Video Drinking more water to prevent stroke

 

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Controlling your weight is key to lowering stroke risk

Email From: Harvard Medical School

Sent: Saturday, 16 January 2016, 22:00

There is a lot you can do to lower your chances of having a stroke. Even if you've already had a stroke or TIA ("mini-stroke"), you can take steps to prevent another.

Controlling your weight is an important way to lower stroke risk. Excess pounds strain the entire circulatory system and can lead to other health conditions, including high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and obstructive sleep apnea. But losing as little as 5% to 10% of your starting weight can lower your blood pressure and other stroke risk factors.

Of course, you'll need to keep the weight off for good, not just while you're on a diet. The tips below can help you shed pounds and keep them off:

Move more. Exercise is one obvious way to burn off calories. But another approach is to increase your everyday activity wherever you can — walking, fidgeting, pacing while on the phone, taking stairs instead of the elevator.

Skip the sipped calories. Sodas, lattes, sports drinks, energy drinks, and even fruit juices are packed with unnecessary calories. Worse, your body doesn't account for them the way it registers solid calories, so you can keep chugging them before your internal "fullness" mechanism tells you to stop. Instead, try unsweetened coffee or tea, or flavor your own sparkling water with a slice of lemon or lime, a sprig of fresh mint, or a few raspberries.

Eat more whole foods. If you eat more unprocessed foods — such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains — you'll fill yourself up on meals that take a long time to digest. Plus, whole foods are full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber and tend to be lower in salt — which is better for your blood pressure, too.

Find healthier snacks. Snack time is many people's downfall — but you don't have to skip it as long as you snack wisely. Try carrot sticks as a sweet, crunchy alternative to crackers or potato chips, or air-popped popcorn (provided you skip the butter and salt and season it with your favorite spices instead). For a satisfying blend of carbs and protein, try a dollop of sunflower seed butter on apple slices.

For more information on lifestyle changes you can make to help prevent a stroke, buy Stroke, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.

Stroke and potassium

Stroke and banana, spinach, nuts, milk, fish and lentils.

Info source:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1373623/Eating-bananas-day-slash-risk-stroke.html

Eating three bananas cuts your risk of a stroke, scientists say.

A banana for breakfast, one for lunch and one in the evening would provide enough potassium to reduce the chances of suffering a blood clot on the brain by around 21 per cent.

The findings, by British and Italian researchers, suggest thousands of strokes could be prevented by the consumption of other potassium-rich foods such as spinach, nuts, milk, fish and lentils.

In the latest research, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, scientists analysed data from eleven different studies - dating back to the mid-Sixties - and pooled the results to get an overall outcome.

They found a daily potassium intake of around 1,600 milligrammes, less than half the UK recommended daily amount for an adult of 3,500mg, was enough to lower stroke risk by more than a fifth.

The average banana contains around 500 milligrammes of potassium, which helps to lower blood pressure and controls the balance of fluids in the body.

Too little potassium can lead to an irregular heartbeat, irritability, nausea and diarrhoea.

How B Vitamins May Prevent Stroke-Study

Info source: 

http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/proteins.html

How B Vitamins May Prevent Stroke-Study

The head of stroke research at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, James F. Toole, says the real culprit behind stroke is homocysteine, not cholesterol. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. and is a major cause of disability. What's more, stroke prevention may be as simple as taking three B vitamins involved with homocysteine's metabolism.

He is coordinating a large international clinical trial with 57 institutions in North America and Scotland. Since 1997, the Vitamin Intervention for Stroke Prevention (VISP) trial has involved 3,200 participants with high blood levels of homocysteine, who all recently experienced a stroke. They are are being given high or low doses of vitamin B12, B6, and folic acid.7

 

In another study of nearly 500 white and African-American women age 15 to 44, the increased risk for stroke because of homocysteine was similar to that of smoking a pack of cigarettes per day. "We found that younger women who had the highest levels of homocysteine had double the risk of stroke compared to women with lower levels," says Steven J. Kittner, M.D., M.P.H., professor of neurology, epidemiology, and preventive medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.8

Info source :

http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/proteins.html

The Greatness of Whole Grains (from American Heart Association: www.heart.org) --- The Health Benefits of Whole Grains

Info and Picture source: American Heart Association

https://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/HealthyEating/The-Greatness-of-Whole-Grains_UCM_455739_Article.jsp#mainContent

Wondering what’s the big fuss about whole grains? Science has the answer. Including whole grains in your diet is a great way to clean your arteries of fats, and they keep you feeling full so you avoid over eating.

You might have heard that a diet high in fruits and vegetables will help you become healthier. Whole grains can also help you get there. So try adding whole grains to your diet, it’s not a fad, it’s science.

Studies* show that eating whole grains instead of refined grains lowers the risk of:

• Stroke by 30 percent to 36 percent
• type 2 diabetes by 21 percent to 30 percent
• heart disease by 25 percent to 28 percent
• Helps you maintain a healthy weight

According to recent studies* whole grains also:

• Reduce risk of asthma
• Helps you have healthier carotid arteries.
• Reduces risk of inflammatory disease.
• Decreases risk for colorectal cancer.
• Helps you achieve a healthy blood pressure.
• Also decreases gum disease and tooth loss.

On your next shopping trip, start looking for whole grains so you can transition your family from refined grains. Try this heart healthy recipe for brown rice and lentil burgers that’s packed with whole grains.