Reducing Blood Pressure

Recent research underscores the importance of a healthful lifestyle including a fitness regimen for both the prevention and treatment of hypertension. Often, changes in diet and exercise habits are enough to control blood pressure without medication, especially for people with mild to moderate blood pressure levations. Sometimes diet and exercise can even reduce the need for medication, and thereby reduce side effects and lower costs.
If you are already taking medication for hypertension, it's important to discuss your lifestyle changes with your doctor, and continue taking your medication as prescribed. If lifestyle changes result in improved blood pressure, your doctor will want to work closely with you to reduce your dosage in a safe and effective manner. Following are some of the most important things you can do to prevent and control hypertension.
Reducing your sodium intake is a major factor. Many people with hypertension find that reducing sodium intake reduces blood pressure as well. Learn which foods are high in sodium, and avoid them as much as possible.
Regular exercise is the most important hypertension-prevention habit for three reasons:
First, it helps prevent and control hypertension. Formerly sedentary people who begin exercising regularly experience, on average, a drop of six or seven points in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Second, active people have lower death rates than their sedentary friends, even when they have the same blood pressure. Research has shown that exercise reduces risk for cardiovascular and other disease. Exercise also helps prevent obesity, another hypertension risk factor.
Third, regular exercise provides the foundation for successful behavior change programs. Exercise makes you feel good and feel positive about yourself. Stress reduction is one of the greatest benefits of exercise. Stress not only raises blood pressure, but it makes you less inclined to stick to your positive eating plan, your
smoking cessation program or your decision to cut down on your alcohol intake.
Eating more fruits, vegetables and grains increases your intake of important minerals such as calcium and potassium, not to mention vitamins and fiber. One study found that volunteers consuming a diet high in these foods and low in fats (such as the diets created by our on-staff nutritionist) reduced systolic blood pressure by four points, and diastolic by three points. This small but significant reduction was accomplished with diet alone. Add exercise, stress management and weight loss for people who are overweight, and blood pressure reductions often improve much more.
Eating well and exercising regularly are the cornerstone.
Deprivation programs are out! Don't focus on weight loss; focus on a healthy lifestyle. A little weight loss may occur by cutting down on "junk food," eating more fruits, vegetables and grains, and increasing physical activity. Even a relatively small loss, such as 5 to 10 pounds, can reduce blood pressure. The most important goal is the development of healthful habits that stay with you for a
lifetime, so that the weight stays off. Weight cycling (repeatedly losing and regaining weight) may raise your blood pressure and be harmful to your health.
Reducing stress is another lifelong task. Take a stress management workshop, develop your sense of humor and read some good books. Develop coping techniques that increase your resistance to stress related illness. And don't forget the importance of exercise for stress reduction.
Limiting your alcohol and caffeine intake will make a profound difference in your health. You should strive to drink alcohol and caffeine in moderation, if at all.

