High Blood Pressure Cures

What is the difference between complex carbohydrates and simple carbohydrates?

2008-07-30T06:25:00.000-07:00

The terms simple and complex carbohydrates were originally coined to differentiate between sugary and starchy foods, based on the chemical structure of the carbohydrate they contained. Sugars were simple and starches were complex, simply because sugars were small molecules and starches were big. By virtue of their large size, it was assumed that complex carbohydrates were more slowly digested and absorbed, and caused a small and gradual rise in blood glucose levels. Sugars, on the other hand, were assumed to be digested rapidly, causing a large rise in blood glucose levels.

Complex carbohydrates are also used to describe starchy foods such as potatoes, bread, rice, pasta, legumes, and breakfast cereals. Simple carbohydrates refers to sugars, as found in soft drinks, candy, ice-cream, cookies, cakes, and fruit.

What effect do medications have on blood glucose levels?

2008-07-30T06:09:00.000-07:00

Diabetes medications work to lower blood glucose levels. There are many types available. Other medications can also affect the body's blood glucose control. Whenever your doctor prescribes new medications and you have diabetes, it is worthwhile asking "how will this affect my blood glucose level?" Monitor your blood glucose levels more closely when you change the type or dosage of your medication

Common drugs which may increase your blood glucose levels:

Beta blockers
Calcium channel blockers
Furosemide
Thiazide diuretics
Corticosteriods

Common drugs which may decrease your blood glucose levels.

angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors
Alpha blockers
Estrogen (high dose)
Fibric acid derivatives (clofibrate)
Anabolic steroids
Salicylates (high dose)

LOW –SODIUM FOOD CHOICES

2008-06-22T22:40:00.000-07:00

If you consume more sodium than you want to, consider choosing these lower sodium alternative foods. For labeled items, check the percentage of a normal daily sodium requirement of about 2,000-2,500 milligrams. Try to select foods that provide 5 percent or less of the daily requirement. Here are some suggestions:

Instead of smoked, curd and canned meat, fish, and poultry, choose unsalted fresh or frozen beef, lamb, pork, fish, and poultry. Bacon, sausage, and some barbecues are high in salt.

Instead of cheese and regular peanut better, choose low- sodium cheese an unsalted peanut butter.

Instead of salted soda crackers, choose unsalted tortillas.

Instead of canned and dehydrated soups, broths, and bouillon, choose low-sodium varieties.

Instead of canned vegetables, choose fresh or frozen vegetables.

Instead of salted snacks, choose unsalted tortilla chips, pretzels, potato chips, popcorn, and rice cakes.

Here’s a flavorful tip one of my patients shared with me: If food tastes bland, try chewing it more thoroughly. Chewing breaks down food, allowing more molecules to interact with the taste receptors in the mouth. The flavor is stronger in the first bite than the following ones.

Solutions

2008-06-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

Lose weight. Think of your heart as a pump that's designed to keep a medium-size home stocked with liquid. Now imagine that you have hooked that poor little pump up to a condominium complex instead of a medium-size home. Fat is alive. Fat is very vascular. It needs blood. So having extra fat makes the heart do extra work. To quickly get a rough estimate of your healthy weight, grab a calculator. Multiply your weight in pounds by 700, divide that number by your height in inches, then divide again by your height. If the answer is 25 or above, you are overweight. Dropping just 10 percent of those pounds will do your blood pressure some serious good.

Fill up on fruits and vegetables. Researches have long suspected that nutrients found in both fruits and vegetables - such as magnesium, fiber, and potassium - could lower blood pressure. The problem is that supplement pills that provided the nutrients typically did not reduce blood pressure. The only exception is potassium supplements. Then they tried a different approach. In one study, instead of supplements, researches fed people foods naturally high in those nutrients. In the people with high blood pressure. systolic blood pressure dropped 7.2 points and diastolic 2.8. We don't know if it is potassium, magnesium, or fiber. What we can say is that fruits and vegetables can be beneficial even in persons with lower levels of blood pressure.

To get the same benefit, you will need to work 8 to 10 daily servings of fruits and vegetables into your diet, more than double the national average and three servings more than the minimum government recommendation. Any whole fruit or vegetable, a half-cup of chopped produce, an eight-ounce glass of fruit juice, or a cup of leafy greens all count as one serving.

Be a dairy king. People who are 8 to 10 daily servings of vegetables saw even larger blood pressure drops when they improved their diet in other ways. This diet provided two to three servings of low-fat foods and that you eat and drink dairy products rather than calcium supplements.

Watch what you stick up your nose. Chronic use of some over-the-counter nasal sprays can constrict blood vessels all over your body, making your heart pump faster to get the blood through. Nasal sprays can provide temporary relief from allergies and colds by constricting the blood vessels in the nose, thus opening up passageways. But many people get addicted to the sprays, eventually squirting much more up their noses than they should. The nasal spray vasoconstriction is so powerful that their use can render prescription blood pressure - lowering medication ineffective. If you are addicted to the sprays and can't quit cold turkey, give prescription nasal sprays a try. They won't make your blood pressure rise.

Cut back on salt. You probably have read about various conflicting studies on sodium restriction. The truth is that some people are salt-sensitive. Some are not. African-Americans usually are more salt-sensitive that Whites. Other than race, doctors have no way of figuring out who is who. So stay on the safe side and ban the shaker from the table and cut back on high-salt foods such as canned soups.

Problem And Cause

2008-06-12T07:08:00.000-07:00

Problem
One in there American men has high blood pressure. Specifically a health concern of men, African-Americans, and Southerners, high blood pressure can prematurely tire out your heart as well as damage artery walls. When your blood surges through your vessels, it erodes material from your artery walls, much the same way a river slowly erodes its bed. Your immune cells rush in to repair the damage, leaving a thick, hard paste behind. This clogs your arteries, making your heart beat harder to squeeze blood through a narrower opening, further damaging your arteries.

Blood pressure is measured with two numbers: the systolic and the diastolic (the low number). The systolic measures how hard your heart mush beat to pump blood through your body. The diastolic measures the pressure when your heart relaxes between contractions. A pressure reading of 120/80 is considered optimal, and 140/90 is viewed as high.

Cause
Blame your age and your narrowed arteries. As you get older, your arteries naturally get more ridged, making your heart beat harder. Also, years of high-fat foods have upped levels of blood cholesterol, which irritate your artery lining, resulting in plaque buildup. Drugs such as nicotine can also constrict arteries. The less room blood has to flow through, the more the heart has to push to move the heart has to push to move the blood along. If your heart has to pump through pipes the size of the Hudson River, it doesn't have to push much to get the blood out. But if your heart has to push blood through something the size of the lead in a pencil, it's going to push pretty hard. Stress also can make blood pressure soar by dumping heart-stimulating hormones into your system.

Spicy Roasted Red Pepper Spread

2008-03-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

Try this tangy, easy-to-make spread on a variety of whole-grain crackers. If large crackers aren't available, use 16 smaller ones. Top the crackers with a swirl of red pepper spread as a colorful starter for Chicken Provencal

1/4 lb reduced-fat silken tofu
1/3 cup jarred roasted red bell peppers, drained.
10 pitted Kalamata olives
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
8 large whole-wheat crackers

In a food processor or blender, combine the tofu, roasted red peppers, olives, olive oil, cumin, and cayenne. Process to a puree, scraping down the sides of the work bowl once. Transfer to a serving bowl. Serve immediately with the crackers, or cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

Eye Damage & Kidney Failure

2008-03-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

Eye Failure
The blood vessels in the back of your eyes are extremely delicate and damage easily. If the blood vessels in your eyes are constantly strained and swollen by high blood pressure, they may burst in a retinal hemorrhage, or the vessels may actually separate from the back of the eye, resulting in a detached retina. The eye is the only place in your body where your doctor can look in and see your blood vessels, making it an important part of a doctor's examination to determine the extent of your high blood pressure. Clearly, keeping high blood pressure under control will protect your vision.

