Lower Blood Pressure Naturally

High blood pressure can effect anyone. The causes can be a wide variety of things. Such as:

• Weight-the greater your body mass the more pressure there is on you artery walls
• Activity level-lack of physical activity tends to increase heart rate
• Tobacco use
• Sodium intake
• Potassium intake
• Stress
  
• Alcohol consumption-Excessive intake overtime can increase your risk
• Age
• Family history
• High blood pressure can also be cause by underlying issues such as kidney disease, hormonal disorders, thyroid disease, and adrenal gland disease

If high blood pressure is left untreated it may damage other organ and increase risk of heart attack, stroke, brain hemorrhage, kidney disease, and vision loss. It is always good to go over your options with your doctor and if your not wanting to use prescription drugs like they will more than likely offer they can give you other options or specialists.

Things to avoid when you have high blood pressure are meat, dairy, and intake of salt or sodium. This would include avoiding restaurants as they use an excessive amount of salt. If you need a salt flavor use sea salt or ocean salt.

You should increase your intake of water. When the body is lacking water it attempts to hold onto the supply that is available by resorting to vascular constriction throughout the body which helps reduce the loss of water through the skin. Avoid soft drinks, coffee, sports drinks and any other drink containing sugar and replace with water. You should also add fruits to your diet with plenty of berries.

Some natural remedies would be:

• Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)-in studies the people taking CoQ10 significantly reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure
• Garlic-this supplement should only be used under the supervision of a health practitioner, especially if you are taking other prescriptions, as garlic can thin the blood.
• Hawthorne-reduces diastolic blood pressure
• Fish Oil-there is some evidence that shows DHA lowers blood pressure
• Folic Acid-Folate is a B vitamin necessary for the formation of red blood cells.
  

Most of the natural ways to lower blood pressure is just changing your lifestyle. By just changing your diet, exercising, and lowering stress levels you can change your blood pressure levels.

Detox Your Home

Did you know your indoor air can be up to five times worse than the outdoor air pollution? Formaldehyde, lead, and asbestos that are found in many homes can cause allergies and asthma. You can reclaim your home with a few tips to follow.

Start going through the cleaning supplies you use throughout your house. Are there chemicals used in these that will enter the air to be inhaled or a surface that will be in contact with your skin? Consider switching to all natural products or making your own with vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, and lemons. Then by adding some houseplants that will help clear out other air pollutants. Also, check to see if your house was built before 1978, as 80% of homes in that time period contain lead based paint. The paint chips and dust can be inhaled or ingested. You can get brocures from your county on ways to get rid of lead paint in your home.

You should keep rooms properly ventilated and open windows regularly. Replace air-conditioning and furnace filters and keep air ducts clean. This removes bacteria, mold, viruses and pollen. Also, remove shoes at the door as this will keep fewer toxins from being tracked through the house.

Most people use air fresheners not realizing the artificial fragrances can cause problems with allergies. Choose to freshen your home naturally with hypoallergenic products in non-aerosol containers. You can make your own fragrant spray by filling a mister bottle with filtered water then add a few drops of your favorite essential oils.

DIY Gifts

So as we were talking about making it a greener holiday season it got me thinking about what to do about Christmas gifts in this recession. Turns out a lot of people think about this. There are so many different websites with some great ideas!

I found some wonderful ideas that I will be using this year and will probly only have to spend $20 to make around fifteen to twenty gifts. I'm really excited to get started on them too. I even found some for the kids. The one that really caught mine and my husbands eye is the homemade wine. Your own concoction and then you can make your own labels and reuse those empty wine bottles that you would normally recycle. I'm even thinking of making wine carrier bags to go with these for next year as we want to experiment with some different wines. To go along with wine there are many other options with beer or different liquors either distilling your own or just finding a recipe to make your own while buying the liquor.

Everyone knows a mom who doesn't take enough time for herself. How bout you help her out with some DIY spa ideas. Bath salt has so many different recipes to try out. You can put these in a nice jar with your own label. Try this holiday bath salt:
1 cup epsom salt
1 cup baking soda
4-5 drops of red food coloring
4 drops peppermint essential oils
Mix salt and baking sode in a medium ball. Add food coloring and oils mixing quickly to avoid clumps. You can make another batch without the food coloring to layer in a jar to give it a candy cane effect. Use two tablespoons for a bath.
Bath bombs, bath soaks, body scrubs, masks, and the opportunities keep on going. I'm already coming up with birthday gifts along with who is getting what for Christmas and I'm so excited to get started.

Don't forget the kids! There are so many organic playdough recipes and silly slime I couldn't pick just one. I know these are found in family and church cookbooks along with so many other options on multiple websites. Check out what they can help make for the grandparents and teachers at www.ecobites.com.

There are so many options to help you save a little cash and also help you recycle some items around your house. Don't forget to check out www.treehugger.com and www.thedailygreen.com which will both help you on your search.


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Check out this Book!

