Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is not a disease but a sign of physiological distress.The causes of high blood pressure and most of the problems associated with blood pressure regulation stem from kidney function and stress levels in the body. Luckily, once you know how to lower blood pressure naturally, you can treat hypertension solely with diet.
The modern dogma is that eating too much salt causes the body to retain water. This water retention, in turn, causes blood pressure to increase. It is true that administering large quantities of salt will result in a slight rise in blood pressure. However, the widespread belief that lowering high blood pressure can be done by reducing salt intake is pretty much a joke. On top of that, cultures that eat enormous quantities of salt, such as the Japanese, do not suffer from high blood pressure to a greater degree than any other culture. In fact, blood pressure amongst the citizens of Japan is typically much lower.
What is known is that people who are overweight have a higher tendency to suffer from hypertension. Those who suffer from hypertension are much more likely to develop heart disease and type II diabetes, among other illnesses. In fact, blood pressure levels are a much better indicator for heart disease risk than cholesterol levels could ever dream of being.
Experts in the medical field have very little understanding of the dynamics of blood pressure regulation and the direct cause of high blood pressure. Some theories for how to lower blood pressure naturally, like those proposed by Dr. Oz for example (Oprah’s wonder doc), are, without question, far more fictitious than The Wizard of Oz.
More simple and revealing however, is what has been discovered from studies of hypertension on rats. Rats are given a certain ‘treatment? that induces high blood pressure so that researchers can study various drugs and treatment methods for high blood pressure that might be applicable to humans. The drugs that they’ve had some success with, which are mostly diuretics that reduce water retention, are not the big discoveries here though. What’s most revealing is what the rats are fed to induce hypertension.
The rats are fed a particular food substance that, in the diet of humans, has seen the greatest increase in history over the past 25 years as obesity, type II diabetes, hypertension, and other illnesses have been skyrocketing. That substance is now consumed at greater quantities by human beings than ever before. It is added to virtually every packaged and processed food in every supermarket in the industrialized world. Wouldn’t you like to know what that substance is?? Would you also like to know how to reduce water retention and thus blood pressure without taking a dangerous prescription-strength diuretic drug?? The answer for easily and quickly lowering high blood pressure to normal levels and avoiding the problem in the first place will be discussed in great detail at www.180degreehealth.com.
My guess: PUFAs.
The final sentence of this post is where it starts – but I can’t find the follow-up. Help?
Was there ever a follow up article to this? I suffer from idiopathic postprandial syndrome after eating and Matt Reccomends eating more salt. However, my blood pressure is high and I don’t want to make it worse.
Hey Mark,
I wouldn’t be too afraid of salt, and it could even be therapeutic. Sodium suppresses aldosterone, which is why many can even see a small drop in blood pressure from from adding more to their diet, especially once the body has had time to adjust. Track and monitor how your body responds of course, but don’t be afraid to give it a trial.