Natural Herbal Blood Pressure Remedies

Parents should watch what they feed to their child...

2011-01-25T21:39:19.383-08:00

Parents should watch what they feed to their children because it is too young for them to experience such things.

Thanks for setting up your website which is full o...

2010-08-01T08:52:02.586-07:00

Thanks for setting up your website which is full of interesting comments.
I've been limiting my salt intake since January 4th 2010 to see what the effect on my blood pressure might be. I can report that my blood pressure has steadily gone down since I started the regime. My systolic blood pressure had been creeping upwards in the 140s (and sometimes in the 150s when measured at home). My doctor told me it was borderline for treatment but he would keep it monitored. Not wanting to spend the rest of my life on medications(natural or otherwise), I explored dietary and lifestyle changes. I recorded my sodium intake every day and tried to keep it under 1000mg(WHO recommended target = 2400mg or 6g salt). See my website:

http://saltandbloodpressure.weebly.com

This meant severely restricting any food with added salt like cheese, savoury nuts and snacks, processed meats like ham, bacon, sausages, burgers, restaurant foods, take-away and party foods, shop-bought bread, cakes and pastries and biscuits, olives, canned or smoked fish, prawns, prepared soups, salad dressings, stock cubes etc etc. What was I left with? Well, basically whole foods prepared at home(including salt-free home-made bread and salt-free home-made soft cheese) making for what I would call a pretty healthy diet. Fresh meats, eggs and fish with no added salt are fine to eat(no pre-prepared breadcrumbs or batter on fish...almost certainly high in salt!). I calculated that my intake of sodium from food with no added salt was around 500mg per day. I consume a fair amount of dairy products in the form of milk and home-made yogurt and cheese, which supplies a good proportion of my natural salt intake per day, along with fresh fish. All foods contain a little sodium and certain vegetables like carrots, beets, celery and spinach contain nearly as much sodium as fresh fish, weight for weight. Of course the idea is to reduce sodium intake, not stop it altogether. Sodium is essential for the body, though there is little agreement on the absolute minimum intake required. The body is very efficient at holding onto sodium when required.
My blood pressure has steadily dropped to around 120/80 mark which you can see in graphic form on my website. Not only that, but my weight has also gone down steadily by around 14 pounds, which I put down mainly to being obliged to avoid all processed and junk foods. My intake of things like savoury snacks, cakes, pastries and sweet desserts is now virtually zero which helps. Salt is generally added to things like cakes during baking and there is sodium bicarbonate in the self-rising flour, making for a double dose of sodium. I have been avoiding any excess sugar in my diet for years, but avoiding sweet things like cakes, pastries and puddings takes it a stage further. I run regularly to keep fit but was doing that 6 months before I started the salt restriction diet. It didn't reduce my blood pressure though my resting heart rate has gone down from 75 to around 65. I now completely avoid all foods with added salt apart from very occasional awkward times when invited to friends for a meal or party when there is nothing else to choose! Baked potato with salad is my usual banker if available.
So I am happy that my NASD or "No Added Salt Diet" is working for me and can recommend it to others.

Christopher Aylmer
Newmarket
Suffolk
UK

Excellent information. I have been very stressed o...

2010-05-27T04:51:19.526-07:00

Excellent information. I have been very stressed of late and after having a pasta lunch and a pizza in the evening I had the following day both a headache and higher blood pressure 155/90. To begin I realised I was dehydrated with so much flour in my system, so I drank copious quantities of water. I have also not eaten any products with wheat, had no foods with refined sugar, had very little dairy products and excercised more. The result is that today I feel much better and my blood pressure is down to 118/81. I am amazed and convinced about what you are saying rgegarding the close relationship between diet and high blood pressure. Thank you

WHAT IF YOU ARE ON PRESCRIBED BL MEDICATION AND YO...

2010-04-20T16:06:53.176-07:00

WHAT IF YOU ARE ON PRESCRIBED BL MEDICATION AND YOU WOULD LIKE TO TRY NATURAL HERBAL SUPPLEMENTS AND RELAXATION METHODS? IS THERE ANYWAY TO TRANSITION WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT HEALTH RISKS?

I agree with BMD. Also I find that the second rea...

2010-03-27T14:49:28.827-07:00

I agree with BMD. Also I find that the second reading taken on my home BP monitor is consistently lower than the first - sometimes significantly so. I'm left wondering which is the most accurate? I've read and been told that the first reading should be disregarded but feel a bit uneasy about this. Does the upper-arm band distort the artery after the first reading and should I be removing it for a short while before taking the second one? Or does the effort of rolling up the sleeve and fitting the band push up the reading slightly?

Thats a great point and one that I see quite a lot...

2010-03-24T11:38:21.297-07:00

Thats a great point and one that I see quite a lot with patients.

The truth is of course that all of our readings do vary significantly over the course of a day - and even sometimes within a short time interval as you describe.

Have you ever had a proper 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure reading done? It might be helpful. One of the advantages is that it gives you a graph of the average readings and also the night time sleeping blood pressure readings.

High day time results can be offset by lovely low ones during sleep. Some of us are unfortunate enough to have readings that stay high even when sleeping and this can lead to real long term issues.

Thanks for sharing. I appreciate it.

Gordon Cameron

Thanks for that. The question you ask ("What ...

2010-03-24T11:17:40.910-07:00

Thanks for that. The question you ask ("What is considered high blood pressure?") is definitely worth addressing. Averages vs individual readings? Lowest readings? Which are the most relevant?

One of my frustrations is the degree to which my own BP readings fluctuate. It can be by as much as 30 points (systolic) within 5 minutes between two readings (I have a decent upper-arm monitor).

And it's much higher at the doctor's (I'm aware of the white coat syndrome, but sometimes the difference seems extreme considering I don't feel anxious. And even this isn't consistent - sometimes its relatively low at the doctors).

I'm on BP medication as my readings were astronomical at one point, but I seem to *average* at around 140/90 now. I'm otherwise fit, slim, healthy, unstressed.

But it seems such an imprecise thing. If it can fluctuate by upto 30 points over 5 minutes (with no apparent change in my internal/external conditions), then I wonder if it's meaningful at all. (Occasionally I get a relatively low reading of around 126/85).

High blood pressure is usually due to an unbalance...

2010-03-24T10:23:37.205-07:00

High blood pressure is usually due to an unbalanced body. If your body is too acid it can cause high blood pressure because the arteries are full of fatty deposits and the heart has to pump harder to get the blood through. So ideally your body pH should be slightly alkaline - around 7.3 to 7.5. How do you do this? By eating more vegetables and fruit and far less of the animal protein. Animal protein is known to feed cancer cells (read the China Study by T Colin Campbell). We do not eat enough raw rood in out diet and we dont eat enough of it raw. Fruit and vegetables have much better and easier to digest protein, vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates than any animal protein. Also correct food combining plays a great part in supplying the body with great nutrition. Certain foods require different pH levels to digest and if eaten together can cause some problems. Viv Live Naturally - South Africa (ex Scotland!)