It is getting increasingly clear that those looking for lower blood pressure should avoid fast foods. Its certainly no coincidence that runaway rates of high blood pressure, diabetes and extraordinary obesity in the West coincide with the rise of these products.

As a matter of fact, two specific ready-made foods, products that have come to dominate entire food groups, are now clearly linked to obesity and raised blood pressure. They’re hydrogenated, or trans-, fats and high fructose sweeteners. These freaks can justly be called ‘Frankenstein Foods’ as examples of science gone wrong.

Trans-fats undergo a method that turns liquid oil into solid fat. We know this substance most frequently as margarine. The characteristics of many of these margarines are no coincidence ; the chemical structure of hydrogenated fat is similar to plastic. Unnecessary to say, trans-fats do not happen naturally.

Ironically, margarine and other hydrogenated fats were once promoted as healthy choices to saturated fats. But we know now that natural fats contain trace minerals, amino acids and other nutrients essential to good health. Its hydrogenated fats that are the monsters.

Consumers need to read food labels carefully and treat hydrogenated fats with caution. And if you have raised blood pressure you should avoid them like the plague. Naturally, with extensive coverage of the health dangers of trans-fats this advice may appear old hat. A number of progressive shops and food producers have even taken the first steps to ban trans-fats in their products.

Another known cause of raised blood pressure is high fructose syrups. These sweeteners were similarly promoted as healthy choices to the scary cane sugar. Food producers have pulled the wool over the publics eye by stressing the association of the name ‘fructose’ with fruit. Fruit contains fructose but it is by no means the same substance as the high fructose syrups, most often corn syrup, employed in the food industry.

High fructose syrups are only now being exposed as a health risk and few folk recognize the size of the difficulty. High fructose corn syrup is less expensive than cane sugar and many times sweeter. The result is not surprising ; high fructose syrup is literally everywhere in processed foods from cola drinks to ketchup to spaghetti sauce. Even Coca-Cola has used high fructose corn syrup since 1985.

Like hydrogenated fats, fructose sweeteners also increase belly fat, much more so than traditional sugar. The effect is a threatening condition called metabolic syndrome. Obesity, defective insulin metabolism, high cholesterol and high blood pressure are all results. What’s more, fructose sweeteners have the potential to damage the liver as they pass undigested thru the small intestine where they head directly to the liver.

But our shops remain stacked high with countless other hypertension causing foods. These include processed cheese, beef from animals treated with expansion hormones and other chemicals, fake salt substitutes, dairy substitutes and plenty more. Basically, they include any foods that have been chemically or mechanically made, reinforced or improved. Please remember that not all of these foods are damaging if eating in minute quantities, but most are just not required for the security of our food supply and our good health.

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