Introduction

High blood pressure can be a difficult problem to resolve and often leads to dependence on blood pressure medications for a lifetime.

If you have high blood pressure, the most important thing is to keep it controlled. Because of the side effects of blood pressure meds and the lack of any symptoms, it is very common that people just stop taking them. More than half of those under the age of 65 who are prescribed blood pressure meds quit them within a few months or don’t take them as prescribed. This can lead to heart attack, stroke, and kidney damage, among other health problems.

Natural Methods to Lower Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is one of the most common health problems I see in the clinic. It’s not easy to handle, but if the patient will consistently do what is needed long-term, it usually resolves.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. There isn’t a single cause for your high blood pressure; everyone is different. Evaluation, testing, and labs are the starting point for anyone with this problem.
2. It is ALWAYS necessary to clean up your diet. You’ll need to eliminate sugar and cut out most refined carbs, stop eating junk foods and foods with bad fats, lots of preservatives and additives, eat protein with every meal.
3. I have a whole-food liver detox that often tests well with high blood pressure patients and is very effective. One of the main reasons it works is that it thoroughly cleans up the diet.
4. Stress is enormous with blood pressure. If you are under a lot of stress and aren’t taking any steps to mitigate this, you’ll probably have to make some lifestyle changes to handle your blood pressure successfully. Examples: Exercise, yoga, prayer, breathing exercises, calming routines in the morning or during the day when the stress is highest.
5. Your doctor may have told you to lose weight to lower your blood pressure. My experience is that the cause of the weight is often several things, not only diet and exercise. Just trying to lose weight with a draconian diet may not produce long-term results.
6. I help my patients with high blood pressure by testing to identify the organ(s) or system(s) creating the stress. Then I use clinical nutrition along with very targeted acupressure in an exact program. This technique is called Evectics^SM; you can read about it here.

Isometric Exercise to Reduce Blood Pressure

Read the article below for some fascinating methods to use in lowering blood pressure.

Stay Healthy!

Dr. Melodie Billiot

Patient Stories:

After coming to Alternative Health Atlanta my blood pressure is back within my normal range. This is a welcome improvement after 3 years of high blood pressure due to too much stress and not taking care of myself. Hurray! My energy levels are higher, and I now aspire to lose 25 lbs. in less than 2 months!— T.K.

When I first came to Alternative Health Atlanta, I had severe allergies, sinus problems, bad headaches, high blood pressure, and low energy. Not to mention that I was losing my hair. After starting the program, I am off my blood pressure medicine, my energy level has improved, my hair is healthier, my headaches are less frequent and my allergy and sinus problems are greatly improved. My overall health has certainly improved. — D.M.

Find Out How to Get Help with your Health:

Would you please take five minutes to fill out a health assessment survey and send it to me? I’ll call you for a phone consult and discuss what could be done about your health. It’s complimentary, no strings attached. Either I can help you or point you in the right direction to get help. Don’t give up! You can recover your health if you persist.

Want To Lower Your Blood Pressure By 20 Points? Try This Exercise…

Eli Ben-Yehuda

Want to know about an exercise that can lower blood pressure significantly? We’re talking as much as 10-20 mmHg. No, it’s not an endurance exercise. No, it’s not strength exercise. It’s an exercise you can do anytime and anywhere. It’s called isometrics.

What are Isometric Exercises?

Isometric exercises, the kind where you contract large muscles without actually moving the body part, may help reduce blood pressure in healthy people, a study shows. And something as simple as squeezing your inner thigh muscles together while you sit would qualify.

That’s right. Isometric exercises can be done anytime, anywhere, and don’t require you to bend or lift. In a handful of studies, folks with normal blood pressure who did three 15 to 20 minutes sessions of isometric exercises every week for ten weeks experienced more than a 10-point plunge in their systolic blood pressure. And their diastolic pressure fell almost 7 points. Not bad for not lifting a finger! Simple things like doing a static hand grip, flexing the bottoms muscles, or doing leg squeezes all count. In the research, the three weekly sessions included doing multiple 2-minute rounds of isometric exercises like those, with 1 to 3 minute rests in between.

A hand grip spring dynamo-meter was used for IHG (Isometric Handgrip) exercise training in one study. A total of 30 normal healthy volunteers in the age group of 20-40 were enrolled for the study. The exercise training protocol consisted of five 3-min bouts of IHG exercise at 30% of maximum voluntary contraction separated by 5 min rest periods. The exercise was performed three times/week for 10 weeks. The subject’s blood pressure was measured before and after exercise.

