Eating Health - Whole Grain

Whole Grains are good for your blood health!!

High blood pressure has become a big killer in Africa and apparently creeps in insidiously.It virtually comes as a thief in that someone who has been fairly healthy, with no history of illness except maybe occasional headache attributed to stress or overwork, suddenly drops dead.When diagnosis is done,  it is discovered that high blood pressure will have caused the stroke that caused death.Doctors have now confirmed to us epidemiologically that pathological high blood pressure has become endemic in people of colour for reasons not well undertood or researched.Normally associated with with high blood pressure is high cholesterol that tends to clog blood vessels, and thus interfering with blood flow.High blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, both of them bad for our health have often been linked to our changed eating habits.

Modern eating habits have pushed us to high intakes of:refined sugars, refined carbohydates such as white bread and polished rice, refined salt, cheap saturated fat which leads to large deposits of bad cholesterol,and then little intake of: fruits and vegetables, water; combined with limited exercise.A lot of advice is given that is not evidence based. But even without modern research, we are sure the foods our ancestors used to consume were healthy and wholesome.Therefore, even without the benefit of results from a scientifically designed study, it is known from previous experience that whole grains are good for human health.

It is not surprising that a study found out that certain breads can have a positive effect on your blood pressure. But it is not just any bread, it is bread that contains three specific grains: whole wheat, barley, and brown rice.

A study showed that all three grains were effective in lowering
cholesterol in middle aged people that had mildly elevated
cholesterol and prehypertension. Why does this work?

Well it seems that both the soluble and insoluble fibre in grains
reduce blood pressure while soluble fibre attacks cholesterol too.

Elevated cholesterol and high blood pressure often occur together
and this is a double threat to your heart and circulation system.
Remember that smart food choices can often make the difference in
normalizing your cholesterol and blood pressure not to mention your
overall health.

Eat healthy today!!