Every time you go to the doctor, you get your blood pressure taken. Do you ever wonder why it is so important?

Chronically elevated blood pressure is a precursor to many dangerous health problems and issues. Here is a look at what problems high blood pressure can cause and things you can do to lower your blood pressure.

Artery Damage

Arteries are what carry your blood from your heart toward the rest of your body. When the pressure if these little arteries gets to be too high, the lining is damaged. This can make the walls of your arteries stiff and become hardened. Problems associated with artery damage are heart attack, heart failure, aneurysms, blocked arteries, and stroke to name a few.

Kidney Damage

Your kidneys are what filter excess fluid and waste from your blood. This process is highly dependent on having healthy blood vessels. Having high blood pressure can cause damage to the blood vessels coming to and from your kidneys which may lead to kidney failure, kidney scarring, and kidney disease.

Sexual Dysfunction

The artery damage from high blood pressure is not limited to certain parts of your body. High blood pressure can cause decreased blood flow to your sexual organs. This can lead to dysfunctions in men and women.

Bone Loss

High blood pressure can increase the amount of calcium that is excreted in your urine. This means that this calcium is not being added to your bones. This can reduce your bone density which can lead to osteoporosis.

What Can You Do?

There are several things you can do to lower your blood pressure. Here is a list of a few.

• Exercise will help strengthen your heart and arteries, and lower your blood pressure.

• De-stress your life. People who are chronically stressed are known to have higher blood pressure than those who take the time to relax.

• Eating healthy food can also help lower your blood pressure. By cutting fatty foods out of your diet, your arteries will be less likely to become blocked with fatty deposits.

Save Your Heart

It only takes a little bit of time each day to help your lower your blood pressure. Taking a walk on your lunch break or adding a few more fruits and veggies to your diet can help save your life. Not only will your lengthen your life with these tips, your quality of life will also be better.

What is It?

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition. Fibromyalgia is a disorder that experts think effects the way that your brain processed pain signals which amplifies painful sensations. Fibromyalgia is one of the most common diseases affecting the muscles that can lead to chronic pain and eventually disability.

Causes

Even though this disease is a very common one, there is no known cure. Symptom onset is gradual with no apparent trigger or event to bring them on.

Symptoms

Fibromyalgia affects more women than men – 80% of people affected by fibromyalgia are women. However men, women, children, and elderly can all suffer from fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia can appear independently or in conjunction with other diseases such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. There are many signs and symptoms of fibromyalgia that include:

• Pain, stiffness, and tenderness in joints muscles and tendons, without noticeable inflammation
• Extreme fatigue
• Sleep disorders are common among fibromyalgia sufferers
• Pain sensation for things that should not be painful

Cures

There are currently no cures for fibromyalgia. There are only ways that sufferers can deal with the disease. The best ways to deal with fibromyalgia is to exercise, relax, and reduce stress. There are some medications that are often prescribed to help deal with fibromyalgia. It is probably best to go about your daily routine as normal as possible (making sure you take time to rest) unless then the pain is unbearable.

Conclusion

I have seen people suffer from fibromyalgia and it is not fun to watch. Everything they do is painful. The best thing they can do is to keep a good outlook on life which is difficult because of the sometimes constant pain. Hopefully someday in the future, scientists will find a cure.

Here are a few things you can do to help you buy healthier foods and that you are buying just what you meant to buy.

Make a List

Without a list, you are just left to buy what looks or sounds good at the moment. Buying just random foods means that you will most likely have food in your fridge that goes bad. You didn’t plan a meal to use that product, so it never gets used.

Making a list will also help you plan healthier meals. With a plan in mind, you will be less tempted to by that big greasy burger or those muffins. You will also be less likely to go out to eat if you plan properly. If you plan out your meals and what to buy for them, you won’t have to wonder what there is to eat and end up at a restaurant.

Shop the Perimeter

Ever notice where most of the fresh food products are located at the store? They are normally around the perimeter of the food section. The prepackaged foods, which are full of sodium and fat, are located in the middle of the store. Staying to the outside of the store for the majority of your shopping trip will ensure that you are buying more fresh and healthy foods.

Don’t Shop Hungry

When you go to the store hungry, you are more likely to buy more food. You will probably be more likely to buy unhealthy foods or foods that just look good at the moment.

Try these tips. Then keep track of the money you spent before and after. Keep track of the kinds of foods you start buying and how much food you are, or aren’t wasting. You might be surprised how much stress you relieve by following these three simple tips.

For Him

Sports Watch: A lot of brands are starting to make sports watches that are stylish and useful during workouts. A watch with a heart rate monitor is sure to win points, and a GPS watch might be a great choice for a biker or runner.

