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< Back | From The Blood Pressure Cure The Blood Pressure Cure Express Programby Robert E. KowalskiI’ve packed a lot of information about blood pressure and ways to control it in this book. But from time to time you may want to do a quick review or find the name and website of a particular supplement or some other detail. That’s why I’ve put together this summary, a quick, express program of the entire Blood Pressure Cure.
Blood Pressure: Definitions and TestingBlood pressure is a measure of the force of blood rushing through and pushing against arteries. Measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg), systolic blood pressure, the top number in, say, 120/80, indicates arterial pressure as the heart beats while the diastolic, the lower number, is the pressure between beats, while the heart rests. Elevated levels of blood pressure constitute a major risk for cardiovascular disease, the number one killer of both men and women. As with high cholesterol levels, there are no symptoms of high blood pressure, also termed hypertension. Ideally, blood pressure should be no more than 120/80. When blood pressure increases to a range of 120-139/80-89, one is said to be in a state of prehypertension, a term originated in 2003. Men and women with prehypertension are at some increased risk of cardiovascular disease that could eventually lead to heart attack or stroke and are likely to see their blood pressure increase over the years unless they take steps to control it. Levels of 140/90 or more are considered to be hypertension. The higher blood pressure rises the greater the risk. Blood pressure testing in doctors’ offices may be inaccurate owing to anxiety or other factors. For a diagnosis of hypertension, physicians take measurements on three separate visits with patients seated with feet on the floor, back supported in a chair, and relaxed. Today’s home blood pressure monitoring devices have been shown to be as accurate or even more so than in a doctor’s office. A good brand to consider for your home is Omron; select one with a cuff that goes around the upper arm rather than the wrist for greatest accuracy. I believe that home monitors should be as common as bathroom scales. ˆ top Blood Pressure and WeightOverweight and obesity predispose an individual to elevated blood pressure. It is important to try one’s very best to attain an ideal, healthy body weight. As a simple rule of thumb, men should have a waist circumference, a belt size, no greater than 40 inches and women no more than 32 inches. Weight loss is not easy but it can be achieved. As a first step, keep a daily journal of everything you eat and drink for a week. Read your journal and determine what foods and beverages are contributing excess calories and where you can cut back on those calories. Consider what I call pre-emptive snacking. Enjoy small, healthy snacks throughout the day so you never get so hungry that you overeat. Before heading out to a restaurant or party, take the edge off your appetite so you’ll eat smaller portions. ˆ top Blood Pressure-Friendly FoodsSeveral studies have come to the same conclusion that those who eat the most fruits and vegetables, whole-grain breads and cereals, small amounts of lean meats, fish and poultry, and nonfat or low-fat dairy foods are least likely to develop hypertension. And by adopting that eating pattern one can significantly lower blood pressure, by as much as one might expect from a prescription blood pressure drug. The most well known of those studies is termed DASH, for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. ˆ top Physical ActivityThe Greek physician Hippocrates said it hundreds of years ago, though in more elegant terms: move it or lose it! An essential part of a heart-healthy lifestyle involves physical activity. That doesn’t necessarily mean going to the gym, jogging, or other strenuous exercise you may not enjoy. The goal is a mere thirty minutes daily of simply moving around actively. That might mean taking a brisk walk, going dancing, gardening, or any other activity. Another way to look at it would be to shoot for walking 10,000 steps a day. You can do that with three ten-minute walks, taking the stairs rather than the elevator, or parking the car at the farthest end of the parking lot. Keep track of your daily steps with a good quality pedometer such as the Yamax Digiwalker (www.new-lifestyles.com or toll-free 888-748-5377. ˆ top Coping With StressWe all have stresses in our lives in our work, in our personal lives, and in ordinary, day-to-day activities such as driving in traffic. All stress and anger raises heart rate and