What is it about blood pressure that haunts people, especially adults in this 21th century? Many have heard news about people getting stroke and being paralyzed due to high blood pressure. Worse still, if that person is someone you know. Either they are your close friends or your siblings. Let's us first understand what blood pressure really is, what constitute a normal blood pressure and how it can change to affect our health and well being.
Blood pressure is the pressure exerted on our blood vessels wall when blood flows around our body. It has a maximum (systolic) and a minimum (diastolic) pressure as blood is pumped from our heart towards organs furthest away from our heart like our toes and fingers etc. A normal adult will have a blood pressure reading of 120/80 mm Hg. People with a blood pressure reading of 140/90 mm Hg or higher is said to have hypertension or high blood pressure in layman term and should seek medical attention from doctor immediately.
So what causes our blood pressure to increase from its normal level? There are a number of reasons why our blood pressure increases. It may be due to an unhealthy lifestyle of consuming too much carbohydrate and fatty foods with little or no exercise. Over time, cholesterol will build up in our blood vessel wall making it more difficult for blood to flow through. When our heart pump blood through a smaller vessel (due to the cholesterol blockage) a higher pressure will result. Similar to a water hose in our garden, when we accidentally step on the hose, the water at the other end will eject out in a more powerful manner due to a smaller opening for water to flow through as we step on it. Other reasons for change of blood pressure are, lack of sleep, emotional stress, consume too much alcohol or over eating, smoking and high physical activities.
Why do we need to seek doctor's medical attention if our blood pressure reaches 140/90 mm Hg and above? Well, let's illustrate using a balloon. When we pump air into the balloon, is will grow bigger and bigger until to a certain extend when the wall of the balloon cannot with stand the excess pressure of the air, it will burst open. The same goes with our blood vessels. It will burst open if our blood pressure is too high causing internal bleeding which may result in stroke or even death if too serious.
If we are just on the borderline of 140/90 mm Hg, we can reduce the reading by adopting a healthier lifestyle in the form of controlling our diet and doing more exercises on a regular basis. Whereas if our blood pressure is too high until in the hypertension zone of 140/90 mm Hg and above, doctor may prescribe us with some medication to control our blood pressure. However, we can always control our blood pressure using the "Natural" ways without the need of taking blood pressure controlling medicine. Essentially, these so-called blood pressure controlling medicines are in fact medicines which help to thin our blood by flushing away excess sodium and also to relax our blood vessel. We will discuss more on how to reduce high blood pressure "Naturally" in my next post.
Showing posts with label Cholesterol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cholesterol. Show all posts
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Exercise And Cholesterol
It has been in the general public's perception that exercise can reduce cholesterol and gives you a healthier body. The more exercises you do, the healthier a person will be and all the heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure etc will go away. Is this view correct? And if so how does exercise really reduce our body cholesterol?
When we do exercise long enough (30 minutes or more), our body will starts to burn our body fat for fuel to cater for the higher demand in energy while we are in the high physical activity state. As we know, cholesterols are fat like substances in our blood stream. The regular burning off of fats in our body prevents the accumulation of LDL cholesterol. Exercise will stimulate the production of enzyme that promotes the removal of LDL by transporting them to the liver to be converted into bile or secreted. The more exercise we do, the more LDL cholesterol will be removed from our system.
On the other hand, high physical activities can promote the production of HDL cholesterol in our body which function is to transport excess cholesterol away from our blood stream. In fact studies have shown that exercise is the only way that we can increase our HDL level. That is why people who lives a sedentary lifestyle has a lower level of HDL in their blood system which is why most of these people will have high cholesterol and suffer a higher risk of having heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and so on.
So what kind of exercise we can do? Normally if you have never been exercising for quite some time, it is advisable to start slow by doing regular light exercises to make your body use to the higher level of physical stress or to consult your local doctor first before you start to do anything. You can do walking for 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week. As your body begins to get used to the low intensity exercises, you can crank up the level by doing fast walking or even slow running for 30 minutes or more a day. The key is to increase your exercise intensity in a gradual manner. You can always try different types of exercise to inject variety and thus prevents the boring effect from making you stop exercising! Exercises like, treadmills, stationary bike, stepper, ellipticals, rowing machine or even rope jumping are among many cardio exercises that you can choose.