Hydration Pack: If he loves the great outdoors, biking, or distance running, a hydration pack might be perfect for him. It will allow him to carry pretty much anything he will need during a workout, plus a little extra. Not to mention enough water to keep him hydrated the entire time.

Gym Bag: When your guy hits the gym, does he spend the first 30 minutes looking for all of the stuff he needs? If you have an absent-minded man, a nice gym bag might be great for him. He can keep all of his workout gear in one place so that he can grab it and walk out the door. Just make sure that he takes his clothes out every once-in-awhile…

For Her

Yoga Mat: If your girl is a yoga lover, get her a quality yoga mat and bag. A good yoga mat makes all the difference in the world. Who knows, maybe she’ll be so excited that she’ll offer to do some partner yoga in honor of Valentine’s Day.

Workout Clothes: Girls love to shop for clothes, and workout clothes are no exception to this rule. Pick out an outfit that you think would look flattering on her that will give her a boost of confidence all through her workout.

An MP3 Player: Working out can be hard, but listening to music always makes it more enjoyable. If she doesn’t already have one, get her a small MP3 player that is light enough for her to use while working up a sweat.

For Both of You

This Valentine’s Day, treat your sore muscles to a little pampering and indulge in a couple’s massage. You’ve both worked hard with your training, so spend some time showing your muscles—and each other—some love.

When I go to the gym, whether in my hometown or where I’m living now, there is always one thing in common with the free weights area: there are hardly any girls!

Why is this?

I think that a lot of women avoid lifting weights because they think that weights will bulk them up.

What a lot of women don’t realize, though, is that we simply are not built like men. We don’t have the same amount of testosterone, which means that even if we tried, we would not be able to bulk up quite like a man (without the aid of steroids, that is…).

Because women have so little testosterone, the only result that will come from lifting weights is reduced body fat and lean, toned muscles.

If you know anything about exercise and calories, you know that cardio burns far more calories in a session than resistance training.

This is because the heart gets more of a workout during cardio than during weight training. During weight training, the muscles are what get the workout.

Interestingly, however, after the resistance training is over, the body continues to burn calories at a much faster rate and for a much longer period of time than cardio.

This is because muscle burns calories much faster than fat does. Any increase in muscle will, therefore, increase metabolism, making you lose weight faster.

So if you have lost weight and are trying to lose those last ten or fifteen pounds, adding weight lifting to your program will produce those results while at the same time toning you.

If you decide to be brave and venture into the free weight area (or the boys’ club, as I like to call it), there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Make sure that you are doing it right!

Weight lifting is something that can be very good for your body. If done wrong, however, you can permanently injure your muscles. In particular, the muscles in your back are at risk if you perform reps wrong. Don’t be afraid to bring along a friend who knows about weight lifting to correct your form so that you don’t cause serious injury.

2. Work your entire body

I don’t like feeling manly in the weight room, so I used to be afraid of doing barbell squats. I have realized, though, that doing squats strengthens every muscle in the lower body. If you are worried about your butt or thighs, squats are perfect to add.

3. Finally, DON’T QUIT!

There is a weird satisfaction that comes from finishing a free weight workout. You will become one of the few women who dares to venture into the boys’ club, and that is something to be proud of.

You might feel a little self-conscious at first, but like with anything, weights take practice. So keep at it and you will eventually see amazing results!

So be afraid of your belly fat. Though you may have happy memories of the doughnuts and ice cream you consumed to pack on those pounds, this flab is not your friend.

What’s so Bad About Belly Fat?

For lack of a better analogy, your liver and your pancreas are like to a well-run apartment complex – state-of-the-art, efficient and well-maintained. Your belly fat is like the obnoxious and rude neighbor who rents out the units next-door and started disrupting the system with partying and trash, eventually crumbling down the entire system.

How Can I Do It?

Obnoxious tenants such as belly fat should be evicted immediately. Research has shown that time and again, exercise is a great way to see results. Exercise doesn’t just help you burn fat; it also builds and shape muscles, giving them the tone, the strength and the endurance for optimum performance.

With exercise, you not only burn fat and build muscle, but your emotional and psychological well-being improves as well. Exercise gives you that feel-good feeling that not only do you burn fat; you bring your body into that healthier mode.

A study conducted at the School of Medicine in Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC has shown that in a 20-week period, women who were regularly working out and dieting eliminated about 18 percent of their abdominal fats and women who were just calorie counting lost weight but did not significantly reduce the amount of fat in the body.

