Flexibility refers to the ability of your joints to move through a full range of motion. How flexible you are in a particular joint is connected to the muscle length that attaches to that joint and how far that muscle will stretch. Having flexibility in your muscles allows for greater movement around joints. The shorter and less flexible the muscle, the tighter the joint.

What Does Flexibility Have to Do with High Blood Pressure?

Continue reading ‘High Blood Pressure and Flexibility – What do they have to do with each other?’ »

1. Increase your life span

Individuals who stay in shape as they age live longer, particularly when evaluating heart disease risk. An Archives of Internal Medicine study showed a workout a day may add ~4 years to your life. A sample from the Framingham Heart Study found individuals who walked 30 minutes 5 days a week lived 1.3 to 1.5 years longer than sedentary individuals. Boost your exercise intensity and studies show you may add 3.5 to 3.7 years to your lifespan.

2. Improve your quality of life as you age

Continue reading ‘4 More Reasons to Exericse (. . .if you needed more!)’ »

Physical activity, especially aerobic exercise, is beneficial for your cardiovascular system.

Here are 7 reasons to add physical activity to your daily routine starting today:

1. Lowers LDL cholesterol

Continue reading ‘3 Reasons to Exercise’ »

An individual recently submitted the following question at the Vital Health Zone:

I am 47 years old, I weigh 75 kg. I take Breakfast-oatmeal Lunch- 3 chappathis, Dinner-2 chappathi or cornflakes. Small meal 1 apple, 1 piece papaya, and some biscuits. I go for 1 hr morning brisk walk, and do half an hour exercises. But i have not reduced. For my age and ht I should be 55kg. What should I do?

Here’s the answer I provided:

Continue reading ‘Weight Loss Plateau – Steps to Break Through’ »

A few steps you can take right now to promote a lower blood pressure include:

1. Quit smoking
2. Lose and/or maintain a healthy weight
3. Decrease salt intake to less than 2400 mg sodium per day
4. Restrict alcohol to less than 1 drink/day for women and 2 drinks or less per day for men
5. Exercise 30 or more minutes daily
6. Following a heart healthy diet, such as the DASH diet to lower blood pressure

Be sure to sign up for the free e-course 7 Natural Ways to Lower Blood Pressure and http://www.lowerbloodpressurewithlisa.com.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
http://www.lisanelsonrd.com

Here’s a guest post from Eva Alexander providing answers to some frequently asked questions about the Mediterranean diet.

Most people say the Mediterranean diet is high in fat. Can people still lose or maintain weight on a Mediterranean diet?

The Mediterranean diet is high in fats. But these consist of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. These are healthy fats needed by your body. In contrast, the typical American diet is rich in saturated fats. It should be noted also that fat content in your diet does not determine weight loss. It is your calorie consumption that will generally influence weight loss and optimum weight management. Mediterranean diet provides lots of healthy benefits but it is still essential to lower your calorie consumption to achieve better results.

What’s the major difference of American and Mediterranean diets?

Continue reading ‘Mediterranean Diet – Common Questions Answered’ »

Are you ready to fuel your body for optimal health?

Do you live an active lifestyle and want to know exactly what you need to do to support your busy life without compromising your health?

At the Virtual Health Retreat this month, Jack Medina (past Olympic coach) will teach you how to fuel your body for peak performance and optimal health. Tired of working out without seeing the results you want. Well, make sure you are not training the wrong energy system! Jack will explain what you need to know to start training and fueling your body for the results you seek.

Here’s a little of what he’ll be covering . . .

Continue reading ‘Fact vs. Fantasy in Nutrition & Exercise – Your Map for Optimal Health’ »

The poor quality of the typical American diet has lead to rampant nutritional deficiencies related to hypertension, heart disease, atherosclerosis, heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, renal disease, diabetes, and obesity.

High blood pressure is due to a combination of genetics and your environment/lifestyle. Nutrients, including macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein, fat) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) play a central role when it comes to maintaining a healthy blood pressure as well as minimizing organ damage linked to high blood pressure. Balancing the nutrients in your diet for optimal nutrition dramatically impacts the prevention and treatment of high blood pressure. To effectively treat high blood pressure it is recommended you have a functional intracellular assessments.

