“Did you know that heart disease is the NUMBER ONE killer of women in the US? It outnumbers deaths from other causes including lung disease, lung cancer, and breast cancer combined together.”

Buffalo Heart Group Invasive and Clinical Cardiology

More males than females are born in America each year. Still regarding health to both genders through research and just living the experience of being an RN over a quarter of a century in numerous fields (primarily of adults to geriatrics) it shows women are more healthier than men (even starting from infancy).

Out of the 15 leading causes of death, men lead women in all of them except Alzheimer’s disease, which many men don’t live long enough to develop in many cases.Although the gender gap is closing, men still die five years earlier than their wives, on average. Through WebMD experts have told them the reason for this is that they are partly biological, and men’s approach to their health plays a role too, of course. “Men put their health last,” says Demetrius Porche, DNS, RN, editor in chief of the Americ.an Journal of Men’s Health. “Most men’s thinking is, if they can live up to their roles in society, then they’re healthy.” Not always the case especially when age keeps creeping up on a male with his priorities of life changing with new love or even peeps that come on board in a man’s lifetime. In most cases living healthy normally happens when are age is younger but then due to work to families to expectations leaves little room for healthier habits in the week but even 30 minutes a day could make a tremendous change to all systems of the human body preventing certain diseases/illnesses, especially those due to poor diet, eating habits and overall health habits (Ex. as simple as getting 8 hours for sleep a day). Men go to the doctor less than women and are more likely to have a serious condition when they do go, research shows. “As long as they’re working and feeling productive, most men aren’t considering the risks to their health,” says Porche. Like a lot of men say “I don’t have to time to think about it.”. But even if you’re feeling healthy, a little planning can help you stay that way. One is through preventions measures before secondary have to start, meaning ending line your now with a disease or illness, that may have been prevented completely if you lived a healthier life. One way of preventing disease and illness is good eating or diet, with balancing out the 4 food groups (to get all nutrients from minerals to vitamins to enzymes to proteins and more). The top threats to men’s health aren’t secrets: they are commonly known and often preventable. WebMD consulted the experts that came up with for you this list of the top health threats to men, and how to avoid them. —

“Heart disease and stroke are the first and second leading causes of death worldwide, in both men and women,” says Darwin Labarthe, MD, MPH, PhD, director of the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention at the CDC. “It’s a huge global public health problem, and in the U.S. we have some of the highest rates.” In cardiovascular disease, cholesterol plaques gradually block the arteries in the heart and brain. If a plaque becomes unstable, a blood clot forms, blocking the artery and causing a heart attack or stroke.

One in five men and women will die from cardiovascular disease, according to Labarthe. For unclear reasons, though, men’s arteries develop atherosclerosis earlier than women’s. “Men’s average age for death from cardiovascular disease is under 65,” he says; women catch up about six years later. Even in adolescence, girls’ arteries look healthier than boys’. Experts believe women’s naturally higher levels of good cholesterol (HDL) are partly responsible. Men have to work harder to reduce their risk for heart disease and stroke. How do you go about this? Take a guess. Yes, again through your diet, eating, the 4 food groups in your diet, activity or exercise (at least 30 minutes a day or 1 hour every other day) and practicing daily good health habits.

—Lung cancer is a terrible disease: ugly, aggressive, and almost always metastatic (spreads somewhere in the body). Lung cancer spreads early, usually before it grows large enough to cause symptoms or even show up on an X-ray. By the time it’s found, lung cancer is often advanced and difficult to cure. Less than half of men are alive a year later. So … are you still SMOKING? Tobacco smoke causes 90% of all lung cancers. Thanks to falling smoking rates in the U.S., fewer men than ever are dying of lung cancer. But lung cancer is still the leading cancer killer in men: Again due to many still practicing poor habits which could have prevented many of the lung cancer cases. Anyone who QUITS smoking at any age reduces the risk for lung cancer. Few preventive measures are as effective as stopping smoking and nothing is as challenging, like any addiction (whether mental or physical) –Prostate Cancer: A Leading Cancer for Men This is one health problem men can lay full claim to — after all, women don’t have prostates. A walnut-sized gland behind the penis that secretes fluids important for ejaculation, the prostate is prone to problems as men age.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men other than skin canceHYPERLINK “http://www.webmd.com/melanoma-skin-cancer/default.htm”r.                                                                                       Close to 200,000 men will develop prostate cancer this year in the U.S. But while one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime, only one in 35 will die from it. “Many prostate cancers are slow-growing and unlikely to spread, while others are aggressive,” says Djenaba Joseph, MD, medical officer for cancer prevention at the CDC. “The problem is, we don’t have effective tests for identifying which cancers are more dangerous.” Screening for prostate cancer requires a digital rectal exam (the infamous gloved finger) and a blood test for prostate specific antigen (PSA). But in fact, “Screening has never definitively been shown to reduce the chances of dying from prostate cancer,” according to Joseph. That’s because screening finds many cancers that would never be fatal, even if undetected. Testing then leads to aggressive treatment of relatively harmless cancers, which causes problems like impotence and incontinence. Should you get screened for prostate cancer? Some experts say yes, but “the best solution is to see your doctor regularly and talk about your overall risk,” says Joseph. “All men should understand the risks and benefits of each approach, whichever you choose.”

