Tired of hearing "cut the salt" for your blood pressure? Let’s talk about what’s really happening and how small changes can make a big difference.

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 Show Notes

• Introduction and discussion of blood pressure issues

• Personal experience with blood pressure and anxiety

• The connection between stress and blood pressure

• Insulin resistance as a root cause of high blood pressure

• How insulin resistance impacts blood pressure

• Increases aldosterone hormone, affecting salt retention

• Stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, raising blood pressure

• Causes blood vessels to narrow

• Decreases nitric oxide, causing vasoconstriction

• The role of salt in managing blood pressure

• Salt is necessary for hydration and mineral balance

• Different types of salt to consider (Redmond, sea salt, Celtic salt)

• Addressing insulin resistance through lifestyle changes

• Diet, stress management, and breathing exercises

• Supplements for blood pressure management

• LMNT electrolytes, sea salt, Feel Great System

• The importance of a balanced diet and hydration for managing insulin resistance

• Conclusion on the benefits of addressing the root causes of high blood pressure

Big Key Takeaways

1. Insulin resistance is the silent cause of many health issues, including high blood pressure.

2. Stress management (breathing, exercise, and stress reduction) plays a key role in controlling blood pressure.

3. Salt is not the main culprit in high blood pressure, but insulin resistance causes your kidneys to retain salt, leading to higher blood pressure.

4. The Feel Great System can help reduce insulin resistance, lower blood pressure, and improve overall health.

5. Dietary changes—reducing processed foods, sugar, and increasing fiber and healthy fats—are essential for managing blood pressure.

Transcript

 Hello everyone and welcome back to the Better Than A Pill podcast. Today, I'm here with our functional medicine practitioner, Amanda Yue. I'm super excited as usual to have her on the podcast. And I just want to say one thing before we get started, I just want to. Thank the Lord. Thank God for this podcast.

And just want to just state that because this podcast would not be in existence if it weren't for him. So thank you, Lord. And then we're going to go ahead and we're going to get into our topic today, which is  blood pressure. And I have to tell you, I just really, I love this topic. And I just want to share from a personal standpoint that I know a lot of

People listening and even people I work with struggle with blood pressure. And I have a blood pressure machine in my house. I work with different physicians that are even clients that have recommended it. I take my blood pressure regularly. Because it's been something near to my heart since I was seven, I was told by a doctor, you need to start exercising, go on a diet and lose weight because they saw a spike in my blood pressure and that was white coat syndrome.

And so there's so much like I've learned that can go into blood pressure and that includes  anxiety. So stressed. Yes.  Stress is one of them. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And so yeah, so let's, so let's get into this topic, stress is a stress in the form of anxiety that can raise people's blood pressure.

There's so many things that we can do to lower your blood pressure. And at the heart of a lot of the things that I'm learning through you through Shannon or registered dietitian and other things too, is that there's this. This underlying seed that's related to everything.

And you guys keep pointing back to insulin resistance. And so we have these layers of things we have, our diet, we have stress, we have our lifestyle  and insulin resistance, like  this again, and what I've learned from you guys so far, it's just almost like a silent.  Something that goes silent that we don't really know exists that can be going on in our bodies.

I know, like without us knowing. And so let's talk a little bit about how, how does that affect pressure? Absolutely. Yes. Yes, absolutely. And insulin resistance can be climbing steadily for over  10, 15 years.  People can have insulin resistance and not know it. And as stated in the CDC right now, 93 percent of adult Americans have prediabetes insulin resistance and most of them do not know that they have it.

So what is insulin resistance? Insulin resistance again is when we have too much insulin in our bloodstream and our cells fail or not respond to the insulins to open up the door to allow glucose to come into the cells to provide energy. All the normal functions that, if we or insulin resistance, we would be able to do.

But with insulin resistance is that we have too much insulin. And having too much insulin is due to, again, the primary cause of insulin resistance, stress being one of them, inflammations, and diet. So today we will focus on how insulin resistance affects the blood pressure. What are some of the mechanisms of actions of that?

There are many, like you mentioned, that can increase blood pressure. In terms of insulin resistance, if you are insulin resistant, one of the mechanisms is that it increases a hormone called aldosterone. Aldosterone is being excreted from the adrenal glands. Adrenal glands sit right on top of your kidneys.

When you have insulin resistance, you get an elevation of this hormone, and when you have an elevation of this hormone, it tells the kidneys, it signals the kidneys to hang on to salt. Have you been told you have high blood pressure to eat a low salt diet? For many physicians, many people, when they have high blood pressure, they say, oh no, I should not be eating salt.

That is false. That's not the cause. The cause is insulin resistance, signaling, yeah, the kidney to hang on to salt, where salt goes, water goes, and that will cause an increase in blood volumes, and that will lead to high blood pressure. So that's one mechanism of action of how insulin resistance leads to high blood pressure, right?

