Tag Archive for diet

Keeping blood presure down

It’s been over two years now since my battle with high blood pressure began and I started this blog – both to help myself and others who are in the same boat.

Here are some reflections two years on:

The main cause of hypertension is modern life.

Life in the 21st century leads to high blood pressure by a number of means.

  • First of there is increasing stress levels that come with increasing levels of personal debt. There are far fewer home owners (people without a mortgage) than there ever was in the previous century. Debt, increased competition, less opportunity, struggling finances, etc., all equal greater stress levels which result in hypertension and poorer all-round health.
  • The increasing dominance of the car and other ‘labour-saving’ devices result in us moving our bodies less and less. We are starving for exercise. As our muscles, lungs, and heart get neglected our ability to keep our cardiovascular system in good health decreases. Result: weaker heart working harder to pump blood around constricted blood vessels.
  • The food industry is not helping us either. Processed foods containing large doses of hidden salt, sugar and fat clog our veins, reduce our overall health, and jack up our blood pressure.

So what’s the solution to the ailments caused by modern life? Buck the trend. Live within your means and try to eliminate those nagging credit card bills and the stress that come with them. Learn to relax. Try meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, whatever interests you. Leave the car keys at home and take a walk to the store the next time. Buy wholesome basic foods and rediscover the joys of home cooking.

Sure, these solutions may seem rather flippant and may not apply to everyone reading this but I’m sure you get the jist. Reducing high blood pressure is really a mater of making changes to your life style – taking back control of your life.

Healthy blood pressure is a long-term committement

If you make the necessary changes your blood pressure will come down over time – without the need of taking a daily dose of hypertension medications (and dealing with the many negative side effects that come with these pills).

But the catch is it’s not a ‘do-it-once’ solution. It requires a change in lifestyle and that change has to be permanent. No going back to sitting on the couch all day eating junk food worrying about the next credit card bill.

The shift to a more healthy lifestyle must be a permanent one if you want to see your blood pressure levels come down to an acceptable range and stay there. The good news is that one you move to a healthier lifestyle not only will your blood pressure improve but so will your general outlook on life. You’ll feel in  a better mood generally. Living is simple better and more enjoyable when you are healthier.

So what gives me the authority to make such sweeping statements? In one word – experience. Two years ago I was suffering dangerously high blood pressure with a reading of 190+ systolic and 120+ diastolic.

After a year of switching to a healthier lifestyle without the use of high blood pressure medication, my reading came down to a 135 / 90 level. A little highr than the ideal of 120/80 but within an acceptable range and well out of the danger range. This year my reading regularly go a little below the ideal such as 115/75 region.

I never would have believed it two years ago. I and didn’t try too hard. just switched to a healthier diet and dusted off my bicycle. I also take supplements every day – Vitimin C, and multi-vitimin, and calcium/magnesium. If you stick to it blood pressure will drop and your health will increase.

That’s what has worked for me, my solution to high bloood pressure and I’m confident it will work for you too.

 

 

How to lower high blood pressure

An increasing number of people are seeking how to lower high blood pressure naturally without the use of anti-hypertension medications. I’m happy to announce that there are a number of ways to reduce blood pressure as alternatives to medications and each of these methods is directly related to the causes of hypertension.

The three main causes of hypertension are stress, poor diet, and lack of exercise. When you’re learned to tackle these three causes head on you’ve learned how to lower high blood pressure without the need for medications.

Starting with stress, I think most people would agree that we live in an increasingly stressful world with rising debt levels and decreasing opportunities. Many of us suffer high stress levels without even realizing it. Thankfully there are ways of getting it down to healthy levels along with your blood pressure. Yoga and meditation are the traditional methods but slow breathing exercises with the aid of an audio program like BreathEasy has become very popular. Another stress reducing program is Christian Goodman’s 3 exercises.

The bottom line is this: Reduce stress and you will reduce blood pressure because it is an established fact that stress is one of the major causes of hypertension.

Moving on to poor diet, it’s a fact that our eating habits here in the developed world has much to be desired. Fried food and fast food with too much bad cholesterol and salt is a principle cause of hypertension. Switching to a healthier diet with plenty of fruit, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains along with a reduction of salt and cholesterol can significantly lower blood pressure over time.

