One of my good friends was hospitalized for high blood pressure. An ambulance had picked him up at home thinking that he might be suffering a stroke.  This friend is young. He is under the age of forty and is a father of four kids.

He had several symptoms of suffering a stroke: He felt dizzy, nausea, and headache. In his past history he has also had partial blindness where he was only able to see the top part of his vision and not the bottom.

At the hospital they did some tests and gave him some medication to lower his blood pressure. He got tested to see if he had had a stroke. When the tests concluded that he had not suffered a stroke they released him and sent him home.

How scary is that!

One of the major causes of high blood pressure is diet. He eats a standard american diet. Margarine, hot dogs, canned food, lots of refined carbohydrates and sugary foods. It is these horrible foods that cause so much trouble for the heart. High blood pressure is a better indicator for heart disease than cholesterol levels.

Trans fats are very dangerous and are found in margarines and many processed foods. If you are eating foods that come out of a package you should still be checking the ingredient list. If that ingredient list contains any partially hydrogenated oils or hydrogenated oils than that certainly means that the product has trans fats. If the nutrition label says ZERO for trans fats and the product contains these kinds of hydrogenated oils than the label is lying to you. The safe limit for trans fats is a big fat zero. And yet if the product contains less than 0.5 grams per serving size than manufacturers can say it is trans fat free. Zero on the label does not really mean zero. The serving size can be altered so that the trans fat grams per serving size will fall under the 0.5 grams.

Studies have shown that people on the Atkins diet have dramatically improved their blood pressure and heart health. There are many factors that contribute to high blood pressure like stress, weight and exercise but consistently it is the Atkins Diet that comes out to be heart healthy.

Dr. Atkins was a cardiologist and repeatedly saw these kinds of results in his patients.

I write this blog to share the message of health and wellness. I have not found a graceful way of sharing this message face to face. Food is a personal choice. But it can have dreadful consequences. Stroke under the age of forty is scary. Losing a young father of four can be potentially devastating for the family and friends.

Health is something to be cherished. If you need a reminder, visit and volunteer at a hospital near you for a day.

I will keep writing!

To your health and wellness,

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