Participants: Don Miller, Agatha Thrash
Series Code: HYTH
Program Code: HYTH000144
|
00:01 The silent killer in the United States
00:03 is still high blood pressure... 00:05 and we are very eager to have you understand 00:08 as much as we can let you know about blood pressure 00:12 and how to control it... 00:13 because very few people who have hypertension 00:16 in the United states know how to control the blood pressure... 00:19 even with medications. 00:22 I'm Agatha Thrash, a staff physician 00:24 from Uchee Pines Institute, 00:26 a Medical Missionary Training Institution, 00:29 and we'd like to invite you to join us as we present this 00:32 program on hypertension for you in the next half-an-hour. 00:35 Join us, won't you? 00:56 Welcome to "Help Yourself to Health" 00:59 with Dr. Agatha Thrash of Uchee Pines Institute 01:02 and now, here's your host, Dr. Thrash. 01:07 Certain segments of our population tend to have 01:12 more hypertension than other segments. 01:14 One segment is that familial group like myself. 01:19 In my family, we just expect that almost everybody 01:22 is going to have high blood pressure at some time. 01:25 Then, there are the American blacks, 01:28 they tend to be more likely to have high blood pressure than 01:33 other segment groups. 01:34 So those of us who have a problem with high blood pressure 01:38 need to learn early in life how we can take care of that. 01:42 So, my husband and I wrote a book called... 01:45 "Natural Treatments for Hypertension" 01:47 and published it a number of years ago showing how 01:51 various natural things can be used by people who have 01:57 high blood pressure. 01:58 And what we did was to try to get everything that was 02:02 applicable to a home setting and put it in one book 02:07 for the control of hypertension. 02:09 So, we think that people reading this could be greatly blessed by 02:14 knowing about this aspect of what is available to treat 02:20 high blood pressure. 02:21 We also feel that every person and every family who has a 02:27 problem with blood pressure should have their own 02:30 blood pressure cuff and stethoscope and 02:33 most of the time, you can get this kind of equipment in 02:36 a drug store, or a variety store or a department store like 02:39 Wal-Mart. 02:40 You can get these for under $25. 02:44 You don't need the best quality of stethoscope. 02:47 You can get a stethoscope for over $100... 02:49 but a stethoscope that costs under $5 will usually 02:53 do the job very well for you. 02:56 What you need to watch out for is that this tube 02:59 right here, is sort of stiffened 03:01 and is not flimsy and that it doesn't make noise 03:07 this one that has 2 tubes like this needs to have some kind 03:12 of stabilizing device such as this one has... 03:14 so that they won't flop together like that and cause you to 03:19 make an error or cause you to hurt your ears. 03:21 Now, the way to put the stethoscope in the ears 03:26 you would think that if it points sort of towards you 03:30 this way, that that would be the way to put it in, 03:32 but actually, you want the ear pieces to point forward just 03:37 a little bit. 03:38 And so, often it will come that way. 03:41 If it does not come that way, 03:42 then you should simply take your thumbs and push the 03:45 ear pieces forward just a bit, so that they will 03:48 fit better in the ears, 03:50 because the ear canals go upward and backward, 03:54 not forward as one might think and so it makes it 03:58 easier for the person to hear. 04:01 Then, also, don't put this in your ears before you get 04:06 this part positioned under the edge of the cuff... 04:09 Because if you try to slip it under and this is in your 04:13 ears, it will be like loud thunder right in your ear. 04:17 And, so you want to protect your ears in this way. 04:20 Then, of course, you can get someone to teach you how to 04:25 do the blood pressure reading or most blood pressure cuffs 04:29 come with some instructions that tell you how to do 04:34 your own blood pressure. 04:35 Now, you need to know what the readings mean. 04:40 There are two aspects of the readings; 04:44 one is the systolic and I would like to show you on the 04:48 board, just what these various things mean. 04:52 Now, I have here 120/80 and these are 04:58 the systolic and the diastolic which is here. 05:11 Now as you see these, you may wonder 05:15 what do these mean? 05:16 Well, we recognize 120/80 as being the upper limit of ideal. 