Slavery and Piracy in North Borneo

By : Justin Sunam Wong

I was reading A Decade in Borneo, written by Ada Pryer or Ada Blanche Locke. She is the wife of the first Resident of the British North Borneo Chartered Company (BNBCC) in Sandakan and in North Borneo, Mr William Burges Pryer. It was published in 1893; fourteen years after the founding of Elopura or Sandakan and about six year prior to the demise of William B. Pryer on 11 Januay 1899 at age 54 *1. Sandakan was founded by Mr Pryer on 21 June 1879 *2.


Pryer's monument in Sandakan. Souce : http://www.aboutsabah.com.my/?p=2549

It is an interesting book because it gives a glimpse to the past, North Borneo or Sabah of old. At the time of this writing, I do not know how long Mr Pryer stayed in North Borneo, perhaps 10 years as what the title of the book suggests and why he left North Borneo? Health issue? Politics? One thing is certain though, Mr Pryer brought law and order and medicine to North Borneo. In my opinion, if it were not for him, the present Sabah would be a much different place, not for the better I would imagine.

The writing by his wife intrigued me. For example, who were the Buludupies? She said they lived in Labuk, Segama and Kinabatangan and was almost extinct because of piracy and slave trading. The Buludupies she said, had round eyes, Caucasion features and loathed violence. She also mentioned that the North Borneo Armed Constabulary (NBAC) was formerly formed in May 1882. Present Darvel Bay used to be known as Looc Sabahan[sic]. I think she meant Lok Sabahan. Lok is Bajau word for Bay.

She also mentioned Dato Kurunding, the pirate chief of the Illanuns who reside in Tuncu (Tungku). I googled Dato Kurunding and stumbled upon this gem! ; a news article,

From the Daily Times, October 29^th.

Piracy In Borneo

The following communication on the prevalence of piracy along the coast of Borneo, with which we have been favoured, is deserving of a careful perusal and consideration. The writer is one who is entitled to speak with authority, and we believe he has been prompted to take up the pen by reason of remarks that lately appeared in our columns concerning the cruise of Her Majesty's ship Kestrel along the shores of Borneo :-

For many generations past the Illanuns have been known as a tribe almost entirely devoted to piracy. In the year 1845 their villages on the North West Coast of Borneo were attacked and destroyed by Sir Thomas Cockrane. On this account, which, according to M. St. John, they broke up their communities and most of them who are addicted to piracy retired to the North East Coast to Tungku and the neighbouring rivers; those that remained in Tampassak long bore an ill name but now under the able management of the Resident, they are rapidly being reformed, and show considerable promise of some day taking high rank amongst the inhabitants of this important land. Those that went to Tungku however still retained their old propensities, and have continued their raids down to the present time, their Chief Dato Kurunding, boasts that with one cruise he has murdered 120 people on piratical expeditions; for the last year or two nothing has been heard against this man and it was hoped that the Tungku people were giving up their former evil ways. The Illanun expeditions have usually been amongst the Philippine island and down the Straits of Celebes. In the year 1872, I myself was in a village, not above a hundred or fifty miles South of Manali, that had just before been burnt by them, several of the people and much more valuable property carried off, and in another village there were 2 men who had escaped from them and returned home, their tongues had been cut out so that they should not give any information as to the pirates haunts; on one occasion not so very many years ago the Spaniards were challenged to meet them at a certain place but did not go, and the seas were virtually in their possession for some time. The following extract from Professor Bickmori's travels in the East Indian Archipelago will give on account of the proceedings of the Illanuns to the South East :-

“Piracy is described in the earliest Malay romances, and spoken by these natives not as a failing of their ancestors but as an occasion for glorifying in their brave deeds. They continue to infest the Sulu sea and the Southern part of the Philippines; they came down here in the middle of the Western monsoon so as to have fair wind both ways. The Illanuns are now the most daring pirates in these seas. Last year the man-of-war on this station had the good fortune to surprise five boats, one of them carrying as many as sixty men. At first they attempted to escape by means of their oars, but her shot and shell soon began to tear them to pieces, they then pulled in towards the shore and jumped overboard, but by this time they had come near a village and the natives at once all turned out with their spears, the only weapons they had, and scoured the woods for these murderers until not one of them was left alive. They seldom attack European vessel, but when they do and succeed, they take revenge for the severe punishment their countrymen receive from the Dutch warships, and not one white men is left to tell the tale of capture and massacre. They prey chiefly on the small schooners commanded and manned by Mestizoes by which most of the trade between the Dutch ports in these parts is carried on. One of these vessels was taken last year. While I was at Kema two Malays appeared; while they were fishing they had been captured by a fleet of pirates but escaped by jumping overboard and swimming. They applied for food and as such cases are specially provided for by the Dutch Government their request was immediately granted. A few years ago these pirates sent a challenge to the Dutch fleet at Batavia to come and meet them in the Straits of Macassar and several officers assured me that five ships were sent. To the Dutch almost exclusively belong the honor of having rendered the navigation of these sea so comparatively safe as it now is.”

Large parties of Illanuns such as are spoken of here usually came from the Southern Coast of Magindanao.

The Baligninis are another tribe of freebooters. Formerly their expeditions were carried down as far as the vicinity of Singapore itself, and there is now in Campong German (Sandakan) a Singapore Lingeabo, and a man named Armie of Meimbong. Proceeding with the utmost treachery, the division under Otto made a complete haul of a lot of Bajaus collecting trepang off the Paitan river, murdering most of the adult males, and bearing the females and children into captivity. Tuan Imaum, one of the Chiefs of the Bajaus here, supplied the names of 27 people, his immediate friends and relations, who were thus dealt with. By proceeding almost alone, and pretending friendship, he being known to most of them, and then bringing the pirates up quietly at night, Otto managed to get nearly every Bajau in those parts. But the following is an illustration of the usual mode of proceeding of these pirates. 4 men, 2 Bajaus and 2 Lingeabo people were asleep in a boat, a pirate depong stole up and her men suddenly jumping on board, killed two of them before they could stir, the other two managed to escape into the mangrove, and the pirates then carried off the boat and all its contents.

