HC Blood Pressure 7

I would like to discuss some very fundamental dietary principles that can be initiated to help bring blood pressure under control. I want to caution you not to think that if you do these things the blood pressure will show improvement immediately. The natural way is not always the quickest way but it is always the best way. If someone has had ‘high blood pressure’ for several years then it will take several months before the blood pressure comes down. In fact, it may, for a short time, begin to rise as the body gets the proper nourishment to help it get stronger. The heart will get stronger and begin to work harder to supply the nourishment to the tissues and to remove the toxins that have accumulated in the body over time. But as it builds and repairs itself with good nutrition, and the malnourishment and toxicity are reduced it will begin to work more efficiently and eventually the blood pressure will begin to go down. Rather than focusing on a couple of numbers we must adjust our thinking to focus on health and letting the body do what it has been designed to do, which is to heal itself. If we do that the end result will be a healthier body operating more efficiently under less stress, and the lowering of blood pressure will be the result of this change.

So let’s look at some principles to follow which will help improve your health.

Principle #1- Eat whole foods. Whole foods are fresh foods which have not been devitalized by processing. They are still alive and living so they have a tendency to spoil. Processed food is devitalized and does not spoil so it can sit on a shelf for months or years. But having been devitalized this so called food has little to no nutritional value because most of the nutrition has been removed or destroyed by the processing done in order to preserve it. As a result one can eat it and will in the long run gain weight but, in fact, be malnourished. Today there are a lot of Americans who are malnourished and yet are overweight. Malnourishment is largely a result of poor food quality and not merely the reduction of food intake.

Principle #2- Eat organically grown foods. These have all of the nutrients normally found in good foods because they are raised in healthy vital soil which has been replenished with natural fertilizers instead of synthetic. There are no pesticides, fungicides, bacteriosides, herbicides, or anything else that is unnatural and upsets the balance of the soil as nature intended it. Organic meats come from farms where nature has been left undisturbed as well. The animals producing theses meats are fed organically grown produce, are hormone free, and vaccine free, etc., in accordance with the natural order of things. Remember, life in all its fullness is Mother Nature obeyed.

Principle #3- Be sparing of grain consumption. Even organic grains can cause a host of problems in the digestive tract, especially if specific protein sensitivities are present as with gluten or gliadin sensitivities. Seven to eleven servings of grain per day is courting disaster, even in non-sensitive individuals. One to two servings daily of unprocessed grain products is much better. I eat two to three servings of grain products a week. That is more than enough once you get used to it.

Principle #4- Eat a large raw salad at least one time per day. Use as many different types of vegetables as you can. Include bean sprouts, alfalfa sprouts or others several times a week. Use shredded raw beets, and any other raw vegetables that you can think of. The greater the variety the better. In accordance with principle #2 these salads are best made with organic vegetables.

Principle #5- Start the day with a protein breakfast. This would include meats and eggs and even fish. Avoid sugar-producing foods at this critical time of the day in order to control glycemic level variations. This includes cereals, potatoes and breads. This will help prevent the 10 or 11 o’clock slump that is so common when a high carbohydrate breakfast is consumed. By starting off with a glycemic-leveling meal, one is well on the way to stabilizing fluctuating sugar levels.

Giving your body a truly balanced and beneficial diet will help it heal and stay well. And this will eliminate any unhealthy fluctuations in blood sugar and blood pressure, at the same time.

Next time, I will give some more dietary principles to follow in order to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Until then, here’s to your good health.

Dr. Jon R. Link