05:22 Now, you may find that your blood pressure 05:26 is different from that... 05:27 But if it is higher... 05:28 let's say yours is 140/80, 05:32 you may worry just a little bit about this higher pressure 05:38 because it's making a trend in a wrong direction. 05:42 And while we would not yet call this hypertension, 05:45 we might give you some caution that your blood pressure 05:49 is going up. 05:51 Because doubtless, it has not been that all of your life. 05:54 When you were a child and maybe a teen, 05:58 it was doubtless less than that. 05:59 But now it's going up and you can expect that 06:03 little by little, it will continue to go up, 06:07 and the systolic will also go up... perhaps to 90. 06:10 Now some cardiologists, would not even call 06:14 this hypertension, 150/90, but 06:18 we can say that it is above the ideal. 06:19 And what the researchers have found is that at each level, 06:26 as the systolic goes up 10 points, we find that there is 06:31 a 15% increase in the number of strokes. 06:35 So whatever it is at 120/80, 06:39 at 130/80, the stroke rate will be about 15% greater. 06:44 And at 140, the stroke rate will be about 15% greater 06:48 than it is at 130. 06:49 Now admittedly, at these levels we're not going to have 06:52 much stroke at all... either way. 06:55 But just to know that we want to keep the blood pressure 07:00 as low as possible. 07:01 Now there is another thing for you to know... 07:03 and this is a test that you can make yourself. 07:06 This is called postural hypotension. 07:09 That means your posture makes a difference 07:12 in your blood pressure. 07:13 Let us say that you're blood pressure is... 07:17 we'll just say 150/90... 07:21 and that's what it is when you're sitting at a table. 07:23 And then when you stand up, 07:26 the blood pressure cuff is still on your arm 07:29 stethoscope is still in place 07:31 when you stand up, give a few seconds 07:33 and then take the blood pressure reading again. 07:36 If it drops considerably... 07:39 let's say it drops to 130/65, 07:44 then we may say that you have postural hypotension. 07:48 Postural hypotension is not a good sign 07:51 in blood pressure readings... 07:54 and so we want to be careful about 07:55 watching that aspect as well. 07:58 Postural hypotension can increase your risk of getting 08:02 various kinds of blood pressure problems. 08:05 Now some people will look at their blood pressure 08:09 and let us say that theirs is about 90/40... 08:17 and they think... "Oh, I have very low blood pressure 08:22 that must be why I don't feel good. " 08:26 No, that isn't why you don't feel good. 08:28 There is some other cause. 08:30 Most likely, it's a very rare person who runs a 08:34 blood pressure of 90/40 08:36 or even less than that... 08:38 ...even 80/20, who has symptoms from their blood pressure. 08:44 If you are weak, or you feel not good, 08:48 with a low blood pressure, 08:49 it may be because you aren't drinking enough water, 08:52 or because you don't sleep enough at night, 08:55 or because you are tense and nervous, or you're high strung. 08:58 But it's not likely to be your blood pressure, 09:01 not if it is a reading like this 09:03 Let me show you why... 09:04 We depend on the difference between the systolic and 09:09 the diastolic to help us to have a circulation. 09:14 So the pressure that the heart puts on the blood, 09:18 and the relaxation of the vessels, 09:22 will determine how good the circulation is. 09:25 So if you get a good squeeze on the heart, 09:28 and the vessels will receive it very well, 09:31 and pump it back to the heart very well, 09:34 you're going to have a good circulation. 09:37 And a good circulation is what is required to 09:40 make it so that you feel good. 09:41 So let us define then, what this difference is. 09:48 It is called "pulse pressure. " 09:57 Now the pulse pressure determines your circulation. 10:00 This pressure is what makes the blood pass from the heart 10:07 through the arteries and veins and back to the heart again. 