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When we do exercise long enough (30 minutes or more), our body will starts to burn our body fat for fuel to cater for the higher demand in energy while we are in the high physical activity state. As we know, cholesterols are fat like substances in our blood stream. The regular burning off of fats in our body prevents the accumulation of LDL cholesterol. Exercise will stimulate the production of enzyme that promotes the removal of LDL by transporting them to the liver to be converted into bile or secreted. The more exercise we do, the more LDL cholesterol will be removed from our system.
On the other hand, high physical activities can promote the production of HDL cholesterol in our body which function is to transport excess cholesterol away from our blood stream. In fact studies have shown that exercise is the only way that we can increase our HDL level. That is why people who lives a sedentary lifestyle has a lower level of HDL in their blood system which is why most of these people will have high cholesterol and suffer a higher risk of having heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and so on.
So what kind of exercise we can do? Normally if you have never been exercising for quite some time, it is advisable to start slow by doing regular light exercises to make your body use to the higher level of physical stress or to consult your local doctor first before you start to do anything. You can do walking for 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week. As your body begins to get used to the low intensity exercises, you can crank up the level by doing fast walking or even slow running for 30 minutes or more a day. The key is to increase your exercise intensity in a gradual manner. You can always try different types of exercise to inject variety and thus prevents the boring effect from making you stop exercising! Exercises like, treadmills, stationary bike, stepper, ellipticals, rowing machine or even rope jumping are among many cardio exercises that you can choose.
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Sunday, March 11, 2012
Foods For Cholesterol
All types of food we eat seem to elevate our cholesterol level which leads us towards the danger of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke and so on. So what should we eat instead? Is our life will become so boring without that crispy fried chicken, juicy double cheese burger or ever colourful seafood platter? Well, not for a second, it won't, I can assure you. I'll recommend to you 5 types of food that you can serve to cholesterol intake and at the same time cleanse you blood to make you the healthy YOU again so that you will no longer have to worry about heart attacks and so on.
The first and most versatile and easy to prepare cholesterol reducing food will be none other than Oatmeal. Its soluble fiber content helps to absorb the excess cholesterol in our blood and hence can cleanse our blood cholesterol if consume regularly. Now most of you might be saying, WHAT? OATMEAL! HOW BORING WILL THAT BE as compared to the juicy Hamburger! Well, no one ask you to consume oatmeal pouring it into your throat literally! Oatmeal, if prepared well, can become a delicacy for some people. Here is how you do it. Put 8 tablespoon of instant oatmeal into a bowl, pour 1 1/2 cup of omega milk into it. Cook it until warm or you can microwave it for 1 minute. Then add some banana slices and s swirl of honey to taste and wah-lah, a nice warm and healthy breakfast that you can try at home.
The second kind of food you can add into your diet is Celery. Celery is found to induce the bile secretion property in our body and hence the lowering of cholesterol in our blood. I also contain phthalides, an active compound which helps in the lowering of our blood pressure by dilating our arteries and enhancing our blood flow, what we called blood thinning effect. Beside this, celery is also rich in vitamin C which helps in the tackling the free-radicals in our body and promotes the overall well being of our body. Celery can be blended with tomato and apple with a tablespoon of honey and drink as a refreshing juice for breakfast. Besides, serving as a juice, celery can be eaten raw or serve as a salad with other vegetables and fruits.
The third type of food is none other than the good old creature from the sea, FISH. Fish contained Omega-3 Fatty acids which can reduce oily substance (triglyceride) in our blood stream, reduces blood pressure and prevent us from getting stroke or blood clot in our arteries. Fish like Sardin, Mackerel, Salmon, Tuna, Herring, Trout and Halibut contain high level of these Omega-3 Fatty acids. So next time, go to a Sushi bar and order a Salmon sushi rather than having a double cheese burger in a fast food shop! Besides fish you can also try Omega Milk. Drink this type of milk instead of full cream ones. The Omega milk contains ACTICOL and added plant sterols and is scientifically proven to lower your LDL cholesterol. Drink 2 glasses a day, add it to your cereal or oatmeal and see the result of your body cholesterol in 30 days.
