What the heck is ……. High Blood Pressure?

 

You know high blood pressure is bad,but you probably have a little trouble getting your head around the whole concept of how blood pressure works. Cant we just let a little of the blood out and lower the pressure? If only it was so easy.

When most people think of blood pressure, they think in terms of garden hose; too much pressure and the hose, unless you open the valve. But that model is too simple. It helps instead to think of your circulatory system as more like the Grand Union Canal, a series of locks and gates that help blood move around where it’s needed. See, gravity works on your blood just like it works on the rest of your body: it wants to pull everything downwards. So imagine you hopping out of bed tomorrow morning and standing up. Gravity wants to take all the blood that’s distributed throughout your body and pull it down into your feet. You, on the other hand, would like that blood to pump to your brain, where it can help you figure out where the hell your keys are.

On cue, arteries in the lower body constrict while the heart dramatically increases output. The instant result: blood pressure rises and flows to the brain. Ahh, there they are, in the dog’s water dish, right where you left them.

It’s an ingenious system but that’s incredibly easy to throw out of whack. When you pack on extra padding around your gut, your heart pumps harder to force blood into all the new fatty tissue. When you nosh on crisps and other high sodium foods, your body retains water in order to dilute the excess salt. This increases overall blood volume. When you line your arteries with plaque from too many fatty meals, pressure increases as the same amount of blood has to squeeze through newly narrowed vessels. When you let the pressures of the day haunt you into the night, your brain pumps out stress hormones that keep your body in perpetual state of fight-or-flight anxiousness, also forcing your heart to pump harder. High-salt, high-fat diets and an excess of stress, all combine to create a dangerous situation.

Much of the dismay of Quentin Tarrntino fans, letting out some blood wont relieve the pressure. Your heart is still pumping, and your blood vessels are still dilating and contracting to make sure the blood goes where it’s needed. When the pressure remains high for years on end, thin walled vessels in the brain can burst under extreme pressure. Brain cells die as a result in what’s known as a haemorrhagic stroke. Alternatively hypertension can cause plaque build-up in one of the brains arteries, eventually cutting off blood flow. (High blood pressure damages smooth artery walls, creating anchor points for plaque to latch onto.) Kidney failure or heart attack can also follow from dangerous plaque accumulations.

Then there’s the plain old wear and tear that high blood pressure causes on your ticker. Over time, the extra work brought on by high blood pressure causes the wall of the heart to stiffen and thicken. The heart becomes a less efficient pump, unable to push out as much blood as it takes in. Blood backs up, the heart gives out and the coroner scribbles congestive heart failure on your chart.

Ideally, your blood pressure should be 120 / 80 or lower. What do those numbers mean? The top number, called the systolic pressure, is the pressure generated when the heart beats. The bottom number is the diastolic pressure, the pressure on your blood vessels when the heart is resting between beats. Higher readings are broken down into three categories:

Prehypertensive: 120-139 systolic/80-89 diastolic

Prehypertensives should start worrying now about their blood pressure, concentrating on the diet and exercise tips like those found in the Abs Diet. You may not see the flashing lights in your mirror right now, but your radar detector just went off. Time to slow down.

Stage 1 hypertensive 140-159 systolic/90-99 diastolic

For people who fall in this range,drug therapy is usually recommended and you should be under a doctors care.

Stage 2 hypertensive 160 or greater systolic/100 or greater diastolic

Advanced drug therapy is often a must for people at this level, who face a serious risk of being maimed or killed by their condition.

So, two questions. Do you know what your blood pressure is? If not, are you freaked out enough by now to start taking care of it? Fortunately, the Abs Diet Power foods can help by cutting down on the bad fats in your diet and increasing the good ones by slashing away some of the extra weight. So can the Abs Diet Workout, as well as a few stress reduction techniques. (To find out how you can help manage your stress level, see HOW STRESS MAKES YOU FAT. Lets try attacking the problem with these simple tips.