Phytochemicals for Your Immune Health

My mom used to dress the dinner plate in full matching regalia; yellow squash nestled next to green asparagus. Red and yellow peppers tossed around the salad added spectacular color. Now dear mom knew these foods were healthy and she loved to decorate my plate with the colors of the season; but did she know that these wholesome foods contain phytochemicals?
Phytochemicals are the active substances in plants that give them their color, flavor, odor, and protection against plant diseases. Phytochemicals work as powerful antioxidants, which can increase our resistance to disease and boost immunity.
While most research focuses on the anti-carcinogen effects of phytochemicals, the results are equally important to those who just want to boost their immune system or help reverse the aging clock.
Scientists at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRC) rated 60 fruits and vegetables for potency of antioxidants, which stabilize cells and help fight the damaging effects of free radicals, which are molecules that weaken the immune system. Antioxidants can help keep cancer, heart disease and other degenerative conditions at bay.
The top scoring fruit in the HNRC study was blueberries followed by strawberries, prunes, black currants and boysenberries. The deeper the color, the better for you. Many of these antioxidants also have anti-inflammatory properties, and some naturally reduce blood cholesterol.
It's important to fill your diet with all the colors of the food rainbow. Eat the blues, reds, purples, oranges, yellows, and greens.
Fresh or Frozen Produce?
It's okay if you don't have time to steam your own fresh veggies, studies by the FDA and the University of Illinois show that frozen fruits and vegetables are nearly as nutritious because they can wait to be picked until they're at the peak of freshness.
Fresh produce is usually picked early, before it's ripe and fully nutritious, so that it ships well.
But if you're lucky enough to grow your own fruits or vegetables, or you can buy straight from a farm - then that's where you'll find the most nutritious fruits and vegetables!!!
What about supplements:
The value of most supplements is, at best, ineffective. The power of phytochemicals seem to be lost when removed from food. Except if you're fortunate enough to find a high quality 'greens drink'.
Click Here to get more info on our green drinks and other supplements!!!
Drinking one glass of a quality 'greens drink' supplies more than 5 servings of powerful, phytochemical rich nutrition.
Other Phyto Foods :
Phyto foods come in many varieties and for all palates. Among the most common sources are:
FRUITS: Apples, apricots, avocados, bananas, berries, cherries, citrus fruits, grapes, kiwi fruit, lemons, mangoes, melons, nectarines, oranges, papayas, peaches, pears, plums. GRAINS: Barley, cornmeal, whole grain, quinoa, brown rice, wheat germ. NUTS and SEEDS: Flaxseed (a small brown seed used in cooking), macadamia, pecans, sesame seeds, walnuts. VEGETABLES: Asparagus, beans, beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, celery, cauliflower, corn, eggplant, dark leafy greens and lettuces, mushrooms, onions, green and dried peas, sweet and hot peppers, white and sweet potatoes, pumpkin, soybeans, watercress, winter squash, tomatoes. And a host of others.

Take The Low Approach

Not only are rock hard abs a symbol of fitness, but strong and flexible abdominal muscles help trim your waist and end back pain. Two very important health goals of many who enter an exercise facility. It allows you to move from side to side with stability and control. Men and women want to walk on the beach and show off all their hard work by exposing their abs. From what has been seen in gym and health facilities, it is most worked on muscle group or it is the most neglected. What category do you end up falling into? There are many ways in which you can work you abdominal muscles. There is scientific sequence to effectively shaping and creating great abs.
Most people are stronger in their upper to middle abdominals compared to their lower abdominal muscles. It is recommended that you work your lower abs first since you are freshest and have the most energy to get the most out of your stomach. The abdominal muscles react and provide optimal results visually when performed to failure. Failure occurs when the muscle is thoroughly exhausted and the exercise can no longer be executed. This means you can not do one more painful repetition. Your mid-section should be worked in this manner all the time.
Some examples for lower abs are as follows:
The reverse crunch (using the slant board) - with your hand holding the bars and your legs straight on the floor, raise your knees to your face, while bending your knees, until the fetal position. Then slowly drop your rear end until you touch the board and repeat the exercise.
Leg lifts (performed on the Roman Chair) - Start with your back on the back support and lift your knees/legs to its highest point. Feet should not be allowed to swing behind your rear end at its lowest point for safety and momentum purposes.
Hanging leg raises (performed on the cable machines) - Start by hanging from the middle pull up bar on the cable machines. The hanging leg raise is probably the most result producing stomach exercise since it is generated from the lower abs and then incorporated the upper abs at its peak. It begins by having your feet lift over and above your waist until it reached approximately where your hands are holding on. Remember to keep you body from swinging back and forth. This will cause you to use more stomach muscles and less momentum.
Then proceed to your upper/middle abs to get that desired burn.
The Ab Roller, which is great for upper abdominals and obliques, is great to start with since it promotes safety and immediate results. Exercises utilizing the ball and floor mats are great ways to end a stomach workout. The utility ball allows for maximum stretching to hit all areas of the mid-section.
Since your stomach is considered your smallest muscle, you are able - and recommended to - train them up to 6 days per week. A cardiovascular work out which consist of constant aerobic activity which last for more than 30 minutes at your 80% target heart rate is extremely beneficial and necessary to achieve that ever desired six pack.
Great abs are only obtained through hard work, perseverance and proper form. They are the central point in which your motion begins and ends. In the end, great abs will give you the needed support for your workout and your life.