Author Archives: Katie Robles

Eating for Cancer Prevention: Green Tea (Part 4 of 5)

I propose we answer two questions today: What is Green Tea? and Why do we care? The answers are: Tea and Molecular weeding.

All tea (Black, Green, Oolong, Ooshort) comes from the same plant; the way you harvest the leaves gives you different kinds of tea. Green Tea leaves get a steam bath instead of a sunburn, so they’re thought to have more cancer-fighting antioxidants, although a few researchers believe that all teas are created equal.

Green Tea is loaded with antioxidants which have been shown to help fight cancer. Antioxidants are just what they sound like if we all spoke Greek: “anti” means against and “oxidant” means oxygen, so antioxidants are against oxygen. That sounds kind of evil, doesn’t it? But oxygen can be evil if you’re a wrench in the rain.

When oxygen reacts with chemicals in the body, it creates useful chain reactions. Your body needs some of these oxygen chain reactions in order to, you know, live, but too many chain reactions lead to free radicals and cell damage.

Oxygen chain reactions are like mint plants in a garden. One mint plant is great; delicious leaves, lovely flowers. But mint plants spread aggressively by the root and can take over your garden in weeks. Antioxidants are the hands that pull extra mint plants out of the soil so you can make Mojitos, but still grow beans.

I’m not a tea drinker. I’ve tried. I have about twenty pounds of tea in my cabinet to prove how determined I was to become a tea addict. But I can’t help loving coffee, and maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

Green Tea has up to 10 times the antioxidants compared to fruits and vegetables, but coffee has 3 times more antioxidants per cup than Green Tea. If I’m not thirsty enough to drink 9 cups of Green Tea per day, then 2 cups of coffee gives me more microscopic meds for my mug.

Of course, tea, coffee, fruits, and veggies all provide us with different antioxidants, so perhaps eating the full spectrum of antioxidants is wise. The best advice I found was actually in a comment on a medical website; the woman said that she consumes coffee with breakfast, tea in the afternoon, and red wine and dark chocolate after dinner. Does she have all of her oxidants covered or what?

Green Tea is worth including in your diet, but if you’re not a fan of drinking it, try hiding some in foods you do enjoy. Mix Green Tea with Black Tea, add a cup to your smoothie or soup, or sprinkle the leaves into pasta sauce like you might with dried parsley flakes.

With the variety of things that can go wrong in our bodies, it makes sense to dose ourselves with a variety of antioxidants to clean up microscopically. Raise your glass of a plant-based beverage, be it bean, leaf, or grape, and let’s toast to our health!

“Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.” Proverbs 11:28

Images courtesy of fitnessandhealthadvisor.com (tea), greenteaforweightlosstips.com (tea plant), www.lookgreatnaked.com (antioxidant chart), bloomfieldbathblog.com (awesome antioxidants)

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: cancer prevention. Tags: antioxidant tea, green tea and cancer, green tea benefits, green tea funny, green tea health. Leave a comment

Jul. ’20

Cancer Fighting Dinner Recipe

We’ve talked about how garlic, beans, and cruciferous vegetables fight cancer, but we haven’t talked about how to prepare them in a delicious, easy, fast way for dinner. There’s a recipe below. BOOM, baby! Now you know.

Beans and Greens

Ingredients:

1 Tb olive oil OR 3 strips bacon, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tb chicken or beef bullion paste (or 1 packet/cube)

2-3 Tb water

4-8* cups cruciferous vegetables, frozen or fresh, chopped (broccoli slaw, kale, Cole slaw, cauliflower, etc)

1 can beans or 2 cups cooked beans, rinsed and drained

Parmesan cheese, optional

Salt to taste

*If using cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, measure 4 cups. If using kale or some other vegetable that shrinks when it cooks, measure 6-8 cups. If you hate cruciferous vegetables, use spinach. At least it’s green.

Directions

Heat 12″ frying pan or 6 Qt stock pot over medium or medium high heat. Add oil or bacon (fry until brown). Add onion and garlic, saute until tender. Add vegetables, bullion, and water. (If using frozen vegetables, you might not need the water.) Cook until tender, stirring occasionally. Add beans, stir. Taste, add salt, stir, taste again, repeat as necessary. Serve over rice or by itself.

Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours! 1 Samuel 25:6

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: cancer prevention, Recipes. Tags: cancer fighting foods, cancer prevention recipe, easy beans recipe, easy greens recipe. Leave a comment

Jul. ’20

Eating for Cancer Prevention (3 of 5): Cruciferous Vegetables

How do cruciferous vegetables fight cancer? That’s just it: they fight. They’re warriors. Cruciferous vegetables are the military of Food-dom. They kill cancer cells and defend against terrorist-toxins.

The key is getting the ammo into the guns. The ammo is sulfur containing chemicals called glucosinolates. Think about the taste of broccoli, kale, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts; there’s something in the taste of cruciferous vegetables that packs a punch. Some websites called it sulfur, others called it mustard oil; it’s the same thing that makes horseradish potent, skunks stink, and rotten eggs smell. Mmm, the thought makes one hungry, does it not?

So in one part of the plant cell is the ammo: glucosinolates. In another part of the plant cell is an enzyme called myrosinase. Sounds like a sandwich spread made of rosin and it’s mine, but we’re going to call it Gun. When you chew, juice, or chop the plant cells, the ammo and Gun are free to join. Loaded guns, as we know, are more effective weapons than empty ones. These glucosinolate and myrosinase loaded guns are cancer fighting sulfur compounds.

Do sulfur compounds sound familiar? That’s the secret to garlic’s cancer effectiveness too. If you want to know more about how sulfur compounds fight cancer and kill tumor cells, read my post on Garlic for cancer prevention. I don’t want to repeat myself, but all of that applies here.

I know what you’re thinking: Tumors are like enemy countries; the body knows where they are and can focus an attack. But what about toxin terrorists that roam the body; the ones that can start a new battlefront anywhere, any time? I’m glad you asked.

The Cruciferous Military doesn’t just ride in with guns blazing; it also organizes the Let’s Incapacitate Venom Enzyme Rangers (or L.I.V.E.R.), an Anti-Toxin-Terrorism Task Force that removes carcinogens from the body. Detoxification has two phases: Phase One is a transport visa and Phase Two is handcuffs.

In Phase One, the toxin is burned with oxygen and enzymes to make it water (rather than fat) soluble. This makes it easier for the body to remove the toxin (pee is water, not fat); it’s essentially giving the toxin a travel visa.

Phase Two’s handcuffs are made of enzymes and sulfur. Once a toxin is handcuffed, it can’t do any damage and can safely be shipped to the small intestine (which leads to the colon and eventually to the light of day). However, L.I.V.E.R. doesn’t have detention cells. If there aren’t enough handcuffs, the toxins remain free to circulate the body on their travel visa and are now called “free-radicals”. Free-radicals can do more damage that the original toxins. Cruciferous vegetables provide the sulfur that L.I.V.E.R. needs to make enough handcuffs to safely transport toxins out of the body.

Cruciferous vegetables also help promote healthy estrogen metabolism in the body, so there’s a link to hormonal cancers. I didn’t get that far in my research, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Keep your Military strong by recruiting cruciferous soldiers several times per week. Brussels sprout bullets for everyone!

“Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” Exodus 1:10

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: Health. Tags: brussels sprouts bullets, cancer fighting foods, cancer prevention, cruciferous vegetables and cancer. Leave a comment

Jun. ’20

Eating for Cancer Prevention: Beans (Part 2 of 5)

NCI_Digestive_torso_large Seeing as how beans are known as the “musical fruit”, it should come as no surprise that beans have a strong link to the colon, and specifically to colorectal cancer. For those of you in the decades between middle school biology and the all-too-real anatomy lesson of a required colonoscopy, your colon is another name for your large intestine.

Your small intestine absorbs nutrients from the food you eat. The large intestine sucks the water out of what’s left, leaving behind stool or poop. It’s a good system, but when things go wrong, they go very wrong: colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. There is hope, however: research suggests that roughly 30% of colon cancers could be prevented by a change in diet and lifestyle.

