DISCLAIMER: THIS PAGE CONTAINS GENERAL EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION. IT IS NOT HEALTH ADVICE AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED AS SUCH. YOU SHOULD NEVER RELY SOLEY UPON THE INFORMATION GIVEN HERE. YOUR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES MAY WELL REQUIRE AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT APPROACH. YOU SHOULD NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES IN YOUR MEDICATIONS, DIET, ACTIVITY, LIFESTYLE, ETC. WITHOUT FIRST CONSULTING A LICENSED PHYSICIAN.
Source: American Heart Association
Blood pressure is the force in the arteries when the heart beats (systolic pressure) and when the heart is at rest (diastolic pressure). It's measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). High blood pressure (or hypertension) is defined in an adult as a blood pressure greater than or equal to 140 mm Hg systolic pressure or greater than or equal to 90 mm Hg diastolic pressure.
High blood pressure directly increases the risk of coronary heart disease (which leads to heart attack) and stroke, especially when it's present with other risk factors.
High blood pressure can occur in children or adults, but it's more common among people over age 35. It's particularly prevalent in African Americans, middle-aged and elderly people, obese people, heavy drinkers and women taking birth control pills. It may run in families, but many people with a strong family history of high blood pressure never have it. People with diabetes mellitus, gout or kidney disease are more likely to have high blood pressure, too.
American Heart Association recommended blood pressure levels
Blood Pressure Category |
Systolic (mm Hg) |
Diastolic (mm Hg) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | less than 120 | and | less than 80 |
| Prehypertension | 120-139 | or | 80-89 |
| High | |||
| Stage 1 | 140-159 | or | 90-99 |
| Stage 2 | 160 or higher | or | 100 or higher |
High Blood Pressure Facts
Age–adjusted Percent of Adults Aged 20 Years and Older With Hypertension or Taking Blood Pressure–Lowering Medication, 1999–2002
| Overall | 30.0% |
|---|---|
Women: All Women White African American Mexican American |
30.6% 28.5% 43.5% 27.9% |
Men: All Men White African American Mexican American |
28.8% 27.6% 40.6% 26.8% |
Poverty Status: Poor Near Poor Non-Poor
|
33.9% 33.5% 28.2% |
- High blood pressure (hypertension) was listed as a primary or contributing cause of death for 277,000 Americans in 2002.
- In 2003, there were more than 35 million physician office visits for hypertension.
- High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, and kidney disease.
- Almost one third of the people with high blood pressure don't know that they have it.
- It is estimated that about 90% of middle–aged adults will develop high blood pressure in the remainder of their lifetime.
- Blood pressure is often written as two numbers. The top (systolic) number represents the pressure when the heart is beating. The bottom (diastolic) number represents the pressure when the heart is resting between beats.
- High blood pressure for adults is defined as a systolic blood pressure of 140 mmHg or higher, or a diastolic blood pressure of 90 mmHg or higher.
- Normal blood pressure is a systolic blood pressure of less than 120 mmHg and a diastolic blood pressure of less than 80 mmHg.
- “Prehypertension” is defined as a systolic blood pressure of 120–139 mmHg or a diastolic blood pressure of 80–89 mmHg. Persons with prehypertension are at increased risk to progress to hypertension.
- About 28% of American adults have pre—hypertension.
- It is estimated that the direct and indirect costs of high blood pressure will be $63.5 billion in the year 2006.
The following excerpt is from http://www.prostate.com
If you have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, you are not alone. During his lifetime, a man has about a 1 in 10 chance of being diagnosed with prostate cancer. Over 200,000 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed annually in the U.S.
Prostate cancer is a malignant tumor that begins growing in the prostate gland. It can spread from the prostate to nearby lymph nodes, bones, or other organs. This spread is called metastasis. A male hormone called testosterone can stimulate the growth of hormone-dependent prostate cancer cells.
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men. But the good news is that survival rates have improved a great deal. In the past 20 years, 5-year survival rates for all stages of prostate cancer combined have increased from 67% to 99%.
Risk Factors
While researchers still do not know exactly what causes prostate cancer, they have identified some risk factors.
