High blood pressure is a common condition that millions of people around the world suffer from. A constant effort to monitor blood pressure levels daily is one way to ensure that you are not caught off guard with a blood pressure reading that is over the top. Health experts recommend certain ways in order to keep your readings low and render you stress-free throughout the day.

According to a report in Express, you can lower your blood pressure through one-morning activity. This would involve a bit of amount of time, some discipline, and the desire to keep your readings low.

Regular Daily Exercises

As explained by the NHS, when you take regular exercises and remain active, you are keeping your blood pressure at bay. Exercises help in strengthening your blood vessels and your heart. This daily activity can keep these organs in good condition.

Aside from keeping your blood pressure low, daily exercise could certainly help you lose weight. Obviously, when you lose weight, you are also helping your heart and your blood pressure low. So exercising can be considered as a two-pronged approach.

The Right Amount of Exercise

NHS stated that for adults, doing a minimum of 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate exercises can tremendously improve blood pressure reading. You have a lot of options in your hands. You can do chores at home. Do some gardening. If you want, you can also do fast walking or go bicycling. The exercises that you can do are simply limitless.

Of course, if you have not engaged with any intense exercises before, then you may need to consult a general practitioner. He would advise you on the type of activities that you can start out with. The most plausible activity that you can do is to go for a daily walk. Build up your stamina slowly until your body can handle longer distances.

The American Heart Association gave a suggestion that by doing 30 minutes of morning exercises, you may be able to lower your blood pressure for the rest of the day. Men and women who are obese or overweight can benefit from this daily morning routine.

The post High Blood Pressure: One Daily Morning Exercise Could Help Lower Reading appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

New Delhi: Obesity is a health problem that is rising all around the world, in all age groups. Child obesity, in fact, is one of the leading concerns of various nations, especially due to the increasing popularity of packaged foods, which cause various health risks, especially that of being overweight. Obesity, in itself, is a risk factor for various diseases like diabetes and heart health. A healthy weight range is extremely important to reduce the risk of diseases and to have a healthy body and mind.

While oily food should be avoided when one is trying to lose weight, cooking without oil may not be completely possible. Some oils are healthier than the others, and some may even help accelerate the weight loss process. One of the healthiest oils often talked about is olive oil. Here is how it can prevent obesity and accelerate weight loss.

Olive oil is one of the most valuable, in terms of nutrients. However, at the end of the day, it is still an oil and some people may believe that there is no way it could contribute to reducing weight and the widespread problem of obesity. It is high in calories, it contains 884 calories per 100 gm. However, research has shown that obesity is the least among people who consume the Mediterranean diet, which consists of a lot of olive oil. It has been found that an olive-oil rich diet is a more long-lasting weight loss method than a low-fat diet.

Olive oil is one of the purest forms of fat that can be consumed. Extra virgin olive oil, which is believed to be the healthiest variety, is unprocessed and unfiltered, which make it a great substitute for highly processed oils, which contain unhealthy amounts of fat. Since the oil is unprocessed, it contains many nutrients and antioxidants, intact, unlike any other processed oil. It contains monosaturated fatty acids, which not only help in weight loss but also help to keep your heart healthy and reduce the risk of diabetes. Olive oil also helps to make you feel fuller, which helps in reducing cravings and helps in cutting off unhealthy transfats and sugar from the diet.

It is very important that the food we eat on an everyday basis, in not just healthy but also tasty, because you won’t be able to stick to food that you do not enjoy eating, and will crave unhealthy foods that you really like. Olive oil, in that case, is even better because it helps to make your salads, veggies and other food tasty by adding taste and texture to them.

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High blood pressure or also known as hypertension, affects millions of people all across the globe. High blood pressure is the number one risk factor for heart stroke. Fortunately, once diagnosed, hypertension can be easily treatable. Simple lifestyle changes such as a healthy diet, limiting the intake of alcohol and cigarette smoking and regular physical exercise can help manage high blood pressure. A healthy diet to lower high blood pressure should include foods rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium and fiber. Also, foods high in sodium should be avoided as they can negatively impact your health. Apart from these nutrients increasing protein intake can also help patients to lower their blood pressure.

Delhi based nutritionist Monisha Ashokan says, “High blood pressure is the high amount of pressure with which the blood is pumped by the heart. This is a result of age or lifestyle. A higher amount of sugar level in the blood due to high amount of carbohydrates can cause rise in insulin. This can raise the blood pressure. Also a high level of cholesterol is associated with high blood pressure.”