–Depression and Suicide: Men Are at RiskDepression isn’t just a bad mood, a rough patch, or the blues. It’s an emotional disturbance that affects your whole body and overall health. In effect, depression proves the mind-body connection. Brain chemicals and stress hormones are out of balance. Sleep, appetite, and energy level are disturbed. Research even suggests men with depression are more likely to develop heart disease. The results can be tragic. Women attempt suicide more often, but men are more successful at completing it. Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death among all men; for young men it’s higher. –Diabetes: The Silent Health Threat for Men Diabetes usually begins silently, without symptoms. Over years, blood sugar levels creep higher, eventually spilling into the urine. The resulting frequent urination and thirst are what finally bring many men to the doctor. The high sugar of diabetes is anything but sweet. Excess glucose acts like a slow poison on blood vessels and nerves everywhere in the body. Heart attacks, strokes, blindness, kidney failure, and amputations are the fallout for thousands of men. Boys born in 2000 have an alarming one-in-three chance of developing diabetes in their lifetimes. Overweight and obesity are likely feeding the diabetes epidemic. “The combination of diabetes and obesity may be erasing some of the reductions in heart disease risk we’ve had over the last few decades,” warns Labarthe. Exercise, combined with a healthy diet, can prevent type 2 diabetes. Moderate weight loss — for those who are overweight — and 30 minutes a day of physical activity reduced the chance of diabetes by more than 50% in men at high risk in one major study.

—Erectile Dysfunction: A Common Health Problem in Men  Erectile dysfunction may not be life threatening, but it’s still signals an important health problem. Two-thirds of men older than 70 and up to 39% of 40-year-old men have problems with erectile dysfunction. Men with ED report less enjoyment in life and are more likely to be depressed. Erectile dysfunction is most often caused by atherosclerosis — the same process that causes heart attacks and strokes. In fact, having ED frequently means that blood vessels throughout the body are in less-than-perfect health. Doctors consider erectile dysfunction an early warning sign for cardiovascular disease. You’ve probably heard more about the numerous effective treatments for ED than you ever cared to just by watching the evening news. Treatments make a fulfilling sex life possible despite ED, but they don’t cure the condition. If you have erectile dysfunction, see your doctor, and ask if more than your sex life is at risk.

So what is the key to decreasing these diseases and illnesses?  Well, come back tomorrow (Thursday) and  I’ll tell you the answer in Part 2 of this article tomorrow. 

“It’s not stress that kills us, its our reaction to it.”

Dr. Hans Selye  ( Hungarian-born Hans Selye -1907-1982,  the “Father” of the field of stress research).

One way of looking at life is whatever challenges comes your way know you will survive and for any losses you may experience when looking back on them take the positive aspects or memories not the negative that builds a bad effect on you (Ex. Insomnia to depression to high blood pressure to alcoholism to drugs). A positive effect can be as simple as a smile when reflecting memories, which FYI allows less frowning that will cause less wrinkles on the forehead, as we get older. Sometimes it’s not that simply and when it gets harder take up a constructive way of dealing with it (Ex. Work out at your level, walking, singing, go to a comedy movie, get together with friends go out, and do anything that gets your mind off of the stress and even out of your body through work out at the gym to just biking or walking.).

