blood pressure so the that let me give
you some of the definitions first
typically you're diagnosed as having
high blood pressure if your blood
pressure reading is above 120 over 80
and the first number is what's called
the systolic and then this and it
typically should be below 120 and the
bottom number is called the die stock
and that ship is typically should be
below 80 so if you're in those below
those ranges is not much of a concern
however, if you have been diagnosed with
high blood pressure it's important to
understand that one of the most common
risk factors for high blood pressure is
weight so if you're obese that is going
to increase your risk but interestingly
the way we diagnose hypertension is
through by taking your blood pressure
that's typically done by putting a cuff
around your arm so it's important to
understand that there are different cuffs
that if you are large or especially very
large you're going to require a larger
cuff so when you get the blood pressure
taken with a cuff it's very important
you look at the blood pressure cuff and
make sure they typically have marks to
make sure that when you wrap the cover
on this within that normal range if it's
not then you need to find the right size
cuff and now this actually goes the
another way too so that if you are a small
very tiny or a small child and you need
to use a pediatric cuff so that that's
an important consideration now it's also
important to understand that there are
typically medications are used to
control isn't it and it's a traditional
the approach that is the major strategy and
in and hypertension is really almost a
dream come true for drug companies just
similar to cholesterol in that it
is a drug that typically doesn't have
signs or symptoms but that is that they
have developed a number of treatments
for that don't change or modify or it
all addressed the cause of the disease
in fact, I was I to this day I remember
reading my medical physiology
a textbook that when we when we were
studying hypertension and it was
called Gaytan the Gaytan textbook of
physiology and that it listed that
the 95 percent of the cause of
hypertension what they call idiopathic
means they don't know but that's just
not true we know what the cause of
hypertension is for the most part it's
related to your body making too much
insulin very similar to cholesterol so
when your body makes too much insulin it
causes your blood pressure to increase
so there are fortunately very simple
ways to lower your insulin levels and
you know folks you can measure this all
you have to do is you have your blood
tested by your doctor a fasting insulin
level and your instant level you want to
strive for is about two or three if it's
five or certainly over ten you have got
a problem and you need to lower that and
of course, you don't lower with drugs you
lower with natural approaches and one of
the most effective ways to do that is
with exercise a regular effective
exercise program which consists of
certainly aerobics and aerobics like
sprint bursts types of exercising
strength training and ideally you'd like
to have someone monitor and and
supervise your program because it's
really vital that you get this right of
but a good comprehensive holistic
exercise program will do go a long way
towards reducing it ideally you want to
mow if you're to do that you're going to
get need to get to about an hour a day
somewhere in that range what you want to
work slowly and start slowly so that is
one of the most important the other is
to is to cut out foods it's going to
raise your insulin and typically foods
that would do that our sugar types of
foods or grains because they break down
to sugars very rapidly even whole grains
organic whole grains will do that so if
you have a high blood pressure
hypertension high cholesterol or obesity
you want to lower those so that would be
breads pastas rice cereal potatoes even
if they're organic it's still going to
do the same thing until you get those
under control you want to stay away
through those and fruits are also
fondles category because those are high
in carbohydrates so the other thing you
can do is take make sure that you're
reducing the stress because it is a
factor.
some people and prayer or meditation or
EFT emotional freedom technique is
another useful thing now another
interesting new insight that is very
clearly powerful and effective is to
normalize your vitamin D levels I've got
lots of information on vitamin D you've
probably seen or read some of that but
if you haven't then clearly examine that
because vitamin D is is unquestionably
associated with increment D levels
associated with an increased risk for
heart disease and in vitamin D we know
now actually lowers and normalizes your
blood pressure so that's a good strategy
the other thing you want to do is to
make sure that you're having your
omega-6 to omega-3 fat ratio is correct
and most people have that ratio is about
25 to 1 because we radically improve
increased in the amount of mega six fats
so you want to make sure you lower the
amount of that vegetable oils in your
diet and make sure you have a high
quality source of omega-3 fatty acids
that's going to be really crucial now I
also want to give a warning now you know
I'm opposed to taking medications and
drugs and clearly the long-term strategy
is to get of off of all your medications
but if you're on a medication you
certainly want to do that with a
supervised healthcare professional and
if you have very high blood pressure
I hardly ever recommend the use of
medications but it is vital that you go
on a medication to lower your blood
pressures if it's very high because
stroke is real people die from strokes
every day and if your blood pressure is
too high you are at risk for developing
a stroke and I don't know if you've ever
seen anyone with a stroke but it is not
pretty to lose your brain cells it tends
to be permanent and irreversible so you
want to make sure that you that you
you're not increasing your risk for that
too so make sure you're under a safe
medication by a physician who's going to
monitor you with those until you're able
to implement these lifestyle changes
that will allow you to slowly wean off
the medications and get the the cause of
the problem addressed so hopefully this
will provide you with some practical
insights and some strategies that you or
your family members can use to take care
of this very common condition.