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treated, high blood pressure can result in stroke, heart attack,
kidney disease, and even blindness as a result of hemorrhage in
the retina of the eye. Persons with high blood pressure have eight
times the risk of stroke and three times the risk of heart attack
compared to those with normal blood pressure. In
general, the lower the blood pressure, the better. Those having
lower pressures live longer than those with higher levels. The
incidence of heart attacks and strokes increases as the blood
pressure increases. There
is no point at which the risk suddenly increases greatly.
Therefore, what is termed normal or abnormal are arbitrary
divisions. A reading of 120/80 is considered to be normal.
However, lower blood pressures such as 100/60 may
result in longer life.
Factors
You Can Control Many
controllable factors contribute to high blood pressure. Should you
have any of these problems, be sure to take the proper measures to
control them. Obesity.
If you are overweight, that factor alone may elevate your blood
pressure; you should reduce your weight immediately. Reducing
weight has been the biggest single factor (greater than even a
low-salt diet) in lower blood pressure. The
proper way to do this is very simple: exercise more and eat less.
Exercise has not been shown to be of great benefit in losing
weight, but has been shown to be of great benefit in keeping the
pounds off and not regaining the weight. If you find reducing to
be difficult, here are some hints that may help you.
Eat
a good diet, limit salt to one teaspoon a day, avoid high-cholesterol
and saturated-fat foods, and use more fruits and vegetables. Do
not snack. This is all that most overweight
people need to know to control their weight. By stopping your
between-meal snacks, you can reduce your daily intake by several
hundred calories. Reduce
the use of empty and refined calories. There are four basic food types
that contain calories of this kind. Visible
fats. These are fats such as cooking oil, margarine, and similar
fats that are visible in or on your food. Sugar.
Eliminate foods that are high in sugar, such as desserts, soft drinks,
ice cream, doughnuts, and other between-meal sweets. Refined
cereals. Cooked cereals are usually better than commercial dry
cereals. If you like dry cereals, use products such as shredded wheat,
which are whole-grain and do not have added sugar. Alcohol.
Drinking alcoholic beverages can result in a surprisingly high intake
of empty calories. Reduce
the use of foods high in saturated fats and cholesterol, such as
meat, whole milk and cheese, hard shortenings, and eggs. Eat
a good breakfast. If it is necessary to skip a meal in order to
lose weight, skip supper rather than breakfast. Two studies show that
the same number of calories taken in the morning do not put on as many
pounds as when taken in the evening. Use
food high in fiber and water content such as greens, carrot,
string beans, and so forth, which will fill you up without putting on
much weight. These are called low-calorie-density foods. It has been
demonstrated that on a high-fiber diet one is satisfied with only 50
percent as many calories. Exercise.
To lower blood pressure, one needs continuous exercise of a least 20
minutes duration. Probably the best exercise is walking. Work up to
the 20 or 30 minutes gradually. Before doing any vigorous exercise,
have your physician do an electrocardiogram/stress test to be sure
your heart can take it. Stress
and Emotion. Stress and tension may also elevate blood pressure. A
good exercise program helps relieve stress. Also, take regular
vacations, stop bringing your work home in the evenings, and
consciously try to relax several times a day. Trusting in God’s care
for you should help you not worry over The Teamy problems of the day. Salt.
It may be necessary to reduce sodium in your diet in order to get your
blood pressure under control. The
body needs only about a tenth to an eighth of a teaspoon of salt a
day. It may be well to avoid salty foods. But more important, switch
from all those packaged foods to planning meals from the fresh produce
in the market. Diet.
Studies show that vegetarians have less tendency to high blood
pressure. Some researchers suggest that reducing our or eliminating
the use of meat in the diet may be the best therapeutic approach to
high blood pressure. Tobacco.
Smokers are more apt to have hypertension. If you smoke and have high
blood pressure, you certainly need to “kick the habit.”
Reprinted from Vibrant Life Magazine . All rights reserved. |
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