What is a Functional Intracellular Assessment?

Continue reading ‘Lower High Blood Pressure with a Combo Approach’ »

Here are more of the questions and answers from my interview with Dr. Mark Houston in February 2010.

Lisa Nelson RD: Is there a connection between blood pressure and heart rate?

Dr. Houston: If blood pressure increases, normally the heart rate should decrease. However, in some patient with dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system the heart rate may increase with the blood pressure.

Lisa Nelson RD: Blood pressure fluctuation – What causes blood pressure to fluctuate drastically throughout the day? Is it something to worry about?

Dr. Houston: Most people have fluctuations during the day due to the normal circadian rhythm (high in AM and low in PM). Stress, anger, eating, exercise, rest, meditation, coffee are some of the things that will alter blood pressure. About 60 % of patients that drink coffee have increase blood pressure for several hours after consumption.

Lisa Nelson RD: What is the risk of not treating high blood pressure? For example, someone has a blood pressure of 160/100, but they feel perfectly fine. Why should they be concerned and seek treatment?

Dr. Houston: Heart attack, stroke, heart failure, kidney failure, loss of vision, aortic rupture, valve dysfunction, atherosclerosis. Hypertension is the silent killer. At this level the arteries will be damaged over time and all of these complications will occur. At that high level of blood pressure one will decrease life expectancy by about 15 years or more.

Lisa Nelson RD: Do blood pressure recommendations change with age?

Dr. Houston: A normal blood pressure is 120/80 regardless of age. If it goes up with age it means the arteries are not healthy, but very stiff.

Lisa Nelson RD: What is a normal blood pressure response post exercise? How quickly should heart rate return to normal post exercise?

Dr. Houston: Blood pressure will fall for several hours after exercise depending on hydration status and severity and length of exercise. Usually systolic (top number) blood pressure falls about 10-15 mm Hg and diastolic (bottom number) 5-10 mm Hg. Heart rate should return to normal within 2 minutes post exercise.

Part 1 – Top Heart Health Questions Answered By Dr. Houston

I’ll be posting more of the Q&A with Dr. Houston over the next few weeks. Sign-up for the e-course 7 Natural Ways to Lower Blood Pressure and you’ll also be notified when the new blog posts are added.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
http://www.lowerbloodpressurewithlisa.com

All right, we’ve covered two critical members of your weight loss team – your doctor and your nutritionist. We’re ready to talk about weight loss team member #3.

Personal Trainer

Healthy eating and physical activity go hand-in-hand if you want to successfully lose weight. But, how much cardio do you need? Should you be lifting weights? How often do you need to workout? How long do you need to workout? A personal trainer can design a fitness routine and make sure you’re doing the exercises correctly.

Meeting with a personal trainer can be pricey, but there are alternatives – phone and/or internet coaching for half the cost (or less). There are many programs online that allow you to enter information and download workout routines based on your information. Many programs also allow you to track your progress. For best results, I encourage you to consult with a trainer in person for one or two appointments. This will allow you to have a fitness assessment and time to discuss your goals with your trainer. The trainer will also go through the recommend workout routine with you to make sure you understand all activities and are using the correct form and technique. After this, you can check-in with your trainer via phone or email to monitor program and answer questions. Some trainers even review video footage of workouts.

Don’t worry that working with a trainer means you have to have a gym membership. Trainers can develop a program for you at a gym or based in your home. You can get in a great workout anywhere – gym, home, park, etc.

Another lower cost option would be group training in which a small number of people work with a trainer at one time.

Just as with a nutritionist, make sure your trainer is qualified and has a current certification from a respected organization, such as the American College of Sports Medicine.

Best Weight Loss Plan:

Weight Loss Team Member #1
Weight Loss Team Member #2
Weight Loss Team Member #4

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Top 5 Key Strategies to Lose Weight Permanently