Ways To Lower Blood Pressure Fast

Lowering Your Blood Pressure In 2012

2012-01-04T15:08:00.000-08:00

It’s the first of the year and what better resolution could you make than to get your blood pressure under control? The beauty of lowering your blood pressure naturally is that every little thing you do helps. If you apply even some of these tips you’ll experience an incremental reduction in your blood pressure.

Ready? Let’s get started.

Easy tips to Lower Blood Pressure Naturally

By now you probably already know that the key to lowering pressure is a combination of exercise, diet and stress control. If you go through this blog you’ll find tons of information on good foods, easy exercises and stress reducing strategies but here we’ve listed some tips that are easy to do and have an incremental affect.

1. Cut out a “bought” meal. In our hectic lives most Americans will buy at least 2 meals a day either at a restaurant, fast food store or a processed “ready to eat” meal at the grocery store. These foods are salt bombs. Brand names like Chile’s, Outback and Appleby’s have entrees (or in Outback’s case appetizers) that are greater than the daily recommended allowance of sodium. By replacing just one of those “bought” meals with a healthy fresh meal you will make a serious dent in your sodium consumption.

2. Make bananas your new best snack food. The fluid levels in our body are controlled by a mixture of sodium and potassium. Proper fluid levels are important in preventing vessels from hardening. We get too much salt but not nearly enough potassium. By adding a single banana, a great source of potassium, to your daily diet you give your body an opportunity to adjust fluid levels to where they should be.

3. If you don’t have time to exercise before work (and we all do have time if we want to make time for it) then start increasing the aerobic activity at the job. Use stairs (even if you just use them to go down) rather than elevators. Park further away. Walk to lunch. Make that afternoon break a walk break. All of these small exercises, which are more than you’re doing today, have an effect.

4. While we won’t say cut out caffeinated drinks like coffee and soda, it would be a good idea to take a pressure reading before you consume caffeine and then again 10 minutes after you’ve finished your drink. It appears that for some people, caffeine can cause a spike in pressure. If it turns out you do have a reaction then…well you know what you have to do.

There are obviously a ton more things you could be doing to reduce your blood pressure but if you think you don’t have the time to take care of your health, then just try these four easy steps.

This could be the year that you get serious about your condition. Hypertension takes a long time to develop and it takes an equally long time to reverse it. The problem of course is that every year that passes our bodies are that much older and that much more difficult to fix using natural remedies.

It’s your choice. You can practice these four tips and say to yourself that you’re looking out for your health or you can face your condition head on and take responsibility.

Tired of Living With High Blood Pressure?

Over the past 12 months 131 people have purchased this report on lowering blood pressure naturally. Only 2 have returned it for a full refund. That tells me that 129 people are now enjoying a better quality of life and they’re doing it with no drugs or fewer drugs.
Interested? Click here.

High Blood Pressure and the Holidays

2011-12-09T08:05:00.000-08:00

It’s that most wonderful time of the year. With kids jingle belling and everyone telling you be of good cheer. And when heart attacks and other cardiac events spike 12% to 14% over normal.

The Holiday season can be the best of times or the worst of times depending on your circumstances. If you have high blood pressure it’s essential that you be alert to possible and probable events that can elevate your pressure into the danger zone.

Nobody can explain precisely why this time of year generates more heart attacks. For a long time many thought the first really cold weather was a cause but a 12 year study on the frequency of heart attacks conducted in Los Angeles where the average “winter” temperature is 60 degrees revealed an increase in events during the Holiday months dispelling any relationship with temperature.

The more likely culprits are stress and changes in diet.

A study conducted over 4 years ago revealed that most Americans consider the Holidays to be the most stressful time in their lives. Financial stress, demands on time, strained family relationships, guilt, traveling or hosting visitors all put a strain on our lives and our circulatory system in particular.

Stress increases the amount of adrenalin in our system which constricts veins and tells the heart to pump faster and harder. Continuous stress allows for a build up of stress related chemicals which linger in the system and essentially become a “time released” high blood pressure mechanism.

Food and Booze

For six weeks we seem to be awash in foods and drinks that are delicious but not necessarily good for us. In fact they can be down right deadly.

The Holiday season is known for fatty cuts of meat, gravy, and baked desserts, all high in saturated fats or sodium. Cookies and pastries appear like magic both at home and at the work place. Foods that you would normally avoid or eat in moderation now seem to be irresistible and it’s easy to overindulge.

This has the immediate negative affect of increasing cholesterol and sodium levels causing the blood vessels to stiffen and form plaque and the longer term damage of added body weight.

If food isn’t tempting you then alcohol is. Holiday parties and get-togethers are almost always accompanied by alcoholic beverages. Because it comes in the form of eggnog or mulled wine or hot chocolate it may be easier to rationalize increased consumption during this special time of the year.

Practical Damage Control

It’s totally unrealistic to expect the average person to get through this season without over indulging in one way or another. However, that doesn’t mean that you give up healthy habits that lower blood pressure altogether.

To mitigate the effects of the season it’s doubly important that you maintain your daily exercise routine or increase it. Exercise is the fastest way to lower blood pressure but it does so much more.

Exercise will burn off the effects of stress and that’s half the battle during this time of year. It also burns calories and that will help offset the additional caloric intake particularly if you increase your regular exercise routine.

But “Baby it’s cold outside” and you don’t want to walk in the freezing weather. The alternative might be mall walking or…give yourself an early present and get a Wii system and one of the dance games. It’s a great aerobic workout and it’s fun.

Hydrate. Most Americans are not adequately hydrated in the best of times. When you toss in cold dry air outside and warm dry heating inside you’re looking at a potential dessert in your body.

Hydration is important to lowering blood pressure because it makes the vessels more elastic allowing for more efficient pumping of blood and of course it can flush out salt. The recommended amount of daily water is one half of your body weight expressed in ounces. So if you weigh 150 pounds you should drink 75 ounces (about 9 glasses) of water each day.

To get the most out of that hydration, eat a banana each morning. The body’s fluid levels are controlled by the amount of sodium and potassium in the system. Salt is easy to come by and most of us consume way too much. Potassium is another story and most of us are deficient. Eating a banana is an easy way to get the potassium you need.

Enjoy the Holidays but don’t forget your health. Step up your exercise and water consumption to help you, and your heart, get through the season.

Tired of Living With High Blood Pressure?

Over the past 12 months 131 people have purchased this report on lowering blood pressure naturally. Only 2 have returned it for a full refund. That tells me that 129 people are now enjoying a better quality of life and they’re doing it with no drugs or fewer drugs.

Interested? Click here.

Lower Your Blood Pressure Without Medication – 5 Tips From The Mayo Clinic

2011-11-11T09:53:00.000-08:00

Lifestyle is probably the number one contributor to high blood pressure and modifying that behavior can be the number one way of reducing it. You can lower your blood pressure naturally and either avoid going on medication or reducing the dosage if you are already prescribed.

Your blood pressure problem didn’t pop up overnight it took years of less than healthy living to get to the point where it could risk your life. Conversely, lowering your blood pressure naturally takes the same amount of time. You have to have patience and you have to have a commitment to a healthier, longer life.

Are you ready?

Here are 5 quick tips from the famous Mayo Clinic to help you get started:

Watch your waistline. Obesity, which is endemic in the United States is a leading cause of not only high blood pressure but diabetes as well. Losing weight, even as little as ten pounds, can have a significant impact on your blood pressure and, if you’re on medication, can allow that medication to work more efficiently meaning your dosage may be reduced.

If you’re a man and your waistline is 40 or more inches you are a prime target for high blood pressure. For whatever reason, belly fat is more dangerous than fat that forms on other parts of the body. For women the danger begins at 35 inches.

Exercise – You don’t have to be a health Nazi. The Mayo Clinic says that even 10 minutes of light aerobic exercise like walking can be beneficial. However, to get the best results 30 to 45 minutes daily is recommended. Exercise is the fastest way to naturally reduce your blood pressure. Exercise also allows you to burn off the chemicals in your bloodstream that are the result of stress giving you an additional benefit.

Diet and salt consumption. Americans love fatty foods which is why they suffer way more heart disease than Mediterranean or Asian populations. Fast food joints are easy to spot as fat bombs but regular restaurants with “healthy” foods can turn out to be salt mines as well.

The recommended daily allowance for sodium is 2300 mg. To give you a perspective, a level teaspoon of salt contains 2300 mg. If you have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, if you are over 50 or if you are an African American the daily allowance is 1500 mg.

Salt is everywhere in the American diet thanks to processed foods and restaurants that dole it out by the bucketful. Read labels and substitute spices for flavoring. Fresh foods are your best bet.

Watch the booze. A little alcohol, 1 drink per day for women and 2 for men, can actually be beneficial. But any benefit is forfeited if you drink more. People who don’t drink through the week and then go on binges on the weekend are placing themselves at risk. You can’t “accumulate points” for days that you don’t drink.

Get support from family and friends. Changes in lifestyle are not easy and you have to have an iron will if you attempt to do it without the help of others. Talk it up with your family and explain what you are doing and why. Having the support of family and friends can make the task easier than going it alone.

Keeping a record of your exercise, food and alcohol intake can be a real eye opener for most. Develop a plan that includes realistic goals for exercise and diet and then work the plan. Reducing high blood pressure without medication will free you not only from a life threatening disease, but the potentially serious side effects of the high blood pressure pharmaceuticals. Isn’t that worth it?

Tired of Living With High Blood Pressure?

Over the past 12 months 129 people have purchased this report on lowering blood pressure naturally. Only 2 have returned it for a full refund. That tells me that 127 people are now enjoying a better quality of life and they’re doing it with no drugs or fewer drugs.

Interested? Click here.

Lowering Blood Pressure - A Welcome Side Effect of the "Profile Diet"

2011-08-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

Another example of a natural approach lowering blood pressure quickly has been published the Journal of the American medical Association (JAMA) this week. Called the "portfolio diet" the study was designed to specifically lower bad cholesterol or LDL cholesterol through the consumption of the "right foods" as opposed to reducing the consumption of high-fat foods.

The results were pretty amazing with a 13% reduction in LDL among study participants. However, an unexpected benefit was the lowering of diastolic blood pressure and a potential to lower the systolic pressure as well.

What is the portfolio diet?

When you take a hard look at the portfolio diet it becomes obvious that once again high-fiber foods play important part in our heart health. The doctors that performed the study encourage participants to eat tree nuts and soy-based foods such as berries, green beans and of course soybeans.

While critics claim that the diet isn't possible for a meat eater to sustain because of its vegetarian nature, the doctors behind the study claimed that even following the diet on a minimal basis will provide a positive benefit. The diet does allow fish and lean chicken as meat dishes.

Eliminating the need for drugs

Millions of Americans have problems balancing their good cholesterol or HDL with their bad or LDL and typically they are treated using statins. Statin is a drug that affects the liver by inhibiting its ability to produce LDL. The portfolio diet was designed to eliminate the need to consume chemicals to balance cholesterol levels and thereby eliminate any unwanted side effects.

This is just another step in the right direction in the battle against the silent killer known as high blood pressure or hypertension. The more that the medical community promotes natural approaches like diet, exercise and stress reduction the less that the general public will have to rely on dangerous high blood pressure medications.

This profile diet, like most of our recommendations that you find in the blog, doesn't require that you become a health nazi. Incremental changes to your diet will give you incremental reductions in your blood pressure, and in this instance your LDL as well.

Tired of Living With High Blood Pressure?

Over the past 12 months 126 people have purchased this report on lowering blood pressure naturally. Only 2 have returned it for a full refund. That tells me that 124 people are now enjoying a better quality of life and they’re doing it with no drugs or fewer drugs.

Interested? Click here.

Reducing Plaque in the Arteries Naturally

2011-07-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

The formation of plaque in the arteries and other blood vessels is yet another contributor to high blood pressure and hypertension. Plaque buildup reduces the diameter of the blood vessel which in turn increases pressure.

This plaque is caused by an increased oxidation rate brought on by runaway numbers of free radicals found in persons with hypertension. Most people will say that the plaque is the result of the fats and cholesterol consumed and they would be right in the sense if you didn't consume them you'd have less plaque. But the actual formation of plaque is the work of free radicals.

We need free radicals in our body.

We just don't need the number that typically appears with high BP. When plaque becomes a major issue, like a blockage, the most common approach to repair it is surgery. However, there is another way.

But we don’t need that many. A natural removal strategy.

Plaque build up, like most of the symptoms of high blood pressure, is something we are not aware of until it becomes a major problem. It takes years for the plaque to develop, and conversely, it can take years to reverse it if you chose to do so naturally.

Free radicals can be reduced by increasing the amount of antioxidants in the blood stream. Free radicals are essentially orphaned electrons looking for a new home. At the molecular level that means a free radical can join a cell replacing one of the cell's own electrons. This can lead to the mutation or death of the cell. This mutation or oxidation is what allows the cell to stick to the side of the blood vessel wall.

Antioxidants give the free radicals what they want.

They will absorb the electron but will not mutate in the process. The antioxidants are then passed from the body taking the free radical with them.

So where do we get these little miracles. Well we can get them from our food. Antioxidants and systemic enzymes, another great help in breaking up plaque, are abundant in broccoli and broccoli like vegetables. Antioxidants can be found in high concentrations in almost any bright colored berry like blue berries or black berries.

Knowing which foods to eat accomplishes two things.

It provides the ingredients for a reversal of plaque, and it's replacing the bad foods that are loaded with the cholesterol that caused the problem in the first place.

If you want to avoid the possibility of surgery in your future, start getting educated today and get your daily dose of "medicine" from the grocers and not the pharmacist's

Just imagine knowing without a doubt exactly what will and won't have a positive effect on your blood pressure. No guessing. No worry. No debate. You can find out exactly what you need to know about plaque buildup by visiting http://MyNaturalCures.info right now! This link takes you to a report that deals with treating hypertension naturally and it is not free. It is however effective. Of the 183 copies that have been purchased through this blog in the last year, only one has been returned for a refund.

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Lower Blood Pressure Fast – A Berry Good Idea

2011-05-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

New evidence from a study done at University of East Anglia’s Medical School and published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that berries, particularly blueberries can play a major role in lowering blood pressure fast as well as preventing heart attacks, stroke, premature brain aging and diabetes.

High blood pressure and hypertension are the leading cause of death by heart attack and stroke and it is estimated that nearly a third of all Americans have this condition. Pharmaceutical treatment of hypertension comes with the risk of serious side effects and a diminished quality of life. Natural approaches to treating high blood pressure are far more desirable and recommended by the American Heart Association.

The study that looked at the effects of berries has 200,000 participants who were followed for 14 years so this is no flash in the pan discovery. Overall the study found that persons eating the highest level of berries had 10% less incidence of developing high blood pressure.

There are two compounds in the berries that are credited with lowering blood pressure, flavonoids and anthocyanins. Both of these compounds were previously identified as helpful in reducing blood pressure but it was unsure if humans could realistically consume enough for their effect to take hold.

This most recent test has proven that we can benefit from the berries without having to eat a bushel and a peck per week. In fact the study suggests that eating a half cup to a full cup of blueberries 3 or 4 times a week can provide significant protection against developing high blood pressure and brain damage.

Just another advance in the natural approach to lowering blood pressure that we should all take advantage of.

Lower Blood Pressure Now – Isn’t It Time To Get Serious?

2011-03-01T14:54:00.000-08:00

If you have found your way to this blog you’re probably looking for a way to quickly lower blood pressure and you’ll find an answer, actually several answers among the postings. But understand this. While there are several ways to lower blood pressure fast they are all only temporary. They are techniques to jump start a serious effort to reduce blood pressure.

If you have high blood pressure then one or more of these characteristics probably fits you:

You are overweight. You eat fast food and a ton of processed or packaged foods. You eat out a lot. You eat very little fresh food. You have more than two alcoholic drinks per day. Most of your weight is in your belly. You tire easily.
You have no regular routine for exercise. You drive around the parking lot looking for the closest space instead of walking the extra distance. If you do exercise it is not on a regular basis and it probably takes place on the weekend. If you play golf you probably ride a cart.
You’re tired but you can’t get a good night’s sleep. You feel financially stressed. You find your work stressing as well. You consume alcohol, caffeine and spicy foods on a regular basis.
You’re scared but you act like you’re in denial. You know the potential health risks that come with high blood pressure but you choose to put off doing something about it until another day. If you are on medication then you’ve probably had your prescription modified at least twice and you’re still not happy with the way you feel.

If one or more of the above applies to you then you have a problem and a quick fix isn’t going to help. You have to make a commitment to take responsibility for your high blood pressure and do something about it. You have to be sufficiently motivated to make the changes in the way you live to end this blood pressure threat. Are you ready or are you still looking for a magic bullet that doesn’t exist?

The good news is there is a way to lower blood pressure naturally and reduce or even eliminate the drugs you may be on now. The very causes of high blood pressure, poor diet, stress and not enough exercise can be turned around and become the cure.

More good news. You don’t have to become a health Nazi to see an improvement in your pressure. Any changes you make in your lifestyle will have an incremental affect on your blood pressure so the mantra is doing something is better than doing nothing.

The question is just what should you do? If you peruse through all of these posts you’ll find a ton of tips but no comprehensive plan. You can’t come up with that in 500 word blog postings. Generally speaking you want to eat fresher foods, get regular exercise and practice stress management.

The American Heart Association is a good place to start for general information as is the Mayo Clinic, however for a step by step plan I recommend this report.

Just to be transparent here, the report I am recommending cost money and I make a commission off of every sale. That said, I think it is the best guide to lowering high blood pressure naturally that is available. I’ve been promoting it for over a year and hundreds have purchased it and not a single person has taken advantage of the 60 day return policy. There’s a reason for that. It works.

If you’re serious, if you’re ready to stop putting off taking care of your health, I highly recommend you at least watch the video and read the description of the report.

Do it for yourself and do it for your family.

-Rachel

High Blood Pressure and the Kidney Connection

2011-02-28T11:53:00.000-08:00

Among the many potentially deadly affects of high blood pressure or hypertension is kidney disease. While elevated blood pressure is not the only cause of kidney disease it is a serious threat because unlike other causes, high blood pressure typically affects both kidneys at the same time. There is no “backup” kidney available.

Our kidneys are important filters that process over 200 quarts of blood daily removing waste and controlling the flow of urine to the bladder. The actual “filtering” process is done by tiny units called nephrons and there are roughly a million of these in each kidney. Inside the nephron is an equally small blood vessel that serves as the aqueduct and keeps the blood flowing through the kidney and allowing it to extract waste without becoming “clogged up”.

How high blood pressure clogs up the works

This small blood vessel is called a glomerulus and is just as susceptible to the adverse affects of high blood pressure as the large vessels in the body. The glomerulus can become hardened and clogged with plaque just as a main artery can except it obviously is far more susceptible to complete failure given its small size. Once this little vessel becomes clogged it backs up the entire filtering system and in effects poisons the kidney with the waste it is removing.

And just like the larger blood vessels, the glomerulus isn’t affected overnight. It takes years for high blood pressure to do its thing. Unfortunately there are no early warning signals or symptoms that the kidney is being damaged by high BP and the first time a person knows they have a problem is after the damage has been done.

