a very curative dietary lifestyle. So how did I end up battling high blood pressure. To explain that I have to go back to pre-Covid quarantine.

I made all our food from scratch. I bought veggies and fruit in their original, natural state and prepared our dishes with extremely minimal processing. Hubby got stronger. Arthritis pain decreased for both of us. We had more energy. Eventually, I was showing signs of fatigue from all the work and not enough rest. It takes time. Dr. Montgomery noticed I was tired and told me I didn’t have to prepare everything from scratch. There were some things I could buy already prepared. Looking back on it I think he meant something different than I understood. I began to purchase prepared vegan food. I read the labels and bought what was closest to what I would have prepared. That was the beginning of the slippery slope. A few non-related things added to my stress and fatigue level. That lead to the next step down.

Second, I was introduced to the Impossible Burger and the Beyond Burger. They’re plant-based right? They were tasty and convenient. They were also processed and high in sodium. Now in moderation they may not have been bad but when you are tired and hungry you go for the quick fixes. I purchased the patties and the sausages from the market. Then Burger King began selling Impossible Burgers. Oh, I forgot. Red Robin sold veggie burgers and they were near our home. On those days,they had become frequent, that cooking was harder than buying, I purchased from the restaurants. They are plant based right? A more than moderate diet of these with fries combined with steady doses of high stress leads to problems. This was not every meal but it was more than I should have done, The majority of this activity was during the quarantine. Our daily walks ended. So no excercise. Now I don’t have anything against those products but they are not my family’s friend. Now that I am in this battle, they are forever off my list of things to eat. In fact I am trying to get rid of all processed food. If you are having similar problems I recommend eliminating processed foods even if they are plant-based. Read the labels.

Today I awaken with a blood pressure of 155/102 and HR 61. This was 30mmHg lower than I began yesterday. Cardio for 16 minutes. 4oz of beet juice. Wanted to see if that had a similar effect as did 8oz. I had a stressful day. Husband seems to have Covid symptoms. At 3:59 blood pressure was 150/94 HR 74. At 7:30 148/97 HR 73. Drank 8 oz of freash celery juice. 10pm 167/101 HR 69. It seems celery juice is not as effective as the beet juice. At least not with me. Tomorrow return to 8os of beet juice but the celery juice will be included as well. I am determined to find the correct combination for me.

NOTE: Last night I took magnesium before I went to bed along with CBD infused tea. I felt so rested when I woke up. Hadn’t felt that in a long time. I am trying it tonight with the magnesium only. Hopefully it will also lower my blood pressure tonight.

Day 1-The BP Battle Beginss

I awaken this morning about 5:50am with a headache. I knew my BP was high. The question was how high. I started the day with a blood pressure of 182/108 and a heart rate 64 . This was taken at 6:15am Sunday 12/5. First order of business was exercise and tension release activities. I sat in a chair with a heated massage pad while I pedaled on bike pedals. I only pedaled for 12 minutes. I thought it unwise to go for the 30 minutes the first time out. After the exercise I juiced 4 small beets. They yielded 8 oz of juice. I drank that and sat down to do my Bible study and listen to music. Trying to release tension. Dr. Story said there would be a significant decrease in BP in 3 hours after drinking the juice. Here is my experience.

• Remember I began at 182/108
• 6:27 12 minutes of pedaling: BP 166/110 Hr 74
• 7:30 Drank 8oz beet juice
• 3 hours after drinking 8oz of beet juice: BP 152/91 HR 73
• 10:45 potassium and B12 were taken
• At 5pm: BP 134/83 HR 83
• At 9pm BP 159/99 HR 74
• 10pm Ate banana and took magnesium
• Drank CBD tea
• 11pm BP 155/87 HR 67

This is the planned schedule of collecting data in this experiment. I will keep a log but I may not post each measurement. I will do a trend report on Friday or Saturday. I will however share what I am eating and why and any information I discover. Dr Story said the effects of the beet juice should last 24 hours. It doesn’t seem like that is going to happen for me. Maybe after my system is cleansed and more exercise has been done. Looking at the data today it appears there should be a second dose of beet juice or something that does the same thing. Tomorrow I will add fresh celery juice. Here are some benefits of celery juice.

• reduce inflammation.
• lower blood pressure.
• heal the liver.
• fight cancer.
• reduce bloating.
• support the digestive system.
• increase energy.
• support weight loss.

More items…•Nov 26, 2021
Celery juice cleanse: Possible benefits, risks, and more

Still working on stress reduction plan. Tried to relax some today. I know my stress comes mostly from being my husband’s caregiver. I never viewed it as a stressful situation. I was just taking care of my love. I guess I internalized any problems or frustrations because they seemed to just go with the territory and no need to complain. I just do what is necessary to do. I guess it caught up with me. Now I have to find a way to unpack it all. My daughter and a friend suggest a therapist. I am considering. My problem is how do I begin to unpack it. I don’t even know what I need to talk about to relieve the stress.

Blood Pressure Battle

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.