There was a significant reduction in resting blood pressure following 10 weeks of exercise training. Both Systolic and Diastolic blood pressure reduced significantly.

In the mid-1970s, the U.S. Air Force asked Dr. Ronald Wiley, an expert in heart and lung physiology, to find a way to keep fighter pilots from losing consciousness when flying the F-16 fighter. This jet could accelerate so fast that the G-forces it generated made it difficult for the pilot’s heart to pump blood to the brain, causing vision problems, trouble thinking, and blackouts.

One of Wiley’s strategies was a hand grip that pilots could squeeze to boost their blood pressure enough to maintain circulation to the brain. As he worked with pilots, he was struck by a contradiction: Those who practiced with the hand grip for a few weeks lowered their resting blood pressure.

Types of Isometric Exercise

Plank Bridge

Lie down in the push-up position and place your elbows under your chest. Rest your body on the floor. Now, the entire weight of your body will be concentrated on your forearms. Push up your body and count to 10. Repeat 2 to 3 times. This is one of the simplest forms of isometric exercises, and it can be performed daily.

Isometric Push Up

Get into the pushup position as before and lie down with your arms extended. Lower your body to the halfway position and hold for about 10 seconds or count slowly until 10. This exercise can be repeated 2 or 3 times, depending on your fitness level. Most isometric exercises are not very tiring, but you must take it slowly if you’re a beginner.

Isometric Bicep Exercise

This is the simplest type of isometric exercise, and it can be easily done at the office. Put your hands under the desk and place them against the tabletop, with your palms up. Now, press against the tabletop, keeping your elbows tight against your ribs. Hold your hands in this position for 10 seconds or count slowly until 10, and then repeat 2 to 3 times.

Isometric Shoulder Raises

For this exercise, you will need a pair of dumbbells. Hold one dumbbell in each hand and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Raise both arms upwards from the side until they’re parallel to the ground. Hold them in this position for about 10 to 25 seconds, and repeat 2 to 3 times. If you find it difficult to raise both hands at the same time, you can start by raising one hand at a time.

Ball Squeeze

The ball squeeze exercise requires only a tennis ball or any other small ball. Hold the ball in one hand and squeeze it for 60 to 90 seconds. Place the ball in your other hand and repeat the squeeze for the same amount of time. Repeat the exercise three times with each hand.

Athletic Gripper Hold

Athletic grippers can be found at nearly any sporting goods store. Grippers generally come in different resistances so you’ll have to choose one appropriate for you. Ideally, you should use one that you are able to squeeze for two minutes before your muscles fatigue. Hold the athletic gripper in one hand and squeeze it for two minutes then switch hands and repeat the exercise. Complete the exercise twice with each hand.

Practicing isometric exercises offers various benefits to our body:

1. Isometric exercises help in strengthening and conditioning muscles.
2. They aid in strengthening dormant muscle tissues on isolated muscles.
3. They improve one’s control over the body.
4. Improve body posture and spine alignment.
5. Help in preventing injury.
6. These exercises are used in injury rehabilitation.
7. Help in the development of lean muscles.
8. Improve bone density and make them strong.
9. Increase resistance power and endurance ability.
10. These exercises activate all the major units in the body.
11. These exercises can be done anywhere and anytime.
12. Most isometric exercises do not require any equipment, or at most, a set of dumbbells is enough.
13. Help in graceful aging, keeping body posture straight and erect even in old age.

What do the numbers 3,4, 8, and 9 have to do with your health and wellness?

Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., DACBN, MS, CFMP

Do you know those little stickers on fruits and veggies? They’re called price look-up (PLU) codes, and they contain numbers that cashiers use to ring you up. But you can also use them to make sure you’re getting what you paid for. If you are interested in staying healthy, here’s what to look for:

• A five-digit number that starts with a 9  means the item is organic.Eating organically grown produce is paramount. This can be identified at the grocery store by a five-digit bar code starting with the number “9,” or purchased from your local organic grower.
• A four-digit code beginning with a 3 or a 4 means the produce is probably conventionally grown. For example, regular small lemons sold in the U.S. are labeled 4033, large are 4053; small organic lemons are coded 94033, large are 94053. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of food quality when it comes to the prevention of disease. Sure, a conventionally grown bell pepper (identified by a sticker with a four-digit bar code starting with the number “4”) will contain the healthy compound beta-cryptoxanthin, but it will also come with a whole host of cancer-causing chemicals on it.
• A five-digit code that starts with an 8 means the item is genetically modified (it has genes from other organisms). You won’t see many of those because only genetically modified versions of corn, soybeans, canola, cotton, papaya, and squash are now widely sold. And because PLU codes aren’t mandatory, companies can label those items as conventional.