So I dispense medication to suppress aldosterone levels, to lower the aldosterone, but the problem is still treating what insulin resistance is already causing, right? I'm treating the symptoms. I'm not addressing the root cause, which is insulin resistance, which we can  do something about through our diets, through breath work as in your program, through other modalities, breathing, exercise, all that can be brought out in nature, all that can reduce stress, right?

And another mechanism is, you mentioned stress, so insulin resistance itself can stimulate your sympathetic nervous system, so it can increase your stress response. So it increases your sympathetic nervous system and that will increase your blood pressure. When you're stressed, your blood pressure will go up, right? 

Your adrenaline is being released, your stress hormone. Another mechanism is that Insulin resistance will lead to, insulin is a growth hormone, among other things, insulin has many actions, but one of them is, it tells the cells to grow, it causes, it's a growth hormone, including all cells, so in your blood vessels, there's a lining It's about with a epithelial cell, a special cells, and these cells will grow, and when they grow, they will narrow the blood vessel.

Can you imagine that? So the blood vessels are becoming smaller, and therefore, will cause the blood vessels to narrow. an increase in blood pressure. So that's another way that insulin resistance can lead to high blood pressure.  Another mechanism of action too is that as we get older the amount of nitric oxide  is lower and being insulin resistant also causes more decrease in nitric oxide.

So why is that important? Nitric oxide is a  blood vessel dilator. It causes the blood vessels to relax, right? So when you don't have an adequate amount of nitric oxide, this will cause vasoconstriction. Vasoconstriction is, will lead to high blood pressure, will lead to erectile dysfunctions, or will lead to other chronic health issues.

The root is insulin resistance and in it. And we have a simple protocol to address that through our diet, through stress management through lifestyle modifications. And that's why we're here, right? Yeah. So there's so many things that we can do. It sounds like, okay, first of all, I just want to take it a step back.

So yeah, salt, that's what they teach. That's what they teach at. All the places, these big medical centers I've been to, tell us to reduce the salt to under 2, 500 milligrams. That's stuck in my mind. And even as a young child, I remember looking at food labels and having to go low sodium.

So you're saying that's not really the problem. Salt is not the problem. Salt is just a it's it's the symptoms that's caused from insulin resistance. We need salt because if you don't have enough salt, you don't get enough minerals and we need salt for hydration, right?

If we don't have enough salt. We don't have enough minerals, especially magnesium, sodium, potassium can influence, can affect your muscles, can  affect your energy levels, and you can become dehydrated if you don't have enough minerals. You need magnesium, you need sodium, you need to open up the cells to allow water to come inside the cells.

So you can be dehydrated at a cellular level if you don't consume enough minerals, which yes. That makes sense based on actually I guess a while back I had learned a little bit about, just from the standpoint of salt, not exactly when it, as it relates to blood pressure, but the idea that we needed in our diet as a mineral.

And from my understanding Like sea salt and things like that. So I started to incorporate sea salt and things like that into my cooking, which was different. I'm just putting it together now as we're talking about the high blood pressure rule and what we're taught. And yeah, so it's okay. The salt is okay.

The insulin resistance, which people don't talk about, is the problem. This is the problem. And so when we're doing things like this, we're a fan of obviously we're going to do our pain free movement. We're going to be like, I love how you said breathing. And yeah, I've been convicted of that lately.

I need to slow down and breathe, even though I teach this for a living, I'm human. It's like we were talking yesterday. So breathing stress, Breathing can help with stress, slowing down, and fresh air. I love that you mentioned that. And as I am learning and growing, supplementation is something that we've been talking about.

And for me, I don't align myself with A lot of things. But I know that one thing that we will talk about too, is the feel great system because that helps with just so many things. And because that is directly affecting our insulin resistance, right? So we'll talk about that as well, are there any other supplements?

In addition to that, that you would recommend when it comes to blood pressure, sodium. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So Redmond salt, sea salt, Celtic salt. I like electrolyte LMN tea. So I would add that to my Yudamate tea, which is the tea in the feel great system. I would add salt to it to help with electrolytes to help with hydration.

As we become more insulin sensitive, as you incorporate the system, the feel great system into your  routine, as you become more insulin sensitive, because Insulin is is antidiuretic itself, so as you lower the insulin level, you can become more dehydrated, so if you experience like constipations, if you experience, dehydration, so that's why we encourage people to add salt to their water sea salt, that is, redmond salt, celtic salt, himalayan salt, LMNT is electrolytes that's commercially available.

I like that. So absolutely. And then the feel great system, which is the T and the fiber that helped to address insulin resistance at the root.  Actually tea helps to decrease inflammation. It's neuroprotective, it's kidney protective. So it does so many things and plus it shuts off the food noise to help people with intermittent fasting.

And that is the fastest way to lower your insulin level, to bring your insulin levels up. to baseline and become more insulin sensitive. Okay. So what I'm hearing is add salt, sea salt, the Celtic salt, that kind of salt, you mentioned Himalayan salt to our water. Wow, guys, that's great. So don't listen to your doctors. 

