Low salt – salt, the “secret killer” of life
Salt has gradually been recognized worldwide as the “secret killer”. In the industrially developed Western countries, salt has sent more lives to the grave than the victims caused by harmful chemicals. Residents of Western countries have gradually adopted the eating habits of eating raw and boiled vegetables; putting salt shakers on the table and sprinkling a little salt on themselves during meals. In Japan, from the difficult days at the end of World War II (1950s) to the end of the 20th century, with the improvement of living conditions, people have gone from eating dried salted fish to eating a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits, and the average salt intake has dropped from 29 grams per person per day to less than 10 grams. The change in dietary habits of the elderly, who have a “heavy taste” and the young, who have a “light taste,” is one of the main reasons why the incidence of hypertension in Japan has been declining year by year. This change in diet is one of the main reasons why the incidence of hypertension in Japan is decreasing year by year.
According to statistics, in the north of China, especially in the northeast, due to the cold climate, less vegetables and fruits, the average person eats 12-18 grams of salt per day, while in the south is lower, resulting in the incidence of hypertension in men in the northeast than in the south, such as Shanghai, to be about 1 times higher.
Look at the Chinese diet, breakfast is often thin rice, steamed buns plus all kinds of pickled vegetables (or curd), a single 4 cm square curd contains about 5 grams of salt, a small dish of pickled vegetables (such as squash) contains 4 grams of salt. In this way, a piece of curd per day has reached the daily salt intake standards set by the World Health Organization (4-6 grams). In addition, many people in China usually have the habit of putting MSG when cooking vegetables or soup, and 1 gram of MSG contains 0.5 grams of salt. Many vegetables such as hollow vegetables, bean sprouts, shrimp, purple cabbage contain a certain amount of sodium salt.
In daily life, the same consumption of high-salt food, some people’s blood pressure will rise, some people’s blood pressure does not rise, through a survey of more than 5,000 people found that salt-sensitive people up to 30%, while salt-sensitive people in hypertensive patients up to 60%. These sensitive people do not have a higher daily salt intake than normal people, but it is only because they have a genetic disorder of sodium excretion in the kidneys and are prone to sodium retention in the body that leads to hypertension. So, why should salt be restricted for all people? Because salt can not only make many people hypertensive, but also directly damage the walls of blood vessels throughout the body, causing vascular sclerosis, leading to myocardial infarction or kidney function decline.
For example, an elderly patient came to our hospital and said that he had used various drugs but his blood pressure just wouldn’t come down. I took a look at the medical records, oh! He was from Ningbo and ate salted vegetables and salted fish with great vigor. I immediately arranged for him to have a low-salt diet, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, and the patient wailed, “Oh, I’m going to throw up, I’m going to throw up!” However, in just one week, the blood pressure came down. Then he was given salty food, he thought it was “too salty”. Therefore, in order to prevent hypertension, it is possible to change the diet and control the salt intake.
Through in-depth research, we learned that potassium and calcium have an antagonistic effect on sodium, and that supplementing potassium and calcium can promote sodium excretion. In April 1997, we conducted a comparative trial of 300 adolescents with high blood pressure and their families who took potassium and calcium supplements without salt for 2 years, and recently found that the blood pressure of these adolescents decreased by an average of 4 mm Hg, which was the same as the blood pressure of those who took only salt without calcium and potassium supplements during the same period, while the blood pressure of those who took neither salt nor potassium and calcium supplements during the same period increased by an average of 2 mm Hg.
For people how to supplement potassium and calcium in daily life, our advice is to eat more calcium-rich vegetables and foods, such as spinach, rape, potatoes, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, fungus, milk, soy products, etc.
Weight loss – 1 kg weight loss, 1 mm Hg drop in blood pressure
In the past, people of fat people regardless of men and women, young and old, think that “fat” is a lucky face. In fact, fat to a certain extent is not only a problem of “beauty”, but a pathology. As the saying goes, “it is difficult to buy money to be thin in old age”, this is another side of the story, the elderly obesity is more detrimental to health, a fat birth hundred diseases, obesity can lead to some life-threatening diseases. High blood pressure and obesity is a pair of “good brothers”, they are inseparable — about half of the patients with high blood pressure is fat, and half of the obese people are hypertensive.
There are many kinds of fat, some people fat concentrated in the abdomen, waist circumference thick, belly, we call “centripetal obesity”, this kind of fat is the most dangerous – often have high blood pressure and accompanied by lipid disorders, blood insulin increase, and Glucose tolerance abnormalities, known as “metabolic syndrome”. Obesity has multiple risk factors and a poor prognosis. Due to excessive accumulation of fat in the body, fat in the abdomen travels through the blood vessels to the liver, causing fatty liver and, in severe cases, abnormal liver function (fatty liver hepatitis) and even cirrhosis.
To prevent the occurrence of hypertension, one of the first issues is to prevent the occurrence of obesity. What kind of people need to lose weight? The way to calculate whether you are at your ideal weight is by calculating your body mass index (BMI), and you should pay attention when your BMI exceeds 24. If you find that you are overweight, you should lose weight in time.
