It's been a while since I've asked a general question of this group. I admit 
to not reading every post b/c there's a lot of back & forth. For me, the 
latest comment from Cordain is the default position: "...so once again the 
Paleo Diet concept serves as an organizational template for answering 
complex diet/health related questions." We can argue for years over the 
complexities of chemical interactions between our bodies and food and in the 
final analysis decide whether or not the evolutionary principles behind the 
Paleo diet are sound. I've decided they are sound.

Nevertheless, I'd like to have more info from this group's experiences 
regarding high blood pressure. My weight is fine but I have high b/p. Here 
are my questions:

My refusal to go on medication is based on the simple fact that when I stay 
on the Paleo diet for more than a couple of days, my b/p drops. What 
accounts for that? Cordain and others refer to inflammation. That makes 
sense. What do you think? What effect do factors like insulin resistance 
have on high b/p?

What do you consider high b/p for a 67 year old male? My dentist took my 
keys from me and called my wife to come take me to the hospital one time and 
my chiropractor got the same reading the other day and said the systolic was 
OK but the diastolic was kind of high. Is it simply a matter of high b/p at 
any level over super low does you harm over time?

What elements of diet seem to raise b/p and which elements seem to lower it? 
That is, is it avoiding certain things or adding certain things that affect 
it?

Finally, what are your thoughts on optimum b/p levels i.e. does it depend at 
all one one's genetic background, current climatic environment, etc.? My 
Italian father laughed at me when I told him my b/p: "That's HIGH??!! You're 
Italian for god's sake!" Folk wisdom or might one ethnic background bear 
higher b/p with greater ease? My wife's family is Af-Am with ubiquitous high 
b/p and more strokes and diabetes than you can keep track of, but their b/p 
is extremely high, way beyond my highest. (the other half of me is 
hill-billy so I don't know what that might do).

Just give me your thoughts rather than citing one study or other. They all 
seem to cancel each other out.
You can address me off-list if you like.
Pat Barrett
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