I have been filling my time lately with baking and reading books from the library. Yesterday at the library I came across a book and as soon as I picked it up I couldn't put it down til I was done and then this morning I had to check out more online. I highly suggest everyone reads this book! It is called Go Green, Live Rich by David Bach. There are so many great tips on small things to change in your daily life to help you go green and save you money! I'm going to look up some of his other books as well! Hope you find as much enjoyment out of it as I did!

A Greener Holiday

There are so many more items that are thrown out through the holiday season. Here are a few ideas that can help you cut back on all that waste from plastic dishes to wasting gas.

• Avoid disposables or keep plastics that are durable and can be washed.
• Avoid wrapping paper or use plain brown kraft paper or grocery bags.
• Recycle used ribbons and bows
• Recycle your live tree
• Decorate with nature such as pinecones, wild berries, and nuts
• Trade decorations with a friend to change things up from year to year
• Reuse cookie and popcorn tins to use as a gift the following year with your homemade goodies
• Try catalog or internet shopping. Throw an at home party with Entertaining at Home or Pampered Chef for example to get rewards for hosting and also save on gas and the cost of aspirin from the crowds you have to deal with during the holiday season.
• Make sure cards are printed on recycled paper or send e-greeting cards.
  
• Don't forget the less fortunate in the holiday season go through your old stuff as you are receiving new and someone will be overly joyed to receive what you don't need anymore.
• Put some thought and effort into gifts and make them yourself!

I hope you find some things that can help you in greening your holiday season!

Make it a Greener Tailgate Party!

It is that time of year again! We all love it or some may love to hate it. This year I'll be at my home watching the football games due to the large belly that can't fit into a coat but I thought I would help you with making your tailgate party a great one for you and the environment!

First of all while shopping look for locally grown produce or fresh buns or bread at your farmers market. You can purchase condiments in bulk instead of in serving size to save on waste. You should also look for reusable plates, napkins, cups, etc. If reusable is not an option try to find some products that are made out of recycled material.

Carpool to the game to save yourself a little money and keep the air cleaner. When you arrive and ready for the grilling to begin remember propane is the cleanest but if charcoal is preferred try a chimney starter instead of lighter fluid to reduce chemicals released in the air.

Instead of warming up in the vehicle and having to turn it on and off just dress warmer and pile up the blankets.

And don't forget while cleaning up to keep bags or boxes labeled for recycling to make it easier for everyone to help with your green tailgate party!

Which Detox is For You?

There are many different types of detox methods so where do you start? First it depends on how much your willing to spend. While detoxing you should avoid all chemicals not just in food but in cleaning products to cosmetic products.

A colon cleanse also known as colonics, is the more expensive way to go. This detox program is performed by a colonic hygienist who performs colon irrigation. These work like an enema but they involve more water and no odors or discomfort. Theory of autointoxication is the belief that undigested meat/food cause buildup in the colon. The buildup then causes toxins to enter the bloodstream which then causes poisoning in the body. These toxins are said to cause fatigue, headache, weight gain, and low energy.

Fasting is another way to detox your body. You can do a water fast or juice fast. A water fast is usually for 24 to 36 hours. You must drink more than 4 but less than 8 pints of water and nothing else. A juice fast can include various forms of vegetable juices that can include carrot, celery, green beans, parsley, and many more. These last around 10 days.

Special detox diets emphasize on organic foods, herbal teas and plenty of water. Some may restrict you to only one food or one type of food all raw food for example. These will also tell you to eat slower, chew well, and finish meals by 6:30 PM.

Detox should not effect your nutritional intake, maintain and even improve metabolism, and allows you to lose weight easily. You should exercise regularly to detox your skin and lymph nodes through sweating. The best way to help your body detox every day is to drink lots of water. Natural detox is all about relaxing, restoring, and refreshing your body. You decide whats best for your body.

To Detox or Not to Detox?

I have been thinking a lot about detoxing after the baby is born. So, I figured why not share some of this information with you and maybe this will be a good idea for yourself or someone you know.

There are so many toxins in the everything, the air, food, and water. All these toxins are put in your body by YOU! So where do these toxins go after we inhale and/or digest them? Well, most of them are stored in body fat. Our bodies are designed to eliminate toxins but because of the large amounts of toxins in foods now it becomes overwhelming for our bodies. So those 65% of Americans that are overweight will more than likely stay overweight after diet failures. This doesn't happen because they don't try to lose weight but because they have so much more body fat for those toxins to hold on to.

Toxins cause your liver to become sluggish, which then in turn causes organs to stop metabolizing fat effectively, then down the line causes weight gain or the lack of weight loss during a diet. Detox then helps clear out the toxins in organs so that your body can work more effectively and it also provides the correct nutrients. Through a detox program you will learn how to lower the amount of toxins being ingested into your body.

So is detox for you? If so what is the correct detox program for you? I'll be blogging about different programs soon and you can decide for yourself as I will be deciding which one I will use at the beginning of the new year!