blood pressure, and those rises can become permanent. We can’t rid ourselves of all our stress, but we can learn to cope with it. One very efficient way is by increasing physical activity. Another is to take what I call mini-vacations, taking two minutes a few times a day, especially when stressed or angered, to simply close your eyes and concentrate on slow, rhythmic, deep breathing. Imagine your chest as a balloon you fill with air as fully as possible and then slowly deflate. RESPeRATE is a wonderful, clinically proven device to learn to control breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure. Check it out at www.resperate.com or call 877-988-9388. ˆ top Salt and SodiumWe’ve heard a lot about how cutting back on salt and sodium is essential to blood pressure control. But take that advice with the proverbial grain of salt! Yes, very high intake can raise blood pressure. And extreme restriction can lower it. But this approach isn’t practical and many men and women are not sensitive to the effects of salt and sodium. By all means we should all practice moderation. But most of the sodium in the modern diet comes not from the salt shaker or the salt on the rim of the margarita glass but, rather, from processed and canned foods and from fast food restaurants. Along with moderation, we can counterbalance sodium by increasing our consumption of the other mineral electrolytes—calcium, magnesium, and, especially, potassium. Shoot for a daily intake of about 4500 mg of potassium by eating more fruits and vegetables and by adding a teaspoon or two of salt substitute consisting of potassium chloride when cooking. Enjoy nonfat and low-fat dairy products or consider a daily supplement. Mushrooms and shellfish offer a lot of magnesium. Or again, consider a supplement. Cal-Mag is a combination mineral supplement made by Endurance Products. (www.endur.com or 800-483-2532) ˆ top AlcoholNot long ago, doctors told patients fighting hypertension to avoid alcoholic beverages entirely. Today the word is moderation. In fact, one to two drinks daily can actually improve blood pressure levels. One for women, two for men. ˆ top Don’t Forget CholesterolResearch shows us that as we reduce elevated cholesterol levels, blood pressure comes down as well. That’s a nice bonus, fighting two risk factors at once. Limit saturated and trans fats in the diet. Eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain breads and cereals. Enjoy plenty of the healthy fats including olive and oils, nuts of all kinds, avocados, and fish that provide heart-protecting omega-3 fatty acids. For those with a genetic predisposition to make too much cholesterol—eighty percent of all the cholesterol in our bloodstreams is produced in the liver—a better alternative to statin drugs is larger-than-nutritional doses of the vitamin niacin that both lowers the bad LDL and raises the good HDL. The plant sterols called phytosterols are also proven to lower cholesterol; find them in supplements or in fortified foods. (www.endur.com or 800-483-2532) ˆ top Secret Weapons Against High Blood PressureFour supplements have been clinically proven to dramatically reduce blood pressure levels, producing results as good as would be expected from prescription antihypertensive drugs without the side effects. Those four secret weapons, newly introduced to the market include:
To start, I’d recommend taking the sustained-release arginine and one of the other Secret Agents. Try them for six to eight weeks. If additional blood pressure reduction is needed, add one of the others. Or you could begin with all four and gradually cut back. Arginine in all cases should be the backbone of the effort, in concert with one or more of the others. The fifth of my Secret Weapons is a pure delight. Enjoy a relaxing mug of steaming, fragrant Cocoa in the evening while winding down from the day, perhaps an hour or so before bedtime. Don’t use the mixes that combine cocoa with sugar and various fats. Choose a brand of the darkest, richest Cocoa you can find. The darker the Cocoa more polyphenols it contains, and it’s the polyphenols that have been clinically documented to reduce blood pressure. Mix a heaping tablespoon of Cocoa with eight ounces of nonfat milk and sweetener of your choice, heat on the stove or in the microwave, and enjoy! Best wishes for lower blood pressure and a healthy, happy heart! Bob Kowalski The Blood Pressure Cure is available in most book stores, Sam’s Club, and online, including www.amazon.com. Here are some selected tips from the book you can implement starting today.©2007 Robert E. Kowalski. All rights reserved. |
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