The wonder nutrient proteins are the building block of the body. Proteins play an important role in the cells and fluids in our bodies. Foods rich in proteins are used by every part of the body for growth and development. Protein-rich diet helps in quick weight loss, better metabolism, bone health, strong immune system, muscle mass, tissue repair, hair and skin, better sleep and overall health. Therefore, it is important that you get adequate proteins through your diet.

Some heart-healthy proteins which should be included in your diet are fish, chicken, beans, poultry, nuts, and low-fat dairy as these may help prevent heart disease. The nutrients in these forms of protein can help lower cholesterol and blood pressure which is beneficial for the overall health of the body. By choosing these heart-healthy proteins over high-fat and processed meat options, you can reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.

“A high protein diet helps to check the blood pressure as it gets digested slowly compared to carbohydrates causing less insulin and leptin production in the body.

Hence, the heart undergoes less pressure to pump blood resulting in lower blood pressure. Unlike the common belief, the bigger reason for blood pressure is intake of high sugar which is a bigger white monster than salt. So a high protein and moderate carbohydrate diet with sufficient amount of water intake keeps the sodium levels under control leading to stabilized blood pressure,” adds nutritionist Monisha Ashokan.

Delhi-based nutritionist Nmami Agarwal says, “The latest addition to high blood pressure diets is “High Protein Diet” as it helps in keeping insulin levels low by preventing sodium retention and angiotensin activation which may also condense the risk of cardiovascular diseases. High blood pressure is a condition majorly linked to cardiovascular disease and renal failure. Number of researches and studies reviews that dietary consumption of protein may benefit lowering the condition of high blood pressure concluding the comparison of carbohydrates with higher dietary protein.”

“Dairy proteins consist of certain compounds which plays a role of natural ACE inhibitors, one of the chief categories of blood pressure medications. Other than dairy protein, protein (found in eggs) contains sky-scraping levels of arginine, which open ups the blood vessels and lowers blood pressure levels,” Nmami adds.

Have a look at some proteins which can help lower high blood pressure:

1. Dairy products

Dairy products like milk, yogurt, cheese and other products are major sources of calcium, vitamin D and protein. You must include them in your diet. But make sure that you choose dairy products that are low in fat or fat-free.

1. Meat

Meat is again a a rich source of protein and other vitamins and minerals like B vitamins, iron and zinc. You must opt for lean varieties of meat. Eat heart-healthy fish, such as salmon, cod, herring and tuna. These types of fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which can help lower your cholesterol levels as well.

1. Healthy nuts and seeds

Some nuts and seeds which should be a part of your hypertension diet are almonds, sunflower seeds, and peanuts.

1. Lentils

Lentils and other foods in this family like kidney beans, chickpeas, pulses are good sources of magnesium, potassium and protein.

1. Soya products

Soybean-based products, such as tofu and tempeh, can be a good alternative to meat and can be consumed by vegans or vegetarians because they contain all the amino acids your body needs to make a complete protein, just like meat.

Nutritionist Nmami Agarwal further adds, “Nonetheless, high protein diet is also low in calories (sugar) which aids in losing weight- directly associated to help control blood pressure. Last but not the least, one must know that a diet with significant levels of protein must comprise of 20-25% calories derived from it.”

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 A ketogenic (keto) diet is high in fat and protein and low in carbohydrates. Most of the body’s cells prefer to use blood sugar (glucose) as their main source of energy. The keto diet forces your body to use a different type of fuel. Instead of providing your body with glucose from carbohydrates, the keto diet relies on the liver to break down stored fat into molecules called ketones. (This process is called ketogenesis; that’s where the diet’s name comes from.)

For most people to begin using stored fat as fuel, they need to limit daily carbohydrate intake to fewer than 20 to 50 grams depending on body size. (For comparison, a medium-sized banana has about 27 grams of carbs.) But this is a highly individualized process, and some people need a more restricted diet to begin producing enough ketones. It typically takes two to four days to reach a state of ketosis (when fat becomes a main source of energy).

There’s no shortage of keto-inspired diets. The Atkins, South Beach, and Paleo diets are some of the best-known examples. But a true ketogenic diet is different and calls for up to 90% of your daily calories to come from fat. That is often hard for people to maintain. However, research has shown that people can achieve faster weight loss with a keto diet compared with a calorie-reduction diet. In the short term, a keto diet is probably safe. But over time, it’s tough to keep off the weight this way.

If you do try a keto diet to jump-start weight reduction, choose healthier sources of fat and protein, such as olive oil, avocados, and nuts (almonds, walnuts). But after a few weeks, switch to a reduced-calorie Mediterranean-style diet and increase your physical activity. This will help manage your weight loss for the long term.

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