In the modern world we spend far too much time sitting in our cars or sitting in front of the TV and computers, physically inactive. We no longer spend enough time moving our bodies and getting sufficient exercise. A lack of exercise is regarded as one of the significant  causes of hypertension for many people.

The solution is simple: get some exercise. You can start with just a walk around the block once or twice a day to start if you’re seriously out of shape. Work your way up to a more rigorous routine when you feel ready. You’ll look better, feel better and be on you way to eliminating one of the major causes of hypertension.

As you can see, how to lower high blood pressure without the use of medications isn’t rocket-science. It’s actually pretty straightforward. The key is to stop reading about it, stop thinking about it, stop worrying about it – and just start doing it! Go for a walk, take 15 minutes to do a slow breathing exercise, prepare a good healthy meal for yourself – and you’re on the road to a healthier and happier life. Keep it up and you’ll never have to worry about how to lower high blood pressure again. That’s because you won’t have high blood pressure anymore.

The causes of hypertension can be tackled and eliminated for good.

Start today. :-)

Lower blood pressure with celery

There are a number of basic foods we can add to our diet that help reduce blood pressure. One of the best is celery. An unpretentious garden vegetable, celery has a number of great health benefits.

Below is a video from a Californian lass who explains the benefits of celery and all the good things it can do for you – including helping lower blood pressure.

Benefits of celery include;

  • high levels of potassium  (helps lower blood pressure)
  • natural diuretic (helps lower blood pressure)
  • high in fiber (natural de-toxifier)
  • low in calories (helper you to lose weight)

Celery is a good way to lose weight cause it fills you up yet has very few calories. It is claimed that you burn more calories chewing celery up and digesting it than it returns. Hence a steady diet of celery could make you slim fast.

The definite guide in lowering your blood pressure through good eating is Kevin Riley’ Get  Natural. If you love food and love eating and need to lower your blood pressure you’ll enjoy his book. Written by a man who loves food but knows how to use it to stay healthy and fit.

Exercise and high blood pressure

Physical exercise is so important for your general state of well being as well as your blood pressure. There are really no substitutes for getting out there and getting your muscles moving, your heart pumping and your blood flowing through veins.

The lack of physical exercise we get in this post-industrial world where machines do all the ‘work’ is a principle cause of our general poor health – obesity, and high blood pressure high up on the list.

It is better to do some exercise everyday than a lot of exercise now and then. Set up a regular schedule – at least a half an hour a day – where you get off your sofa and move.

Your exercise regime should reflect you current state of health. Don’t overdo it at first. Start with small steps and work your way up. Even a walk around the block once a day is a good start.

I prefer to incorporate activities into my daily exercise so I get things done and feel a sense of achievement – as well as helping keep my blood pressure within acceptable ranges.

Last year I used to walk up the hill behind my house once a day to enjoy breath-taking views of the Bristol channel and the coast of Devonshire. The walk up was strenuous and really got my system working. My walk back down was relaxing in comparison and allowed my system to recuperate.

This year I’ve been concentrating on my backyard – getting all the brambles and ferns out with a pickax as well as building a drystone wall to keep the sheep out of my garden. I relegate one hour a day to this activity and it’s amazing how much I’ve achieved in such a short time.

Another sense of satisfaction is when I take my blood pressure. It is often below 120/80 these days. When you consider I was measuring 190+/115+ just a year ago, and prescription medications didn’t help, I’ve come along way.

Of course exercise alone is not enough to reduce blood pressure. Diet and relaxation are also essential components of natural blood pressure reduction.

Diet includes supplements. Because the interest in reducing blood pressure has increased over the past few years a number of companies have been working hard to make available  natural herbs and remedies that can help you get your BP down. Of course, not everybody needs them but for some stubborn blood pressure problems a natural boost in getting it down is just the ticket.

Beware however of getting conned by slick salesmen selling snake oil. Outrageous claims is often an indication of a con.

One natural supplement I have been getting positive feed back on is Alistrol. They have combined in a one-a-day pill four of the most powerful anti-hypertensive herbs.  One fellow who has been taking it for over a month now has reported a 20 point drop in his blood systolic blood pressure. It’s hard to argue with numbers.

