Are you stressed or steamed about issues in your life? Are you doing anything to release this stress? It has been said more than once that STRESS KILLS! In fact, The American Heart Association states that over 65 million Americans age 20 and over, have high blood pressure, which can be caused by stressful conditions. In 2002, high blood pressure or hypertension killed 49,707 people and was listed as a contributing factor in over 261, 000 U.S. deaths. Statistically 1 in 3 people in America have high blood pressure. Are you one of them?
How do you tell if you have high blood pressure?
You can visit your doctor, or visit your local drugstore or health food store and get a blood pressure reading for free. There are typically charts available on the free systems that you can view your height, weight, age, etc to find the ranges for your body.
What should my blood pressure be?
Optimum blood pressure numbers can depend on your age, weight, and other factors. The American Heart Association (AHA), states that numbers under 140/90 and over 90/60 are generally considered normal in adults. Baselines vary considerably from one individual to the next.
For the most accurate results, be sure to take your blood pressure while in a seated position with your arm at the same level as your heart, after you have been at rest for five minutes or more. One lady I know had her blood pressure taken at her doctor’s office and the cuff really hurt her and her number was way too high. Fortunately she was paying attention and told the nurse that it had to be wrong. They had used the WRONG size cuff for her arm. People should request a larger cuff size if they feel the one they have been using is too small or big. It is important to use the right size cuff for your arm.
What do those numbers mean?
The top number, systolic blood pressure, measures the maximum pressure exerted as the heart contracts, while the lower number indicates diastolic pressure, measures the phase in which the ventricles are relaxing and no blood is being ejected out through the ventricles.
What are the causes of High Blood Pressure?
This list is pretty much endless. I have seen high blood pressure caused from hiatal hernias, mineral deficiency, toxic body conditions, virus or other organism, improper pH, thyroid issues, digestion problems, and of course stress in general.
So how do know what is causing your high blood pressure?
Only your doctor can “diagnose” what the cause is. But of course many of the doctors will only give you a drug instead of helping you get to the core of the problem. If you want to get to the direct cause there are some basic things you can try to rule out each cause.
Celery
The first thing that many of my customers do is to eat celery. You can also drink celery juice but eating the celery, usually 4 stalks a day will do the trick. If this brings your blood pressure down, and it can within a week, then this tells me that your body is too acidic, that your body is holding on to too much acid. Being too acidic prevents your body from properly absorbing minerals and throws off your sensitive sodium/potassium balance. If you eat the celery and within a week or two you blood pressure comes down, I would recommend eating much more fruits and vegetables including the celery and less of everything else. If you start eating 75% vegetables and fruits each day and 25% everything else, not only will your blood pressure get better but also you will probably get healthier overall.
Minerals
Speaking of mineral absorption, getting minerals in the first place can also be an issue. Getting on an absorbable mineral supplement can also be effective.
Hiatal Hernias
If the celery doesn’t work, then try visiting your local chiropractor. Hiatal hernias are a very common cause of high blood pressure. A hiatal hernia is when part of the stomach moves up between the diaphragm and into the upper respiratory cavity, pressing on your lungs and heart. To learn more about hiatal hernias you can read the November 2004 Discover magazine at your local library. In it they state the over 50% of the population over the age of 50 have this condition. You can also read more about this at website http://www.truhealth.com/voice_of_choice_1202.htm.
Cleanses
If it turns out the hiatal hernia is not your issue, then try cleansing your body. If your circulatory system has to work extra hard it may be because your body is too toxic and your body is stressing about how to get all this junk out. Try a colon cleanse, liver cleanse, parasite cleanse, lymphatic cleanses and/or environmental toxin cleanse. Many of these are available in your local health food store or from an herbalist or Naturopathic Doctor. Be sure you know what you taking or ask advise from a professional to make you get the results you are looking for.
One easy thing that many of my customers have done is eat a lot of cilantro. Cilantro is very good at pulling environmental toxins out of the body. (See side bar recipe)
Organisms
If you think an organism is the problem – Oregon grape and olive leaf are two very good virus killers. Many years ago I read an article in Discover that talked about how Cytomegalovirus was one of the mysterious viruses that has been linked to causing high blood pressure. Be sure to eliminate all dairy and sugar from your diet as well as they typically feed virus, which can make the problem worse.
Medication
If you take high blood pressure medicine you might want to look at taking a natural form of potassium at a separate time then you take your medicine as the drugs deplete the body of potassium.
Salt
Many people who have high blood pressure have been told to remove salt from their diet. There is a difference between chemically cleansed sodium chloride you purchase as table salt and sea salt. The body recognizes and utilizes the mineral rich sea salt and uses it to help heal the body, but has no idea what to do with the chemical salt. It is considered toxic by many and can kill you. You can read more about this at www.newstarget.com/sodium.html.
Other products that can help are:
Bach flower remedies – these remedies work on helping you release the underlying emotion causing you stress
Adrenal products – supporting the adrenals can help your body deal better with stress
Hawthorn berries – Hawthorn is great at strengthening the heart for all kind of heart issues
Capsicum – can help with high or low blood pressure as well as infections in the circulatory system
Garlic – can help kill infection in the circulatory system
Parsley – a diuretic that helps eliminate acid out of the urinary system - many of my customers call this their high blood pressure insurance
CoQ10 – has helped many people with high blood pressure by support proper oxidization of the circulatory system.
So if you have high blood pressure, try some of these techniques above. You might be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to eliminate yours.
Cilantro spread recipe
Cilantro Chelation Pesto
*Author Unknown*
4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup Brazil nuts (selenium)
1/3 cup sunflower seeds (cysteine)
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds (zinc, magnesium)
2 cups packed fresh cilantro (coriander, Chinese parsley) (vitamin A)
2/3-cup Flaxseed Oil
4 tablespoons lemon juice (vitamin C)
2 tsp dulse powder
Sea salt to taste
Process the cilantro and flaxseed oil in a blender until the coriander is chopped. Add the garlic, nuts and seeds, dulse and lemon juice and mix until the mixture is finely blended into a paste. Add a pinch to sea salt to taste and blend again. Store in dark glass jars if possible. It freezes well, so purchase cilantro in season and fill enough jars to last through the year. Cilantro has been proven to chelate toxic metals from our bodies in a relatively short period of time. Combined with the benefits of the other ingredients, this recipe is a powerful tissue cleanser.
Two teaspoons of this pesto daily for three weeks is purportedly enough to increase the urinary excretion of mercury, lead and aluminum, thus effectively removing these toxic metals from our bodies. We can consider doing this cleanse for three weeks at least once a year. The pesto is delicious on toast, baked potatoes, and pasta.