|
Tips to lower high BP
Brunilda Nazario, MD
Adopting a healthy lifestyle is critical to preventing and treating high blood pressure (BP), which significantly reduces your risk for heart disease, kidney disease, and stroke. Not only can diet and exercise lower high blood pressure, but it can also make your blood pressure medications work better.
How much can it help? National blood pressure guidelines issued by the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure offer this chart to help you make healthy lifestyle changes.
If your LDL cholesterol is 160 mg/dL or more, your doctor may have recommended therapeutic lifestyle changes (called TLC) as your first step. TLC includes a cholesterol-lowering diet, regular physical activity, and weight management. However, TLC alone may not lower cholesterol enough. If, after three months, your LDL cholesterol is 130 mg/dL or more, your doctor may recommend cholesterol-lowering drugs like statins, fibrates, or other medication.
Regular physical activity can help you lower bad (LDL) cholesterol and raise good (HDL) cholesterol. It can also reduce your risks of high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. To accomplish all this, experts suggest at least 30 minutes of moderate activity at least four days a week. If you've met this goal, eat a diet low in saturated fat and trans fat. Make sure your diet is high in fiber, and that you maintain a healthy weight. If diet and exercise still don't lower your cholesterol enough, talk to your doctor about adding medications like statins, fibrates, or other drugs.
Low HDL (good) cholesterol, high LDL (bad) cholesterol, and heart disease all raise your risk of heart attack or stroke. If you have heart disease - or multiple risk factors for heart disease such as high blood pressure and smoking - most doctors recommend taking a cholesterol-lowering medication along with a heart-healthy diet and exercise.
It's especially important to keep your cholesterol levels normal if you have a strong family history of coronary artery disease (CAD). Coronary artery disease occurs when plaque builds up inside the arteries of your heart. Plaque is made of excess cholesterol, calcium, and other matter floating in your blood. If you have high cholesterol and a strong family history of CAD your doctor will probably put you on cholesterol-lowering medication immediately. You should also maintain a healthy lifestyle through diet, exercise, and weight maintenance.
Sometimes lifestyle changes won't be enough to lower cholesterol as much as you and your doctor would like. Cholesterol-lowering medications like statins, fibrates, nicotinic acid, or other drugs can help. But don't give up on eating right, maintaining your weight, and staying physically active. A healthy lifestyle helps you keep the dose of your cholesterol-lowering medication as low as possible, which may reduce drug costs and side effects. You'll have more success at fighting off heart disease, too.
The chart shows lifestyle changes can reduce systolic blood pressure (the "top" number in a blood pressure reading). By lowering your systolic blood pressure, your diastolic blood pressure would likely come down as well.
*BMI is body mass index, a measurement of the ratio of height to weight. It can be calculated by dividing your weight (in kilograms) by your height (in meters, squared). Or it can be calculated by multiplying weight (in pounds) by 705, then dividing by height (in inches) twice.
**The guidelines recommend people with high blood pressure follow the DASH diet - Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. This eating plan is based on a daily intake of 2,000 calories:
7-8 servings per day of grains and grain products (these can include breakfast cereal, whole grain bread, rice, pasta, etc.)
4-5 servings of vegetables
4-5 servings of fruit
2-3 servings of low-fat or nonfat dairy foods
No more than two servings per day of meat, poultry, and fish
4-5 servings of nuts, seeds, and legumes per week
2-3 servings of fats and oils (serving example: 1 teaspoon of margarine or oil, 1 tablespoon of salad dressing or mayonnaise)
5 servings of sweets per week (only low-fat treats like sugar, jelly, or sorbet)
***Even losing as little as 10 pounds if you're overweight can help reduce or prevent high blood pressure.
****A drink is defined as 12 oz. of beer, 5 oz. of wine, or 1.5 oz of 80-proof liquor.
Hypertension: The DASH Diet
One step to lower high blood pressure - incorporate the DASH diet into your lifestyle. Doctors recommend:
Eating more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy foods
Cutting back on foods that are high in saturated fat, cholesterol, and total fat
Eating more whole grain products, fish, poultry, and nuts
Eating less red meat and sweets
Eating foods that are rich in magnesium, potassium, and calcium
The DASH diet, which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, is an example of such an eating plan. In studies, patients who were on the DASH diet reduced their blood pressure within two weeks. Another diet - DASH-Sodium - calls for reducing sodium (salt) to 1,500 mg a day (about 2/3 teaspoon). Studies of patients on the DASH-Sodium plan significantly lowered their blood pressure.
Implementing the DASH Diet
The DASH diet calls for a certain number of servings daily from various food groups. The number of servings you require may vary, depending on your caloric need. When beginning the diet, start slowly and make gradual changes. Consider adopting a diet plan that allows 2,400 milligrams of salt per day (about 1 teaspoon) and then once your body has adjusted to the diet further lower your salt intake to 1,500 mg per day (about 2/3 teaspoon). These amounts include all salt consumed, including that in food products, used in cooking, and added at the table.