More reasons to treat your high blood pressurey

Kidney disease is just another reason that you need to watch your blood pressure. Blindness, diabetes, congestive heart failure, stroke and heart attack are all aggravated by elevated pressure. Regularly monitoring your pressure and following the recommendations of the AMA is not only the best way to prevent the onset of high blood pressure but it is also the cure.

Following a plan of healthy diet, exercise and stress control will not only bring down your blood pressure, it goes a long way in preventing a variety of other disabling diseases. Make healthy living a priority for both yourself and for your family.

High Blood Pressure Remedies – What You Can Do Without Drugs

2011-02-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

According to the American Heart Association there are high blood pressure remedies that don’t call for drugs that most of the 50 million Americans who have this condition can benefit from. In fact the AMA says that medication is only useful when diet, exercise and changes in lifestyle fail to work. So what are these drug free remedies and why aren’t more people using them?

To answer the last part of the question first, our American medical professionals turn to pharmaceuticals first as a matter of routine. That’s the way they are trained and that’s the most efficient use of the 15 minutes that they typically can allow for each doctor’s visit. This is not to say that they don’t care, it’s just the way our health care system has evolved.

The net result is that treatment for high blood pressure usually involves testing different types of drugs and different doses until a combination is reached that effectively manages blood pressure. The problem of course is the discomfort and unnecessary over dosing that can result from this practice of mixing and matching. People trust their doctors so they accept this practice.

But how much do you know about blood pressure remedies that don’t require drugs?

There are no definitive causes for hypertension but there are almost always the same lifestyles that lead up to it. Common characteristics in people with elevated pressure include obesity typically caused by a sedentary lifestyle and a diet high in fats and low in nutrition. Stress is the second common characteristic and with over half of Americans suffering from some form of sleep deprivation that’s understandable.

The three things that are common to bringing on HBP, lack of exercise, poor diet and stress are the three things that can just as easily reverse and even cure the condition.

But this is where it can get really complicated and requires more effort than some people are willing to exert.

Exercise

This is an easy one. Exercise is the fastest way to lower blood pressure period. Forty minutes of light aerobic exercises like walking or riding a bike will lower pressure immediately after the exercise ends and keeps it down for approximately 24 hours.

Exercise strengthens the heart muscle making it a more efficient pump, trains the blood vessels to expand during the systolic beat, burns off excess adrenalin and other stress related chemicals and of course over time burns off extra pounds reducing the risk of obesity.

Diet

Thanks to the food processing and packaging industry, and restaurants that are more interested in making a buck than nutrition, eating a healthy diet has become almost impossible. Additives like sodium and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are found in all types of processed and packaged foods even the so called reduced fat and low fat varieties.

The only way you can insure you get the nutrition you need is to eat fresh food. The vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that are needed to counter hypertension are most abundant in fresh fruits, vegetables and certain fish. Eating right requires extensive planning. See the AMA’s DASH diet for a list of foods that are truly heart healthy.

Stress

In today’s uncertain economic environment there’s enough stress to go around for everyone and it affects more than just our blood pressure. Stress can be managed in part by diet or rather by avoiding certain foods and drinks in our diet, As mentioned above, exercise burns off the affects of stress and you may want to consider exercising in the evening after a day of building up stress rather than in the morning.

In order for these blood pressure remedies to work you have to have a plan and you have to stick to it. The good news is even if you do just a little bit to improve your lifestyle and diet it will have an incremental impact on your pressure. If you use a home blood pressure monitor (which you absolutely should) you’ll be able to get instant feedback on how your efforts are doing.

Home remedies for hypertension do work…it simply takes a commitment to stick to the plan.

What are you doing to treat your high blood pressure? How is it working for you? Wouldn’t it be great to wake up one morning and have the whole problem in your past?

Well it doesn’t happen overnight and it doesn’t happen at all until you take charge of your health. If you want help with that then you need a plan that charts out exactly what you need to do. Do yourself and your family and at least take a look at this incredibly helpful tool now. Click here.

High Blood Pressure Over Diagnosed – NHS Recommends Home Blood Pressure Monitoring

2011-02-23T10:10:00.000-08:00

A recent study by Britain’s NHS suggests that many patients are diagnosed as having high blood pressure when they really don’t. A professor from University of Leicester says that blood pressure taken in a clinical setting (doctor’s office) is affected by “white coat hypertension” more than previously thought. White coat hypertension is the term used for persons who’s BP becomes elevated due to the stress they experience simply by being in the doctor’s office.

As expected, most cases of elevated blood pressure are diagnosed by the doctor in his office. This new revelation may mean that thousands of people who have been diagnosed and treated for pre-hypertension may in fact have normal pressure.

Home blood pressure monitoring recommended

The recommendation from the Blood Pressure Association (the UK version of the American Heart Association) is the use of home blood pressure monitors. Monitoring pressure in the familiar and comfortable setting of a person’s home minimizes the chances of a reading being influenced by stress and anxiety. Most modern blood pressure monitors are semi or fully automated and easy to use.

In the UK where the government offers universal health care the impact of over diagnoses and treatment is as much financial as it is medical. If a person is diagnosed as pre-hypertensive and also suffers from white coat hypertension, repeated trips to the doctor’s office will simply exacerbate the problem and use up limited medical resources. In addition, any drug prescribed for the condition (usually a diuretic) is paid for by the NHS.

A clinically validated monitor costs between $45 and $90 which is much less expensive than repeated visits to the doctor. In addition, if medication can be reduced or eliminated that cost, as well as the potential side effects, goes away.

Lessons for US treatment for elevated pressure

The lesson to be learned by the rest of the world, particularly the United States where over 50 million people are thought to have high blood pressure, is that home pressure monitoring may reveal the same kind of over diagnosis. In the past artificially elevated pressure was explained as the anxiety of being in a doctor’s office. Today there are additional stressors that are tied to the economic environment.

A trip to the doctor with reduced or no insurance benefits now represents an unplanned expense that can have potentially a significant financial impact on the patient and his or her family. Anxiety is becoming the norm.

If the NHS findings are correct, then it would seem to be logical for all persons diagnosed with high BP to use a home blood pressure monitor to get an accurate reading to their condition. This can result in a reduction in over medicating, stress and by engaging the patient in their condition, an increase in their awareness to diet, exercise and lifestyle.

To learn just how easy home blood pressure monitoring is, please visit this post.

Can A Low Sodium Fat Free Diet Actually Raise High Blood Pressure?

2011-02-13T17:24:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows the role that sodium and fat plays in contributing to high blood pressure and the market place has responded with all sorts of “healthy” fat free, reduced fat, low sodium and no sodium food products. Just one little problem. Most of those foods include high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as an additive.

A recent University of Colorado study revealed that HFCS can increase blood pressure by up to 32%. This common food additive tends to inflame blood vessels causing them to stiffen and making them less elastic. This loss of elasticity causes a higher blood pressure particularly systolic pressure. Healthy blood vessels expand when the heart pumps and then contract after the blood surge passes. By stiffening the vessels, the aperture of the blood vessels is narrower causing an increase of systolic pressure.

The bad news is that HFCS is found in almost all processed foods. The really bad news is that it is found in higher doses in low fat and no fat products. Food processors add the extra HFCS to compensate for the taste lost by removing the fat.

And it gets worse. High-fructose corn syrup can go by a number of different names. If the label on your food says it has corn syrup, fructose, high fructose sweetener or natural sweetener as an additive it’s really HFCS.

Sweetener is everywhere

So how do you avoid this harmful additive? Realistically it’s nearly impossible. What you can do is cut down on your consumption by adding more fresh food or food that is labeled 100% organic to your family’s diet.

The HFCS issue is just the latest in a continuing line of questionable business practices by the food processing and packaging industry. Knowing that there are big bucks in eating healthy led to the introduction of a myriad of no salt and no fat products along with the zero calorie sodas. Yes, fat and sodium are decreased and in its place is a substance that is potentially just as dangerous.

Tired of Living With High Blood Pressure?

Interested? Click here.

New CPR Guidelines Makes Everyone Qualified To Save A Life

2010-12-24T09:08:00.000-08:00

Last October the American Heart Association issued new CPR guidelines that are designed to get everyone in on the task of saving heart attack victims. The Association cited reluctance by untrained people to perform CPR because they thought that the mouth to mouth component was to complex and they were afraid of doing it wrong and causing greater harm

As it turns out, the mouth to mouth portion of CPR is not nearly as important as the chest compressions. The blood in an unconscious victim is oxygenated and the key to survival is to get oxygenated blood to the brain. Compressions then are more important than adding additional oxygen via mouth to mouth resuscitation.

In the past people trained in CPR were taught ABC or airway, breathing, compression. Today they are being taught CAB or compressions, airway breathing.

The AHA says that the correct sequence of events should you see a person who is unconscious and not breathing or only breathing irregularly is to call 911, start compressions, and send someone in search of an external defibrillator. These devices are becoming available in almost every public space and are relatively easy to use.

Don't be shy

The AHA also says don’t be gentle with the compressions. Many people think they will hurt the victim if they are to forceful with compressions but trust me, that victim will trade a broken rib for a shot at living every time.

Compressions should be about 2 inches deep and done at a rate of 100 per minute. This is not an easy physical task. When doing the compressions be sure not to lean on the chest. You have to allow the chest to rise all the way between compressions to allow the heart’s chamber to fill with blood.

Making this crucial first aid technique easy for anyone to do increases the odds that someone will actually do it. The first few minutes after a heart attack are critical. If the brain and heart can both receive a supply of oxygenated blood then the risk to those organs is reduced.

Now let’s just hope the AHA gets the word out on these new CPR guidelines so more people will be willing to help when it is needed.

My Favorite Christmas Gifts

2010-12-17T14:14:00.000-08:00

OK so this isn't about lowering blood pressure it's about the Holiday season and giving gifts to family and friends. I'm a terrible procrastinator and I wait until the last moment to do the shopping but thanks to my best fried forever, Amazon.com I can have slovenly shopping habits and still get the present delivered before the 25th.

My sister is a Parrot Head so anything Jimmy Buffet is great. Mom lives in Naples, FL where they are freezing their butts off so she'll have plenty of time to spend indoors reading Grisham's Ford County: Stories, a collection of non-lawyer tales that only Grisham could have written. And then there are my in laws in KC who are dyed in the wool Johnny Cash fans so I'll pick a little something out for them as well.

And for me...Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software.

This post is an unadulterated plug for Amazon. It's fast, cheap and it delivers what my family wants.

Wishing you all a joyous Holiday season.

_Rachel

Lower Blood Pressure Fast - The Lazy Man's Exercise For Health

2010-09-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

If you want to lower blood pressure fast then you have to include an exercise routine in your daily life. Now before you tune out at the word “exercise” let’s examine what that really means and how you can benefit.

It’s a fact that exercise is the fastest way known to reduce high blood pressure. Fast is defined as immediately after you cool down from the exercise. Normally your doctor will advise you to get in 30 minutes of daily aerobic exercise like walking or biking and that brings up images of your not so svelte self in ugly sweats huffing and puffing away.

What nobody seems to want to tell you is that the 30 minutes doesn’t have to be continuous and it doesn’t mean you have to wear sweats. Studies have proven that exercise has a cumulative affect on blood pressure which translates into you simply having to be more active in the day than you currently are.

Examples of being more active without really “exercising” are:

Treat yourself to a trip to the mall a couple of times a week. Park further away than you normally would and then spend an hour window shopping.
Working in your garden pulling weeds or pruning or simply digging around is also an easy, enjoyable exercise that does your heart good and also reduces stress
Park further away from work each morning, or if you park in a garage, use the steps and not the elevator to get to the lobby.
Find a place to eat lunch that is at least a ten minute walk from work. That translates into 20 minutes round trip. Coupled with your walk to your car, you’ve got your 30 minutes of exercise without even thinking about it.
Who knew housework was good for your heart. Vacuuming and anything that involves scrubbing (ughh) counts towards your exercise.
Dance like nobody is watching. Put on your favorite music and shake your thing. Knocks off points from your blood pressure reading and does wonders for lowering stress.

So what do you get for doing these non-exercising exercises?

· A stronger heart muscle that doesn’t require as much pressure to completely and efficiently pump blood out of the chamber thereby reducing the risk of congestive heart failure.

· Blood vessels that are actually trained to expand and contract to efficiently pass blood with minimal pressure required. Even hardened vessels can benefit from the blood pushed through by exercises.

· Reduced levels of adrenalin in the system. Exercise is the fastest way to burn off this heart racing chemical caused by stress.

· More efficient lung function. Lungs, use ‘em or lose ‘em.

Lowering blood pressure fast through exercise is not a difficult or painful task. Just rethink the way you view physical activity and keep your life as active as you can. Your heart will thank you for it.

Home Blood Pressure Readings

2010-07-21T12:28:00.000-07:00

If you’re trying to lower blood pressure naturally, how can you tell if it’s working? Being able to monitor your blood pressure at home is essential for a number of reasons not the least of which is to keep you motivated and focused on the healthy changes you are making in your diet and exercise routines.

Home blood pressure readings will allow you to keep track of your progress and reinforce your commitment to do what you have to do to get your pressure back in control. If you are intimidated by the idea of taking your own blood pressure then you haven’t been exposed to the new automatic digital blood pressure monitors that are available. These devices are accurate and incredibly easy to use.

With most bp monitors all you really have to do is push a start button and the rest is done automatically. You don’t have to worry about over or under inflating the cuff, deflating the cuff too fast or trying to follow the bouncing ball of mercury on the gauge. Digital monitors will automatically inflate and deflate the cuff and the reading for both systolic and diastolic pressure, along with your heart rate, will appear on the screen.

While the actual reading is quick and automatic, there are some things that you need to take into consideration before you do the actual reading:

Try to take the blood pressure reading at the same time each day.

Wait at least 30 minutes after any physical exercise before you do a reading.

Avoid smoking, caffeine, alcohol or excessive consumption of water at least 30 minutes before testing as these items can temporarily raise your pressure.

It’s best if you don’t have a full bladder when you test.

Overview of testing instructions

While each brand of monitor may vary somewhat, the following instructions from the best selling Omron blood pressure monitor is pretty typical for all of the monitors.

Find a quiet relaxing space to conduct the test.

Sit upright in a straight back chair with your feet flat on the floor and your ankles uncrossed.

Pull your sleeve up over your left elbow and make sure there is enough room for the cuff.

Place your left arm on a table ensuring that your elbow is at the same level as your heart.

Locate the artery located on the inside of your elbow.

Place the green pointer on the cuff over the artery about a half inch above the elbow. Use the Velcro to fasten the cuff.

When you’re ready, push the start button.

The cuff will inflate to the proper pressure and then deflate.

When the reading is done the monitor screen will display the numbers and the test is over.

It’s simple and easy and an absolute must in your efforts to lower blood pressure. These bp monitors run from $40 to $100 which is a small investment compared to their value.

Every Day You Put Off Treating Your High Blood Pressure Is One Day Closer To Disaster

2010-07-01T08:11:00.000-07:00

Ignoring high blood pressure doesn't make it go away. If you don't treat it, it will treat you with a nasty surprise. After all...It's Just A Question Of Time!

Take Action Today

Lower Your Pressure 20 points In 3 Weeks

Nearly 70 million Americans have high blood pressure. It's an endemic in this country that costs billions of dollars in medical expenses and lost time and claims at least 50,000 lives directly. Fully one third of the people who know they have this condition are doing nothing about treating high blood pressure.And the sad fact is it is totally preventable and reversible. It doesn't take drugs, although that's the convenient way, all it takes is a change in lifestyle.

Diet, exercise and stress are probably the major causes of HBP but they are also the principal means of curing it. It takes a little effort but isn't the result worth it. Get your systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings back to normal without drugs and the dangerous side effects they can have. It can be done, you can do it. Treating high blood pressure should be at the top of your list of things to do. Without your health, what else do you have and what can you do for others in your life? Do it now!

Discover how you can lower your blood pressure to 110/80, WITHOUT using harmful drugs and NO side-effects. It’s proven, effective and safe. Click here and get your life back starting today

Lower Blood Pressure Naturally - An Easy Plan For The Beginner

2010-06-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

Do you really have a plan to lower blood pressure naturally or is it just one of those ideas you have every morning while you are popping your blood pressure pills? Is a natural cure just one of those things that you keep in the back of your mind as an alternative solution if the side effects from the meds get any worse? In other words, does the fact that there is a drug free solution for hypertension available if you need it, become the rationalization for continuing to put chemicals in your body?

You probably already know that the American Heart Association recommends lifestyle changes over medication for the treatment of high blood pressure and that the National Institutes of Health and dozens of other respected organizations agree. But your doctor put you on these pills and he should know what’s best right?

So why has your prescription been changed so many times. Maybe at first it was just a diuretic but now it also includes one or two other medications doesn’t it? That’s because there is no one size fits all pharmaceutical solution. That’s why the therapy appears to be hit and miss and trial and error. That’s why the severity and frequency of your side effects vary.

Isn’t it time to get honest about why you are trusting the meds to keep your condition in control? Pills are easy and convenient. Taking a pill requires no more effort than filling up a glass of water. You are locked into a lifetime of medication and side effects because it is effortless.

Okay if that little rant didn’t make you feel at least a little guilty about not taking responsibility for your health then you might as well close out this article because there is no helping you.

There is no “instant” natural fix that will cure your hypertension but there are ways to lower your pressure fairly rapidly that will not only lift the risks of heart attack and stroke, but improve your overall health and self confidence as well. In other words you can start over and you can have your old healthy self back.

But it takes a plan.

Not only does it take a plan, it requires commitment to work the plan. With that in mind, set weekly goals that you can actually achieve and that will yield real results (lowered blood pressure readings). Here are a few ideas.

Blood Pressure Monitor

Absolutely invest in a blood pressure monitor and learn how to use it to get accurate readings. What’s the point of doing anything else if you don’t know what progress you are making. You’ll want to use this device to check your pressure daily. You can pick one up on Amazon.com for $40 to $60 and it will be one of the best investments you ever made.

Don’t Quit The Medication

Even when you see marked improvement in your pressure do not stop taking your medication without your doctor’s okay. Some types of blood pressure meds have severe side effects if you quit them cold turkey. Don’t get the idea that this natural approach that you are taking excludes advice from your physician. Keep him or her as part of your team.

Set A Schedule

Reducing your schedule to paper or an Excel spreadsheet does a couple of things. Firstly it obviously sets out the goals you want to achieve but it also engages you in the process. By physically recording each item you keep the progress in the forefront of your mind so it becomes easier to make healthier choices.

Your schedule at the very least should have five sections, blood pressure reading, daily goals, exercise, meals and sleep. As you progress down this path to a healthier you can get more detailed but in the beginning keep it simple.

For each day you want to have a blood pressure reading. Try to do this at the same time of day each day as that will be the best bet for an accurate comparison. Having said that, understand that pressure can vary significantly hour to hour.

Next under exercise set a start time, end time, total minutes, daily goal and percentage of goal achieved.

Diet is a huge part of correcting the condition. If you are like most Americans you eat out once or twice daily. Restaurant food and fast food is saturated with salt and fat. The goal in the beginning weeks would be to replace a restraint meal at least three times a week with a healthy meal from home. So under Meals you would have breakfast, lunch and dinner and indicate if it was “in” (from home) or “out” and what the goal was for that day.