Make it a V8

A can of V8 contains nearly 800 milligrams (mg) of potassium. In a study published in the Journal of Human Hypertension, researchers found that prehypertensive patients who added more potassium to their diets lowered their systolic pressure by 2.5 points and their diastolic by 1.6 points. Potassium helps sweep excess sodium from the circulatory system, causing the blood vessels to dilate. What makes V8 better than a banana (another good source of potassium)? V8 also contains Lycopene and Lutein, two phytochemicals that have their own blood pressure-lowering properties.

Cut out the cold cuts

One slice of ham contains 240 (mg) of sodium, more salt than you’ll find on the outside of two pretzel rods. The point: loose the lunchmeat and lower your blood pressure. A recent study found that prehypertensive people who reduced their daily sodium consumption from 3,300 to 1500 (mg) knocked nearly 6 points off their systolic blood pressure and close to 3 off their diastolic. If you want to have your sandwich and eat it too, at least switch to a low-sodium brand of meat-ham, turkey, chicken, roast beef and leave the pickle on the plate (833 mg of sodium). Another rule of thumb: if a food comes canned or jarred, it’s probably a salt mine.

Go two rounds and out

Make the second drink of your night your last call for alcohol. In a landmark study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that one or two drinks a day actually decreased blood pressure slightly. Three drinks or more a day however, elevated blood pressure by an average of 10 points systolic and four points diastolic. The type of alcohol doesnt matter. Heck, order a screwdriver: orange juice is one of the best sources of blood pressure lowering potassium.

Drink more tea

An American study showed that men who drank two cups of tea a day were 25% less likely to die of heart disease than men who rarely touched the stuff. The reason: flavonoids in the tea not only improve blood vessels ability to relax but also thin the blood, reducing clotting.

Top your toast

Blackcurrant jelly is a good source of quercetin, an antioxidant that Finnish researchers believe may improve heart health by preventing the build up of the free radicals that can damage the arterial walls and allow plaque to penetrate.

Grab a Granny (Smith)

Men who frequently eat apples have a 20% lower risk of developing heart disease than men who eat apples less often.

Eat fresh berries

Raspberries, strawberries and blueberries are all loaded with salicylic acid, the same heart disease fighter found in aspirin.

Order the tuna

Omega,3 fats in tuna and other fish as well as flaxseed help strengthen heart muscle, Lower blood pressure, prevent clotting and reduce levels of potentially deadly inflammation in the body.

Squeeze a grapefruit

One grapefruit a day can reduce arterial narrowing by 46%, lower your bad cholesterol level by more than 10% and help reduce your blood pressure by more than 5 points.

Feast on potassium

Slice of banana (487 mg) on you cereal, bake a sweet potato (694 mg) or cook up some spinach for dinner (170 g / 6 oz cooked spinach, 792 mg). All are loaded with potassium. Studies show that not getting at least 2,000 mg of potassium daily can set you up for high blood pressure. Other good sources of potassium include raisins (145 g/ 5 oz,1086 mg), tomatoes (240 ml / 8 fl oz passata / sieved tomatoes, 811 mg), beans (170 g / 6oz canned red kidney beans, 402 mg) and papayas (one has 781 mg of the mineral).

Buy calcium fortified orange juice

Increasing the calcium in you diet can lower your blood pressure. You’ll derive a benefit from the vitamin C as well. According to research in England, people with the most vitamin C in their bloodstreams are 40% less likely to die of heart disease.

Snack on pumpkin seeds

Thirty grams / 1 oz of seeds contains 151 mg of magnesium, more than a third of you recommended daily intake. Magnesium defiences have been linked to most risk factors for heart disease, including high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels and increased build up of plaque in the arteries. Other great sources: halibut (200g / 7 oz,187 mg), brown rice (200g / 7 oz,86 mg), chickpeas (170g / 6 oz,82 mg), cashews (30g / 1 oz,74 mg) and artichokes (one gives you 72 mg).

Change your oil

Researchers in India found that men who replaced the corn and vegetable oils in their kitchens with monounsaturated fats (olive oil or in this case, sesame seed oil) lowered their blood pressure by more than 30 points in just 60 days without making any other changes to their diets.

Cut down on mindless sweet snacking

A compound in liquorice root has been shown to spike blood pressure, especially in men who eat a lot of black liquorice. Fruit flavoured liquorice however, doesnt contain the compound.

 

 

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