If you’ve got “stubborn blood pressure” you might want to check it out. Click the link below:

ALISTROL Lower Blood Pressure Naturally

Although Alistrol will help you significantly lower your blood pressure I wouldn’t consider it as a substitute for a healthy lifestyle including good diet and exercise :-) .  combined together and you should achieve a healthy balance.

All the best,

Simon Foster

Is there an alternative high blood pressure “Quick Fix”?

High hopes for a quick-fix

When I was first diagnosed with high blood pressure (160/110) I realized I had to make some changes. I had read somewhere that garlic was helpful to lower blood pressure and too much salt raised it.  So I reduced my salt consumption and ate garlic everyday hoping that would fix it.

It didn’t. My blood pressure remained high and later on went up to 190+.

You see, we all want a simple, quick fix to our problems. But the fact is that when it comes to high blood pressure it’s not quite so straightforward.

Here are your options …

Lower blood pressure with diet.

For example, I was asked the other day,  “Does cayenne pepper reduce blood pressure?”  Yes, cayenne has been shown to be beneficial to your heart and circulatory system. And yes, cayenne can help reduce your blood pressure. But no, simply taking a dose of cayenne everyday probably isn’t going to be the answer to your blood pressure problems.

The same could be said for other beneficial foods and  such as garlic, celery, oatmeal, bananas, apples, tomatoes, onions, dark chocolate, you-name-it. All these foods can assist in reducing your blood pressure and getting your body back in balance. But they can’t do it by themselves.

Mind you,  I’m talking about seriously high blood pressure here. Sure, any one of these foods eaten daily might help reduce your blood pressure a few points. But is that going to be much consolation to someone banging in at 175+ systolic?

Medications – quick, but no fix

If you think prescription medication is the simple fix for high blood pressure, think again. The pharmaceutical industry has yet to produce a drug that cures high blood pressure.

Sure, there are pills that can lower your blood pressure – if you continue to take them day after day. But it’s not a real cure because your blood pressure will shoot back up if you stop taking them regularly. Add to that all the unpleasant side effects many of us suffer from taking these drugs and you can see why alternative methods of  lowering your blood pressure naturally are better.

Additionally, when you consider the statistic that more people die of heart disease while on anti-hypertension medications than those who aren’t on them, you realise that these medications don’t offer the protection that we might have hoped for.

How to lower blood pressure naturally

If you have high blood pressure and want to lower it without medications (or make a gradual shift from medications to natural cures), here’s the skinny: you have to move to a healthier diet and compliment it with exercises.

Simply reducing salt consumption and eating a clove of garlic a day won’t cut it.

But don’t despair.  Reducing your blood pressure naturally isn’t rocket science. Anyone can do it.

And no, you’re not going to have to give up everything pleasurable in life and live like a monk.

The truth is, once you start shifting to a healthy blood pressure lifestyle you’ll find yourself enjoying life more, not less. Remember, good health is the underpinning of real  happiness and pleasure.

In a nutshell, you can lower your blood pressure naturally by:

  • lowering your stress levels through meditation, Yoga, etc. (I prefer to use slow breathing exercises).
  • get your heart beating and blood flowing through physical exercise such as walking, jogging, sking, etc. (I climb the hill behind my house regularly).
  • eat less “bad” foods such as table salt, trans-fats, etc.
  • eat more “good” foods such as vegetables, olive oil, fruit, etc.

That’s basically it. Using these techniques I have managed to lower my dangerously high blood pressure of 195 over 120 range in March (2009) to  125 over 85 range in the course of 4 to 5 months.

Help is at hand

lower blood pressure naturally guideI got help from Kevin Riley’s excellent 12 week program for lowering high blood pressure.

It comes in a thoroughly enjoyable book called  Get Natural!.

It covers all aspects of shifting to a healthy, happy lower blood pressure lifestyle but with a special emphasis on food.

If you love eating you will enjoy this book.

 

Diet and Exercise to lower blood pressure

How I lowered blood pressure without drugs

It’s been just over 5 months since I dispensed with high blood pressure medications (that weren’t working and had unpleasant side effects) and began exploring alternative cures.

