“About 1 in 7 of us will have high blood pressure at some point.”
It is advised to have your blood pressure checked by your doctor. Especially if you are over 35 you should have your blood pressure checked every 3 years or so.
There is no way to tell if you have high blood pressure or not as you don’t feel any different. Often you find out when it is too late.
Your doctor also advises cholesterol checks.
“10% of the population is genetically prelisposed as a result of dietary cholesterol”
(New England journal of Medicine: Scott Grundy.)
“It is thought that for people likely to develop high blood pressure a high salt intake is a contributory factor to C.H.D.”
(The science of food.)
The current dietary guidelines suggest a reduction in salt from 9g per day, until 6g per day.
Most of the cholesterol in the blood does not come directly from the diet. The intestines and liver manufacture cholesterol from other sources of fat, carbohydrate and protein. Advising people to cut cholesterol-containing foods from their diet because cholesterol produces heart disease does not balance with the facts.
Some people can eat dozens of eggs but still maintain low blood cholesterol levels.
“ Too much alcohol can cause high blood pressure to rise and also increase the risk of stroke.”
(Health which? December 2004)
Alcohol can be dangerous but in moderation like most things it can be helpful. A glass of red wine a day is advised to help with heart problems. “Flavonoids in red wine has an anti-oxidant effect and decreases LDL which can reduce the risk of C.H.D. However binge drinking can raise blood pressure and increase the risk of C.H.D.”
(Current theories by Dr. Carole Lewis)
C.H.D. can be genetic, according from one in seven heart disease runs through many families history. My friend has a history of heart disease in her family and I asked her how she felt,
“ I feel robbed, my child died from heart disease and I don’t know if my other children will have to go through that as well. The doctors were helpful though.”
One of the biggest factors of C.H.D. is fat. People in today’s society, especially children don’t realise the importance of eating low fat foods. Its not as if there isn’t the foods, everything today has a, ‘full, skimmed and low fat’ produce. The main thing is milk, and yoghurts some doctors say that,
“You should drink full fat milk to get the full amount of calcium you need. Try and cut the foods out in other parts of the diet.”
(Dr. M. Lagan)
I think doctor Lagan means that you should have the required amount of calcium in the diet, to cut the fat from meat, chocolate and ice cream. You don’t have to become a vegan. Just to eat lean meat, chicken or cut out excess fat trough the different methods of cooking like grilling your bacon. Simple things like this can help reduce your cholesterol and chances of C.H.D. the required amount of fat per person vary upon the person’s age, sex, height and occupation.
Heart disease can be prevented if the person really wants to. Combine a healthy diet with a healthy lifestyle and there should be no problems. That is providing you stick to it and not just do it now and again.