Stress is a huge contributor to high pressure and the best way to get rid of it is through exercise. However sleep is the second best way and most Americans can’t seem to get more than 6 hours a night. Try to get at least 7 hours to better let your body process the adrenalin that daily stress produces. So simply indicate the time you go to bed and the time you rise and total hours versus goal.

That’s the basics of a plan to lower blood pressure naturally. The one other thing you must do is Google DASH diet and get a list of all the heart healthy foods that the American Heart Association recommends. Use these recommendations to build a solid heart friendly diet in your home meals.

Discover how you can lower your blood pressure to 110/80, WITHOUT using harmful drugs and NO side-effects. It’s proven, effective and safe. Click here and get your life back starting today

Natural Way To Lower Blood Pressure And Lessen The Risk Of Stroke

2010-06-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

Are you tired of taking that daily pill or two or three to control your blood pressure? Are you sick of the side effects or worrying about potential side effects? Are you looking for a natural way to lower blood pressure? Well you can you know.

Yet another study has been done, this one on the leading causes of stroke, naming high blood pressure as the number one cause of both ischemic (blocked blood vessel in the brain) and hemorrhagic (burst vessel in the brain) stroke. The INTERSTROKE study found that high pressure coupled with obesity, smoking, diet and lack of physical exercise accounted for 80% of all strokes.

Not surprisingly, the study went on to say that these risks can be modified naturally.

How many studies do there have to be before physicians start prescribing changes in diet and lifestyle rather than writing out a chit for the latest and greatest drug that the pharmaceutical representative told him about over lunch last week?

But it's not all the doctor's fault is it. If you don't use blood pressure medication then you have to take action. If you don't pop a pill every day you are going to have to make affirmative changes in what you eat, what you drink, the amount of exercise you get and the amount of stress management techniques you have to use. In other words you have to take responsibility for your health and that's not always a convenient thing to do.

If you are serious about a natural way to lower blood pressure then you have to be serious about making changes in your lifestyle. Let's start with easiest and fastest way to lower your pressure.

Exercise

Thirty minutes a day, and it doesn't have to be all at once, of moderate aerobic exercise like walking or cycling can lower your pressure by up to 4 points immediately. How tough is that? A ten minute walk in the morning, a ten minute walk at lunch and a ten minute walk when you come home. Not only will you lower pressure but eventually you will knock off pounds as well.

Diet

You don't have to become a food Nazi. You can break into a healthier diet gradually by setting up easy to achieve weekly goals. Restaurant food is absolutely loaded with salt and even the healthy sounding dishes like chicken are often times saturated with fat. Make it a goal to replace one fast food meal a week with something healthy from home. Google DASH diet and you'll get a huge list of tasty heart healthy dishes.

Hydrate

Being fully hydrated is a problem for most Americans. The condition get's worse in the summertime particularly if you spend all day in an office where the air conditioning is constantly sucking out the humidity from the air. We breathe in dry air and the moisture in our body evaporates. Water plays an important role in almost all of our systems. With blood pressure, water encourages elasticity of the vessels allowing them to handle pressure more efficiently and it flushes out sodium.

You should be drinking half your body weight, expressed in ounces, of water each day. If you weigh 150 pounds you should be drinking 75 ounces of water.

There are literally hundreds of ways to naturally lower blood pressure including some methods that are remarkably fast. If you want to get off the meds then do your homework, make a plan, and then commit.

Tired of Living With High Blood Pressure?

Interested? Click here.

Walk Your Way To Lower Blood Pressure

2010-06-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

The absolute fastest way to lower blood pressure is to strap on a pair of sneakers and go for a walk. When I say fast I mean your systolic pressure will drop up to 4 points and your diastolic blood pressure will go down 2 points immediately after you cool off from your walk.

It's not rocket science. Doing 30 minutes of mild (and mild is a relative term) aerobic exercise like walking or biking each day can give you immediate lower blood pressure. What's mild for a 150 pound person may be arduous for a 250 pounder so when I say mild I mean mild for the condition you are in. In fact those with the highest blood pressure will see the biggest drop and that's normally (not always) the guy who is carrying around that spare tire.

Aerobic exercise works in a couple of ways. While you are actually walking your pressure will go up. That's because you are exercising the most important muscle in your body, your heart. You are toning it up and making it a more efficient pump so it will take less effort to pump in the future.

Your heart isn't the only thing getting a work out. Your arteries will expand somewhat even if they have stiffened thanks to hypertension. This expansion is like stretching before a race. It provides some additional elasticity which in the long haul also impacts on efficient delivery of blood and lowers pressure.

Then there's stress. We live with it daily and it pollutes our body with adrenalin. Walking is one of the best ways to burn that product up and replace it with the natural high of endorphins. When you feel better you are better.

Is lowering your high blood pressure worth a 30 minute investment in time? Or would you rather just pop a pill, feel like crap and know this is the way life is going to be until you die.

Causes of High Blood Pressure - Salt

2010-05-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

Yes salt is part of the diet problem but it is so pervasive that I feel it belongs as a category by itself. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for sodium is 3,000 milliliters and Americans on average consume twice that much each day. Salt plays an important role along with potassium in controlling the fluid levels in our body. When there is too much salt too much fluid is retained increasing the volume of blood and placing strain on the kidneys and liver.

The downside and dangers of salt are widely known yet that does not stop food producers or restaurants from drowning the food they offer with sodium. Salt has been used as a preservative for centuries, adds flavor and is relatively cheap so it’s a natural for processed foods. One very popular “sit down” restaurant chain offers an appetizer that has nearly two days worth of salt in it. Salt is everywhere and it would take an eagle eyed consumer to find it on packaging and of course there is no “packaging” on a restaurant menu.

The causes of high blood pressure can be addressed and the good news is that every little bit you do reduces your pressure. You don’t have to jump in with both feet just create doable daily goals and go for it.

Causes of High Blood Pressure - Obesity

2010-05-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

Each of the "causes" of high blood pressure can easily be reversed engineered to become a cure. The good news is that even if you just make a little change in your life you'll most likely see a reduction in blood pressure. Let's take a look at one that affects many of us.

Obesity

Not surprisingly, if we eat junk and then don’t exercise we get fat. Some of us get really fat. How does obesity affect blood pressure? Well all that excess real estate that you are carrying around your middle needs to be fed. The blood vessel system is not finite; it grows to fit the body as its function is to provide oxygen and nutrients to all the cells. That means you have increased the size of the system and the heart will have to work harder to pump to all parts of your body.

Then there is the obvious problem of the additional weight on the vessels and the heart itself. Pressure applied to the system when you lay down, or sit, or simply stand increases the pressure on the system. Think about what happens when you step on a hose. That’s what’s happening to your blood vessels when you expose them to the extra weight that comes with obesity.

Oh, and there’s this little problem called diabetes that is likely to complicate matters as well.

Losing weight or at least trying to lose weight is a ongoing battle for may of us. There is no magic bullet, no magic pill, no magic fad diet. You have to either take in fewer calories, burn more calories than you take in, or a combination of the two. That is the only way to lose pounds permanently.

Check out the blog roll on the right for more Causes Of High Blood Pressure

Causes of High Blood Pressure - Stress

2010-05-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

Each of the "causes" of high blood pressure can easily be reversed engineered to become a cure. The good news is that even if you just make a little change in your life you'll most likely see a reduction in blood pressure. Let's take a look at one that affects us all.

Stress

Stress is really a product of the fight or flight response that each of us has in our body. When we perceive a threat or danger this response kicks in and produces adrenalin and other chemicals. In addition it constricts blood vessels to get blood faster to the muscles. Obviously we need this response if we are faced with a real danger.

However, today’s danger is more likely to be non-physical. We perceive stress at work, or a relationship, or finances or family as a threat and our bodies are at a continual low grade flight or fight response. The fact that we don’t exercise, which is the fastest way to turn off the response, only aggravates the problem. That coupled with the fact that most Americans don’t get sufficient sleep makes stress an everyday cause of high blood pressure.

To counter the affects of stress, get a little aerobic exercise each day to burn off the affects of the fight or flight response. Do a little research and learn deep breathing exercises and perform those before retiring for the night. If you can add an hour of sleep you are giving your body an extra hour to flush out the stress.

Check out the blog roll on the right for more Causes of High Blood Pressure

Top 5 Causes Of High Blood Pressure - Diet

2010-05-26T17:01:00.000-07:00

Actually that title is a bit misleading because there is no empirical proof of what causes high blood pressure but these five "characteristics" are common among people with the condition. There are always exceptions to the rule but I think you'll find these interesting.

If you ask me it all started to go downhill with the TV dinner. That convenient tinfoil tray that you just popped into the oven to warm up and then serve to the family on those equally convenient TV trays so you could sit on your butt and watch the tube. Mom's were more and more in the workplace in the 50's and a convenient time saving way to make dinner was a pretty popular idea. As bad as those processed foods were they weren't as bad as they are today.

We've gotten away from eating the fresh food that our body is designed to consume and we've gotten away from it in the name of convenience. We can freeze processed foods, we can microwave them and we can refrigerate them. They save us time in the kitchen and they save us from having to go to the grocers every two or three days for fresh food.

But at what cost. The problem with processed foods is what we both get and don't get from them.

What we get is a ton of sodium because it makes an excellent preservative and adds flavor. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for sodium is 3000 milligrams and the typical American consumes twice that amount each day. Sodium retains fluid in the body therefore creating more blood volume. Where the heart and the blood vessels had to pump "X" volume of blood, thanks to sodium that amount is increased creating a higher pressure in the arteries and creating greater stress on the heart.

It's not surprising that diuretics are the drugs of choice for early treatment of hypertension. The idea is to flush the salt out with the fluids. Unfortunately those diuretics flush other stuff like potassium that we need.

So we get a ton of salt but we may also be getting a ton of saturated fat as well and that is not doing our cholesterol levels any good. Processed foods are designed as marketing events rather than as nutrition. Can there be any other explanation for chocolate cereal other than kids will demand it?

Equally bad is what we don't get in processed foods and that the antioxidants, minerals, vitamins and fiber that our bodies need to function effectively. Vegetables for example, lose their nutritional value shortly after they are harvested. If you take those freshly harvested green beans and send them to the cannery where they will be packed in preservatives, food dye and sodium, you have lost most of the nutritional value.

The same goes for some of the best sources of antioxidants which can slow down and break up plaque in the arteries. When those blueberries hit the canning facility and are packed with dye and enough sugar to make a kid crawl the walls, you lose the real value of the fruit because you have to consume the bad stuff to get the good stuff.

So we don't eat fresh which means we don't get the fuel we need. It's like running a car designed for unleaded gas on leaded gas. It will run for a while but then it will start pinging and then stop running altogether. That's what we're doing to ourselves.

But we don't have to. Switching to fresh is not all that difficult and even if you make small changes it will impact your blood pressure. Check out the AHA's DASH diet for the details.

Tired of Living With High Blood Pressure?

Over the past 12 months 124 people have purchased this report on lowering blood pressure naturally. Only 2 have returned it for a full refund. That tells me that 124 people are now enjoying a better quality of life and they’re doing it with no drugs or fewer drugs.

Interested? Click here.

Top 5 Causes Of High Blood Pressure - Lack Of Exercise

2010-05-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

Actually that title is a bit misleading because there is no empirical proof of what causes high blood pressure but these five "characteristics" are common among people with the condition. There are always exceptions to the rule but I think you'll find these interesting.

For most of the 50 million Americans who have high blood pressure or secondary hypertension, their condition was preventable. Our body is no different from any other machine. It needs the right fuel and the right maintenance if it is to perform the way it is designed to. If you never change the oil in your car at some point the engine is going to seize up. If you never change the bag in your vacuum cleaner at some point it will stop sucking up dirt. If you don't exercise your body and mind, if you don't get it the proper fuel, it's going to malfunction.

Top 5 Causes Of High Blood Pressure (in no particular order)

Lack of Exercise

As recently as 50 years ago most Americans held jobs that required physical exertion. Couple that with the lack of modern day appliances to "make life easier" and you had a group of people who were exercising almost all of their body almost every day. That just isn't true today.

Your heart is a muscle just like the muscle in your legs, arms and abdomen. What happens when you don't work out those muscles? They lose tone and strength. Check out your belly to see what I mean. Sitting is not exercising the heart. If the heart muscle loses tone it has to work harder to pump blood. It has to work even harder if the pipe that it is pumping into (the blood vessel system) is constricted, stiff and partially blocked.

And those blood vessels are supposed to be elastic. They are supposed to be able to relax and constrict so they can help the heart pump efficiently. It's bad enough that we clog them up with plaque and stiffen them with salt, if we don't exercise them, stretch them out as it were, they most certainly won't do the job as they were designed to.

And that's just where most Americans are today. Failure to exercise the cardiovascular system weakens the organ and system that are responsible for distributing the life giving blood. Lack of exercise contributes to the overall condition of high blood pressure. It's a vicious circle too. The less you exercise the less energy you have and the less motivated you are to exercise.

A lousy 30 minutes of brisk walking each day can immediately lower blood pressure up to 4 points and start the rehabilitation and toning up of the entire cardiovascular system.

So lack of exercise is one of the causes of high blood pressure. Now stop reading and start walking.

Editor's Note: If I listed all 5 in one post it would be a book. I'm going to break it into five sections to make it easier for you to digest.

Cayenne Pepper and Lower Blood Pressure

2010-05-24T02:23:00.000-07:00

Cayenne pepper has been used for centuries as a medicinal herb and pain reliever and now there is evidence that this versatile plant can also help you lower your blood pressure. The compound that makes the “hot” in this hot pepper is called capsaicin and studies have definitively shown that this material reduces atherosclerosis which often leads to hypertension. Adding some cayenne to your daily diet will not only help your blood pressure but aids in your digestive system as well.

Cayenne pepper isn’t the only natural source of blood pressure control by a long shot. The list of foods and minerals that have a positive effect on lowering pressure is a long one. Listed below are just a few and a quick description as to why. If you’re a big fan of Mediterranean food you’ll recognize a number of staples for that diet. In fact researchers believe that it is the consumption of these foods that have resulted in that region having one of the lowest rates of high blood pressure in the world.

Garlic
Garlic has a medicinal history dating back to the early Greeks and folklore has attributed it with miraculous healing powers for all kinds of ailments. Much of that lore can actually be proven with scientific fact. As it pertains to hypertension garlic is particularly effective in lowering diastolic pressure. One study showed that people who ate a single clove a day for 12 weeks significantly reduced their diastolic pressure and their cholesterol levels. However if you are already on a blood thinner you want to check with your doctor before increasing your garlic intake.

Of course garlic is also a great vampire repellant.

Apple Juice
Drinking 12 ounces of apple juice daily can have a significant impact on your cholesterol. Apple juice greatly reduces the oxidation of LDL (bad cholesterol) which aids in the reduction of plaque in the artery walls. If you want to really turn up the heat, try a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar mixed in 8 ounces of water each day. While there is no official study to confirm this, anecdotal evidence claims a 20 point reduction in systolic pressure after only three days.

Saffron
This spice which is widely used in Spain contains the chemical crocetin which is a proven blood pressure reducer. Spain has one of the lowest rates of hypertension in the world.

Magnesium
This mineral relaxes the blood vessels reducing pressure and has the added benefit of helping weight loss by assisting in the conversion of food to energy. Magnesium can be found in abundant supply in almonds, cashews, rice, fish, bananas and most green vegetables.

The list of foods that lower blood pressure is a long one and with a little research you can design a diet that fits your tastes. Diet plays an enormous role in developing high blood pressure but it plays an equally big part in reducing it.

A solid diet coupled with moderate aerobic exercise can bring your pressure back to normal and lift the threat of heart attack, stroke, blindness or kidney failure. For more great foods check out the American Heart Association approved DASH DIET

Foods To Lower Blood Pressure - If You Have To Eat Red Meat

2010-05-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

If you're trying to lower your blood pressure you know you have to watch what you eat. Food plays a huge role in both increasing and lowering blood pressure.

You probably already know that you want to avoid salt. Red meat has always been on the bad food list as well but let's get real for a moment. If you eat beef, just how are you supposed to stop? It's almost as bad as trying to stop smoking. Well the answer is you probably won't stop chowing down on burgers and steaks. But if you must have your red meat, make it fresh.

A recent study concluded that people who have a regular diet of processed meats have on average a 40% higher count of bad cholesterol. Processed meats like bacon, lunch meats, chili in a can and even tuna if it's packed in oil, all have a higher cholesterol count than unpreserved or fresh meat.

The lesson to take away is to make your own "lunch meats" from the roasts and steaks and hams you buy fresh. Think about that not only for yourself but think about it the next time you're making lunch for the kids. Oscar Meyer might drive a neat hot dog car but his hot dogs are not doing your blood pressure any favors.

Eat fresh, reduce the amount of food that you eat out (restaurants are notorious for their use of salt and fat) and cut out processed meat. Lowering blood pressure through the food you eat is a cumulative thing. Even little changes in your eating patterns will help reduce your blood pressure readings.

White Coat Hypertension - It's Not As Harmless As You Think

2010-05-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

If you are one of those people who get overly anxious when visiting your doctor and your blood pressure is above 140/80 at the doctor’s office but normal at home you may have white coat hypertension. For a long time the party line was that this was a harmless false positive blood pressure reading and nothing to worry about.

Well that may be about to change.

The Archives of Internal Medicine conducted an eight year study of 800 people including 128 who had white coat hypertension. At the end of the study 20% of the “normal” subjects progressed to stage 1 hypertension or higher while a whopping 47% of the white coat sufferers did the same.

There is no scientific evidence to show why this occurred. Speculation is that the white coat hypertension group simply is more susceptible to stress and that their blood pressure becomes elevated easier than others. If this is true, then those with the condition should be viewed at higher risk for developing hypertension and treated accordingly.

If you find yourself in this group then it’s time to do some serious thinking about changing the way you live. If you find yourself stressed out easily that means you probably are exposing your blood vessels to sustained high pressure and that’s not good is it?

You already know that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and in this instance we could very well be talking about preventing a serious if not fatal event like a heart attack, congestive heart failure, blindness or stroke. There are some fairly easy steps you can take to prevent the onset of high blood pressure.

If stress is the problem then you need to know what it is, how it hurts you and what you can do to treat it. In today’s world stress is simply a modified fight or flight response. We needed this response back in the day when animals were hunting us rather than the other way around. Today however, the response is most likely triggered by perceived threats like loss of job, financial problems or family problems rather than a real physical threat.

The body doesn’t know the difference and will flood your system with adrenalin to get the heart beating faster and the lungs pumping harder. The body simply can not survive a sustained level of the response. The response ids designed to shut down when the threat is over. Unfortunately for some people, the perceived threat is never over so the hormones and other chemicals are continuously pumped into the body.

So how do you fix that? The fastest way to burn off the adrenalin is through exercise. Thirty minutes a day of mild aerobic exercise like walking or biking will rid the system of the adrenalin not to mention exercise your heart muscle and increase elasticity of the blood vessels.

Meditation or deep breathing exercises are also a way to turn off the brain’s “threat signal” and stop the fight or flight response.

Combine meditation and exercise and it will lead to the natural stress reliever we call sleep. Most Americans get less than 6 hours a night and that is a huge contributor to stress. Getting a good night’s sleep turns off the brain’s signal and gives the body 7 to 8 hours to purge itself of the negative effects of stress.