Yesterday was a big milestone. For the first time ever my blood pressure was monitored below the much slated ideal of 120/80. After doing a slow breathing exercise for 15 minutes it came in as 116/79.

Of course I was suspicious at first as because my blood pressure is usually in the 125-135 / 85-95 range. Given that my parents both suffered from high blood pressure and my higher blood pressure is most likely ‘in the genes’. So I figured that’s about as good as it’ll get for me. So I took the reading again at it this time it came in at 111/ 76 – amazing!

Amazing when you consider I was consistently 190+/120+ only five months before, plagued by headaches, heart palpitations, and the end of my life seemed to be approaching rapidly. You could say I’ve come a long way.

So what’s the secret to my new found health and ‘normal’ blood pressure? Two things – Diet and Exercise.

Exercise includes:

  1. A 30 minute walk up the hill behind my house that gets my lungs and hearts working two or three time a week
  2. Taking 15 minutes off for a slow breathing exercise (assisted by BreathEasy audio tracks)

Diet includes:

  1. Drinking water more often (I prefer it carbonated)
  2. Having a bowl of oatmeal every morning
  3. Supplementing my daily diet with 500mg Vitamin C, multi vitamin (including 100mg Magnesium), 600mg Calcium, Cod Liver Oil capsules (Omega 3), 60mg Ginkgo Biloba, 160mg Korean Ginseng, 30 drops of Hawthorn tincture
  4. Virtually eliminating processed foods now sticking with the basics.
  5. Apples, bananas, celery, onions, garlic, tomatoes, (among other things of course).
  6. Cayenne powder, apple cider vinegar, and only the best extra vigin olive oil.
  7. Reduction in the amount of salt I consume. I now use the Celtic Sea Salt (Sel de Gurerande) naturally harvested from the coast of Brittanny, France (as they have done it for centuries)
  8. Less red meat, more chicken and fish (but not the skin)
  9. Red wine and dark chocolate everyday … and more nuts.

In a nutshell that’s about it. I now live a much healthier, relaxed and trouble free life with optimal blood pressure as well. It’s more than I would have imagined 5 months ago but now there’s no turning back. My final curtains have receded well off into the distant future.

How did I know what to do and eat to lower my dangerously high blood pressure? I did a lot of research and reading but the two indispensable helpers was Kevin Riley’s Guide Get Natural! Drop your Blood Pressure and BreathEasy.

Kevin Riley’s Get Natural! is the most informative (and enjoyable to read) guide on lowering blood pressure naturally without the use of medication. It really is top of the ‘lower your blood pressure advice’ mountain in my opinion.

BreathEasy audio tracks are also a great way to take 15 minutes off everyday and completely relax and calm down. I’m sure this is good for your whole-self, not just heart and blood pressure.

Well that’s what has worked for me. Please leave a comment and tell us what’s worked for you.

Salad to lower your blood pressure

Carrying on the theme of eating yourself to lower blood pressure, I should mention that I like to eat salad regularly – sometimes as a meal in its own right.

What’s different about the salads I make and how do they help keep my blood pressure down?

First of all I like to add a small tin of tuna to my salad. Not only does this ‘bulk it out’ and make it more of a meal but fish contains essential oils good for your  circulatory system. (Fish is one of the leanest source of protein and also contains omega-3 fatty acids, which have a positive effect on the blood system. In short, fish fights hypertension (and tastes great).

I buy the tuna in brine but drain it before drowning heaps of extra virgin olive oil, a decent wallop of apple cider vinegar, crushed garlics, and liberal sprinkles of cayenne pepper. This then forms a fantastic tasting salad dressing and every ingredient helps keep the blood pressure get down and stay down.

How so?

Garlic both prevents and cures atherosclerosis (hardening of your arteries). It not only slows the build up of dangerous plaque on the walls of your arteries it can even reverse the process.

Olive oil has a beneficial mix of polyphenols, tocopherols, and oleic acid … all good
allies in the fight against hypertension. Eating garlic can make your arteries young again. (Get the cold-pressed extra virgin stuff as it contains the most benefits – and tastes better).