1. Add, Don’t Subtract

Many make the mistake of getting into diets that require that you drop an entire food group. Your body needs all of the major food groups and they all perform essential functions.
And not only can you not maintain this kind of diet, it is extremely unhealthy. The better option is to replace things one at a time and add good foods, rather than just taking away all the unhealthy things.

2. Get Moving

Experts have recently proven that your body actually needs at least 60 minutes of cardio per day to significantly burn fat. If you want more effective results for your time, try using what’s called interval training. You go between speeds, never allowing your body to get used to one speed, and it burns more fat in the same amount of time as a simple and steady jog or even sprint.

3. Drink Up!

Most of the time, we actually mistake thirst for hunger. We overeat when we could actually cut our caloric intake in half by simply drinking the recommended 64 oz. of water per day or for that matter more. Water is absolutely essential to every function of the body, and it also has a certain cleansing effect on the body.

4. Fruits And Veggies

Fruits and vegetables have vitamins, minerals, fibers and antioxidants which can help you to lose more weight. They are also generally lower in calories than other foods and curb your hunger, helping you to cut back on those high-carb indulgences.

5. Don’t Forget The Good Fats

Omega fatty acids are good for the heart and they promote fat burning. But they are small. However, the simple fact is that not only will you not get all of the health benefits you need if you do not consume good fatty acids, it may actually stall or even stop your weight loss progress if you have little to no good fatty acids in your diet.

6. Try Weight Training

you are building definition in your body when you have more muscle, and muscle will burn calories even when your body is at rest. It naturally increases the metabolism and improves the body’s function.

7. Focus On Being Healthy, Not Tiny

If you live a healthy lifestyle, you will still be burning more calories than you consume and you will lose weight. But if you strive for a particular number on the scale, you aren’t taking into account the weight of muscle and bone structure.

8. Get Support

You are 10 times more likely to fail without extra support. People telling you to keep going, people to compete with, and people who will encourage you even when you are struggling or when you may mess up – this is essential for real success.

9. Eat Slowly

It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to get the “I’m full!” message from your stomach. Eating slowly also helps you digest food more easily take the time to drink more water. It is just one of many ways that you can cut back calories throughout the day.

10. Write it Down

One of the biggest aids in achieving real weight loss is knowing how many calories you consume and where your weaknesses are. People lose 80% more weight when they track their eating habits. This is partly due to the fact that you are much more likely to decline that extra cupcake if you know you will have to account for it.

Lentil Burgers

INGREDIENTS

1 large clove garlic, peeled
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted (see Tips)
2 slices whole-wheat sandwich bread, crusts removed, torn into pieces
1 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram or 1 teaspoon dried
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 cups cooked or canned (rinsed) lentils (see Tips)
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, vegetarian (see Note) or regular
3 teaspoons canola oil, divided
4 whole-wheat hamburger buns, toasted
4 pieces leaf lettuce
4 slices tomato or jarred roasted red pepper
4 thin slices red onion

PREPARATION
Coarsely chop garlic; sprinkle with salt and mash to a paste with the side of the knife. Coarsely chop walnuts in a food processor. Add bread, marjoram, pepper and the garlic paste; process until coarse crumbs form. Add lentils and Worcestershire; process until the mixture just comes together in a mass. Form into four 3-inch patties (about 1/3 cup each).

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook the patties until browned on the bottom, 2 to 4 minutes. Carefully turn over; reduce heat to medium-low. Drizzle the remaining 1 teaspoon oil around the burgers and cook until browned on the other side and heated through, 4 to 6 minutes more. Serve on buns with lettuce, tomato (or red pepper) and onion.

Wine & Tomato Braised Chicken

INGREDIENTS

4 slices bacon
1 large onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 bay leaf
1 cup dry white wine (see Tip)
1 28-ounce can tomatoes, with juice, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
10 bone-in chicken thighs (about 3 3/4 pounds), skin removed, trimmed
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

PREPARATION

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 4 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Crumble when cool.

Drain off all but 2 tablespoons fat from the pan. Add onion and cook over medium heat, stirring, until softened, 3 to 6 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, fennel seeds, pepper and bay leaf and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add wine, bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, scraping up any browned bits. Add tomatoes and their juice and salt; stir well.

Place chicken thighs in a 4-quart (or larger) slow cooker. Sprinkle the bacon over the chicken. Pour the tomato mixture over the chicken. Cover and cook until the chicken is very tender, about 3 hours on High or 6 hours on Low. Remove the bay leaf. Serve sprinkled with parsley.