The forth kind of cholesterol reducing food will be Nuts. It includes Walnut, Hazelnut, Almond, Peanut and pistachio. They contain polyunsaturated fatty acid which can keep your blood vessels healthy. However, walnut is rated top on the nut list as it contained a superior amount of omega-3 fatty acids that can reduce cholesterol as those in the fish mentioned above. Do not eat sugar coated or those with high salt contain. Add them into your salad or you can eat them as snack. A cup of serving per day will be sufficient (40gm) and do not munch it none stop watching your favourite tv program!
The fifth type of Food I recommend will be olive oil. This type of oil has antioxidant property that can reduce the bad LDL cholesterol while maintaining your good HDL cholesterol. Use olive oil instead of other type of oil in your cooking. Add olive oil (extra virgin has more cholesterol reducing effect) into your salad dressing and eat your way to a healthy body for sure! (Suggested daily serving is 2 tablespoon).
The first and most versatile and easy to prepare cholesterol reducing food will be none other than Oatmeal. Its soluble fiber content helps to absorb the excess cholesterol in our blood and hence can cleanse our blood cholesterol if consume regularly. Now most of you might be saying, WHAT? OATMEAL! HOW BORING WILL THAT BE as compared to the juicy Hamburger! Well, no one ask you to consume oatmeal pouring it into your throat literally! Oatmeal, if prepared well, can become a delicacy for some people. Here is how you do it. Put 8 tablespoon of instant oatmeal into a bowl, pour 1 1/2 cup of omega milk into it. Cook it until warm or you can microwave it for 1 minute. Then add some banana slices and s swirl of honey to taste and wah-lah, a nice warm and healthy breakfast that you can try at home.
The second kind of food you can add into your diet is Celery. Celery is found to induce the bile secretion property in our body and hence the lowering of cholesterol in our blood. I also contain phthalides, an active compound which helps in the lowering of our blood pressure by dilating our arteries and enhancing our blood flow, what we called blood thinning effect. Beside this, celery is also rich in vitamin C which helps in the tackling the free-radicals in our body and promotes the overall well being of our body. Celery can be blended with tomato and apple with a tablespoon of honey and drink as a refreshing juice for breakfast. Besides, serving as a juice, celery can be eaten raw or serve as a salad with other vegetables and fruits.
The third type of food is none other than the good old creature from the sea, FISH. Fish contained Omega-3 Fatty acids which can reduce oily substance (triglyceride) in our blood stream, reduces blood pressure and prevent us from getting stroke or blood clot in our arteries. Fish like Sardin, Mackerel, Salmon, Tuna, Herring, Trout and Halibut contain high level of these Omega-3 Fatty acids. So next time, go to a Sushi bar and order a Salmon sushi rather than having a double cheese burger in a fast food shop! Besides fish you can also try Omega Milk. Drink this type of milk instead of full cream ones. The Omega milk contains ACTICOL and added plant sterols and is scientifically proven to lower your LDL cholesterol. Drink 2 glasses a day, add it to your cereal or oatmeal and see the result of your body cholesterol in 30 days.
The forth kind of cholesterol reducing food will be Nuts. It includes Walnut, Hazelnut, Almond, Peanut and pistachio. They contain polyunsaturated fatty acid which can keep your blood vessels healthy. However, walnut is rated top on the nut list as it contained a superior amount of omega-3 fatty acids that can reduce cholesterol as those in the fish mentioned above. Do not eat sugar coated or those with high salt contain. Add them into your salad or you can eat them as snack. A cup of serving per day will be sufficient (40gm) and do not munch it none stop watching your favourite tv program!
The fifth type of Food I recommend will be olive oil. This type of oil has antioxidant property that can reduce the bad LDL cholesterol while maintaining your good HDL cholesterol. Use olive oil instead of other type of oil in your cooking. Add olive oil (extra virgin has more cholesterol reducing effect) into your salad dressing and eat your way to a healthy body for sure! (Suggested daily serving is 2 tablespoon).