Kidney Failure
Your kidneys control the volume of your blood as it flows through your blood vessel and "clean" it of all types of toxins. Just as in your heart or brain, your kidneys are unable to operate if their flow of blood is slowed or halted. Inactive, they cannot remove the body's toxins. Wastes build up in the blood, eventually poisoning your entire body. All levels of untreated hypertension cause decreased kidney function. End stage disease, the last stage of destroyed kidneys, caused by high blood pressure, has gone up every year for the last decade and will probably worsen through the year 2000. Once your kidneys fail, you survive only with dialysis or a kidney transplant operation. One fourth of all dialysis patients in the United States lost their kidneys to the ravaging effects of hypertension. By controlling hypertension, you will protect yourself from damage to this very sensitive organ.

Roasted Asparagus & Leeks

2008-03-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

Serve this light but smoky-flavored dish as a starter or as a side dish for Fettuccini with Fresh Tomato Sauce. Rinse the leeks thoroughly to remove sand and dirt. Vidalia, Walla Walla, Maui, or other sweet onions may be used in place of the leeks.

1 bunch of asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large or 2 small leeks, including tender green parts, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fat-free, no-salt-added vegetable broth
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 400'F
In a large jelly-roll pan or roasting pan, loss together the asparagus, leek, broth, olive oil, and pepper until evenly coated. Arrange in a single-layer in the pan and roast until the asparagus is tender, 12-15 minutes. Drizzle the vinegar over the vegetables and toss well. Transfer to a platter or individual plates and serve immediately.

Sun-Dried Tomato Toasts

2008-03-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

Toast the baguette slices under a preheated broiler or in batches in a toaster oven. If preferred, substitute crisp whole-grain crackers for the toasts. Serve as a first course to Braised Chicken with Dried Plums & Almonds

1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup chopped, drained, oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes or freshly ground black pepper
16 slices whole-wheat baguette, 1/2 inch thick, toasted

In a bowl, combine the tomato, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, garlic, and red pepper, flakes and to mix well. Spoon the tomato mixture onto the toasts just before serving.

Stroke

2008-03-26T03:11:00.001-07:00

Chronic hypertension is the number one predisposing condition to stokes. Although stokes also result from other conditions, your brain is highly vulnerable to high blood pressure. Stroke is the third most frequent cause of death in the United States, and even more people live through a stroke but become partly disabled.

A stoke occurs when part of your brain suddenly stops receiving enough blood and dies. If a part of the brain that is necessary to keep the body working is affected, a person can die from the stoke. In other instances, the person survives, but will have limitations such as weakness on one side of the body, difficulty speaking, or problems with mental ability.

High blood pressure causes stroke in two ways. One, the arterioles in the brain harden, preventing blood from getting to the brain tissue, similarly as with a heart attack. Two, high blood pressure puts so much strain on the wall of the arterioles inside the brain that they break, bleeding into the brain and depriving it of oxygen-rich blood.

Fortunately, you can prevent strokes by controlling your high blood pressure. Treating hypertension reduces the chance of stoke by 40 percent. And in people over 60, treating hypertension lowers the incidence of stroke by 70 percent. These are excellent reasons for doing whatever you to keep that blood pressure normal.

Heart Disease

2008-03-26T02:53:00.000-07:00

The effort of pushing blood through these damaged arteries severely overworks the left side of your heart, the ventricle where the "new" blood is pumped out. To pump harder and create more force, the ventricle's muscle tissue gets thicker, a condition called left ventricular hypertrophy. But the heart's larger, thicker walls make it more difficult for the ventricle to expand and completely fill up with blood. Over time, the extra strain on your heart can cause the heart muscle to weaken, leading to heart failure.

In addition, the hardening of the arteries that supply blood to the heart can cause a sharp pain or pressure in your chest called angina. Angina usually occurs when your heart isn't getting enough oxygen, often while you're exercising or doing another strenuous activity. While painful, angina can be useful because it alerts people to the fact that they have a heart problem. But not everyone gets this warning sign. Silent ischemia is when you don't feel the effects of your arteries narrowing.

The most dramatic of all results of cardiovascular disease, a heart attack, happens when part of the heart dies. Heart attacks, also called myocardial infarctions, happen most often when a blood vessel from the heart, already narrowed by arteriosclerosis, is suddenly and completely blocked. The blockage can be a blood clot, a muscle spasm, or a large amount of fatty buildup.

How Do I Know If My Blood Pressure Is a Problem for Me?

2008-03-26T01:46:00.000-07:00

The only way to know if you have high blood pressure is to have it measured by a health professional. Even people with very severe hypertension feel perfectly fine. This is why hypertension is sometimes called the silent killer - because it usually has no symptoms. So get your blood pressure measured regularly before any damage occurs.

Your blood pressure is actually two pressures, first is the rush of blood with each heartbeat, second is the smaller surge in between heartbeats. The first number is the systolic pressure, read as 'over' the second reading, the diastolic pressure.

Blood pressure is measured using a blood pressure cuff and pressure gauge, officially named the sphygmomanometer. This cuff, which is wrapped around your arm, is a cloth-covered rubber tube. By squeezing the rubber bulb, we fill this tube with air, tightening it and constricting your arm's blood vessels. Then the air is let out of the cuff slowly. As the cuff loosens its grip on your arm's arteries, the heart is able to push some blood past the cuff. You can tell when this occurs by listening with a stethoscope on the artery below the cuff; the pressure of the cuff at the point you hear this pulse of blood is your first blood pressure reading, the systolic reading. Then more air is let our of the cuff, and eventually the point is reached where the cuff's pressure equals the lowest pressure heartbeats. The cuff's pressure at this point is the diastolic reading. Below this pressure, you can no longer hear the blood moving through the arteries with the stethoscope.

What is High Blood Pressure?

2008-03-25T06:48:00.001-07:00

With high blood pressure, this microcirculation shuts down. The tiny muscles around your arteries are constantly tight, keeping the arteries all over your body narrow. Under this constant stress, the arteries deteriorate, becoming scarred and hard, otherwise known as hardening of the arteries. The arteries easily become choked off, depriving your heart, kidneys, and brain of blood.

In the past, high blood pressure was considered an inevitable consequence of growing old. But with recent studies showing how destructive high blood pressure is and how effective medication or a change a lifestyle and diet is in correcting high blood pressure, the National Institutes of Health revamped its definition of hypertension. Instead of using misleading terms - mild, moderate, severe, and very severe - the severity of high blood pressure is not measured in stages. Even the category normal has been divided into normal and high normal. The newer terms clearly show the progressive nature of hypertension.

A few small actions today may save you from all the damage hypertension does to your arteries and organs, and may keep you from having to take anti-hypertensive drugs later in life. "All stages of hypertension are associated with increased risk of nonfatal and fatal cardiovascular disease, stroke, and kidney disease, " says NIH. "the higher the blood pressure, the greater the risk."

What is Blood Pressure?

2008-03-25T05:43:00.000-07:00

Every time your heart beats it pushes blood through your blood vessels. This force of blood rushing through your blood vessels is your blood pressure. It's what moves "fresh" blood to your tissues and organs and what carries away the 'old' blood. As your circulatory system listens and reacts to messages from your body, different systems act to keep your blood pressure under control.

Your heart, a small muscle about the size of your fist, beats about 100,000 times a day, pumping 40,000 gallons of blood along the 60,000 miles of blood vessels that make up your circulatory system. With each beat, blood rushes out of the heart into the aorta, an artery the width of a garden hose. Branching from the aorta, smaller and smaller arteries carry the blood to the rest of your body. The smallest of these branch arteries, arterioles, carry blood to every organ and tissue in your body. Within these tissues, blood moves into the microscopic capillary vessels. There it unloads oxygen and nutrients into the tissues and carries away the carbon dioxide and wastes. Mirroring the arteries, a completely separate system of blood vessels, the veins, channels the old blood back to your heart.

