10 Foods Which Can Control Blood Pressure


High blood pressure or hypertension is a condition when the blood exerts high pressure against the artery walls. High blood pressure is a silent killer condition which can lead to other major health complications like kidney ailments, heart diseases, strokes, etc. According to the Indian Health Association, the normal blood pressure range is between 120/180, the range between 120/180 – 140/90 is termed as ‘prehypertension’ while the range higher than 140/90 requires instant treatment.

With regular checkup, you can control or maintain the blood pressure levels. Regular exercises and de-stress activities really work well to maintain normal blood pressure levels. However, even if you are not able to devote enough time to routine exercise, some simple dietary changes can still control the blood pressure levels. Here are 10 wonder foods for high blood pressure which can be included in one’s daily diet.

The Perfect Hypertension Diet Ingredients


 

1. Leafy Greens– 

Green leafy veggies like spinach, beet greens, Swiss chard, arugula, romaine lettuce, kale, turnip greens, collard greens, etc. are rich in potassium which works well to get rid of the extra sodium from the body through urine. An interesting way to include leafy greens in the daily diet is preparing veggies with nut milk or bananas.

2. Red Beets

Beets are rich in nitric oxide; the nitrate in beetroot juice lowers the blood pressure in just 24hours. You can prepare a tempting beetroot juice, beetroot smoothies, or baked beetroot chips.

3. Oatmeal

You can plan a quality hypertension diet with a bowl full of oatmeal. High in fiber, low in sodium and fat, consuming oatmeal in breakfast is an excellent way to keep control blood pressure levels and stay fueled for the rest of the day.  

4. Bananas

are a rich source of potassium. Adding one banana into your everyday diet is a simple way to keep blood pressure under control. 

5. Celery

contains phytochemicals, which are also known as phthalides which relaxes the muscle cells in the artery walls. According to research, daily consumption of celery stalks could keep blood pressure under check. 

6. Avocados

are one of the excellent foods that lower the blood pressure quickly. It is rich in oleic acid which controls the blood pressure and cholesterol levels. In addition to this, avocados contain vitamins A, B, K,and E and are highly loaded with fiber. 

7. Watermelon

The amino acid, L-citrulline is great to balance blood pressure. Also, watermelon supplies body with fiber, vitamin A, lycopene, and potassium. Hence, you should add this delectable fruit to your high blood pressure diet. 


8. Sunflower Seeds

A handful of sunflower seeds fulfills the requirement of vitamin E, protein, folic acid, fiber, and magnesium. One can eat unsalted sunflower seeds as a snack to facilitate heart health. 

9. Carrots

are rich in beta-carotene and potassium. One glass carrot juice every morning helps to regulateblood pressure, kidney, and heart functions. 

10. Olive Oil

It is a healthy fat which contains polyphenols. These are inflammation-fighting compounds which reduces blood pressure to a great extent.

Eating the right healthy foods helps to control blood pressure; however, one should still regularly monitor the blood pressure. Blood pressure is just one aspect to understand your heart health; however, to understand the complete health status a full body checkup is important.

In a nutshell, high blood pressure can be prevented, by avoiding foods that raise blood pressure and staying active.

Non Communicable Diseases: An Insight

Deaths due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are on a rise recently. So what exactly are NCDs? A non-communicable disease can be defined as a condition/illness caused by infectious agents (and are also known as non-infectious or non-transmissible). NCDs also refer to chronic diseases or the illnesses which last for long periods of time and which progress slowly. Non communicable diseases list includes the following most severe NCDs:

Non communicable diseases list includes the following most severe NCDs:

  1. Cardiovascular diseases
  2. Cancers
  3. Diabetes
  4. Chronic lung diseases
non-communicable-diseases


Following are the some of the NCD stats & facts:

Sr. No.
Non Communicable Disease
Death in Millions
% of NCD Deaths
1
Cardiovascular diseases
17.7 million
45%
2
Cancers
8.8 million
22%
3
Respiratory diseases (For example asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)

3.9 million
11%
4
Diabetes
1.6 million
2%

  • Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), primarily cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes, are responsible for 63% of all deaths worldwide (36 million out 57 million global deaths).
  • The burden of these diseases is on a disproportionate rise. 48% of deaths in 2015, approximately were noted below 70 years. In 2015, Out of 56.4 million global deaths, 39.5 million were as a result of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

NCD causes or Risks:


WHO has named a few risk factors or causes related to the NCDs. These are majorly related to the lifestyle of a person. Following are some of the risk factors:
  • Physical Inactivity and Unhealthy diet are the most common avoidable risk factors of NCDs. They are responsible for NCDs as well as other lifestyle related disorders like obesity, hypertension, diabetes, stress, depression, etc.
  • Smoking/Tobacco and Alcohol: Alcohol consumption is really harmful not only for the person who is consuming it but also that person’s family. Annually, 3.3 million people die due to the over consumption of alcohol. More than 6 million deaths are noted due to the use of tobacco.
  • Other health issues/medical conditions like high cholesterol levels, overweight/obesity, high or uncontrolled blood sugar and high/uncontrolled blood pressure.