Several times pirates have been reported as being off the coast and more particularly I was informed by a man named Hiranee, one of the three in company had been taken by them, (5 sail strong) under Armie, 2 men who escaped were slightly wounded by gun shots and 3 others, in the depong that was captured, were carried off. Armie called out that he was coming in another month with forty depongs to raid this Bay, and also he is the man that fired his gun which wounded one of the men.

On leaving immediately after this occurrence the “Far East” came across two depongs at the entrance of the harbour, one of which was identified as the identical boat captured by the pirates, and now turned into a cruiser by them. She was full of men, who had 7 rifles amongst them; the other a larger one, with a fort in it, made of ironwood, was said to be under charge of the Capitan Laout himself. The “Far East” retook the first with a loss to the pirates, it was said, of 2 men killed and 1 wounded, the remainder escaping into the bush in Balhalla. On the next morning one or two Balignini shields were found, and a parang besides one of the original men of the depong who had escaped from the pirates during the previous night. The sail of the depong had been changed for a Balignini one with a private signal in the centre of it.

After finishing at Paitan the pirates are said to have crossed to Pongutaran, capturing on the way a Labuan bound prahu belonging to Cagayan Shefiff, murdering him and all the Crew, and at Pongutaran they are said to have captured or murdered another lot of some people. Since then they have made their appearance in many places capturing and murdering whenever they could find an opportunity. The original lot of captures are all said to have been taken to Tungku in the early part of June and from there were sent down South for sale. I think it not unlikely some of them may be found at Seeganan but doubtless the major part were taken to Booloongan.

The last information I have about the pirates is that having disposed of their captives and bought fresh supplies of arms, ammunition with the proceeds, they are busy making preparations for operations on a larger scale and challenge any one that may come saying that, whether English of Spanish, they will not seek protection of their walls and forts, but come to sea and “mine mine” there (have a dance). This is probably merely an idle boast, as it is quite at variance with their character, as far as I have been able to learn, for from what I gather I should consider them a set of sneaking, cowardly rascals, who take the greatest care to avoid the slightest chance of endangering their own skins. It would be bad enough if the slaves sold there were acquired even in accordance with the very bad laws of these parts, by being bought amongst the islands or simply sent there for sale by their masters; but the matter is far worse, as , it present stands. Encouragement is given to piracy, murder and kidnapping, on a scale it is almost incredible should in exist the latter part of the nineteenth century in any part of the world moreover by the slave being bartered for arms and ammunition, the pirates are fitted out for the committal of further atrocities. It is also said as if all these horrors were not enough, that a good many of the slaves, sold in Booloongan, are bought by the headhunters (Sagais) for the purpose of being butchered in the most cold blooded manner that their murderers, may have possession of a head, without the possession of one of which, it is, I am informed almost impossible for any man to find favour in the eyes of the females of those parts.

I have read somewhere that oral tradition of the Rungus suggest that Dato Kurunding was actually Aki Kulindod. Kulindod was a Rungus warrior that opposed the BNBCC and to prevent his family being targeted as retribution for his aggression, he asked his people to tell the British that he was not one of them and that he passed by the village (his village) for business. It was said that Kulindod was mistaken to be an Illanun because during the time of his capture or execution (cannot be certain at this juncture), he was pictured wearing an Illanun clothing.

However, until documentary proof could be produced to back this claim, I am inclined to think that this was perhaps a case of mis-identity. Nothing in Mrs Pryer's writing suggested that Dato Kurunding was captured by the British. In page 53 of the book, she mentioned that the old Dato Kurunding had died and that his son, Dato Baginda Putih had taken up his position.

As mentioned in the above news article, Dato Kurunding had boasted that he had murdered 120 people on piratical expeditions. From what I have read about all the Rungus oral tradition, they were traditionally an enemy to all pirates. They had protected the northern part of North Borneo's coastal areas against pirates. Simpang Mengayau is said to be their "watch tower".

Photo : Sabah Tourism Board

For a community that loathed pirates, I hardly think that Kulindod would associate himself with such murderous bunch. But then again, the book was written by the wife of the Resident. Hence, she might be biased in her information.

A Decade in Borneo is available for download, legally and for free. Just google the word. Happy reading.

*1 Source : Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser
*2 Source : British North Borneo - An Account of its History, Resources and Native Tribes by Owen Rutter

http://nbhe.blogspot.com/2012/01/slavery-and-piracy-in-north-borneo.html#more

How places got their names

The following is collected from the collective memories of NBHE members. It's not much but I thought it would be a waste not to share it.

Api Api was what Kota Kinabalu used to be known before the name was changed to Jesselton and later to Kota Kinabalu. Some Hakka still refer KK as Ya Pi. There are at least 2 accounts on how the settlement came to be known as Api Api. 1) Named after a big fire caused by rebels in 1897 which razed down the Pulau Gaya settlement. 2) named after some kind of plants which were plentiful in KK.

Karamunsing in Kota Kinabalu was named after a type of plant/tree used to be abundant in the area, which in local dialect was known asKaramunceng or Karamunsheng tree.

Keningau used to be known as Kaningau. Oscar Cook in 'Borneo the Stealer of Hearts' mentioned it as such. The town got its name from a type of cinnamon tree known as Kaningau in local dialect which grow/grew abundantly there.