While it moves those gallons of blood, your circulatory system monitors what your body is doing and adapts your blood flow to your different actions. Your network of nerves, like telephone lines, transmit messages between the circulation system and the rest of your body. When you walk up a flight of stairs, your nerves tell the tiny muscles surrounding your arteries to narrow, forcing blood quickly to your legs. When you are done eating dinner, the nerves tell the muscles to open your arterioles, letting more blood to your stomach. This responsiveness is called microcirculation.

Chinese medicine

2008-03-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

Why high blood pressure drugs lower blood pressure will be counterproductive? How to correct the blood pressure down? Chinese medicine has a scientific solution!

Hypertension this issue in the age of increasingly low, Western science now that there are two types of hypertension: "Essential hypertension" and "secondary." In fact, Chinese medicine, in ancient times there is no mention of hypertension thing. Not as a disease of hypertension. But now it is called hypertension medicine to a disease, it should be a matter of fact symptoms, a good variety of disease symptoms.

For certain diseases, such as renal disease, hyperthyroidism, and so may cause high blood pressure. Most of this type of illness as a result of increased blood pressure, which we call "secondary hypertension" as long as the cure disease, blood pressure naturally drop down. It is also known as "essential hypertension," which is not caused by illness, but that involves only the blood vessels in the heart of hypertension and no other cause of hypertension is called "essential hypertension."

In fact, Tianqileng may also cause high blood pressure, drinking or feelings of tension, such as heart trouble may also cause hypertension. In the scope of Chinese medicine inside, he actually does not do them separately.

Chinese perspective the relationship between hypoxia and hypertension

Patients with hypertension, I have always been asked, do you have any other illness? Other symptoms of disease together told me. Above do not have to make an issue of high blood pressure, but good results. Because according to my observation, most of those who have high blood pressure this is the case, I discussed the symptoms, you can own analysis of whether what it is?

There is a person who, he is now redness of the face, neck stiffness, accelerated heartbeat, feel drowsy. I would like to ask, if you see a patient, you from the perspective of the disease, how samples can be analyzed? This is hypoxia symptoms. But you know? Hypertension is such symptoms. What is the relationship between this middle? Is actually the same thing. Two issues, as a result of which in the end? Which of fruit?

Because of asphyxia, caused his hypertension phenomenon. Hypoxia, the need for adequate supply of oxygen to the brain inside, and then the heart in order to achieve a balanced, with a relatively large force of the blood to reach the brain inside. When it did not get a sufficient blood before quantity to high blood pressure seems to be some. Subsequently, the blood into the brain can stormed inside to some of the brain's blood supply inside enough, oxygen, nutrients sufficient time, a drop in blood pressure naturally, this is in fact a kind of "balance" concept.

Mind hypoxia or other organs, the heart must be used relatively large force, the blood hitting the head or hit the liver or other parts of the body to hit. When blood can not send those places, which is less than current location, according to Chinese medicine, is a block bleeding.

For example, the neck is a road, there is a neck carotid artery, carotid artery blood to go through to the minds of the above. In the carotid artery on the path forward, which places if the obstruction is the so-called "congestion" and blocked the blood into the minds of the hypoxia. It is necessary to use greater force to get blood pressure, blood pressure appear on high.

How to correctly handle hypertension?

‧ antihypertensive drugs lead to high blood pressure

General hypertension, blood pressure-lowering drugs are eating! But when you blood-not the past, you ate blood pressure-lowering drugs, blood can-that in the past? Of course not-?! This is the blood pressure-lowering drug use, but also more high blood pressure truth. Because of a drop of blood in the brain blood pressure is even more inadequate. At this time, or do not have enough brain of oxygen and nutrient supply, the heart must be greater pressure to pressure, when your heart with the greatest efforts, still can not get blood when, in order to allow the heart muscle becomes more powerful, stronger, better that can be sent to the blood place. So? The heart muscle becomes more thick, which developed into "myocardial expand."

‧ get rid of the myth of Antihypertensive

Myocardial expanded easily cause further permanent high blood pressure, cerebral vascular event it is brittle (vascular plot with the inner edge of a lot of cholesterol and become more brittle), and relatively easy to break a cerebral hemorrhage. Therefore, hypertension, stroke, it is so linked to a road longer.

This is now one of "blood pressure" myth. Doctors believe that the high blood pressure must be reduced. Now, the patients have been that high blood pressure, non-down not. Doctors there to a doctor, not to open lower blood pressure drugs, are unhappy. Most people would think that if blood pressure is not going down, and may lead to a stroke. The results contrary to lower blood pressure and lead to asphyxia, the result of physical balance mechanism that allows higher blood pressure, the more easily a stroke.

TCM method to improve blood pressure

Chinese medicine treatment in patients with high blood pressure, medication is to improve the patient or organs in the minds of the blood flow to the side of the blood vessel dilation more, and the blood circulation to the road to get rid of the congestion, blood naturally easily passed. Blood passed, it will naturally become a normal blood pressure, not to lower blood pressure.

In fact, the perspective of Chinese medicine is very correct, we should now think about the present Chinese medicine with Western medicine often on the concept of using drugs to lower blood pressure. On the contrary, it is not no use of the advantages of Chinese medicine?

"Invisible killer" - diagnosis and treatment of hypertension

2008-03-11T04:28:00.000-07:00

Abstract:

In Taiwan, the age of over 40 people over the age of about 20% suffering from hypertension, increased with age, hypertension patients are more and more. At the beginning of the pathogenesis of hypertension often no obvious symptoms. Wait until the event of complications, such as: stroke, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, renal failure or retinal hemorrhage, life and health has been seriously threatened. Clinically, the mechanism of hypertension can be divided into two rough categories: those with obvious causes, such as kidney abnormalities, vascular abnormalities, or in endocrine abnormalities caused by hypertension, known as "secondary hypertension." Less than one-tenth of the patients with hypertension are such. Second was no obvious cause of high blood pressure, patients often have a family history, the merger blood sugar and uric acid increased, and therefore considered to be genetic. Physical and environmental factors, were referred to as "the state of hypertension." Such patients of all hypertensive patients more than 90 percent. Require long-term medication to control blood pressure continued. As the elderly formed human natural ageing vessel wall hardening, but also makes vascular wall elasticity and high blood pressure lose, the so-called "senile hypertension" is characterized by significantly higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure remained normal. In the treatment of hypertension, except for a handful of radical surgery can be "secondary hypertension", the majority of hypertensive patients need more or less drug control. In fact, through the adjustment of lifestyle and diet changes, coupled with the appropriate amount of drugs can effectively control blood pressure, and to prevent complications and to reduce the harm caused.

:

According to statistics, Taiwan, aged more than 40 people over the age of about 20% suffering from hypertension, increased with age, hypertension patients are more and more. In these patients, only about one-fifth of regular medication control, and follow-up treatment in the hospitals and clinics. Another part of their own patients Although it is known that high blood pressure, but only in the uncomfortable situation of the body, such as severe headache, nausea, shortness of breath, chest discomfort, will purchase hypertension drug users or in a clinic to see one or two, wait until symptoms ease, although blood pressure is still high, but no longer continue to medication. In fact, the incidence of hypertension in the beginning, usually no obvious symptoms, therefore, more than half of patients do not know their own high blood pressure, not to mention the examination and treatment. Wait until the event of complications of hypertension, such as: stroke, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, renal failure or retinal hemorrhage, life and health has been a serious threat, then was too late. This is why high blood pressure was known as the "invisible killer" was the main reason.

The diagnosis of hypertension

For a 18-year-old more than normal, if your blood pressure is less than 130 / 85 mm Hg, can be inspected once every two years if less than 140 / 90 mm Hg, each year To check first. If your systolic blood pressure in 140 to 160 mm Hg between, it must within two months of the physician requested help you recheck, for two weeks if there are three or more times a sit-in at the high blood pressure (systolic blood pressure greater than 140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure greater than 90 mm Hg, can be diagnosed with high blood pressure, must invite the specialized physicians (medical or heart) to assess you further examination and treatment.

