Your Blood Pressure And Your Health

Your blood pressure has messages for you. At most, three messages affect your overall health in this.

The message may be that your blood pressure is high. 

Your blood pressure can even be low. 

Thirdly, your blood pressure can be normal, which is the idea blood pressure for a healthy life.

Have you ever take the trouble to go and check your blood pressure with a health worker or with your doctor?

I regularly go to check for my blood pressure readings two times in the year.

You should check your blood pressure too.

195 over 100 is a high blood pressure reading. 

But what is a high blood pressure?

When your heart beats, it forces blood all over your body. This movement that forces the blood all over the body is a blood pressure.

In scientific, medical and clinical circles, blood pressure is taken in two readings or numbers. The systolic and the diasystolic.

The systolic is the higher reading, while the diasystolic is the lower reading. When a health worker takes the readings, the systolic is always over the diasystolic. 

If the upper or systolic reading of your blood pressure is 100 and the lower or diasystolic reading is 80, your blood pressure is 100 over 80 milimeter of mecury.

So, your blood pressure will be expressed as 100/80 mm Hg.

A 190/120 reading is a high blood pressure. 100/75 is normal and safe. 80/65 is low blood pressure and calls for medical attention or medication.

A blood pressure that is low is fatal as a blood pressure that is high.

It has to be raise to a normal and safe level.

Likewise, a blood pressure that is high and extremely high is a sign of ill health. 

You should go for regular check up to determine if your blood pressure is low, high or normal.

A good diet along with good medication will make it normal.

Blood Pressure Challenges: Every person has a blood pressure. All adults, youths, kids and babes have a blood pressure. Even an animal has a blood pressure. But we are here concern with human beings.

Cause Of High Blood Pressure: High blood pressure can be caused by many factor.

1.      Food And Nutrition: The food a person eat is a factor in raising the blood pressure above the acceptable normal level.

Too much carbohydrate, too much fat and too much protein will raise the blood pressure to a higher level.

Refined carbohydrate like white sugar is a primary cause. All refined carbohydrates will raise the blood pressure. White flour for making bread, biscuits and cakes are examples. But white flour is available to be mix with brown flour to strength the low gluten content in brown flour.

Whole food carbs like ripe mangoes, red oranges, and red potatoes can likewise raise your blood pressure.

This is because the food has a high Glycemic index (GI).

The rate at which they are oxidized to released energy is high in the blood stream is very fast. So, these should be eaten sparsely. 

In contrast, eating them half in raw state will not raise the blood pressure.

In other words, one should not over cooked potatoes. All refined carbs that are over cooked will raise the blood pressure.

To be on a safer side, check the GI of your favorite fruits and vegetables. You can have a fairly good idea as how to take good care of your blood pressure.

The so called white refined carbohydrates should be used as minimal as possible. These white biscuits, white breads, white rice are still necessary but plenty of fruits, vegetables, nuts had to go with them to make a much healthy meal.

2.      Lack Of Regular Exercise: Exercise will burn fat in the body. Lack of regular exercise means more fats along with certain wastes is being regularly deposited in our body. This will increase a person weight. Thus, the gain in weight will raise the blood pressure.

A short brisk walk round a football field is a good outdoor exercise. Swimming the open water or in a swimming pool if you can swim is a good physical activity that will help reduced your weigh and lower your blood pressure if it is high.

Indoor exercises like the press-ups and down, push and pull, and the jumping jack can be done just for only 10 minutes on certain fix days and those can be fit your health.

Other Ways To Lower Your Blood Pressure

·         You should half your intake of red meat, beef and all solid fats as margarine.

·         Eggs are good foods. The solid in eggs is good. Too much will raise the blood pressure. Reduced eating of eggs to two, two or three times in the week.

·         Reduced your drinking of alcoholic beverages or have it with lemon slice.

·         Increased your consumption of sardines, mullets and salmons. All fish that has the omega fatty acid -3 and -6 are good. These fatty acids are factors in reducing your blood pressure.

·         You can enjoy lean meat freely like sardines.

