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Antioxidants –What are they?

Despite the fact that they were discovered in 1948, the general public still don’t understand what they are, that our bodies manufacture them, and the important role they play in protecting us from literally rusting away.

As the name suggests antioxidants combat oxidization of cells in the body which are said to cause a barrage of diseases including high blood pressure.

Try an experiment.

Take the juice of a lemon which contains vitamin C and coat one half of a freshly cut apple with it but not the other half. You will notice the uncoated half will start to turn brown very quickly. This reaction is called oxidization.

The other half coated with lemon juice, however, takes much longer to turn brown because the vitamin C, an excellent antioxidant, slows this erosive process right down.

The same erosive process is going on within the cells of our bodies continuously, and although it is an essential process, our bodies try to keep it in check by its own manufactured “endogenous” antioxidants, otherwise we would get very sick or just “rust” away.

Nutritionists and health practitioners recognise …

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What is the ideal body Ph balance?

Why do I need to know about it anyway? Is it that important?

Will it help lower my blood pressure?

These are just some of the questions you may have had in mind that`s brought you to this site.

The ideal pH balance is 6.75 – 7.5

Most of us never give it a second thought, or are even aware that our amazing bodies can only function properly if it stays within this pH level, and we supply the right organic tools. But many of us use and abuse it, starve or stuff it, feed it the bad foods and deny it the good. Well I`ve got news for you, this has got to have it`s toll somewhere along the line.

A constant acid environment in our body will start to have an impact on our health and so will an over alkaline one. It is vital to health to maintain the correct body pH balance.Did you know 70% of our planet is water and 70% of our body is water too, and like our planet we need that water for life to …

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Why is passion flower tea one of the most respected herbal remedies for high blood pressure? Well consider some of the ailments the passion flower herb is used for.

  1. Hypertension and Heart Disease
  2. Stress and Anxiety
  3. Nicotine and Alcohol Withdrawal
  4. Insomnia

Now some of these illnesses are typical causes of secondary hypertension. If any are directly or indirectly linked to your elevated blood pressure, addressing those illnesses too should be of prime interest to you.

But can passion flower tea really have any impact on these ailments? Yes it can! I will discuss them in brief and then show you how you can make an infusion.

Hypertension and Heart Disease

Scientists have found that the harmane alkaloids found in passion flower can help lower blood pressure by relaxing smooth muscle and expanding coronary arteries.

But extensive investigations on this herb were being carried out in the 1980`s and the leaves were clinically validated as being hypotensive, among other benefits such as possessing anti-spasmodic properties, and relieving anxiety.

It is also known that here in Europe extracts from the flower are used in several pharmaceuticals for the treatment of heart palpitations …

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When I was just a two year old nipper, hanging onto my mothers apron strings, olive leaf extract was being studied for its ability to lower high blood pressure in mild hypertensives. So it comes as a shock to me that they are announcing it as if it was never known before as being one of the herbal remedies for high blood pressure.

Olive leaf extract is a known vaso-dilator, meaning, it can open up the arteries and allow more blood to pass through.

The Mediterranean diet includes olive oil in many of the recipes because of its healthy status for helping to reduce weight and blood pressure, so, many of us are quite familiar with the health benefits of the olive fruit. The leaf however, bathed in stardom way back during the flood in Noah`s day.

Maintaining its respect throughout the centuries, now it`s centre stage and in the spotlight again with its super ingredient Oleuropein.

A healthy heart is important for a healthy circulatory system and Oleuropein was noted in 1962 by an Italian and other European researchers as being able to lower the blood pressure of animals …

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The benefits of beetroot on high blood pressure are staggering! They reached top of the list in the high blood pressure foods. If you drink 500ml of beetroot juice every day, it can significantly reduce your blood pressure, according to UK researchers.

When healthy volunteers drank the juice their blood pressure dropped within the hour.

What was causing this effect? Nitrates. These nitrates are also present in other green, leafy vegetables that you are encouraged to eat in your nutrient rich diets.

Professor Amrita Ahluwalia of the William Harvey Research Institute at Barts and the London School of Medicine was leading the research, along with Professor Ben Benjamin of the Peninsula Medical School.

How does the nitrate reduce high blood pressure?

When the beetroot is chewed, saliva mixes with it along with bacteria from off the tongue. It is then converted into nitrite. Then we have another chemical reaction when it reaches the stomach. Because the stomach has an acidic environment, another chemical reaction occurs, the nitrite in the saliva turns to nitric oxide or will re-enter the circulation again as nitrite.

Observation showed that the peak time of reduced …

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There are 3 main problems that are caused by poor leg circulation.

  1. Swollen legs and ankles
  2. Pain in the legs and calves
  3. Cold and numb feet

Which one do you suffer from? Swollen legs and ankles? Or do you suffer from all three or more?

Your doctor may have briefly told you why you are experiencing these problems but maybe not enough for you to understand fully in order to make alternative choices.