The causes of hypertension

Clinically, the mechanism of hypertension can be divided into two rough categories: those with obvious causes, such as kidney abnormalities (such as: nephritis complications of kidney stones, renal cortical atrophy, etc.), vascular anomalies (such as: aortic stenosis, renal artery stenosis) or in endocrine abnormalities (such as: Health tumor or organ hyperthyroidism) caused by hypertension, commonly known as "secondary hypertension." Less than one-tenth of the patients with hypertension are such. Some of which can be used surgery or surgical treatment methods to remove the causes and there is no need medication to cure. Second was no obvious cause of high blood pressure, patients often have a family history, genetic and therefore considered to be relevant. On the other hand, these patients also have more opportunity to combine blood sugar and uric acid increased, and that has been physical and environmental factors, and not a single reason can be explained such patients to the pathogenesis of hypertension, so it is said "The state of hypertension." Clinically, all of these patients accounted for 90 per cent of patients with hypertension over. Require long-term medication to control blood pressure continued, but not radical.

Hypertension inspection

Generally speaking, "the state hypertension" Most of the onset of 40 years of age to 60 years of age, so when an age less than 40 years of age or greater than 60 years of age were found in the new hypertension, he suffering from the "secondary hypertension, "the likelihood of greatly increased, it needs a more complete examination, including renal function, urine test, limbs, blood pressure, kidney ultrasound, and with thyroid function, adrenal gland function, endocrine function assessment expect to be able to identify causes of radical indeed. If it is suddenly no obvious reasons, but also, and all clinical suspicion was "the state of hypertension" patients, chest x-ray to accept, ECG, renal function, urine test and, if necessary, fundus examination, further assessment of in the heart, kidneys and nervous system function, because these places are the main complications of hypertension, high blood pressure is caused disability and the leading cause of death.

Elderly hypertension

In the elderly aged 60 and above, due to the natural aging of a human blood vessel wall hardening, but also makes vascular wall elasticity and high blood pressure lose, the so-called "senile hypertension" is characterized by significantly higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure remained normal . Since many clinical studies have confirmed that the increase of systolic blood pressure, especially the rapid increase of a stroke and there is a direct relationship between stability and maintaining normal blood pressure can reduce the incidence and prevention of stroke. Therefore, control of hypertension in the elderly of the best indicators as to the systolic pressure, that is to say systolic blood pressure must be at least maintained at less than 160 mm Hg (this value is the upper limit of normal), and is the standard blood pressure not more than 140 mm Hg and systolic blood pressure less than 90 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure. Maintaining stability in systolic blood pressure 120 to 140 mm Hg and can be effective in preventing, including stroke, myocardial hypertrophy, and other complications of hypertension.

Non-drug hypertension treatment

In the treatment of hypertension, except for a handful of radical surgery can be "secondary hypertension", the vast majority of hypertensive patients need more or less drug control. In recent years, through observation of patients with hypertension and found that life style and eating habits on hypertension control a considerable impact. We propose a hypertensive patients should do everything possible to maintain normal body weight (obesity will be required to reduce body weight), do regular exercise (preferably soft gymnastics, swimming, aerobic exercise), a decrease in the concentrations of sodium diet (eat less salt, MSG sauce stains and food), a balanced diet (adequate intake of potassium, calcium and magnesium ions), a decrease of food in the saturated fat and cholesterol content, quit smoking and drinking modest (less than an ounce a day of alcohol, a in the 24 ounce beer or an ounce of Rose Red 8).

Hypertension drug treatment

On hypertension medication, in the first line can be divided into diuretics, B adrenergic blocking agent, A adrenergic blockers, calcium channel blockers agents and vasopressin conversion overexpressed blocking agent five categories, Before the second category is the most common use. Because of various drugs have their own side effects and the use of attention to the matter, it must be in accordance with various physicians different hypertensive patients choose the most appropriate type of drug and treatment, not to call the shots without taking pharmacies filled. If a patient is taking three different blood pressure in hypertensive drug after the remains high. Would further examination to rule out the possibility of the hypertension.

At present the treatment of hypertension drugs with each passing day, with adequate living adjustment, effective control of blood pressure. Paying no attention to their own fear, do not care to all kinds of complications arising unconsciously, once the Huizhiwanxian attack, have hypertension patients, we recommend that you develop the habit of their own blood pressure, at least every two to three of a day, each 10 minutes after the sit-in the same arm in, and then measuring the results of even date, time be recorded in each of the out-patient, provided to the physician as a reference for diagnosis and treatment. In such patients and physicians work together, I believe that the harm can be reduced to at least hypertension.

I now Should I pay more attention to hypertension if my parents have it?

2008-03-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

Question: I am now 36 years old, height 173 CM, 75 Kg body weight, blood pressure is a recent inspection 150/100, and my parents are hypertension, since I may not have a? I should now pay attention? How life should be adjusted?

Answer: hypertension were divided into three, his blood pressure had reached the level of the two.

He smoking, coupled with high blood pressure, do not know his blood lipids, normal weight is not normal, if the parents are at home hypertension itself is a risk factor, these factors make his future in heart disease, cerebrovascular disease than the possibility of others Many larger.

I think for the netizens, the most important thing is to first look at what their lifestyle is unhealthy, if eating very salty taste must cut down. In fact, sometimes a person is high blood pressure, is not necessarily genetic, with the tastes of a large relationship. Another movement is not too little, it is not often stay up late, drinking is not often, if these unhealthy lifestyle has changed, smoking cessation, weight control, exercise, do not eat so salty, maybe he will drop some blood pressure . If he had done so for three months blood pressure is still high on the medication.

Zhao Dong: As far as what type of drugs to eat, and some may feel good after eating drugs, and some uncomfortable Luechi finished, the specific medication to the hospital, to the best doctors for a medical examination to decide.

Zhao Dong: Also, if he is a blood pressure 150/100, may have to review at least twice, if these two more than his blood pressure of 140/90, is to determine the hypertension. If only, and it may be in a closed, or they may occasionally increase. But even the occasional blood pressure to 150/90, but also pay attention to the future, after he was on the possibility of hypertension increased.

Hypertension need a lifetime medication?

2008-03-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

Question: A patient his blood pressure is 140 to 100, the low pressure is relatively high, and it does not always drop down, may I ask which medicine is better?

Answer: The patient's blood pressure we found mostly in some of the young or middle-aged patients, causing such a high diastolic blood pressure, not very high systolic blood pressure, treatment has two aspects, first of all, we should pay attention to diet, the other a doctor's guidance , if the patient ECG is no problem, they can choose calcium antagonist treatment.

Patients with the best doctors in the use of specific guidance, I am here in the academic give him a broad experience, I can not say the same for each of the patients have been effective.

Question: users are more concerned about hypertension is not the disease need lifelong medication?

Answer: It should be is a life-long medication, but we are talking about life is not to say that you suffering from high blood pressure, to some kind of drug treatment after 365 days, one year, two years, three years, 10 years, 20 years, has been treated at some stage if his blood pressure is relatively well controlled, drug treatment can be reduced, even at some stage blood pressure very good, it can suspend treatment, but this does not mean that he will not hypertension, after receiving treatment do not need to re - the. Said here is the life-long treatment to the level of blood pressure under a doctor's guidance, upholding the medication, rather than immutable forever maintain a drug treatment.

Alcohol

2008-03-10T02:09:00.000-07:00

5% of the people with hypertension probably have the disease because of alcohol. A number of studies have essentially proved that heavy drinking, more than three drinks a day, causes hypertension. This is a direct effect, independent of all the other factors leading to hypertension.

Heavy drinking can also lead to hemorrhagic stroke, a particularly devastating type of stroke: the blood vessels in the brain, weakened by years of hypertension, suddenly burst, flooding the brain with blood and destroying brain tissue.