Back to the beans.

I’m not talking about fresh green beans, although they are delicious and I encourage you to eat them whenever possible. I’m talking about the Legume Family: lentils, kidney beans, black beans, navy beans, split peas, and so on.

The Legume Family are police officers; it’s a proud tradition dating back to Creation. These Bean Cops enforce the law, direct traffic, and even manufacture Kevlar bulletproof vests.

Law enforcement: The first Bean Cop tool of the trade is folate. Cells need folate (ie folic acid) to make and repair DNA when they divide. Folate helps the cells to follow DNA laws and divide perfectly. When folate is lacking, mistakes are made. This is why pregnant women are asked to take extra folic acid; their baby begins life as a dividing cell and the fewer mistakes, the better.

Traffic: Bean Cops have access to large amounts of fiber and that fiber keeps traffic flowing in the gut. Researchers aren’t sure why increased fiber lowers the risk of colon cancer, but they suspect is has something to do with fiber’s ability to move waste and carcinogens out of the body quickly. Think back to the last time you left a concert, a festival, or a sporting event: traffic crawls and bottlenecks until that blessed whistle blowing, hand waving man in uniform arrives. How could moving waste along not be a good thing, right?

Kevlar: Resistant starch is starch that resists being digested and Bean Cops are full of it. Resistant starch makes it all the way through the digestive track to the colon untouched. Once in the colon, resistant starch becomes food for the friendly bacteria that turn it into food for colon cells. This resistant-starch-fueled-bacteria-byproduct makes the colon cells stronger; it acts like a Kevlar vest to protect the colon and prevent leakage. Imagine what’s in your colon. Now imagine that leaking out of your colon and into your body cavity, even on a microscopic level. That’s why resistant starch Kevlar is so important.

In countries where the Legume Family is consumed several times each week, the morbidity rate for colon cancer is lower than in, say, the U.S. of A., where legume consumption is low. That means that if you do get colon cancer, Bean Cops can help you not die from it. (Protect and Serve is their motto, after all.) In one study, lab rats with chemical-induced colon cancer were fed beans. These rats developed 50% fewer tumors than the rats who didn’t eat beans!

I’m not suggesting that you trade in your Thanksgiving turkey for a bunch of beans, but if you’re supposed to bring a side dish to a gathering this week and you’re not sure what to prepare, try Three Bean Cop Salad.

“Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself.” Ezekiel 4:9a

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: cancer prevention. Tags: cancer fighting foods, cancer prevention beans, colon health, humor health, legumes and cancer. Leave a comment

Jun. ’20

Eating for Cancer Prevention (Part 1)

This series on foods that help fight cancer is a repeat, but three women I know have been diagnosed with cancer in the past month, so now seems like a good time for a refresher. Do I think adding a little more garlic and beans to my diet will protect me from all harm? No, of course not. But these foods have been shown to improve health and that sounds good to me. I like my tatas; I want to keep them healthy.

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 45. That felt like a distant milestone until I turned 40. Add to my family history the recent breast cancer diagnosis of a friend – who is my age and stage of life – and it’s a bit of a wake up call. If it can happen to them, it can happen to me. I wanted to know if there was anything I could do now to prevent cancer later (or kill it now, now is good too).

First, I took stock of everything I knew about food and cancer prevention; it was summed up with the phrase “Eat berries”. Berries have lots of antioxidants that clean out the free radicals, right? Whatever those are and however that works.

I checked out four different health websites for recommended anti-cancer foods and when I compared the list, five foods stood out: garlic, dried beans, cruciferous vegetables, tea, and curcumin. Since this is a blog post, not a book, I’ll just tell you about my favorite one today. Anyone want to guess? Anyone want to smell my breath and then guess?

Garlic!

Besides making everything it touches delicious, garlic has been used for medicinal purposes since ancient times. It was also used as a weapon of war; they’d just breathe on the enemy and the enemy would run. (It’s the taste of garlic we love, but not the aftertaste.)

So why is garlic a cancer fighting food?

