High blood pressure is now a very common condition amongst adults. According to a new report, nearly half of the American population (46%) have high blood pressure.
If you suffer from high blood pressure or Hypertension, you may eventually develop other health problems like heart disease, and increase your risk of dying from a heart attack or a stroke.
Annually in the US, there are 610,000 deaths from heart attacks, and nearly 800,000 people suffer from strokes. And those numbers are growing. Knowing that high blood pressure is the major preventable factor, why do we have such high numbers??
Can you recognize the signs of high blood pressure?
What is high blood pressure?
Blood pressure is the amount of blood pumped by your heart and the amount of resistance in your arteries. A normal blood pressure reading should be less than 120/80 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury).
The first number is the systolic pressure, which represents the maximum pressure in your heart while beating. The second number is the diastolic pressure, which is the amount of pressure in your arteries between beats.
The new guidelines released by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association state that high blood pressure should now be treated at 130/80 rather than 140/90.
If your systolic blood pressure is between 120 and 129, with a diastolic pressure under 80, you are considered to have elevated blood pressure, and you should do something about it before it gets worse. We’ll talk about what you should do in a minute.
If your blood pressure is higher than that, you will be diagnosed with hypertension.
Stage 1 hypertension occurs when systolic pressure is between 130 and 139 or diastolic is between 80 and 89.
Stage 2 is a more severe hypertension, when systolic is higher than 140 or diastolic is higher than 90.
Recognize the signs of high blood pressure
It is possible to have high blood pressure for years without having any symptoms. In fact, hypertension is often considered to be a symptomless silent killer.
However, not having symptoms doesn’t mean that no damage is being done to your blood vessels and your heart. High blood pressure related conditions are the leading cause of death and diseases in industrialized countries.
There are several symptoms that may be indirectly linked to high blood pressure. Here they are:
Signs of high blood pressure
- Headaches
- Nosebleeds
- Shortness of breath
- Fatigue
- Chest pain
- Irregular heartbeat
- Pounding in the chest, ears or neck
- Blood spots in the eyes
- Facial flushing
- Dizziness
How to treat high blood pressure without medication
The first thing you should do if you have high blood pressure is to change your lifestyle. This is a condition that is caused by what you eat, what you drink, and how you treat you body in general.
Why not take medication to normalize your blood pressure? Well, you can. It will lower your blood pressure significantly and reduce your risks of heart attack and stroke.
Although, the negative side effects of blood pressure-reducing medications should not be ignored! Chronic cough, erectile dysfunction, dizziness, digestive problems, chronic fatigue, headaches, nausea…Sounds like fun!
All you need to do is stop doing what has been causing your blood pressure to be so high. This way you won’t need the medication! To do so, you’ll need to:
- Eat a healthy, potassium-rich diet*
- Don’t eat salt
- Exercise regularly
- Quit smoking
- Limit your consumption of alcohol
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Lose weight if you are overweight
- Learn how to relax and control your stress
*The healthy diet recommended to people with high blood pressure is the DASH diet. The Dash diet isn’t bad compared to the standard American diet, but it’s not the best. Instead, I recommend following my heart health diet program, it is only one month and it will lower your blood pressure.
The DASH diet recommends to eat more fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy, but just a reduction in meat. Why? We know that animal products are linked to higher blood pressure. In fact, the more dairy you eat, the higher your blood pressure is.
The DASH diet was designed to get the blood pressure-lowering benefits of a vegetarian diet while containing enough animal products to make it enjoyable to the general public.
In other words…we want to help you but we don’t think you’re capable of doing it, so we’ll encourage you to make small changes and we’ll give you medication.
In my practice, I see people normalizing their blood pressure within weeks or even days without medication. With a plant-based diet composed of potassium-rich fruits and vegetables, it is very easy to get back to normal readings.
It is the standard American diet that is causing your blood pressure to be so high.
By avoiding all the processed food and the animal products that are packed with salt, you can say goodbye to your hypertension!
Foods for high blood pressure
If you are eating a whole foods plant-based diet and are still struggling with high blood pressure, there are certain foods you can incorporate into your diet.
A few tablespoons of ground flaxseed a day has been shown to greatly reduce blood pressure. In this study, flaxseed was found to be 2 to 3 times more powerful than an exercise program.
Hibiscus tea also seems to be effective at reducing blood pressure. Although, more research is needed.
Fasting for high blood pressure
Surprisingly, there is another way to treat high blood pressure, with better results than medication, dieting, reducing your salt intake, exercising, managing your stress, not smoking or drinking. And this scientifically proven method is called fasting.
After doing my 7-day cleanse, people see their blood pressure drop dramatically. And the best part is that if you decide after your cleanse to follow my “extreme” advice (eat healthy, exercise and get enough sleep), you may be able to stay off your medication for good.
The Retreat with Nick Knowles, a famous case study
In 2015, I participated in the filming of the British TV series The Retreat with Nick Knowles, where a group of unhealthy participants joined to change their lives during a one-month detox retreat. The program involved my 7 day fast followed by a healthy vegan diet and daily yoga.
Some were diagnosed with high blood pressure. After a month of filming, the participants had gone from dangerously high blood pressure to what is considered to be in the normal range.
They were also able to lower their cholesterol and to lose weight. Let’s look at the results of two of the participants.
Nick Knowles
- Blood Pressure before: 150/90
- Blood Pressure after: 121/64
- Weight Loss: 9 kg (19.8 lbs)
- Cholesterol: dropped 71 points (227 to 156 mg/dl)
Julian
- Blood Pressure before: 127/78
- Blood Pressure after: 111/70
- Weight Loss: 8 kg (17.6 lbs)
- Cholesterol: dropped 70 points (248 to 178 mg/dl)
You too can do it with a little bit of self discipline and willpower.With my help, you can achieve your health goals and turn your life around like so many people did.
Consult our recipe page and start eating healthy now! Do our 7-day cleanse and get the results obtained on the TV series The Retreat with Nick Knowles.
Need some help? Write me an email and I’ll see what I can do for you.