NCD Prevention:

We can prevent the NCDs by some easy corrections to our lifestyle. Following are some easy and manageable ways for NCD prevention:

Healthy Diet: The kind of food you eat helps in building body health. Incorporating a healthy diet solves many healthy issues like the high cholesterol, hypertension/high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, etc. Avoid the fast foods or junk food as they contain high salt and high fats and are harmful to our body.

Stay Physically Active: By staying active you can shed the harmful weight. You can follow an exercise regimen, or opt for some really good activities for the complete body like brisk walking, running/jogging, cycling, swimming, yoga or the latest trend of Pilates.

Avoiding alcohol or tobacco: Remember your body health is important. Alcohol or tobacco is harmful to health. Drinking and smoking to reduce stress, is an excuse; you can indulge in other healthy ways to de-stress yourself. Some de-stressing activities include meditation, breathing exercises, opt for counselling, etc.

Regular Health Checkup:  We should respect our body and health. Staying healthy is easier than dealing with an illness physically, mentally and financially as well. For this, you should get a complete health checkup regularly.



Remember…Staying healthy is the key to happiness!!

This World Liver Day, Know The Facts About Liver Diseases

world-liver-day

With the World Liver Day just around the corner, let’s get to know why or how we celebrate the world liver day, get to know a few liver diseases, diagnosis of liver diseases, and causes and symptoms of the liver diseases.

Apparently liver is the second largest and important organ of our body. If for any reason the liver cannot function normally, then it can harm our health. 

Stats and Facts of Liver Diseases:
According to the latest WHO data,

·         Deaths by liver diseases in India are 216,865 which are equal to 2.44% of the total number of deaths.
·         The age related death rate is 21.96 for every 100,000 of the population.

Liver disease causes:
Some important causes of liver diseases are:
Infections: from mainly the viruses and parasites. The most common types of liver infections are:

·         Hepatitis A
·         Hepatitis B
·         Hepatitis C

Transmission from infected person: in the form of sharing contaminated things of that infected person, transmission through body fluids, blood, semen, etc.
Alcohol: Alcohol is an important cause of the liver diseases. It’s over consumption can cause serious conditions like:

·         Fatty liver
·         Liver cirrhosis
·         Liver cancer


Symptoms of Liver diseases:
Some common symptoms of liver diseases are:

·         Yellowish appearance of skin and eyes (which is known as jaundice)
·         Swelling and pain in the abdomen
·         Swollen legs
·         Itchy skin
·         Tendency to bruise easily
·         Dark yellowish urine
·         Pale, bloody or dark colored stool
·         Fatigue
·         Nausea or vomiting
·         Loss of appetite


Diagnosis of Liver Diseases:
Various diagnosis tests are used for liver diseases. An important tests for detecting the liver diseases is Liver Function Tests

Prevention:
Liver diseases can be prevented by the following ways:

Vaccination: There are Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B vaccines for protecting the body against liver disorders.
Lifestyle changes: like avoiding alcohol, healthy and a balanced diet, taking only prescribed medicines.
Preventive health checkup:  As a routine, you should go for a Master health checkup regularly. An early detection can help in the appropriate treatment as well as a complete cure.

protect-your-liver

Remember … An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

This World Health Day Debunk the Depression Myths

We are celebrating the World HealthDay campaign 2017 with the theme of depression.
Depression is a common yet serious mental condition which negatively impacts how you feel, how you think and how you act. Due to depression, a variety of emotional and physical symptoms can be seen. It also results in the decrease of the ability to function at work and at home.  

depression-myths-facts

There are different types of symptoms seen in depression. Depression symptoms can be broadly classified into Physical & Psychological as follows:

physical-symptoms

Physical Symptoms:

Problems related to Sleep
Fatigue
Appetite disorders
Weight issues (weight loss/weight gain)
Difficulty in concentration/decision making



psychological-symptoms


   
      Psychological Symptoms:

        Irritability
        Anxiousness
        Restlessness
        Loss of interest
        Suicide thoughts









There is too much confusing about this condition. There are many depression myths; we will debunk them by getting to know the real facts.

Myth: Sadness means depression:
Fact: Just being sad, does not mean that you have depression. Depression is associated with other symptoms apart from being sad.

Myth: Depression affects only the mind.
Fact: Depression affects physically, psychologically and socially and not just mentally.

