Janet Bond Brill - Blood Pressure Down: The 10-Step Plan to Lower Your Blood Pressure in 4 Weeks—Without Prescription Drugs

Also by Janet Bond Brill

Cholesterol Down

Prevent a Second Heart Attack

This book is not intended as a replacement for qualified, professional medical care. It is not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease. Individuals with high blood pressure and/or those at risk for cardiovascular disease should first consult with their personal physician for medical clearance before making any of the dietary and lifestyle changes recommended in the Blood Pressure Down Plan. The Blood Pressure Down Plan should not be substituted for a physician-prescribed drug without the express permission of your personal physician. Blood pressurelowering medications have been scientifically proven to lower the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and kidney disease whereas the Blood Pressure Down Plan has not yet been shown to prevent heart disease, heart attacks, stroke, or kidney disease. Several of the steps outlined may produce adverse reactions in some people and could potentially interact with over-the-counter and prescription medications. While every effort has been made to provide accurate and up-to-date information, this document cannot be guaranteed to be free of factual error. Consult your physician regarding applicability of any information provided in this book for your medical condition. The recipes are not intended for individuals prescribed special diets by their physician. Both the author and the publisher take no responsibility for any consequences that may arise from following the advice set forth within these pages.

Copyright 2013 by Janet Brill, Ph.D.
Foreword copyright 2013 by Emil M. deGoma, M.D.

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Harmony Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York. www.crownpublishing.com

Harmony Books is a registered trademark, and the Circle colophon is a trademark of Random House LLC.

Originally published in paperback in the United States by Three Rivers Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, New York, in 2006.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brill, Janet Bond.
Blood pressure down : the 10-step plan to lower your blood pressure in 4 weekswithout prescription drugs / Janet Bond Brill, Ph.D., R.D., LDN.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. HypertensionAlternative treatment. 2. Dietary supplements.
3. Physical fitness. I. Title.
RC685.H8B75 2013
616.132dc23 2012049634

ISBN 978-0-307-98635-1
eISBN 978-0-307-98636-8

Illustrations by Mia Alexandra Brill
Cover design by Deanna Destefano

v3.1_r2

This book is dedicated to my brother, Zane Philip Bond, who died of kidney disease and high blood pressure at the young age of fifty-six. It is my hope that this book can potentially prevent others from suffering his same fate.

To my dear mother, Dr. Alma Halbert Bond, this ones for you.

I also dedicate this book to my beloved husband, Sam, who is always there for me in all ways that truly count. Thank you and I love you.

And to my children, Rachel, Mia, and Jason, who are, and always will be, my everything.

Frequently called the silent scourge, high blood pressure is as insidious as it is devastating. Almost invariably, it damages blood vessels silentlycausing no pain, no discomfort, no symptomsuntil disaster strikes in the form of a stroke, a weakened heart, a burst or dangerously dilated blood vessel, kidney failure, or a heart attack.

According to the most recent Global Health Risks report issued by the World Health Organization, high blood pressure is the leading global risk for mortality. Their research attributed to the condition a staggering annual death toll of 7.5 million, or more than one out of every eight of the worlds deaths each year. In the United States, data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey indicate that 67 million Americansalmost one-third of all U.S. adultshave high blood pressure, and of these, more than half have uncontrolled high blood pressure.

Fortunately, the battle against high blood pressure is not lost. I firmly believe you hold in your hands a critical component to winning your personal struggle with high blood pressure, as well as the greatest hope for defeating the epidemic we face as a society: Blood Pressure Down. Bringing her extensive experience as a dietitian, researcher, and author to bear on the prodigious problem of high blood pressure, Dr. Brill has created a scientifically rigorous, engaging, and practical guide to lowering your blood pressure through specific dietary, physical activity, and weight loss interventions. In doing so, she has distilled decades of research into an easy-to-read treatment program comprised of proven prescriptions for lifestyle changes that lower blood pressure. How effective are these measures? Consider that in one large, rigorously designed trial, over half of the people previously on a blood-pressure-lowering medication were able to stop taking their medication after weight loss and reduction of their salt intakejust two of the ten interventions detailed in this guide. Make no mistake: these changes work.

In a call to action, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Thomas Frieden charged the health care community to make high blood pressure a priority for every doctors visit. In the same vein, I urge you to prioritize the daily choices you make about your diet and physical activity in order to improve your blood pressure and overall health. I urge you to read this book and to heed Dr. Brills evidence-based recommendations.

EMIL M . de GOMA , M.D .
Medical Director, Preventive Cardiovascular Program
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine
University of Pennsylvania

Writing a book is always a collaborative process. I am thrilled to give credit where credit is due and to have this opportunity to thank the many people who helped make Blood Pressure Down a reality.

First, I would like to thank my longtime literary agent, Faith Hamlin, for giving me that little extra push to get this idea into words and a concrete proposal. I also owe a debt of gratitude to my cousin, Zachary Dreier, who inspired me to write on this topic. Thank you to my fantastic editor at Three Rivers Press, Anna Thompson. I was fortunate enough to work with Anna on my second book, Prevent a Second Heart Attack, so naturally I was delighted that Anna was assigned as my editor for Blood Pressure Down. Anna is such a pleasure to work with. She is truly a dream editor whose professional expertise effortlessly shaped and polished the manuscript. This book simply would not have been possible without her professional guidance.

I am indebted to my dietitian colleague, Maggie Green, who helped formulate and test the myriad recipes. Creating delicious recipes without sodium is truly an artistic endeavor. I would also like to extend my gratitude to another dietitian colleague, Caitlin Riley. Caitlin provided factual nutrition data and menu creation, thereby giving me the freedom to focus more on writing and research rather than on calculations.

I am honored to thank the highly esteemed Emil M. deGoma, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and medical director of the Preventive Cardiovascular Program of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine in Philadelphia, for his significant contribution to this book. As I am not a medical expert, I am deeply grateful to Dr. deGoma for agreeing to read and comment on the medical aspects of the initial manuscript as well as writing such a wonderfully informative foreword to this book.