For starters stress is a body reaction to CHANGE. How to you look at change? Easy, positive! It may not appear easy at first but try to look at this change as a sense of difficulty yet a challenge with a victory in the end, if approached right. Let us take the following challenges, for example – Having a child leave home for college or marriage, losing a home with this economy, a loss of a friend in your life: How do you look at these experiences positive?

Well for the child I would be so happy for her or him starting college life with my worries but know I raised her or him well and if he makes mistakes on the way he will learn to get up off the ground and fix them knowing he can come to me or dad whenever he has the need or if we sense a problem we would address it (Its part of life=growing up). Another aspect to look at regarding this stress is there is loss in the parent role so fill up that loss with a new hobby, or get active in whatever organization you are in (Ex. Church, Temple, School, to just taking up ceramics or do more traveling with your spouse and friends). I had my falls with the stresses that I have come across but got up every time to stand again, some quicker than other times.

How do you deal with losing a home with this economy well appreciate the good memories you had when you had the home and pick up starting a new life elsewhere with making it a journey down the yellow brick road leading you to where the rainbow is at the end; don’t look at it as a loss.

Dealing with losing a friend, again, the way I look at it is I appreciate the time I had with her or him and know they haven’t left me in spirit (if deceased). If the person is still living know there are reasons for everything; whatever the cause was for the reason for the relationship parting and when out of my control I think of how I had a good friendship as opposed to never having one with that individual. I accept that nothing lasts forever or indefinitely, with appreciating the time I may have had with the person. Ending note is I look at life this way, whatever positive entity comes in my life may be taken away from me and appreciate every moment you spend with that person or thing in your life that you love so much (including my life span that only upstairs knows how long that time factor will be but I try to live a life at its healthiest optimal level with practicing positive behavior which is knowing whatever stressors come my way there is always someone worse off and with God I can face anything.

If I don’t deal with stress like this than I can expect complications that may arise, just like for anyone else who looks at challenges coming their way in a negative sense. You commonly see stress become a negative experience when a person faces continuous challenges/stressors without relief or relaxation between the them. The ending result is the person becomes overworked and stress-related tension builds. Stress that continues without positive resolution at some level can cause a condition called distress, which is a negative stress reaction. The physical reactions that happen to your body due to negative stress:

-Elevated high blood pressure –Headaches –Chest Pain –Upset Stomach –Insomnia –Grinding of the teeth –Jaw Tension –Teeth grinded down –Irritability –Anger –Panic episodes –Vasoconstriction to our vessels causing increases to the heart rate –Decreases sex drive –Depression (Research even suggests that stress also can bring on or worsen certain symptoms or diseases.)

Stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually. The lifetime prevalence of an emotional disorder is more than 50%, often due to chronic, untreated stress reactions.

Stress is a normal part of life. Many events that happen to you and around you — and many things that you do yourself (Ex. Work 40 to 60 hrs a week in a highly stressful job, like a policeman) – will put stress on your body. You can experience stress from your environment, your body, and your thoughts. You can also cause the stress to impact your body with first just signs and symptoms (s/s) developing, that are listed above, but without relief of the stress these s/s can lead you into a disease/illness forming or even make the diagnose (s) you already have even worse.

Many signs and symptoms pick up when exposed to continual stress or stresses that just build up on top of each other causing some people in developing unhealthy habits, poor dieting, and the lack of desire to be as active as they were which in turn develops conditions that would not have occurred if this negative behavior didn’t happen over a long period of time.

This behavior with the stress or stresses you are experiencing increases the probability of health conditions starting to take place in your body or if you’re with certain diagnoses already the stress can possibly impact your body by worsening the condition. The conditions that can develop from any age of being under continual stress over a period of time are:

-ADD or ADHD –Panic disorders –High blood pressure –Anti-arrhythmias -Cardiac Disease -Diabetes 1 or Diabetes 2 -Stroke –Irritable Bowel Syndrome –Weight Gain/Obesity –Fibromyalgia –Complex Regional Pain Syndrome –ETOH -Depression and so much more.