There is so much more you can do but the important thing to take away is just because you have white coat hypertension does not mean you are not susceptible to developing high blood pressure.

High Blood Pressure Natural Remedies

2010-05-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

High blood pressure natural remedies can be as simple as just doing your chores. You probably already know that you are going to have to change your life style but you probably didn’t know that it doesn’t have to be as daunting as most imagine. If you are looking for simple everyday natural remedies for high blood pressure you really don’t have to look much your dusty car and your dirty windows.

Exercise is the fastest way to lower blood pressure. Now when you think of exercise you’re probably thinking sweat suits, smelly sneakers and a lot of work right? Well according to a University of Indiana study, simply staying active around the house can lower systolic pressure by up to 13 points.

Where would that put your blood pressure reading?

The idea is to burn 150 calories daily. Washing your car yourself rather than paying the car wash, firing the kid who does your lawn and mowing the grass yourself, daily vacuuming and even doing the dishes all count towards that 150 calorie goal and a lower blood pressure. The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes a day of mild aerobic exercise but what most people don’t understand is that lower pressure benefit can be obtained even if the 30 minutes is not done all at the same time.

What that means is that household chores, walking to a lunch spot, taking the stairs rather than the elevator, all contribute to that 30 minute goal. Now there are obvious advantages to doing the 30 minutes all at the same time and the biggest is weight loss. In order to burn fat the “furnace” has to be primed by burning the fat that is already in the blood stream before you tap into stored fat. A brisk walk for 15 minutes will burn existing fat and then start drawing on that extra stuff you carry around for the balance of the walk.

Aerobic exercise, and face it that’s what washing and waxing your car is, not only strengthens the heart muscle but it also improves the elasticity of your blood vessels. Both of these are vital to lowering pressure. And now you know it doesn’t have to be a big deal. You don’t have to join a gym, you don’t have to kill your knees jogging, you simply have to get off your duff and do your chores.

The two reasons that most Americans run the risk of experiencing some really nasty side effects that are associated with blood pressure medication are ignorance and convenience. Ignorance in the sense they don’t question their doctor when they prescribe medication, you should always ask if there is an alternative; and convenience in that it’s easier to pop a pill than to live healthier.

If you’ve decided to take responsibility for your own health good for you. With a little research you’ll find that it really isn’t all that difficult and it is certainly cheaper to practice high blood pressure natural remedies.

Diuretics For High Blood Pressure

2010-04-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

Diuretics for high blood pressure are the most common and perhaps the most effective hypertension medication available. A thiazide diuretic not only flushes out sodium, dilates the blood vessels and relaxes the heart, but it’s easy on the wallet as well with an annual cost of roughly $35.00.

So when’s the last time you saw a commercial on TV or an ad on the internet or in print media for a diuretic? My guess is that you haven’t. What you have seen are ads for calcium channel blockers like Norvasc or ACE inhibitors like Prinivil or Zestril. Why is that?

Well if you are a pharmaceutical company, which product would you want to promote? The $35.00 diuretic that might do the job by itself or the more specific purpose drugs that can cost up to 20 times the annual cost of the water pill? That’s right it’s about profit not performance.

In a study done by Wake Forest University it was determined that the diuretic is the preferred medication for high blood pressure for three reasons. Diuretics provide better control of hypertension, reduces the side effects of hypertension particularly heart failure, and costs 80% to 90% less than other medications. The “water pill” is well tolerated by most patients and does not come with the serious side effects that are associated with the other types of blood pressure medication.

So if you are currently on high blood pressure medication and the mix of drugs does not include a diuretic, you may want to ask your doctor why. Adding the water pill can reduce the dosage required of the other more side effect prone drugs and reduce your overall cost for medicine as well.

Don’t let your high blood pressure be managed by a pharmaceutical sales representative’s relationship with your doctor. It’s your body and you have every right to know why you are taking the drugs you are when there are cheaper and safer medications available.

Natural Way To Lower Blood Pressure Quickly

2010-04-22T16:16:00.000-07:00

How to lower blood pressure quickly is always a popular subject. I found this article on the web on how to naturally lower blood pressure quickly and I thought it was worth sharing. Enjoy.

Natural Ways to Lower High Blood Pressure Quickly and Easily

By Teresa Tackett

If you suffer from hypertension, there are many natural ways to lower high blood pressure without prescription medications. Unfortunately, many people just go to the doctor and take drugs for these types of conditions. If people knew the dangers of many of these drugs, they would make a bigger effort to improve their health using natural means.

Prescription drugs often have dangerous side effects and can even be detrimental to your health. Beta blockers and many other drugs given for hypertension just mask the problem, instead of correcting it. Below, you will find a few natural ways to lower your high blood pressure, which will likely improve your overall health as well.

1. Quit smoking! If you are a smoker, you already know that it's bad for your health. Smoking raises your blood pressure, not to mention all of the other bad things it does to your body.

2. Add foods that are high in magnesium and potassium. Baked potatoes, bananas, broccoli and other fresh vegetables and fruits are great for reducing hypertension.

3. Do a little exercise - it won't kill you! As little as 15 or 20 minutes of exercise 3 times per week has dramatic health benefits. Walking, yoga and pilates are all great exercises that also reduce stress.

4. Speaking of stress, reduce it! If your life is filled with stress, you are impacting your blood pressure in a negative way. Practice deep breathing and other relaxation exercises, and try to remove the source of stress if possible.

These are just a few of the many natural ways you can reduce high blood pressure. You may not realize it, but implementing good practices in to your daily life can reduce hypertension fairly quickly.
You already know that you should avoid excessive amounts of salt and fatty processed foods. Some people find that reducing caffeine also seems to help. There are special drinks you can blend right in your own home that have a powerful and healthy effect as well!

Consider natural methods if you suffer from hypertension and want to avoid the health risks and side effects of prescription drugs. Hypertension and high cholesterol often go hand in hand, but you will be surprised at how these other conditions improve on their own when you choose natural ways of lowering your high blood pressure! Learn more, and add years to your life - begin improving your health NOW
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Ready to learn more about how you can lower blood pressure naturally? Find out more about safe, effective ways to reduce hypertension at Natural Blood Pressure Remedies.

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Lower Blood Pressure - Kick The Salt And Spice Up Your Life

2010-04-09T15:54:00.000-07:00

The first high blood pressure medicine that is normally prescribed by a doctor for stage 1 hypertension is a diuretic. The reason for that is to flush excess fluids from your body, specifically from the volume of blood in your blood vessels, and to flush out sodium as well. Sodium, or salt, is a major culprit in the development of high blood pressure and it’s a part of our Western diets that’s killing us.

Salt is essential for good health. But for sodium to do its job, we only need to consume about 500 milligrams a day. Would it surprise you to learn that a single appetizer at a major chain restaurant has over 3,000 milligrams of sodium? And that’s just the start. The FDA says our daily allowance for salt should be 2,400 milligrams (but we only need 500?) and the real challenge is to stay at that level or lower.

Table use and use in cooking amounts to about 12% of our total salt intake. What if you could knock that down to zero by substituting non-salt ingredients? Well not only would you be doing your high blood pressure a favor, your taste buds will start jumping for joy as well.

Salt is an acquired taste. That means we can unacquire it and learn to enjoy something else. Spicing up food can be a great way to cut sodium and add a little adventure to your meals. Give these ideas a shot when you make your next meal:

Beef: Try using bay leaf, thyme, sage, marjoram, pepper and minced onion.

Chicken: Add a little zest with oregano, paprika, garlic, marjoram, and ginger.

Pork: Garlic, oregano, white pepper, sage, and onion.

Here are a few suggestions for veggies that traditionally get salt dumped on them:

Corn: Curry powder, cumin, paprika and minced onion.

Potatoes: Garlic, dill, parsley and sage.

Tomatoes: Oregano, parsley, marjoram, basil, dill and black pepper.

If you don’t want to be adventurous in your own salt reducing concoctions, then get a recipe book full of Mediterranean dishes. High blood pressure is almost nonexistent in these cultures thanks to their low salt, low fat, fresh food diet. And it tastes sooo good too!

Cut your salt intake to below 2,400 milligrams and watch your blood pressure go down. Lower the salt and lower the pressure.

High Blood Pressure Foods To Avoid

2010-04-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

We’ve known for a long time that there is a strong connection between high blood pressure and the food we eat. Diet is important in controlling high blood pressure and hypertension but it’s often difficult to determine what food is good for us and what isn’t. What makes it double tough to identify high blood pressure foods to avoid is our habit of eating 50% of our meals out. Read on and you’re going to discover that those “healthy” restaurant meals are really marketing ploys designed to increase sales.

Chicken. That great lean, low in fat, nearly salt free food that has been touted for years as a great way to lower cholesterol and lose weight, both of which are important in controlling blood pressure. We must have bought into that because we have increased the amount of chicken we consume 300% over the past 40 years and now consume nearly 60 pounds of chicken per person each year. Of course now we skin it and wouldn’t think about frying it but a nice baked, grilled or broiled chicken is a meat dish of choice for millions.

And the restaurants know that. They also know that the typical American thinks “healthy” when they think chicken. Forty years ago you couldn’t find two chicken dishes on a menu, today you’ll find a section devoted to chicken. Chicken sells. But let’s take a look at what they are selling us.

Keep in mind that the recommended daily allowances are 2,000 calories, 3,000 milligrams of sodium and 65 grams of fat.

Look at what these brand name restaurant chains are selling us.

Chili’s, a favorite for so many prefaces its list of sandwiches with this:

“Your craving ends with our HAND-CRAFTED sandwiches. Served with hot homestyle fries. GG = Guiltless Grill choices for your healthy lifestyle are featured on HealthyDiningFinder.com and meet HEALTHY DINING's nutrition criteria: not more than 750 calories, 25 grams fat, and 8 grams saturated fat.”

Right under that little blurb is a picture of the Buffalo Chicken Ranch sandwich which contains 1560 calories (you’ve got 440 left for the day) 4010 milligrams of salt (sorry you’re into tomorrow’s allowance) and 86 grams of fat (can you feel your pressure going up).

At least Chili’s is offering a full meal for the price of all those calories, fat and salt. Outback Steakhouse on the other hand, wants you to use up your entire daily allowance on an appetizer. The Alice Springs Chicken Quesadilla comes packed with 2141 calories, 133 grams of fat and a whopping 3477 milligrams of sodium. And this is just an appetizer. Presumably you’re going to have an entrée that’s going to pack on even more!

Probably the unhealthiest chain to eat at is Appleby’s. That’s right, that friendly family style eatery can’t seem to cook anything without pouring a bucket of salt on it. Their chicken and rice dish (chicken and rice being healthy foods right) has 1880 calories, 13 grams of fat and a two day supply of sodium at 4250 milligrams.

We absolutely know the importance of lowering salt in controlling blood pressure. Cutting calories can lead to losing weight and we know that’s an important role in managing high blood pressure. And fat consumption, we don’t need any more plaque I our blood vessels now do we?

The only good news out of this is the huge benefit you’ll receive by not eating this stuff. We’ve picked out some of the worse but nearly all restaurants have similar versions. If you can stop eating out even a couple of meals a week you’ll be doing your body well.

If you stop dining out and replace those meals with healthy alternative foods, you’ll be doubling up on the benefit.

Think about this for a minute. The pharmaceutical companies want to keep you on drugs that’s why they offer to control, not cure your high blood pressure. Restaurants obviously don’t care about your health but they’ll use your concern about health to sell you unhealthy food.

The only person who can take charge of your blood pressure is you. If you haven’t started yet, today is a good time.

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Tips to Lower Blood Pressure Quickly

2010-03-29T04:24:00.000-07:00

Your doctor is on your back, your family is nagging you and now you finally want to do something about your blood pressure. These tips to lower blood pressure quickly are designed to jump start your campaign to get your pressure under control. They are not however, meant to be the only steps you need to take for lowering blood pressure over the long term.

Changes In Routine

There are a couple of things that will have an almost immediate effect on your BP that simply require that you change your daily routine somewhat.

If you are serious about getting your blood pressure down and you get deeper into the information available on lowering it naturally, you’ll discover the huge role that diet plays in controlling and reversing high pressure. Without getting into all the reasons of why foods work, just make these changes in your diet and watch your pressure drop like a rock.

In fact the higher your pressure is today, the faster it will be lowered by following these simple tips.

Stop eating out. Most of us eat two meals out each day, if you count a bagel or a donut as a meal. Unless you live in New York which now has a city law that menus include nutritional values for each item, you have no idea how much salt you are consuming. Americans on average eat five times the recommended daily allowance for sodium.

Salt retains fluids and increases blood volume both of which increase blood pressure. Salt is also the favorite seasoning of all restaurants and they use a ton of it. And it’s not just the fast food joints. Upscale eateries pile it on too. Substitute the eat out food with food from home and you’ll cut your intake dramatically.

Hydrate. If your blood pressure is serious enough your doctor probably put you on a diuretic. The purpose of the diuretic is to reduce the fluid level in your body and flush out sodium. Well guess what. Your bladder doesn’t need any help if you simply give your body enough water.

Proper hydration will not only flush out sodium but it will encourage a suppleness in your blood vessels that is vital for efficient pumping of blood. At a minimum you should drink half your body weight, expressed in ounces, each day. If you weigh 140 pounds then you need to drink 70 ounces of water. More is better.

Home Remedy. There are all kinds of foods that work as home remedies for blood pressure and often we have no real idea why. Apple cider vinegar is an example of these pressure lowering foods. Take 2 teaspoons in an 8 ounce glass of water each morning and watch your pressure plunge. Make sure you get the real deal not the distilled version.

These three tips for lowering blood pressure fast are just the beginning of the changes you need to make in lifestyle to effectively and permanently rid your life of high blood pressure. Use these as a jump start but understand there is much more to do.

Tired of Living With High Blood Pressure?

Interested? Click here.

Preventing High Blood Pressure or Hypertension

2010-03-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

High blood pressure affects 1 in 4 adults and is the leading cause of stroke and congestive heart failure. If your pressure is normal, that's great! If you want to keep it normal and prevent high blood pressure or hypertension from becoming a part of your life, follow the simple tips in this video.

While these are great ways to prevent high blood pressure, they are also the basis for lowering it naturally if you have high blood pressure. There's a whole step by step approach to healthy blood pressure available here.

How To Lower Blood Pressure Naturally

2010-03-11T16:46:00.000-08:00

The reason you want to know how to lower blood pressure naturally is because you're fed up with the idea of being on blood pressure medication for the rest of your life right? Either you have experienced or you are afraid that you will experience the side effects of those drugs and the ongoing cost isn't doing your budget any good either.

The methods used to lower blood pressure naturally are...well they're natural. It's not rocket science it's simply common sense but we are always amazed how we tend not to follow common sense.

Look, the reason you have high blood pressure is because you've been on a lousy fat drenched, salt laden diet for most of your life. It's not your fault that's simply the way we eat in the West. A hundred years ago it didn't matter so much because most of us earned a living doing physical labor and all that bad stuff was mostly burned off in the process. Today however, we lead much more sedentary lives and all that junk is not flushed out. It's in our blood vessels creating oxidation that creates plaque, or stiffening our arteries, or damaging our kidneys.

The biggest thing you can do to lower pressure naturally is start eating fresh and nutritious food. Actually you don't even have to do that. You simply have to cut out the junk fast food and limit restaurant meals to special occasions. Many of us eat out twice a day, breakfast and lunch, and its that food which is just loaded with saturated fat and salt. Replacing that with even microwave meals from home, not really healthy food, will cause less damage than that Big Mac.

The American Heart Association recommends following the DASH diet to control and reverse elevated pressure. In reality, every little thing you do helps, you don't have to make big changes all at once. In fact making small changes increases your chances of sticking to them.

The fastest natural way to lower blood pressure is to do daily aerobic exercise. You can shave up to 4 points off your systolic and 2.5 points off your diastolic pressure with 30 minutes of daily walking. There are obviously other benefits to exercise not the least of which is losing weight.
So now you know how to lower blood pressure naturally using two common sense approaches. Take the time to learn the rest of the story. Your heart will thank you.

Do you really want the full story on how to lower blood pressure naturally? Then you need to see the step by step guide available at http://MyNaturalCures.info. If you're not already upset with the Pharmaceutical industry, you will be after reading this story.

Deal With Your High Blood Pressure Now!

2010-03-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

Everyday you do nothing is one day closer to disaster. Think about your kids, your spouse, but most of all think about yourself. You'vgot to do something and you have to start today.

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Low Carb Diet Lowers Blood Pressure

2010-03-09T16:55:00.000-08:00

People have been saying that a low carb diet can help lower blood pressure and now there's a new study that pretty much proves that. The VA Medical Center in Durham, NC did a study that essentially was to find out what was a better way to treat obesity, low carb or low fat diets. After 48 weeks the results were in and not surprisingly, both diets caused about the same amount of weight loss.

However, the low carb diet had a fairly significant impact on blood pressure. On average systolic pressure was reduced by 6 points and diastolic blood pressure was reduced by 4.5 mml Hg. The good news is that low carb diets lower blood pressure. The bad news is that nobody seems to know why.

The DASH diet is still the safest bet to treat high blood pressure. Combined with aerobic exercise you're going to lose weight as well. But if you absolutely feel you have to follow a "fad" diet make it the low carb.

For more information on lowering blood pressure naturally please go here.

Lower Blood Pressure Fast - Proven Results

2010-02-28T10:49:00.000-08:00

Lower blood pressure fast. Let’s face it, the primary motivation to lower blood pressure fast is fear. We can say we just want to be healthier, or we want to get off blood pressure medication, or there’s a family history and you don’t want to end up with a heart attack like Dad or whatever. Fear of coronary disease, heart attack, kidney failure, stroke or blindness is what drives people to look for fast ways to lower blood pressure and that’s not a bad thing.

It’s when that fear is so overwhelming that the only way you can deal with it is denial, and nearly a third of all people with high blood pressure fall into this category, that the condition becomes even more dangerous. Failing to treat it almost certainly will result in one of your fears becoming a reality.

So there is an entire industry out there that claims to have a product or a pill that will lower blood pressure quickly. But how quick is quick?

First let me make it perfectly clear that there is no single solution to this problem. Even if you’re on blood pressure medication you’re probably taking more than one kind. If you’re not you will be at some point in your life as you age because there simply isn’t a single magic pill.

That said, here’s some things you can do without medication. The reduction in blood pressure readings that are listed with each item come from studies conducted measuring the effects of each action.

Salt

The average American eats 8.25 grams of salt daily. Cutting that number in half will reduce your pressure by 6.8 mm Hg. The sneaky part about salt is it is often disguised in process foods and in fast food and restaurant servings. Did you know that a Big Mac has more salt than a large order of fries? Take the time to fully investigate the food you eat and cutting salt in half will be a snap.

Potassium

Almost all Americans have a potassium deficiency. This is mostly because we eat processed foods that have so much sodium in them that what ever small amount of potassium that we get is wiped out by the large dose of salt. Potassium promotes the excretion of sodium from the body. In multiple studies, people who ate the equivalent of 5 bananas a day saw a reduction in systolic pressure of 44 mm Hg and 2.4 mm Hg in diastolic pressure. You can eat too much potassium so check with your doctor before buying bunches of bananas or a potassium supplement.

