Health

High Blood Pressure

REMEMBER: YOU CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

If you have high blood pressure, or hardening of the Arteries, it usually means that your Arteries have "cholesterol" (a fatty-like substance) in them, and maybe some calcium, etc., too. These things are like the plugging of your home water pipes. As the water can't properly get through the pipes, so "plugged arteries" don't let the blood go through properly, and so the "PRESSURE" goes up to try and get enough blood to your body!

WHY DO PEOPLE HAVE HARDENING OF THE ARTERIES?

There are many reasons: eating too much "cholesterol", too much fat in things like butter, pastries, cream, margarine, etc.. Other causes are: too much stress, smoking, too much weight, and not enough exercise.

WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT STROKES, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, ARTERY AND HEART PROBLEMS
  1. Be under a Doctor's care, BUT-- Pills are not enough, you must work to change the things that MADE YOU GET SICK!
  2. Cut out the hard fats (as far as possible): butter, shortening, and the fat on your meat, etc. Use oils instead of hard fats for cooking, and then try to use as little oil as possible, too, for it is still a fat! You may wish to "fry" with the non-stick pans that require little or no oil. If you use a little margarine, use the soft types, which contain more of the better "oils", and, then use very little.
  3. Use less salt. Most of us eat much too much salt. Using too much salt can be a serious factor in high blood pressure! Remember to count the salt used in prepared foods!
  4. Use foods that are low in fats-- especially in vegetables and grains. Use lots of fresh fruits and vegetables--some of them raw.
  5. Eat foods that have little or no "cholesterol". Cut out the Yolks of the eggs, butter and cream. Use skimmed milk.
  6. Learn to cook in a more "Natural Way". There are many excellent cook books that help you cook both tastefully and naturally! You can make "gravy" without fat!
  7. Don't smoke--get help if you need it, but you MUST STOP! Smoking appears to go along with a higher cholesterol level. It has been estimated that the average smoker will lose about 7 minutes of life for each cigarette smoked!
  8. Try to lower your total stress. Relax more, slow down a little so you don't have to push yourself.
  9. If over-weight- slowly lose weight- you put it on slowly, so use a sensible plan that you can enjoy for a long time [check our weight loss ideas]
  10. EXERCISE: walk and walk! But start carefully -- under your Doctor's direction! It takes time for the body to adjust, but the exercise will help you develop a better circulation.
NOW SOME EXTRA GOOD NEWS!

The American Heart Association had recommended cutting the total dietary fat level down to 30%. However, they have found that if the fat level is cut drastically, that there can be not just a slowing of the progress of hardening of the arteries, but an actual REVERSAL OF HARDENING OF THE ARTERIES. If you are interested in how this works, the inexpensive little book, "REVERSING HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE NATURALLY" by Dr.'s Hans Diehl, and Aileen Ludington, can be a real help to you. It is available from:

The Quiet Hour, Box 3000, Redlands, CA 92373
CAN YOU LOWER YOUR CHOLESTEROL?

By John Blake, M.A.

Some time I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Hans Diehl, one of North American's pioneers in Lifestyle Medicine! He was lecturing on diet and health at a convention in Alberta, Canada.

Dr. Diehl has written a very helpful book: To Your Health. He has also prepared a series of video-tape lectures given in Australia called: "Your Next Move is Worth The Rest of Your Life". In 1999 in British Columbia, his new heart series on video in his CHIP program, is just being introduced throughout the Province in video presentations.

The book, To Your Health, has many facts about why we get sick and why we get well. How did Dr. Diehl get this important information?

Dr. Diehl worked for some years with Nathan Pritikin. Pritikin was one of the first persons to get the world's attention to seriously look at diet and lifestyle medicine. In 1955 Nathan Pritikin was told he had lymph cancer and hardening of the arteries. He was told not to walk more than 50 yards at one time. Pritikin's own doctor said that the cholesterol (fatty substance) levels in the blood cannot be changed.

Pritikin did not believe all he was told. He began to experiment with diet and expertise. In December, 1955, his cholesterol level was 28 mg. That is very high and bad for health. Slowly, Pritikin's cholesterol level began to go down. In February, 1958, his level was 210 mg. and by June, 1960, his cholesterol level was down to 120 mg. In 1984, one year before he died, his cholesterol level was 94.

Pritikin read hundreds of research studies from around the world. He became a world authority about cholesterol and diet. He claimed that by changing both diet and exercise, one could lower their cholesterol, and also lower heart disease. Pritikin establish a medical center for people with heart problems. He actually took sick patients, worked with them, and got powerful results.