Ironically, when a heavy drinker suddenly stops drinking, his or her blood pressure will surge upward. This is a temporary effect, and after a few weeks of not drinking, the blood pressure should go down considerably. This sudden surge of high blood pressure is very dangerous, especially for people over age 50. If you do have three or more drinks a day, make sure your doctor is informed and you are under his or her care when you stop. But do stop; the long-term effects of quitting alcohol will save years of your life, and not just by lowering your blood pressure.

Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol also works against therapies for hypertension. All of the positive actions you are taking to normalize your blood pressure - antihypertensive drugs, low-salt/high-potassium diet, exercise, weight loss - are hampered by continued drinking. It may even interact with your antihypertensive drugs. Alcohol is also a nutritional wasteland of empty calories and often leads you to snack on salty and fatty foods, both of which promote high blood pressure.

But there is glimmer of good news. Regularly drinking less than two drinks a day does not carry a rise in your blood pressure. And, strangely enough, recent studies have shown that moderate drinking of red wine is good for your cardiovascular system. Red wine increases the amount of good cholesterol, HDL, in your bloodstream. HDL carries fats out of your blood, reducing arteriosclerosis and your chance of undergoing a stroke. But remember, moderate drinking of alcohol means one to two drinks a day.

Do You Eat Enough Fruit And Vegetables?

2008-03-07T17:02:00.000-08:00

If you are like most people, you don't. Yet, getting 8 to 10 servings daily is easier than you may think. Here are several suggestions for adding more fruits and vegetables into your day:

Have a glass of 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice for breakfast.
Top your morning cereal with blueberries, raspberries or a sliced banana
Eat a small salad with your lunch or dinner
Add tomatoes, sprouts or greens to your sandwich
Have a bowl of vegetable soup
Snack on a piece of fruit or raw vegetables
Add vegetables to your casseroles
Top your baked potato with cooked broccoli, cauliflower and carrots
Substitute spinach, summer squash or eggplant for meat with your pasta
Have berries with your yogurt or use them as topping on desserts.

Commercial Weight Loss Programs

2008-03-07T16:47:00.000-08:00

Many people trying to lose weight find that doing it with others is easier. That's why millions of Americans enroll in commercial weight-loss programs each year. These programs can be helpful, but not all of them approach weight loss in a manner that's safe and effective

Before you enroll, make sure the program meets the following five criteria:

Safety. The program should ensure that you get adequate nutrition. Although diets may be low in calories, they should still provide the daily recommended amounts of nutrients without the need for unusual supplements or special foods.

Reasonable weight goals. Some people with certain health conditions may benefit from rapid weight loss. But in general, weight loss should be slow and steady. Rapid weight loss is mainly loss of fluid, not fat. Look for a program that's geared toward helping you lose 1 to 2 pounds a week. Remember: A loss of just 10 pounds can have a positive effect on your blood pressure.

Physician participation. The program should encourage consultation with your doctor. Talk with your doctor if you plan to go on a very-low-calorie diet. If you have health problems or you regularly take medication, check with your doctor before taking part in a weight loss plan.

Attention to permanent lifestyle changes. Losing weight does little good if you can't keep it off. The program also should help you improve your lifelong exercise and eating habits so you can maintain a healthful weight

Up-front costs. You should know exactly how much the program, including regular follow-up, will cost you.

Inactivity

2008-03-06T02:10:00.000-08:00

In 1992 the American Heart Association designated inactivity as one of the top four risk factors for the development of hypertension, heart attack, and stroke. Although it is not directly related to diet, exercise is beneficial to your body in many, many ways. It helps you to lose weight, lowering your blood pressure. When you exercise, your blood vessels open up to allow more blood to flow through, helping to keep them loose and flexible, and shielding them from the hardening effects of hypertension. Exercise helps you lose the extra sodium in your body. It lowers your blood cholesterol, cutting the amount of extra fats running through your bloodstream that can clog your arteries.

Just like a healthy diet, consistent exercise does wonderful things for you. And it need not be a strenuous workout. Just like a healthy diet means eating a wide variety of foods in different quantities, healthy exercising means maintaining overall fitness. Cleaning the house, taking a walk on your lunch hour, playing catch are all exercise programs that you can do every day.

Obesity

2008-03-05T19:56:00.000-08:00

Being overweight has a dramatic effect on blood pressure. If your body weight is 20 percent or more above ideal, your risk for having hypertension is doubled. Americans tend to put on weight in their thirties and forties. As our weight goes up, so does out blood pressure, and the more pounds we add, the more likely we are to get hypertension. Recent statistics suggest that s staggering 70% of American adults are overweight.

It may not be the actual added pounds but the mere action of gaining the weight that makes our blood pressure go up. Even if you are not overweight, the pounds you've added slowly as you grow older may raise your blood pressure.

Being overweight is a health risk, but also the way you carry your extra weight has implications for your health. Scientists believe that people who have their extra weight around their abdomen, apples, are at greater risk for heart disease than pears, who store their extra fat around their hips and buttocks. This is bad news for men, who tend to carry their excess weight around theri stomachs, but good news for women, who tend to carry their excess eright around their hips. This may be why men are more likely to have high blood pressure and heart disease then women.

Although it is not easy, the damaging effects of extra weight on blood pressure can be removed through healthy eating. When you have a balanced diet, you are automatically eating less fat and eating more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Quick ways of losing weight are almost always ineffective over the long run. It is safer, healthier, and more fun to add things to your diet than to take things away. Following a healthy diet lets you add good-for-you foods, and never means you have to completely cut something.

Salt Sensitivity

2008-03-05T19:37:00.000-08:00

One reason why high blood pressure runs in families may be an inherited sensitivity to salt. When we eat a lot of salt, our kidneys get rid of it. But in many people the kidneys, otherwise working normally, can't get rid of all the salt. When this happens, extra water stays in your blood to dilute the salt. This leads to extra blood volume, which in turn leads to high pressure in the blood vessels, hence high blood pressure.

Salt sensitivity can occur in anyone, but some groups of people need to pay particularly close attention to the damaging effects of salt. For instance, as many as 70 percent of African American with hypertension are also salt-sensitive. Hypertension occurs twice as often in blacks, develops earlier, and is more severe for African Americans than any other group of people. By the time they are 65, nearly 50 percent of black men and 60 percent of black women have high blood pressure. African Americans can protect themselves from this damaging disease just by being aware of their risk and keeping risk factors - and blood pressure - under control.

There is no easy test to see if you are salt-sensitive. The best way to see if your blood pressure is affected by salt is to stop eating sodium completely and see if your blood pressure goes down.

While sodium very likely raises blood pressure, other nutrients - potassium, calcium, and magnesium - may lower blood pressure. There is not yet a definite cause-and-effect known, but we do know that all three certainly affect how blood vessels constrict. In addition, calcium and potassium interact with sodium, possibly protecting the blood vessels from sodium's deleterious effects.

Mediterranean Halibut

2008-03-04T18:22:00.001-08:00

To seed tomatoes, cut them in half crosswise, hold each half over a bowl, and squeeze and shake gently to dislodge the seeds. Serve this flavorful fish dish with Broccoli with Toasted Bread Crumbs.

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 skinless halibut fillets, about 5 oz each
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 ripe tomato, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or parsley
8 Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Prepare a fire in a charcoal grill or preheat a gas grill or oven broiler. Position the grill rack or broiler pan 4-6 inches from the heat source.

In a small bowl, stir together the vinegar and garlic. Transfer 1 teaspoon of the mixture to another small bowl. Brush the remaining vinegar mixture over the halibut fillets. Sprinkle the fillets with the pepper.

Add the tomato, basil, olives, and olive oil to the reserved vinegar mixture, toss lightly to mix, and set aside while grilling the fish.