Both cayenne pepper and apple cider vinegar have been long noted for their beneficial properties to cure all sorts of ailments – including hypertension. As a strong tonic for for high blood pressure some people will drink a glass of water everyday with a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and cayenne pepper added. (I’m not quite ready for that one!)

Make sure you have some celery, tomatoes and onions in your salad. Both these vegetables  provide a boost to your blood system and help lower your blood pressure.

There’s a flavonoid in celery called apigenin that dilates blood vessels and lowers blood pressure. Celery also contains a unique chemical called 3-n-butyl phthalide which has been singled out as the main compound that lowers blood pressure.

Tomatoes contain an antioxidant is called lycopene which helps in the prevention of heart disease and some types of cancer – as well as lower blood pressure.

Onions contain a flavonoid called quercetin – a strong antioxidant. Quercetin lowers blood pressure, slow heart rate, and improves the inner lining of arteries.

So there you have it. Here’s a run down of all the blood pressure lowering foods I ad to every salad I eat:

fish, garlic, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper, onions, tomatoes, and celery.

Of course I add other things like lettuce, peppers, olives, cucumber, etc., and they all taste great and are good for you … but its the upper list that will actively work to lower your blood pressure and keep it low.

Got any great blood pressure lowering recipes? Send them this way!

Good eating folks.

Effect of food on blood pressure

While scouring  weblogs world for interesting articles on high blood pressure I came across this  article written by Christian Goodman.

If you don’t know who Christian Goodman is, he’s the promoter of the popular “3 easy exercises to lower your blood to below 120/80 in as little as a week.” (You can read my in depth review of his program. Link in the column to the right.)

What interesting about this article is that he focuses on bad foods and unhealthy environments causing high blood pressure. However, the 3 exercises he promotes are all based on the assumption that stress the main, if not the only, cause of high blood pressure.

Does this article suggest a change in direction for Christian?

Here’s in article as posted on: totalhorrormovies.com/how-toxins-and-pollution-affects-high-blood-pressure

How Toxins and Pollution Affects High Blood Pressure

So much is said about high blood pressure and the potentially disastrous health consequences if left untreated (heart attack, stroke, blindness, and all sorts of other scary health concerns) that almost everyone over the age of thirty knows at least something about it.

This is why I write so in a large extent about this condition and the fact that it is so very treatable.

We are all informed of things to avoid such as high sodium foods, processed foods, fast food, red meat, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and tobacco.

Not everyone knows why we shouldn’t do this. The fact is that these types of foods all contain some sort of toxin which can affect ones health – high blood pressure being the topic of today’s article.

Sodium and caffeine can elevate blood pressure thou they are not inherently poisonous. This is especially true of people who have a family history or other issues such as being over weight that already increases their risk for hypertension.

Many processed foods and fast foods are comprised of a high amount of trans fats, sodium and cholesterol. Be wary of some diet foods as they sometimes replace sugar with chemicals high in sodium and are oftentimes not lower in fat.

Red meats, even those not processed or cured can be cause for alarm because you are basically eating whatever toxin the animal ate before it became your meal.

Alcohol and nicotine/tobacco, while not foods are things people inclined to ingest or breathe in in overabundance. While I don’t see a problem with limited alcohol consumption, research has suggested there is no safe cigarette. Keep in mind that these are by definition poisons to our bodies.

Also in the toxins category are medications, both over the counter and prescription. If you have any history of hypertension it is very important to let your doctor know because they can raise blood pressure.

Now, new research on animals has shown that when exposed to daily air pollutants (much lower levels than seen in many developing countries and parts of the U.S.), even short term, blood pressure was raised as much as 25%.

While we can carpool and recycle (yes, I’m a big believer!), we can’t control what goes on globally. Likewise, a hyperbaric chamber isn’t something we can budget for either.

Anyone who suffers from hypertension, I would highly recommend my High Blood Pressure program. It’s all natural breathing and relaxation exercises have shown amazing results and its something you can do no matter what the environment to help bring down your blood pressure.

Christian Goodman is a well known health researcher and the author of several revolutionary natural health alternative methods. One of his most popular breakthroughs is his natural high blood pressure cure. You can learn more about Christian on his Natural Health Blog.

