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YOUR
HEALTH |
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Dr. Jerry Lee Hoover N.D.
Dr.
Hoover Costa Rica for three years. He is
a Doctor of Naturopathy and operated a
Natural Health Clinic in Florida. He
have written many
articles that have been published in
Health magazines in the U.S. and has
authored a book titled Natural Medicine
which has also been translated into
Spanish.
Dr. Hoover likes living in Costa Rica
and enjoys sharing health
information that can be beneficial to
all those who
read it.
If
any readers have any questions they can
be sent to:
DrJerryLeeHooverND@Yahoo.com |
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NATURAL WAYS TO LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE - Part II
By Dr. Jerry Lee Hoover N.D.
What causes high blood pressure?
High blood pressure is largely self-induced by the way we live.
I believe there are mainly four major factors which cause high blood pressure. They are insufficient
water and lack of exercise; (which was covered in part
I), Poor diet (part II), and stress which will be
covered in a future two part series.
A poor diet is one of the major causes of high blood pressure. We are what we eat and most
Americans eat all the wrong types of foods. They consume large
amounts of meat, dairy products, (such as milk, cheese
& ice cream) and eggs. These foods can lead to high
blood pressure as they all contain cholesterol. Our bodies produce cholesterol and when we consume large
amounts of extra cholesterol as found in meat, dairy
products & eggs our bodies have a hard time eliminating all this excess
cholesterol and it can cause arterial plaque build up on the artery walls
causing high blood pressure. We need to be consuming
more protein foods such as beans, nuts, soy products
and grains as these contain no cholesterol and are
high in fiber which helps to lower cholesterol.
What about salt? Recent studies have shown that
salt is only a minor issue in high blood pressure.
Although salt restrictions may lower blood pressure a few points a growing number of authorities on this
subject say about 10% of the population would
benefit
from this.
Fats contribute to high blood pressure in a far
greater degree then the use of salt. A high fat diet
can cause high blood pressure. Over 60% of all
Americans are overweight. Every pound of excess fat
contains approximately 200 miles of capillaries
through which the heart has to push blood. We need
to
cut down on foods high in fat content. For example;
all fried foods, such as french fries, have a high
fat
content since all oils are 100% fat. Dairy, butter
and margarine are also high in fat.
Foods that lower blood pressure. Studies have
shown that foods high in potassium helps lower blood pressure. Potassium rich foods are bananas, apples,
melons, potatoes, tomatoes, etc. There is one food
that dramatically lowers blood pressure and that
food
is raw garlic. You can use it in salads or if you
are
real brave and do not want anyone around you, just
eat
it by itself.
A simple way I encourage my patients
to
get the garlic down is to take one or two cloves blended in a blender with a small amount of water or
juice.
What About Medications? A large scale government
funded Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial
(MRFIT), which was a study costing more than $150
million dollars, found that the coronary mortality
was
70% higher in a group of hypertensive patients that
received aggressive treatment when compared to a
control group who received no treatment. (MRFIT;
Risk Factor Changes and Mortality Results, JAMA
246:1465-1477)
So this study is saying that those
who did not take the medications lived longer then
those who did. In the next two issues I will be
writing about STRESS.
Click
here for part I
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