Compliments from Functional Medicine University

Find Out About Improving Your Health

Would you please take five minutes to fill out a health assessment survey and send it to me? I’ll call you for a phone consult and discuss what could be done about your health. It’s complimentary, no strings attached. Either I can help you or point you in the right direction to get help. Don’t give up! You can recover your health if you persist.

Introduction

There’s a children’s song, “Dry Bones” with lyrics that connect the bones of the skeleton:

The toe bone’s connected to the foot bone,
The foot bone’s connected to the ankle bone,
The ankle bone’s connected to the leg bone,
Now shake them skeleton bones!

Similarly, many other parts of the body are connected, some in surprising ways.

For example, did you know that the teeth are connected to the heart? Actually, your teeth (and gums) are connected to your overall systemic health.

The article below, “Periodontal Disease and C-Reactive Protein (CRP)” shows recent research linking gum disease to other inflammatory conditions.

“It is now evident that cardiac disorders are worsened by periodontitis*, both experimentally and in humans.”

Periodontitis: A common but preventable gum infection, usually caused by poor oral hygiene.

The good news? You can prevent and often improve gum disease yourself, just by brushing, flossing, and improving your diet.

Better news? Periodontitis (gum disease) leads to costly and uncomfortable dental work. You can improve your systemic health and avoid a $10,000 dental program all at the same time!

Signs You Need to Take Action:

• Swollen or puffy gums
• Bright red, dusky red, or purplish gums
• Gums that feel tender when touched
• Gums that bleed easily
• Pink-tinged toothbrush after brushing
• Spitting out blood when brushing or flossing your teeth
• Bad breath
• Pus between your teeth and gums
• Loose teeth or loss of teeth
• Painful chewing
• New spaces developing between your teeth
• Gums that pull away from your teeth (recede), making your teeth look longer than normal
• A change in the way your teeth fit together when you bite

Get Started Right Now

1: Throw away your toothbrush. Go get an inexpensive electric model that vibrates. Get several replacement brushes, and replace whenever you can see the brush is starting to “mush” a little.

2: Get a package of flossers. If you haven’t used these, you’ll be amazed at how fast and easy flossing is compared to the old “wrap around your fingers” technique.

3: Stop eating refined sugar, or reduce it in your diet as much as possible. This isn’t so much to save your teeth as to reduce inflammation and improve your immune response so your gums can heal. Read Sugar and Your Immune System to get a complete understanding.

4: Go to your dentist! The cheapest thing you can do for your dental health is getting your teeth professionally cleaned on a regular basis (your dentist will tell you how often you need to do it). Your dentist will also be able to tell you about your gum health and anything else you might need to do to get it under control.

Gum Disease can be a Symptom of Other Health Problems

Often I’ll talk to a patient who takes excellent care of their dental health but still has gum disease. Even more common are patients with gum disease that won’t improve no matter how much dental care they receive.

In this case, I could likely to help improve your health and ability to heal. This has often resulted in improved overall health and associated improvement in gum health.

Patient Stories:

When I went for my last appointment, the hygienist could not believe what she was seeing. She stopped cleaning and asked what in the world had I been doing to get my gums to do so well. No more deep pockets, and the gums were healthy enough to form new healthy tissue around the teeth. I just smiled and began telling her about Alternative Health Atlanta and the program. She again said, ‘I’ve never seen such improvement!’ –J.G.

After just a few weeks at Alternative Health Atlanta on an alternative health program, my next visit to the dentist was amazing. To the dentist’s surprise, the 6 probe measurement was now a 3! She asked me what I was doing, and I told her of my alternative health program. She stated that was good and that I should keep it up. And I didn’t need surgery. — W.G.

Find Out About Improving Your Health (and Dental Health)

Would you please take five minutes to fill out a health assessment survey and send it to me? I’ll call you for a phone consult and discuss what could be done about your health. It’s complimentary, no strings attached. Either I can help you or point you in the right direction to get help. Don’t give up! You can recover your health if you persist.