Arrange the fish on the grill rack or broiler pan and grill, turning once, until opaque throughout when tested in the center with the tip of a knife, 1-4 minutes per side. Transfer to individual plates and spoon some of the tomato mixture over each portion. Serve immediately.

Three-Bean Salad

2008-03-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

This hearty, colorful summer favorite is a good source of fiber and protein. Adapt it for winter menus by substituting thawed frozen green and yellow wax beans. Small, reddish-brown adzuki beans are sweet, but other red beans also work well.

3 oz green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
3 oz yellow wax beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon or 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
One 15-oz can no-salt-added adzuki beans, red beans, or red kidney beans, rinsed and drained.
1/4 cup finely diced red onion
6 large butter or red lead lettuce leaves

Bring a saucepan three-fourths full of water to a boil. Add the green and yellow beans ad blanch for 1 minutes. Drain the beans and immerse in cold water for 5 minutes to stop the cooking. Drain again and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, tarragon, and pepper. Add the red, green, and yellow beans and the onion toss well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or for up to 24 hours before serving.

To serve, line each individual plate with a lettuce leaf. Divide the salad among the lettuce-lined plates and serve.

Tomato Soup With Pasta & Chickpeas

2008-03-03T15:05:00.000-08:00

The inclusion of beans and pasta gives tomato soup plenty of protein and fiber, in addition to extra flavor. You can substitute 2 cups cooked dried chickpeas for the canned beans.

2 teaspoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 3/4 cup fat-free, no salt-added vegetables or chicken broth
1/2 cup dried whole-wheat elbow macaroni or gemelli pasta
One 14 1/2-oz can no-salt-added whole tomatoes, with juice, coarsely chopped
One 15-oz can no-salt-added chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano, marjoram, or basil or 1 teaspoon dried
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the broth and pasta and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, chickpeas, and red pepper flakes. Return to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, about 5 minutes longer. Remove from the heat and stir in the oregano

Ladle the soup into individual bowls, sprinkle with the Parmesan, and serve immdeiately.

Meat

2008-02-24T15:04:00.001-08:00

Most nonorgan meats are fine. Low-fat meat, in general, is excellent on diet. It is low in sodium, rich in potassium, and if lean cuts are selected with excess fat trimmed, its calorie content is fine.

How meat is prepared, including poultry, is important. In general, poultry is excellent for any dietary program. If it is roasted, broiled, or barbecued without skin, or the skin is removed after cooking, it is low in fat and excellent in sodium and potassium, but even poultry can be high in fat if not selected correctly. Meat should always be broiled or barbecued without sauces or salt. Condiments, such as garlic, onions, shallots, ginger, and other herbs an spices, add flavor and zest to meat without increasing either its fat or sodium content. In the meat section of the table, serving size is the standard 3.5 ounces.

Do's
In general, low-fat cuts of meat provide less than 25 percent of their calories as fat. Medium-fat cuts provide 26 to 40 percent of their calories as fat. Both low- and medium-fat cuts are acceptable on a weight-controlled diet.

Occasionally
These cuts of meat are fine for control of high-blood pressure, but because of their high fat content, they are recommended only occasionally and never on a weight-loss diet. Over 40 percent of their calories are derived from fat.

Organ meats are usually excessive in fat. Some some organ meats are so high in sodium that, even though it is not always sodium chloride, it is often excessive for our purposes.

Don'ts
Virtually no processed meats can be eaten by people following this plan to control high blood pressure. Processed meat, whether beef, veal, lamb, or chicken and turkey ersatz meats, such as turkey pastrami, bologna, and franks, is simply unacceptable. Since these food are unacceptable, I have not included sodium, potassium, or the K-factor ratio.

Beef to Avoid

Beef burgundy
Breakfast strips
Corned beef
Frozen meatloaf
Frozen or canned chipped beef
Frozen or canned salisbury steak
Frozen or cnned sliced beef

Pork to Avoid

Bacon bits
Canadian bacon
Cured bacon
Cured ham
Ham loaf
Ham steaks
Sausages
Sweet and sour pork

Veal to Avoid

Frozen veal parmigiana

Luncheon Meat, Franks, and Spreads to Avoid

Barbecue loaf
Bologna of all types
Corned beef loaf
Ftankfurter
Loaves (olive, mother's, pepper, pickle, picnic)
Mortadella
Salami of all types
Sandwich spreads
Turkey ham, turkey loaf, pastrami
Vienna sausage
Seafood

Fruit And Fruit Juice

2008-02-24T09:44:00.000-08:00

Do's (Fruit)
Fruit toppings for cereals and fruit as an accompaniment to any meal, especially breakfast, is excellent. Fruit is not only acceptable, it is highly recommended. You can't eat too much fruit, nor can you eat too many varieties. Note that in the table I have tabulated the average value; please be aware that sizes vary, as well as varieties of fruit.

Do's (Fruit Juices)
Fruit juices, like fruit, are generally low in sodium and rich in potassium. They can be used to offset a meal component that is not rich in potassium but is low in sodium. For example. a poached egg on Oroweat toast and a glass of apple juice are balanced in sodium and potassium, even though the egg itself is not. Except where noted, serving size is 8 ounces.

Don'ts (Fruit juices)
Any fresh fruit and fresh fruit juice is excellent on this plan. Therefore, the only don'ts are sugary processed juice drinks that contain only a small amount of real juice. Fruit is not canned or frozen with salt, so it is usually dine; similarly for fruit juice. You can't use too much of wither category.

Eggs And Bread

2008-02-23T13:18:00.000-08:00

Do's (Eggs)
In general, eggs are acceptable because the sodium is not in the form of sodium chloride and their protein quality is excellent.

Don'ts (Eggs)
Though eggs are acceptable on this eating plan, the method of preparation can cause trouble. If you fry, don't add salt to the oil. Omelets should be made with a few drops of Tabasco or horseradish in place of salt. They should always be vegetarian, with ingredients such as onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes.

Do's (Bread)
Orowear bread is the most readily available low-sodium bread. Two slices of this bread contain only 10 milligrams of sodium. Available in the frozen section, it thaws quickly and can be used for toast or for sandwiches. Its sodium content is insignificant.

Don'ts (Bread)
Breads and baked goods account for much of the hidden 5 to 10 grams of salt that American consume daily. If you like sandwiches and want to beat high blood pressure, you must learn to like Oroweat or other low-sodium bread. Not all grocers carry Oriweat bread, but other brands are available; usually in the frozen section. Be sure to ask.

Ready-to-Eat Cereals

2008-02-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

Do's
Milk is not included in these servings; it is tabulated separately. A cup of milk usually adds 120 milligrams sodium and 375 milligrams potassium to each serving. See milk tabulation where low sodium is expressed, however.

Occasionally
These cereals are borderline because, though they are moderate in sodium, they are not high in potassium. Consequently, they have a poor K-factor. The addition of milk elevates the sodium content very close to the 200-milligram cutoff even though the K-factor is acceptable. Therefore, use them only occasionally and remember to eat other low-sodium, high-potassium foods in compensation.'

Don'ts
Most ready-to-eat cereals cannot be used on this plan. I have identified those can be served. Those that have sodium on the nutritional label should be avoided.

Cooked Cereals

2008-02-22T16:56:00.000-08:00

Do's
Cooked cereals are excellent if no salt is added in their preparation. Instant cooked cereals (add hot water) are often unacceptable because salt is used in the processing. Milk is not included in these servings; it is tabulated separately. Each cup of milk of soy beverage adds 120 milligrams sodium and 375 milligrams potassium.

Don'ts
Following the recipe on the box and adding salt destroys cooked cereal for this plan. These cereals taste excellent without added salt. If your taste buds crave salt, add sex drops of Tabasco per serving. I know it sounds strange in cereal, but the taste is fine, and six drops adds only 15 milligrams. As another alternative, don't use milk; try your cereal with canned apricot nectar. It tastes great, reduces sodium, and elevates potassium even more.