10:10 And so, if you have a very low blood pressure, 10:14 don't feel that it is automatically a sign of 10:17 your not having sufficient blood of sufficient circulation. 10:21 Now one of the important things that we find that a 10:26 person has in the control of the blood pressure 10:29 is that of the religious experience. 10:31 And of course, the religious experience involves not only 10:35 church-going but also individual Bible study and prayer, 10:41 and meditation and transferring your guilts and your 10:45 stresses and your dissatisfactions or 10:49 whatever you may have might be a negative emotion... 10:51 transferring these to the Lord... 10:53 letting the Lord take care of those things that you 10:56 cannot change. 10:57 Do not bear those as your own stresses, 11:00 but talk with the Lord about those and 11:02 and recognize that the Lord wants you to be happy. 11:05 The Lord wants you to be healthy. 11:07 And so, if your schedule, or your surroundings, 11:11 or the weather where you live, 11:13 or whatever it may be... your job... 11:15 whatever it may be that is a part of your life, 11:19 if you cannot control it, 11:20 you cannot change it, 11:22 then you may pray and the Lord is merciful and good to 11:26 make it so that we are able to have a reversal of those 11:32 feelings of tension and stress. 11:34 Now another thing that we can do to make it so that we have 11:39 better control of the blood pressure 11:40 is that of weight control. 11:43 In the weight control, there are only a few rules 11:47 that we need to have so that we can control the weight the best. 11:50 And without any question, 11:52 I tell you from much experience, 11:54 my own experience, as well as the experience of many patients, 11:57 that you will feel more comfortable with your food 12:01 if you're a total vegetarian and trying to lose weight. 12:04 You will be able to eat enough so that you are comfortable 12:07 and you still can lose weight. 12:10 So let me recommend that you consider being a 12:13 total vegetarian when you are trying to lose weight. 12:17 That means to use fruits, vegetables, whole grains, 12:21 nuts, and seeds. 12:23 And that will be your diet. 12:26 And the many delicious things that we can prepare from 12:30 these very simple foods that God has provided for us. 12:33 So that's one very simple rule. 12:36 If you can't follow that one, 12:38 then aim toward it as much as you can 12:42 with the expectation that eventually you will try to get 12:46 the whole way. 12:47 The second thing that I can tell you 12:50 that will help you to be comfortable with your diet 12:53 and still lose weight is that of free fats or visible fats. 12:57 That would be margarine, mayonnaise, fried foods, 13:00 cooking fats, salad oils and in the beginning, 13:04 it would also be nut butters. 13:06 That would be peanut butter, almond butter, 13:08 sesame butter, and any of the nut butters that you might get. 13:13 Nut butters have free fats in them which are handled 13:17 a little differently in the body. 13:19 Not in the chemistry of it but it's absorption and 13:22 and the way it's handled in the intestinal tract and the liver. 13:26 You can control your weight better if you do not have 13:32 these free fats. 13:33 Now another thing that you will find will help you with 13:37 diet, is that of not having a great variety at one meal. 13:42 A great variety would be maybe 2 or 3 main dishes, 13:47 and 3 or 4 fruits or vegetables or fruits and vegetables 13:51 mixed at the same meal, 2 or 3 breads, 13:54 and 1 or 2 spreads. 13:57 The more items you have in a meal, 14:00 the greater the likelihood that you are going to overeat. 14:04 Because you eat this thing and you think... 14:06 "Well, I'm not satisfied with that... I'm not full with that, 14:11 so, I will eat some of this. " 14:13 And then, you want seconds because you haven't had enough 14:17 so you take seconds and seconds of this, and seconds of this 14:20 and seconds of this and... 14:21 And you've had much too much to eat. 14:23 Whereas if you have... let us say... 2 or 3 items in a meal, 14:28 maybe plus bread and spread. 14:30 Then you tire of that article of food before you have 14:36 fully filled up and you just have to say... 14:38 "I can't eat anymore. 