Exercise

Probably the fastest way to lower blood pressure is exercise. Thirty minutes of aerobic exercise like walking, swimming or cycling, done at least 5 days a week, can lower systolic readings by 3.8 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure by 2.4 mm Hg. In addition exercise has many other benefits. It plays an important role in returning elasticity to your blood vessels allowing them to more efficiently work with less pressure. Your most important muscle, your heart, gets a workout and tones up so it requires less effort to pump. Stress hormones and chemicals that linger in your body from the stress of daily life are burned off as a result of exercise. And of course ultimately you lose weight which is good both for your health and your self esteem.

These are just three examples of literally hundreds of natural ways to lower blood pressure fast. Actually, high blood pressure could be a thing of the past for 90% of the people who have it if they simply understood what to do to defeat it. Our medical profession is dead set on prescribing drugs as the solution because that’s simply the way they are taught. But the American Heart Association counters that by saying that changes in lifestyle are the preferred method.

The problem is there is so much information available that you become paralyzed. That’s the principal reason I promote a step by step guide that gives the average person an easy to understand and follow plan to reduce and even eliminate high blood pressure.

There are several of these guides out there but I believe this one has the most documentation and offers the greatest value. You can click here to go to that site.

Reducing Blood Pressure Without Drugs

2010-02-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

If you have hypertension then you already know the potential side effects of medication and you’re painfully aware of the cost as well. Well you’re not alone; after all there are over 60 million Americans that have high blood pressure. But thousands of those have turned to reducing blood pressure naturally not only because it’s an effective treatment, but to avoid the dangerous side effects of drugs and of course the life time cost of buying them.

A natural reduction of blood pressure involves changes in lifestyle. The American Heart Association highly endorses this method over the use of medication. If you jump whole hog into this program you’ll probably fail unless you have tremendous self discipline. But the good news is you can make incremental changes in the way you live and still see results in a short amount of time. Reducing blood pressure naturally is effective, cheap and leads to a much healthier you.

So what kind of changes are we talking about?

Simple ones. Like making easy changes in what you eat. Diet plays a huge role both in developing hypertension and also in treating it. Making a decision to eat less processed food and more fresh food can mean a drop in both systolic and diastolic pressure within weeks.

You can reduce pressure even faster with 30 minutes of walking or cycling every day. Exercise not only works wonders for your BP but also burns off stress chemicals that linger in your blood and of course ultimately knocks off some pounds as well. And the beauty is you don’t even have to do it all at one time. You can break it up into ten minute walks and get the same result. You can do that right?

If you’re tired of being trapped by the medicine you owe it to yourself to explore your natural options. Your heart will thank you for it.

High Blood Pressure Anxiety

2010-02-22T07:03:00.000-08:00

You've got high blood pressure and it seems like it is always on your mind doesn't it. You know the dangers of the disease and it scares you. You're probably on blood pressure medication and you are either suffering from, or are worried about suffering from the side effects that medicine can bring on. You're probably beginning to feel anxious right now as you read this article. That high blood pressure anxiety that you are experiencing is not helping your cause.

Obsessing on your condition can actually do you more harm than high pressure by itself can. Anxiety is just a lesser form of panic and can cause a sustained increase in blood pressure as a result of the anxiety response itself, and the unhealthy behavior it might encourage to deal with the anxiety.

Anxiety and panic are separate health issues from your high blood pressure but controlling one will greatly help in controlling the other. Anxiety is just an exaggerated form of our natural fight or flight response. This response is absolutely essential to our well being as it prepares the body to deal with physical dangers and emergencies.

The problem occurs when we trigger the response for a perceived danger rather than a real one.
The response causes the body to produce adrenalin and other hormones that speed up the heart rate, constricts our blood vessels and speeds up our breathing.. All of this is designed to get more oxygen and nutrients to the body to get us ready to fight or run. In a real situation we would do one or the other and burn off the hormones that cause the changes in our body.

Unfortunately, there is nothing to run from with a perceived threat (worry about high blood pressure) so the hormones linger longer and so does the elevated pressure. You already have enough contributing factors to your blood pressure problem, you really don't want to throw anxiety in on top of it.
And you don't have to.

Anxiety and panic are based on an irrational fear. There are natural ways to deal with that and at some point you're going to have to. However, if you can show quick improvement in lowering your pressure, the rational part of your mind is going to minimize the number of times that you experience anxiety.

So how do you lower your blood pressure quickly? You're already taking drugs, what else can you do.
The answer is there is so much you can do that you might be confused as to where to start. For anxiety sufferers the best and fastest starting point is exercise. Thirty minutes of mild aerobic exercise like walking will not only immediately lower pressure by up to 5 points, but it will also burn off lingering stress hormones like adrenalin. Of course there's also the benefit of the exercise you are giving your heart and blood vessels as well.

Exercise is just one part of a natural remedy for high blood pressure. The American Heart Association endorses the DASH diet over medication to control and reverse high blood pressure. Diet is a huge factor in why you developed the condition in the first place and it can play an equally huge role in curing it.
You have choices. Isn't it time you quit worrying about your condition and focus on doing something about it. How much better would life be for you without this worry? You owe it to yourself to set out a plan of action that will lead to a longer and healthier life.

Just imagine knowing without a doubt exactly what will and won't have a positive effect on your blood pressure anxiety . No guessing. No worry. No debate. For a step by step guide to lower your blood pressure, and your anxiety, visit http://MyNaturalCures.info right now!

Is High Blood Pressure Contageous?

2010-01-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

Can you “catch” high blood pressure? The answer is no. At least not in the sense of catching a virus like a cold. But can high blood pressure be contagious? Maybe, depending on your definition of the word. If contagious means being able to pass on, then I think there is a very real possibility that you can pass on the conditions that will lead to high blood pressure. Unlike the rest of the articles I have written, this one has no outside corroboration and is based only on my own observations.

Think about it for a minute. Ninety percent of the high blood pressure and hypertension in this country is caused principally by behavior. We eat the wrong food, we lead sedentary life styles and we live with too much stress. Now think about who else shares those behaviors. Do you have a separate training table for your kids where they get served fresh vegetables and low fat dairy products? Or are they eating the same saturated fat that you have on your plate?

If you’re an overweight couch potato, what kind of example are you setting for your children? Are they overweight also? Are you thinking it’s something they’ll just grow out of? Or are you waiting for them to come down with diabetes before you start taking their condition seriously.

If I sound harsh it’s because I’ve seen too many families where one of the parents has HBP and is relying on medication to control the condition. Oh, there’s another great leadership example, take a pill for all your ailments rather than change your life to live healthier. At any rate, you look at the kids and the kids reflect the food that is served at the house and the examples set by the parents.

Is there anyway to know if their blood vessels are clotting up as a result? Probably not but high blood pressure can take years before it becomes serious enough to show up on a pressure reading. But you know this environment can’t be a good thing.

The lesson here is that it’s not all about you. If you have high blood pressure or hypertension and you are not making the changes in your life that you need to, you are sending a very unhealthy message to your kids. Now is the time to take responsibility for your condition, not only for yourself but for your family.

Lower Blood Pressure Without Medication

2010-01-18T10:23:00.000-08:00

The American Heart Association recommends that you lower blood pressure without medication through changes in lifestyle. In fact the AHA says that drugs are useful only when adjustments to diet and exercise have failed to work.

What a no brainer idea! While nobody can say for certain what causes high blood pressure, there is plenty of evidence to see the connection between the food we eat, the exercise we don’t get and the daily stress we live with. All three of these contribute over the years to harden our arteries, create plaque on the blood vessel walls, and generally set us up for stroke, heart attack, kidney failure or blindness. If those three elements caused the condition, doesn’t it make sense that by reversing them we can cure it?

Blood pressure medication simply masks the body’s response to high blood pressure. It blocks certain natural processes in an effort to control, not cure, the level of pressure. In the process, medication can also create some very nasty and dangerous side effects. If you are already on meds you know what these are. You also know if you don’t do something to turn your condition around; you’re going to be on meds the rest of your life.

Lowering pressure naturally takes some effort. It is certainly not as convenient as popping a pill or two or three each day. It requires that you change the food you eat, that you get some daily exercise and that you do a better job of managing the stress you face each day.

But it’s not an impossible burden. Even small steps in these areas will have an impact on your BP and surprisingly quickly. Cutting salt is probably the easiest place to start and you can accelerate the benefit by adding a banana to your daily diet. Did you know the real problem with excessive salt is that we typically are deficient in potassium? It is this relationship between sodium and potassium that controls the fluid levels in our body and therefore the volume of blood in out vessels. Adding a potassium rich banana will give your low salt efforts a boost.

There are literally hundreds of tips like this that apply to lowering blood pressure naturally without medication. You don’t have to become a health junkie to turn this condition around. Every little change you make counts. Doesn’t ditching the meds and living longer sound like a better deal? Do your research and learn how you can turn your life around naturally. Your heart will thank you for it.

Diet and High Blood Pressure - Food as Medicine

2010-01-13T13:58:00.000-08:00

Diet and high blood pressure go hand in hand both as a cause and a cure. If you have high blood pressure now, odds are that at least part of the cause was the junk you ate. Our Western diet is built around convenience. Processed foods and our unlimited array of fast food coupled with our love affair with the deep fat fryer has resulted in a nation of overweight children and adults, plus 70 million people suffering from high blood pressure.

The good news is you can turn around your BP by turning around your diet. More good news! Even if you only change your eating habits and don’t do any of the other lifestyle changes that are recommended, you could lower your systolic by 11 points and your diastolic reading by 5 in just two weeks.

You’ve probably already heard about the DASH diet, the recommended nutrition plan for reducing high blood pressure. But did you know that when they tested it originally, they made allowances so that only the effects of the diet would be measured?

They adjusted the caloric intake for each subject in the test study so that they wouldn’t lose weight. Fat people remained fat and slim people remained slim. There was no prohibition on smoking or salt intake. No change in exercise habits was required. What the study wanted to find was if changing diet alone would have an impact on blood pressure.

And obviously it did.

The diet’s principal goal was to reduce calories from fat to 30%. It is heavy in servings of fresh fruit and vegetables which not only provide the nutrients and antioxidants needed to attack blood pressure, but also tend to be bulkier leading many people to feel full and eating fewer total calories a day. The diet isn’t designed as a weight loss diet but that appears to be one of the beneficial side effects for many.

Aside from fruits and vegetables, DASH calls for 7 servings of grain per day, 2 of meat, 2 of non-fat dairy and 4 to 5 of legumes and nuts per week.

The magic behind the diet’s ability to lower blood pressure is the contents of the food. Foods are selected not only for their low fat content but for their concentration of minerals and vitamins that are so lacking in the typical diet. Potassium, manganese, folic acid and dietary fiber are all important elements in feeding the body what it needs.

In addition, foods with antioxidants and natural vasodilators directly impact on the elasticity of blood vessels, plaque and free radicals.

If you’re in need of lowering your pressure, even to the point of eliminating medication, you can take heart in the fact that it can be done naturally simply by making adjustments in what you eat.

HBP is a dangerous condition and can’t be ignored. Eating correctly is one step in controlling a disease that could easily destroy your life. In addition to diet, there are so many things you can do without drugs that will not only control the disease but cure it. You owe it to yourself to learn how.

Reducing Blood Pressure Naturally - A Lazy Man's Guide To Better Health

2009-12-31T11:58:00.000-08:00

People interested in reducing high blood pressure naturally are usually either doing it as a preventive measure because they have a history of the condition in their family, or they are already diagnosed with hypertension and are looking for a way to eliminate the side effects and expense of blood pressure medication. Either way, they are going to be faced with a massive amount of information to sift through and most of it will boil down to changes in diet and exercise.

But what are the changes and how much will my blood pressure go down if I make them?

That my friends is why I have put together the “Lazy Man’s Guide To Lowering Blood Pressure Naturally”. This short little article will give you an idea how much each change in lifestyle will lower your pressure reading.

If you’re really serious about this, you’ll need to get, and learn how to use, a blood pressure monitoring device for your home. This will be the best $40 to $70 you ever invested in your health. The reason hypertension is called the Silent Killer is because most people don’t know what their pressure is. Relying on an annual checkup at the doctor’s office is not an effective way to monitor your BP.

OK here we go.

As a general rule, if you have high blood pressure now, or you are an African American, you will experience a greater drop in reading than those shown in the examples.

Exercise. This is the fastest way to drop blood pressure. While many organizations will insist on exercise at least six or seven days per week, 54 controlled studies show that there is no increased benefit beyond three days per week. Thirty to forty-five minutes of mild aerobic exercise such as biking, walking, dancing, or swimming, will lower systolic pressure 3.84 mm and diastolic by 2.58 mm. Exercise is good for reducing stress and losing weight, both helpful benefits, but you don’t have to do more than three days to get the maximum benefit.

Sodium and Salt. If you know where to look for it, cutting your salt intake is really easier to do than you might think. The typical American consumes 3.3 grams of sodium each day. Cutting that to 1.5 grams can reduce your BP reading by 6.8 mm. Taking the salt shaker off the table is a start, but most of the sodium comes from processed foods and restaurants. Eat more fresh food, tell your waiter you want less salt, and discover the wonders of spices as a condiment.

Booze. If you’re a man who drinks 3 or more drinks a day, or two for a woman, then you can reduce both systolic and diastolic pressure by roughly 1 mm for each drink you cut back.

Smoking. Smoking is bad for you but here’s a real kicker. There is no direct link between nicotine and high blood pressure. Coronary disease, lung cancer and bad breath? Sure. But there is no proven connection with HBP. Regardless you should stop smoking or investigate the new electronic cigarettes that let you keep the habit but no the 4000 chemicals found in tobacco cigarettes.

Potassium. Most Americans have a deficiency in potassium. Potassium is important because it is the relationship between potassium and sodium that controls the fluid levels and blood volume in our body. In fact potassium encourages the excretion of sodium. The studies on increasing this mineral are a bit inconclusive but depending on who you believe, if you increase the amount of potassium to the equivalent of 5 bananas a day, you can lower your pressure by 2.45 to 4.44 mms. Obviously bananas are not the only source of potassium.

So with just these few tips you can reduce blood pressure by 16 mms and you haven’t made any huge differences in your lifestyle. We haven’t even covered weight loss, calcium, hydration or the biggie, diet. It would not be unreasonable to expect a total reduction in excess of 25 to 30 points simply by applying these methods.

It’s your body; it’s time you take responsibility for your health. Your heart will thank you.

Get A Step By Step Guide To Lowering Blood Pressure Naturally. Click Here!

Stress and Blood Pressure - Is There A Real Connection?

2009-12-30T14:22:00.000-08:00

You would probably think that stress has a direct impact on blood pressure wouldn’t you? Stress can obviously spike your blood pressure but surprisingly, there is no firm evidence that it can cause long term high blood pressure. With today’s hectic pace of life and all the challenges we face with employment, finances, relationships and even the morning commute, it would be logical to think those constant stresses would elevate your blood pressure. However the jury is still out on that one.

What everyone will agree to is that less stress is better.

Stress triggers the fight or flight response in our bodies which was useful years ago when facing animals or others that represented a physical threat. This response releases hormones which, among other things, causes blood pressure to rise. However, today our stress is usually caused by perceived threats not physical ones. This makes no difference to the body and it continues to pump out adrenaline and cortisol. Not only that, but we do not respond to the perceived threat by fighting or running so the hormones are not burned off but linger in the body keeping pressure elevated until they wear off naturally.

While researchers cannot find a direct link between stress and high blood pressure, they theorize that the stress may cause behavior like overeating, smoking, increased alcohol use and sleeplessness that contribute to HBP. There’s another concern that emotional stress from anxiety or panic disorder may also create self destructive behavior like not taking prescribed medication for blood pressure.

It would seem apparent however, that even if there is no direct link, your blood pressure, and your overall health, would be better off with less stress in your life.

Easier said than done right?

In today’s world stress is just part of the countryside. It is an everyday occurrence and it would seem that there isn’t a great deal we can do about it. But there are some ways to manage it.

Identify the stressors. Understand that the things that you think cause stress like the job, money and or health issues really aren’t. Your brain simply sees them as threats and so responds accordingly. If you list the stressors and then methodically figure out the best way to deal with them, they become challenges and your brain will react to them differently. It’s like being stalked by a mugger and your brain gets you ready to run. But when faced with a difficult math problem, your brain simply gets you ready to think.

Exercise, sleep and meditation methods like yoga and deep breathing can help the physical side of stress. There’s even a method called binaural beats that “trains your brain” to relax.

But if you’re reading this you probably have, or know someone who has, high blood pressure. And you’re probably stressing over it which of course starts the endless cycle of stress, higher blood pressure, more stress. You have to treat this disease the same you would any other stressor.

Turn it into a challenge. Learn what you have to do to control your condition. Maybe it’s drugs, maybe you can use a natural approach or maybe you need to combine both. What you absolutely have to do is take action. Without action the stress remains and so does the high blood pressure.

Get the Answer to Your Stress and Blood Pressure Problem Here

Plaque In The Arteries - Another Hidden Symptom

2009-12-28T11:11:00.000-08:00

Like so many of the symptoms of high blood pressure, plaque in the arteries is rarely noticed until it becomes a problem. In a sense, it can be compared to a plumbing problem. If you keep putting non-soluble items down the kitchen sink, at some point it will become clogged and you'll have to call a professional in to snake it out.

High blood pressure often results in the formation of plaque in the arteries and other blood vessels. This plaque is caused by an increased oxidation rate brought on by the excessive number of free radicals that can be found in persons with hypertension. Most people will say that the plaque is the result of the fats and cholesterol and they would be right in the sense if you didn’t consume them you’d have less plaque, but the formation of the plaque is the work of the free radicals.

We need free radicals in our body. We just don’t need the number that typically appears with high BP. When plaque becomes a major issue, like a blockage, the most common approach to repair it is surgery. However, there is another way.

Plaque build up, like most of the symptoms of high blood pressure, is something we are not aware of until it becomes a major problem. It takes years for the plaque to develop, and conversely, it can take years to reverse it if you chose to do so naturally.

Free radicals can be reduced by increasing the amount of antioxidants in the blood stream. Free radicals are essentially orphaned electrons looking for a new home. At the molecular level that means a free radical can join a cell replacing one of the cell’s own electrons. This can lead to the mutation or death of the cell. This mutation or oxidation is what allows the cell to stick to the side of the blood vessel wall.

Antioxidants give the free radicals what they want. They will absorb the electron but will not mutate in the process. The antioxidants are then passed from the body taking the free radical with them.

So where do we get these little miracles. Well we can get them from our food. Antioxidants and systemic enzymes, another great help in breaking up plaque, are abundant in broccoli and broccoli like vegetables. Antioxidants can be found in high concentrations in almost any bright colored berry like blue berries or black berries.

Knowing which foods to eat accomplishes two things. It provides the ingredients for a reversal of plaque, and it’s replacing the bad foods that are loaded with the cholesterol that caused the problem in the first place.

If you want to avoid the possibility of surgery in your future, start getting educated today and get your daily dose of “medicine” from the grocers and not the pharmacist’s

Blood Pressure Meds - The Side Effects Can Be Murder

2009-12-23T16:34:00.000-08:00

If you have been diagnosed with hypertension and prescribed blood pressure medication then you probably have experienced some side effects. As you probably already know, one blood pressure med does not fit all. You may have gone through a period of time where your doctor adjusted the dosage or perhaps added a second or third drug to your daily dose.

