Tag Archives: high blood pressure

BLOOD PRESSURE CONTROL

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High blood pressure is often called “the silent killer”. But although high blood pressure works quietly, it’s frequently deadly. Since high blood pressure usually causes no symptoms, you might not even know that you have it until you develop a serious health problem.

“High blood pressure is just a reflection of a cardiovascular system that’s about to burst internally”, says John A. McDougall, MD, medical director of the McDougall Program in Santa Rosa, California, and author of “The McDougall Program for a Healthy Heart.” But if you eat a good diet – lots of fruits and vegetables and whole grains versus rich foods – you can
help to change all that,” he says.

According to the National Institute of Health, nearly one in three adults has high blood pressure.
By eating a healthy diet, you can make sure that you will not be one of them.

Hypertension
Your blood pressure can vary during the course of the day, even from minute to minute. Your heart pumps blood throughout your body through a system of arteries.With every heart beat a new wave of blood is sent out and your blood pressure goes up. This is your systolic blood pressure. Between beats, your heart briefly relaxes and the pressure subsides.
This is your diastolic blood pressure. When you have your blood pressure tested, you’re given two numbers ( your systolic over your diastolic ) measure in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg).A sample blood pressure might be 135/68 mm Hg.

All your organs depend on a reliable blood flow that courses through your delicate “plumbing”.When you develop chronic high blood pressure, or hypertension, trouble follows.

High-pressure blood whooshes through the arteries with damaging force. Your heart has to struggle harder to push out the blood, and it may grow enlarged and unable to bear the extra strain. Your arteries, which should be elastic and flexible, may more rapidly grow stiff and narrow. They may deliver less blood to your organs, and a blood clot can more readily get “stuck” and totally block the flow, causing a heart attack.

In most cases, doctors don’t know the exact cause of high blood pressure. But they do know the preventable lifestyle factors that increase your change of getting into problems:
being overweight or obese, excessive use of alcohol , a diet that contains too much salt or too little potassium, smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, chronic stress, and taking certain medications.
Other risk factors can’t be changed: your age ( high blood pressure is more common in middle age and after), your race (it’s more common in African Americans than Caucasians),and family history of high blood pressure.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Heart Association use the following classifications to identify normal and high blood pressure:

Blood Pressure Classification Systolic Blood Pressure Diastolic Blood Pressure
Normal less than 120 less than 80
Prehypertension 120 – 139 80 – 89
Stage 1 hypertension 140 – 159 90 – 99
Stage 2 hypertension more than 160 more than 100

Even if your blood pressure falls into the normal or “prehypertension” categories, it’s not time to breathe a sigh of relief. Your risk of death from heart disease or stroke rises progressively as your blood pressure goes up in theses early stages.
In other words – you need to get starting concerned well before you have a diagnosis of hypertension.

Research from the major, long-running Framingham Heart Study shows that having systolic blood pressure between 130 and 139 or diastolic blood pressure between 885 and 89 may more than double your risk of cardiovascular disease versus having blood pressure in the “normal” range.

According to the NIH, people in the prehypertension category should be “firmly and unambiguously advised to practice lifestyle modifications in order to reduce their risk of developing hypertension in the future.”

Mild high blood pressure responds well to non drug therapies. If you feed and exercise
your body well, you may be able to avoid blood pressure drugs (and their often
troublesome side effects ) and calm your rushing blood. Don’t be misled by the “mild”
label, though. “Most heart attacks and strokes that occur does in people with stage 1
high blood pressure,” says Norman Kaplan, MD, professor of internal medicine and
hypertension specialist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Give Your Heart a Break
Losing weight – even just 10 pounds – can reduce your blood pressure or prevent you
from developing hypertension. There is a connection between excess weight and
hypertension. The more tissue you have in your body, the harder your heart has to pump
to feed it. And that work exerts more pressure on your artery walls.

Everybody knows that loosing weight is easier said than done. But exercise makes it
easier. And the best weight loss diet is the same as the best diet for controlling blood
pressure: low fat and lots of fruits and vegetables.

Facts about Salt
Experts believe that many people with high blood pressure are salt “responders”,
meaning that their blood pressure levels depend on the amount of salt they eat.
“But there is some controversy about the issue”, says Prof. Lawrence Appel.

“Some people have a greater response than others. Older people tend to be more
sensitive to salt. If you eat more than the recommended 2,400 mg limit – your
blood pressure rises.If you’re sensitive to salt, the sodium it contains makes your body
attract more water like a sponge. You soak it up and your blood vessels expand with it
producing higher pressure.