14:42 I'm going to have to push away from the table. " 14:43 So if you will learn that simple rule, 14:46 it's not very difficult to do, 14:48 that simple rule will help you. 14:51 Then another very simple rule... 14:53 Nothing between meals 14:55 and nothing after 4 in the afternoon. 14:58 That means a 2-meal plan. 14:59 Eat a good breakfast, eat a generous lunch 15:03 and no supper at all. 15:04 Now most people eat only 2 meals a day. 15:07 Unfortunately, they eat the wrong 2 meals. 15:09 They eat lunch and they eat a humongous dinner. 15:15 And, we should have dinner in the middle of the day 15:18 and not in the evening. 15:20 Lunch should represent probably about 40% 15:27 of what we eat in a day. 15:29 Breakfast should be maybe 50% of what we eat... 15:34 and then if we eat anything at all in the evening, 15:36 it should be no more than about 10% of our daily food intake. 15:40 And so in this way, we can help ourselves very much with 15:44 weight control which is very important in the control of 15:49 the blood pressure. 15:50 Now I'd like to talk with you also a bit about 15:53 salt restriction. 15:55 Salt restriction alone can help many people who are 15:58 salt-retainers to have a reduction in their 16:01 blood pressure. 16:02 Some studies show that probably about the ideal amount of 16:08 intake of salt would be about 500 mg per day... 16:13 that's in all that we eat 16:15 and that's not added salt, 16:17 that would be sodium as it occurs or salt as it occurs 16:21 in our foods and many foods, especially many vegetables 16:26 are themselves high in salt. 16:28 So we want to be very careful not to overdo with the salt. 16:32 A rule of thumb that will help you to keep your salt intake 16:36 below what we might consider to be the therapeutic level is 16:41 #1. No baked goods. Baked goods all have some salt added to them 16:47 unless they are marked "salt-free. " 16:50 Then, no ready-prepared foods... 16:52 because all ready-prepared foods also have salt added to them 16:57 unless they are marked "salt-free. " 16:58 Then, no dairy products... 17:01 because dairy products are naturally high in salt. 17:04 And if dairy products are made up into some kind of prepared 17:07 dish, they will also have salt added to that too, most likely. 17:11 And, so dairy products are a problem for the person. 17:15 And then the rule, no salt added at the factory, 17:18 no salt added at the stove 17:20 and no salt added at the table. 17:22 And with these simple rules, 17:24 you can enjoy the benefits of a diet below 500 mg 17:32 of salt in the food that we eat in one day. 17:36 Now there are many other aspects of controlling the 17:40 blood pressure and Don Miller, my coworker at Uchee Pines 17:45 is going to help you. 17:47 And I see him bringing on a large pill... 17:51 That's a very LARGE blood pressure pill! 17:55 That's my favorite pill. 17:56 It's one of mine... 17:58 If that will help my blood pressure, I want to know it. 18:01 You tell us about it. 18:02 Okay, we'll talk about that. 18:04 God has given us all of the medicines that we need 18:08 in the natural environment 18:10 but I want to just mention 2 things... 18:12 Dr. Thrash has been talking to you about salt... 18:14 I want to give you a personal experience about salt. 18:17 A number of years ago, I went to work for a 18:20 number of Korean people in the northern part of Georgia. 18:24 And every single person in this whole place was salt-free. 18:29 The cooks cooked salt-free for everybody... 18:33 and I was part of the everybody. 18:34 So every meal, I went down to salt-free rice, salt-free tofu, 18:39 salt-free everything. 18:41 And quite frankly, I'll have to admit, it was insipid at first, 18:45 and was really hard to take. 18:46 After the 2-week period of time, with these people eating a 18:51 total salt-free diet, I mean it was salt-free... 18:54 not one grain of sodium in it anywhere... 18:56 I LOVED the food. 18:58 It was SO good. 18:59 Then I got in my car and drove back down to 19:03 Alabama, to my home... 19:05 got there about lunchtime. 19:06 I had driven all morning. 19:07 And, being a bachelor, I went to a bachelor's favorite 19:10 food... opened a can of beans, 19:12 put them in my skillet, warmed them up. 19:14 Sat down, dumped them on a plate... 19:15 took one bite... threw them all in the garbage. 