Fiber Supplements

2008-02-22T15:41:00.000-08:00

I am always asked, "How do I know I am getting enough fiber." My answer is: You should have an easy bowel movement every twenty-four hours. The stools should be well formed, their color should be light brown, and preferably about 10 percent will float.

If you stools don't fit that profile, start using a good fiber supplement.

Metamucil is the standard against which I measure all fiber supplements. It is safe and consistent from one batch to the next. Select the version that is not artificially sweetened; it comes unflavored and orange flavor, either of which is fine. You can take as much Metamucil as you desire. Indeed, it is probably acceptable to take up to six or most tablespoon servings daily. This has been done in many clinical tests.

Drugstores have a wide selection of fiber supplements besides Metamucil. Most of them are made from psyllium seeds, which are mostly mucilage, a type of fiber. They don't contain the seed matrix, are gentle, and also work well. Mix about one or two heaping teaspoonfuls or one tablespoon with water and drink thirty minutes before a meal. Make sure the one you choose is only a fiber supplement and does not contain any laxative.

Some fiber produces contain senna leaf, an intestinal stimulant. Read the ingredients list carefully and avoid anything with senna. Some health food stores sell plant gums, the most common being guar gum, which is also the most effective fiber for lowering cholesterol. However, guar gum should be used carefully because too much will gum up the works, actually causing a blockage.

How To Increase Dietary Fiber

2008-02-22T15:27:00.000-08:00

An easy way to get a good start on the fiber you need is to begin each day with high-fiber cereal. Many excellent cereals are available: Fiber One, All-Bran, Bran Buds, bran flakes, corn bran, oat bran, oatmeal, and barley, to name a few. Add unprocessed bran to pancakes or waffles. Eat fruit on cereal, in pancakes, or plain; eat fruit, vegetables, grains, and tubers at each meal. As your fiber intake improves, you will become more regular.

High-fiber snacks are excellent all day, but drink lots of water. Water increases the value of fiber. Selecting high-fiber cereals for a low-sodium diet plan is difficult. You must read the nutritional table and see how much sodium is provided per serving. If it is 20 milligrams or less, it's okay. If it is over 75 milligrams, but sure it provides at least 10 grams of fiber; if not, it's not worth eating. One cereal that makes the grade is shredded wheat and bran, which is sold by several companies. It provides 8 grams of fiber with no sodium.

Sodium in Water

2008-02-22T15:08:00.000-08:00

People with high blood pressure should make drinking water a habit, at least four glasses daily. The reason is simply to help facilitate the elimination of sodium. You make the kidneys' work easier.

In addition to drinking more water, you should learn how much sodium is in your water supply. If you live in a hard-water area and have a chemical water softener, you should not drink or cook with the softened water because those softeners remove calcium salts and replace them with sodium. If that is your situation, use bottled water for drinking and cooking. Bottled water, especially mineral water, is excellent. Just read the label to be sure it contains very little sodium. Usually bottled water contains less than 5 milligrams of sodium per 9-ounce glass.

Another option is to use a water purifier that uses reverse osmosis to distill water. These systems are costly, but they produce soft, pure water that is excellent for drinking and cooking.

Fiber And Water

2008-02-22T15:01:00.000-08:00

In nutrition, fiber's teammate is water. Water is another nutrient that rarely, if ever is taken in excess. Because fiber is the plant material that binds water. it can bind you up if you don't get enough water. In the presence of water, fiber makes your stools soft and consistent; in the absence of water, it can make them dry and hard.

The relationship between water and fiber is made clearer by this analogy. Milk contains less water than green peas. The reason you don't eat milk with a fork and drink your peas is because peas have fiber, which gives them their shape and holds the water. You want fiber to do exactly that in your digestive system - give stools consistency without excess firmness.

Fiber cannot perform its cleansing action without water, but our requirement for water extends far beyond that. Indeed, next to air itself, it is the most important of all nutrients. In arthritis, it is especially important for the elimination of waste materials that, in the opinion of some experts, can cause flare-ups. Strive for eight glasses of water daily. Although it is best consumed as pure water, it is okay in other beverages as well.

Increase Dietary Fiber

2008-02-22T11:43:00.000-08:00

High blood pressure has many facets to its development; the major ones are excess weight, excess salt, and stress. However, there are secondary factors that don't necessarily cause high blood pressure but clearly contribute to its development and make it worse once it is established. Inadequate dietary fiber consistently shows up as a complicating factor. Indeed, in some studies, simply increasing dietary fiber to over 30 grams reduced blood pressure by a few percent.

Our bodies produce many materials that are eliminated in urine, or by the gallbladder through the intestine itself. Fiber both moves food along the digestive tract and selectively binds waste matter and removes them from the system. it is absolutely essential that the digestive system should available adequate dietary fiber to bind up these materials and flush them from the body. Generally, this means that each day a person weighing 120 pounds should get 25 grams of dietary fiber, and a person weighing 200 pounds should get 35 grams.

There are about five or six types of fiber, all of which have properties we require. Insoluble or hard fiber, the type found in wheat brain, is the water carrier that helps to produce regularity. It produces stool consistency and regularity. As a water carrier, this fiber increases stool bulk and gives it consistency while maintaining softness. Soft but firm stools are important to regularity and the prevention of a number of intestinal problems like appendicitis, diverticulosis, and hemorrhoids. The added water passing through the intestinal tract helps to dissolve and remove unwanted and sometimes toxic materials. This important function helps to reduce the risk of cancer and other illness. Hard fiber is found in all plant food, but mostly in the high-fiber cereals and grains, as well as most vegetables, beans, and tubers such as potatoes. These food are essential for adequate fiber and the results are obvious whenever a person includes them in their diet.

In contrast to hard fiber, the soluble forms of fiber, such as pectin, gums, saponins, and others, are the best at selective absorption. For example, pectin helps to reduce cholesterol by binding the bile acids produced by our liver from cholesterol and removing them in our stools. Oat bran also removes these materials even better, and guargum better yet. It also binds the dietary cholesterol and fat and helps to carry them through the system.

Sodium Reabsorption And Diet

2008-02-15T07:26:00.000-08:00

Sodium gets reabsorbed as sodium chloride, or common table salt. Sodium reabsorption illustrates the body's excellent ability to conserve nutrients. This ability probably evolved as a mechanism to conserve sodium and chloride. Salt was so scarce just 2,000 years ago that it was a medium of exchange. In the Roman Empire, soldiers were paid with a salt ration.

In our modern world, salt is no longer rare and our excess consumption of those two once-rare elements works against us. Only in the last 1,000 years has salt become cheap. In the evolutionary process, 100,000 years is a "blink of the eye", let alone 2,000. In short, humanity's the same, and our kidneys are the same as they were 10,000 years ago, but the availability of salt has changed.

Reabsorption of sodium as sodium chloride can work against s by precipitating diet-related high blood pressure. Most processed foods contain large quantities of salt, and people often liberally add salt to food. Sodium and chloride as they occur naturally in unprocessed foods are probably not a serious problem. Unprocessed foods contain sodium in a myriad of forms, including very small amounts of sodium chloride. For example, sodium is found as citrate in citrus fruits and glutamate in grains. As a result, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains contain naturally balanced forms of sodium and don't have an excess of either sodium or chloride. In fact, the amount of chloride naturally present in foods, along with the body's ability to reabsorb 99 percent of sodium, suggests that very little dietary sodium is required. Normal active adults get along well on only about 300 milligrams of sodium daily, and some experts claim even less is sufficient.

Processed foods contain salt either as a preservative or to increase taste intensity. Return to natural foods, fruits, grains, vegetables, meat, fish, poultry - anything that grows from the ground, on the ground, on trees, walks, swims, or flies. DO not prepare or eat anyhing with elaborate sauces or coating. Boil, broil, barbecue, bake, or poach without adding salt. It works! Unsalted food may seem bland at first, but in a short time you will start savoring flavors that you didn't know were present. A new world of taste will open up to you.