How to bypass developing conditions that can be caused from the long constant stress or stresses you experience? One method is fight back (fight or flight), and when it gets really difficult don’t turn to bad heath patterns in your life to deal with the stressors turn to a healthy diet, keeping a healthy weight for your body mass index (BMI) so you can deal better with fighting the stressors in your life (if not sure what your BMI is check online to find out how to calculated it, it is for free), and practice healthy habits. You may be saying how to I even go about that or maybe it’s easy for me but not true. Let me shine some light on this topic. I was there many times before and found a resolution to help deal better with my stresses through a change in eating and I lost 22 lbs. and still I am trying with being physically challenged at this moment to get to my optimal shape. If you want to check out how to deal effectively with your stress and live a healthier life for prevention of complications that stress can cause go to healthyusa.tsfl.com/. You will learn both through Dr. Anderson and his book “Dr. A’s habits of health” and myself, as your health coach, with how to use medifast in your diet with certain foods you normally eat in your diet also. This will help you in dealing with stressors as well as boost up your health with losing weight and learning healthy habits in living. It is surely more than just dieting which is not only for 3mths or ½ year or even 2 years but its learning for life how to eat healthy with occasionally treating yourself to treats or favorite meals to lose weight and maintain it for life, to where it just becomes a part of your life and it doesn’t feel like dieting. It also is a program showing you behavior to learn by living healthier habits with explaining how it helps your body. Through Dr. Anderson’s book you will learn about all 4 food groups in how to eat the foods, when to eat the foods, what portion sizes to use, with learning even about diseases and illnesses that can occur through poor habits in diet, activity, and more. This program is giving you the steps that can lead you in the right pathway of how to control your life with reaching your optimal level of heath. You make the choices of what changes you want to make, no one else. There is no fee, no donations, no hacking, and no obligation on your part other than just to take a peek and see if what we can provide is what you would like. It can help you with conquering your stresses in life and reaching a healthier life which could impact even others around you especially your family and friends. If this occurs and this news spreads throughout America it would make our country much healthier which we could use for now and in the future. This is not a recruiting organization but a company that can help you and many others live a better and possibly longer life. Hope I have helped you in someway dealing with any stress in your life. Also, I hope to hear from you both with your comments on the articles you read on my blog with visiting the website in taking the right step to reach the optimal level of your heath including learning methods that help you deal the best you can with stress.

TAKE A PEEK healthyusa.tsfl.com;)

 

“It is not selfish to love yourself, take care of yourself, and to make your happiness a priority.  It’s NECESSARY.”

