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blood pressure/kidney/nature of the heart
I posted this on the thread about breathing and realize it was too much of a digression. So I'm posting it here. Sheila inspired it.
Obviously acute stress (say, visiting a doctor, LOL) can make your blood pressure go up, let's put stress aside for another post.
One of the most interesting things I've read, (in that realm of "everything you know is wrong" LOL) is that the heart is not a pump. https://www.chelseagreen.com/2016/author-thomas-cowan-heart-pump/
Think about it. The blood travels SO FAR. STOPS. Comes back! Really? All due to the heart?
This article linked to above talks about some of the odd ways that water will act. (tidbit quotes: "This is hugely significant because it means that all you need to do to get water to flow, and for mechanical work to be done, and for it to be done indefinitely, is to put a hydrophilic tube in a pot of water." "As a result of the separation of electrical charges...this flow will be indefinite, unless acted upon by a force that stops it.")
Now, we know there are certain VERY COMMON ways for vitamin A toxicity to rear it's ugly head. One of the most common is KIDNEY problems. What if... High blood pressure is actually just a KIDNEY PROBLEM symptom. Maybe... the kidney putting too much water in the system... wallah High Pressure.
Dr Cowan again: "the circulation is working too hard to nourish the cells, then it seems reasonable that some of the causes include excess weight, electrolyte imbalances, lack of exercise, fluid overload (due to poor kidney function), stress and fatty-acid imbalances. "
Personally, I feel that I've had some issues of swelling before (which I didn't even realize) and now during detox (that come and go). When I was having headaches (prior to lower VA), I often thought they were about fluid balance. During detox, my feet have been tender and swollen, my face too. I've lost 4 pounds in 2 months, and fast weight loss can be about fluids. I think my fluid balance is changing.
I used to put high blood pressure down to "inflammation"...but never really knew what that WAS specifically. "Inflammation" is probably is another way of looking at it, and again, we are working on having LESS (especially in the kidney!)
I can also see that this could probably go the other way, and result in low blood pressure (fluid underload due to upset kidneys).
I have known people with this problem too, some have trouble with fainting.
What we need is happy kidneys and the correct amount of fluid.
(as we probably all know): "... More than two drinks a day can increase your chance of having high blood pressure."
So I've stopped the red wine in case that is contributing to my elevated BP episodes. I'm sure I have a lower genetic tolerance for it...women do generally anyway. I thought some wine was ok seeing as it's fairly low A.
Maybe my body is just tired of dealing with any at all. (as far as wine goes, maybe for me, I've reached Hans Selye's 3rd stage in his general adaptation theory (?)
ETOH also weakens our cell membranes as I recall reading from one of Grant's posts.
(Not sure I should even write this: When I was in nursing school back in the 70's, we learned that a normal systolic pressure -the top number of your BP- was 100 plus your age!)
@ lil-chick. Hi! I read Dr. Cowan's book, 'Human heart ,Cosmic Heart,' when it came out and it was a very interesting read. He puts together a very convincing argument, as I recall, for how the heart beating couldn't be the sole way that the blood gets from the heart and all the way back to the heart again.
Unfortunately, I don't think my husband could/would hand it to his cardiologist because of 'cosmic' in the title.
In any case, I agree we have to question everything we were taught/think we know.
@lil-chick. Hi again. Also wasn't Dr. Cowan once part of WAPF? I think he wrote a book with Sally Fallon Morell (sp). Now he's selling plant pigments. All that kind of makes me question everything from him. But the heart book he wrote is interesting for sure.
I once saw Dr Cowan as a patient! heehee The idea that the heart isn't a pump predates Cowan.
I really think that eventually the WAPF will realize that some people have a low tolerance for A and will make adjustments in their recs. It's just going to be hard for them, and I suppose rightly so! I think even Price would be surprised. Price did say that fat soluble activators (such as A) were central to good health.
I think Price's research suffered from the fact that probably all the people who had low A tolerance were already on store food or he couldn't get into those countries. So he couldn't study their "ancestral diet" and add it into his theories.
heh, lil-chick. yes, the heart is not a pump idea does predate him. Not everything he says is suspect to me. He explained that very well and I found it quite fascinating.
I guess I sounded a bit harsh. Just those colourful, 'nutrient dense' dehydrated vegetable powders he sells (to put on your meals in case you don't eat your daily quota of veges) make me wonder in light of what we've learned from Grant's books -But I wouldn't have wondered at all before... I thought those veg powders sounded like a good idea.
I actually have his new book, "Vaccines, Autoimmunity and the changing Nature of Childhood Illness". I got it last year pre-VA knowledge- haven't cracked it open yet. Will be interesting to read Dr. Cowan's take on the cause of autoimmune diseases. Considering what he sells, I expect a very different theory than Grant's. I don't think it will be convincing.
Just googled those plant powders and noticed he has a new book coming out soon. It's called, "How (and why) to Eat More Vegetables". The reviews are interesting. Sally Fallon, Chris Kresser etc. https://www.drcowansgarden.com/collections/shop-powders/products/how-why-to-eat-more-vegetables
No, you didn't sound harsh, Sheila! I don't always resonate with what Cowan writes. Back when I saw him long ago, he was also all about supplements, at that time it was Standard Process. I only took them for a little while and gave up. At least they were less harsh than dermatologists junk meds. He is just another of a long line of doctors and gurus whose ideas have not worked for me.
I'm not actually very woo, I've very little confidence left in many things, both alternative and conventional. (Not that I think woo is bad, it's just not where I live.)
The failsafe diet was the only diet that seemed to have any effect on my face, (it was a low-veggie diet of sorts, it excluded lots of plant poisons)...I wish I could contact Emma (one guru of failsafe) and let her know about low vitie A.
My GRANDMOTHER would have been the best guru of all, with her bland diet handed down by her German immigrant parents during the depression. 🙂
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