The human body is amazing. It can do some pretty remarkable things like regenerate tissues, heal infections, and rid the body of toxic substances. It can even heal after substantial burns, grow new neural pathways, and turn on and off genes that lead to disease. We are only just beginning to understand the magic that’s happening beneath our skin. I am a firm believer that the body can heal from almost anything when given the right circumstances.

One other miraculous thing the human body can do is tell us when something is wrong. For the most part, when something is going on inside that’s not quite right, the body will send out red flags to let us know it needs help. The problem is, we often don’t listen to or recognize these calls for help. That is what I wanted to talk to you about today.

Because it’s American Heart Month, let’s look at one “disease” that is really not a disease at all, but rather a symptom of something much larger – high blood pressure.

High blood pressure is often downplayed by patients as well as medical professionals. If you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, your doctor will likely put you on a pill to help regulate it. Ok great. That solves the problem for a short period. But how is that fixing the actual problem?

It’s not.

High blood pressure puts an unnecessary strain on the heart, veins, arteries, and capillaries – which are all super important to ensure your heart functions efficiently. When we make an organ work harder than it needs to, such as the heart, it will likely cause problems down the road, in the form of a heart attack, stroke, or heart disease. High blood pressure is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong.

With some other chronic diseases, such as cancer, we might not know something is wrong until something is REALLY wrong because there are no visible symptoms. Or those visible symptoms are side effects or symptoms of other conditions and it’s difficult to distinguish those lesser symptoms from something bigger.

High blood pressure is a symptom and should be treated as such. It is not really the “condition” itself. Typical Western medicine will prescribe a pill and call it a day. Which, yes, medications should absolutely be used when needed and often could be used to get control of blood pressure that’s out of whack. But it shouldn’t stop there. Simply taking a pill without addressing the root cause is not really fixing anything.

Dr. Michael Greger uses a great example to explain this concept in his book, How Not to Die, (which is a must-read, BTW!). Just taking a pill but not addressing the underlying condition is similar to banging your shin on the coffee table over and over again. You might ice your shin or maybe take some Advil to help with the pain. Maybe you do this over and over again. You are addressing the symptom – the pain from banging your shin. But what are you doing to stop the pain from occurring in the first place? Nothing. How do you address the root cause of this problem so you stop feeling the pain? Move the coffee table.

Seems pretty simple, right? So why do we continue to injure ourselves over and over again and then simply treat the symptom? Try moving the coffee table.

In the case of high blood pressure, try addressing lifestyle factors. Just imagine what could happen with eating clean, healthy, nutritious foods, exercising regularly, and managing your stress!

Well, you don’t have to imagine. We know what happens. Your blood pressure will lower and you will lessen your risk factors for developing many diseases. A win-win!

If you have high blood pressure, make sure you are working with a qualified professional to monitor the condition. As you make lifestyle modifications, your medications may need to be adjusted so stay in close contact with your doc. If that professional doesn’t talk to you about changing up some lifestyle things, ask yourself why. Lifestyle modifications can be extremely beneficial for regulating blood pressure, many of which have little to no side effects!

Have an awesome week! As always, reach out with any questions!

Peace, love & kale!

Lindsay

References:

Banasik, J. & Copstead, L.E. (2019).  Pathophysiology (6th ed).  St. Louise, MO: Elsevier. 

Pizzorno J. E. & Murray, M. T. (2013). Textbook of Natural Medicine (4th. ed.). St. Louis, MO: Churchill Livingstone.

Robbins, O.  (2019).  31 Day Food Revolution [Online Lecture]. Retrieved from: https://plantfitsummit.com