My response:

I would have to agree that the food we eat can both be a problem and a solution to high blood pressure problems.

Moderation is the key. For example salt. Everyone needs some in their diet to remain healthy – but eating lots of processed foods or eating out at restaurants gives us way too much – even if we never touch a salt shaker.

I still like a cup of real coffee (not decaffeinated) in the morning but don’t drink so much anymore. I know it might raise my blood pressure a bit but only temporarily.

Hypertension solutions – red wine & resveratrol

red wineIt has been documented that the French nation enjoy better health all around and lower rates of high blood pressure and coronary disease than most other nations. This is partly due to diet and their habit of drinking red wine on a daily basis.

Red wine contains an antioxidant called resveratrol. Like other antioxidants resveratrol helps prevent hardening of the arteries and your blood platelets from clumping together.

Blood platelets are those things that enables your blood to clot – which is important if you cut yourself. But clots forming inside your circulatory system is not healthy and is the prime cause of strokes.

In other words red wine helps keep your blood system in good health and your blood pressure down.

In case you wondered, resveratrol isn’t just found in red wine. It comes from the skin of the grapes. You can get resveratrol simply from drinking grape juice but resveratrol isn’t water soluble. The alcohol in in wine extracts the resveratrol more efficiently and assists the absorption of it into your body.

So have a glass or two every day! Get the darker red wine for maximum resveratrol content. Say a merlot, cabernet, zinfandel, shiraz, or pinot noir.

I have to admit that before learning of the beneficial qualities of red wine I was not a big drinker of wine. Now I buy a bottle or two a week and have learned a few lessons on buying wine.

First, don’t be fooled by price alone. Expensive wine is not necessarily the best wine and cheap red wine is not necessarily the worst. On the contrary, some of the cheaper red wines seem to have the most pleasant taste.

On a  TV program this spring wine tasting experts had to taste and rank various popular red wines on the market – blind (they weren’t allowed to see what brand of wine they were tasting). They all agreed on the best tasting wine. And it turned out to be one of the cheapest! So much for price as an indication of quality!

To get a great tasting red wine I would suggest you experiment with various types. Make a list of what you drink – the good, bad and ugly – so you know what to pick and what to avoid.

If red wine really isn’t “your cup of tea”, you can get resveratrol supplements. They have become very popular lately in the USA as part of an anti-aging and weight-loss system being highlighted on TV shows like Oprah.

For UK-based people,

In the USA,

Is all salt bad for blood pressure?

From: hypnowil.wordpress.com

One of the most common high blood pressure causes is excessive salt consumption. Some people have high sensitivity to sodium (salt), and their blood pressure goes up when they use salt. When these people reduce their sodium intake their blood pressure tends to lower. According to many experts, taking in too much salt is common among Americans. It is estimated that we consume 10 to 15 times more salt than we need.

Diets of fast and processed foods contain particularly high amounts of sodium. To reduce your sodium intake levels read labels carefully to find out how much sodium is contained in food items and then avoid those with high sodium levels. Although this is only one of the high blood pressure causes for certain salt sensitive people, it can’t hurt to decrease your salt consumption, and may help prevent your risk of heart attack.

Be careful what drugs you put in your body. Certain drugs, such as amphetamines (stimulants), diet pills, and some pills used for cold and allergy symptoms, tend to raise blood pressure. Also, people that drink too much alcohol have a tendency to develop high blood pressure. For those that are sensitive to alcohol, drinking more than one to two drinks of alcohol per day tends to raise their blood pressure.

Simon Foster

Simon Foster

There are also some nice things you can do to help lower your high blood pressure – like have a glass of red wine and 100 grams of dark chocolate everyday.

It’s not all about self-denial.

With regards to salt, yes, too much is not good. On the other hand, if you cut out all processed foods as I have, you have to be mindful to get enough salt.

And not all salt is the same. No no. Naturally harvested Celtic Sea salt from Brittany still contains all the nutrients and minerals nature intended. A much better substitute to common table salt most commonly used.

The bottom line is this: Lower your blood pressure by living a balanced happy life through moderation, not self-denial.

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