Healthy Ways To Reduce High Blood Pressure

Toastmasters Project # 7: Healthy Ways To Reduce High Blood Pressure

Delivered on: 7/28/2016

Place: St. Andrews Speaker’s Club

Blood pressure is the pressure of blood in your arteries at its highest level (when your heart beats) and its lowest level (when your heart relaxes between beats). A normal blood pressure for adults is 120/80. High blood pressure is a sustained blood pressure of 140/90 or above.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, about 70 million American adults (29%) have high blood pressure—that’s 1 of every 3 adults.1 Only about half (52%) of people with high blood pressure have their condition under control.

According to Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics-2015 Update: a report from the American Heart Association,High blood pressure costs the nation $46 billion each year. This total includes the cost of health care services, medications to treat high blood pressure, and missed days of work.

More than 360,000 American deaths in 2013 included high blood pressure as a primary or contributing cause. That is almost 1,000 deaths each day. (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/)

When you have a high blood pressure, it increases your risk for health conditions that are dangerous. These are heart failure, stroke, kidney disease and heart attacks.

You may not be able to control all of your risk factors for high blood pressure, but you can take steps to prevent it and its complications.

How many of you have high blood pressure? I have it myself. Blood pressure medications are not the only way  to lower your blood pressure. There are natural ways too.

Do you love chocolates? Good news! A new Harvard study found that eating a small square of dark chocolate daily can help lower blood pressure. (aarp.org/health/medical-research/info-03-2011/dark-chocolate-can-help-lower-your-blood-pressure.html)

There are other foods that can also lower your blood pressure and they are berries, potatoes, beets, oatmeal, bananas, fish oil, cashews, almonds, kale, turmeric, green tea, extra virgin olive oil and a whole lot more.

The researchers at Indiana University have found that housecleaning, yard work, and washing the car had been shown to significantly lower blood pressure.

I can testify on this myself. I would take my blood pressure before and after cleaning the house and I can tell you that it works.

There are several studies which showed that forgiving someone decreases blood pressure in the one doing the forgiving. However, in a study of married couples, forgiving was shown to significantly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure in both the person doing the forgiving and the person being forgiven. (Article by Joshua Lancette)

A case report in the April issue of Arthritis Care & Research appeared about a 76 yr old woman who had experienced severe preoperative hypertension prior to total knee replacement surgery. While the patient was unresponsive to aggressive medication, she had a dramatic drop in her blood pressure when she sang several religious songs. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3075493/)

Let’s not forget that laughter also reduces the production of stress hormones, not only during the time of laughter but also for some time after. Blood vessels dilate and an increased amount of oxygen enters the circulation due to deeper breathing. (Article from The Humour Foundation)

Therefore if we clean our house, forgive, eat chocolates, laugh, listen to music and sing…we can lower our blood pressure.

I would like us all to stand and sing On Top of The World.

Healthy Ways To Lower High Blood Pressure

Speech # 7, given at St. Andrews Speakers Club

More Foods that can help lower blood pressure:

1. Celery
2. Fish or Fish Oil
3. Pomegranate Juice
4. Hibiscus Tea
5. Beets
6. Fiber
7. Guava

 

Foods to avoid if you have high blood pressure

1. Alcohol
2. Sugar
3. Fats

Source: How to Reduce High Blood Pressure by Dr. David Williams

Hibiscus Sabdariffa L. Tea (Tisane) Lowers Blood Pressure in Prehypertensive and Mildly Hypertensive Adults    (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20018807)

Pictures of My Indoor Hibiscus Plant

 

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WHAT EXACTLY ARE BAD FATS AND WHY ARE THEY BAD

By Bobby Olson

Bad fat? Fat is known to be the main pure source of energy. It is made up of fatty acids which are building blocks. These building blocks are classified as monounsaturated, saturated or polyunsaturated which only differs from its chemical structures. There are different kinds of fats, we have good and as well as bad fats. Unknown to many of us, all foods actually contain a mix of fats. They just matter with the proportion of fats in certain food. But what are these bad fats and why are they bad?

Bad Fats

The bad fats are the ones manufactured by corporations. Hydrogenated or trans fats are the worst. It is actually man-made in a lab, which is a no secret to anybody. When you go buy and buy something in the grocery, be sure to avoid the word hydrogenated on labels. They take an unsaturated fat, meaning it’s liquid at room temps and convert it to saturated fat. This only means that it’s a solid at room temps by passing hydrogen bubbles across it in a big tank. Too much of these saturated fats increases the cholesterol in our blood. There are several studies that show how intake of high saturated fat has a connection with high cholesterol. Furthermore, there is a high risk of stroke as well as heart diseases because high intake of saturated fats increases the bad cholesterol level that streams in body’s blood.

The other bad fats are oils like canola and as well as those vegetable oils that undergo a certain process where they use hexane bath. This is actually a close cousin to gasoline which is used to extract the oil from the crop. Best fats are naturally occurring in nature and unprocessed as possible. We stick with USDA organic cold pressed coconut oil or USDA organic olive oil. Aside from that, the process where the body burns fat for energy rather than sugar is called ketosis. It happens when we restrict carbohydrate consumption, as well as sugar.