Garlic contains sulfur. (Insert volcano reference here.) I know that sounds bad, but the sulfur combines with other stuff in the garlic to form compounds, and these sulfur compounds really clean house. Garlic’s biggest connection to cancer is its ability to slow or prevent the growth of tumors. For example, one compound makes all cells more vulnerable to the stresses of cell division; tumor cells divide more quickly than normal cells, so they have more stressors and die, whereas normal cells can handle it and live. (See why I called it a weapon?)

Garlic also has antibacterial and antifungal properties; while it fights infection, the rest of your immune system is free to work on other problems, like cancer. Garlic has anti-inflammatory properties as well and inflammation is like PMS on a cellular level; it makes every little problem in your body worse.

How does this apply to the kitchen? Two ways:

When you peel, chop, mince, or crush garlic, let it sit for a few minutes before you cook it. Those beautiful sulfur compounds need time to form. If you squeeze your garlic press over a hot pan like I’ve done until now, you get the flavor, but not the compounds.
Eat garlic raw whenever possible. I knew a woman once who sliced cloves into pill sized pieces and swallowed them whole. She said she hardly ever got colds. If you aren’t ready for that level of halitosic commitment, try raw garlic in pesto, guacamole, gazpacho, or mixed with butter and spread on toast.

Pesto has to be my favorite. You can find the recipe here: Fresh Pesto.

I also found a recipe for a raw garlic based tea. How did it taste? Not horrible. I know that’s not a rave review for flavor, but it’s raw garlic tea: “not horrible” is as good as it gets, and I’m a garlic lover. Garlic Tea. I’ve drunk it twice and will do so again: my body wanted more, so it must be doing something good.

I am very happy to say that my mom has been cancer free for 18 years now. She loves garlic too. No, I’m not saying that garlic cured her. I’m just saying that this happy ending smells like garlic!

“The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!’” Numbers 11:4-6

Tatas courtesy of freeinterentpictures.com.

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: cancer prevention. Tags: food cancer prevention, garlic and cancer, garlic recipes, why is garlic good for you. Leave a comment

May. ’20

Take Heart: Stress and Heart Health

“Limit stress” is probably the most difficult heart healthy habit to adopt because stressful situations are often out of our control. Many times you know exactly what is causing your stress but there is nothing you can do about it. Sometimes there are things you can do: change to a less stressful job, de-clutter your living spaces, send the children to Grandma’s for a month, break a big problem down into small actionable steps, etc., but sometimes all you can do is exercise and pray.

Why pray? It’s out of your control, but nothing is out of God’s control.

heart stress Why exercise? Ongoing stress isn’t good for your heart because it raises your blood pressure. Exercise lowers your blood pressure therefore helping to “destress” your body. Stress saps your energy, exercise increases it. Stress robs you of sleep, exercise improves sleep. Stress produces stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, exercise reduces those and produces endorphins which are to the brain what chocolate is to womankind.

Sometimes looking at heart health can stress you out too. All of the do’s and don’ts can be overwhelming, especially if you have a long way to go to make your cardiologist proud. You don’t have to change everything all at once; you’ll drive yourself crazy and give up. The goal is a heart healthy lifestyle, so adding one healthy habit at a time and building on your progress is a good way to go. (NOTE: if you have had a heart attack or stroke, ignore me and do what your doctor tells you! If s/he says you should change many habits at once, do it! Those of us who haven’t almost died sometimes need a gradual approach because we’re lazy or stubborn or don’t think it’ll happen to us. Silly us.)

heart stress 2 Here’s the list of recommendations to keep your heart healthy:

Sleep 7-8 hours each night.
Eat plants: Roughly half of what you eat should be plants: fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains (as in “not processed and looks like a grain”: rice, oatmeal, lentils, quinoa, etc., not bread or pasta even if they’re labeled “whole grain”.)
Exercise 150 minutes (2.5 hours) per week.
Don’t smoke.
Limit stress.

Put a check next to the ones you already do. Great job! Now look at the ones you didn’t check. Which one is the most important for you to focus on first? If you’re pre-diabetic, start with exercise. If you’re trying to lose weight, replace half of what’s on your plate with plants. If you’re too tired to change your life, start with sleep. What measurable goals can you set to get that habit rolling? What specifically can you do today?