How to Reduce Your Resting Pulse Rate

2008-02-15T06:32:00.001-08:00

In most cases, you can reduce your resting pulse rate. It's done by improving your physical fitness - development an exercise program, getting your weight into line, and improving your diet. Jogging both improves the muscle tone of your legs and the muscle tone of your cardiovascular system. Your heart is a muscle and your arteries and arterioles are lined with muscle cells. To improve the fitness of these muscles, they need to be exercised beyond the normal everyday level. As they become more fit, they don't have to work as hard to get all that blood moved around; consequently, as fitness improves, your resting pulse and blood pressure sure usually decline.

Exercise can be swimming, brisk walking, cycling, rowing, skating, skiing, and other activities, including skill sports like tennis, handball, and so on.

A word of caution: If you are starting an exercise program for the first time, start slowly. Discuss your plans with your doctor to be sure that the program you select is ambitious enough to be effective but not dangerous for you. If you are out of shape, you didn't get that way in a day or two. To get into shape, you will require more than a day or two; in fact, it will require a month or two.

People can lower their pulse and blood pressure by willpower alone through biofeedback. Biofeedback enables you to monitor your pulse and blood pressure, which you can then, through conscious effort, lower. With practice, it can help reduce high blood pressure. Meditation is another form of mental conditioning that reduces pulse rate and blood pressure.

Symptoms of the High Blood Pressure

2008-02-15T05:19:00.000-08:00

High blood pressure is called the silent killer because many people with the problem never know they have it. Of the fifty million Americans with high blood pressure, only about thirty million have been diagnosed. The rest may never know until they go to a doctor for another reason - a physical for insurance purposes, a stroke, heart attack, kidney failure, or some other problem either caused by or having nothing to do with high blood pressure - and have their blood pressure taken in a workup.

If you diastolic blood pressure went from 70 one day to 105 the next, you would immediately get symptoms. But blood pressure usually creeps up slowly, often over many years, and your body adjusts to the gradual change. You feel "normal" until that day your doctor or the nurse says, "Your blood pressure's too high!" However, you may experience the following symptoms, which can be early warning signs of high blood pressure.
Headaches, especially in the morning

Ringing in the ears
Unexplained dizziness
Spontaneous nosebleeds
Depression without apparent cause
Blurred vision
Tension when there is no cause
Flushing of the face
Fainting spells

Cause of High Blood Pressure

2008-02-15T01:38:00.000-08:00

There are two main types of high blood pressure: essential and secondary hypertension. About 95 percent of patients with hypertension have essential hypertension. We believe that most cases of essential hypertension are caused by lifestyle, obesity, excessive stress and nutritional deficiencies. Secondary hypertension, on the other hand, is usually caused by kidney disease, medications and drugs and adrenal disorders. That, however, is rare, only affecting about 5 percent of people with hypertension.

Are You at Risk?
Even though the actual cause of high blood pressure is unknown, ris factors can dramatically increase your chances of developing t. You have a great deal of control over some of these ris factors, but not all. It's impossible to have control over some risk factors. Listed below are some of them.

Risk Factors You Cannot Control

Your family history
If both of your parents had high blood pressure, there is a 60 percent chance that you will develop it. If only one parent had hypertension, you still have a 35 percent chance of developing it yourself.

Your sex
Before age fifty, men are more likely to develop hypertension. However, after age fifty, hypentension is more common in women than in men.

Your age
As you get older, your risk of developing hypertension increases.

Your race
African American develop hypertension twice as often as whites. Mexicans, Cubans and Puerto Ricans are also more prone to develop hypertension.

Secondary Causes of High Blood Pressure
Secondary hypertension can be cured most of the time. Causes of secondary hypertension include kidney disease and renal arteries stenosis, which is a narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the kidneys.

Since most high blood pressure falls under the category of essential hypertension, we will focus on modifying the risk factors that we can control.

Here's a list of main risk factors:

Obesity
Inactivity
Stress
Lifestyle factors
Alcohol
Smoking
Nutritional factors

By modifying these risk factors, you should be able to control the majority of cases of mild and moderate hypertension.

Before you begin to make changes, it's very important to have a comprehensive physical exam that includes blood work, urinalysis and an EKG. Make sure that your doctor rules out any secondary causes of hypertension.

With every Beat of My Heart

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If your heart has to work harder with every beat, over time it will actually become larger and larger. it's just like working out at a gym. When you lift weights and do curls, your muscles bulk up, becoming larger and larger. When the heart has to work harder, it actually grows larger, too.

That may be great for your biceps, but it's really bad for your heart. When the size of your heart increase, it leads to left ventricular hypertrophy. Let me explain what this is. As your heart gets larger, it requires more blood to nourish it. But when you have high blood pressure, your heart doesn't get the increased supply of blood it needs because high blood pressure also causes the blood vessels to become narrowed. this reduces the supply of blood to the heart.

This is why high blood pressure places you at greater risk of experiencing a heart attack and sudden death. Also as he heart enlarges, it can become weaker since it doesn't have the strength to pump effectively against the elevated blood pressure. You may eventually develop congestive heart failure, in which the heart becomes so weak that fluid begins to accumulate in the legs and in the lungs.

Wreaking Havoc on Your Arteries
High blood pressure also damages the arteries. Healthy arteries are very flexible and elastic, but high blood pressure can lead to arteriosclerosis, which is hardening of the arteries. Here's how it works. With high blood pressure, the walls of the arteries become thick and stiff.

High blood pressure or hypertension also cause atheroselerosis. In atherosclerosis the inner wall of the artery is actually damaged, usually by high blood pressure. Platelets adhere to the site of injury, and fatty deposits begin to accumulate, they form plaque, which eventually hardens.

The buildup of plaque can decrease blood flow even more. If the affected blood vessel is in the heart, it can lead to a heart attack. If it is in the brain, it can lead to a stroke.

Your Incredible Cardiovascular System

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Your body is an amazing creation, and your cardiovascular system is an incredible product of God's creative genius. Let's take a closer look at the amazing system of blood vessels and cells that make up your cardiovascular system.

Your cardiovascular system is composed of the heart and blood vessels. With each heartbeat, blood is released from the left ventricle into the aorta, which is a very large blood vessel that then transports the blood throughout the body. The heart is the pump, and the blood vessels are like pipes that circulate the blood.

Blood delivers oxygen and essential nutrients, which include vitamins, minerals, proteins, essential fats, sugars and hormones, to all the cells in your body. The blood also removes waste products. The blood is then returned to the heart through the veins. After that it is sent to the lungs to receive a fresh supply of oxygen. And the process starts all over again.

The average pulse, which is the average heart rate, is approximately seventy beats a minute. The human heart never gets a break. It has to work continually day and night. It beats about forty-two hundred times an hour and over a hundred thousand times a day, which is over thirty-seven million times a year. When your blood pressure is normal, this presents is elevated, your heart must begin to work harder to pump the blood.

How Do You Rank?

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You have high blood pressure if your systolic measurement is greater than 140 and your diastolic measurement is greater than 90.

Stage One, or mild hypertension, reads:

Systolic 140 to 159
Diastolic 90 to 99

Stage Two, or moderate hypertension, reads:

Systolic 160 to 179
Diastolic 100 to 109

Stage Three, or severe hypertension, reads:

Systolic greater than 180
Diastolic greater than 110

Few tips before or during you get your blood pressure checked:

Your blood pressure rises and falls easily throughout the day. To be sure you get an accurate reading, here are a few tips to remember:
Don't drink any coffee or caffeinated beverages for at least thirty minutes before you get your blood pressure
Don't smoke or drink any alcohol for at least thirty minutes before having your blood pressure taken.
Sit quietly for several minutes before having your blood pressure checked
Talking can make your blood pressure rise, so don't talk while you are getting checked

Here are some other factors that can influence your blood pressure:

Diet
Environment
Physical activity
Medication
Stress
Emotional upset

Take your blood pressure at home and keep a log of the readings.