Doctors rarely have much time these days to spend with their clients. No fault of their own! Health problems created through modern lifestyles, and failing health systems present overcrowding of surgeries with fewer doctors to meet the challenge, so time is scarce and prescriptions are abundant. But drugs are probably the last measure you want to take and especially when they often present their own set of problems.

Because high blood pressure and circulation of the blood are connected, many of you visiting this site, will be experiencing these symptoms. So let`s look at the three main poor leg circulation problems separately to learn what is happening inside our legs and feet, and what are the effective …

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The Red Reishi Mushroom. Have you considered using this potent herb to treat hypertension? It has been shown to significantly, lower blood pressure in patients who did not respond to anti-hypertension drugs, help lessen arrhythmia, lower triglyceride and cholesterol levels, and reduce the stickiness of platelets, thought to be due to the ganoderic acids action in reishi.

On your first glimpse of it, one would imagine it to be poisonous. The red, glazed appearance doesn’t look appealing and nature often displays poisonous plants and animals in bright red, yellow, blue and black colors. But this therapeutic reishi mushroom is far from poisonous. To be correct, it has no known toxicity.

Polysaccharides are said to be the most active ingredient in the red reishi mushroom, helping to reduce blood pressure, but adding to that, the mushroom also contains a natural ACE inhibitor, triterpenes. They work by inhibiting angiotensin converting enzymes. These enzymes are responsible for converting the chemical angiotensin 1 into angiotensin 11 which causes the surrounding muscles of the blood vessel to contract pushing the blood pressure up. So the action of this natural inhibitor results in the blood vessels …

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Reaching the ideal breathing rate of less than 10 breaths per minute for 15 minutes, 3 or 4 times a week using breathing exercises, has been proven to lower blood pressure. That works out at roughly breathing in and exhaling once every 6 seconds.

It sounds easy enough, but controlled breathing while relaxed proves otherwise, and does it really work?

A device called ResPerate has the backing of the FDA and can now be sold without a prescription.

Some doctors as well as the manufacturer recommend staying on medication and using the device in a combination of therapies for high blood pressure, while others say it only works for some and not others.

If you suffer from stress and anxiety in particular, then this device may be the answer you are looking for. You can use it in the office, or when you return home after a stressful days work. Sit down for 10-15 minutes and enjoy breathing to the theme tune that is programed especially for you. The voice that accompanies the musical breathing pulses, soothingly guides you along on what to do next.

This machine is easy to …

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The Benefits of Parsley Tea for High Blood Pressure Reduction

What does a cup of parsley tea have in it that can help you fight elevated blood pressure? Let`s take a look at the nutrients it contains. The ones to focus on are highlighted in bold.

  • Vitamin C
  • Beta-Carotene
  • Boron
  • Cadmium
  • Calcium
  • Cobalt
  • Copper
  • Folacin
  • Inositol
  • Iron
  • Lithium
  • Lutein
  • Lysine
  • Magnesium
  • Methionine
  • Molybdenum
  • Niacin
  • Nickel
  • Nicotinamide
  • Nitrogen
  • Pantothenic acid
  • Phosphorus
  • Potassium
  • Quercetin
  • Riboflavin
  • Rosmarinic acid
  • Rutin
  • Selenium
  • Silicon
  • Sulfur
  • Thiamin
  • Vit. BA6
  • Zinc
  • Zirconium.

Vitamin C, Magnesium, Quercetin, and Potassium all stand out as the main ingredients that will have a positive effect on your blood pressure.

Vitamin C as we know is a powerful antioxidant and improves vasodilation. (Duffy SJ, Gokce N, Holbrook M, et al. Treatment of hypertension with ascorbic acid. Lancet. 1999;354(9195):2048-2049.- PubMed). That is good to know and what`s more, parsley contains twice as much vitamin C as an orange.

Magnesium stimulates the body to produce nitric oxide a vaso-dilator, and get this…it`s a natural calcium channel blocker.

Quercetin however has not been tested vigorously enough to prove it works to lower blood pressure in humans, …

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A few factors can cause problems with your blood circulation and high blood pressure seems to be one of them. In turn, poor blood circulation is often a cause of high blood pressure.

I have friends and colleagues who suffer from bad circulation in the legs and it`s not just a plague of our elderly. I know middle aged and young alike who suffer from this problem. It can cause blockages in your veins that can lead to stroke or heart attack, so it`s not something you can take lightly.

Symptoms

Poor circulation and high blood pressure can both lead to horrible symptoms. If you are trying your best to walk a little for exercise, and to help your condition, pain in the calf muscles can cause you much stress and discouragement. The most obvious of symptoms are:

  • Pain in the legs
  • Numbness in limbs
  • Water Retention
  • Coldness in limbs
  • Leg Skin Discoloration
  • Ulcers

Causes

Circulation and high blood pressure have several factors linking them. The commonest are:

The underlying Health Problems:

  •  High Blood Pressure
  • Atherosclerosis
  • Diabetes
  • Anaemia
  • Blood Vessel Disorders
  • Varicose Veins
  • DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis)
  • Thrombophlebitis
  • Heart Disorders
…