Diet, Weight and Hypertension

Is there anything good about dieting, besides losing weight?

Yes, answers Executive Fitness Newsletter. Eating less- even far less – than it takes to give your tummy that firm, so fully packed feeling, has all sorts of obvious benefits.

Among these are the absence of bloating and, with loss of weight, the diminishing or disappearance of certain health risk factors. And – maybe most important of all – you’ll just look good and feel better.

You might live longer, too, and that’s what most of the current research into the subject of under-eating is all about.

Less food, more years, has been an old wives’ formula for as long as there’ve been old wives. And scientific findings have strongly backed up the folklore.

Dietary restrictions, continues the report, imposed early in life is the only strategy known to increase life span in warm-blooded animals. It also inhibits or delays many diseases that occur in later life and also retards aging of the body’s immune system.

Most of the scientific investigations have dealt with laboratory animals. Data from these experiments is difficult to apply to humans because such a restrictive diet applied to animals could stunt growth and affect the onset of puberty for the young ones.

But a related study from the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine shows that mice started at midlife on a low-intake diet had significantly longer lives and far fewer cancers. This study could very well have direct human implications.

Diet and Hypertension. One benefit of dieting and losing weight is a lower blood pressure, although other risk factors, such as stress, smoking, alcohol and fatty diet can also cause hypertension. Diabetics and overweight individuals are especially susceptible to hypertension.

Running and Sustained Exercise. Dr. Rudolph Dressendorfer, Ph.D., formerly with the University of California Davis Human Performance Laboratory, found that high density lipoprotein (HDL) which has been associated with lower cardiovascular death rates, increased after marathon running or other sustained exercise.

The findings were substantiated among 12 men who participated in the 20-day, 312-mile Great Hawaiian Footrace.

The runners, ages 23-60, ran an average of 17.5 miles per day for 10 days, rested for 70 hours, and then ran for eight more days. Blood samples taken during the marathon indicated that HDL levels rose significantly on active running days and decreased during the rest period.

Of course you do not have to be a marathoner. The study indicates that if you run long distance regularly, you, too, can expect your HDL level to rise.