Go Red for Women through the American Heart Association

The heart is like the engine to a car but for us it’s the “pump” for the human body; without the engine the car won’t run and without the pump we won’t live. The normal size of the heart is about the size of your fist, maybe a little bigger. It pumps blood continuously through your entire circulatory system. The heart consists of four chambers, 2 on the right and 2 on the left. The right side only pumps high carbon dioxide levels of blood, after all the oxygen was used by the tissues and returns to the heart in the right upper chamber and leaves to the lung from the right lower chamber. From the lungs it than goes to the left side of the heart now, which is a very short distance as opposed to where the left side pumps the blood. The L side of the heart pumps blood to the feet, brain and all tissues in between with high oxygen levels of blood. This is why the L side of the heart does more work than the R side since the blood leaving the L side has a longer distance in distributing oxygen. The heart pumps the blood with high oxygen blood levels to reach all your tissues and cells, going to the feet, brain, and to all other tissues in between returning home again to the right side of the heart (upper chamber) to get sent to the lungs again for more oxygen. This is why the muscle on the L side of the heart is larger than the right, it works harder. Every time your heart beats (the sound we call lub dub) the organ is sending out a cardiac output of blood either to the lungs for more oxygen or to the body tissues through the aorta to give oxygenated blood to your tissues and cells. This is the mechanics of how the heart works in our body. Let’s see what can occur if the heart doesn’t function properly. If your heart is not pumping out a sufficient amount in your cardiac output to either the lungs (from rt. Side) or to the tissues (from the lt. side) than it tries to work harder where it does ok at first but over time weakens. As this weak heart struggles to pump blood the muscle fibers of the heart stretch. Over time, this stretching leaves the heart with larger, weaker chambers. The heart enlarges (cardiomegaly). If this continues to go on this could go into R or L sided heart failure. When this happens, blood that should be pumped out of the heart backs up in the lungs (L sided failure) or in the tissues (R sided failure). The side the failure is on doesn’t allow proper filling of the chambers on that side and back up happens; so if on the L the fluids back up in the lungs or the R the fluids first back up in the veins which can expand to hold extra blood but at some point dump the extra fluids in your tissues (This is edema in feet first due to gravity). This is all due to overloading of the blood not filling up in the chambers of the heart to make a good cardiac output of blood and in time the fluid backs up (bad pumping=backup of blood=fluid overload in the lungs (pulmonary congestion) to fluid staying in the skin (first the lower extremities due to gravity=feet which we call edema working its way up the legs.). This condition in time with no treatment will go into congestive heart failure (CHF) to the other side of the heart if not controlled. CHF can range from mild to severe. There is 670,000 cases are diagnosed with this every year and is the leading cause of hospitalization in people over 65 y/o. Causes of CHF are: heart attack, CAD (coronary artery disease), cardiomyopathy, conditions that overwork the heart like high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity (These diseases can be completely preventable or at least well controlled). There is many of us in this world with knowing how our activity/exercise, eating, and habits could be better for health but do little action if any on our own to change it, which is a large part for certain diseases being so high in America (diabetes, stroke, cardiac diseases=high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, arteriosclerosis to CHF and more). If people were more healthier and more active regarding these diseases alone it would decrease in population creating a positive impact on how our health system with insurance presently (a disaster) with our economy for many could get better. A healthy heart can pump to all parts of the body in a few seconds which is good cardiac output from the organ but when it gets hard for the heart to keep up with its regular routine it first compensates to eventually it decompensates causing ischemia (lack of oxygen to the heart tissue). It’s like any tissue in the body, lack of oxygen=lack of nutrients to the body tissue=STARVATION and with lack of oxygen will come PAIN eventually to death if not treated. Take the heart, if it isn’t getting enough oxygen it can go into angina. That is reversible since it is heart pain due to not enough oxygen to the heart tissue=no damage but if left untreated what will occur is a heart attack=myocardial infarction (MI) and is permanent damage because scarring to the heart tissue takes place. Let’s understand what the heart can develop over time with an unhealthy heart due to bad health habits. If you are eating too much for too long foods high in sodium your vessels will narrow in size. By allowing this you increase the pressure in the vessels that increases your blood pressure called hypertension. If you are also inactive you are at risk of obesity which puts stress on the heart and in time causing high B/P. Constantly be in a high B/P and this could cause the vessel to rupture (at the heart=possible heart attack, at the brain=possible stroke, also called CVA with both on high occurrences in our population of the US.). With bad habits (especially poor diet, inactive, and smoking) you can cause over time atherosclerosis=a blockage in the artery with the resolution surgery (from a cardiac catheterization up your groin or having difficulty in the arm to the heart where an angiogram to an angioplasty with possibly a stent is performed or if the blockage to blockages is so bad a CABG=coronary artery bypass=a 6hr plus operation where diversion of a vein from your leg (donor graft site) around the blockage is done. Smoking can lead to this but it also can cause your vessels to become brittle=arteriosclerosis. Healthy Habits would impact a positive result for all people who have had this diagnosis before but most important be a great PREVENTATIVE measure for people not diagnosed with cardiac disease. There are 4 things you have no control over heredity, age, sex, and race but healthy habits are sure to benefit you by keeping the odds down of you inheriting, help your age factor, and race a lot can be associated with eating cultural habits. If you make the decision to live a life that’s healthy for your heart through proper eating, doing healthy habits and doing some exercise or activity with balancing rest in your busy schedule and would like direction or want to expand your diet/exercise/healthy habits then you came to the right blog. Go to my website for no fee, no charge, no hacking, just letting you check us out to look further in understanding how to take a healthier shape for your life with Dr. Anderson and even myself as your health coach in helping you learn what healthier habits or changes you feel you need and want for a healthier way of living. It allows you to make all the decisions in what you want to do regarding your health. Includes what to eat (diet), what exercise/activity, and what healthy habits you want to add in your life. We just provide the information and healthy foods in your diet through information to broaden your knowledge even a catalog on diet foods, if you so choose to do so. You make all the choices. Wouldn’t you want less heart disease or obesity or diabetes for yourself and for others throughout the nation including the future generations? Than join me and others. Thank you for taking the time to read my article in how we can help you with others gets healthier you including a healthier USA. Click onto heathyusa.tsfl.com and I hope to hear from you soon. If you like what you see spread the good cheer. Let’s build a stronger foundation regarding HEALTH in America.

“Look at the average American diet: ice cream, butter, cheese, whole milk, all this fat. People don’t realize how much of this stuff you get by the end of the day. High blood pressure is from all this high-fat eating.”