19:18 They were SO salty, I could not stand them any more. 19:21 It is a learned habit. 19:24 It's and acquired taste and we CAN break the taste. 19:28 NO one needs that much salt. 19:30 No one at all. 19:31 And I want to give one other exercise... 19:33 Dr. Thrash talked about low blood pressure. 19:36 And in case the low blood pressure is being caused by 19:39 a disease process, and you just don't feel good with it, 19:42 if you feel good and your blood pressure is low, 19:45 let me give you an exercise for that. 19:47 It's a very simple exercise. 19:49 Basically, you take the palm of one hand 19:51 and you place your elbow in your hand and then you 19:55 put your arm on your shoulder and you push, 19:58 like this and you do this. 20:00 That's a nice exercise for low blood pressure. 20:04 Congratulate yourself... 20:06 that you've lived in such a way to get your blood pressure 20:09 down low enough that your heart is saying... 20:11 "I love living here. 20:13 I love working for this person. 20:14 I'm going to work for a long, long time. " 20:16 There are ways that we can get our blood pressure down. 20:19 ...One is by exercise. 20:21 Getting out there... getting that heart working... 20:23 see working that heart out there in the exercise 20:26 in the fresh air and the sunshine, 20:27 lowers our blood cholesterol, 20:29 lowers our blood pressure, 20:31 strengthens our heart... 20:32 not just strengthens the heart muscle, 20:35 but strengthens the muscles in our arterial system. 20:39 And so everything is stronger... 20:41 blood pressure goes down. 20:42 We could also lower the blood pressure by 20:45 staying out of stressful situations. 20:47 And many times, we can't stay out of the stressful situation, 20:50 so we have to learn how to control or manage the stress. 20:54 If there is something that comes up that is very stressful, 20:56 either quit the field... is one term we can use, 21:00 go outside, do some exercise because exercise neutralizes 21:03 stress... turn to a different activity. 21:06 And if you cannot change it, 21:07 then resign it to the Lord and let the Lord handle your stress. 21:11 That's the best way to take care of your stress. 21:13 Sit there and say, "I cannot control this situation right now 21:17 but I'm not going to let this situation control me either. " 21:20 Relax... and let it go. 21:23 It will pass, believe me. 21:25 "This too shall pass. " 21:27 Other things we can do for our blood pressure Dr. Thrash 21:30 talked about lowering our salt intake. 21:34 There are certain foods that we can take into our diet. 21:36 You've heard a lot about things like omega-3 fatty acids, 21:41 and L-arginine. 21:42 L- arginine is a very nice food, 21:44 and I want to just explain briefly about L-arginine. 21:47 It's one of the base elements in the endothelial cells 21:53 of our vascular system that produces a chemical called 21:58 "nitric oxide. " 22:00 The nitric oxide allows the vascular walls, 22:05 the arterial walls to relax. 22:06 When they can relax, we have lower blood pressure. 22:09 Trouble is... if our cholesterol is high into our system, 22:13 it sort of fudges up that system 22:15 and the higher our cholesterol, 22:18 the faster it destroys this nitric oxide. 22:21 Well, it destroys the nitric oxide... 22:24 our endothelium cells produce more nitric oxide 22:27 using up more the L-arginine. 22:29 Pretty soon, it completely depletes the L-arginine. 22:33 And what do you have left? 22:34 You have no nitric oxide, 22:36 the artery walls become rigid 22:37 and they do not relax 22:40 and; therefore, we have a higher blood pressure. 22:42 We need to eat foods that are high in L-arginine. 22:46 And just very briefly... what are those foods? 22:48 Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds. 22:54 Eat God's foods and you will get enough L-arginine. 22:57 We find that even with a high cholesterol, 23:01 if we are eating foods high in L- arginine, 23:04 we will find that our blood pressure goes down 23:07 because it still producing enough of the nitric oxide 23:11 to relax the vascular walls. 23:14 There are other very good foods... 23:16 and some of my favorite, I've mentioned these particular 23:18 pills and I've brought my favorite pill here today. 23:20 This is one of my favorite pills... 