·         Vegetable proteins in the form of pulse should be a regular feature in our meals. Fresh corn is a good source. So, is lentils and whole wheat.

·         You can substitute vegetable oil and fats to animal fats and oils.

·         Eat a healthy diet always that is rich in natural minerals, vitamin and photochemical.

For example, here is a recipe for a potato fries that will help reduced your blood pressure.

·         4 fresh medium size mullets.

·         4 fresh sardines.

·         1 medium size fresh potato (sweet, Irish, or any potato of your choice).

·         3 big onions.

·         6 lobes of garlic bulbs.

·         3 piece green chili or green cayenne pepper.

·         ½ teaspoon ginger powder.

·         ¼ teaspoon dry chili powder.

·         ½ cup fresh peanuts.

·         ½ cup breadfruit (Parkinson).

·         ¼ teaspoon salt.

·         Fresh curry leaves.

·         1 semi ripe mango.

·         4 tablespoonful peanut oil.

Instructions:

·         Descale the mullet and sardines (use canned substitute if fresh items is not available).

·         Removed the dirty inside.

·         Wash fish well in clean water.

·         Salt the fish with two pinch of salt.

·         Light stove or cooker and turn to low heat.

·         Put on clean frying pan.

·         Put 3 tablespoonful peanut oil and warm.

·         Put the fishes into the frying pan and fry for 7 minutes. Turn the other side and fry again for 5 minutes. If using canned sardines, put fish in frying pan and warm without oil; and use the sardine oil to cook the other items.

·         While the fish is cooking, wash the potato with sponge. Use knife to scoop and remove any hard surface. Do not peel. The skin of the fresh potato has factors in bringing down your weight and controlling your blood pressure.

·         Slice potato into thin chips

·         Salted this with two pinch of salt.

·         Removed the fish and add 1 table spoon of peanut oil.

·         Peel the onions and garlic and cut into small chunks.

·         Wash the chili and cut into piece.

·         Pour the potato chips into the frying pan. Add three tablespoon peanut or olive oil with same amount of water and cook for three minutes stir all the time.

·         Add the nuts, onions, garlic, chili and curry leaves and cook for 3 minutes.

·         Add 1 table spoonful of peanut or olive oil again.

·         Cut semi ripe mango with skin into small piece and add to the cook stir well for2 minutes.

·         It is done.

·         Put into eating pan with fish.

·         Serves 2 persons.

·         You take it with a cup of black tea plus a cube of sugar and milk for breakfast or lunch.

Health Benefits Of Recipe: The health benefit to get from this recipe are

·         Lower your body weight since your calorie intake is low.

·         Your blood pressure is reduced since your weigh is reduced.

·         Regular taking of such a meal either as a breakfast, or lunch or supper will regulate the blood pressure.

·         Thus, high blood pressure is prevented.

·         The meal is full of natural goodness.

·         It will prevent diabetes mellitus.

·         It will increase and sustain your energy due to the numerous combinations of the various natural synergy items.

Alkaline Foods: food groups, fruits and vegetables, including nuts, herbs and spices that keeps the blood stream are called alkaline foods.

·         The list will include all fresh or dried fruits.

·         All green leafy or greens when half cooked in raw state.

·         Spices like green chili, fresh curry, onions, garlic and chive.

·         Peanuts, walnuts, pine nuts and cashew nuts.

·         Tubers like yams, potatoes and cocoyam in their skin.

·         Cereals such as brown rice, bean, pea, bread fruit and lenticels.

Taking some of these food items in a meal will lower your blood pressure.

Food Items: Most of the food we eat are classified into carbohydrates, fats and oils; and proteins.

1.      Carbohydrates or carbs for short, when cooked and eaten with their skin like cocoyam, yams and potatoes, gives an alkaline effect in the blood stream. Without their skin, they form a highly  acidic platform that brings in ill health like headache, diabetes mellitus, and thus, unnecessary gain in weight with flabby body tissue that shows prominently well on the waistline, belly and check.