Here are some tips to get you started:
Add a serving of vegetables at lunch and at dinner.
Add a serving of fruit to your meals or as a snack. Canned and dried fruits are easy to use.
Use only half the butter, margarine, or salad dressing, and use low-fat or fat-free condiments.
Drink low-fat or skim dairy products three times a day.
Limit meat to six ounces a day. Try eating some vegetarian meals.
Add more vegetables, rice, pasta, and dry beans to your diet.
Instead of typical snacks (chips, etc.), eat unsalted pretzels or nuts, raisins, graham crackers, low-fat and fat-free yogurt and frozen yogurt; unsalted plain popcorn with no butter, and raw vegetables.
Read food labels carefully to choose products that are lower in sodium.
Staying on the DASH Diet
The following is a list of food groups and suggested serving amounts for the DASH diet:
Grains: 7-8 daily servings
Vegetables: 4-5 daily servings
Fruits: 4-5 daily servings
Low-fat or fat-free dairy products: 2-3 daily servings
Meat, poultry and fish: 2 or less daily servings
Nuts, seeds, and dry beans: 4-5 servings per week
Fats and oils: 2-3 daily servings
Sweets: try to limit to less than 5 servings per week
How Much Is a Serving?
When you're trying to follow a healthy eating plan, it may help to know how much of a certain kind of food is considered a "serving." The following table offers some examples.
SERVING SIZES
Food/amount
1/2 cup cooked rice or pasta
1 slice bread
1 cup raw vegetables or fruit
1/2 cup cooked vegetables or fruit
8oz. of milk
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 ounces cooked meat
3 ounces tofu
 ^ TOP OF THIS PAGE ^ MAIN PAGE
Cardiovascular disease: How to avoid it
Holiday Desk
A press conference on Cardiovascular disease was organised by Hypertension Committee of National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh. Cardiovascular disease such as ischemic heart disease, stroke, and heart failure are one of the main chronic diseases and is the leading cause of death and disability in the world. Raised blood pressure is one of the most important direct causes, accounting for more than 60 per cent of all strokes and approximately 50 per cent of all heart diseases. Worldwide 7.1 million (13 per cent) deaths were estimated to be attributable to raised blood. World hypertension day has been established to highlight the serious medical complications to this condition and to communicate to the public information on prevention, detection and treatment by World Hypertension League. This year 17 May 2007 has been designated as World Hypertension Day. The theme of this year is "Healthy Diet and Healthy Blood Pressure". Hypertension Committee of National Heart Foundation is affiliated with World Hypertension League and is observing the World Hypertension Day 2007 in Bangladesh with week long program such as press conference, seminars and rally. World Health Organisation, Bangladesh is supporting for observing this day.
High Blood Pressure or hypertension is a major problem in Bangladesh. About 15 - 20 per cent adult Bangladeshi has high blood pressure. A conservative estimate shows that about 15 million adults in Bangladesh are suffering from high blood pressure. However many of them are not aware of their hypertension status. Studies have found that among the elderly population about 49 per cent of urban and only 17 per cent of rural hypertensive were aware of hypertension status and among the elderly hypertensive only 4.5 per cent in urban and 3.1 per cent in rural area had controlled blood pressure. These finding indicates although hypertension is very common its detection and treatment status in Bangladesh is far from adequate. High blood pressure may cause no symptoms. You need to have your blood pressure measured at least once per year. Control of high blood pressure can add years to a happy life!
Hypertension can be prevented or controlled by simple life style changes. Such as e4ating a low sodium diet or low salt diet. Limit salt intake less than 5gram/ day; eating plenty of fruits, vegetables regularly; regular exercise or physical activity; weight reduction if overweight; and avoiding alcohol intake.
If lifestyle changes do not control or prevent hypertension, then drug therapy is necessary. Use of medication also depends on presence of other condition such as diabetes, heart disease etc. Control of other risk factors that interact with blood pressure is also important. Smoking, high cholesterol, and diabetes accelerate the damage by high blood pressure on the heart and blood vessels. Therefore, it is important to manage and control all of these factors.
Following officials of the Hypertension Committee of National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh were present at the press conference: National Professor Brig. (rtd) Abdul Malik, Secretary General, National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh (NHFB); Professor R K Khandaker, Vice-president, NHFB; Dr. Sirajul Islam, Joint Secretary General, NHFB; Prof. Abu Siddique, Professor, BSMMU and Dr. Sohel Reza Choudhury, Associate Professor.
