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From the desk of Richard
Penfounde, your Naturally Healthy Lifestyle specialist.
TODAY there are some 300 risk factors listed for coronary heart
disease and, if that doesn't raise your heartbeat a point or two,
remember that specialists expect this list to grow.
Presently it includes cigarette smoking, high cholesterol,
high
blood pressure (hypertension), obesity, diabetes, thiazide
diuretics, heavy alcohol consumption, lack of exercise, not eating
enough mackerel fish, living in Scotland, having a high level of
phobic anxiety, being very stressed out and snoring.
High blood pressure is a biggie today. If you're over 55 your doctor
may well have found your blood pressure too high, although it is
normal for older people to have higher readings than younger ones.
Once diagnosed, you are likely to land up on a diuretic,
beta-blocker or an are inhibitor (a drug class that was originally
used to treat heart attack victims). Once on, it is not always
possible to get off. Stopping beta-blockers, for example, could
bring on a heart attack.
Today, many are looking for alternatives to depending on drugs for
the rest of your life. In Nutritional Medicine Dr Stephen Davies gives guidelines to
controlling high blood pressure with diet.
- Exclude ADDITIONAL salt from the diet and AVOID obviously salty
foods, such as those listing salt as a major ingredient on their
labels (in the first half of the list).
- Eat potassium-rich foods like kelp, apple cider vinegar, mung
beans, wheatgerm, chick peas, spinach, broccoli, kale, carrots,
pumpkin and bananas to balance salt levels.
- Do not boil these vegetables as they lose a high percentage of
potassium - eat them raw or steamed.
- Include calcium / magnesium supplements as more recent research
has found links between low calcium and magnesium levels and raised
blood pressure.
- Cut down on refined sugar, saturated fats, tea. coffee and
alcohol.
- Watch other known blood pressure raisers such as the Pill,
liquorice, lead, cadmium and arthritic drugs.
- Build up on mild-vigorous aerobic exercise and proven stress
management techniques (sued as TM, yoga, autogenic training).
- Increase intake of soluble fibre.
Then there is the "up with garlic - down with high blood pressure''
brigade led by Dr F.G.Piotrowski, University of Geneva.
According to his study garlic treatment brings about “excellent
results" in patients with abnormally high blood pressure. Subjective
symptoms began In disappear three to five days after the start of
treatment.
In other studies garlic produces a decided drop in Blood Pressure in
most cases of hypertension. With the addition of mistletoe and / or
hawthorn, the garlic action was decidedly enhanced.
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