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.” (said Jesus) John 14:1

References:

Anxiety and Depression Association of America https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/related-illnesses/other-related-conditions/stress/physical-activity-reduces-st

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/exercising-to-relax

Images courtesy of: Amazon.com (stress balls), health.harvard.edu (stethoscope)

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: Health. Tags: exercise and stress, heart health holidays, heart health humor, heart health stress, lower stress tips, why stress bad for heart. 1 Comment

May. ’20

BYOM for Mother’s Day

Orange we the cutest?

“Mom, can I have a snack?”

“Dinner’s in an hour, so you can have fruit or vegetables.”

With an overly dramatic sigh, my son slumps his shoulders and goes back to playing with Legos. Hungry, but not hungry enough for healthy food. Another son asks me the same snack question, receives the same produce answer, fishes an apple out of the fridge, and sits at the table to munch on it. I put water on to boil and open the pantry door in search of spaghetti sauce. A bag of chocolate covered almonds catches my eye. I’m suddenly hungry and reach for the bag.

Smile! Some-bunny’s delicious.

Dinner’s in an hour, so you can have fruit or vegetables. My own words echo in my mind and my hand hesitates, fingers inches away from crunchy chocolate goodness. I know I shouldn’t “spoil my dinner”, but I really want to. It would be so much easier if I was a child and my mother was here to tell me “no” like I told my son. I laugh and shake my head. I like being a grown up and I don’t want someone—even someone I love as much as my mother—to tell me what and when to eat.

I’m not a child, but maybe I should treat myself like one when need be. I need to BYOM: Be Your Own Mother.

“Only one cookie, Sweetie. Take smaller bites.”

“You’ve had enough, dear.”

“Go outside and play.”

“Bed time! You need your rest.”

“Get your finger out of your nose!”

A mother takes care of you, reminds you what’s best for you, and implement limits. This Mother’s Day show your mom you love her, then take a little time to BYOM. You can even make yourself breakfast in bed.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 1 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV)

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: Interesting Tidbits. 1 Comment

Apr. ’20

The 3 MagCalPots

We’ve been learning about heart health for a while now and some of you may be wondering why a weight loss blog would spend so much time on one organ. It happens to be a very important organ, but still, what’s up with that? The answer is simple: the same habits that improve the health of your heart also help you lose weight. Exercising regularly, sleeping 7-8 hours each night, eating plenty of plant foods like vegetables…the weight loss habits and the heart health habits go hand in hand.

If you’re losing weight by developing healthy habits, I want you to know you’re getting a bonus: your heart is getting healthier every day. Lucky you! It’s not just about how great you look on the outside; you’re looking sexy on the inside too.

hypertension 6 The Three Musketeers are great dinner companions so invite them onto your plate every chance you get. (If you invite Salt, do so cautiously; Salt belches and forgets his wallet, so a little of him goes a long way.) The Three Musketeers—or Three MagCalPots—are high in magnesium, calcium, and potassium which work to lower blood pressure which helps keep your heart beating long and strong. The following foods are high in all three MagCalPot elements:

Leafy greens

Seeds and nuts

Yogurt or kefir

Legumes

Fatty fish like salmon

Broccoli

Figs

Bananas and avocados are high in two of the three, so they can tag along. This list looks suspiciously like the ingredients in Fat Fish Fiber Fruit™. I wonder if the Three Musketeers are shareholders.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: Health. Tags: eating to reduce high blood pressure, foods reduce hypertension, hypertension, hypertension heart health, reduce hypertension, Three Musketeers, weight loss foods. Leave a comment

Apr. ’20

With All my Heart: Hypertension and Heart Health (Part 2)

Last week we talked about global body shipping and how high blood pressure (also called hypertension) can damage our body. This week we’ll look at the leading causes of hypertension and what we can do about them.

Atherosclerosis – This is a big word that I like to call Gather-old-Playdoh-sis. You know how new Playdoh is soft and pliable and so pretty you just want to eat it? That’s how blood vessels are supposed to be. Over time Playdoh hardens and shrinks as it dries out and that’s what happens in your blood vessels. Blood vessel linings gets pot holes, cholesterol fills in the pot holes and hardens there like Playdoh, and then your blood vessel can’t expand and contract easily like it used to.