·         Yams, potatoes, cocoyam should never be peel. Just discard the outermost brittle layer. The fresh outer skin contained the mineral matters, vitamins, some fats and proteins. Doing away with all these leaves the carb or starch in an unbalanced state that breeds disease and ill health in the human body.

·         Rice is another carb food group that is always eaten in many house hold. Brown or unpolished rice is much better. It improves good health. Partially polished rice retained most of its natural nutrients.

·         Process wheat that has been turn into white flour, pasta, macaroni, spaghetti, noodles, has all its essential nutrients removed, and additives added. Chemical additives and preservatives added. These are in the same class as white bread. Recently, some nutrition expert opinioned that due to the chemical additives in these foods, they dare not eat even a bite of these products! Not even an instant meat roll or hot dog!

·         Those who advocates that the skin of any carb, fruits, roots should be discard completely because they are hard or tough has yet to realize the place fiber or bulk plays in human digestion. It help the movement of digested foods in the bowel.

2.      Fats help maintain good body heat.

·         Animal fats: Meat or beef is my best animal fat. I enjoy it like any other person.

·         Vegetables fats: Peanuts, breadfruit, cashew nuts and pine nuts, beans, particularly brown soya bean are good sources. All nuts have fats.

·         Oils also provide body heat. Olive and peanut oils are good vegetable oils. So is sun flower oil. Peanuts, bean and rice are good food synergy make ups. Potatoes, bean, fish and eggs are another. Taken with some fresh fruits, it made a balance meal not until herbs like garlic, onions and ginger were add.

3.      Proteins: Our bodies are made up of protein so to speak. All bodily cells are protein.

·         Animal protein: All animal protein like lean meat, poultry, milk and egg white is good. An egg gives the most essential protein the body needs. Combine with vegetable protein like soya, or any bean and peanuts, makes a good food synergy. Add your favorite fruits, herbs and greens. Marine foods especially, fish are the only best source of animal protein. Sardines and mullets contain the essential omega fatty acids -3 and -6. So are salmons. These wades off heart related disease and this in turn controls your blood pressure, and keeps your heart in good condition.

·         Birds like poultry and turkey are good sources of protein. These lack the essential fatty acid found in sardines and mullets. But they fat content is solid. Limit it to two times a week in diet.

·         Vegetable proteins. Bean, peanuts, corn, lenticel and bread fruit. Bean, peanut and bread fruit when combine can give you all the protein and essential amino acid your body need for good health. But as we are use to many animal products, adding a glass of milk or fresh fish to the meal is okay.
·         Fruits: apples, mangoes, guavas, melons and cucumbers should be eaten with their skin. Oranges when peel, the small opening cut out to suck the juicy out, should be chew and swallow. It contains pectin, a sub part of the vitamin C group. While sucking an orange, I have eaten half the white skin as I suck. It made my body resistant to cold and catarrh.

 To your good health!

  Miebakagh57 (Miebakagh Fiberesima) Copy right 2014 -2015
http://greens4food.blogspot.com

Fruits And Vegetables

I hold that fruits and vegetables (FAV) are man’s first food.

Now a day too, there is certain persons that has made fruits and veggies their sustainable living or meal. They do not add any bird, meat or fish. They selected their FAV wisely.

The various combinations of the items give all the carbohydrates, fats and oils and proteins their need.
Remember nuts and seeds are also fruits.

Combining peanuts, green bean or soya bean with lentils or corn will give you as much protein as an egg or a complete protein of first class status. What is more, the carbs, fats and proteins combination are good source of energy.

But our fear is that if we do not take a piece of flesh, we get sick or hungrier.

Okay have some sardine or mullet which is safer with essential omega-3 and -6 fatty acids.

I recall while growing up and experimenting with these various FAV foods. I also regret to say that the energy release from combinations such as above sent me to a doctor because the temperature of my body surge higher.

I do not know then that 2/3 of a meal should contain only FAV as you should have. I was just a boy of 24 years back then. Now I know better.

 Our western diets depends more on how high a food is processed. We believe the more processed a food is, the more it is healthy and much safer.

