73. LOWER HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE WITH LIFESTYLE

DEAR GRANDMA DONNA: I’m writing for help for Sarshay, an Indonesian woman at church, who had a severe attack of dizziness and was rushed to Emergency at the hospital. The Dr. on duty discovered that her blood pressure was 220/110, so he gave her medicine to lower it, then wrote a prescription for her to take daily. She wants to know how to lower her blood pressure naturally. LOVE, SAVANA

DEAR SAVANA: It seems a shame that Sarshay has joined the estimated 29 percent of adults—more than 75 million Americans—who have high blood pressure. Our nation’s obesity epidemic is paving the way for many to develop hypertension, which is another name for high blood pressure.

Hypertension has been defined as any systolic pressure at or above 140 and any diastolic pressure at or above 90. Systolic is the pressure formed when the heart contracts, while diastolic is the pressure between contractions. Every ten points above a systolic pressure of 140 increases the risk of heart disease or stroke by thirty percent.

Experts have defined normal as a blood pressure of less than 120 over less than 80. Everyone in between “high” and “normal” has “prehypertension.” An estimated 45 million people—roughly one out of five adults—are in the prehypertensive range.

“We don’t want to make people nervous for no good reason,” says Norman Kaplan, a hypertension authority at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “We want to motivate people to improve their lifestyle.”

Starting at blood pressures as low as 115 over 75, which is considered normal, the risk of heart disease and stroke begins to rise, and it doubles for each 20-over-10-point increase. So the harm starts long before people get treatment.

The good news that this article reported is that most people will never get hypertension if they follow suggested lifestyle recommendations, and there is certainly motivation to make those changes. Elevated blood pressure is the greatest contributing factor in the 795,000 stroke cases reported annually. It is a significant risk factor in the 1,500,000 heart attacks. Persistent high blood pressure can lead to irreversible damage of the kidneys, pancreas, and retina of the eye. It can also cause arterial “blowouts” in the brain or heart. It increases the risk of dementia.

Here are the five rules for Sarshay to follow to lower her blood pressure:

A. Measure 8 eight-ounce cups (2 quarts) of water into a container. Drink before and after meals so that you drink two quarts of water daily—even 10 cups would be better.

2 cups before breakfast

2 cups mid-morning

2 cups mid-afternoon

2 cups after supper (if too near bedtime, add these two cups to other times)

B. Begin a program to walk that will ultimately lead you to walk three miles a day or get some form of exercise that will take one hour each day.

C. Cut your salt intake to a total of a scant teaspoon each day. Try to eat most food unsalted. Read labels. Most processed food is high in salt (cheese, bread, seasonings)

D. Limit your fat and sugar intake to very low portions.

E. Plan simple meals with the following guidelines adding no processed or canned food.

Whole grain cereal seasoned with a scant amount of sugar (brown rice, barley, oatmeal) and eaten with any fruit (apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, kiwi, mango, pears).

Beans seasoned with onion and garlic and eaten with brown rice (pintos, lentils, great northern, baby limas, large limas, black beans, split peas, kidney)

Vegetables seasoned with herbs: potatoes, sweet potatoes, cabbage, carrots, celery, collard greens, mustard greens

Avoid meat, cheese, refined food that contains white rice, white flour, and sugar. Most canned vegetables and beans are high in salt and should not be eaten. Most bread is high in fat, sugar, and refined flour. The really safe bread is homemade whole wheat.

If Sarshay has a weight problem, the natural foods plus the exercise program, will help her to lose weight naturally. Since weight contributes to hypertension, loss of weight could reverse the problem. Every pound of fat requires thousands of extra blood vessels, because it takes extra pressure to pump blood through them.

Tell Sarshay to let the Dr. keep tabs on her blood pressure as she changes her lifestyle. The day he tells her she no longer needs medicine will be a great victory, because drugs that lower blood pressure do lower the risk of strokes, but they increase blood cholesterol levels, promoting atherosclerosis. They increase blood sugar levels, accelerating vascular disease and promoting diabetes. They increase uric acid which leads to gouty arthritis. They deplete potassium levels, increasing the risk of heart rhythm irregularities and sudden death.

That should settle the case for Sarshay! LOWER HYPERTENSION WITH LIFESTYLE! GRANDMA DONNA

BLACK-EYED PEA SALAD
4 c cooked and drained black-eyed peas (salted sparingly)
1 chopped
2 stalks chopped celery
1 chopped green pepper
2 chopped tomatoes
1 chopped avocado
1/4 t garlic powder
1 T honey
1/4 c fresh lemon juice
Combine ingredients and chill.