Common & Inexpensive Foods To Help Lower Blood Pressure

Opposite of what “Big Pharma” would like you to think, bringing down high blood pressure is not so difficult task.

And even more important than avoiding particular foods, is to include the right ones in your diet.

These foods should be included in your diet for a guaranteed drop in blood pressure. Best of all, you might have most of them already in your refrigerator.

1. Milk: has two ingredients that help reduce blood pressure by 3 – 10 points: calcium and Vitamin D.

2. Spinach: You might have already heard it a hundred times before – yes, spinach is so good for you. Packed with fiber as well as heart-healthy nutrients like folate, potassium and magnesium, spinach is great for lowering blood pressure and is a must-add in salads and sandwiches.

3. Sunflower seeds: Want a simple, healthy snack? Grab a small cup of unsalted sunflower seeds. They are loaded with potassium, good for lowering blood pressure and having a healthy heart. However, avoid sunflower oil as it’s high in Omega-6 vs Omega-3 fatty acid.

4. Beans: Black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans… choose your favorite, but make it a regular part of your diet. Rich in fiber, potassium, and magnesium, beans are great for overall heart health.

5. Baked white potatoes: White potatoes are rich in magnesium and potassium. Potassium is useful for getting rid of excess sodium in the body. (As we know, excess sodium can raise blood pressure.)

6. Banana: This yellow fruit is a very good source of potassium, a mineral that is heart-healthy. There is seemingly no end to recipes using bananas, so make sure you eat it in whatever way you want.

7. Soybeans: Soybeans, as well as those fresh in pods (edamame) are good for heart health. One cup of boiled edamame can provide magnesium and potassium needed for lowering blood pressure. Make sure you choose organic soybeans as most soybeans sold in the USA at least are genetically modified.

8. Dark chocolate: While the recommended serving is just one square of dark chocolate per day, it can help in lowering blood pressure after 18 weeks with no weight gain. The dark chocolate should ideally contain at least 70% cocoa powder.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids For A Fit & Fine Heart

Fat and fatty acids are words that make everyone think of overweight bellies and blocked arteries.

But the truth is, not all fats are harmful. Especially, this particular type of fat that should be included in your diet if you want your heart to be fit and fine.

It’s time to boost up your fish oil supplements. Omega-3 fatty acids have promise, especially for those who have previously had a heart attack.

A recent study shows that high doses of this supplement can be just the thing to stop any further damage to the heart in a heart attack survivor.

For the research, 374 patients were chosen, all of whom were recent heart attack survivors. It is a known fact that heart tissue gets damaged after a heart attack and the surrounding tissues have to work harder to make up for the damage. This can lead to thickening of the tissues, a condition called fibrosis, which also leads to scarring of the tissue surrounding the damage.

Among the volunteers, one group was given a 4 gram dose of Omega-3 fatty acids, a high dose equivalent to consuming 8 ounces of salmon. The other group was given a placebo.

MRI heart scans were done 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and six months after the heart attack.

Compared to the placebo group, those who took the supplements were 39% less likely to show heart damage. They also had much lower inflammation levels.

Those patients who showed more than a 5% rise in the levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood obtained the best benefits from the supplements.

A treatment option involving Omega-3 supplements might indeed be just what the heart needs to recuperate. Even anti-inflammatory agents like NSAIDS and steroids don’t work as well for healing damaged heart tissues.

The powers of Omega-3 fatty acids is not a new discovery – a study dating back to 1989 shows that volunteers who took oily fish or fish oil supplements showed a 29% reduction in the chances of death in the first two years after a heart attack.

A diet with a lot of fish is great for Omega-3 fatty acids. However, not all fish are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. Fatty fish, such as salmon, lake trout, herring, sardines and tuna, contain maximum amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids.

Flax seed and flax seed oil are other great options to obtain Omega-3.

It’s also important to eliminate all fast food and highly processed food, as well as limit cooking oils high in Omega-6 such as safflower and sunflower oils.