I'm not going to say that.  Okay. I'm not either. So listen to them for some things, but when it comes to the salt, it sounds like that is something that we want. And then Let me ask you, how do you spell the T so people can type the element T, which is  just a letter L M as in Mary N as in Nancy T  L M N T L M N T and that has electrolytes in it.

Okay. So you guys are listening today?  Okay. Awesome. Awesome. And that's good for us. And then of course, our beloved feel great system, which has so many benefits from my understanding, just in, and I, again, I started using it. Like we all know for gut restoration and I'm having other benefits with mental health and stuff right now.

But drinking it just in my body regularly, it's direct.  affecting my insulin resistance is what you're saying. Am I hearing that correctly? Okay. That's a win. That's exciting. Yes. It will help to lower your insulin allowing your body to become more insulin sensitive, but of course we need to encourage you to Make sure you drink an adequate amount of water, of course, and also remove processed food, cut out the sugar.

Sugar is the driver for insulin resistance, causing inflammation, reducing stress, so reduce carbohydrates, prioritize your protein. Don't be afraid of healthy fat and focus on fiber. And if you can't get enough, that's why we have the supplement, which is the balance, which is the second part of the feel great system.

So pretty much we're just adding food back into our diet. That is not, that's been removed by the food companies. Sure. And that makes sense. And I know we talked a little bit, me and Amanda were talking yesterday about this idea of that, we're not going to be, we're not here to be perfect. And I was telling her that, and I feel strongly because we all are going to have things that are going to be processed.

Sometimes we're going to have sugar that's real and it's okay. I think that, just saying that aloud and knowing that's okay, we're not here to be perfect, but in general, we're trying to aim to stay away from those things, and that sugar is addictive and that we don't want to get addicted to it.

I have been addicted to it. So I get that balance. It's we're trying to find that balance of not letting that affect our insulin is what I'm hearing. So eat the proteins, eat the fats, try to be a little, watch out for the carbohydrates you're eating. I know we're not advocates of any specific diet, but a lot of people are listening, maybe doing keto low carbs.

I think we've talked about this before on interviewing even top experts from Duke on, Dr. Yancey was on not too long ago. Everybody is saying low carb for a reason after age 40, especially because we're not talking like young kids. Like my kids don't need to be low carb right now.

But our bodies change. And so I think that's really helpful for people to hear.  I do want to ask you like, And then maybe this will be too specific when people are, when they're eating and they're getting the proteins and the fats.  I took this away. I think when we talked before, If they do have carbohydrates, you'd recommend eating it at the end of the meal. 

Okay. That's awesome. Order. Order matters. Order matters. Yes. So if you need to have some dessert, some carbs, some fruits, add it at the end of the meal too, to prevent that glucose and insulin spikes. So that is the goal to prevent that spike in the crash. Okay. Awesome. The insulin resistance. Yeah. Very cool.

And I know we're going to, we're going to wrap it up here in a second, but I, just to say and we'll probably be talking more about restricted eating in future episodes and things like that, but or intermittent fasting, just to clarify, but  in a nutshell, let's just say that snacking.

Having more than two or three meals a day is something that we also want to try and keep under control because that is going to wreak havoc on our insulin levels and glucose and cause problems, right? Correct. Okay. Correct. Yeah. And that's where these supplements come in.  come into play because one, the tea, helps to suppress hunger.

So you don't need to snack and it has enough nutrients to support in Argentina, they call it God's milk because it has enough nutrients, vitamins and nutrients to support life. And then the second, which is the fiber matrix, it helps to feed the gut microbiome, but not only that, it. keep you satiated longer and faster.

So all the two products together help to stabilize your glucose and your insulin.  That's awesome. I'm super excited. I'm just so excited. We can get this information out to the world guys here. We are big fans of the great system. And so the link for that is in this episode. And yes, there are two products.

We've got the yerba mate tea. Which is the unimate and then the balance, which is the fiber and I'm taking them. It's been since July 5th, everybody, and I can tell it's made a difference just in my overall health. And I'm super excited too, because I'm just learning how powerful this stuff can be and seeing how it can help other people.

So the links in the episode also, we talked about the fact that you need to move. Thank you. Okay, guys, and I know our doctors are, make it say, Hey, you need to exercise. You need to do this. And I get that. But what they're missing is that we also need to do things that are going to help us to sustain our movement.

So if you're struggling with having to move because you've got back pain, joint or muscle pain or stiffness, I'd love to connect with you. You guys, I've been doing this for a long time. And yeah, I've been doing it for over 26 years. And, if you have a fear of injury, if you are struggling with pain, you can also schedule a consultation.

If you're a listener to the better than a pill podcast, you will get a special right. You can reach out to support a movement craft. com. I'm here for you. We release new episodes every other week on Wednesday, and I truly look forward to having you join me then. And thank you so much, Amanda. Thank you for coming on today.

Thank you.