I have two patients, one weighs 230 pounds, through the efforts of weight loss to 200 pounds, still walking breathless, blood pressure is difficult to control; while the other patient weighs 170 pounds, through exercise, dieting, weight loss to 140 pounds, blood pressure is well controlled. From the original taking 3-4 kinds of antihypertensive drugs, reduced to only one, and refreshed, the quality of life has improved greatly. Therefore, weight loss should be started from the overweight period, “weight loss is better than fat prevention”, everyone should pay attention to their weight, and regularly measured.
Control the diet to lose weight, first of all, we must control the “mouth” and recognize the dangers of obesity.
At present, there are also misconceptions in nutritional intake, some people think that weight loss is to eat less staple food, desperately eat vegetables, in fact, more food will also produce too much energy; some people think that eating more meat and oil will be fat, eat vegetarian oil does not matter, in fact, vegetarian oil contains unsaturated fatty acids, eat more will also be fat. Therefore, the oil should be “gram” calculation. Japan stipulates that the daily intake of oil per person ≤ 18 grams; China’s nutritionists advocate ≤ 20 grams per person per day.
Exercise is a good recipe for weight loss. Generally speaking, brisk walking, running, swimming, cycling are very suitable. “Brisk walking” is a simple and easy way to exercise, usually each exercise time should be more than 30 minutes, and gradually extended to 1 hour. Daily life, exercise can be carried out anywhere, for example, to and from work can be changed to fast walking, until dripping with sweat, fatigue. People who socialize more, should try to eat less greasy diet, limit alcohol, control the total intake to prevent hypertension caused by obesity.
In fact, strengthen the amount of exercise consumption and reduce energy intake, exercise to lose weight, with diet control, both economic, side effects and small, why not.
Reduce stress – adverse psychological factors can lead to hypertension
Adverse psychological factors can lead to high blood pressure. Nowadays, the competition in society is fierce, the pace of work is significantly accelerated, many people due to excessive work pressure, the psychological state is prone to imbalance, resulting in excessive sympathetic excitement, manifested as tachycardia at work, fire; rest or sleep when the heart rate is significantly slowed. Long-term rapid heartbeat (≥ 75 beats / min), the rate of cardiovascular disease will increase with the heart rate and plummet. Let’s say you go to catch a train, there is still 1 minute train is about to leave, you carry a big box, the heart of that anxious ah, sweating to catch up, once or twice can, if a person all day such a rush train, can not stand it? Naturally can not stand. A recent survey conducted in China found a worrying phenomenon: the growth rate of hypertension in the 35-45 age group is as high as 62%-74%, while the 65-74 age group is only 15%-18%. This part of the middle-aged, many of them are white-collar workers, leading cadres, they are in a state of high tension for a long time, and commute to work by elevator, car, less activity, and more social functions, often resulting in overweight, which is a problem that should cause concern to the whole society.
Mental health refers to the ability to maintain good coordination and balance between individuals, groups of people and the living environment, and the ability to treat themselves, others and society correctly as a state of mind. It is important to pay attention to mental health, character cultivation, and to maintain a good mental state and a healthy lifestyle in the face of stress. When a psychological disorder is found, go to a psychological specialist for consultation and treatment. Almost 60% of people in developed countries in the West attach great importance to their mental health, while at present, our residents are still relatively weak awareness of mental health counseling, and the resulting consequences are often irreversible. For example, a few years ago in Shanghai, there was a car factory general manager because of unbearable work pressure, which eventually led to a tragic suicide by jumping off a building.
Therefore, in addition to the usual attention to the mental state, you can also use the following convenient “tricks” to reduce stress.
1, deep breathing, the whole body relaxed, the spirit of concentration on the slow exhalation, slow inhalation, breathing softly and gently, several times in a row can immediately restore calm mood.
2, meditation, find a dimly lit, quiet place, sitting relaxed, excluding distractions, silently listening to their own breathing, counting, or listening to elegant soft music imagining the sunny seaside, you can quickly restore calm mood.
Limit alcohol – alcohol abuse is one of the main risk factors for high blood pressure
Alcoholism is one of the main causes of high blood pressure and stroke, especially drinking liquor with high alcohol content. Russians like to drink vodka, stroke in the world “top”; and Europeans do not drink white wine, more wine and beer, stroke significantly less. China’s current dinner table social often do not drink white wine enough friends, “deep feelings, a bite boring; feelings shallow, lick a” culture. Drinking a glass of liquor (2 two), will certainly cause the heart rate to accelerate, blood pressure rise, long-term drinking will become addicted, forming a vicious circle, and often end in a stroke.
It has been a matter of concern and debate as to whether it is beneficial for hypertensive patients to drink wine in small amounts over a long period of time. Some people say that drinking wine every day can lower lipids and blood pressure, which is beneficial. A small amount of wine does have the effect of dilating blood vessels, invigorating blood vessels and eliminating fatigue. Therefore, the cold winter season or the New Year’s holidays in moderation to drink some low alcohol content of beer, wine, yellow wine, the human body has certain benefits. Although it has been found that small amounts of alcohol can increase the beneficial HDL in the blood, it has also been found that triglycerides can rise along with HDL. In addition, alcohol can partially counteract the effects of certain antihypertensive drugs.
Therefore, although alcohol is not absolutely contraindicated in patients with hypertension, it should be used on a case-by-case basis and should not be used as a therapeutic option to prevent coronary heart disease, let alone underestimate the physical and mental health risks of alcohol consumption.