Customer Reviews

The Blood Pressure Cure: 8 Weeks to Lower Blood Pressure without Prescription Drugs

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Robert Kowalski, author of "The Blood Pressure Cure," said that in order to lower your blood pressure without drugs, you should first know your blood pressure.

"What I really recommend is a home blood pressure monitor. It's no more expensive than bathroom scales," he said.


Kowalski said he has five secret weapons.

The first is a tomato extract called lycomato, a product made by several different brands.

Kowalski said that in two separate studies, "(Patients) took one pill (of lycomato) a day and it brought their blood pressure down eight to 11 points."

Kowalski said the next step is to have a nightly cup of cocoa -- not the mixes, but real cocoa filled with polyphenols -- and the darker the cocoa the better. He said to make it with skim milk and a little sweetener.

"What it does is relax the lining of the arteries called the endothelium, making it more flexible and pliable so that the blood can more easily flow through," he said.

The third step in the process is to take arginine, an amino acid. Kowalski said it's a precursor to nitric oxide.

"The nitric oxide again causes the lining of the artery to expand and relax," he said.

Kowalski said that because arginine is metabolized rapidly, he recommends a sustained release formula.

But a warning comes with arginine. In Kowalski's book, he warned about a Johns Hopkins study of arginine and heart attack patients.

"There were six deaths in the arginine group and no deaths in the placebo group. So, my recommendation would be not to use this until more studies show that it is safe," said Dr. Charles Cummings, a Baltimore cardiologist from Mid-Atlantic Cardiovascular.

The fourth step on Kowalsi's list includes taking MegaNatural BP grape seed extract. The extract is sold under a number of brand names. Kowalski's book cited studies that showed an eight- to 11-point drop in blood pressure.

No. 5 on Kowalski's list was pycnogenol, an antioxidant made from pine trees. He said it's another nitric oxide producer.

"Here's my little trick. (It's kind of like a) salt substitute. Instead of being sodium chloride, it's potassium chloride," he said.

Kowalski said people need more potassium to balance the sodium. He said if people don't like the taste of pycnogenol sprinkled on food, try cooking with it.

"You won't taste it, and at every meal it becomes high in potassium to blunt the sodium," he said.

Cummings said Kowalski made some very good points in his book.

"It is true that by adopting some of the changes he suggests, we can reduce our medications significantly. But the idea that someone who's been on blood pressure pills for a long time can get off them is completely is unrealistic," he said.

Kowalski said people with high blood pressure should at least know about the medications they are taking, but don't frown about them. He said that sends a message to the brain.

"The body perceives it as something is wrong. Cortisol and norepenephrine are released, causing the blood pressure and heart rate to go up," Kowalski said.

Kowalski had another tip for those with high blood pressure.

"Find a way every day just to be nice to yourself. It helps you reduce your blood pressure, and it's better than taking a pill," he said.

Kowalski also recommended deep breathing for two to three minutes, three or four times a day. He said it's another way to help bring your blood pressure down.

Good book to read Before you take the doc's drugs!

Even being a person that exercises 6 days a week, having low fat in my body and eating healthy food I had my blood pressure around 130/70 easily going to 140 if I ate something with too much sodium, like Japanese food. After reading a few books I reduced the salt and increased the potassium. After a few months with this new diet my blood pressure dropped to 120/125. However, it couldn't drop more! Then I read this book and start taking the suplements the author mentioned, the four all of them. Now, after about a month my blood pressure is constantly about 115/60. Amazing!!!

Bob Kowalski's book "The Blood Pressure Cure" is for anyone that wants to take control of their elevated blood pressure and reduce it without resorting to prescription medication. He describes various ways to impact and lower blood pressure. A straight forward easily read book that gives practical advice and even includes recipes for tasty dishes to help lower blood pressure. I've read through the book twice and implemented some of his recommendations (my favorite is adding cocoa to my smoothies) with the result that I have lowered my systolic reading by 10 points! Highly recommended.