23:23 it's high in potassium. 23:25 Potassium has a tendency to lower the blood pressure. 23:29 There are many foods that are very high in potassium. 23:33 I've sort of made a list here. 23:34 As a matter of fact, they did a study in 1997... 23:37 basically, it wasn't a study, 23:38 it was a review of all the literature on potassium. 23:42 And as they looked at all the literature 23:44 about the effects of potassium, 23:46 they found that it has an effect on lowering the 23:49 blood pressure. 23:51 All right, some of the foods with potassium besides my 23:52 watermelon here... 23:54 fruits, vegetables and whole grains. 23:56 Okay, great. 23:57 In particular, things like apricots, avocados, bananas, 24:01 blackstrap molasses. 24:03 A good way to take blackstrap molasses... 24:05 it is also going to give you some good iron, 24:07 is take a spoonful, put it in some warm water, 24:10 stir it up and drink the water. 24:12 You are going to be getting plenty of the potassium, 24:15 and plenty of the iron. 24:17 Also, figs, dried fruits, nuts and potatoes 24:22 and another one of my favorite foods which is garlic. 24:25 Garlic is a good source of potassium but is also an 24:28 extremely good medicine for your high blood pressure. 24:32 You see... garlic has an antiplatelet stickiness factor. 24:37 And that's what we want. 24:39 We have higher blood pressure when all of a sudden, or 24:42 over a period of time, 24:44 our blood cells start to aggregate or stick together 24:48 and our blood has to push harder... the heart is pushing 24:51 harder to get this stuff up through those small capillaries 24:54 and many times, it can't get through the small capillaries 24:57 and parts of tissue die in the kidneys, in the eyes, 25:00 in all parts of the body. 25:03 And so, we need to be taking this garlic which has the 25:07 antiplatelet stickiness factor, 25:09 one raw clove a day will give us all the antiplatelet 25:13 stickiness factor that we need to keep our blood less viscid 25:16 and keep it flowing through our bodies... 25:19 and I believe there is something in here that keeps 25:20 the mosquitoes away. 25:21 So, it's a good food and I recommend it to your palate. 25:26 Very good, the garlic is also a good anti-mosquito food and 25:33 we want to let it be exuding from the skin. 25:36 Now there are some herbal remedies that I would like to 25:40 show you that can help in the control of blood pressure. 25:44 Coleus is one of those. 25:46 Coleus forskohlin is the very same little plant that 25:50 grows in pots. 25:52 Then Hawthorne berry... 25:54 Hawthorne is a relative of apples and has a number 25:59 of phytochemicals in it. 26:01 Those chemicals that come from plants... that have a beneficial 26:05 effect on the blood pressure. 26:07 Ginkgo. 26:08 Ginkgo is known for its benefits to the memory but it is also 26:13 excellent for the blood pressure. 26:15 Cornsilk and watermelon seed and buchu... 26:18 these are 3 diuretic herbs and are very helpful in the control 26:25 of blood pressure. 26:26 We also have some interesting other herbs... 26:30 and I'd like to show you... Arjuna bark. 26:34 Arjuna bark is not one that we're very familiar with 26:38 but it is one that is very good. 26:40 And the olive leaf and the mistletoe. 26:43 Those are also very good. 26:45 Mistletoe will slow down the heart rate, 26:47 and olive leaf has a number of other very good benefits 26:51 besides on the blood pressure. 26:53 Then I have one more graphic to show you... 26:55 These are more herbs for blood pressure... 27:00 Yarrow, black cumin seed and, of course, garlic. 27:03 The yarrow is a very common herb that we find growing 27:09 everywhere and the Lord put these good plant chemicals 27:15 in the plants not just when modern peoples began to have 27:19 high blood pressure... 27:20 but the Lord put these phytochemicals in the plants 27:25 from the very beginning... 27:26 And I've often wondered whether He put them in the plants BEFORE 27:31 Adam and Eve had their experiment into sin, 27:35 or if God put them in the plants AFTER Adam and Eve sinned. 27:43 Whatever it is, we can know that our Heavenly Father 27:46 has made provision and that we need not feel 27:52 that we are helpless 27:53 against high blood pressure. |
Revised 2014-12-17