Kota Belud was derived from Sama words, which directly translates to Hill Fort, or rather, Fort on the Hills. It was one of Mat Salleh's strongholds during the 1897-1900 uprising against the (British) Chartered North Borneo Company.

Labuan got it's name from the "Malay" word for anchorage i.e. Labu-an. In Sama language labu' means drop and labu-an is to drop, in this case dropping achor. A Bruneian would have pronounced it as Labu-han. A small village in Kota Belud shares both the name and the role as an achorage, albeit on a small river for small sampans.

Lok Kawi is named after Cowie. Lok is bay in Bajau language and Kawi is the Malaynised Cowie

Manggatal is the correct name not Menggatal, some overzelous outsider coined this Menggatal. The name was derived from a mango tree which found abound near the present river, the type of mango "kambasang" which is quite coarse and it irritates your throat hence gatal in Malay. The place has a lot of these species of mango, hence Manggatal was born.

Sandakan was said to have acquired its name from the word Sanda-kan, where Sanda means pawn off/sell off. This word is common among the peoples living in the area and Southern Philippines, as well as the Iranun people in Kota Belud. Obviously this refers to the British North Borneo Company (later chartered) acquisition/lease of the area from the Sulu Sultanate in the early 1870's.

Tenghilan named after a large Manggilan tree where people used to do their daily sustenance activities

Taun Gusi, a major village in Kota Belud got it's name after a major flood decades ago accidentally unearthed many ancient Chinese jars, similar to the ones that are very popular among many tribes in Sabah. The words Taun Gusi literally translates to Jungle of Jars in Sama language.

Hand in Hand,

Remember this Song? Hand in Hand, we welcome you...

Early Chinese Settlement in North Borneo

By : Justin Wong

In 1894, Mr. P. Brietag, the manager of a tobacco estate from Kampung Batu Putih in the Kinabatangan area, led the first expedition to Agop Batu Tulug, a limestone cave systems found in Sabah or North Borneo then. In 1965, Mrs. Barbara Harrison of the Sarawak Museum and a group from Sabah Museum started an archaeological study of the caves.

Source : http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/Malaysia/East/Sabah/Kinabatangan/photo317934.htm

What they found inside the caves were human bones, more than 100 carved coffins believed to be 200 - 250 years of age, gongs, blowpipes, Chinese artefacts, ceramics and personal ornaments. There is a school of thought that these sites might be the former burial sites of an early Chinese settlement found in the Kinabatangan area.

There are scholars who believe that China had been trading with the inhabitants of Borneo as early as 900 AD, based on Chinese texts. Chinese junks trading with the Sulus in the Philippines referred to a kingdom or area south of the Philippines named Puni in 1252. In 1292, it is said that Kublai Khan sent an expedition to Borneo.

The indigenous Orang Sungai who inhabits the area along the Kinabatangan River since time immemorial has an oral tradition as to how the river got its name. They used to call the river, "Cina Batangan" or Chinese River. They say a Chinese adventurer sailed from China, through the Sulu Sea and came to the river mouth of the Kinabatangan River. He established a few settlements namely Mumiang, Sukau and Bilit along the 560 kilometre long river. These towns are still in existence today.

Source : http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/slideshow-photo/kinabatangan-river-in-the-morning-mist-by-travelpod-member-cawleyadventure-bilit-malaysia.html?sid=10340832&fid=tp-2

The jungle of the Kinabatangan area was bountiful! The Chinese found and traded edible bird's nests, rhinoceros horns, elephant ivories, hornbill casques, hardwood resins, damar, flexible rattan vines, beeswax, fragrant wood and oil rich illipe nuts with the Chinese emperor and wealthy mandarins.

Source : http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5586036

Eventually, the Chinese adventurer and his followers became a powerful group in the Kinabatangan area and the natives even started calling him a "Raja". Salasilah Raja-Raja Brunei or Genealogy of The Brunei Kings, seems to validate the existence of these early Chinese settlements in Kibatangan. It identified the leader as Ong Sum Ping.

Ong Sum Ping is also known as Wong Song Ping and Huang Senping. However, he is better known by his Hokkien name in Brunei. Some suggested that he was from the Fujian province of China. In the late Yuan Dynasty, Ong together with his sister and followers, fled China to avoid the social unrest.

In another oral tradition, it is said that when Ong Sum Ping and his party reached the river mouth of the Kinabatangan River, they were exhausted after facing a shipping crisis. So exhausted were they that one of them dropped their arms into the river. Hence, the area had since then been called "Kina Batangan" - The place that the Chinese lost their arms. The natives, particularly the Dusuns, called the Chinese "Kina", quite similar to the malay word "Cina".

Chinese texts said that Ong Sum Ping went to Brunei in 1375. Sultan Muhammad Shah (1363 - 1402), whom was the first Sultan of Brunei, apparently welcomed him with open arms. He married off his daughter, Princess Ratna Dewi, to Ong Sum Ping and gave him the title Pengiran Maharaja Lela and Chief of Kinabatangan.

The Sultan also arranged to have his brother, Pengiran Bendahara Ahmad to marry Ong Sum Ping's sister and gave her the title Puteri Kinabatangan or Princess of Kinabatangan. Pengiran Bendahara Ahmad would later rule Brunei as Sultan Ahmad from 1408 to 1425.

Brunei was a fledgling power during the reign of Sultan Muhammad Shah and was under constant threat of a Sulu invasion. However, with the cooperation of these two regional powers i.e. Brunei and Kinabatangan, they managed to repel the Sulus. Brunei would go on to become a regional power culminating to its "Golden Age" between late 15th and early 16th century.

Ong Sum Ping would continue to expand his power base. Some credited him to having opened more Chinese towns and villages in what is now present day Kota Kinabalu. Ong Sum Ping is the only Chinese who has a street named after him in Brunei, "Jalan Ong Sum Ping".