If you are on a diuretic you may only have the annoying side effect of needing to urinate frequently. However, that diuretic is flushing out more than just salt. Potassium, calcium and manganese are also lost in this process. Deficiencies in these minerals can lead to gout, irregular heartbeat and hypoglycemia.

And if you don’t do something about the way you live your life, you will probably graduate to one of the stronger blood pressure meds and those things can come with some really serious side effects.

Beta blockers reduce the heartbeat in an attempt to lower pressure. If however, the heart is reduced to the point that it can not fully pump all the blood in the chamber, you risk congestive heart failure, heart attack or stroke.

Alpha blockers, Calcium Channel Blockers and ACE Inhibitors all run similar risks with calcium channel blockers being cited by a Wake University study as causing 40,000 unnecessary heart attacks each year.

And you’re on this stuff for life. Is that what you had planned? I haven’t mentioned the most common side effects which include fatigue, dizziness and a loss of libido. This really is a quality of life question isn’t it? You can’t ignore high blood pressure because it’s a killer but the medication is no cake walk either.

Did you know that here’s a way to avoid all this? Did you know that the American Heart Association says that “drugs can be useful when diet and exercise have failed”? That’s right. Your BP problem can go away if you dig in and commit to changes in your diet, exercise habits and stress management.

You can single handedly eliminate these side effects if you really want.

Thousands of Americans have turned to the “cure” that a natural approach provides. Eating healthy fresh food, abstaining from fatty fast foods and convenience foods, getting a half hour of walking in each day, and working on their stress has allowed thousands to say goodbye to the silent killer.

The choice is up to you. You can continue to live and pay for the medicine or you can make a concerted effort to cure yourself. There are plenty of resources to find out how you can attack this problem and succeed. If you want to lift the threat of heart attack, stroke and all the rest that high blood pressure brings, and you want to end the side effects, then you owe it to yourself to investigate a natural approach. Your heart will thank you.

High Blood Pressure Medications - Are They Driving Patients Away?

2009-12-21T11:10:00.000-08:00

High blood pressure medication is the most common method of controlling hypertension. But could it also be a contributor to even higher blood pressure or worse?

With over 300 brands to choose from, often times the effectiveness of a given medication has to go through a trial and error period with an individual patient before a reasonable dosage or combination of drugs can be achieved. It’s during this period tat the patient is likely to experience side effects.

Side effects from high blood pressure medications can range from the annoying like a need to frequently urinate, to having an impact on the quality of life such as general fatigue, impotence, dizziness and blurred vision. In some instances, the drugs can actually cause what they are designed to control. Heart attacks, strokes and congestive heart failure are all possible side effects of some of the drugs.

A patient new to these medication may soon loose there tolerance for the side effects and the juggling of dosages and decide to abandon them all together. This is particularly true of persons with mild hypertension who considered themselves healthy before being diagnosed as hypertensive.

Unfortunately, high blood pressure has no outward symptoms and for many, the first time they realize they have the condition is when they have their blood pressure checked. As a result, the new patient weighs the misery of the side effects, and perhaps the cost of this new life long requirement, against life the way it used to be. It is not unreasonable to see why they chose to abandon the therapy even knowing the risk. In their minds, the cure is worse than the disease.

This of course is a trend that can be extremely dangerous. Hypertension can not be ignored. It will not go away by itself. It kills over 50,000 Americans each year.

If a patient decides they cannot tolerate the medicine, then they need to take other steps to control their condition.

Fortunately, there is an alternative to drugs. In fact the American Heart Association endorses changes in lifestyle over the use of medication. The fact is, this condition can not only be controlled, but reversed by making changes in diet, exercise and stress management. It’s not rocket science; it’s simply informed common sense and something that anyone can accomplish if they commit to it.

It’s estimated that of the 65 million Americans that have high blood pressure, one third don’t know they have it. Of the remaining 43 million who know they have the condition, fully a third are not treating it. This is a huge public health issue that screams out for attention.

It also begs the question as to why blood pressure medications are prescribed as the control of choice rather than encouraging healthy lifestyle choices. Is it simply a Western medicine tradition that there’s a pill for everything, or is it something else. When there is overwhelming evidence that this condition can be controlled naturally, why do we continue to put patients through the miseries and expense of medication?

It’s your body. If you are hypertensive then you have to make a decision as to how you will deal with it. You can’t just ignore it or it will eventually take its toll on you.

Fast High Blood Pressure Relief

2009-12-15T16:26:00.000-08:00

There are a number of things you can do yourself to find high blood pressure relief relatively quickly. No one knows for certain what causes high blood pressure but we do know that certain lifestyles contribute to it. If you can identify and modify those ways of living you can drop your pressure reading significantly in less than 4 weeks.

But first, why do you need relief? Are you on medication? If you are, chances are you have been suffering from some side effects. Blood pressure medication is a trial and error process for the most part. One size (prescription) definitely does not fit all.

You probably already know this but side effects can include nausea, fatigue, frequent need to urinate, impotency, and overall sense of weakness and on and on. What you may not know is some of the medications can have far more serious side effects including, congestive heart failure and heart attack.

If you want to put all that out of your life, and you want to get back to a normal BP reading, then give the following some consideration:

Commit to mild aerobic exercise like a brisk walk or riding a bike every day for at least 30 minutes. Your pressure will obviously go up during the exercise but will drop below where you started when you cool off. The other obvious benefits including losing weight and burning off stress hormones.

Drink half your weight, expressed in ounces, in water each day. Hydrating flushes out salt and other toxins and encourages the blood vessels to relax which lessens pressure. So if you weigh 150 pounds drink at least 75 ounces of water daily.

Take a high quality garlic supplement each day or eat 1 clove of fresh. Garlic is an amazing food that is full of antioxidants to reduce and remove plaque from vessel walls, and also works as a vasodilator witch widens the vessels and lowers pressure.

Find 15 minutes of “my time” each day to work on stress. You can try muscle relaxing techniques, meditation or deep breathing exercises to calm the brain down and allow for rational dealings with those items that stress you.

Cut back on eating out. Restaurants use salt by the shovel full in almost everything they make. You get more sodium than you need from other processed foods you eat. Cutting back on this source will help your health and save a few dollars as well.

When you shop for groceries try to buy fresh or quick frozen foods as they will have little sodium and have a much higher nutritional value.

If you follow these and other natural remedies you’ll find that your pressure will have dropped dramatically in a short period of time. In addition you are going to be treating your body better which will serve as a defense against other endemic ailments like diabetes and obesity. If you know how to do it, you can get the high blood pressure relief you’ve been looking for and say goodbye to the Silent Killer for good.

Tired of Living With High Blood Pressure?

Interested? Click here.

Lowering High Blood Pressure Naturally - The Goal Of Smart People

2009-12-15T06:37:00.000-08:00

Lowering high blood pressure naturally is the goal of thousands of Americans who want to rid themselves of the condition and do it without drugs. The American Heart Association heartily endorses this effort encouraging people to make changes in lifestyle and only to resort to drugs if changes in diet and exercise fail.

Does this sound like something you would like to explore?

The amazing thing about high blood pressure or hypertension is that it affects nearly 60 million Americans and gets relatively little press or public awareness. Think about it. Nearly 1 in 4 adults has this condition. High blood pressure causes 50,000 deaths each year and is a leading contributor to heart attacks and stroke. When’s the last time you saw a news story or public service announcement about hypertension?

Maybe it’s because there are no outward symptoms and out of sight equals out of mind. Nonetheless, billions are spent on medical costs and lost productivity each year. It’s an endemic in this country.

And you know what? Ninety percent of it is preventable. The same goes for curing it. Ninety percent of high blood pressure sufferers can reverse their condition and do it naturally. Then why are millions taking high blood pressure medication?

Maybe it’s just our modern culture. For everything wrong with you there’s a pill that can fix it. Would you really listen to your doctor if he said “go home, take the salt shaker off the table and eat salmon tonight.” That just doesn’t sound like modern medicine. “Go buy these pills and take two a day for the rest of your life.” Now you’re talking. Now that sounds like real medicine!

And then you find yourself taking the drugs and living with the side effects and the expense and the knowledge that you are locked into them for the rest of your life. That’s usually when people start looking for an alternative solution.

Lowering high blood pressure naturally simply involves changes in diet, exercise behavior and stress management. It’s important to understand that there has to be changes in each of these areas for the remedy to work. Just becoming an exercise fanatic alone will not do it.

To give you a brief idea of what to expect;

Your diet will change to include fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, poultry and lean white meat. Salt and excessive red meat will be eliminated.

Exercise will become an everyday part of your life. Thirty minutes biking or walking each day.

Stress management will become a priority. Learn to do deep breathing exercises, meditation and muscle relaxation techniques.

Lowering blood pressure naturally is not an extreme lifestyle change. It can be done and the result is a longer healthier and happier drug free life.

Find out how you can knock of 20 points in three weeks by lowering blood pressure naturally

Treating High Blood Pressure Naturally - Simpler, Safer, More Effective

2009-12-14T10:21:00.000-08:00

Treating high blood pressure naturally is a fairly easy process once you understand what is involved. Unlike blood pressure medication, natural treatments focus on curing the condition not just controlling it. To do this, natural treatments focus on changing the lifestyle behaviors that caused the condition in the first place.

Diet plays a huge part in both causing and curing high blood pressure. The typical Western diet is full of processed and convenience foods that are loaded with sodium, trans fats, LDL (bad cholesterol) and are deficient in real nutrition. Basically, you are feeding your body food that your body is not designed to process.

The result of this type diet is the stiffening of blood vessels, increased free radicals and the excessive oxidation that forms and leaves plaque along the walls of the blood vessels. This causes high blood pressure and puts undue stress on the heart.

To counter the effects of bad diet, treating high blood pressure naturally requires an increase of fresh or quick frozen foods. Vegetables and fruit, both of which most of us don’t get enough of, are high in vitamins and minerals but also have great attributes like antioxidants and vasodilator properties. These foods become “medicine” fighting free radicals and relaxing the blood vessels.

We are definitely a red meat country but we need to reduce our intake and substitute fish, poultry and lean white meat. If you have to eat beef, find a store that sells grass fed beef rather than grain fed. This will have less LDL and be a leaner cut than regular beef.

Exercise is also important in curing high blood pressure. Exercising the heart, lungs and getting a vigorous flow of blood through the arteries is an important part of lowering pressure naturally. In fact this is the fastest way to get your BP reading down. Thirty minutes a day of brisk walking, biking or swimming will give you immediate results.

The last area of treatment is stress management. You need to train your brain to see stress as a challenge not as a threat. Your brain sends a different message to the body if it perceives a challenge rather than a threat. Take a hard look at the things that stress you like the job and see what you can do to improve that situation. The simple act of trying to resolve it rationally will greatly reduce stress.

High blood pressure is a serious illness. It kills over 50,000 people each year in the U.S. alone. It is a major contributor to heart attacks, stroke and congestive heart failure. You can’t ignore this disease.

Treating high blood pressure naturally is effective and in the long run, far more healthy than relying on drugs for the rest of your life. If you want to live a longer, healthier life then you owe it to yourself to give it a try.

Did you know that natural high blood pressure remedies can lower blood pressure by as much as 20 points in three weeks? Would you like to know how? Get the answer by visiting http://MyNaturalCures.info right now! You'll be glad you did.

Quickly Lower Blood Pressure With These 4 Tips

2009-12-14T08:07:00.000-08:00

Do you need to know how to quickly lower blood pressure? Maybe you have a employment medical coming up or maybe you just are tired dealing with the condition and want to lower your blood pressure reading fast. Well there are a couple of quick fixes but understand, they are part of a much more comprehensive plan to treat your blood pressure naturally.

The fastest way to reduce your pressure is to get the blood vessels relaxed. If you have HBP, odds are your vessels are not as elastic as they used to be. They probably have some plaque on the walls as well. Hardened vessels with passages limited by plaque equals high blood pressure. What we want to do is loosen them up making it easier for the heart to pump.

Tip Number 1. Get The Blood Vessels Opened
Some foods act as natural vasodilators. Vasodilators expand the blood vessels, increasing their diameter, which in turn reduces pressure. Garlic is a great natural vasodilator. You can try to include at least a clove a day in your diet or you can purchase a garlic supplement. Garlic is one of the few foods that actually performs better as a supplement than fresh.

Tip Number 2. Hydrate.
Dehydration is a growing problem because of all the enclosed spaces with no or little humidity that we call work and home. Wintertime can increase dehydration because e the cold dry air actually sucks the water from our breath. Drinking a lot of water encourages elasticity in the blood vessels. It will also flush out excess sodium. Drink half your body weight expressed in ounces each day. So if you weigh 200 pounds, you need to drink 100 ounces of water.

Tip Number 3. Exercise
Do at least thirty minutes of mild aerobic exercise each day. You can go for a brisk walk, swim laps or go for a bike ride. The objective is to get your heart beat up for a sustained period of time. While your pressure will go up during the exercise, it will drop when you finish. This is the fastest way to lower blood pressure. In addition, the exercising will burn off stress hormones which also cause an increase in pressure.

Tip Number 4. Chill Out
Stress is a big contributor to HBP. You need to get you brain to calm down so you can sort out the things that you think are stressing you (like maybe the upcoming medical). You can do this with deep breathing exercises and muscle relaxing exercises. The real trick is to get your brain to see the stress as challenges not threats. The brain sends a different message to the body with a challenge than it does a threat.

If you follow these tips and get real about what you eat, you should see a drop in pressure within a week. If you follow a full plan for treating lowering blood pressure, you could be back to normal within 3 weeks.

Did you know that you can quickly lower blood pressure by as much as 20 points in three weeks using a natural approach? Would you like to know how? Get the answer by visiting My Natural Cures right now! You'll be glad you did.

Natural Remedies To Lower Blood Pressure Work Better Than Drugs

2009-12-13T17:07:00.000-08:00

It’s no secret that natural remedies to lower blood pressure have many advantages over high blood pressure medication. If you’re on medication you probably already know about the side effects and you certainly know about the cost. Natural remedies have virtually only good side effects and if you can afford your grocery bill you can afford these remedies.

So how do you lower blood pressure naturally? What do home remedies do that medication doesn’t?

For starters, natural remedies focus on the root problem that created the high blood pressure condition in the first place. Modern medicine says the cause of hypertension is unknown. But we do know that certain lifestyle behaviors greatly contribute to the disease. Natural remedies attempt to correct those behaviors and reverse not only blood pressure, but some of the damage that may have already been done to your blood vessels.

Hypertension medication focuses on controlling the condition (rather than curing it) by blocking the body’s natural response to high blood pressure. That’s why you’ve probably heard of Alpha blockers, Beta blockers, Calcium Channel blockers and ACE Inhibitors. Put simply, pharmaceutical companies researched the reaction of the body to HBP, saw the negative results of those actions and created drugs to block those actions.

And if you’re on medication now you already know that one size doesn’t fit all. Each person’s response to the drugs will vary requiring a trial and error period involving different drugs at different dosages. This is when the side effects are likely to be the worse.

Natural remedies address three areas, diet, stress management and exercise.

These are the three lifestyle areas that probably caused your blood pressure problem in the first place. By changing them to healthy lifestyles, you not only stop further damage, you can actually reverse pressure and get back down to a normal reading.

Here’s a quick run down on the types of remedies that are involved in each of the three main lifestyle areas.

Fats, fried food and salt are going to be replaced with fresh or quick frozen fruits and vegetables, lean white meat fish and poultry. You’re going to get more fiber in your diet. The food you’ll be eating will actually have nutrients in them unlike the processed foods you eat now. In short, your body will be eating a fuel it was designed to eat, not something that technology and convenience decided it should get.

Your days of being a couch potato have to come to an end. Walking from the parking lot to your work (unless it’s a 30 minute walk) will no longer be considered exercise. Working out your heart and lungs is the fastest way to lower blood pressure, particularly diastolic pressure. In addition it helps out with the third area, stress. Hormones that are generated by stress that linger in your body are burned off by the exercise.

You are going to have to train your brain to view what you currently think of as stressors like work and relationships, as challenges instead of threats. If you can accomplish this, the brain will turn off the natural response to threats and lower pressure. Deep breathing exercises or simply having a strong social network can do wonders for relieving stress.

High blood pressure is a very serious condition. It kills over 50,000 each year and is a leading contributor to heart attack, stroke and kidney failure. If left alone it will only be a matter of time before it takes its toll on you. You can’t ignore this condition, and if you can’t handle, or don’t want to handle, the drugs, then focus on natural remedies to lower your blood pressure.

Chakra Healing

2009-12-12T10:37:00.000-08:00

You never know where research might take you. I must confess I thought Chakra was the name of a native chief in an old movie about the Zulu uprising in South Africa. It wasn't until I started looking at binaural beats as a way to lower stress, and consequently blood pressure, that I cam across the idea(?) concept(?) of Chakra.

I'm new at this so if I misspeak please feel free to correct me in the comments section.

Chakra basically is a belief that there is a real connection between us as humans and the Earth we live on. Further, we can draw on that connection, that energy to heal our body. If this sounds too new age for you please hang on because there is logic to this idea.

There are seven Chakra centers in our body, each deals with a specific part of our body and and character. Each of these Chakras is "activated" when the brain resonates at a specific frequency. Now I already know that "entraining" the brain works to induce relaxation and sleep by getting it to resonate at a specific frequency so this idea that other parts of the body can be influenced by the brain's frequency is not so far off.

Actually I just realized I can't put this is words that are anywhere as descriptive as the video below. Do yourself a favor and spend 10 minutes in a crash Chakra course.

Pretty awesome isn't it? If you want more info in this and a way to tune into your Chakra visit this link

Salt And Bananas - A Necessary Mix

2009-12-11T09:52:00.000-08:00

Quick Fact On Salt

As you probably know, most people with high blood pressure are told to go on a salt free diet or at least to significantly cut down. But did you know that salt is only half the story?

The balance between sodium and potassium in our body controls the fluid levels. This is important to high blood pressure because these fluid levels encourage elasticity in the blood vessels. The vessels need to expand and contract to efficiently accommodate the pumping of the heart. If the vessels stiffen, then blood pressure goes up.

We need salt, we just don't need six times our daily allowance which is what the typical Western diet provides. Obviously we need potassium and unfortunately, what little potassium we get in processed foods is swamped by the amount of sodium that is also included. Fresh fruits and vegetables, particularly nature's best fast food, the banana, are the best sources of potassium.

So do cut back on salt and do add some fresh potassium to your daily diet and you'll be on track to correcting the imbalance.

High Blood Pressure Remedy Report

2009-12-11T07:49:00.000-08:00

A Blatant Endorsement of the High Blood Pressure Remedy Report

I don't normally openly endorse products in my high blood pressure blog, but I ran across a forum that changed my mind. I research several ailments with an eye on what's available naturally to treat them. One of those conditions is ovarian cysts. I was on a forum where the women were complaining about all the pain involved with cysts and what works and what doesn't.

Then one of them brought up another report that I endorse Ovarian Cysts and PCOS Relief Secrets and called it a scam. The reason she called it a scam was that she felt all the information in the report was available online for free. As it turns out, she didn't actually get the book but just assumed the info was available online.