People who went to Pritikin's medical center improved in health. Today there are many medical centers that are using his basic methods to help people with many diseases. [The three Lifestyle Centers featured in this health section, are partly patterned after Pritikin's center-and so now are others around the world.]

Pritikin learned that most people must reduce the amount of [bad] fat they eat. Many individuals diets are 38-42% fat. This is too much fat and makes the arteries sick. Pritikin learned that many people must also reduce the amount of sugar and salt they eat.

Pritikin put people on diets high in natural whole foods--natural fruits, whole-wheat bread and other whole grains, very little sugar, lots of simply cooked vegetables, brown rice, etc. He learned that lots of complex carbohydrates (starches) are what the body needs. [in proper balance with other needed foods] The natural sugar in fruit is good for the body.

Pritikin learned that many people with diabetes could gradually stop using insulin OR greatly reduce the amount needed when they strictly followed his program. However, diabetics must be under a doctor's care before and while lowering their insulin use IF trying a new diet combination like this!

Pritikin died in 1985. The medical pathologist at New York hospital was shocked. He found that Pritikin's arteries were clean and smooth. Pritikin's arteries were the same as the arteries of a ten-year-old boy. With God's healing power, and living the diet-exercise principles that he taught, Pritikin had cured himself. [After many years, Pritikin's cancer came back!]

After Pritikin's death, Senator George McGovern said, "Nathan Pritikin was a man of great dedication, unusual humility, a bold pioneer, perhaps the greatest lifesaver that lived in the 20th century."

Dr. Diehl worked at Nathan Pritikin's medical center for several years. Dr. Diehl is now a world authority on preventive medicine. Preventive medicine involves lifestyle changes using diet and exercise.

If you would like to know more about how the Lifestyle Health Conditioning Centers work, click on one of these centers:

Uchee Pines Health Conditioning Center, Seale, Alabama, USA

Weimar Health Conditioning Center, Weimar, CA Then, click on Health for info on excellent health programs

If you are interested in knowing more about Dr. Diehl's work and program and how to get his book "To Your Health", or his videotapes, write:

Dr. Hans Diehl
Lifestyle Medicine Institute
P.O. Box 474, Loma Linda, CA 92354-0474
Phone: +1 909-796-7676 / Fax: +1 909-799-9799
Website

Dr. Hans Diehl's work is now set up so people can go to his CHIP program (Coronary Health Improvement Program). There is a CHIP Association for promoting, explaining and helping people run the program. If you would like to know more, you can go to the CHIP Association web site at: http://www.chipusa.org If you are Deaf, and would like to go, try and arrange an interpreter. It will be worth the effort as it often produces amazing results - if you carefully follow the program.

Dr. Diehl is part of the Association, but it is made up mostly of health professionals and lay people who work with and run the programs around North America, and now even into many other countries. They work unpaid and volunteer their time because they want to help people with serious heart and diabetes problems, etc. This is an excellent program because it is very low cost, and it does not use pills or promote any multi-level marketing items you need to buy. The basic idea is to correct the health problems that caused the heart problems - through a combination of diet, exercise and careful balanced planning. Nature will do much to heal itself, if we correct the conditions that caused the problem. The program has proved itself now with many thousands attending from almost every state of the USA and Province of Canada.

Lose Weight

HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT -- AND KEEP IT OFF!
  1. "Think Thin ", it helps to want to be the right weight, then strongly decide that this is YOUR OWN GOAL!
  2. Eat more foods in their NATURAL FORM! Leave off the highly refined foods like white bread, pastries, desserts containing a lot of sugar, white rice, etc.
  3. Cut drastically the "CONCENTRATED FOODS" that are high in calories. These foods are sugar, butter, shortening, oils, cheese, desserts. Also, don't eat a lot of nuts for though they are good for you, they are high in calories!
  4. Take smaller helpings and/or avoid second helpings.
  5. Eat slowly, chew your food well. By doing this, you can still have the pleasure of eating for the same length of time as before, but you will eat less.
  6. Use less rich desserts. Make low calorie desserts, or use fruits instead. You can sweeten desserts with raisins and dates, making things "less sweet", but still tasty.
  7. Cut down, or cut out going to the "fast food" restaurants that have "rich and fatty" foods that are just too tempting!
  8. Don't eat between meals. Never after supper!
  9. Instead of eating more food at night, and little or no Breakfast, try eating a good breakfast, with only a small supper.
  10. Use foods with more "fiber": whole grains, legumes such as beans, etc., whole baked potatoes, brown rice, and uncooked natural fruits.
  11. Don't eat meats with a lot of fat, and INSTEAD try to use more vegetables. Vegetables, cooked without fats, are usually low in calories! Avoid fried foods -- unless you use the low-fat or no-fat "non-stick" frying pans.
  12. Plan to lose weight slowly -- if you lose it too fast, you may feel very unhappy and frustrated. This could lead you to go off your diet, and then even eat more than before. EAT IN A WAY THAT YOU CAN LIVE WITH FOR A LONG, LONG TIME, AND BE CONTENT! It takes time to establish new better ways as "HABITS" -- and to learn to like new foods -- but the changes will be worth it!
  13. Learn a tasty, but different way of cooking so you will "LIKE" your new food style! For example: you can make gravy with almost no fat, and it tastes good. Get some cookbooks to make it easier to change to a better diet, and still like it!
  14. Many people eat too much because they have something inside that feels empty. They want love, or happiness, etc. If you feel this way, you may want to try two things:
    1. Try changing to something good, but different, to better you fill that empty spot.
    2. You could ask God to help fill that empty place in your life! He can help fill in so many things in our lives! And, don't be afraid to ask God for willpower to help you make the decisions you must make every day to help you lose weight. God really understands, and CARES!

