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The term hypertension is another name for high blood pressure. High blood pressure occurs when the blood pressure departing from the heart and flowing threw the blood vessels is of a higher pressure or force. When we are healthy our body can send and receive messages to regulate and effect alterations to keep our blood pressure within normal range. Hypertension falls under the label of cardiovascular disease. Our lifestyle has numerous well known links with development and progression of cardiovascular disease. Leading a stressful lifestyle with major work pressure and a sedentary occupation are poor lifestyle factors. Instead of worrying about the outcome or deadline, focus on the project at hand.  Dedicate your best effort by focusing on the work and not worrying about an outcome that is not yet definite. Add physical exercise during your free time (outside of work) to offset sitting at a desk most of your working hours. Our dietary choices are especially relevant in warding away cardiovascular disease. Some individuals are more susceptible to heart disease and therefore every healthy measure taken is helpful while other individuals can get away with less conscious effort at a healthy lifestyle. As cardiovascular disease can lead to a poorer quality of life, fear of ultimate death and commonly drug medications and sometimes surgery; it is best to prevent such disease development or progress. The issue of alcohol is debatable. There is a link of wine, specifically red wine in moderation, in exerting a protective effect. In health it is all about common sense! Do not over drink. Do not only live on leafy vegetables. Do not exercise to the point of collapse. We can enjoy numerous foods, drinks and activities but within the basic tenet of balance and moderation. Fat is not the little devil we make it out to be, we just tend to abuse it! Certain types of fats help in our armoury against disease development. On top of using your common sense, realise that variation is helpful. Try different vegetables. If you like only potatoes, you should explore a vegetable market. There is so much variety. If you try red cabbage and find it distasteful, very well but do try another type of vegetable. Preparation and method of cooking can all affect taste. Mixing it with other foods can also make it more palatable. Obviously if the lettuce or spinach (there are so many to list) make you gag, do not force feed it down your throat. To get the best out of your foods you want to absorb the nutrients and that means you want enhanced digestion. You are likely to have far better digestion if you are happy eating the meal. Fish, vegetables, supplements, moderate exercise and a more relaxed attitude all help us. While a high animal produce intake, smoking, negative stress and a sedentary lifestyle are all adverse. Fish should be brought fresh (not in processed form such as fish cakes or fish fingers) and salt intake should be greatly reduced. Sodium and potassium are needed for fluid balance. We need more potassium than sodium (common component of salt) and yet our diet is probably delivering more sodium but of course it all depends on what you tend to eat. Our blood must have more sodium than potassium. Inside our cells it is another story, here potassium is king. This opposing ruling of power between sodium in the blood and potassium in the cells is all part of electrolyte balance which regulates fluid movement and fluid levels in our tissues. When the power players (sodium and potassium) reign over illegal territory so to speak, disruption of economies and operations occurs. In genetically susceptible individuals when they feed their body high sodium and little potassium, there is development of hypertension as the sodium becomes impudent and infiltrates over potassium’s domain.  Injecting very high doses of potassium chloride into the blood stream has been used as a means to induce fatality. Other electrolytes are involved in this balance between sodium ruling the blood and potassium ruling the cells. In addition we need nutrients to support the peaceful relations, the nutrients act as diplomats. They keep things running smoothly. There is much salt in our diet already via many breakfast cereals, bakery products and cheese. The vegetables and fruit in our diet provide higher levels of the mineral potassium, to balance salt (sodium chloride) levels to keep us healthy and they deliver antioxidants which aid us in having a healthy body. A type of antioxidant called bioflavanoids (a helpful partner to vitamin C) actually has a role in strengthening small blood vessel structure. These small vessels are called capillaries. We would prefer the capillaries to be structurally sound as they act as part of the doorways between travellers in the blood and inhabitants in the cells outside. All our body cells have their doorways just as the cells of the capillaries have their doorways. We want well hinged doorways. This is figurative as our cells do not literally have doors like we know them to exist but it does explain things in a way. The fats in fish have links to reducing hypertension and rich magnesium supplying foods have vasodilatory effects as well. This means the blood pressure will be reduced. Pumpkin seeds, butter beans, okra, soya beans, black gram beans, wheat germ and bran are some good foods with higher magnesium levels to add to the diet. Preventative measures implemented now can save much misfortune in health, finance and life in later years. Anastacia Sampson D.N. Med |