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WeYuchi Yang has been a registered dietitian for over twenty years and she's allowing us the benefit of her knowledge to help us to reduce our blood pressure ''without'' taking medication, although she does stress that if you ''are'' taking medication you shouldn't stop doing so without consulting your doctor. You can reduce your BP in six steps, which are actually a lot simpler than they sound. Does it work? Yes, it does: I've been eating this way for more than two years and I've gone from having 'very worrying' blood pressure readings to getting a smile when they'll re taken and being told that my BP is perfectly normal - and that's without taking medication of any sort. So, what do you have to do? Well, the first step is very simple: you need to drink enough liquids. Getting a review good sodium-to-potassium ratio is the second step and whilst this might sound complicated it's not and Yang explains exactly how you can do it and you get examples of the sort of food which you should be eating. Getting an adequate amount of calcium is not complicated and once you know what you're looking for and it's relatively simple to eat high magnesium foods. For me the most important steps were eating a balance of good fats in moderation and limiting the amount of added sugar. In the summer of 2014 I might not have known the science behind the way that I was beginning to eat (I do now, thanks to Yang) but I certainly felt the benefits. It had been a casual remark which made me go and get my blood pressure checked and the threat of being on medication, possibly for life, which made me take a long, hard look at the way that I was eating. I changed my diet by trial and error, but Yang has laid it all out for us in simple language: each section starts with some facts and provides examples of the type of food which you should be eating and then there's a tool which allows you to track your progress. There are also answers to some of the questions that might have been niggling you, such as whether or not you should use salt substitutes, or food supplements and what's a good ratio of the different types of fat? Yang makes no claims for the benefit of the changes you should make other than the possibility of reducing your blood pressure, but for me there have been many others. I'm three stone lighter and have the sort of energy levels that I used to have twenty five years ago: I feel better in and about myself. It took me an hour to read the book and feel that I'd assimilated the information fully. It's excellent on what you ''should'' be eating, but I would have liked some information on what I should avoid. For instance, experience has taught me that caffeine makes my blood pressure shoot up, even if only temporarily, so I avoid it completely but that's a very minor niggle about a book which could be a lifesaver. I'd like to thank the publisher for sending a copy to the Bookbag. If this book shortlyappeals then you might also appreciate [[Eat. Nourish. Glow.: 10 easy steps for losing weight, looking younger and feeling healthier by Amelia Freer]].
You can read more about Yuchi Yang [[:Category:Yuchi Yang|here]]
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