There is an oral tradition of the Kadazandusun of their first encounter with the Chinese from the Kinabatangan and Labuk areas. One of the Chinese "heroes" asked for the hand of the Chief's daughter in marriage. The dowry was said to be seven huge jars plus copper and silverwares. During this encounter, the Kadazandusun was still living at their legendary place of origin, Nunuk Ragang. I am sure this is not the only example of inter-marriages between the natives and the early Chinese settlers.

These early Chinese settlers integrated themselves well into the local community. For example, if one is to go to Kuala Penyu during Chinese New Year, you would find some Dusun Tatana celebrating the festivity. Their houses would be decorated with lanterns and some houses would have altars. When I was young, I had always wondered about this but most of the people I asked simply said that their family had been doing this longer than they could remember. It is possible that their ancestors could have been part Chinese.

Interesting enough, the olden Chinese in Sabah who inter-married with the natives did not give Chinese names to their offspring. They named them for example, Bulangang, Sanagang, Manak etc. Why they did this? Well, I will find out next when there is a gathering of elders.

Why do I make the assumption that some of the natives in Kuala Penyu could have inter-married with some of these early Chinese settlers? Kuala Penyu was one of the early conquests of Sultan Muhammad Shah, it is a coastal area and would have been subject to attacks by the Sulu. It would be plausible that Ong Sum Ping could have sent some of his men there to reinforce the Sultan's men in defense of the area. Old folks recall the days when "Lanun Suluk" or Suluk Pirates would land on their shores to replenish their drinking water and food supply. They said, generally they wouldn't harm them if they co-operated. These old folks' encounters happened sometime in the late 19th century, long after Ong Sum Ping's era in 14th century but it serves to demonstrate that the area was accessible to the Sulu raiders.

Ong Sum Ping is also said to be a muslim even before he married into the royal household. He could have played a role in the spreading of Islam to the Orang Sungais whom are predominantly Muslims these days, in the Kinabatangan area.

Oral traditions is of course not the best source of factual information but it is interesting to note that some of them seem to corroborate with historical facts. I hope I have entertained you with my piece which is not to be taken seriously but I hope it will make you curious enough to research Sabah's past on your own, if you happen to be a Sabahan reading this.

I leave you with the following suggested must read:

1. British North Borneo: An Account of its History, Resources and Native Tribes by Owen Rutter

2. Headhunting and the Social Imagination in Southeast Asia by Janet Hoskins

3. The Sulu Zone, 1768 - 1898 : The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery and ethnicity in the transformation of a Southeast Asian maritime State by James Francis Warren

BEFORE YOU ENTER INTO 'BATTLE,' ASK GOD IF IT'S THE RIGHT TIME AND PLACE

Do you pray before you wage "war"? Do you ask the Holy Spirit before you engage in a battle? Do you listen to -- hear -- the "Voice from the tree" before you take up shield and sword?

It's a question for all of us, and it follows this main question: do you sometimes fight fights that are not yours?

We all know how it is: We see something that's wrong -- even morally wrong, or unfair, or something that can cause potential harm to a person or circumstance, just isn't right -- and we want to jump right in and offer our direction, sometimes with force. This occurs most frequently within families: we place ourselves in a corrective mode.

And often, we're right; something is amiss; something's wrong. There may be sin. There may be danger that someone is blind to. We may be wronged. We want to "fight back." We draw up a legal brief in our minds -- tossing and turning over just the right things to say and trying to memorize the order and everything we want to say, in retaliation, in defense.

But if we move into the zone of battle, of intervention, without asking God first if He wants us to enter that zone -- and whether it's the right time (if we do discern to enter) -- we often cause ourselves great agitation and can do more harm, to ourselves and others, than good.

Didn't David do this before he went to war -- listen for the Voice at the top of a tree, the Voice up there, the voice that binds matters in Heaven and earth?

A preacher recently pointed this out: When we wait on the Lord, and move in the Spirit, we move with force. His Force. We are on the winning side.

Our words and actions count, every one of them.

They take root.

A matter is greatly improved or outright resolved. Evil is dispelled. A "legal brief' needed only to be a few words.

An illness, perhaps, is cast out. (How much illness is caused by evil!)

The opposite transpires when we and not God are the judge.

Do you enter the wrong battlefield -- or at least, at the wrong time? And do you fight fire with fire?

(If you do, you will only get more fire!)

"When David inquired of the Lord, He said, 'You shall not go directly up; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees," says (2 Samuel 5). "'It shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall act promptly, for then the Lord will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.' Then David did so, just as the Lord had commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer."

It was in the Lord's timing (not David's). The result: victory.

When we move before the motion of God -- when the motion, the timing, is ours solely -- we risk hidden dangers that only the Holy Spirit can search out. Don't be tempted to do something as a "do-gooder," for the sake of do-gooding (something that can cause tension with others, or stir up conflict, especially if it's based on pride), until you pray first -- preferably during Mass, or before the Blessed Sacrament, certainly during a Rosary. Even if you've done it before, and to good effect, pray each time it comes up, because each time is different.

Fear?

In God, we know no such thing. It is not a matter of fearing the fight. It is a matter of acting with prudence, which protects us from chinks in our armor and unnecessary hurt.

DOES GOD ANSWER OUR PRAYERS?

How to pray? What does it take for God to answer prayers?

http://www.everystudent.com/wires/prayers.html?gclid=CIHl9-628sACFVgnjgodezcAvg

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Have you ever known someone who really trusts God? When I was an atheist, I had a good friend who prayed often. She would tell me every week about something she was trusting God to take care of. And every week I would see God do something unusual to answer her prayer. Do you know how difficult it is for an atheist to observe this week after week? After a while, "coincidence" begins to sound like a very weak argument.

