If you have high blood pressure, the first thing you should do is remove all grains and sweets from your diet until both your weight and your blood pressure have normalized.

 

When you eliminate grains and sweets from your diet, you are on your way to achieving a healthy level of insulin in your bloodstream.

The role insulin plays in high blood pressure cannot be overstated.

If you are like most people with hypertension, you have insulin receptors that don’t work efficiently. You have a condition known as insulin resistance (IR). To compensate, your body generates more insulin.

Eating sug­ars and grains -- in­cluding any type of bread, pasta, corn, potatoes, or rice -- will cause your insulin levels to remain elevated.

Elevated insulin levels are very toxic and can lead to devastating consequences for your health.

Insulin stores magnesium, but if your insulin receptors are blunted and your cells grow resistant to insulin, you can’t store magnesium and it passes out of your body through urination. Magnesium stored in your cells relaxes muscles. If your magnesium level is too low, your blood vessels will constrict rather than relax, which will raise your blood pressure and decrease your energy level.

Insulin also affects your blood pressure by causing your body to retain sodium. Sodium retention causes fluid retention. Fluid retention in turn causes high blood pressure, and can ultimately lead to congestive heart failure.

When you consume a high-carbohydrate meal, you raise both your blood sugar and your insulin level. A high level of insulin acts as a very strong stimulant to your sympathetic nervous system. The reaction of your sympathetic nervous system causes spasms -- constrictions -- of your arteries. And if you already suf­fer from hypertension, this further constriction of your blood vessels can increase your risk of a heart attack.