5 Reasons To Prevent High Blood Pressure Before It Happens!

High Blood Pressure

Hi all,
I would like to conclude the sharing on this subject of High Blood Pressure with some 'why' we should look after our blood pressure.

5 Reasons To Prevent High Blood Pressure Before It Happens

You may wonder why it's so important to prevent high blood pressure. Why not simply wait for it to develop and then treat it? Below are 5 reasons why it's better to act early instead of later.

1. Better odds: Generally, the younger you are when you try to change your lifestyle, the better your chances of succeeding. The longer you're involved in an unhealthful habit, the more difficult it is for you to change that habit.

2. Reduced health risks: Even if you're able to control your high blood pressure after the disease develops, you still have a higher risk of a heart attack or stroke than people who don't have high blood pressure.

3. Control difficulties: Managing high blood pressure isn't always easy. Only about a quarter of Americans with high blood pressure have their condition under control.

4. Side effects: Medications to treat high blood pressure can sometimes cause side effects, such as fatigue, headaches, constipation, a nagging cough and loss of sex drive.

5. Cost: Treating high blood pressure typically includes more frequent trips to your doctor. Plus, you may need to take medication daily.

You can see the benefits of looking after your blood pressure as early as possible.

Ok, that's all for today sharing.

For your info, I will be away for the next five days, we shall 'meet' again this weekend.

Till then, take care and stay healthy.

Cheers.

High Blood Pressure

Play With This Type of Fire, You Will Not Only Get Burned, But.......

High Blood Pressure

Hi all,
Yes, I am talking about the habit of Smoking. Everybody knows the damage smoking can do to our health yet people ignore it.

Smoking & High Blood Pressure: Play With Fire & You Will Get Burned!

When you play with fire, you get burned. When you smoke, you run the risk of getting burned inside and out. Whether tobacco is smoked, chewed, or taken in by any other means, the nicotine in the tobacco raises the blood pressure. The more you smoke, the higher the nicotine level is in your blood, and the higher your blood pressure. This accounts to a large extent for the great increase in brain attacks, heart attacks, and pain in the legs due to poor circulation in smokers, sometimes leading to amputation.

Nicotine raises your blood pressure by constricting your blood vessels. This occurs because the oxygen in your blood decreases and because nicotine directly stimulates the production of a hormone, epinephrine (also known as adrenaline), in the adrenal gland. Epinephrine raises blood pressure. After tobacco use raises blood pressure, you're at risk of all the medical consequences of high blood pressure, not to mention diseases associated with smoking, such as mouth and lung cancer.

Numerous studies have shown that smoking or chewing tobacco raises blood pressure and that when you stop using tobacco products, your blood pressure falls. The latest such study in the Journal of Hypertension (February 2002) comes from France. Out of 12,417 men who were current smokers, previous smokers, and never smokers, current smokers had the highest prevalence of high blood pressure. Previous smokers had a lower prevalence with the highest rate of high blood pressure in those who had recently stopped and had smoked for the longest time. Those who had never started smoking had the lowest prevalence of high blood pressure. Do you need more evidence than that?

Even though this article is extremely brief on the subject, you have enough evidence of the dangers of tobacco and enough helpful advice to quit using tobacco that you would have to be really careless not to stop immediately, if not sooner. Drugs that have caused a small fraction of the illness and death that tobacco can be blamed for have been taken off the market. So why are cigarettes still sold legally and advertised in many of our most prestigious magazines? The answer to that question lies squarely at the feet of government and the millions of dollars spent on cigarettes that are turned around and used to influence that government.

So, Quit Smoking and stay healthy.

Cheers.

High Blood Pressure

Like To Learn 15 Easy Ways To Cut Down On Sodium In Your Diet?

High Blood Pressure

Hi all,
This post will be the last writing on Sodium.

15 Easy Ways To Cut Down On Sodium In Your Diet

It is practically common knowledge that eating too much salt can wreak havoc on blood pressure. But how can we eat with flavor and at the same time cut the amount of salt in our foods? Well you do not have to sacrifice flavor when you cut down on sodium if you follow these 15 suggestions:

1. Don't add salt to pasta or other starchy foods that will be topped with other foods. The toppings usually add enough flavors so that you don't even notice the missing salt.

2. Balance your salt intake. If your breakfast is high in salt, eat low- salt meals for the rest of the day.

3. Remove the salt shaker from your table and use lemon juice on food instead of salt.

4. Don't use onion salt or garlic salt as spices because they are just flavored salt. Use real onion or garlic for more flavor without the salt.

5. Avoid store-bought mixes for biscuits, cakes, pancakes, muffins, cornbread, etc. If you prepare your own, you can control the ingredients.

6. Read all labels to determine the sodium content and buy low sodium products whenever possible. Remember to avoid any sodium-containing additives.

7. Learn about the many natural herbs, spices and fruit peels that are available. You may decide to grow your own or experiment with store-bought herbs.

8. Use one of several salt-free mixtures of herbs and spices that are available for seasonings.

9. Don't use potassium chloride salt substitutes. They can increase potassium levels in your body and may even cause heart rhythm abnormalities.

10. To spice chicken dishes, add fruits such as mandarin oranges or pineapples.

11. Marinate chicken, fish, beef or poultry in orange juice or lemon juice. Add a honey glaze.

12. Marinate meat in wine or add wine to Sauces or soups. If you thoroughly cook the dish, most of the alcohol will evaporate, but the flavor will be enhanced.

13. Use fresh vegetables whenever possible. However, if you must use canned vegetables, wash them in cool water before using. Rinsing will help remove some of the salt added when processing.

14. Just a little green pepper, parsley, paprika or red pepper can add a lot of flavor to a meal.

15. Be sure to keep your meals attractive and include a variety of colors and textures. Most people are more tempted to add salt when the meal appears bland.

That's all for Sodium.

Cheers.

High Blood Pressure