The Blood Pressure Cure: 8 Weeks to Lower Blood Pressure without Prescription Drugs
This book is an excellent reference for people who want to really understand high blood pressure and how to control it. Even if you do not want to go on the 8 week plan this book is filled with information. For people who do not want to use medication as a first line of treatment this book will walk you through all of your options. But it also addresses blood pressure medications and when and why they may be appropriate. I learned a great deal from this book and I highly recommend it.

I found that this book had a lot of good information. I have high blood pressure and tried just one of the recommendations, grape seed extract and this did lower my BPH. Planning on trying a few more of what he recommends. Good book, it did help me.

I am an MD. This book is very anecdotal. Emphasizes some supplements that only have a bit of evidence backing them, and leaves out others with at least as much evidence.

Also, essentially promising that everyone will get at least some effect out of these ideas is wrong.

Personally, Ive now tried all of these supplements and the other recommendations. Got expensive quickly and MAYBE have had a few points reduction each in systolic and diastolic pressures when on the arginine, grapeseed extract, and the calcium/magnesium supplements. The others did nothing. Not able to reduce medications.Not sure if I will continue or not.

A disappointment compared to his cholesterol book.

I just came back from having my blood pressure checked, and it is quickly coming down to an acceptable range. The nurse was astounded that my daily supplement regimen of L-Arginine, grape seed extract, and lycopene worked so well. I bought this book and started following the recommendations immediately. It not only works, but I haven't felt this good in years! My doctor tried two different prescription drugs that caused a significant amount of muscle pain in my shoulders and upper arms to the point that it adversely affected my work performance. I had to quit taking the prescription drugs over a year ago and tried unsuccessfully to find ways to lower my blood pressure from Stage 1 hypertension, with no luck. This book is a life saver for me and I highly recommend it to anyone suffering with high blood pressure. Thank you Mr. Kowalski!!!!

I was hoping for an easier fix for high blood pressure but as the book is helpful in pointing out the workings of our bodies and the cause of high blood pressure are complex. Naturally the best advice is the relatively simple idea of lose weight, exercise more, and eat healthy but that goal in itself can be an extremely painstaking task and also very slow going while in the meantime the blood pressure issue may still need immediate attention. After a decade on blood pressure medicine I have started to see less and less effectiveness and the need for more drugs. I was worried about the trend of increasing dosage and adding more prescriptions along with the risk of more and more side effects. The information in this book gives me more tools to use and experiment with to get to a healthy blood pressure without increasing or adding prescriptions. The problem is that supplements are not covered by insurance so ultimately the cost could be prohibited to some.

In a nutshell the items recommended are Sustained-Release L-Arginine, MegaNaturalBP (Grape seed extract), Lyc-o-mato, Pycnogenol, CoQ10, L-Theanine for stressful times, and maybe "RESTperate" to help train breathing. It is quite list but the hope is that you can tweak out your own indiviual program with a few items in combination. Which ones? What dosages? What timing for best results? The book helps to explain a likely pathway but ultimately there is going to be a lot of trail and adjustment to best balance your results with your patience and monetary funds.

The good news there is hope for a great outcome the bad news is there is likely no simple fix.

UPDATE: After 6 months of trying out the supplements I am still unable to delete or decrease any of my blood pressure meds. My high hopes have been crushed with the results. I followed the plan and spent quite a lot on the items listed but in the end I was back at the doctor's office and needing my prescription renewed. I do exercise every day and I am a vegetarian so diet and exercise or a lack of attention to those items is not an issue. It is very likely I have some heredity issue with my blood pressure but even so I was hoping that the plan in the book would work for me and it simply did not. So my review is revised to 3 stars, it may still be helpful to some and they may see results and the book was an interesting read but the program is not a cure for all and the expense may not be the best use of funds for a trial and error situation if money is an issue.

By following the suggestions in the book, my good friend lowered her blood pressure from 180/100 to 120/70. She will NOT be taking drugs. I bought the book because of her testimony and to share with friends. At this point in my life, I don't have high blood pressure. But as we all know, things change. This is a great source of information. Thank you, Mr. Kowalski!

If you are having any sort of blood pressure problems at all, or even if you don't, get this book. My own pressure has gone from around 149/99 to 123/72 in just a few weeks. Great information for blood pressure control and just good health in general.