Jack LaLanne

Factors in helping to reduce or decrease high blood pressure, also noted as hypertension are:

-STRESS REDUCTION

Stress is defined as feeling tense on the inside due to pressures from the outside. Most of us have many of these pressures, and some handle them better than others. Since stress makes the heart work harder, try to find ways to relieve the pressure you felt when stressed.

One way of coping with stress is to deal with your feelings. You may feel depressed, angry or anxious because you have high blood pressure. These feelings are normal. It may help to talk about how you feel with your family and friends. When you accept that you have high B/P, you can put your efforts into living a more productive, good life with dealing with the hypertension.

Many people find yoga, meditation and prescribed exercise helpful. Always check with your doctor before starting an exercise program to make sure you get clearance of what is safe for you by your primary doctor or cardiologist.

-Eat less SODIUM

Sodium is an important substance. It helps your body balance the level of fluid inside and outside of the cells. To keep up this balance, the body needs about 2000mg of sodium a day or less. Yet most of us eat 3000 to 6000mg of sodium each day.

Most people with high b/p are asked to eat less sodium. Sodium attracts water and makes the body hold fluid. To pump the added fluid the heart works harder. Also sodium in the body causes the arteries to vasocontrict increasing pressure in the vessels causing the pressure to rise.

Most people with high b/p are asked to eat less sodium at 2000mg or less a day and this is to prevent water retention and vasoconstriction in which both actions increase the blood pressure. Follow your doctor’s advice about your sodium intake.

Many prepared foods and spices are high in sodium. But, the most common source of sodium is table salt. Table salt is 40% sodium and 60% chloride. One teaspoon of table salt contains 2000mg of sodium.

HINTS TO LOWER YOUR SODIUM IN YOUR DIET:

-Season foods with fresh or dried herbs, vegetables, fruits or no-salt seasonings.

-Do not cook with salt or add salt to foods after they are on the table.

-Make your own breads, rolls, sauces, salad dressings, vegetable dishes and desserts when you can.

-Stay away from fast foods. They are almost all high in salt.

-Eat fresh, frozen or canned, unsalted vegetables. These have less sodium than most processed foods. Read the labels and if they don’t have a label DON’T EAT IT. Read the labels and eat the portioned size it says to for 1 portion with keeping a diary of what you ate with adding the sodium and when it reached 2000mg no more food that day with salt in it unless the doctor prescribes less.

-Buy water packed tuna and salmon. Break it up into a bowl of cold water, and let stand for 3 minutes. Rinse, drain and squeeze out water.

-Don’t buy convenience foods such as prepared or skillet dinners, deli foods, cold cuts, hot dogs, frozen entrees or canned soups. These have lots of salt. Be picky on what you eat.

-Again, read all labels for salt, sodium or sodium products (such as sodium benzoate, MSG). Ingredients are listed in the order of amount used. A low sodium label means 140mg of less per serving. Try to buy products labeled low sodium/serving. Do not eat products that have more sodium than this per serving.

-When you eat out, order baked, broiled, steamed or pouched foods without breading or butter or sauces. Also ask that no salt be added. Go easy on the salad dressing. Most are high in salt.

What not to buy:

-Canned Vegetables, sauerkraut. Self rising flour and corn meal. Prepared mixes (waffle, pancake, muffin, cornbread, etc…)

-Dairy Products- like buttermilk (store-bought), canned milks unless diluted and used as regular milk). Egg substitute limit to ½ cup/day. Eggnog (store bought) and salted butter or margarine do not buy.

-Soups: Boullon (all kinds), canned broth, dry soup mixes, canned soups.

-Meats and meat substitutes not to buy= Canned meats, canned fish, cured meats, all types of sausages, sandwich meats, peanut butter, salted nuts.

-Prepared mixes (pie, pudding, cake) or store bought pies, cakes, muffins.

-Cooking ingredients to use low sodium type or limit to 2 tbsp/day=

Catsup, chili sauce, barbeque sauce, mustard, salad dressing.

-Drinks to stay away from Athletic Drinks (such as Gatorade), canned tomato or vegetable juice (unless unsalted).

Stay tune for part 3 on Monday in What to buy when dealing with high b/p or hypertension plus more.

