Blood pressure, a vital measure of cardiovascular well-being, encompasses two fundamental aspects: the heart's ability to contract and its ability to relax. It is crucial to comprehend these intricacies to gauge our overall cardiovascular health accurately.
When we refer to blood pressure, we typically encounter two values: the systolic pressure and the diastolic pressure.
The systolic pressure signifies the force exerted on arterial walls during the heart's contraction, and it is ideally expected to be around 120. On the other hand, diastolic pressure reflects the pressure on the arteries when the heart is at rest, specifically during its relaxation phase, and it should be approximately 80.
If the diastolic pressure is elevated, it indicates that the heart is contracting effectively but struggles to relax and return to its resting state adequately. Conversely, an excessively high systolic pressure suggests that the heart's contraction is too forceful.
To better understand these dynamics, it is essential to delve into the nervous system's role in regulating blood pressure. The sympathetic nervous system governs the systolic pressure, responsible for initiating the contraction of the heart muscles. Meanwhile, diastolic pressure is regulated by the parasympathetic nervous system, which ensures the heart relaxes and returns to a state of equilibrium.
As always, let's break it down into four parts:
1. What is the #1 Cause of Hypertension (High Blood Pressure)?
Hypertension is classified into two different categories.
1. Primary or essential hypertension:
About 95% of hypertension cases have an unknown cause. It could be related to a person’s lifestyle, but there is also data that points to having too much insulin (hyperinsulinemia) as being behind this issue. With too much insulin, a person will also have insulin resistance.
2. Secondary hypertension:
Typically, it comes from kidney disease, a tumour, etc.
High insulin could potentially cause hypertension because high insulin stimulates the autonomic nervous system (primarily the sympathetic nervous system). This situation could raise a person’s blood pressure and also cause the arteries to become very stiff. This could lead to hypertension.
A few causes of hypertension
1. Hyperinsulinemia
2. Low potassium
3. Low vitamin D
4. Low magnesium
5. Low vitamin K2
A healthy low-carb diet and intermittent fasting could potentially help a person with hyperinsulinemia and also support a healthy lifestyle. Intermittent fasting may have a greater impact on lowering insulin, but the combination of a healthy diet and intermittent fasting seems to work best.
2. What are the 7 Tips To Lower Blood Pressure Naturally?
First, let's take a look at the blood pressure chart:
• Extremely High – More than 180 (Systolic) / Greater than 110 (Diastolic)
• High (Stage 1) - 160-179 (Systolic) / 100-109 (Diastolic)
• High (Stage 2) – 140-159 (Systolic) / 90-99 (Diastolic)
• Normal High - 139- 121 (Systolic) / 81-89 (Diastolic)
• Normal – 120 (Systolic) / 80 (Diastolic)
Here are 7 Tips to Lower Blood Pressure:
1. Healthy low-carb diet
2. Intermittent fasting – This is vital to decrease inflammation in the arteries.
3. Decrease cortisol (stress hormone).
4. Increase vitamin D3.
5. Increase vitamin K2 – helps remove excess amounts of calcium from the arteries
6. Increase potassium – One of the main functions of potassium is its ability to be a physiological tranquillizer to calm the nervous system right down.
7. Increase magnesium – A deficiency in magnesium could cause the muscular system to be tight.
3. What are the 7 Foods to Stop Eating Now If You Have a Blood Pressure Warning?
We understand that high blood pressure is a part of metabolic syndrome.
These foods retain excess sodium and water in the kidneys, which increases blood volume and hence blood pressure -
1. Pizza - from the crust which has wheat and is made from vegetable oil, also the sauces in pizza.
2. Waffles and pancakes - made from wheat, sugar and vegetable oils.
3. Pasta - pasta noodles made from wheat
4. Hamburgers - bun made of wheat and veg oils
5. Hotdog - bun made of wheat and veg oils
6. Angel food cake - made of wheat, sugar and veg oils
7. Chicken nuggets - breading is made of wheat and sugar
All in all, we need to avoid grains, sugar and vegetable oils.
4. How does Fasting Lower Blood Pressure?
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is usually an asymptomatic condition. The only way to know for sure that you have high blood pressure is to test your blood pressure level with a blood pressure cuff.
There are two types of hypertension: primary and secondary. 95% of all hypertension cases are primary hypertension.
Primary hypertension is related to lifestyle choices. These are some of the things that may contribute to high blood pressure levels
• High salt
• Obesity
• Smoking
• Alcohol
The problem is, many doctors recommend a diet that includes carbohydrates, such as fruits, whole grains, and simple sugars. In fact, their recommended diet allows 12 teaspoons (50g) of sugar per day. That’s a lot of sugar!
Keep in mind that I am not recommending that you go off your medication without your doctor's approval. Instead, I want to show you the problems with what many consider a “healthy” diet for hypertension cases.
A study called the sprint trial was done in 2015. This study found that those who are 50 years or old who take medications live longer when taking multiple medications for hypertension.
This sounds pretty good—but, they also found a significant increase in kidney disease risk.
There are many problems with this study. They only used those with severe hypertension and another study on 174 people who were fasting found a 90% success rate of lowering blood pressure levels naturally.
Why?
When you fast, your insulin levels reduce. High blood pressure is really a result of high blood sugar. This is often caused by insulin resistance. When you lower your insulin levels, you can repair insulin resistance and help normalize your blood sugar and blood pressure levels.
Let me know your thoughts below.
References:
How does potassium supplementation lower blood pressure?: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3362178/
The role of nutrition and nutraceutical supplements in the treatment of hypertension: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3935060/
Dietary Fructose and Elevated Levels of Blood Pressure: https://journals.lww.com/jasn/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2010&issue=09000&article=00005&type=Fulltext
The wrong white crystals: not salt but sugar as aetiological in hypertension and cardiometabolic disease: https://openheart.bmj.com/content/1/1/e000167
Increased Fructose Associates with Elevated Blood Pressure: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3013529/
The mechanisms underlying fructose-induced hypertension: a review: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4947541/
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