And of course she's right. Almost every piece of information known to man exists somewhere on the internet. Why go to college. Everything you need to know is free on the internet.

Of course armed with this opinion, she continued to post on all her problems with ovarian cysts. Did she not find the solution for free on the internet?

And this got me thinking.

Are we so accustomed to getting free stuff on the internet that we refuse to pay for anything that is not a physical product? If the High Blood Pressure Remedy Report was a hardbound book on Amazon I suspect it would have more sales. What so many people are missing is the value of the compiled and tested information. This report is just so straight forward and easy to read, anybody can reduce their blood pressure quickly.

It's not written in technical terms. It's written in a style that lets most anybody understand what to do and why they are doing it. Compare that to wading through the National Institute of Health or Mayo Clinic or American Heart Association or WebMD and forget about the reams of medical reports that you can find as well.

In one document you have a guide to quickly lower blood pressure and get the disease out of your life.

It's less than $40 and there a 60 day guaranteed refund. It comes with bonus books but don't even consider those. You won't have time to read them. Focus on the report and starting on reducing your blood pressure. Follow it to the letter and you're looking at reducing blood pressure reading by 20 points inside 3 weeks.

OK. Enough selling. I really want you to get this thing if you are serious about taking control of your blood pressure. You can get it here.

Dams And Sandbags - Which Ones Cost Less?

2009-12-10T09:47:00.000-08:00

The more I research conditions like high blood pressure, stress, anxiety and even gout and hemorrhoids, the more I discover that the medications that are available for treatment are targeted at controlling a condition rather than curing it. Nobody, except the sufferer of course, seems to be interested in addressing the cause of these conditions but rather focus on eliminating the symptoms.

Is that really healing?

Imagine for a moment a valley floor that is beautiful and lush with a small river running down the middle. A number of homes have been built along the banks of the river because it is so beautiful. At the far end of the valley is a dam. This dam controls the water flow into the river allowing the valley be as lush as it is.

Then one day the dam springs a leak. Water starts running down the river and flooding the banks. The homeowners rush out and buy as many sandbags as they can and furiously set up sandbag walls around their homes to protect them.

But the dam continues to leak and the water continues to rise. The homeowners buy more sandbags and make their walls higher. Pretty soon the the valley is flooded and the homes become little islands protected by the sandbags. But the leak is not done. With all the water in the valley, it starts to erode away the sandbag walls until they collapse and the homes are awash.

The homeowners were pretty short sighted huh? Well there are countless examples of this in real life. Did you know there was a study that said that our Gulf coast could be protected from storm surges by rebuilding the wetlands that development had destroyed. Our coast would be virtually unassailable from surges. The report pegged the price at $8 billion dollars. Nobody was willing to pay $8 billion dollars.

The report came out 17 months before Katrina hit.

What has Katrina cost us so far?

Now think of that valley as being your body and the houses as being the organs in the body. The heart, lungs, kidneys, liver and so on. The sandbags are medication purchased to protect the organs.

The dam is the cause of disease, whatever that might be. The water represents the symptoms of that disease. The sandbags do a nifty job of protecting the house for a little while but when the disease persists, the sandbags fail.

How much did all those sandbags cost? Who benefited from it. Not the homeowners because in the end the bags failed and the houses were lost. How about the guys who sold the sandbags?

Did you know they also had a concrete plant and could have patched the leak in the dam? But they didn't because they could make more money selling sandbag after sandbag. In fact the more that dam leaked the more money they made selling bags.

Now take a look at your own situation. Are you locked into taking drugs to control a condition. How high are your sandbags. When do you think they might topple. Have you realized that the solution is to fix the leak in the dam?

In almost all conditions there are things you can do with your lifestyle to "fix the leak in the dam". Diet plays a huge part as well as just an active healthy lifestyle. You don't have to rely on the sandbag merchant if you don't want to!

Want More Info On Fixing The Leak For High Blood Pressure?

How To Relieve Stress

2009-12-08T08:14:00.000-08:00

If you are like most of us, more than once you have asked yourself how to relieve stress from your life. Stress is a natural and important part of our bodily function. It is the result of the fight or flight response that is hard wired into us to protect us from physical threats.

That response, which gets us ready to do battle or run, does a number of things to make our bodies more efficient for the task. For starters the adrenal glands pump out adrenaline and cortisol to get our heart beating faster, our lungs breathing deeper, our blood vessels constricting to get more blood to muscles faster, and a whole litany of other functions to include the production of a blood clotter in case we are cut.

While it is ramping up some systems for the fight, it is also ramping down some systems that are deemed nonessential for the task. Those systems include digestion and immune systems.

Unfortunately, most of our stress today does not come from physical threats but from perceived threats, like trouble at work, financial problems or even just getting stuck in a long line. What that means is that our fight or flight response is stuck in the “on” position because our body still perceives a threat.

This obviously is not a good thing.

Long term exposure to the effects of the fight or flight response can create serious problems such as:

Heart disease

Depression

Difficulty sleeping

Digestive disorder

Increased susceptibility to disease

So what can we do to reverse the effects of stress. How can we turn that switch to the “off” position?

Exercise is the quickest way to burn off the hormones and turn off the switch even if it’s only temporary. Aerobic or strength training both perform the task that the response was originally designed for. There are other obvious advantages of exercise including lowering blood pressure and reducing weight.

Relaxation techniques. Probably the most overlooked option by most people. Think back a moment to when you were a kid. As children, we developed natural relaxation techniques. Maybe it was a blanket or a teddy bear but when we had it, our breathing slowed and our anxiety level went down. Our brain was attuned to associate those items with safety and effectively turned “off” the switch.

Some adults are lucky enough to still have a teddy bear equivalent but for the rest of us we have to learn how to relax. Often times this involves forcing the brain into a relaxed state by altering ourselves physically. Deep breathing or yoga poses are examples of this. While we are performing physical tasks, what we are really trying to achieve is getting our brain to kick in with the idea that we are relaxed, safe and calm.

Stress is the physical manifestation of a mental state.

And that brings us to another approach which involves “entraining” the brain. You may have tried something similar to it, in fact it would be almost impossible not to have. Entraining the brain is a system that attempts to move the brain’s existing mode to a desired mode. For example if you are anxious and you want to be calm, then you want the brain to switch and tell the body that it is calm.

We use music, or reading, or art or other stimuli that we find soothing to try to achieve that switch. Often times it will work, particularly if you’ve been using the same technique over a long period of time. The piece of music that calms you down becomes your teddy bear.

Entraining takes it to another level. The brain gives off measurable brain waves and they vary in length or frequency depending on the state it is in. Entraining involves introducing a beat or tone through the ears that will cause the brain to resonate at the desired frequency. Once the brain is at that frequency, the body responds to the brain.

This is a great way to reduce stress or induce sleep. It can however, be used to change the state of the brain into other desired frequencies associated with creativity, cognitive function, weight loss and a host of others. For more information on how this works view this page on binaural beats.

Lastly there are “Mother’s Little Helpers” like Valium, Prozac and others. We won’t address any of these here because we believe that drugs are an absolutely last option to any condition.

Stress can truly mess up your life. Take the time to develop an effective plan to manage it and you’ll have a happier, healthier experience.

High Diastolic Blood Pressure - What Does Mean

2009-12-02T08:02:00.000-08:00

High diastolic blood pressure, what does it mean? If you have or know somebody with a high diastolic blood pressure reading then you may be asking just what the reading means. What signal is it sending? Just what is diastolic pressure anyway?

Let’s start with the last question. I’m sure you’re familiar with the blood pressure cuff and the procedure for taking your pressure. Blood pressure is the force that the blood places against the walls of your blood vessels and is measured in millimeters of mercury or mm Hg.

The heart actually places two pressures on the blood vessels. When it pumps, it exerts pressure that is measured as the systolic pressure. When the heart relaxes and refills the left chamber in preparation of the next pump, the pressure on your blood vessels is reduced and this is called diastolic pressure.

These measurements are expressed as two numbers with systolic first and diastolic second. Normal blood pressure is 110/80 or lower.

For a long time emphasis was placed on the systolic pressure simply because it was placing the most strain on the vessel system. Recently there has been more attention paid to the relationship between systolic and diastolic and there are growing concerns that a high diastolic pressure can indicate a number of problems.

Most recently, high diastolic pressure has been associated with a reduced cognition function. In other words it may boggle your mind and your ability to perform to pay attention, comprehend or perform complex tasks. There is no current evidence that this condition is tied to Alzheimer’s but studies are continuing.

Another fairly recent discovery is that high diastolic pressure may be a more accurate warning signal of an impending heart attack than systolic pressure. Again the studies are not definitive but are ongoing.

Simply put, high blood pressure is a condition that you definitely want to control. HBP affects over 60 million Americans and has earned the nickname “Silent Killer” because it has no outward symptoms. It kills 50,000 Americans each year and contributes to another 300,000 deaths.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that it not only can be controlled, but reversed in 90% of cases. If you are diagnosed with HBP and your doctor puts you on blood pressure medication, you owe it to yourself, particularly if there is a history of the disease in your family, to explore what you can do in your lifestyle to reverse the condition.

Failing to make changes in diet, exercise and stress management condemns you to a life reliant on medication. Do yourself a favor and learn how you can make small changes in your life that can make huge changes in your heart health. Your heart will thank you and so will your family.

Tired of Living With High Blood Pressure?

Interested? Click here.

Artificial Sweetener May Lower Blood Pressure

2009-12-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

Systolic and Diastolic Pressure Lowered With Sweetener

A new artificial sweetener may help reduce both diastolic and systolic blood pressure as well as lower bad cholesterol or LDL for persons who are pre-hypertensive.

The American Heart Association reports that in a recent study conducted in China by the Changhai Hospital in Shanghai, 96 pre-hypertensive subjects were given a new artificial sweetener called oligofructose or OFS. All of the patients had blood pressure readings ranging from 120 to 139 systolic and 80 to 89 diastolic.

Half the group was given 20 grams of OFS and the other half was given a placebo over a 12 week test period. At the end of the test, the group that received the OFS saw an average reduction in systolic pressure of 6.9 points and a reduction in diastolic pressure of 7.3 points.

While it is uncertain why blood pressure readings went down, this unexpected positive side effect of the sweetener will surely spur additional research in it’s use as a high blood pressure supplement.

OFS is not your typical tabletop sweetener but rather is used in the food manufacturing process to reduce fat and sugar used in foods like ice cream and pastries. While you won’t be seeing little pink packets of OFS at fast food stores, it would be a good idea to track down the brands of foods that are using it and consider their health benefit over the competition.

Alternative Medicine For High Blood Pressure

2009-11-30T06:34:00.000-08:00

7 Easy Steps To Alternative Medicine For High Blood Pressure

Over 70 million people suffer from high blood pressure so it is not surprising that many of them are seeking alternative medicine for high blood pressure. The list of high blood pressure medications is huge with over 300 brands competing for your health dollar to "control" your condition. Alternative medicine is far less expensive, has only positive side effects and is designed to "cure" your condition not simply control it.
It does however, require you to actively participate in your recovery not simply pop a pill or two each day.
Ninety percent of all high blood pressure and hypertension cases are brought on by an less than healthy lifestyle. The common factors usually present in all cases include obesity, poor diet, a sedentary lifestyle and unmanaged stress. In addition, smoking and excessive alcohol use also contributes to the disease.

It stands to reason, and the American Heart Association agrees, that if those factors can be reversed, then the disease itself can be reversed and that's the premise that alternative medicine is based on.

Without going into great detail on how they work, listed below are seven alternative approaches to controlling your blood pressure that if followed carefully, can reduce your blood pressure reading by 10 points inside of two weeks.

Decrease your consumption of salt. Removing the shaker from the table is a good start but most of your salt comes from processed foods. Read the labels to fully understand what it is you are eating. Did you know that a Big Mac has more sodium in it than a large order of fries?

Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. The produce aisle is a great source of natural vitamins, potassium, chromium, manganese and other minerals that the typical diet is deficient in. Berries and green leafy vegetables are also packed with antioxidants that reduce oxidation in the blood vessels and removes plaque from the vessel walls.

Exercise at least 30 minutes a day. This is the fastest way to lower your blood pressure and also helps to burn off the excess of hormones that are created by stress. Mild aerobic and weight training each day will do wonders not only for your blood pressure but on your general health as well.

If you are under stress, and who isn't in this economy, find ways to avoid it or reduce it. Exercise is an excellent method but obviously not the only one. Take time out of your day for meditation or deep cleansing breaths. Set aside at least thirty minutes a day to find your "safe" zone, a place where you feel stress free. That may be reading, or listening to music or whatever it is that distracts you from the stress in your life.

If you smoke, stop! Easier said than done obviously. Take advantage of all the free resources that you can find on the internet and join a support group. This is not only good for your HBP but your heart and lungs as well. And at $45 a carton, it is going to be healthy for your wallet too.

If you drink, cut back. Men should not consume more than 2 glasses a day, women should hold it to one.

Lose weight. If you follow the above alternative medicine suggestions, you will likely lose weight as well. If you are a man with a waist of 40 inches or more, or a woman with a waist greater than 36 inches, you are at risk for high blood pressure and probably diabetes as well.

Reward yourself. Don't become a health nazi. If you set realistic goals for diet and exercise and you meet them, reward yourself with something you love. Maybe it's a favorite dessert, or a trip to the movies, or a spa treatment. Whatever it is, associate a good thing with achieving your high blood pressure goals.
Imagine for a moment that it is two weeks from today. You have your blood pressure checked and it is down 10 points. How great would that be? You are on your way to a longer and healthier life.
Alternative medicine for high blood pressure is effective, cheap and natural. If you have the desire to follow a new lifestyle, you can take responsibility for your body and get back to a normal pressure without using blood pressure drugs.
Go Here For Your Step By Step Guide On Alternative Medicine For High Blood Pressure

High Blood Pressure Medications - Pick Your Poison

2009-11-27T10:16:00.000-08:00

List Of High Blood Pressure Medications

A list of high blood pressure medications can be a confusing topic and that’s unfortunate because it has such a huge impact on the quality of your life if you suffer from high blood pressure or hypertension. Controlling high blood pressure without medication is obviously the best of all possible worlds, but in some circumstances that’s just not possible.

There are a variety of blood pressure medications that your doctor has available to him to prescribe. These run from diuretics to exceptionally potent alpha blockers or vasodilators which come with potentially severe side effects. The type, strength and number of medications recommended for your condition will depend on just how elevated your pressure is.

If you are pre-hypertensive, which means your systolic pressure is between 120 and 139 and your diastolic blood pressure is between 80 and 89, your doctor will probably advise you to make changes in your lifestyle like changing to a healthier diet, getting exercise and cutting down on alcohol intake. This natural medication for high blood pressure is often times all you will need to get your pressure back to normal.
If you have stage 1 high blood pressure, 140/90 to 159/99, then your doctor will most likely prescribe a drug and that typically will be a thiazide diuretic. The diuretic will flush excess water and sodium from your system allowing for your blood pressure to go down. In addition, the thiazide diuretic provides some protection from heart attack and stroke. If you are at this stage, it becomes very important that you follow the lifestyle changes necessary to lower your blood pressure.

Failing to do this will lessen the effect of the diuretic and will result in a need for a second, more powerful drug. When you start getting into these drugs you start risking some nasty side effects and your meds will suddenly have an impact on your quality of life. Here is a partial list that might be added to the diuretic:

ACE Inhibitors. These drugs block the production of a hormone that causes the blood vessels to constrict allowing them to relax. Less constriction equals lower blood pressure. ACE Inhibitors include the drugs Capoten, Prinivil and Altace.

Angiotensin II receptor blockers. These drugs block the hormone angiotensin which allows the blood vessels to widen in response to pressure on the walls. Commonly prescribed medication in this class includes Cozaar, Benicar and Diovan.

Beta Blockers. These drugs interrupt nerve signals to the heart causing it to slow down and thereby reduce the pressure in the blood vessels. Lopressor, Corgard and Levatol are often prescribed.

Calcium Channel Blockers. This class prevents calcium from entering the heart and blood vessel cells thereby relaxing them. The big problem with this class is that it can work to well and cause your heart to relax to the point it stops beating. Common calcium channel blockers include Norvasc, Cardizem and Procardia.

Is it becoming painfully obvious that you want to avoid needing these medications?

However, if you have stage 2 hypertension, you probably won’t have any choice but to take one or more of these drugs as it is essential that you get your pressure lowered as quickly as possible. Stage 2 hypertension is a blood pressure reading greater than 160/100.

Combining drugs is quite common. Often times this will mean you can take a lower dose of each which is good for your body, and it could prove less expensive as well. If your doctor has prescribed a combination, do not settle for anything less than a mix that allows you to control the pressure with minimal side effects.

Of course the best way to avoid all this is simply to focus on a natural cure which does not use drugs but relies on changes in diet, exercise and stress management. Focusing on those three areas effectively can reduce your pressure reading by 20 points inside three weeks.

Understand, taking a pill doesn’t require much discipline, changing the way you eat and live does. Which one makes more sense to you in the long run?

Find The Natural Solution To Shave 20 Points In 3 Weeks Here

Combat Stress And High Blood Pressure - Another Threat To Our Troops

2009-11-24T13:27:00.000-08:00

Stress is a leading contributor to high blood pressure and hypertension. Can you for a minute compare the stress you face everyday with that of our troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan? It’s not surprising that a recent study shows a significant increase in high blood pressure among those troops who face multiple combat deployments.

Now along with post traumatic stress disorder, depression, substance abuse and attention deficit syndrome, we can add the Silent Killer to the risks that our armed forces face as a result of multiple combat exposures. In a report released by the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, researchers found that troops with combat exposure were 33% more likely to develop high blood pressure than those troops in a supporting role.

While this is probably not an astounding finding, what is interesting is of those who were in combat, the significant increase of high blood pressure cases came from troops who witnessed or were exposed to a person’s death as a result of violence or disaster. Those who did not witness these events had a much lower rate of high blood pressure.

Aside from being yet another danger that our armed forces must face, how does this impact on the general public’s dealing with hypertension?

We know, or think we know, that high blood pressure can result from a bad diet and a sedentary life style as well as stress. However, in this examination of combat troops, obesity or lack of exercise certainly was not an issue and their diet, while not very tasty, is a carefully planned 1250 calorie MRE.

So that brings us to stress. Granted the stress levels of combat are significantly higher than we experience, but it points out the importance of managing our stress to maintain our health.

Exercise, sleep and meditation are exceptionally important in managing stress. You need to be able to master these techniques to ensure a better chance of managing blood pressure.

Lower Diastolic Blood Pressure

2009-11-24T09:04:00.000-08:00

Is your diastolic blood pressure reading greater than 80 mm HG? If it is between 81 and 99 you are pre-hypertensive. If your reading is greater than 100 then you have hypertension. In either case you need to lower your diastolic reading back to normal to avoid possible serious medical consequences.

Recent studies indicate that a high diastolic reading has an impact on cognitive function. That is to say people with this condition have a more difficult time performing mental tasks and may have an impaired memory as well. Does this mean high diastolic pressure causes Alzheimer’s? The jury is still out on that but for certain you want to take action to lower the pressure and the sooner the better.

There are basically two ways to get your blood pressure under control.