Atherosclerosis can be prevented or slowed by exercising and eating a diet high in plant parts. Diet and exercise prevent pot holes from forming and reduce the amount of fat Playdoh in the blood looking for a pot hole. Science isn’t sure if hypertension increases atherosclerosis or if atherosclerosis increases hypertension. They do know that exercise and eating greens helps decrease both. It’s kind of like the “What came first: the chicken or the egg?” debate. Answer? Doesn’t matter; they’re both delicious. Eat your greens and move your body and don’t worry about it.

Sleep Apnea – More than half of people with hypertension also have sleep apnea, so scientists are pretty sure there’s a connection. (Let’s face it: when we talk about the human body, there is always a connection.) High blood pressure can trigger sleep apnea which causes poor sleep or a lack of sleep which raises your blood pressure which can trigger sleep apnea. A doctor can direct you to a helpful mask to improve your sleep. You can also lose weight and exercise.

Smoking and Drinking – Stop smoking and don’t drink more than 1-2 alcoholic drinks per day. Yes, I am a party pooper.

Too much salt – Remember how your blood vessel walls are made of smooth muscle? Blood pressure is all about those wall muscles being able to relax to let blood flow. For the walls to relax and contract regularly, they need regulators: namely the Three Musketeers (or the Three MagCalPots): magnesium, calcium, and potassium. There is a connection between hypertension and insufficient magnesium, calcium, and potassium and it may have something to do with salt.

You see, Salt is supposed to be the fourth musketeer, but he went off and recruited so many many many of his friends that they turned evil and wrought havoc. The Three Musketeers must be present to balance out Salt and his friends; if there aren’t enough of the Three MagCalPots, then Salt wins and blood pressure goes up. You can help the Musketeers by putting less salt and more magnesium, calcium, and potassium in your mouth.

By the way, it’s recommended that you eat no more than 1 teaspoon (2300 mg) of sodium (salt) each day. The ideal goal is 1500 mg, but Americans eat so much sodium that even cutting down to 2300 is a plus. Be aware that 75% of the sodium most of us eat is in processed, pre-packaged, and restaurant foods, not the salt shaker.

Genetics and Family History – hypertension runs in the family. If hypertension runs in your family, it’s even more important that you exercise and eat well. Sorry. Maybe you also inherited a sharp wit or great hair.

Note: I should to point out that the medical community isn’t 100% sure what causes hypertension. They observe connections between hypertension and heart attacks, atherosclerosis, sleep apnea, etc., and make highly educated guesses. They also observe the connections between healthy habits and improved hypertension and make highly educated recommendations. What is 100% certain? We can take hypertension as the warning sign it is and make healthy changes.

We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:8b, 9b

All these changes stressing you out? Take Heart: Stress and Heart Health

References:

Mayo Clinic http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/in-depth/high-blood-pressure/art-20045868

Web MD https://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/blood-pressure-causes#1

Calcium and hypertension https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2448982

Calcium and hypertension https://www.livestrong.com/article/149390-calcium-and-hypertension/

Potassium and Calcium https://www.everydayhealth.com/hypertension/get-your-minerals.aspx

Calcium https://www.healthcentral.com/article/lower-high-blood-pressure-with-calcium

Sodium https://sodiumbreakup.heart.org/how_much_sodium_should_i_eat

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: Health. Tags: easy high blood pressure, heart health funny, high blood pressure symptoms, high blood pressure treatment, hypertension cause, hypertension heart health, reduce hypertension, salt and heart health, Three Musketeers, too much salt. Leave a comment

Mar. ’20

With All my Heart: Hypertension and Heart Health (Part 1)

Ever wonder why you have a pulse? Obviously your pulse is there because your heart is pumping, but why can you feel it? Why does the blood vessel push against your fingers for a moment and then disappear under your skin?