“If you have high blood pressure, your salt intake has to be reduced by half”, says
Dr. Kaplan. “Don’t put salt on the table or in the food you cook.Avoid most processed
foods, which is where 80% of the sodium in American diets comes from. If that doesn’t
bring your blood pressure down, then sodium isn’t the culprit”, he says.

According to the NIH, reducing sodium in your diet to no more than 2,400 mgs daily
(equal to about a teaspoon table salt) will lower your systolic blood pressure by
2- 8 mm Hg. An even better goal is to reduce your daily sodium intake to 1,500 mgs,
or 2/3 teaspoon, to lower your blood pressure even further.

Mining for Minerals
Potassium and calcium are two minerals that help the blood vessels relax.
When arteries relax, they dilate, or open up and give blood the room it needs to
move calmly.

You can think of potassium as the opposite of sodium, potassium helps the body
excrete sodium. The more potassium you get in your diet, the more sodium you get
rid of. Fruits and vegetables are naturally low in sodium and high in potassium.
A diet high in vegetables and fruits almost mimics a vegetarian diet, which is known
to be linked to lower blood pressure.
Foods that are rich in potassium includes beans, potatoes, avocados, bananas and
apricots.

Calcium has shown similar ties to blood pressure in studies. Some have found that
low intake a actually a risk factor for developing high blood pressure.
Since regular diary foods contain saturated fat, it’s wise to make sure that you get
your calcium from low-fat or fat-free dairy products.

Besides low-fat diary products, your best sources of calcium include tofu, kale,
broccoli, and collard greens.

Sodium appears in many foods in which you might not expect it. Baking soda and
baking powder are both sodium bicarbonate. Dried fruit contains sodium sulfate,
and ice cream often has sodium caseinate and sodium alginate.

Instant chocolate-flavored pudding. A half-cup contains 470 mg sodium.
Ketchup. One tablespoon contains 156 mg sodium
Pastries. A fruit Danish has 333 mg of sodium, while a cheese Danish has 319 mg.
Scones and baking- powder biscuits also tend to be high in sodium.
Cheese. Most types are high in sodium. This includes cottage cheese, which has
425 mg in a half-cup serving.

Eating Right
For starters, you should practice what Dr. Appel calls “active shopping”.
In other words: Read the nutrition labels and be sure to look at the sodium content.
Sodium-free is a good phrase to look for a label, so is low-sodium.
The word “light” is, however, is not as conclusive. Light soy sauce, for example,
can still have 605 mg sodium per tablespoon. “No salt added” doesn’t mean
a food is sodium free, either.

Bread too is occasionally high in salt. If you buy bread fresh at a bakery, where it isn’t
labeled, don’t be shy about asking how much salt is in each loaf.

When you’re buying canned foods, salt can be a real problem. In many cases, however,
rinsing the food will eliminate a good percentage of the salt.

Since produce is the cornerstone of a diet for healthy blood pressue, you should always be
looking for ways to eat more fruits and vegetables. Here are a few of Dr. Lin’s suggestions:
* Buy prepackaged salads for busy days ( best to rinse it before using, however.
* Order a fruit plate as an appetizer before your meal at a restaurant.
* Eat two vegetarian dinners per week.

When you’re buying produce, make sure you choose some oranges, apples and pears.
These fruits are fiber kings. And heart researchers are starting to find that not only fiber
decrease dangerous cholesterol, it may also lower blood pressure.

Finally, it’s essential to reduce the amount of fat in your diet. Dr. Lin recommends making
small, gradual changes that will cut the total amount of fat you use in half.
Buy butter substitutes and trans-fat-free versions of margarine. Use mustard instead of
mayonnaise, and snack on low-salt pretzels instead of potato chips.

A Heart Healthy Diet Prevent Stroke

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The fact that stroke can strike suddenly without warning is most frighting.
There is often no sign or anything, just a fraction of a second sense that something went wrong.
Although the stroke itself comes out of the blue, the problems that causes it usually develop
over years. When the blood, that contains oxygen and nutrients, can’t reach parts of the brain,
stroke occurs, or when an artery ruptures and blood is lost.

The risk of a stroke will be present by high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes,
and a dangerous prediabetic condition called metabolic syndrome – and all these factors
can be reduced by choosing the right food and a healthy lifestyle.
“Your diet plays a critical role in preventing stroke”, says Thomas Pearson, M.D. PhD,
professor of epidemiology and chairman of the department of community and preventive
medicine at the University of Rochester in New York.