Sauna To Reduce The Risk Of Heart Attack

How would you like to reduce your risk of heart attack by 63%?

How about doing it with an easy activity that’s so pleasurable that you’ll love every minute of it. And it takes no effort whatsoever.

More effective than a major workout, this activity requires nothing more than sitting around talking to friends.

In the study published in JAMA: Internal Medicine, 2,315 Finnish men aged 42 to 60 were studied for 21 years.

The study’s specific interest: their use of sauna.

Dry sauna is a national sport of sorts for Finland and many other northern countries. In small cabins, stones are made red hot. Then, a small amount of water is splashed on the stones to make steam.

All you have to do is sit in the heat and sweat out disease. Saunas are often referred to as the poor man’s pharmacy or the lazy man’s gym.

But are these statements true?

Well, during the study period, 878 deaths due to cardiovascular diseases were recorded. That was almost half of all the men who died in this period. Of those, 281 were coronary heart disease deaths, 190 sudden heart attack deaths, and 407 deaths were from other cardiovascular diseases.

Those men who went to a sauna three times a week were 22% less likely to die from sudden heart attack. But those who went 4-7 times a week were a whopping 63% less likely to die from sudden heart attack.

Regular sauna use also prevented other types of cardiovascular disease. It was, on average, a 23% – 50% reduced risk of overall cardiovascular disease, depending on how often men used the sauna.

Natural Ways To Cure ED & Boost Performance

If you’re one of the thousands of men suffering ED, curing it probably seems completely hopeless.

But the fact is, there are natural things you can do that and are much more powerful than even the blue pill (that only helps 40% of men).

1) Lose weight. If you’re obese or even just slightly overweight, losing some body fat is probably your quickest way to heal erectile dysfunction. The best part is that with every pound, you’ll feel the difference.

But at the same time, you want to clear out clogged arteries that block blood flow down to the genitals. So avoid diets high in fat and animal products (like Adkins).

Rather, opt for the Mediterranean diet. It’s high in fruits and vegetables, use of olive oil (that clean arteries) and absolutely delicious.

2) Work out at least 30 minutes per day. This boosts the blood flow throughout your body – especially around the genital area. Weight lifting, sprinting and other quick, intense type workouts also boost testosterone production.

3) Beet juice instead of the Blue Pill. Yes, a cup or two of this juice will improve blood flow and especially oxygen levels in your body. It also immediately lowers blood pressure. In fact, athletes sometimes use beet juice right before a big game to boost their oxygen level. So, before your big game in the bedroom, do the same.

Beet juice is very powerful, so if you’re using any erectile dysfunction medications, talk to your doctor before using beet juice.

Spinach For Help To Lose Weight

Do you eat spinach?  If you don't, and your goal is to lose as much body fat as possible, then you may want to start incorporating more spinach in your diet according to a recent study performed at Sweden's Lund University.

In the study, 38 overweight women consumed either a beverage containing 5g of spinach extract (made up mostly of the cell membranes from spinach stems) or a placebo prior to breakfast each day.  At the end of the 3 month study, the spinach group lost 50% more weight!

Researchers credit the increased weight loss to an overall decrease in calorie intake as a compound in spinach stems known as thylakoids has been shown to reduce hunger, particularly cravings for sweets and fast food, by up to 95%!  Thylakoids work by slowing down the digestion process, giving intestinal hormones time to communicate to the brain that we are satisfied.

Naturally, if you're feeling more satisfied you won't fall victim to regular snacking on all the wrong foods -- and that means increased weight loss and a flatter stomach for you.

Here are some easy ways to get more spinach in your diet (be sure to include the stems):

1. Throw a couple handfuls of spinach in the blender along with your next protein shake.  While it may change the color, it has virtually no taste.

2. If you're into juicing, add spinach to your next juicing recipe.

3. Enjoy a spinach salad or sauteed spinach as part of any meal.