Stop Smoking

The Benefits of Quitting Smoking

Dr. Antonia Novello wrote about:

THE HEALTH BENEFITS of Quitting Smoking!

  1. After an ex-smoker stays off cigarettes for 15 years, the risk of death returns to nearly the level of people who never smoked.
    • Heart Disease drops by 50% after just 1 year.
    • Lung Cancer drops 30-50 % by 10 years after stopping
    • Ex-smokers have less days of sickness, fewer health problems and better over-all health
  2. Smokers who quit between ages 35-39:
    • Men add an average of 3 years to their lives
    • Women an average of 3 years
    • Smokers who quit at ages 65-69 years: Still can Add 1 full year to their lives
  3. Average Weight Gain: ONLY 5 LBS. Weight can be controlled by limiting the strong cravings for food with small pieces of fruit or vegetables instead of sugary and fatty foods, drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day, and walking 30 min. a day.
  4. Trying to quit more than once:
    • 2/3rd's of smokers say they would like to quit
    • 19% have never tried to quit
    • Each year hundreds of thousands quit successfully
    • Only 10% of those who try to quit are successful the first try -- don't give up, try again!
    • With a good stop smoking program, 20-40% are able to quit smoking and stay off for at least 1 yr.
"THE GLOBE AND MAIL" ADDS OTHERS ITEMS ABOUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN -- AFTER THE LAST PUFF
  • 20 MINUTES AFTER QUITTING: blood pressure and pulse rate drop to normal while the temperature of the hands and feet return to normal.
  • AFTER EIGHT HOURS: the carbon monoxide level of the blood returns to what it should be.
  • AFTER 24 HOURS: the chances of a heart attack (hastened) by smoking start to sharply reduce
  • AFTER 72 HOURS: the bronchial tubes in the lungs relax and you can get more air into your lungs
  • AFTER 2 WKS. - 3 MONTHS: the circulation and the ability to breathe right both improve, and exercise becomes easier.
  • AFTER 1 - 9 MONTHS: coughing decreases, the energy level goes up, and the cilia (the little hairs) in the wind-pipe start to regrow
  • AFTER 5 - 10 YEARS: the circulation does a major repair job and the chances of dying from lung cancer drop drastically
  • AFTER 10 YEARS: "Pre-cancerous cells" in the lungs are gradually replaced by healthy cells, and the risk of lung cancer drops to close to that of a non-smoker. The risk of all cancer goes down!

Rest

YES, GO TO SLEEP!

By John Blake, M.A.

Have you ever looked forward to an exciting day and knew you needed a good nights sleep, but you could not go to sleep? The harder you tried to go to sleep, the more frustrated and wide-awake you were?

During sleep the body slows down. The heart works slower, the body has time to re-build. The carbon dioxide (a waste gas you breathe out) level goes up a little in your blood. Hopefully, your stomach also has a rest.

All day and night your brain gives off different types of electric waves. In the deepest part of sleep, your brain gives off taller and slower waves than when you are awake. The light sleep waves are similar to the awake waves.

Sleep has several parts: Deep sleep, light sleep, and a "REM" sleep. REM sleep is very interesting because that is the time when you dream. REM means "Rapid Eye Movements". We all have rapid (fast) eye movements while we sleep. Sleep starts with light sleep and then goes into a deep sleep, then into REM sleep with fast eye movement while you dream. Then back into a deep sleep. This happens about three or four times each night.

Scientists have experimented and wakened people during their REM dream time trying to stop the eye movement. But the brain would try and make up for it later with a longer time of fast eye movement. The same thing happened when they tried to stop the deep sleep.

