Hypertension (HTN) or high blood pressure and FastDiet

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Hypertension (HTN) or high blood pressure and FastDiet

This topic contains 20 replies, has 14 voices, and was last updated by  SunnyCoconut 8 years, 9 months ago.

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  • I’m doing well with the fasting diet although like many hit a weight plateau after 8 weeks. Lost 4 kilos so happy with that. One of my main goals was to lose a bit of weight to help with long term BP.

    However, I have noticed a slow increase in blood pressure, particularly on days when I fast. Has anyone else experienced this. Obviously going to book to see my GP and get it looked at but I have been on BP tablets (Amlodipine 5mg) for over a year and everything was very stable. Only change is the fast diet.

    What are you experiences, positive and negative when it comes to blood pressure. Particularly interested in people who are already on BP medication to balance BP.

    thanks

    I have recently experienced an increase in bp. It is very disappointing. I have been following the diet for over 6 months and have lost about 3 stone in weight (about a 20% loss in weight), though the rate has slowed down in the last month. My bp had been slowly decreasing, but a couple of weeks ago I noticed it had gone back up to previous levels (145/90) and my heart rate is low (about 50 bpm). I’m taking ramipril, 10 mg/day. As well as the bp and the slowed weight loss, I’ve been experiencing a tight throat sensation when I haven’t eaten for a few hours. I went to the doc and had tests for just about everything, including an ECG, tests for thyroid, liver, CRP, electrolytes etc. All came back normal. I’m a bit worried about the increased bp so would love to hear from a medical expert about this.

    Wondering if anyone can help with us two who have increasing blood pressure??? Anyone?

    What do you eat on your 5 off days? I find that eating a lot of dairy products may increase BP on off days. Cheese and butter especially. I think it’s the off days that are your problem but not the fasting days.

    No change in my eating habits over the 6 months I’ve been doing fasting or the 8 years before!! As my bp was coming down, I can’t understand why it has jumped back up. No change in exercise either (I’m doing DrM’s HIIT protocol). I wonder about lipids circulating during fasting affecting the cardiovascular system, or the large drop in weight affecting catecholamines or a decrease in renin making the ACE inhibitor less effective. I’ve heard about a potential pressor effect in people with low renin (not been tested for renin). Or a change in thyroid function which although still in normal limits may affect things (t3 was on the low side). Perhaps Dr M might have a view? I’m getting catecholamines tested and hopefully an echo done in case of LVH.

    Or maybe Claire???

    Likewise one of my main aims for this diet was to reduce BP. I had been on medication Diovan 80 mg, my BP with medication had dropped and my Doctor suggested I try and manage it with diet and exercise. This I failed to do. Months down the track of excess with high fat, processed food, alcohol,and no exercise I could tell that my BP was high and would need to get it checked again, knowing I would have to go back onto medication. On the home BP machine my reading was 153/95. Then I saw the documentary and read the Fast Diet Book. I commenced the diet and 4 weeks in went to my doctor, he was impressed with BP 120/70. Some other strategies apart from the diet are; on my non-fast days very conscious of eating more Veggies and Fruit, less meat, down to twice a week, smaller portions, no wine through the week, completely stopped drinking coffee, walk for an hour every day, included Chia seeds into my home made muesli, making my own veggie juices (Carrot, Apple, Celery & Parsley) I have heard the last two help with reducing BP, include very little dairy, (one table spoon of yoghurt on my muesli). Also totally eliminated Salt. I believe it is all the lifestyle/dietary factors that you need to take into account when looking at BP not just the Fast Diet.

    Great job, Roger! Well done, you, for such a comprehensive and intelligent list of changes to your lifestyle. Long may you enjoy the benefits of your efforts.

    Yes, but I still want to know why if I have changed NOTHING at all in my lifestyle except for fasting why I would get an initial decrease in blood pressure but then an increase??? Most studies show that a 5% decrease in body weight is enough to cause a reduction in BP but I have lost around 20%! I would welcome a medical opinion on the possibility that a decrease in renin as a result of a large weight loss would result in the ACE inhibitor not having any ACE to work on or that cortisol may have increased due to the prolonged stress of fasting?

    Hi Caroline. I appreciate you are hoping for a qualified medical opinion rather than the usual internet yada, and I hope you get it here soon!

    Martin Berkhan says here that it is a myth that IF can raise cortisol levels, although he does acknowledge that ‘prolonged fasting or severe calorie restriction causes elevated baseline levels of cortisol. This occurs in conjunction with depletion of liver glycogen, as cortisol speeds up DNG, which is necessary to maintain blood sugar in absence of dietary carbs, protein, or stored glycogen.’ So is it possible that long-term IF combined with low-carb diet could have this effect?

    OTOH magnesium blunts (or *can* blunt?) cortisol levels, so if you were already taking this before your BP readings that makes cortisol a less likely culprit?

