The American Heart Association (AHA) and American Stroke Association (ASA) recently released an update to their guidelines to lower blood pressure.
For the first time, they recommended a diet other than their recent obsession, the DASH diet, for this purpose. And this diet is so delicious there shouldn’t be any problem to stay on it.
Yes, we’ve been recommending the Mediterranean diet for years on Blue Heron Health News. Finally, official agencies are catching up.
AHA and ASA aren’t just recommending this diet out of thin air. Numerous studies have supported its effectiveness in improving cardiovascular health.
In fact, the same day the recommendation was released, a new study was published in the American Journal of Hypertension.
The researchers followed a group of people who already suffered coronary artery disease. Those who consumed more Mediterranean style diet had fewer spikes in blood pressure and were less likely to suffer stroke and heart attack.
So what are the key components of the Mediterranean diet?
– 80% of the diet is plant-based. That is, fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains.
– Fresh fish is another key of this diet.
– Instead of butter, use extra virgin olive oil (except for high heat cooking)
– Replace salt with various tasty spices and herbs
– Almost no red meat
– Red and white wine in moderation for those who like. Non-alcoholic wine and even grape juice are just as effective though.
As you see, nobody has to suffer to lower their blood pressure using this diet. And it’s easy to find lots of great recipes to make various dishes.
But why is this diet so effective?
It’s because it lowers the overall stress on your body. Using fresh vegetables, olive oil and other healthy ingredients, your body can significantly lower inflammation throughout all the systems. And inflammation is the main physical stress factor that causes high blood pressure.
You see, some kind of stress is always the cause of high blood pressure. Usually, it’s a combination of several types of stress. It can be mental stress (worrying about the world or money), emotional stress (loss of a loved one), sensory stress (traffic noise, TV), or physical stress (heavy exercises, inflammation).
By eating healthy, you lower the physical stress. This helps lower blood pressure. But to bring your blood pressure to a healthy level, you must lower the overall stress hormone production in your body.
High blood pressure causes physical stress. So once your blood pressure rises, the stress factors develop a life of their own and become chronic. One thing causes another like a dog chasing his tail, and the circle needs to be broken.
We accomplish this by giving your system something I call a “Focused Break,” using simple, easy blood pressure exercises that reboot your system to a good blood pressure level.
There are 16 mediterranean diets, some use a lot of butter, some don't. It's still a flawed recipe, but still way better than the standard western diet since it avoids processed foods.
However saturated fat HAS to be a substantial component of any good diet.
Sat fat lines the interior of the arteries and stops plaque and other nasties from adhering to the endothelium.
A lot of new research is out there now, outdating much of the accepted wisdom of the diet gurus for the last 25-30 years. Butter, regular dairy (not low fat), red meat, salt and even cholesterol have been given a terribly bad rap by the AMA, ASA and other organizations promoting diets like the DASH, etc. Even Mediterranean diets use beef, lamb and pork. Much of this research is ignored because it does not fit he agenda of the powers that be.
A lot of new research is out there now, outdating much of the accepted wisdom of the diet gurus for the last 25-30 years. Butter, regular dairy (not low fat), red meat, salt and even cholesterol have been given a terribly bad rap by the AMA, ASA and other organizations promoting diets like the DASH, etc. Even Mediterranean diets use beef, lamb and pork. Much of this research is ignored because it does not fit he agenda of the powers that be.