During sleep the brain seems to need the dream time to sort out things. Dreams can be about our childhood or things that happened that evening, etc.. There is much we do not know about sleep! But, we certainly need sleep and scientists are now finding how important sleep is for good health! Children and youth require more sleep than adults. We seem to need less sleep as we reach old age. People have different requirements in the amount of sleep they need. Some people need even more than eight hours of sleep a night. Others seem to do well on only six hours of sleep.

If you are not getting enough sleep you may:
  1. Go around "half asleep" and not be working at a good speed.
  2. Get upset easily.
  3. See the discouraging side of things instead of the encouraging side.
  4. Have little enthusiasm and look lazy.
  5. Get sick more easily.
WHAT IF YOU JUST CAN'T GET TO SLEEP?
  1. Do not get upset about not sleeping. Do not look at the clock. Decide that you are going to rest, that you are going to enjoy 'just resting', and then relax, sleep will probably come.
  2. A warm (but not hot) soak in the bathtub may help you get ready to sleep.
  3. If you want to get to sleep quickly, do not watch or do exciting things just before bedtime. Try to avoid getting into arguments or working on things that bother you a lot. Slow down before bedtime.
  4. Do not drink coffee, tea or chocolate and then expect to sleep. Coffee, tea, and chocolate have a stimulant that helps keep you awake. Some types of Herbal Tea are excellent to help a person relax. Hot milk can help, but is not best as a regular habit.
  5. Do not go to bed on a full stomach. Your stomach needs to rest and you sleep better without a lot of food in your stomach.
  6. Do not lie in bed worrying about all the things you should have done, or things you need to do tomorrow. Sometimes I make a written list of the things I need to make sure I don't forget tomorrow, and this helps me know I'm organized for the next day, so I don't have to worry about it now.
  7. Try to avoid thinking about exciting plans or serious worries. Put them in God's hand for the night and leave them there!
  8. Sometimes I have wakened in the night, and can't get back to sleep because of worry. A thought has helped me. I have made up my mind that God does not expect me to face the worrying problem now, so I consciously try and put it into His care, and in the morning, when I'm ready, we can work on it together. I can rest assured that God does not expect me to try and solve the problem in the night when He wants me to be sleeping and resting in Him! On several occasions, my wife has given me a neck massage, and usually that has helped put me to sleep again.

Perhaps the greatest help for sleep is to be able to "rest in the Lord". It is great to be able to put ourselves fully into God's hands for the night. Give yourself fully to Him as the Lord of your Life, trusting He will lead and care for you. Leave your problems with God. Ask God to forgive all your sins. Then we can trust God to care for us. If we fully do this, He will then not allow anything to happen to us that is not in His plan for us.

As we give our lives fully to God's control, we can always trust that God will never let anything happen to us that is not for our future good. The same as a little baby trusts its mother with confidence to sleep in her arms, so we can trust our Heavenly Father's tender loving care for us as we sleep in His care!

Try thinking about some of these promises listed below when you can't sleep!

A GOD YOU CAN TRUST AT NIGHT - AND ALL DAY!

Words cannot describe the peace and joy enjoyed by the person who takes God at His word. Trials do not disturb him. Self is crucified. Day by Day his duties may become more difficult, his temptations stronger, his trials more severe; but he does not weaken; for God give Him (Her) strength EQUAL to the need! Jesus knows us individually, and is touched with the feeling of our troubles! He knows us all by name....Every person is know to Jesus as if he were the only one for who Jesus died. The heartaches of everyone touches His heart. The cry for aid reaches His ear. ...He cares for each one as if there were not another on the face of the earth. Our heavenly Father has a thousand ways to provide for us that we have no idea about. Those who accept the one principle of making the Service of God Supreme, will find perplexities vanish and that God opens a plain path before their feet. Our heavenly Father measures and weighs every trial that He allows to come to those who believe Him. He considers the circumstances and the strength of the one who is to stand under the proving and test of God. God never permits the temptations to be greater than He has the power ready to give us to resist.

REMEMBER... JESUS WATCHES THE TEST:

God has always tried His people in the furnace of affliction. It is in the heat of the furnace that the impurities are separated from the true gold of the Christian character. JESUS WATCHES THE TEST; HE KNOWS WHAT IS NEEDED TO PURIFY THE PRECIOUS METAL, SO IT MAY REFLECT THE BEAUTY OF HIS LOVE.

2 Corinthians 12:9 BBE1 "And he said to me, My grace is enough for you, for my power is made complete in what is feeble. Most gladly, then, will I take pride in my feeble body, so that the power of Christ may be on me."

1BBE: Bible in Basic English, University of Cambridge Press

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