A study involving more than 87,000 nurses at the Harvard School of Public Health showed that women
who ate the most fruits and vegetables had a 40% less change of having a stroke than those who ate the least.
Another study conducted at the University of California, San Diego, discovered that people who ate a single
serving of potassium-rich fruits and vegetables a day where also able to cut there risk of stroke by 40%.

The following six strategies offer powerful protection:
Calm high blood pressure with dairy and potassium. High blood pressure (135/85 or higher)
doubles your risk for a stroke. Here is why. Pressured by high-speed blood flow, arteries
in the brain thicken and can eventually squeeze shut. Small arteries may rupture under pressure.
The risk for developing clot-producing plaque on the artery walls due to high blood pressure.
More than 300,000 strokes annually could be prevented if everyone in the US brought it
under control. Your diet should include low-fat dairy products and plenty of potassium-rich
foods. Not only does potassium fight high blood pressure, it also appears to make blood
less likely to clot, which can reduce the risk of stroke even more.
Potassium rich foods are fat-free milk, low-fat yogurt, vegetable juice cocktail, baby limas,
kidney beans, lentils, baked potatoes, prune juice and died peaches.

Reverse metabolic syndrome with smart meal combo’s.
Metabolic syndrome is a combination of prediabetic conditions including insulin resistance
which occur when your cells stop responding quickly to insulin’s command to absorb blood
sugar – plus slightly high blood pressure, blood sugar, and triglycerides, plus low levels of
good high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Nearly everyone with this condition is
overweight. There are at least 40 million Americans at risk for metabolic syndrome.
People with metabolic syndrome doubles their risk of stroke.

You can prevent this condition by eating high-fiber, low-sugar foods, lean protein, good fats
such as nuts, oily cold-water fish, and flaxseed. Fruits, vegetables and grain products low
on the Glycemic Index, also keeps blood sugar and insulin levels lower.
This will cut cravings and help you lose weight and can almost instantly make your body cells
more sensitive to insulin’s signals. Avoid foods like doughnuts, sugary soft drinks, and white
bread, which send sugar levels soaring, fast.
You can also slow the rise in blood sugar after a meal by combining a high-fiber or high-
protein food with a refined carbohydrate – for example, with some navy beans with instant rice,

Lose weight
Not only what you eat but also how much you eat can play a role in controlling stroke.
Overweight can raise a woman’s stroke risk by 75%. Obesity raises it by 100%.
When researchers at Harvard University compared body weight and stroke risk in 116,759
nurses, they found that overweight women were two to four times more likely to have high
blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol.
Being overweight is perhaps the leading cause of high blood pressure, which rapidly increases
stroke risk. As a matter of fact, people with high blood pressure are five times more likely
to have a stroke than those who’s blood pressure are normal.
Also, being overweight increase your risk of developing diabetes and the risk of stroke.

Treat diabetes with slow carbs
Having diabetes in women seems to be a bigger threat for a stroke than for men, because
of raising blood pressure and brain-threatening blood clots, and makes her risk for stroke
two to four times higher than normal.

The best food strategy for keeping diabetes under control is choosing “good”, “slow”
complex carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
These keep blood sugar levels lower and steadier and also help control levels of insulin
in your body. Experts theorize that surges of insulin after a meal heavy loaded with
refined carbs advance biochemical changes in the body that promote high blood pressure
and blood clot formation – which are two big stroke risks.

Rebalance your cholesterol profile with good fats
High levels of bad low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and low levels of good (HDL)
cholesterol increase the risk of stroke. When the level of good cholesterol is low, your body
is unable to haul away the bad cholesterol , giving it free entry inside the lining of your
artery walls and start the process that leads to clogged arteries.
To get lower LDL and higher HDL levels you should eat less saturated fats and more good
fats. Choose olive oil or canola oil for cooking to maintain healthy HDL levels.
By adding plenty of exercise you give them a boost.

Also, skip full-fat milk, cheese, sour cream, and ice cream….and turn down that fat-marbled
prime rib. What you don’t eat can be just as important as what you do eat.
Research has shown that people who get the most fat in their diet – especially the saturated
fat in meats and other animal foods – have a bigger change of having a stroke than those who
eat healthier foods. This is because a diet that is high in saturated fat raises cholesterol levels.
Cholesterol which is known for clogging arteries in the heart, can also block blood vessels
in and leading to the brain.