    Hi caroline.j.rees,
    Have just come across your post about your blood pressure not reducing in line with your excellent weight loss of 20% (for which well done!).
    In a study by Dr Michelle Harvie of 115 women followed for 3 months on a 5:2 calorie restricted diet they found that on average the women saw an 11% fall in blood pressure, with some dropping by up to 38%. So although overall a drop is statistically expected unfortunately some frustratingly may see their Bp increase. Bp as you know is affected by a whole variety of factors and tends to gradually increase with age and will fluctuate across time.
    Great that your other tests have come back normal – You may already have tried some of Roger’s very sensible strategies like cutting out coffee, decreasing alcohol, walking more and cutting down salt but I hope some of these may help bring your readings down again. Stress also puts up BP, though it doesn’t sound as if this is a factor for you at the moment.
    If you are really motivated you could even try reducing certain food products like dairy or meat for a few weeks to see if these have any impact on your Bp? You might however find that over time your BP comes down again anyway.
    Good luck with this and even if your Bp is not dropping as you would hope, you will still be getting considerable benefits for your impressive weight loss. So do stick with it! Good luck with your Bp and let us know how you get on

    I have tried miso soup as one of my fast day drinks. Never had it before and was shocked by just how salty it was. This cannot be good for anyone, let alone folks with elevated blood pressure. Also, when I look for suggestions online for how much miso paste to add to my mug of hot water, I get answers ranging from one teaspoon up to over one tablespoon! (Using white miso.)

    Thanks, Clare. I was wondering, though, if you had any thoughts on the drop in renin seen with weight loss? As I am on ramipril, a drop in renin would result in it not being able to work as no angiotensin 1 means no ACE converting it to angiotensin 2 so no vasoconstriction.

    Well thanks so much for the replies. I’ve just seen my GP (doctor) and had my BP meds increased to 10mg a day. Bit disappointed to be honest. One of the reasons for getting involved in the fast diet was to decrease BP and it has, well, increased. Amlodipine has some side effects that Im not happy with, and going up to 10mg means they are likely to get worse. But hey, they keep me alive. So, I’m going to stick with the 5:2 diet, lost a stone now and feel good, feel fitter, feel happier too.

    Going to cut down salt even more, add more fruit on the day after a fast day, try and deal with stress.

    BUT please, anyone reading this PLEASE do not think this is a diet to decrease blood pressure, it isn’t. I’m careful, and love this diet but it is no miracle cure for hypertension!

    Keep smiling…..

    Update: I decided to test my renin hypothesis in the spirit of self-experimentation shown by Michael! I stopped taking the ramipril 25 days ago. As it has a very long half-life (about 5 days) I did not expect any kind of rapid increase in BP so I have monitored twice daily and found no obvious change in BP until last week, when it has started to decrease, now being around the 125/85 level. My weight loss has not been anything special during those weeks (about 1.5 kg), so I don’t think that is a likely candidate for the BP dropping. The ACE inhibition should have decreased to around 1/32nd of the concentration during treatment, so I’m happy that my baseline BP is now only a little above normal. I can foresee an interesting discussion with the GP when I next see her!

    Fast: Some people have a paradoxical reaction to sodium such that lowering salt intake actually increases blood pressure…might be worth some self-experimentation???

    My blood pressure is also increasing rather than decreasing. I have been on the 5:2 diet for 9 weeks and lost 12 lbs, and 4 inches from my waist. I have come off silent reflux tablets, as my reflux is very much improved. I am happy with losing the weight and with the relux improving. But my blood pressure is not, and is now consistently 150/80 to 90, even though I am on 40 mg/day Micardis (contains Telmisartan – an angiotensin 2 receptor antagonist). I’m very disappointed in this, as I was hoping the diet would enable me to get off my BP tablets, but in fact I have to increase them now. I do not eat red meat, I eat a lot of vegies and fruit, I do not have any caffeine and only have no to low fat dairy, and I exercise for 1/2 hour most days (skipping and elliptical trainer). I will cut out the 2 eggs per week that I was eating but can’t think what else to do that would help. Any suggestions most welcome.

    Anonymous

    @jens BP: As you said any suggestion welcome: you could scan the internet for ‘Andreas Michalsen blood pressure’ or use the link http://www.biomedcentral.com/presscenter/pressreleases/20120528.

    I myself have BP issues and tried things like DASH diet, sport, weight reduction and also out of the way things like beetroot juice. So far blood donation evenly distributed throughout the year has been the most effective tool for me.

    I’m hoping this won’t b the case for me
    My natural bp can raise to 205/100 or worse
    My meds keep me at think last check was 150/80 ! Dr happy with that lol
    On amlodipine 1o mg
    Bendraflurazide 5mg plus a couple others for heart lol ramipril 10mg n bisoporol 5mg please forgive spelling errors lol
    Weight loss or diet doesn’t improve my bp at all

    But hoping it won’t higher my already high bp

    Thank u for post
    I’ll now know to keep an eye on this

    Good luck

    feeling a bit dissapointed reading these threads,this is one of the reason am doing this diet,heard its good for lowering bp…had high bp since been pregnant with my 1st daughter now aged 19,had ecg blood tests and doctors just say im a unluck 1 as there is nothing causing me to have high bp.i take ramipril and ampoldine..

    Unlike most of the posts that I have read, I have found that after 6 months on 5:2 my blood pressure has decreased. I take 3 different medications and it took a long while to find a combination that would help my raised BP. I now take Losartan, Bisoprolol and Felodopine which kept my BP mostly, but not always, at the high end of ‘normal’. In the last few weeks I have noticed that my readings at any time of day, are around 125/75 which for me is absolutely brilliant. So I just thought that I would post to say, that it’s not always bad news for those of us with high bp and doing 5:2. I am also pleased to say that I have lost 30lbs too, with at least another 20 to go!

    I am no physician, but I know my bp med needs to be taken with food, so that it lasts the 12 hours it is prescribed for. Perhaps that is why some of you find your bp raising, particularly on fasting days? Not enough food to help your bp med last the full amount of hours it is supposed to work? Just a thought.

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