A blood pressure reading of 135 over 90 is so very borderline for high, but don’t let that fool you because it’s dangerous!
“Blood pressure is called the ‘silent killer’ for good reason,” says Stacy Mitchell Doyle, MD, resident physician of FoodTherapyMD and long-time advocate of plant-based nutritional protocols.
“Even ‘borderline’ blood pressures, over time, result in cardiovascular disease like heart attacks, strokes, heart failure and even kidney failure,” continues Dr. Doyle.
How does a baseline blood pressure of 135 over 90 wreak havoc on the body?
Heart attack. Hypertension damages the cells of the inner lining of your coronary arteries.
Bad fats from what you eat begin collecting in the tiny tears that have formed in the inner lining from the high blood pressure.
These fats accumulate over time, and you have plaque buildup, also known as blockages or clogged arteries.
If a piece of this plaque breaks off, the body “thinks” that the area where the breakage occurred needs repair, and hence, the area rapidly clots up.
Source: vecteezy.com
Often, the repair job is overdone: The clot is so big that it completely obstructs the artery, preventing blood from getting past it.
The area of the heart muscle that’s supposed to get this blood is seriously injured: a heart attack.
Also, the piece of plaque that broke off can, itself, cause a complete obstruction “downstream” from where it dislodged.
Stroke. A dislodged piece of plaque can make its way to the brain, getting stuck in a blood vessel, cutting off oxygen to the part of the brain that the vessel feeds.
Heart failure. The surge of high blood pressure forces the heart muscle to work harder, causing hypertrophy.
Now, hypertrophy is a great thing when it happens to your skeletal muscle.
But when cardiac muscle enlarges, this alters the heart’s natural design and impairs its ability to pump.
You end up with reduced blood flow throughout the body.
Kidney failure. Twenty percent of cardiac output goes to the kidneys. These organs, then, are very sensitive to reduced blood flow.
Over time, this compromise can permanently damage the kidneys.
Bottom line, even a blood pressure reading of 135 over 90 — which seems low compared to 170 over 110 — outright stinks.
Never settle for a 135 over 90 or borderline blood pressure as a baseline or frequent reading at rest.
How to Knock Down that 135 over 90 Blood Pressure
“If your pressure is routinely in the borderline range, it’s important to get it down,” says Dr. Doyle.
“The BEST and most effective way is to change your diet.
“This means adopting a whole food, plant-based diet with the elimination of processed foods and processed sugar, and limiting animal products (meat, dairy, eggs) to less than 10 percent of your total calories or cutting them out completely.
“Understand that high blood pressure medications lower your number, but don’t address the actual cause of your high pressure, which is the chronic inflammation that is occurring in the arteries and organs.
“This chronic inflammation is the result of the inflammatory, disease promoting foods we eat, such as processed sugar and meat/dairy.”
These foods are called pro-inflammatory foods and include so-called health foods such as high fiber fruit bars (lots of added sugar and other additives), many cereals (added sugars, preservatives) and frozen meals such as Marie Callender’s chicken pot pies which contain the toxic trans fats.
Dr. Doyle explains, “So if you are ‘borderline,’” grab as many fresh fruits and vegetables as possible, and ditch the sugar, meat, junk food and sodas. And add 45 minutes of exercise a day.”
FoodTherapyMD™ is the brainchild of Dr. Mitchell Doyle and recognizes that phytonutrients, the substances that make plant food so amazing, can be tailored to fight specific disease states.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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