^ TOP OF THIS PAGE ^ MAIN PAGE
CAMPUS CAPERS
Creating Al-Qaeda
Rayyan Kamal
In America and much of the world, the Taliban is synonymous with brutality, misogyny, and terror. Following 9/11, the Bush administration wasted no time or resources in seeking out and crushing this fundamentalist regime. In its place the US government installed Hamid Karzai, who is widely regarded as Bush's "puppet." What is not as commonly known is that Al-Qaeda was also created to serve as America's puppet several decades ago.
In 1979 the US was up against a different enemy: the Soviet Union and communism. Also relevant is that popular revolutions in Iran and Nicaragua had toppled governments endorsed by the US government. Gripped by the paranoia of the Cold War, America had no idea that the Soviet Union was nothing more than a paper tiger, doomed to fall apart in a few years. When the communist nation invaded Afghanistan, the Jimmy Carter administration sprang into action, covertly for the most part.
Via Pakistan's ISI the US imparted weapons and funds to the Afghan freedom fighters, the mujahideen. That was not all, however. These freedom fighters were also trained in sophisticated guerilla warfare tactics. The CIA encouraged the ISI to favor more radical Afghan factions when doling out weapons, as these fighters would be deadlier to the Soviets. For its part, the ISI gave preference to the religious fundamentalist groups over the ethnically Pashtoun nationalist groups because it feared that too much power would incite the Pashtouns to fight for a sovereign nation-state, which would include Pakistani territory. Thus, the U.S. allowed the most brutal, most religiously fundamentalist Afghani resistance groups to thrive.
To increase the number of future recruits it would amass, the mujahideen operated an Educational Center for Afghanistan during the 1980's. This project was also generously funded by the American government. Here is a sampling of the questions found in a fourth-grade mathematics textbook. "The speed of a Kalashnikov bullet is 800 meters per second. If a Russian is at a distance of 3200 meters from a mujahid, and that mujahid aims at the Russian's head, calculate how many seconds it will take for the bullet to strike the Russian in the forehead."
However, these efforts were not enough to drive the Soviets away. The Afghans needed more help. Thus, the Carter administration hatched the plan to internationalise the conflict by making it a conflict between the Muslim world and the Communists. The plan succeeded. Lured by God, gold and glory, tens of thousands of mercenaries from the Middle East, Pakistan and Indonesia inundated U.S.-funded training camps in Afghanistan. For the first time like-minded fundamentalist Muslims including Osama bin-Laden and al-Zawahiri were connected globally. In this way the seeds of Al-Qaeda were sown with much US backing.
The Soviets were finally defeated in 1989, ten years later. The U.S. subsequently forgot about the freedom fighters. Only twelve years later with the Twin Towers destroyed, when it was revealed that the masterminds between 9/11 were veterans of the Afghan War, did it dawn on the US government what a monster it had helped create. Despite America's best efforts, Al-Qaeda is still alive and wreaking havoc today.
Rayyan Kamal is a sophomore at Yale University.
^ TOP OF THIS PAGE ^ MAIN PAGE
Need for transparency in every sector
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Bangladesh, my motherland, our loving country, must stand valorously in the scale of international dimension. None can stop us now to go ahead with optimistic views and ideologies. We have got enough enthusiasm so far to reinvigorate ourselves. Many malpractices especially because of politics in our country made the so-called political leaders giggle with unbridled power and pelf and so the honest and good people suffered from inertia in fear of being marked by those heinous political leaders. It may be mentioned that being marked by them meant being led to eternal silence!
Time has come to rethink of reshaping, reorganising and reforming the country. The present government of Bangladesh is to be hailed so that the next governments of the country do not go the same way as they did in their last tenure. It is encouraging for all of us that we have learnt to value the good deeds and criticise the misdeeds. We are now enjoying peace in the country to the expected extent. The role of the joint forces in this respect deserves special mention. They are playing a vital role to bring out a positive change in the country so that Bangladesh does not stand first again as the most corrupted country in the world. We can breathe a safe and serene breath as there is no hurly-burly of politics, political unrest in the country now.
We do not need corrupt politics and politicians, we do not want deaths any more, we crave after peace and bliss in our golden potential Bangladesh. The honest and intelligent people should be encouraged to come to power so as to ensure the rule of law in the country. The corrupt politicians, businessmen, government officials are being detained; it should be a happy news for every citizen.
The common people of the country should get the message that 'honesty is the best policy' will be the manifesto in every sector of Bangladesh from now on. There will be no place of corruption and corrupt people in this country in the future. Everybody, whoever he or she is, must be brought under the custody of law if fraudulence is proved. Transparency in every sector, accountability of every person should be the basis in implementing law and order in Bangladesh. Foremost, all the citizens of the country have to start turning better from within from now on.