So why would God answer my friend's prayers? The biggest reason is that she had a relationship with God. She wanted to follow God. And she actually listened to what he said. In her mind, God had the right to direct her in life, and she welcomed him doing just that! When she prayed for things, it was a natural part of her relationship with God. She felt very comfortable coming to God with her needs, her concerns, and whatever issues were current in her life. Furthermore, she was convinced, from what she read in the Bible, that God wanted her to rely on him like that.

She pretty much exhibited what this statement from the Bible says, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us."¹ "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer..."²

So, Why Doesn't God Answer Everyone's Prayers?

It may be because they don't have a relationship with God. They may know that God exists, and they might even worship God from time to time. But those who never seem to have their prayers answered probably don't have a relationship with him. Further, they have never received from God complete forgiveness for their sin. What does that have to do with it you ask? Here is an explanation. "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear."³

It's pretty natural to feel that separation from God. When people begin to ask God for something, what usually takes place? They begin with, "God, I really need your help with this problem..." And then there's a pause, followed by a restart... "I realize that I'm not a perfect person, that I actually have no right to ask you for this..." There's an awareness of personal sin and failure. And the person knows that it's not just them; that God is aware of it too. There's a feeling of, "Who am I kidding?" What they may not know is how they can receive God's forgiveness for all their sin. They might not know that they can come into a relationship with God so that God will hear them. This is the foundation for God answering your prayer.

How to Pray: The Foundation

You must first begin a relationship with God. Here's why. Imagine that a guy named Mike asks the president of Princeton University to co-sign a car loan for him. If Mike doesn't personally know the president of Princeton, that car loan is not going to happen. Yet, if the daughter of this president asked her dad to co-sign a car loan for her, it would be no problem. Relationship matters.

With God, when the person is actually a child of God, when the person belongs to God, he knows them and hears their prayers. Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me...my sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."⁴

When it comes to God then, do you really know him and does he know you? Do you have a relationship with him that warrants God answering your prayers? Or is God pretty distant, pretty much just a concept in your life? If God is distant, or you're not sure that you know God, here is how you can begin a relationship with him right now: Getting Connected.

Will God Definitely Answer Your Prayer?

For those who do know him and rely on him, Jesus seems to be wildly generous in his offer: "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you."⁵To "remain" in him and have his words remain in them means they conduct their lives aware of him, relying on him, listening to what he says. Then they're able to ask him whatever they want. Here is another qualifier: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us -- whatever we ask -- we know that we have what we asked of him."⁶ God answers our prayers according to his will (and according to his wisdom, his love for us, his holiness, etc.).

Where we trip up is assuming we know God's will, because a certain thing makes sense to us! We assume that there is only one right "answer" to a specific prayer, assuming certainly THAT would be God's will. And this is where it gets tough. We live within the limits of time and limits of knowledge. We have only limited information about a situation and the implications of future action on that situation. God's understanding is unlimited. How an event plays out in the course of life or history is only something he knows. And he may have purposes far beyond what we could even imagine. So, God is not going to do something simply because we determine that it must be his will.

What Does It Take? What is God Inclined to Do?

Pages and pages could be filled about God's intentions toward us. The entire Bible is a description of the kind of relationship God wants us to experience with him and the kind of life he wants to give us. Here are just a few examples:

"...the Lord longs to be gracious to you. He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for [trust] him!"⁷ Did you catch that? Like someone rising out of his chair to come to your help, "He rises to show you compassion." "As for God, his way is perfect...He is a shield for all who take refuge in him."⁸ "The Lord delights in those who fear [reverence] him, who put their hope in his unfailing love."⁹

However, God's greatest display of his love and commitment to you is this: Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,"¹⁰ which is what Jesus did for us. And so, "If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?"¹¹

What about "Unanswered" Prayer?

Certainly people get sick, even die; financial problems are real, and all sorts of very difficult situations can come up. What then?

God tells us to give our concerns to him. Even as the situation remains dismal, "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you."¹² The circumstances may look out of control, but they aren't. When the whole world seems to be falling apart, God can keep us together. This is when a person can be very grateful that they know God. "The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."¹³ God may provide solutions, resolutions to the problem WAY beyond what you imagined possible. Probably any Christian could list examples like this in their own lives. But if the circumstances do not improve, God can still give us his peace in the midst of it. Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."¹⁴

It is at this point (when circumstances are still tough) that God asks us to continue to trust him -- to "walk by faith, not by sight" the Bible says. But it's not blind faith. It is based on the very character of God. A car traveling on the Golden Gate Bridge is fully supported by the integrity of the bridge. It doesn't matter what the driver may be feeling, or thinking about, or discussing with someone in the passenger seat. What gets the car safely to the other side is the integrity of the bridge, which the driver was willing to trust.

In the same way, God asks us to trust his integrity, his character...his compassion, love, wisdom, righteousness on our behalf. He says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."¹⁵ "Trust in him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us."¹⁶

In Summary...How to Pray

God has offered to answer the prayers of his children (those who have received him into their lives and seek to follow him). He asks us to take any concerns to him in prayer and he will act upon it according to his will. As we deal with difficulties we are to cast our cares on him and receive from him a peace that defies the circumstances. The basis for our hope and faith is the character of God himself. The better we know him, the more apt we are to trust him.

For more on the character of God, please see "Who is God?" or other articles on this site. The reason we pray is God's character. The first prayer God answers is your prayer to begin a relationship with God.

(Article by Marilyn Adamson)

► I have a question or comment...

► How to know God...

