Unless you monitor your blood pressure on a regular basis a spike as high blood pressure or indeed a slump can go un-noticed. Tell tale signs with high blood pressure could be vascular headaches or nose bleeds for no apparent reason. In this case a rosy complexion may not mean you are the picture of health. There are times in a fight or flight situation when we are responding to a stressful situation when it is normal for there to be a temporary increase in blood pressure to better supply the muscles, (including the heart) so you can face the situation or get out of way rapidly.
This is normal and one of the reasons why ‘white coat’ syndrome can sometimes give off miss-leading readings because just being around the nurse or doctor is stressing you out. Its far more accurate to have ambulatory blood pressure measurements taken by a monitor which is carried by the patient and automatically takes periodic readings which can be analysed by computer back at the doctor’s office.
As you read through the articles we have already published and with many more to come, it will become obvious that there many causative factors which can lead to high blood pressure. We intend to concentrate on high blood pressure as it is associated with high triglyceride and cholesterol levels. But just briefly on low pressure, a test we carried out is called the Royland test whereby you take a patient’s blood pressure whilst relaxed and lying down then ask them to stand and immediately take the BP again. What should happen is the BP should be higher on the second reading to account for gravity but in cases of adrenal exhaustion the BP actually drops.
Diet is something you can do something about to help with your blood pressure and here is a major contributing factor with two minerals that it is vital to understand.
Sodium and potassium
The modern diet, which contains too much sodium and too little potassium, contributes to the age-related rise in blood pressure so common in the West. It is a major contributory factor to heart attacks and strokes, particularly in the overweight. Salt is often hidden in food items that you would not necessarily expect to see it in and it does involve studying ingredients on packets.
Top Potassium Foods
Potassium rich foods include:-
| Lentils 730mg 1 cup | Banana 450mg medium |
| Kidney beans 700mg 1 cup | Avocado 550mg half |
| Prune juice 700mg 8oz | Carrot (raw) 232mg medium |
| Tomato juice 652mg 6oz | Milk 381mg 8oz |
| Chick peas 470mg 1 cup | Orange juice 474mg 8oz |
Anything that accumulates and therefore narrows blood vessels will increase blood pressure which is why it is vitally important to maintain healthy lipid levels amongst other factors and we will be covering these in detail in future articles.