^ TOP OF THIS PAGE ^ MAIN PAGE
ROAMING RACONTEUR
Ex-Lady of 10 Downing Street
Saad Quasem
The lady who has currently attracted the media's attention is Cherie Blair. As Prime Minister Blair prepares to leave 10, Downing Street, the legacy of his lady is something different. This lady was born as Cherie Booth, but her marriage to the Labor Party high up Tony Blair compelled her to amend her surname. She had read law at the university and is a Barrister, today she serves as one of the Queen's Council and has defended cases in the Hague and the European Court of Justice. However, like many other First Lady type of figures, both in her country and the rest of the globe, her profession has been cut short due to her husband's commitment to the Kingdom and the people. After the move to Downing Street, Cherie's commitment changed to charity and human rights. Nevertheless, her story is glamorous, yet a little scandalous but quite entertaining.
Her years in Downing Street were marked by tads of entertaining and often incapacitating events. In 1999, at the age of 45 Tony and Cherie announced the birth of their fourth child. Documentations proved, a serving Prime Minister had not become a parent for 150 years. The British public were widely entertained that the petite Mrs. Blair had the power to bare pregnancy at the age of 45. In 2002, Cherie traced roots to find a 35 year old half-sister she never knew about. The same year, Cherie signed a property deal in Bristol with Australian conman Peter Foster. The Prime Minister's wife transacting with foreign conmen is not exactly the kind of cake any public figure would want on their plate. It was hyped in the media. However, Cherie stopped the crisis by canceling the deal, semi-tearfully apologising for her mistakes. At the end of the day, these events are rather pivotal and nothing but unsubstantial new-fillers.
The Blair premiership coincided with much of the Clinton Presidency. Cherie and Hillary share a lot in common, including their moderate background and vibrant law profession. The former American first lady is on the run to hold her public office. Hillary is something totally different, an institution on her own, therefore incomparable to any other first lady. Many conservative politicians had criticised Cherie because of her "Hillary like approaches." In 2000 she had publicly buttered the government for its policy on human rights. Cherie apparently made the comment that her remarks were based on her power as Queens Crown. Nevertheless, this was the first and last Hillary like comments. Perhaps Cherie had different ambitions than Hillary. The Tories might have even scared her. The possibility still remains that Cherie might step on her husband's or Hillary's footsteps. Although not the typical first lady's job, it is still a prospect.
They say "there is a woman behind every man's success." The originality and truthfulness in such a statement is rather questionable. Every Tom, Dick and Harry accredits their achievements to Mrs. Tom, Mrs. Dick and Mrs. Harry. The seriousness of this issue is not measured until the crème de la crème use such phrases to credit their own spouses. Generally the first lady is always under the limelight, spoken about everywhere and the target for the scathing critic's blade. Cherie has passed on this stage. It is now time we start looking at Mrs. Brown as the Cherie chapter has begun to close.
Saad Quasem lives in Philadelphia.
^ TOP OF THIS PAGE ^ MAIN PAGE
NGOs stress transparency, accountability
The NGO Federation, in its 4th Annual General Meeting, underlined the need for correct and positive perception of the NGOs in the society in commensurate with their extensive pro-poor multifaceted activities throughout the country, says a press release. The Chair of the Federation of NGOs in Bangladesh Dr Muhammad Ibrahim said that despite invaluable contribution of the NGOs at the grassroots since independence ranging from relief and rehabilitation to poverty alleviation, health, education, rights of women, human rights etc. there seems to be lack of understanding and appreciation among the policy makers, the mass media and the opinion makers.
Held at the Institution of Engineers on Saturday (May 19) and presided over by Chair of the Federation, the meeting was attended by the chief executives of the member organizations from sixty-one districts of the country including the members of the National Executive Board, District Chairs and Secretaries.
Emphasising the need for self-assessment instead of complacency, the meeting was of the opinion that while talking about transparency and accountability of other establishments, the NGOs should take care that the good governance, transparency and accountability of some members of the sector are not questioned. The meeting took a stock of the activities of the Federation since it was established four years ago which included, among others, stalling of the move by the last Government to initiate a Bill which would have crippled the NGOs, establishment of the NGO Foundation to help finance the small NGOs, modification of a number of rules and regulations thereby removing factors detrimental to implementation of programmes, the formulation of a Code of Conduct for NGOs and motivating all the members to abide by this, and the like. Steps are being taken to develop the capacity of the small NGOs and launch a program for advocacy among the different sectors to establish proper image of this vital sector so that the NGOs may have their due recognition in the society as a major development partner.
The meeting commended the vital reforms initiated by the Government including the anti-corruption measures. Referring to the positive attitude of the government towards the role of the NGOs especially at the grassroots they hoped that cooperation and their unhindered functioning would be ensured at the local level.
^ TOP OF THIS PAGE ^ MAIN PAGE
|
