HEALTH TIPS #2

High Blood Pressure - What You Need to Know, 1999 (from Johns Hopkins Health) provides some very useful information about blood pressure and cholesterol.
FACTS
Cholesterol comes from (1) our liver (2) foods. The more saturated fats you eat, the more cholesterol the liver produces.
Fruits and vegetables have no cholesterol
In this table, F = fibre, lowers cholesterol ... P = potassium rich

apple	F		banana		P
blueberry			date		P
fig	F		grape
nectarine			orange		P
peach	F	P	pear	F
pineapple			prune	F	P
raisin		P	raspberry	F
asparagus		P	brocolli		P
bean, green		P	bean, kidney		P
bean, lima	F		carrot		P
corn			lettuce
pepper			potato		P
spinach			squash
sweet potato		P	tomato		P
mackerel			salmon
oatmeal	F		spaghetti	F

Cholesterol -- compare amounts in various foods (milligrams per serving):
[ -- not mentioned in book]

bagel	0		butter 2 tsp	21
bran muffin	40		egg	211
cheddar cheese 1 oz	30		milk skim 8 oz	4
cream 1 oz	30		milk whole 8 oz	35
chicken dark 3 oz	--		turkey dark 3 oz	72
chicken light 3 oz	73		turkey light 3 oz	39
round steak (lower in fat than other beef) 3 oz	68		pork loin (lower in fat than other pork) 3 oz	--

Look for calcium in low fat cheese, sardines and yogurt.
Caffeine raises blood pressure temporarily.
Caffeine, milligrams per serving:
Coffee 6 oz ... 100
Cocoa 6 oz ... 5
Dark chocolate 1 oz ... 25
Cola 12 oz ... 50
Tea 6 oz ... 40