The simple answer is that your blood vessels are flexible, not stiff. As the blood from the heart pumps through, the blood vessel can expand like a balloon and then shrink back as the blood passes. Unlike a balloon, the blood vessel doesn’t get stretched out with each expansion because the walls of the vessel are mostly made of smooth muscles that contract or squeeze back into shape again. The expand and contract pattern with each pump of the heart keeps the blood under pressure so that it flows in one direction. It’s like a water slide adjusting to each rider as she passes.

heart bp1 These smooth muscles move involuntarily (i.e. you can’t control them like an arm or a finger) to regulate the volume of blood in the vessel and how forcefully that blood flows. Blood vessels are not passive garden hoses but more like millions of tiny fans keeping the wave going in a tubular stadium. This is mind blowingly cool, but what does it have to do with hypertension and heart health?

When the smooth muscles in the blood vessel walls contract too much, they become stiff and tense or, if you will, “hyper tense” which causes the blood pressure to rise. Hypertension is another name for high blood pressure and contributes in a big way to heart disease. Statistics say that if 10 people have untreated hypertension, 5 of them will die of a heart attack and 3 of them will die of a stroke. Hypertension is dangerous if left untreated, but why?

heart bp2 Hypertension is a warning sign that blood is not flowing well in the body. Blood pressure goes up because the blood has to press harder to get through the vessels, i.e. the heart pumps extra hard. In our shipping analogy, hypertension is all of the sailors working harder and harder to get the ships to the docks, but not getting there any faster than they used to. After years of hard sailing, shipments are delayed or detoured and the sailors simply can’t sail up every tiny tributary like they used to because the way is clogged with pollution or traffic. Any body part of the world that receives fewer shipments than necessary will suffer. Another way to say it is that if a body part lacks blood, it also lacks oxygen which it needs for energy producing reactions within the cells, so it will not have energy and cells will die. If enough cells die, we develop symptoms.

Let’s take a trip around the body globe. Yes, I know the analogy is wearing thin, but I’m up a creek and dropped my paddle, so you’ll just have to drift downstream with me.

North America is the heart because “home is where the heart is” and my home is in North America. (Feel free to print out the map and draw your heart wherever you want.) If blood shipments to North America stop completely, the Earth dies; this is a heart attack. If the shipments slow down enough to almost stop, North America riots which causes pain; this is a heart attack that doesn’t kill you but gives you a chance to change. About half of people with untreated hypertension end up with a heart attack.

Asia is known for electronics manufacturing, so it represents our brain. The brain has been compared to a computer and we think about (or maybe with) our electronics a scary lot of the time. If shipping to Asia brain is cut off, we have a stroke. Maybe we die and maybe we just have some brain damage, but either way we suffer without our electronics. Poor blood flow in the brain can even cause vascular dementia. About one third of people with untreated hypertension end up having a stroke.

heart bp3 Africa is home to the Sahara Desert which has the most uninterrupted view in the world (I’m guessing) from the top of a dune on a cloudless day. Africa represents our eyes and hypertension is a sand storm. Eyes need nourishing blood to see properly and when they don’t get enough, vision can become blurry or be lost completely.

South America is home to the Amazon River which processes a LOT of water so South America represents our kidneys which process and clean our blood. If the blood vessels inside of or leading to the kidneys are damaged, the blood can’t get in and flow through to be cleaned. The Amazon River becomes polluted and we need dialysis or die. The number one cause of kidney failure is high blood pressure.

Europe is the bones of the world because they have the most stone castles which are kind of like skeletons because they provided structure and protection in feudal society…stone and bone rhyme, shall we just go with that? Hypertension can lead to bone loss and osteoporosis because calcium is recruited from the bones to patch up tiny tears in the blood vessel lining.

Sorry, Australia, I’m out of body parts! I’m sure hypertension would ruin you too, though.

Hypertension normally takes many years to cause damage and not everyone will suffer the same symptoms or any symptoms at all. But I now understand why blood pressure is considered important enough to be checked regularly as a “vital sign”. Next week we’ll look at what we can do to help reduce hypertension.

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Luke 6:45

Tune in next time for With All My Heart: Hypertension and Heart Health (Part 2)