Myth: Depression is caused by traumatic life events.
Fact: There is a possibility that traumatic life events like divorce, losing someone close, death can prove to one of the causes for depression. However, if symptoms like persistent and frequently reoccurring sadness, loneliness or emptiness for longer than 2 weeks may out you at a direct risk of depression.

Myth: Men are mentally strong and cannot be depressed.
Fact: It is a known fact that women are emotionally weak, but that does not mean that men cannot suffer from depression. Men are often less expressive as compared to women, which usually makes depression in men difficult to notice. Also with the fear of being judged as weak and unstable, men often hide their feelings consequently, complicating the condition further with substance abuse or even worse suicidal attempts.

Myth: Talking about depression results in worsening it.
Fact: The more people discuss on their depression and express how they feel they seek the more pro-actively they are able to get the support from friends or their family.
                                                                                                           
Myth: You need to take the depression medication lifelong.
Fact: Depression treatment may or may not require medications as there are other therapy options also available. Also the depression medication is customized. Depending on the severity of symptoms and other factors related to the conditions, the medications can be given short-term or long-term.

Now that we have seen a few myths about depression and their facts; let’s discuss on depression prevention too. Depression is a curable condition. However, some forms/types of depression cannot be prevented depending on the stages or severity of its condition.

Depression can be prevented by:
·         A healthy diet: Diet rich in omega-3s fatty acids, vitamin B12, etc.
·         Regular exercise: can help to lift your mood.
·         Taking time out for fun and relaxation: Divert you from the negative ideas

Recent research confirms that depression can be prevented with simple and healthy lifestyle changes for your body and mind.

World Tuberculosis Day - "Unite to End TB"

On 24 March every year, we celebrate the World Tuberculosis Day. This day marks an opportunity for us to support tuberculosis (TB) awareness, prevention, and care efforts and to focus on the theme of "Unite to End TB”. From 2016, WHO has initiated a campaign for uniting efforts to “Leave no one behind” 

world-tuberculosis-day

Facts and Stats on TB:
1. From the year 2000 to 2015, 49 million lives were saved with an effective diagnosis and treatment.
2. In 2015, 48, 00, 00 people developed multidrug-resistant TB.
3. In the previous year, WHO reported 10.4 million with TB; out of which 1.8 million  TB deaths   were recorded making TB the top infectious killer worldwide!

Symptoms of Tuberculosis:

Following are some of the symptoms in tuberculosis:
tuberculosis-symptoms
  • More than 3 weeks of persistent cough
  • Fever - Low grade
  • Chills and night sweats
  • Unexplained weight loss
  • Loss of appetite
  • Fatigue and malaise

Diagnosis Tests of TB:

Some diagnostic tests used in TB are:
  • TB skin test (TST): A positive report, will only confirm if a person has been infected with TB. However, whether the TB infection is latent or it has progressed as TB disease is not ascertained by this test.
  • Chest x-ray
  • Sputum examination
  • Imaging techniques like MRI and CT are also used.

Tuberculosis Treatment:

Following are the objectives of the TB treatment:

  • Complete cure of the disease and restoration of the quality of life of the patient
  • Decrease the TB transmission to others
  • Avoid the development and transmission of drug-resistant TB
  • Preventing relapse of TB 

Prevention of Tuberculosis:
  • TB can be prevented by the following ways:
  • BCG Vaccination: Bacille Calmette-Guérin is a live vaccine against tuberculosis.
  • Early diagnosis: results in early treatment which is the most effective way to prevent the spread of this dreadful disease.

We should always remember that “health is wealth”. In this jet age, we have no or little time to think about our health. What good is all the money we earn, when we cannot even enjoy the benefits? Hence, we should always keep our health on priority.

The best way to do so is to monitor the health status regularly by a comprehensive health checkup for the better treatment. 

Be Fit with Regular Exercise & Preventive Health Checkup

“Sound body and mind equals to happy living"

Exercise is the key to a healthy fit body, and mind. Exercise strengthens overall body, the heart, the brain, blood vessels, bones, muscles, daily exercise in any form is the most important thing to do for a long-term health benefits, and is a healthy lifestyle change. 

Yoga-exercise

Yoga – A healthy living

Yoga embodies unity of mind and body, yoga is a holistic approach towards overall wellbeing. It is a well-balanced workout. It consists of various asanas, breathing exercises and meditation, which fetches immense power to mental wellbeing and physical health. Daily practice of yoga brings synchronisation between healthy body and healthy mind, soul.

Why yoga?
Listed below are few of the numerous yoga benefits 
Exercise-benefits

1. Over all fitness
2. Increased energy 
3. Increased brain function
4. Weight loss
5. Enhance mobility

6. Improve posture
7. Improved immunity
8. Improved sense of wellbeing
9. Lower risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and hypertension


Why Preventive health checkup is important?