“Reducing saturated fat intake is the most powerful dietary maneuver you can make”‘
according to John Crouse, MD, professor of medicine and public health sciences and
associate director of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine General Clinical
Research Center.

Limiting meat servings to 3 to 4 ounces a day, using little or no butter, switching to low-fat
dairy foods, and avoiding high-fat snacks is all what’s necessary for most people to keep
healthy cholesterol levels.

Choose lots of produce as well.
When researchers from the well-known Framingham Heart Study Group scrutinized the diets
of 830 men, they found that for every three servings of fruits and vegetables people ate
every day, their risk of stroke declined 22%.

There are several reasons that fruits and vegetables are so beneficial for preventing stroke.
Most of all, they are high in fiber, which has been shown to lower bad cholesterol.
These foods also contain powerful antioxidants, according to epidemiologist Michael Hertog,
PhD, of the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental protection in the Netherlands.
They help prevent the harmful LDL cholesterol from sticking to your artery walls and blocking
blood flow to the brain. Foods that contain a large quantity of antioxidants are: garlic,onions,
kale, carrots, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, blueberries, plums, cherries, oranges and red grapes.

You don’t need a lot of antioxidant-rich food to get the benefits. In the Nurses’ Health Study,
for example, Harvard researchers discovered that women who get as little as 15 milligrams
of beta-carotene daily, which is the amount in a large carrot, reduced their risk of stroke.

Except fruits and vegetables, tea (both green and black tea) is also an excellent source of
flavonoids. When Dr. Hertog studied more than 550 men aged 50 to 69, he found that those
who got most of their flavonoids from tea were able to reduce their risk of stroke by 73%,
compared with those who got the least of these healthful compounds.
He found that those men who drink at least 5 cups of tea daily can reduce their stroke risk
by more than two-thirds, compared with those drink who less than 3 cups a day.

Dropping just a few pounds can cut stroke risk. You don’t have to be model-thin to stay
healthy, says Thomas A Pearson, MD. PhD, of the University of Rochester.
Losing 10 to 20 pounds is often sufficient to lower blood pressure and with it, the risk
of having a stroke.

Ginger, a Sharp Healer

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Millions of people worldwide swear by ginger as a healing food, and not without reason.
There is plenty of evidence that this piquant root can help relieve dozens of conditions,including high blood pressure, motion sickness, and other digestive complains, to migraines, nausea, headaches, arthritis, high cholesterol, and even dangerous blood clots.

Motion Sickness
In a Dutch study, researchers tested the effects of ginger on seasick naval cadets and found
that ginger pills reduced the cadets nausea and vomiting, providing relieve for as long as 4 hours. You can also use ginger to help relief a run-of-the-mill upset stomach.
To use ginger against motion sickness, try taking about ¼ teaspoon of fresh or powdered
ginger 20 minutes before getting into a car or on a boat. Repeat every few hours if needed.

Migraines Symptoms
If you are one of the millions of Americans who suffer from migraine headaches,
ginger may help prevent the pain and the resulting nausea.
In a small study, researchers at the Odense University in Denmark found that ginger may
short-circuit impending migraines without the unpleasant side effects of some migraine-
relieving drugs. It appears that ginger blocks the action of protaglandins, substances that
cause pain and inflammation in blood vessels in the brain.

Arthritis
In a Danish study, researchers studied 56 people who had rheumatoid arthritis or
osteoarthritis, and who treated themselves with fresh or powdered ginger.
They found that ginger produced relief in 55% of people with osteoarthritis and 74%
of those with rheumatoid arthritis.

To soothe arthritis pain, brew a mild tea by putting three or four slices of ginger in
a cup of boiling water. You can also try ½ teaspoon of powdered ginger or about 6
teaspoons of fresh ginger once a day.

Blood clotting
Blood clotting can be a good thing. For example, when you cut your finger, platelets –
components in blood that help it clot – help “stick” the wound together to stop the bleeding and start the healing process.
But theses sticky platelets can also cling to artery walls as well as to each other.
When that happens, clots stop being beneficial and start becoming something to worry about.
Many people take aspirin to help keep their blood clear of clots that could lead to stroke
or heart attacks.
The gingerol in ginger has a chemical structure somewhat similar to aspirin.
Research suggests that getting ginger in the diet may inhibit the production of a chemical
called thromboxane, which plays a key role in the clotting process.

Use ginger fresh and enjoy it often. Make a ginger marinade for meats.
Mix fresh ginger, minced garlic, olive oil, and light soy sauce for a marinade for chicken,beef or fish.