Your doctor may prescribe one or more blood pressure medications. These can include diuretics, beta blockers, alpha blockers or calcium channel blockers. These medications, with the exception of the diuretics, are designed to interrupt your body’s natural response to high blood pressure in an effort to control or limit the damage done by the condition.

Medication is an ongoing therapy. It’s important to recognize that these drugs do not cure hypertension, they control it. That means you will be on one or more daily medications for the rest of your life because without them, the condition will return full blown with the possibility of fatal results.

Not a pretty picture is it?

Even if you are on medication today, there are things you can do to lower diastolic pressure naturally and safely. In fact the American Heart Association recommends a change in lifestyle to include diet, exercise and stress management as the first defense against this disease.

Why is that?

Well it’s because nobody knows for certain what causes high blood pressure or hypertension, but it is commonly accepted that those people with the condition also have one or more of the following in common:

Obesity. Being overweight not only puts additional strain on the heart, it also actually causes a greater pressure problem trying to get blood into the small capillaries that exist in the fat. The larger your blood vessel system is, the more effort the heart has to make to keep circulation going.

Stress. High levels of stress, both physical and emotional, have an adverse impact on the heart. Stress can release high levels of adrenalin and other hormones that place an undue burden on the body. This is further aggravated when you add caffeinated drinks and nicotine to the mix.

Heart Unhealthy Diet. This actually applies to most Americans. We eat a diet that is excessively high in sodium thanks to all the processed foods we consume. We are addicted to convenience and do not eat nearly enough fresh fruits and vegetables. Top this off with our love affair with the deep fat fryer and you have a diet designed to create plaque, clots and hardened blood vessels.

So what’s the way to lower diastolic blood pressure safely? Just take a look at the three conditions above and start attacking them. You don’t have to get drastic about it, even small improvements will result in a lower blood pressure reading.

Three quick fixes include:

Get at least 30 minutes of mild aerobic exercise like walking or cycling each day. This is the absolutely fastest way to lower your blood pressure. In addition, over time you will shed a couple of pounds as well. Lastly, exercise is a great way to repair the damage done by stress.

Get some sleep. Sleep is the number one natural stress reliever. You don’t need drugs; you need 7 to 8 hours of good sleep each night.

Change your diet. Eat more potassium from fresh fruits and vegetables. This will help offset the excess of sodium. Drink plenty of water. Actually drink one half your body weight expressed in ounces each day. This has a number of benefits but for blood pressure, the number one benefit is that being hydrated adds elasticity to the blood vessels.

So if you want to lower your blood pressure you have these two choices. Medication that is both expensive and comes with side effects; or making changes in your life that will allow a natural reduction in pressure. The choice is yours.

Click Here For A Great Natural Remedy For High Blood Pressure!

High Blood Pressure Can Lead To A Healthier Life

2009-11-23T10:18:00.000-08:00

If you have been diagnosed with high blood pressure then you have already had the speech from your doctor about the dangers of the condition and hopefully, the need to change your lifestyle to manage and reverse the disease. If you are one of the unfortunates who's doctor immediately placed them on medication, it's going to be a little more difficult for you to see the silver lining that hypertension can bring.

High blood pressure kills. That's a pretty good motivation to make the needed changes in your life. Some will argue that millions still smoke, but smoking takes years to develop cancer and it is a remote threat not foremost in the smokers' mind. Being diagnosed with HBP is like the smoker who was just told he has cancer. It is in the here and now, not some distant point in the future.

So what's the upside?

The upside is that the cure for HBP involves a diet rich in potassium, low in sodium, high in antioxidants and Omega-3 fatty acids. It's got plenty of fiber and requires full hydration. It focuses on fresh food rather than processed food. It calls for low fat dairy products and a reduction in fats.

In other words, it matches the suggested diets for ailments like colon cancer, to heart disease to hemorrhoids. By treating your HBP you are strengthening your defenses against other diseases.

And, you are going to look better! The diet was not designed to be a weight loss diet, but if you are overweight, you will loose weight. The diet will help and when it's coupled with the exercise routine you will have to formulate, not only will you loose weight, you'll tone up as well.
Diet and exercise are important elements in reversing high blood pressure but they are relatively easy to do with just minor tweaks (unless you are addicted to Burger King) in lifestyle. Stress, which is the third leg in the cure, requires more work. If you can master stress management, keep to your diet and exercise routines, then not only will you reverse the HBP but you will look better and feel better than before you were diagnosed.

You will have literally taken your health lemon and turned it into lemonade.

Click Here To Get A Start On Your New Healthy Lifestyle

Fantastic Basic Understanding Of High Blood Pressure

2009-11-20T08:59:00.001-08:00

I stumbled across this video which provides an excellent overview of high blood pressure, what it is and what the risks are. It's presented in everyday language and exceptionally easy to follow. If you want a quick run down on the Silent Killer, spend a couple of minutes reviewing this video.

Eat Your Way To Lower Blood Pressure

2009-11-19T03:37:00.000-08:00

Are you one of the 60 million Americans with high blood pressure? Would you like to quit that less than elite club? What if I told you, you can eat your way to lower blood pressure? What if I told you, you could literally eat like a hog and drop 9 to 10 points off your blood pressure reading?

Would you be willing to give that a try?

Your current diet is probably why you have high blood pressure in the first place. Our Western diet is chock full of salt, cholesterol and saturated fats. We eat very little fresh food meaning almost everything we eat has been processed one way or another.

Think about this for a minute. Even though there have been tremendous breakthroughs in farming and food technology (much of what we eat today didn’t exist in its current form 50 years ago) our bodies have not evolved to keep up with the changes. It’s like our bodies want leaded gas but all we have available to feed it is unleaded. Just like a car’s engine, our body will still run but it will run rough until it quits altogether.

Eating food that we were not designed to eat has created imbalances in our bodies. One of the results of those imbalances is high blood pressure. Because of our huge increase in consuming sodium, we have set up an environment that ultimately encourages oxidation and it is that oxidation that creates plaque, blockages and is partly responsible for the hardening of the blood vessels.

When the blood vessels lose their elasticity and their diameter is reduced by plaque and blockages, more pressure is created against the blood vessel walls each time the heart pumps. I’m sure you already know this but that increased pressure can lead to some pretty serious conditions like stroke, blindness, kidney failure and heart attack.

So if we caused this condition by eating food that was bad for us what can we do? Why not try eating food that is good for us?

The American Heart Association endorses a diet called DASH and claims that blood pressure can be reduced by as much 10 mm HMC in just a few weeks.

DASH is based on reducing salt intake and greatly increasing the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables. Fresh foods, or foods that are freshly frozen, contain the vitamins, minerals, good fats and antioxidants that our body was designed to eat. Don’t mistake this for a vegetarian diet because it’s not. However several servings of red meat are replaced with fish, poultry and lean white meat.

DASH is also not a weight loss diet but you will undoubtedly lose weight on it. DASH is not so concerned about how much you eat but rather what you eat. Remember I said you could eat like a hog? Do you know what hogs eat? They eat corn, barley, oats, wheat and rye, all whole grains. The farmer will add in cottonseed, nuts and soy beans as well. You can eat as much of that stuff as you can stomach.

The diet has some surprising “super foods” that are particularly helpful in repairing the damage done by high blood pressure. Garlic, bananas, tomatoes, all kinds of berries, spinach, cauliflower and pistachios all have surprisingly high nutrient content.

So the choice is yours. You can continue to pop blood pressure medication every day for the rest of your life, or you can take responsibility for your body and explore the natural way to lower blood pressure. Your body will thank you for caring.

Exercise Your Way To Lower Blood Pressure

2009-11-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

Did you know that mild aerobic exercise is the fastest way to lower high blood pressure? When I say fast I’m talking immediately. If you could reduce your blood pressure reading by 2 to 3 points right now, would it be worth thirty minutes of walking. And, those 30 minutes don’t even have to be all at once, it just has to be within a 24 hour period.

Often times high blood pressure is associated with an inactive lifestyle which also encourages being overweight. Reversing this condition by doing as little as 30 minutes of walking or cycling or any exercise (scrubbing the floor) that gets your heart rate and breathing up has both immediate and long term affects.

Regular aerobic exercise tones up the heart muscle and makes it stronger. A stronger heart does not have to exert as much pressure to pump blood. Less effort pumping means a lower blood pressure. You’ll see the results immediately upon ending your exercise with a drop of a couple of points. However, if you keep on the regimen for two to three months, you can expect a drop of 10 points.

For some people, exercise is the only thing they need to do to control high blood pressure.

Of course there are other benefits as well. There are those feel good endorphins that the brain releases as a result of the effort you are putting your body through. It’s a natural high and also a great stress reliever. And be it ever so slow, you will lose weight. The longer you stretch that 30 minutes out, the faster you’ll lose weight.

Diet is important but exercise will yield you faster results and make you feel good at the same time.

A Cure For Hypertension Is As Close As Your Grocery Store

2009-11-15T10:11:00.000-08:00

While there is no clear consensus on what the core causes of hypertension are, the medical community agrees on the mechanics of the disease. Often called the "Silent Killer" because it can cause a stroke or heart attack with no apparent symptoms, hypertension or high blood pressure has become a public health issue affecting one out of four adults.

And you know what? This killer is preventable and reversible.

Up until the late 90s Americans routinely turned to drugs to control the condition. However, drugs come with their own set of problems such as side effects and cost. A study performed in 1998 suggested that a diet rich in certain vegetables, fruits and low fat dairy products could prevent or reduce high blood pressure. This diet is known as Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension or DASH.

In one study in New York, a group of people with high blood pressure were placed on the DASH diet and told to do nothing else, like exercise, to try and lower their BP. In two weeks time virtually all of them had seen a reduction in blood pressure.

Here are some of the hero ingredients of that diet:

The Amazing Garlic

Not only useful for keeping vampires away, the garlic is a powerful vegetable with a one two punch. It acts as a vasodilator and can assist in opening the arteries which in turn reduces pressure. In addition it contains an antioxidant that attacks the free radicals that are destroying cells. Aside from hypertension, the garlic has been proven to help in the prevention of colon and stomach cancers as well.

Ironically, this powerful little fighter is the exception to the rule and is more potent as a supplement than it is raw or cooked.

The Top Banana

When there is an imbalance in our body between sodium and potassium the hypertension becomes more severe. Almost everyone knows that they should reduce their intake of sodium but this is a tricky thing.

Most people think that cutting salt intake means leaving the shaker on the table. However, all processed food and some "fresh" meat have sodium in them. The principal reason salt is added to processed food is to get a better flavor not because it is required by the actual processing. It shows up in food that we would not associate it with.

Can you imagine sitting down to your morning bowl of corn flakes and sprinkling a spoonful of salt on it? Of course not. But check out the ingredients on the cereal box and you'll see that it contains 11% to 12% of your DRA for sodium per serving.

So it's a tricky business controlling sodium but the bigger issue is the balance of sodium to potassium. If we don't know how much sodium we are taking in, we can certainly add more potassium just by eating bananas. Three to six servings a day are recommended in the DASH.

If you're not a banana fan, try watermelon, spinach, oranges or almonds; all good sources of potassium.

Fiberrific Fruits and Beans

Another typical shortage in the American diet is dietary fiber both soluble which helps blood pressure, and insoluble which helps in our digestive tract and can indirectly reduce strain on the vascular system. Fruits are super high in both types of fiber as well as legumes.

Go Fishing For Good Health

Probably the toughest part of the diet is the reduction of red meat and the increase of "oily" fish like salmon and mackerel. Tuna, probably the most popular, is unfortunately low on the fish oil that impacts cholesterol.

So diet can cure, or cause, hypertension. For the entire chart of foods in the DASH diet go here. Understand you don't have to change everything at once. You can "evolve" this diet into your family's meals a little at a time and still see the benefits.

High Diastolic Blood Pressure and Dementia

2009-11-14T06:19:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot of talk that high diastolic pressure may cause a lessening of cognitive function but none of the studies were conclusive. Recently the University of Alabama at Birmingham concluded a study of nearly 20,000 otherwise healthy people and it concludes that there is no doubt that abnormal diastolic pressure can impact the brain's ability to reason and may be a precursor to dementia.

These findings are across the board regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or geography.

Apparently diastolic pressure encourages the stiffening of the small cerebral blood vessels which "starves" cells responsible for long and short term memory. We often think of hardening and blockage of the vessels as affecting arteries and veins. Don't forget that that same damage is occurring in even the smallest of vessels throughout the body. There was no evidence that systolic pressure had any similar influence on these blood vessels.

So what does this mean?

It means that doctors now have another risk to evaluate with persons who have high blood pressure. This may become even more important as our population ages. Normally older people will see an increase in systolic pressure once they hit their mid 60s. Now if a doctor notices an increase in diastolic he knows that there is a risk of possible dementia.

However, just like the overall negative effects of HBP, these conditions leading to cognitive dysfunction do not happen overnight. High blood pressure can work on the vascular system for years creating inflexible blood vessels lined with plaque without any outward symptoms. Once again, this additional risk validates the idea of attacking HBP aggressively when it is first diagnosed. If you wait for the symptoms to appear (heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, blindness etc) you've obviously waited too long.

A third of the population who know they have this condition allow it to go untreated. Eventually it will become an obvious problem for them, but it will also put significant pressure on our medical resources as well. If you have HBP or hypertension, please don't ignore it for all our sakes.

Blood Pressure Medication - Can You Live With The Side Effects?

2009-11-14T05:08:00.000-08:00

Now that you're on high blood pressure medicine, how are the side effects of the drugs affecting your life?

How are things at work? Are you just as productive as you used to be or do you find yourself becoming tired and easily distracted. Do you find yourself blaming the medication or just the fact that you have high blood pressure for any difficulties you might have on the job?

When was the last time you felt optimistic about anything?

Are the side effects interfering with things you used to do? Do you still have a hobby or a sport that you participate in regularly?

How's your sex life?

When was the last time you felt like you were in the "zone"?

Do you worry that this disease can shorten your life?
ACE Inhibitors, Calcium Channel Blockers, Beta Blockers and even diuretics come with a litany of side effects ranging from annoying to lethal. Unfortunately that's just part of being on BP meds and these side effects are going to be with you for the rest of your life.

If that doesn't sound like an attractive way to live, there are some ways to reduce your blood pressure naturally that could at least lower the dose of medication you need, and, if you're serious about it, totally cure your condition. No more meds equals no more side effects. Sound good?

The natural cure for high blood pressure is pretty simple. It's not rocket science and it's no where near as difficult as say quitting smoking. However, it does require that you make changes in your life style and these changes have to stay with you for life. If you are one of those people who just enjoys complaining about how miserable they are and won't do anything about it, stop reading this article now and go mope somewhere else.

I spend a lot of time in BP forums and have found some people who probably now have enough knowledge of every obscure blood pressure pharmaceutical that they could pass a test to become a pharmacist and open a drug store. I just want to scream at them "eat a banana" or "push back from that computer, get off your butt and go for a walk". Maybe it's unfair, but continual carping does nothing to improve blood pressure.

So what is this natural cure?

Your doctor probably mentioned it when you were diagnosed. He probably told you to change your diet, exercise and try to minimize stress. Then he gave you a bottle of pills and said take one a day and you'll be fine.

So what did you do? You probably stopped using salt on your food. Big deal. Americans consume 6 times the salt that they need each day. Taking away the salt you sprinkle on your food is just a drop in the bucket. If you are still eating processed foods, you are still getting way too much salt.

Then you probably "thought" about exercise. You might even have tried it for a couple of days. Then you probably rationalized that it took too much time or you were afraid it would worsen your blood pressure.

Lower stress? You've just been told you have a disease that could kill you. How can you possibly lower stress?

By taking a pill. Taking that pill takes a lot of the stress away but it comes with a price. In fact, a false sense of protection might be the deadliest side effect of all if it means you become complacent with your condition.

So what do you need to do?

If you're serious about ending the side effects, improving your overall health, living a longer life, then you have to have a comprehensive plan of attack. Tips won't help you. EzineArticles has hundreds of blood pressure tips, but all of them, including mine, just brush upon a few specific ideas. If you know how to golf I can give you "Tips" on improving your putting. If you've never played golf, those "Tips" will mean nothing to you. Same with your BP plan.

Do the research, write down a plan and schedule and keep committed to the idea of a better life. I know you can do it.

If you want to jump start your plan for a natural cure, if you want to take the uncertainty out of internet research, then you need to grab the report at http://mynaturalcures.info.

High Blood Pressure and the Humor Cure

2009-11-13T10:56:00.000-08:00

Ok my last post was a bit downbeat. To prove I'm not just an angry woman, let me share this email I just received today:

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?
A: Your heart only good for so many beats, and that it...don't waste on exercise. Everything wear out eventually. Speeding up heart not make you live longer; it like saying you extend life of car by driving faster. Want to live longer? Take nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiency. What does cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So steak is nothing more than efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef also good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And pork chop can give you 100% of recommended daily allowance of vegetable product.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: No, not at all. Wine made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that mean they take water out of fruity bit so you get even more of goodness that way. Beer also made of grain. Bottom up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have body and you have fat, your ratio one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?
A: Can't think of single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No pain...good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: YOU NOT LISTENING! Food are fried these day in vegetable oil. In fact, they permeated by it. How could getting more vegetable be bad for you?!?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise muscle, it get bigger. You should only be doing sit-up if you want bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy?!? HEL-LO-O!! Cocoa bean! Another vegetable! It best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming good for your figure, explain whale to me..

Q: Is getting in shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! 'Round' a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

And remember:

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO-HOO, what a ride!!"

AND....

For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans...

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION:

Eat and drink what you like.
Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

Well I have to go now, I'm late for my Spanish lesson.

Ignoring High Blood Pressure Might Kill You - And Break Us

2009-11-13T08:43:00.000-08:00

According to the American Heart Association one third of the people walking around with high blood pressure don't know it. Why? Because they don't get regular physical exams.

High blood pressure and hypertension have no outward symptoms. The only way to know for sure that you do, or do not, have the condition is to have your pressure read by a medical professional. If you don't go to the doctor, that just isn't going to happen.

Why don't people go to the doctor? It may be fear, lack of access, no insurance, whatever. That's a subject for a whole other post.

But here is another amazing fact put forward by the AHA, fully one third of those who know they have high blood pressure are not treating it.

If you do nothing, if you continue to live the life you led and make no changes in diet or exercise, you are a ticking time bomb. High blood pressure isn't a virus. It will not go away like a cold or the flu. It's in your body and getting more dangerous each day you don't do something about it.

You'll probably figure that out after the heart attack or stroke or kidney failure. Assuming you live of course.

And how much is that going to cost? Not just the medical expenses for you which will be huge, but the drain on medical resources which are already scarce. What about the lost productivity. You're not likely to bounce into work a week after a stroke. Somebody has to pick up that slack or it's lost.

High blood pressure kills 50,000 people each year and contributes to 300,000 additional deaths. That's just the dead. How many thousands of others have to go through rehab and special home care?

The economic cost of this disease is staggering!

And the really sad part about it is that it can be 100% controlled and 90% reversed.

So before you jump into the next argument over a National Health Care System, either pro or con, think about the 41 million Americans who either haven't taken the time to get diagnosed or who simply ignore their high blood pressure. Laws cannot force personal responsibility on our personal health choices. We have to take on that task ourselves.