Today’ busy schedule, changing food habits and sedentary lifestyles is leading to stressed life with increased risk of lifestyle related disorders such as diabetescardiovascular, hypertension and others. Preventive checkup measures are the need of hour, along with positive lifestyle changes.  Preventive checkup helps in early diagnosis and treating illness at the earliest. There are various customized preventive health checkup package suited to meet individual need.


Below listed are few prevention benefits: 

regular-health-checkup
 * Regular health checkup keep you updated on health status  and keep you away from health stress.

* Investing in preventive health check up is cost-effective owing to the increasing medical expenses.

Preventive health check up improves overall quality of life. Regular health checkup with exercise is the best preventive drug towards stressful lifestyle.

Why Preventive Health Checkup is Important for Women

Women health problems
Women’s health is one of the priorities as per WHO. Women in our society are so busy catering to their professional as well as family life; that they end up harming their own health. Their health is badly affected due to their busy schedules, sedentary lifestyle, and unhealthy work-life balance. Consequently, this leads to women diseases that mostly have fatal outcomes, like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, reproductive disorders and even mental illnesses like stress and depression.


Women health facts:

The Government of India has launched multiple campaigns related to the women health. To name a few:

Menstrual Hygiene Campaign
Maternal Health Campaign
Family Planning and Reproductive Health

We all know how important the concept of prevention is.  The concept of women’s healthy lifestyle should be taken seriously. All these uncalled illness can be prevented simply by keeping health our topmost priority. With a proper female health checkup, you can understand if your body as fit as it appears. A preventive health checkup will help to identify if there are any silent killer conditions. The screening tests for women that are important as per their age are as follows:

  • General examination, which includes, pulse, blood pressure To eliminate any visible signs of illness
  • Tests for cholesterol - To assess the risk of a cardiovascular disease at early stage
  • Screening for diabetes - To assess the risk of diabetes
  • Breast cancer screening/Sonomammogram/Sonomammography - To assess the risk of breast cancerhttps://www.indushealthplus.com/breast-cancer-causes-risk-factors.html
  • Cervical cancer screening/Pap Smear Test - In females above 30 years, a Pap test with HPV test is advisable in every 5 years
  • Bone mineral density test/ Screening for osteoporosis/Bone densitometry test – In females above 40 years, to assess the risk of osteoporosis
  • Colorectal cancer screening - In females above 50 years, to assess the risk of colorectal cancers

Women health checkup 
Women checkup benefits:

There is a 2- fold advantage of a preventive checkup. It not only helps an early detection. Once an illness is detected at an early stage, it becomes easier for the doctors to treat it. Another benefit is that the cost of a preventive health checkup is much lesser than the actual cost of treatment of a chronic disease.

Hence decide now, prevent yourself from conditions that can be controlled and treated at an early age by our extensive full body checkup. We at Indus Health Plus believe strongly in “Prevention is better than cure”.

The Early Detection Of Cancer Equals Improved Cancer Survival Rate


“Early detection of cancer saves lives.”

We all know how fatal cancer is when it is diagnosed at a late stage, right? Then why do are so ignorant about the disease? We can fight back this dreadful disease by cancer education and by spreading cancer awareness.


Early detection of cancer saves lives


Cancer is nothing but a group of diseases caused by the uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in a part of the body. Given the fact that cancer is a silent killer, it might not display any kind of symptoms. Having said that there a few common cancer symptoms, we can keep in mind with the help of an acronym CAUTION US. “CAUTION US” stands for

1. Change in bowel or bladder habits
2. Any sore that does not heal
3. Unusual bleeding or discharge
4. Thickening or lump in the breast or elsewhere
5. Indigestion
6. Obvious change in a wart or mole
7. Nagging cough or hoarseness
8. Unexplained anaemia
9. Sudden and unexplained weight loss
    There are various screening tests and diagnostic procedures by which cancer can be diagnosed. Some of them that can give you an early warning are: mammogram, colonoscopy, Pap smear, etc. The objective of cancer awareness is to find cancer before it can cause symptoms or, worse, before it spreads and cannot be contained and eventually leading to death. By this, we could possibly increase the cancer survival rate. Let’s also understand the various methods of cancer treatment. Cancer treatment can be broadly categorized into conventional therapies and complementary therapies. Conventional therapies include surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation, stem cell transplant. Complementary therapies include naturopathic medicine, nutritional therapy, physical rehabilitation, mind-body medicine and spiritual support.

    So why wait to suffer from any disease; when you can keep prevent it by a healthy diet and by controlling your healthy weight?


    An early detection of cancer equals improved survival. 
    Hence, we need to get our health checked by opting for a preventive health checkup regularly.

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