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
What Is Cholesterol
Nowadays we always heard about cholesterol is bad for health. It can cause heart attack, stroke and so on. So what is this cholesterol thing and how well do people really know about it. Can we really prevent cholesterol from lingering in our body all together? Or how do we prevent cholesterol from entering into our body in the first place?
Cholesterol is actually a fat or lipid as they called it in scientific term. Our liver produces cholesterol to aid in the hormone and bile production, helps to convert sunshine into vitamin D, use in the metabolism of fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K), build cell membrane and insulate our nerve fibers. There are 2 types of cholesterol, namely the Low Density Lipoprotein or LDL and the High Density Lipoprotein or HDL. LDL is what we commonly known as the bad cholesterol. It comes mainly from the food we consume every day. Foods that are high in cholesterol are egg, seafood like squid and prawns, cheese and full cream milk, red meat like beef and pork and also most fatty food which most people like to eat like hamburger, fried chicken, pizza, fries and so on. This is the main reason why so many people suffer from high cholesterol level due to the fatty food they consume on a daily basis.
Over consumption of fatty food will cause the build-up of the bad cholesterol in our blood stream. As this process continues, layers upon layers of bad cholesterol will starts to build up around the inner walls of our blood vessels until a time when a total blockage occurs. If this happen to our artery supplying blood to our heart, then a heart attack may result. Other than that, if the piled up cholesterol flows into our brain and cause a blockage there and damage part of our brain cells, we may suffer paralysis of body function or what is commonly known as a stroke. So as you can see the danger of excess bad cholesterol in our body. The other good cholesterol or HDL, helps in the transport of cholesterol back to liver for breakdown. The HDL can only be produce via doing exercise. So that is why many people who are sedentary or lack of exercise will have high blood pressure due to the high level of bad cholesterol accumulated in their body as they aren't producing enough HDL to transport the excess cholesterol away for breakdown. A healthy blood cholesterol level should between 3.6 mmol/liter to 7.8 mmol/liter.
So all in all, in order to have a healthy body, we need to control our food consumption by taking less of the high cholesterol or fatty food as mentioned above while eating more fruits, vegetables and high fiber foods and the like. We will touch on more on how to have a cholesterol free diet in my next post and ways to exercise your way out of these bad cholesterol from your blood system!
Cholesterol is actually a fat or lipid as they called it in scientific term. Our liver produces cholesterol to aid in the hormone and bile production, helps to convert sunshine into vitamin D, use in the metabolism of fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K), build cell membrane and insulate our nerve fibers. There are 2 types of cholesterol, namely the Low Density Lipoprotein or LDL and the High Density Lipoprotein or HDL. LDL is what we commonly known as the bad cholesterol. It comes mainly from the food we consume every day. Foods that are high in cholesterol are egg, seafood like squid and prawns, cheese and full cream milk, red meat like beef and pork and also most fatty food which most people like to eat like hamburger, fried chicken, pizza, fries and so on. This is the main reason why so many people suffer from high cholesterol level due to the fatty food they consume on a daily basis.
Over consumption of fatty food will cause the build-up of the bad cholesterol in our blood stream. As this process continues, layers upon layers of bad cholesterol will starts to build up around the inner walls of our blood vessels until a time when a total blockage occurs. If this happen to our artery supplying blood to our heart, then a heart attack may result. Other than that, if the piled up cholesterol flows into our brain and cause a blockage there and damage part of our brain cells, we may suffer paralysis of body function or what is commonly known as a stroke. So as you can see the danger of excess bad cholesterol in our body. The other good cholesterol or HDL, helps in the transport of cholesterol back to liver for breakdown. The HDL can only be produce via doing exercise. So that is why many people who are sedentary or lack of exercise will have high blood pressure due to the high level of bad cholesterol accumulated in their body as they aren't producing enough HDL to transport the excess cholesterol away for breakdown. A healthy blood cholesterol level should between 3.6 mmol/liter to 7.8 mmol/liter.
So all in all, in order to have a healthy body, we need to control our food consumption by taking less of the high cholesterol or fatty food as mentioned above while eating more fruits, vegetables and high fiber foods and the like. We will touch on more on how to have a cholesterol free diet in my next post and ways to exercise your way out of these bad cholesterol from your blood system!
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