- Age. The risk of developing prostate cancer increases as you age. More than 70% of all prostate cancers are diagnosed in men over age 65.
- Family History. Men whose father and/or brother had prostate cancer are up to 11 times more likely to develop prostate cancer.
- Ethnicity. The death rate for prostate cancer is nearly 2.4 times higher in African-American men than in Caucasian men. (Because of this additional risk, earlier screening for prostate cancer is recommended for African-American men.)
- Diet. Research suggests that prostate health may be affected by diet.
- Obesity. Studies have shown that the death rate from prostate cancer increases in obese men.
Getting Tested
When should you be tested for prostate cancer? According to the American Cancer Society, men aged 50 and older with a life expectancy of at least 10 years, and those over the age of 45 who are in high-risk groups (such as African-American men and men with a family history of prostate cancer) should have a prostate-specific (PSA) blood test and digital rectal exam (DRE) once every year.
The following excerpt is from: http://www.thefruitpages.com
Why we should eat and drink more fresh fruit
Eat (more) fruit! These ideas might stimulate your fruit consumption, remember: Eat five to nine fresh pieces a day!
- For the largest part fruit consists of water just like the human body does
- Fruit is 100% cholesterol free
- Fruit stimulates the memory
- The idea that fruit is an expensive nutrition
- The miraculous healing effects of fruit
- Fibers
- Fruit makes you feel better
- Fruit juices, squeeze them
- Ethical reasons to eat fruit
- Fruit is the most natural food
- A human diet.
For the largest part fruit consists of water just like the human body does.
Like 80% of our body is water so does 80% of fruit consist of water! If you think about it, it's logical for the human body to consume food that contains as much water as the body itself. The nutrition that meets that requirement is fruit. There is no other food than fruit on this planet that contains on average 80% water. Vegetables also contain a lot of water and are therefore second best.
Fruit is 100% cholesterol free.
No doubt about this argument. Too much cholesterol is not good for our bodies and fruit doesn't contain much cholesterol. Animal products like meat and dairy contain a lot of cholesterol.
Fruit stimulates the memory.
If you didn’t know yet: fruit is the ultimate brain fuel. Fruit has a positive effect on our brains. The way this works still has to be found out and many scientists are looking into it as we speak. What we do know is that if you consume fruit effectively, your brains can recall information faster and more easily.
The idea that fruit is an expensive nutrition.
Did you always think that fruit was an expensive product? Take a good look at how much money you spend on other food. It could be worth something to replace some of those expenses with fruit. We think that fruit is the healthiest food on earth and therefore it is well worth spending our money on.
The miraculous healing effects of fruit.
Spectacular stories about people that cured from cancer by a strict diet of raw fruits and/or vegetables are well known but do we want to believe them? We still don't know that much about fruit and its contents.
Fibers
We do know now that a diet with plenty of fibers helps against corpulence, high blood pressure, and other factors that increase the chance for a heart disease. The consumed amount of fibers maybe even a more important factor than the amount of fat that is consumed by people! This appears from a recent American study that has been published in October 1999 in The Journal of the American Heart Association. The food that contains these healthy (natural) fibers is.... right: fruit! (vegetables as well). The American Heart Association advises to consume 25 to 30 grams of fibers out of fresh fruits and/or vegetables. In practice this means at least five to nine portions of fresh fruits or vegetables a day.
Fruit makes you feel better
Several stories have told us about people that were frequently depressed and how they got out of their depression slowly but surely after consuming substantial amounts of fresh fruit on a regular basis. Eating a lot of fruit can have a mysterious healing effect on human beings. Even better is to: drink a lot of freshly squeezed fruit drinks on a regular basis. It will take approximately 30 days until you start to notice the effects. Don't forget to drink these smoothies 20 minutes before the consumption of other meals. This way the fruit will not ferment in the stomach and the nutritious elements can be absorbed by the blood effectively.