Periodontal Disease and C-Reactive Protein (CRP)

Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., DACBN, MS, CFMP

Periodontal (gum) disease is an infection of the tissues that hold your teeth in place. It’s typically caused by poor brushing and flossing habits that allow plaque—a sticky film of bacteria—to build up on the teeth and harden.

Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease initiated by a bacterial biofilm called dental plaque, affecting both the periodontal ligaments and bone surrounding the teeth.

Signs and symptoms of periodontitis can include:

• Swollen or puffy gums
• Bright red, dusky red, or purplish gums
• Gums that feel tender when touched
• Gums that bleed easily
• Pink-tinged toothbrush after brushing
• Spitting out blood when brushing or flossing your teeth
• Bad breath
• Pus between your teeth and gums
• Loose teeth or loss of teeth
• Painful chewing
• New spaces developing between your teeth
• Gums that pull away from your teeth (recede), making your teeth look longer than normal
• A change in the way your teeth fit together when you bite

Relationship between periodontitis and C-Reactive Protein*

C-Reactive Protein (CRP): CRP increases in your blood when there’s inflammation in your body. It can be tested with a simple blood test. CRP shows if you have an infection and your risk of heart disease.

Many studies are showing an increase in CRP and periodontitis.

C-reactive protein (CRP) elevation is a part of the acute phase response to acute and chronic inflammation. Many clinical studies have shown that serum CRP levels were elevated in patients with chronic periodontitis. CRP levels increase to hundreds of μg/ml within hours following infection.

CRP and Increased Risk For Heart Disease (CVD) and Diabetes

In the last decades, several lines of evidence have supported the existence of a relationship between periodontitis and systemic health.

For instance, periodontitis acts within the same chronic inflammatory model seen in cardiovascular disease (CVD), or other disorders, such as diabetes.

It is now evident that cardiac disorders are worsened by periodontitis, both experimentally and in humans. For all these reasons, it is very plausible that preventing periodontitis impacts the onset or progression of CVD and diabetes.

It is recommended to be checked for periodontitis in the event you have an elevated CRP.

If you find you have periodontitis, it is necessary to see your dentist for immediate treatment.

The best way to prevent periodontitis is to follow a program of good oral hygiene.

• Good oral hygiene. That means brushing your teeth for two minutes at least twice daily — in the morning and before going to bed — and flossing at least once a day. Flossing before you brush allows you to clean away the loosened food particles and bacteria.
• Regular dental visits. See your dentist or dental hygienist regularly for cleanings, usually every six to 12 months.

Summary

If you have an elevated C-Reactive Protein, I recommend getting your teeth checked for periodontal (gum) disease.

6 Safe Grilling Tips– What You Need to Know

Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., DACBN, MS, CFMP

A popular pastime is the backyard grilling of our favorite meats.

Although millions enjoy grilling, this article will present some downsides and recommended action steps to ensure a good grilling experience.

The Downside of Grilling

Regularly eating grilled meats carries potential cancer risks.

Grilling causes meat to form carcinogenic compounds known as heterocyclic amines or HCAs. These are associated with increased cancer risk. The longer you cook the meat, the more HCAs are produced. Charred meat is a sign that a fair amount of HCAs has developed.

Grilling Strategies that can Reduce Your Cancer Risk

1: Cut meat into smaller portions, so they cook more quickly and have a shorter exposure to high cooking temperatures

2: Grilling leaner meats with less fat reduces the flames and smoke containing harmful hydrocarbons

3: Flip frequently. Fewer HCAs are formed if you turn the meat over frequently while grilling

4: Marinate! Marinating meat, poultry, or fish for at least 30 minutes before grilling can decrease the formation of HCAs by creating a barrier between the meat and the flames and smoke.

5: Control the temperature. To avoid cooking meats at high temperatures, light the outside burner(s) and leave the center burner off. Cook the food in the center of the grill.

6: If you’re cooking on charcoal, select hardwoods instead of softwoods. Types of wood can influence HCA formation. Hardwoods, such as hickory and maple, burn at lower temperatures than softwoods, such as pine. Cooking with wood that burns at a lower temperature is desirable.

Compliments from Functional Medicine University

Do you have a health problem that’s driving you nuts?

Get accurate information on why you have a problem without cost or risk.

Take five minutes to complete a health assessment survey. When we receive your survey, you’ll have a phone consultation to get more information and answer your questions. From this consult, we can give you a very good idea what could be causing your problems.

There’s no cost or obligation for this consultation.

Tap the button below to get started!