(1) 1 John 5:14
(2) 1 Peter 3:12
(3) Isaiah 59:1,2
(4) John 10:14,27-28
(5) John 15:7
(6) 1 John 5:14,15
(7) Isaiah 30:18
(8) Psalms 18:30
(9) Psalms 147:11
(10) John 15:13
(11) Romans 8:32
(12) 1 Peter 5:7
(13) Philippians 4:5-7
(14) John 14:27
(15) Jeremiah 31:3 (rsv)
(16) Psalms 62:8

Post by John Michael Talbot.

TOTAL WOMAN

prologue
1.No wounds is as serious as wounded love.
2.No troubles are as serious as the troubles that women cause.
3.No poison is deadlier than the poison of a snake
4.No anger is deadlier that the anger of a woman.

Bad woman
1.Live in a house with a lion than with a bad wife
2.When a woman is in a bad mood her expression changes until she looks like an angry beer.
4.Compare with troubles caused by a woman, any other troubles looks small.
5.A quiet man leaving with a nagging wife is like an old man climbing up a sandy hill.
6.Never lose your head over a woman's beauty and don't win a woman because she is wealthy.
7.When a man is supported by his wife,there is sure to be anger,arrogance and humiliation.
8.Don't let a bad wife have her way,anymore you can allow water pass through a cistern.
9.A bad wife is like a yoke that doesn't fit,trying to control her is like holding a scorpion.
10.You can tell an unfaithful wife by the bold and flirting look in her eyes.

Bad Daughter
1.If your daughter is determined to have her own way, keep a close watch on her. If you don't, she will take advantage of any chance she gets.
2.If she is self-willed, be on guard and don't be surprised if she disappoints you.
3.She will spread for any man who wants her just like a thirsty traveler will drink whatever water is available.

Good celebrated Woman.
1.The husband of a good wife is a fortunate man,he will leave twice as long because of her.
2.A fine wife is a joy to her husband and he can leave out his years in peace.
3.A good wife is among the precious blessings given too those who fear the Lord.
4.A gracious wife is her husband delight, her abilities make him a strong man.
5.A wife who doesn't talk too much is a gift from the Lord,such restraint is admirable beyond words.
6.A modest wife has endless charm,a quality too precious to measure.
7.The beauty of a good wife in her well-kept home is like the noonday sun shinning in the Lord's sky.
8.Her beautiful face and attractive figure are as lovely as the light from the sacred lamp stand in the Temple.

Strategies to Prevent Hypertension

By Dr. Mercola

About one in three American adults have hypertension (high blood pressure), and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),1, 2hypertension is "the second greatest public health threat" in the US.

About half of all with hypertension have uncontrolled high blood pressure, which increases your risk for a number of more serious health problems, including heart attack, stroke, congestive heart failure, and end-stage kidney disease.3

Interestingly, 16 million Americans who take blood pressure medication still do not have their blood pressure under control4 — a fact that emphasizes the need for basic lifestyle changes to truly resolve this problem.

According to medical physiology textbooks, 95 percent of the causes of hypertension is idiopathic, meaning the underlying cause is unknown.

This is simply not true. Hypertension is typically a symptom of insulin and leptin resistance. And the vast majority of those who have hypertension can normalize their blood pressure without resorting to drugs.

What Causes Hypertension?

One of the primary underlying causes of high blood pressure is related to your body producing too much insulin and leptin in response to a high-carbohydrate and processed food diet.

As your insulin and leptin levels rise, it causes your blood pressure to increase. Research published in 1998 in the journal Diabetes reported that nearly two-thirds of the test subjects who were insulin resistant also had high blood pressure, so the link is significant.

Elevated uric acid levels are also significantly associated with hypertension, so any program adapted to address high blood pressure needs to help normalize both your insulin sensitivity and uric acid level.

As it turns out, by eliminating excess sugar/fructose from your diet, you can address all three issues in one fell swoop. Other treatment strategies that I'll discuss below also tend to have this effect. But first, let's review some of the basics of what high blood pressure is, how to assess obesity-related hypertension risk, and why drugs aren't an ideal solution.

How's Your Blood Pressure?

There are two numbers given in a blood pressure reading. The upper or first number is your systolic blood pressure reading. The lower or second number is your diastolic pressure.

Example: 120 / 80 = 120 systolic arterial pressure and 80 diastolic arterial pressure.

Your systolic pressure is the highest pressure in your arteries. It occurs when your ventricles contract at the beginning of your cardiac cycle. Diastolic pressure refers to the lowest arterial pressure, and occurs during the resting phase of your cardiac cycle.

Ideally, your blood pressure should be about 120/80 without medication. If you're over the age of 60, your systolic pressure is the most important cardiovascular risk factor. If you're under 60 and have no other major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, your diastolic pressure is believed to be a more important risk factor.5

According to the latest guidelines6, 7, 8 issued by the Joint National Committee (JNC) on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure, published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association(JAMA) in December 2013, the following blood pressure classifications are used to determine whether you might suffer from hypertension:9

Blood Pressure Classification Systolic Pressure(mmHg) Diastolic Pressure(mmHg)

Normal <120 td=""> <80 td="">

Pre-hypertension 120-139 80-89

Stage 1 Hypertension 140-159 90-99

Stage 2 Hypertension ≥160 ≥100

Primary versus Secondary Hypertension

Hypertension is also categorized as either primary or secondary hypertension. The former applies to about 90-95 percent of those with high blood pressure, and while the conventional medical establishment claim the cause is idiopathic or unknown, primary hypertension (aka essential hypertension) is more than likely linked to insulin/leptin resistance.

Secondary hypertension applies to the remaining five to 10 percent whose high blood pressure is caused by chronic liver disease. The revised blood pressure guidelines issued late last year emphasize when and how doctors should treat high blood pressure. Pre-hypertensive patients should not be treated with blood pressure lowering drugs; rather, they should be encouraged to make appropriate lifestyle changes to address their condition.

