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Readers Questions v1: How to Lower Blood Pressure and Anti-Inflammatory Diets

Today I’m going to go through and answer a a couple of questions that you guys have posted on the site. The focus of these questions is on lowering blood pressure and anti-inflammatory diets.

Question from Helen: One blip (this video) says 6-8 servings of grains, then another mentions -well, you don’t really need carbohydrates coz the body can make them – so why would one want to eat so much grain? I can totally relate to the fruits and veg, but grain?

Answer from Mike: The 6-8 servings of grains is not my recommendation but the recommendations for the DASH diet. The DASH diet is extremely popular in nutrition research and in medical settings. I think that the 6-8 servings of grains is high and that by cutting the starchy carbs you will be able to get better results in regards to weight loss and health. Last April I saw a presentation by Dr. Jeff Volek where he showed that when they put their subjects on ketogenic diets with resistance training that they essentially cure metabolic syndrome. So grains are good but not necessarily in the 6-8 serving dosage.

Question from Helen: Why so many clips [Videos - Here] on carbs? and about controlling insulin? How does that relate to hypertension? okay i admit that the biggest evil in the US is really sugar, so is the idea that that is the cause of the hypertension?

Answer from Mike: I have a lot of videos the carb ones were just the first to get edited. Controlling carbs and insulin is very important. The videos aren’t meant to be specific to controlling high blood pressure. From the research that I have seen, to decrease your blood pressure I would do the following :

• • Lose Weight
  • Eat Lots of Fruits and Vegetables
  • Take 2-3 grams of EPA/DHA
  • Exercise regularly
  • Lose Weight (yes it is in there twice)
  • Get 2-3 servings of low fat dairy in each day
  • Cut Carbs

Question from Douglas: I am a 41 yo M, that is 5?9? tall. weight currently at 220. My Main issue is VERY high blood pressure. I am in a quandary the 5 different blood pressure meds I am on lower my blood pressure to 150/100. But also make me very tired and weak. Turning a screwdriver makes my arms burn, walking up a flight of stairs feels like I have walked 5 miles. etc. That said, I want to work to get off the drugs, they make me dizzy and besides the other side effects.

So the questions I have. How do you rate the DASH diet from a weight lost perspective. It seems to be highly loaded in grains which I would think would be a Insulin issue.

I have been reading A Lot about inflammatory type foods causing heart disease. Have you seen or heard anything in that regards??

One of these days I am going to be able to do the Warp Speed Fat Loss exercises. right now when I attempt to do them my heart rate goes through the roof. (almost 220 bpm).

Answer From Mike: Yes, let’s get you to the point where you can come off the drugs (or at least cut down the number of meds you are on). See my answer above regarding nutritional approaches to decrease blood pressure. Weight loss is really important. Because your meds are making exercise difficult you are going to need to be in close contact with your physician about what you can and can’t do (NOT Warp Speed Fat Loss).

Studies have used the DASH diet for weight loss with the driving force behind weight loss being a calorie deficit. It works, but isn’t my preferred method. One thing about the DASH diet (I have also found this with the subjects in my clinical trial) is that they are never hungry on the DASH diet due to all the fruits and vegetables. But that effect is not specific to DASH but just eating lots of fruits and vegetables so it is easily replicated.

Inflammation is a very hot topic. Inflammatory foods are nutritional buzz words (see Grocery Store Scams for more about nutrition buzz words). For example many people are very against plant oils because of all the linoliec acid (omega 6 fat) claiming that it is pro-inflammatory.

However the data supporting a direct pro-inflammatory effect from eating more linoleic acid is very limited (non-existant?). Not to sound like a broken record but if you wanted to eat an anti-inflammatory diet you can basically follow the steps I outlined above in my answer to Helen’s question about lowering blood pressure and make sure you add some high anti0xidant fruits for good measure (also see my new free 6 Pillars of Nutrition Video) and you will have a solid anti-inflammatory diet.

This article was written by Mike Roussell. Mike Roussell is a nationally renowned nutritionist and the president of the Naked Nutrition Network. He is currently a doctoral candidate in nutrition at Pennsylvania State University. Learn More About Mike Click Here

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