Variation: Turn 2 cups each of leftover chicken and sauce into Braised Chicken Gumbo. Heat 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 diced medium red or green bell pepper and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour and cook, stirring, until the pepper is beginning to soften and the flour is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Add 2 cups shredded chicken, 2 cups sauce, 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth, 1 cup sliced okra (fresh or frozen, thawed), 3/4 cup instant brown rice (see Tip) and 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the flavors meld and the okra is tender, about 10 minutes.

Offer choice. Offering options can allow children to feel as though they are choosing to eat the food. So, instead of setting the plate before them, ask in advance if they want carrots or broccoli or both, or watermelon or strawberries or both. You might be surprised at what they choose. Also, when shopping, encourage your child to find the “best” apples, head of lettuce or whichever produce item interests them.

Appeal to the senses. Offer foods that taste and smell good. Mashed cauliflower may seem bland, so add a bit of low-fat cheese sauce. Can’t get your child to try steamed broccoli? Drizzle it with a bit of extra-virgin olive oil and kosher salt. This tip works on fruit as well. For instance, dip strawberries in melted dark chocolate. This way they eat only a bit of dark chocolate, but a lot more fruit.

For younger children or toddlers, offer foods in a variety of textures and colors. Remember that like adults, toddlers eat with their eyes first. You can use cookie cutters to make almost anything into an appealing shape.

Be a good role model. If you’re not eating fruits and vegetables, your child probably won’t either. Remember to model positive eating behaviors. Your child will be more likely to follow along and will eat right along with you.

Don’t give up! If your child refuses a food, says she hates it or even spits it out, offer it again another night, and then again. Remember that food preferences change as we grow and develop, so continue to encourage them to try different foods.

To learn more about your child’s nutritional needs and how to add more fruits and vegetables to even the pickiest eater’s plate, consult a registered dietitian in your area.

(CNN) — Tonya Rasberry dialed her husband’s number, her composure shaken and her nerves numb.

She dreaded the call, but her husband picked up immediately.

“I got my test results back,” she told him.

For a brief moment, silence hung in the air.

“What’d the doctor say?” he asked.

For the first time, the words fell out of her mouth: “I’m positive, too.”

Rasberry heard his telephone drop — it clattered against the hospital’s tiled floor. She could hear his muffled cry — the painful, gut wrenching cry that shakes a person so hard they can’t make a sound.

“I ruined your life,” he would tell her later. “I killed my family.”

Her husband had AIDS. And now, she had HIV.

Rasberry could have thrown him out of their home, gathered their three kids and left him. Instead, she chose a different route.

She forgave him.

The modern epidemic

In the 30 years of HIV/AIDS, the virus has changed the way people think about sex and has raised the stakes of unprotected intimacy.

Since the virus was first reported on June 5, 1981, the disease has killed more than 25 million people worldwide. Today, about 33 million are living with HIV/AIDS — more than a million in the United States.

In the United States, the demographic of the HIV/AIDS epidemic has spread from gay men in the 1980s to heterosexual minority women in the 1990s and 2000s. It disproportionately affects people of color: African-Americans and Hispanics.

“Although the numbers in the decades have been stable, the rates of the disease are unacceptably high,” said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, about the toll on African-American and Hispanic women. “New diagnoses are 19-22 times of white women in the U.S. That’s a startling statistic.”

Rasberry, 36, embodies another challenge of a modern day epidemic. She knew about HIV/AIDS from public health campaigns, but never imagined it would touch her — after all, she was married.

Many women believe they are in monogamous relationships and later find out they got HIV from their partners, said Ingrid Floyd, executive director of Iris House Inc., a program for HIV-positive women in Harlem.

“How do you deal with that,” Floyd said, “that your partner lives with the disease and never disclosed to you?”

The virus attacks immune systems but also leaves patients with the sting of betrayal. Could they trust another person again?

There’s an even more difficult question.

“For many of them, there’s a fear of rejection,” Floyd said. “If you’re HIV-positive, there’s the whole disclosure part. Is someone going to accept your HIV status?”

Young love

They met on a hot May night in 1994.

A 19-year-old Rasberry had finished a day of busing tables at a Seattle seafood restaurant. She and her girlfriends had planned a night in the city. Dolled up in miniskirt and heels, they were crossing a street when a man called out to Rasberry.

It was important that he talk to her, he said. He was with his friends and they bet that he couldn’t talk to a gorgeous girl like her.

Rasberry eyed the older man. She stood an inch taller. At 5 feet 5, he had a stocky build and broad shoulders, the structure of a former football player. But what he lacked in stature, he made up for in charisma.

His name was Eric.