If you're between the ages of 18-59 without major health conditions, or if you're 60 or older with diabetes and/or chronic kidney disease, conventional medicine believes drug treatment is advised to begin if your blood pressure is at or above 140/90. In those over 60 who do not have diabetes or chronic kidney disease, the panel suggests delaying drug treatment until you're above 150/90. According to the JNC panel members:10

"For all persons with hypertension, the potential benefits of a healthy diet, weight control, and regular exercise cannot be overemphasized. These lifestyle treatments have the potential to improve BP control and even reduce medication needs. Although the authors of this hypertension guideline did not conduct an evidence review of lifestyle treatments in patients taking and not taking antihypertensive medication, we support the recommendations of the 2013 Lifestyle Work Group."11

What's Your Fasting Insulin Level?

This is a step in the right direction, even if the panel didn't take it all the way. Personally, I believe even stage 1 and 2 hypertension can be successfully treated to where drugs become unnecessary, provided you're aggressive enough in your diet and lifestyle modifications. And there are plenty of clinical success stories that vouch for this stance.12 However, if you have seriously elevated pressures it would certainly be wise to be on medication to prevent a stroke while you are in the process of implementing the recommendations.

In addition to checking your blood pressure, I highly recommend getting a fasting insulin level test done. Remember, high blood pressure and insulin resistance tend to go hand-in-hand, and if your hypertension is the result of elevated insulin levels, you'll know how to nip it in the bud by the end of this article.

The fasting insulin level you want to strive for is about 2 or 3 microU per mL. If it's 5 or above, you definitely need to lower your insulin level to reduce your risk of high blood pressure and other cardiovascular health hazards. Keep in mind that the so-called "normal" fasting insulin level is anywhere from 5-25 microU per mL. Please do NOT make the mistake of thinking that this "normal" insulin range equates to optimal.

How to Avoid a False Hypertension Diagnosis

To avoid a false hypertension diagnosis, keep in mind that your blood pressure reading can vary significantly from day to day, and even from one hour to the next, so don't overreact if you get one high reading here or there. It's when your blood pressure remains consistently or chronically elevated that significant health problems can occur. The following variables can also affect the validity of your blood pressure reading:

Incorrect blood pressure cuff size: If you're overweight, taking your reading with a size "average" blood pressure cuff can lead to a falsely elevated blood pressure reading, so make sure your doctor or health care professional is using the right size cuff for your arm.

Incorrect arm position: If your blood pressure is taken while your arm is parallel to your body, your reading can be up to 10 percent higher than it really is. Blood pressure readings should always be taken with your arm at a right angle to your body.

Nervousness: "White coat hypertension" is a term used for when a high blood pressure reading is caused by the stress or fear associated with a doctor or hospital visit. This can be a transient yet serious concern. If this applies to you, stress reduction is key. Below, I will address stress reduction, and provide a technique that can help you control stress that may be contributing to high blood pressure.

Also, to decrease your risk of being falsely diagnosed with hypertension in this situation, take a moment to calm down (be sure to arrive for your appointment ahead of time so you can unwind), then breathe deeply and relax when you're getting your blood pressure taken.

Using Waist-to-Hip Ratio to Assess Your Hypertension Risk

Research suggests your waist size may be an effective measure for assessing obesity-related hypertension risk.13 If you have a high waist-to-hip ratio, i.e. you carry more fat around your waist than on your hips, you may be at an increased risk for obesity-related hypertension.

Certain body compositions do tend to increase your risk of chronic disease, and carrying extra inches around your midsection has been repeatedly shown to increase cardiovascular health risks. Your waist size is also a powerful indicator of insulin sensitivity, as studies clearly show that measuring your waist size is one of the most powerful ways to predict your risk for diabetes.

To calculate your waist-to-hip ratio, measure the circumference of your hips at the widest part, across your buttocks, and your waist at the smallest circumference of your natural waist, just above your belly button. Then divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement to get the ratio. (The University of Maryland offers an online waist-to-hip ratio calculator14 you can use.) The Mayo Clinic uses the following waist-to-hip ratio designations to evaluate your health risk:

High Blood Pressure Drugs Can Increase Risk of Serious Fall-Related Injuries in the Elderly

Before I review lifestyle modifications that can help you normalize your blood pressure, I want to address the issue of medications. It's important to realize that while blood pressure medications are very effective at lowering blood pressure, they do NOT in any ways shape or form address the underlying cause. Moreover, statistics show that about half of those taking such medications are still unable to manage their condition, so clearly these drugs don't work as advertised for a lot of people. There are also side effects to contend with, some of them quite harmful and/or debilitating.

For example, a recent study published in JAMA15, 16 found that hypertensive patients over the age of 70 who were taking blood pressure medication increased their risk of serious falls requiring hospitalization due to fractures, brain injuries, hip dislocation, or dislocation to the knee, shoulder, or jaw. Risk of falling can increase if your blood pressure drops too low too suddenly upon standing. According to the authors:

"Antihypertensive medications were associated with an increased risk of serious fall injuries, particularly among those with previous fall injuries. The potential harms vs benefits of antihypertensive medications should be weighed in deciding to continue treatment with antihypertensive medications in older adults with multiple chronic conditions."

Some Blood Pressure Drugs Raise Risk of Blindness

Another major population study discovered that some type of hypertension drugs called vasodilators actually increase your risk of early onset of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is the most common cause of blindness among American seniors. As noted in a press release:17

"...[R]esearchers... conducted a long-term population-based cohort study from 1988 to 2013 of nearly 5,000 residents of Beaver Dam, Wis., aged 43 to 86 years... The researchers found that, after adjusting for age, sex and other factors, using any vasodilator such as Apresoline and Loniten, which open (dilate) the blood vessels—was associated with a 72 percent greater risk of developing early-stage AMD. Among people who were not taking vasodilators, an estimated 8.2 percent developed signs of early AMD. In comparison, among those taking a vasodilator medication, 19.1 percent developed the disease.

