Are Grains Raising Your Blood Pressure?

Did you know that a diet high in grains and sugar can raise your blood pressure to a dangerous level?  If this has been a life long habit of yours, you may become insulin resistant, if you are not already.  Grains turn to sugar and too much sugar causes insulin resistance.

Insulin helps the body store magnesium, which is a good thing.  Magnesium relaxes muscles and also blood vessels.  But if your insulin receptors are blunted and resistant, and are not able to take in the magnesium for storage, then it is simply passing through your body in the urine, and you are not benefiting from it.  In fact, with little or no magnesium, your blood vessels are constricting, leading to hypertension.

Too much fructose in the diet can raise blood sugar to an extreme high as well.  So, watch those labels for fructose (and other sugars).  For instance, half a can of soda has more fructose than is recommended daily.

Also, you want to watch your sodium levels.  If too high, the body begins to store fluid.  Too much fluid also causes high blood pressure.  If this goes on too long, it can cause congestive heart failure and your body begins to be sluggish and you have little energy to exercise.  No exercise can lead to high blood pressure as well.

So, the bottom line is:  stay away from a high-grain, high-sugar diet.  Although you don’t want to overdo anything, a higher protein diet with vegetables of color and a moderate amount of fat is much healthier.  But you want good fats, like avocado, nuts and seeds, olives and olive oil, coconut oil, fish oil, even small amounts of butter is fine.  Good fats feed the brain and skin the nourishment they need.  Eating this way helps you drop pounds to a healthier level.  So get off to a new start and enjoy your proteins and fat!


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