My Bedroom Window

My Bedroom Window is a piece written by my son, Kurt, during his dirtbag days in Summit County, Colorado.  As a mother, this brings enlightenment to my soul and strengthens my faith in God. He is always watching over my children. This is the ultimate experience for those who are courageous and adventurous. I am in awe as I read his story.

By Kurt Olson

My brother, a few close friends and I were a nomadic tribe of dirtbags. You could find us down a dark forest service road late at night, in an encampment made of vans and Subarus, drinking tea and sharing stories. Sometimes we would step through a portal into an enchanted camp where society completely melted away. Inaccessible to the world and those who are too afraid to leave the “trail”, the inner child started showing itself. Jumping into high alpine lakes naked and running through the woods in my underwear with a knife in my mouth and burning sticks in my hands is something that only happens in this special room, my “bedroom.”

My Bedroom Window

High on a mountain pass right on the edge of the narrow dirt road was my favorite “bedroom”. The wind was always ripping, and the immensity of the valley below was always breathtaking. Moonlit nights gave the ridge line across the valley an angelic aura, but dark nights exposed the endless expanse of heaven and all its starlit glory. Many nights I stripped down to my base layers and crawled inside my toasty sleeping bag, just to stare out of the window for hours. Instead of thinking, I would just lay there and feel the fresh of the earth.

There are no words to describe the way my bedroom window made me feel. The experience is beyond the capacity of human words. Maybe it is the essence of the one who created all this. Unexplainable and incomprehensible in His likeness. I am lucky and extremely privileged to have received a gift as this “bedroom window”.

Skin Solutions

An article by Kevin Olson

Hey, guys, I make my own balms and skin creams and I would like to share what I’m using for my skin solutions. I like to keep it organic and non-toxic, pure and natural. Personally, I don’t believe in steroids and prescriptions. Natural is best. Here is my current go to:

BEESWAX

This is a non-toxic natural skin protectant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory. Beeswax is loaded with vitamin A which is good for cell turnover and reproduction. And this could be used as one of your skin solutions. It is also a humectant, meaning it draws moisture from the air, in turn, that keeps excessively dry skin hydrated. Booyah! The smell is good too. Beeswax is known to sooth itching and heal wounds. It will be the main staple of the balm. The beeswax will be the cornerstone of your hardened consistency.

COCONUT OIL

Coconut oil is high in saturated fats and those fats contribute to keeping tour skin hydrated and smooth. There are three fatty acids in coconut oil that have significant disinfectant properties; capric/ caprylic/ lauric acid. It is rich in proteins that keep the skin nourished and rejuvenated. Also, coconut oil does not go rancid.

We will use coconut oil as the softener to the beeswax hardener, and that is what you play with to get your desired consistency.

Matcha Green Tea

Matcha green tea benefits are superior compared to other green teas. It is a fine green tea powder made from shade-grown tea leaves. It has higher levels of chlorophyll than other green teas. Chlorophyll is the pigment responsible for giving leaves their green color. Chlorophyll is linked to the ability to detoxify the body which makes it one of the great skin solutions. It helps to get rid of toxins, heavy metals, poisons, dioxins and hormone disruptors.

Matcha tea has extremely high levels of polyphenols, catechins, flavonoids and antioxidants that help improve the body’s defense system against bacteria and viruses. A recent study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that drinking matcha every day greatly enhanced the overall response of the immune system.

Chlorophyll found in matcha aids in wound healing and also exerts anti-inflammatory actions. Matcha also has a caffeine content so you will wake up putting it on.

Final Thoughts on Skin Solutions

So yeah the list goes on. Matcha is my favorite tea, and I also drink it almost every day. Make sure you get the right stuff of skin solutions, though. There are a lot of bunk matches on the market. You’re going to need to be on the lookout for very rich dark green color and make sure it’s ORGANIC. Make sure all your ingredients are organic, so you are not rubbing pesticide residues on your skin.

Process

I get mine from Teavana; it is $25 for a 1oz canister which is what is pictured. Personally, I just use a pinch. Maybe a quarter teaspoon for a big batch. So, I make for my preference a 1:1 ratio wax & oil. You get a harder consistency that gets a little give at room temp but has a nice texture when applied to the skin.

If you do a 1:2 ratio 2 being oil, you will get a consistency more like butter before its applied to the skin.
The rest of the ratios are up to your experiment.

Now get out your scale. To make a small test batch weigh out 5g of wax & 5g coconut oil. Place the oil and the wax in a pyrex and put it in a pot of water to boil until the wax has melted ( double boil). Now you can add the matcha if you want that in there. Stir until dissolved. Pour into the desired container while hot. Put in fridge for 10 minutes. Let the rest cool at room temp.

You can always use the ratio and modify to your desire. You could even use turmeric instead of matcha. But turmeric stains so it would be more of a face cream. There’re all sorts of natural remedies out there.

Enjoy!

Another Article from Kurt Oslon: My Bedroom Window