Right away, she noticed he was nothing like other boys she had dated. He was a gentleman, always opening doors for her. And it was easy to get swept away at 19.

He brought her to the nicest restaurants, surprised her with balloons and champagne.

“He was a sweet guy,” Rasberry said. “He took me everywhere — vacations, shopping. I thought he was the best thing since sliced bread.”

A year later, Rasberry was pregnant with their first child, a boy, Seaduan. Two years later, they welcomed a girl, Erykah, and a year later, another daughter, Tionne.

In 2000, the couple married in a simple garden ceremony in California. They raised the kids and a Labrador mix named Smokey in an apartment in Kent, near Seattle.

Her husband traveled frequently. He told her he worked in construction. She suspected this wasn’t the case. Later, she would learn he had a house in Ohio and a music studio in California.

She warned him promiscuous behavior would hurt her and their kids. She wanted a regular family life or she would leave.

“I felt like he was willing to make those changes,” Rasberry said. “I felt like I could stick in there longer. Then, he got sick shortly after that.”

Paralysis

On a summer night in 2002, Eric wasn’t feeling well. After picking up pizza for dinner, he arrived home and crumpled to the floor.

Maybe it was his diabetes. Maybe he just had too much sugar.

By the time he arrived at the hospital, he couldn’t move his right side. Half his face drooped and his right hand curled and froze in place.

At 32, he had a brain infection called toxoplasmosis that had caused a stroke. Doctors were perplexed about how he had gotten it.

After a slew of tests, his doctor told him: “You have AIDS.”

HIV/AIDS medications, while lifesaving, aren’t as effective when the disease has advanced.

In most cases, the patients who don’t recover “weren’t aware of their status, have co-morbid status, substance abuse, or other chronic illness that make it harder to take HIV medication,” said Dr. Judith Currier, chief of the division of infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

When patients like Eric are diagnosed in later stages, they are more vulnerable to infections.

For patients like Rasberry, who start treatment in the earliest stage of the disease, life expectancy is close to people without HIV.

A loss

“I didn’t have enough time to be sad for myself,” Rasberry said about her diagnosis. “There was no time for that.”

Overnight, she became the breadwinner with four dependents: her paralyzed husband and her kids, all under 10.

There was no time for anger. But Rasberry wondered, how had she become infected when she had tested negative for HIV for each of her pregnancies, in 1995, 1997 and 1999? Her children do not have HIV.

Her gaze fell to her husband.

The businessman who took pride in caring for his family had become bedridden. He was constantly fighting new infections.

“I had to dress him and bathe him,” Rasberry said. “From that moment, I was doing everything for him.”

A throat infection obstructed his ability to swallow, so a feeding tube was inserted. Every day, Rasberry pulverized his pills and cleaned his feeding tube.

“There was nobody else I’d do that for,” she said.

Once 300 pounds, he shrank to a third that size.

“Every time I changed him or fed him, he would apologize,” Rasberry said. “He was sorry about the HIV — that I had to do this. He just looked so sad.”

She told the kids their father was sick with diabetes.

She took her HIV medication, then she went to work at a collection agency. At night, she’d get dinner for the family and try to help her husband through the night.

She was wearing out.

As his health faded, Eric went into hospice care in the Seattle area, then to a facility near his family in California. He died on October 6, 2004, from complications of AIDS related to pneumonia. He was 34.

“I loved him,” Rasberry said. “We have three gorgeous children. I had more good times in the relationship. I like to remember it for those things.”

A new bond

Following her doctor’s suggestion, Rasberry went to a woman’s group called BABES Network-YWCA. There, she found a sisterhood of women who have been through the betrayals, the grief and the physical toll of HIV/AIDS.

Tonya Rasberry sits with her children, from left, Erykah, 13, Tionne, 12, and Seaduan, 15.

“A lot of these women and mothers were in relationships, trusting somebody,” Rasberry said about the patients she met. “Now their whole life is different.”

She was paired with a counselor, Nicole Price, who had contracted HIV through a boyfriend.

Even though HIV was no laughing matter, “Tonya has a great sense of humor and she’s always making us laugh,” Price said.

Rasberry had a natural openness that put others at ease, even in difficult times, Price observed. It wasn’t long before Rasberry became a peer counselor at BABES, guiding Seattle women through the health care and medication maze and the emotional minefield of HIV/AIDS disclosure.

This year, the program lost its federal funding, so several staff members, including Rasberry, may lose their jobs in July. Even with the prospect of another loss, Rasberry continues to share her personal story at health events, women’s shelters and juvenile detention centers.

“HIV is not who I am,” Rasberry says during her talks. “It’s something I have.”