Tag: hypertension

A Word About Mung Beans

Posted on by Nathan

I would like to talk a bit about mung beans as there are some very interesting side effects that are good to know.  Warning, there will be talk of bodily functions though I will try not to get too graphic.

It Could Get a Little Messy

Unfortunately part way into this experiment my daughter and I came down with a bit of a stomach bug which mostly caused intense diarrhoea.  This was compounded by a similar effect that mung beans can have on some people resulting in a rather uncomfortable couple of days.

If you are planning on starting treatment with mung beans I would be a bit cautious if your bowels are sensitive and take some counter measures to help reduce the loosening effects.

Goji Berries to the Rescue

One of the recipes I found for mung bean soup mentioned adding goji berries to the soup if the mung beans were being a bit too aggressive on the bowel.  Another reference I found mentioned being cautious with the amount of beans you ingest if they are under-cooked as this is an expected result.
Thus, I have reduced the amount of mung beans I am using to 1 tablespoon and I have added three chopped goji berries to the mix.

Why am I Testing Everyday?

The last time I took my blood pressure it came out at 147/83, a jump higher than the 124 that it had been the previous day.  I know that part of this jump was my body being under a lot of stress with the stomach bug, but I am thinking that trying to test this every day was getting to be a bit much.
I am going to start testing about 2 times a week now which will hopefully reduce any stress from trying to get out to the test machine in a timely manner, and it will give more time for everything to settle in.

How I am Feeling Now

I won’t lie, I live a very stressful life and it is very difficult to relieve that stress without allowing certain things to become neglected.  This alone creates a situation that hypertension thrives in and is one of the largest aspects of my life I am attempting to change along with doing things to help my body stabilise.
Since starting the mung bean tea regimen I have noticed a lot of fluctuation with my body temperature.  Without any changes to the ambient temperature I will notice that I will cycle from hot to cold and then just parts of my body getting cold and then warming up.  I don’t really have anyone else to compare notes with on this so I would love to hear from any of you that are trying this and what your thoughts are, comments are open.

Hypertension Early Results

Hypertension Early Results

Posted on by Nathan

We left off yesterday with a brief introduction to my battle with hypertension and the promise of showing some results from after exercising.  I also have some very interesting results for day 2.

Blood Pressure after Exercise

Blood Pressure after Exercise

I was very happy that we were doing breaking in class last night as that is one of the things that is very hard on our bodies and we always have a very good warm-up before getting to the actual breaking.
After class, we traveled a short distance and the results were a bit amusing 153/86.  I find this amusing because this is not far from the measurement I took in the morning but my heart rate is still a tad elevated, which the morning test showed as being quite normal.

A Morning Surprise

Morning Blood Pressure Results no Hypertension

This morning after a good breakfast we went to Rite-Aid to take my blood pressure and I was delighted at the results.
125/82, which notice the machine still says is high, is a fantastic change from my norm.  This is pretty much right where I should be and I am looking forward to seeing if continued use of the mung bean tea will stabilize this and what will happen after a few weeks when I start taking this less and less.  I am guessing that once I have my blood pressure at a stable norm I will only require the tea once or twice a month if at all as the goal is to get my body to a point where it is safe and can start managing this on it’s own.

I Scoff at the High BP Indication

Let me preface this by stating that I am not a medical doctor and that I am not able to diagnose or prescribe anything.  What I am is someone, possibly much like you, that is tired of our medical industry cow towing to the pharmaceutical companies and I have no issues experimenting on myself.

If you perform a search for new blood pressure guidelines you will see a few links to the guidelines published in early 2018.  You will also see many more articles about how these guidelines are much more about selling medication than they are about healing our bodies.
There is also a lot of great information available about how Big Pharma makes most of their profits off of lifestyle “disease”.  A Lifestyle “disease” is one that is brought on typically by an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, and other environmental issues.  All of these are easily cured by making simple changes to our daily routines or even moving away from a toxic area.

Back to my scoffing.  In the last image, my BP is pretty much right where it should be but the reading still states that it is high.  This is because of the text and color indicators for these machines have been updated per the new guidelines and are, in my opinion, absolute rubbish.

Hypertension Day 1

Hypertension Day 1

Posted on by Nathan

Yesterday I drank the mung bean tea, for hypertension, in the morning, afternoon, and evening then ate the mung beans before starting another batch of the tea.  The tea itself has a unique flavor that is not off-putting but will take some getting used to for those that don’t eat a lot of beans or are used to having a lot of seasoning with them.

Wait, what else are you doing?

Some may be asking why I am not mentioning any crazy dietary or physical activity changes as part of this experiment.  The reason is simple, we live a relatively healthy and active lifestyle which I don’t feel needs modification.  If you are at the high end of the blood pressure scale and have not reviewed your diet and physical activity then that should be your first course of action, right now; go ahead, we’ll wait.
So there is no question my daily supplements consist of: tincture of dong quai and red reishi mushroom, taken sublingual, and 100mg of Coenzyme Q10, and a glass of our Green Power Blend.  I do not take a multi-vitamin any longer as they really don’t accomplish anything and with a good diet, you will get the proper vitamins and minerals you need.
These supplements do play a role in a healthy heart and do help to reduce hypertension but I do not feel they will skew any results as I have been taking them for quite some time and stopping usage of them would most likely cause a larger skew.

Today’s results

Blood Pressure Results Day 1

This morning, after having a good breakfast and the first dose of mung bean tea I took my blood pressure at our local Rite-Aid.  The results are not spectacularly different from my current baseline but they are a little lower on both the systolic and diastolic, my heart rate has always been in the normal range.
There isn’t much to take away from this right now but this evening after our Taekwon-Do class I will take another reading to record one after exerting myself through structured physical activity.

Hypertension and Mung Beans

Hypertension and Mung Beans

Posted on by Nathan
Mung Bean Tea

At some point in our lives, a doctor is most likely going to diagnose us with hypertension, pre-hypertension, or any other number of diagnoses that will result in the prescription of any number of drugs that make the pharmaceutical companies rich.
I know this because our latest doctor did just that earlier this year and so did our previous doctor.  This time I decided that I needed to know what the effects of their “medicine” felt like so I did take the prescribed drug for about a week.  The results were even worse than I had anticipated.

The effects of so-called “medicine”


The first thing I noticed was that my energy level was greatly diminished and I felt like I just wanted to stay asleep or lounge about all day.  This was not good, as I need to be alert and active on a daily basis, not an invalid.
Next was the coldness.  Both my fingers and toes became constantly cold to the point that they hurt from it.  The only other time I had experienced cold like this was when I went snow camping and my socks and gloves got wet.
Enough was enough so I stopped taking this awful “medication” before it had any lasting effects and would make me dependant on it for the rest of my life.

Acceptance and solutions

I know that I have slightly higher blood pressure than I should and I even know the varying causes of it.  I have spent the last 6 months testing various remedies to varying success.  Though I do have my blood pressure down it isn’t as far down as I would like to see it, and I’m pretty sure my doctor would like to see it lowered even further.
To reach this final goal I am trying out a remedy from one of my favorite authors, Michael Tierra, which uses Mung beans.  The process of making this tea is very simple and this morning I had my first cup.  The tea itself is very pleasant and refreshing, tonight I will know what the beans themselves are like to eat.
Throughout my use of this remedy, I will be taking my blood pressure once or twice a day to measure the effects and share this with you.  Currently, my systolic blood pressure has been about 150 and I would like to see this come down to around 130.