Unknown to us, as we have realized later to our regret, we end up sick.

Now, scientists especially nutritionist, dietician and medical personnel are telling us we need to increase our eating of fresh fruits and vegetables, from the relatively five servings a day to the recent thirteen servings a day and much more.

This was not based on a theory but on closer observation of common rural dwelling people eating nature’s products and staying free of diseases. They saw individuals like you and me who take more and more of these natures goodness are relatively free of the common ill health associated with advanced years like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and stroke, certain prostate cancer risks in men and especially breast and cervical cancer in women.

These studies where undertaken over a period of fourteen years.

Take a look at the animals. They depend much on natural vegetation. I have not seen a domestic pet owner cook a meal for his hen or goat or sheep.

Fodders and grains or concentrates is what was provide to these beings. We should eat more and more fruits and vegetables always.

The reason being:

1. Fruits and vegetables are full of natural goodness. They contain water in its purest form. Take a cucumber fruit or water melon for example. 95-96 % of the fruit is water. Cucumbers and melons are the only fruits that have more water than any other fruits. Are you tasty for a cool drink of water? Instead chew a cup of cucumber fruit.

2. Mineral matters and vitamins. Fruit contains much vitamins and mineral salts. It is reasoned that you take your supplements of vitamins and minerals from fruits and veggies and not from over the counter drugs (OTC). I am inclined to opine so because why are doctors encouraging us to eat more and more fruits and veggies? They have realized that despite the fine medication given to patients on certain vitamin deficiency diseases, eating much of the natural diets does better than medication. An exception can be made here.
Pregnant mothers need supplements of folates in capsule or tablet form.

3. Fruit and veggies more natters is one of the natural ways to stay in optimum health. Your ingestion of these goodies wards of diseases and helps retard old age.

4. Fruits and veggies (FAV) more matter are free of animal fats and oils and so prevent the formation of cholesterols in the blood.

Animal fat and oils are essential parts of our digestive process. They contain saturate fats. These fats insulate our vital internal organs. Too much is bad and excess had to find out an outlet in building cholesterol. These saturated and poly-saturated fats need the essential fatty acids in FAV to prevent bad cholesterol building up in the blood stream.

Formation of bad cholesterol in the blood is one of the major causes of heart disease and stroke.
This is what puzzled doctors for a long time. They though the availability of drugs will solve problems.

 5. FAV more matters is more satisfying. By combing various assort types of fruits in salad form as per the 13 cup serving, will produce the energy you need even for some extra activities.

Remember to add some nuts to your salads and not only greens. Peanuts, walnuts, pine nuts and cashew nuts are fruits and can count up to the 13 cup serving. This is because of their fiber content. Certain fibers are not digestible. They just stay sleeping in the stomach and at times delay the digestion of other food items in the stomach.

This ensures you do not get hungry soon. After the carbs, fats and oils and proteins are properly digested, provide the bulk movement that is very important to keep our bowels clean.

6. Most importantly, FAV will help you prevent cold symptoms and issues when eaten regularly. Not only this, it helps wounds to heal fast and strengthen the blood capillaries and veins and other tissues in the body. In this case, it is much better to include citrus and alkaline fruits in the diet always.

These keep the blood stream in an alkaline medium which is the base of our blood. Any acidic state in the blood is a signal for disease to show up.

But eating FAV regularly will prevent this from happening. I wrote a hub on “how to prevent a cold all season.”

The subject matter was on eating fruits instead of resorting to drugs because of their long time side effect.

 A fruit juice is not a substitute for fruits. But if you want a juice, blend an orange with a lime and lemon or tangerine.

Do not discard the seeds, though it may give the juice a slightly bitter taste or flavor. You get all the vitamin C your body need. You should also add a cup of tomatoes and pineapple to the blend to thicken it.

Most commercial fruit juice sold under the brand names of super fruits are either chemically laden with additives. But ensure you get 100% juice if if you want the commercial type.

To your good health!

Miebakagh57 (Miebakagh Fiberesima) Copyright 2014-2015.
http://greens4food.blogspot.com