 

“People with high blood pressure, diabetes – those are conditions brought about by life style. If you change the life style, those conditions will leave.”

Dick GregoryHYPERLINK

High Blood Pressure or Hypertension affects 80 million Americans and nearly half of the people in the UK between the ages of 65 and 74, and a large percentage of those between the ages of 35 and 65. One of the problems associated with high blood pressure is that you will probably not even know you have it until you happen to have your blood pressure taken during a routine physical examination.

Upon diagnosis, you may wonder why you never saw it coming. Most people don’t. Only those with severe high blood pressure experience any warning signs at all.

These signs can include headaches, impaired vision, and black-outs.

What is blood pressure exactly ?

It is the measurement of the force that blood applies to the walls of the arteries as it flows through them carrying oxygen and nutrients to the body’s vital organs and systems. Naturally, our blood is under pressure as it rushes through our arteries. Even those with blood pressure in the normal range will experience an increase in their blood pressure during rigorous physical activity or during times of stress. It only becomes a problem when the blood continues to run high. This condition of blood pressure is known as hypertension　or high blood pressure　and in 95% of the cases, the cause of it is never known. However, we do know the factors that set a person up to develop hypertension.

Factors influencing High Blood Pressure

They are as follows:

NON-MODAFIABLE RISK FACTORS ARE 4: HEREDITY-HIGH B/P RUNNING IN THE FAMILY

AGE-THE OLDER, THE HIGHER PROBABILITY YOU WILL END UP WITH B/P DEPENDING ON YOUR HEALTH AND HOW GOOD YOU TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

SEX-MALES VS FEMALES

RACE-HIGHIER IN AFROAMERICAN AS OPPOSED TO WHITE.

MODAFIABLE RISK FACTORS=FACTORS YOU CAN CONTROL IN YOUR LIFESPAN. Obesity -　those with a body mass index of 30 or more Drinking more than 2 – 4 alcoholic drinks a day  Smoking High cholesterol Diabetes Stress and anxiety Excessive salt consumption

Possible causes of High Blood Pressure

Sometimes the cause of a person’s high blood pressure is determined, but this happens in only 5% of the cases. When a cause is found, the person is diagnosed with secondary high blood pressure [hypertension]. In most of these cases, the cause can be linked to an underlying illness such as kidney disease, adrenal gland disease, or narrowing of the aorta. Contraceptive pills, steroids, and some medications can also cause secondary high blood pressure [hypertension], though instances of this are not all that common.

High Blood Pressure and the important numbers

We hear the numbers, but do we really know what they mean? Since your blood pressure numbers can help you to understand your overall health status, it is important that you keep track of it. By knowing where your numbers are right now, you can head off such serious high blood pressure complications as angina, heart attacks, stroke, kidney damage, and many others that might surprise you – like eye problems and gangrene.

Medical professionals generally provide your blood pressure to you in terms of two numbers – a top one and a bottom one. For example, if your blood pressure is 120/80, they may say that you have a blood pressure of 120 over 80. Here is a definition for these numbers:

The top figure–this is your systolic blood pressure.　It measures the force of blood in the arteries as your heart beats. The top number means the pressure is reading your heart at work.

The bottom figure –this is your diastolic blood pressure. It is the pressure of your blood when the heart is relaxed in between the times when it is pumping. Means the pressure is reading your heart at rest.

Your blood pressure requires monitoring when you have a systolic blood pressure of 140 or over and/or a diastolic blood pressure of 90 or over. Those with diabetes must maintain a lower blood pressure that those who don’t have the condition. Diabetics should maintain a blood pressure of less than 130/80.

Monitors for measuring High Blood Pressure

It is wise to monitor your blood pressure at home in addition to having it taken at your doctor’s office.　This will allow you to provide your doctor with readings that have been taken over time, providing a more in depth look at your personal health condition. This will help him or her to prescribe the righthypertensive medication　and treatment for your specific condition.

The best blood pressure monitors are those that take yourmeasurement　from the upper arm. Those that provide readings from the wrist or finger are not as reliable. You’ll also want to make sure that the blood pressure monitor you are considering has been proven in clinical trials. Trusted name brands include those made by Omron, LifeSource, Mark of Fitness, Micro Life, and A and D Instruments.　There are other brands available – the important thing is to do your research.

Check in this weekend and learn ways to reduce your blood pressure in Part 2.