High blood pressure comes from a diet that is long on bad fats and short on nutrients. The doctor’s advice to reduce to salt works to a degree, but not for the reasons you think, and it doesn’t address the real problem.
Originally published 2004
Blood pressure is partially a function of the heart strength, but high blood pressure is most generally the result of narrow, inelastic arteries. Narrow arteries come from bad fats in the diet as the arteries accumulate plaque, which is composed of entirely of oxidized fats and oxidized cholesterol — which come from the bad fats in your diet. (For more on that subject, see The Cholesterol Scam.)
Inelastic arteries come from a lack of vitamin C, MSM, and phytochemicals (plus other substances, undoubtedly) that are killed during processing and storage of foods. (“Macro Nutrient” Supplements discusses the importance of these nutrients and the reason they’re absent from most of foods you eat.)
Narrow, inelastic arteries produce high blood pressure. It’s as simple as that. Basically, the heart is pumping fluid through a smaller
pipe that can’t expand. That situation shows up as high blood pressure in the doctor’s office.
The solution is pretty simple, too: Eat more real food.
Real food isn’t processed, so it’s nutrients are intact. And the fats in real foods are the natural, wholesome, digestible fats that are arguably the most important nutrients in your diet, because they are responsible for every metabolic process in your body. They’re responsible for the operation of the brain and the nervous system, for the transport of oxygen, for the metabolism of insulin, the operation of hormones, and the movement of nutrients to and through your cell walls. (For more information, see Oils and Essential Fatty Acids.)
Unfortunately, the doctor’s recommendation to “avoid salt” can lead to avoiding some of the healthiest foods on the planet: fermented foods, like Kimchi, that are prepared by salting the food and allowing it to ferment. (See The Importance of Fermentation and What Makes Kimchi so Healthy?)
When real foods are preserved/fermented, the result is high quantities of vitamin C, MSM, and phytochemicals that are missing in the industrial diet. When coupled with good fats like olive oil, sesame oil, coconut oil, raw butter, (plus eggs and fish, under the right conditions) then high high blood pressure never really becomes an issue.
Of course, any salt that is used should be sea salt. Table salt is bleached to make it white, and “purified” to remove everything but sodium chloride, which eliminates vital minerals like potassium. So using sea salt does make a difference.
Salt does make the heart pump more strongly, though, which raises produces a temporary increase in blood pressure. (I noticed that when I added sea salt to my diet, and felt the difference in blood pressure in my temples. That was good thing for me, though, because I had more energy as a result.)
But that temporary increase in blood pressure is only a problem when normal blood pressure is high. So doctors advise cutting salt, to keep blood pressure low. It’s the wrong recommendation, because it doesn’t attack the real problem.
The recommendation to avoid salt does do some good, although not for the expected reasons. It works to the degree it does because:
- By cutting out chips and stuff, people are consuming less of the atrocious fats that are typically in those foods.
- They consume less of the bleached and “purified” table salt that contributes to health problems.
- They avoid the temporary increase in blood pressure that can cause problems if their arteries are already overly-constricted.
Resources
Related articles on this site:
- “Macro Nutrient” Supplements — Vitamin C, MSM, phytochemicals (aka polyphenols)
- The Cholesterol Scam
- Oils and Essential Fatty Acids
- What Makes Kimchi so Healthy?
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