Ethical reasons to eat fruit
Fruit doesn't have to be killed and slaughtered before you can eat it. The fruits are just hanging there waiting to be picked by you! This ethical argument (often used by vegetarians and vegans to not eat meat) claim that fruit is a non-animal food. Many people see animals, especially mammals, as living creatures just like humans. There are some religions that say that animals have souls like us (the native Americans often first asked the animal's spirit if they could kill it before they did so). Fruit has never been said to have a soul and thus can be eaten without causing any harm. Ethical or religious arguments aside, we think it is a shame that we as human beings don't eat a lot of fruit when there is such an abundant assortment of fruits and vegetables available.
Fruit is the most natural food
When you see a piece of fruit hanging from a tree that tree is telling you something: "Eat my fruits and help me spread my seeds." That’s how nature works. Humans eat vegetables and fruits and consequently help the plants to spread. Humans use animals to work the land to grow the plants and trees that produce these fruits and vegetables. In some people's opinion this is the way it was all meant to be.
A human diet
We think that a good diet should consist of freshly squeezed fruit juices, bread, vegetables and some water. Since it is hard for the average person to conform him or herself to such a severe diet:
- A good start is to eat and drink more fresh fruits
- It’s as simple as that. Before you know it you will feel much better
- Don't forget to eat fruit on an empty stomach, not after other meals and
- Inform yourself about the substances that our 'modern' food contains.
The following excerpt is from Muscle and Fitness Magazine written by Chris Aceto http://www.muscle-fitness.com
Ask yourself this: Is training all your body-parts over a 4–7-day period the only way to pack on quality mass? Truth is, many people who use a training split that requires daily trips to the gym aren’t satisfied with the results. Furthermore, heading off to the gym each day often places a greater demand on your time than a lot of us working stiffs can afford. If you’re looking for a new approach to get the most out of your time and effort in the gym, the full-body blast may be the ticket.
The idea of working your whole body in one training session has received a bum rap. Most people envision a lightweight circuit workout designed to develop (or build) muscle for general fitness. The full-body routine I propose, however, saves time in the gym, requires maximal muscle contraction by employing heavy weights, allows for full recovery so you can grow and train at a high intensity, and prevents muscle loss by avoiding the overtraining trap. In fact, you can expect big gains when you perform this program to the letter.
Needed: Heavy Weights
Muscles respond to overload, and the most effective way to overload a muscle and stimulate growth is by lifting heavy weights. That’s why I suggest using basic, heavy exercises that enable you to lift the most weight. For chest, do the bench press and incline bench press. For back, choose the bent-over row and chin; the squat and leg press are basic exercises for legs. All these movements allow you to move heavy weights and overload the muscles. Isolation exercises that emphasize specific muscle groups aren’t particularly necessary. Cable movements for chest, leg extensions for the quadriceps and pull-overs for the lats have their place, but to recruit the largest amount of muscle fibers in the shortest time, stick to the basics.
How do I reduce the fat covering my middle?
The following excerpt is from: http://www.timbomb.net/ab/fat.html
The answer comes in two parts: diet and aerobic exercise.
DIET This is controversial, but most people agree that eating very little fat and lots of complex carbs (like rice, pasta and potatoes) helps ensure that you don't add additional fat. Then you have to work at using the fat you already have stored which involves...
EXERCISE Again a bit controversial, but it's widely agreed that regular, moderate, aerobic exercise 3-4 times per week works best to burn fat that's already stored. "Moderate" because intense exercise burns glycogen not fat, so keep the intensity at about the level 
where you are beginning to puff a little. "Aerobic" means (very vaguely) the kind of exercise that requires you to inhale more. Some suggest that building more muscle through weight training helps as well, since muscle burns fat just by being there and moving your body about; so some weight training couldn't hurt and will probably help.
Many misc. fitness people agree that exercise periods of more than 20 minutes work best. But note that the longer you exercise, the more prone you are to injury since your muscles also begin to weaken. Two things which help prevent injury are: A good warm-up: 5-10 minutes of light exercise to warm your muscles, try to break a sweat. Stretching cautiously: 20-30 sec stretches for every muscle.
Claude Parker, President
PO Box 2742 Philadelphia, PA 19120
Tel: 215-498-4208 Fax: 801-457-1754
claude@claudeparker.com