The researchers also found that taking oral beta blockers such as Tenormin and Lopressor was associated with a 71 percent increase in the risk of neovascular AMD, a more advanced and vision-threatening form of the disease. Among those who were not taking oral beta blockers an estimated 0.5 percent developed signs of neovascular AMD. In comparison among those taking oral beta blockers, 1.2 percent developed neovascular AMD."

Arterial Stiffness Linked to High Blood Pressure and Vitamin D Deficiency

According to Norwegian researchers, arterial stiffness (atherosclerosis) is a driving factor for high blood pressure,18, 19, 20 and represents "a major therapeutic target" for treatment. They discovered that as your blood travels from your heart, cells in the wall of your aorta, called baroreceptors, sense the pressure load, and signal your nervous system to either raise or lower the pressure. However, the stiffer your arteries are, the more insensitive your baroreceptors become, and the less efficient they become at sending the appropriate signals.

As a result, your body doesn't get the signal to lower the blood pressure coursing through your arteries. "'This is contrary to existing models, which typically explain high blood pressure in terms of defective kidney function,' said Klas Pettersen, a researcher at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and first author of the study."21

Take Vitamin D to Relax Your Arteries and Improve Blood Pressure

Vitamin D deficiency and trans fat consumption can lead to stiff arteries. Vitamin D deficiency appears to be associated with both arterial stiffness and hypertension.22 Each cell in your body has a DNA library that contains information needed to address virtually every kind of stimulus it may encounter, and the master key to enter this library is activated vitamin D. This is why vitamin D functions in so many different tissues, and affects such a large number of different diseases and health conditions, one of which is heart disease.

According to researchers from the Emory/Georgia Tech Predictive Health Institute,23 even if you're considered generally "healthy," if you're deficient in vitamin D, your arteries are likely stiffer than they should be, and your blood pressure may run high due to your blood vessels being unable to relax. In their study, having less than 20 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) was considered a deficiency state that raises your hypertension risk. Less than 30 ng/ml was deemed insufficient.

According to the researchers: "We found that people with vitamin D deficiency had vascular dysfunction comparable to those with diabetes or hypertension."Previous research24 has also shown that the farther you live from the equator, the higher your risk of developing high blood pressure. (Blood pressure also tends to be higher in winter months than during the summer.) Exposing your bare skin to sunlight affects your blood pressure through a variety of different mechanisms, including the following:

Sun exposure causes your body to produce vitamin D. Lack of sunlight reduces your vitamin D stores and increases parathyroid hormone production, which increases blood pressure.

Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, a group of health problems that can include insulin resistance, elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels, obesity, and high blood pressure.

Recent research25 shows that sun exposure increases the level of nitric oxide in your skin. This dilates your blood vessels, thereby reducing your blood pressure. (For comparison, and to show how various factors tie together, uric acid, produced when you eat sugar/fructose, raises your blood pressure by inhibiting the nitric oxide in your blood vessels—the opposite effect of sun exposure. This will be discussed further in a later section).

Vitamin D is also a negative inhibitor of your body's renin-angiotensin system (RAS), which regulates blood pressure.26 If you're vitamin D deficient, it can cause inappropriate activation of your RAS, which may lead to hypertension.

Additionally, exposure to UV rays is thought to cause the release of endorphins, chemicals in your brain that produce feelings of euphoria and relief from pain. Endorphins naturally relieve stress, and stress management is an important factor in resolving hypertension.

Guidelines for Optimizing Your Vitamin D Level

Ideally, you'll want to get your vitamin D through sun exposure on your bare skin, or by using a safe tanning bed. If you opt for an oral vitamin D supplement, make sure you use vitamin D3, not D2, which is typically prescribed by doctors but has been linked to poorer health outcomes. As a general guideline, research by GrassrootsHealth suggests that adults need about 8,000 IUs per day to achieve a serum level of 40 ng/ml. Keep in mind that if you decide to supplement with oral vitamin D3, you also need to boost your vitamin K2 intake, as these two nutrients work in tandem. Together, they produce and activate Matrix GLA Protein (MGP), which congregates around the elastic fibers of your arterial lining, guarding them against calcium crystal formation.

Vitamin K2 also activates a protein hormone called osteocalcin, produced by osteoblasts, which is needed to bind calcium into the matrix of your bone. Osteocalcin also appears to help prevent calcium from depositing into your arteries. In other words, without the help of vitamin K2, the calcium that your vitamin D so effectively lets in might be working against you -- by building up inside your arteries rather than your bones... Ideally, you'll want to test your vitamin D level at regular intervals to make sure you maintain clinically relevant levels year-round (see table below).

To learn more about the value of vitamin D testing, please see my previous article, "How Vitamin D Performance Testing Can Help You Optimize Your Health."

References for recommended vitamin D levels

Five Key Lifestyle Strategies for Lowering Your Blood Pressure

Alright, time to get down to the nitty gritty of normalizing your blood pressure. As mentioned earlier, high blood pressure is typically associated with insulin resistance, which results from eating a diet too high in sugar. As your insulin level elevates, so does your blood pressure. As explained by Dr. Rosedale,insulin stores magnesium, but if your insulin receptors are blunted and your cells grow resistant to insulin, you can't store magnesium so it passes out of your body through urination. Magnesium stored in your cells relaxes muscles. If your magnesium level is too low, your blood vessels will constrict rather than relax, and this constriction raises your blood pressure.

Trans fat consumption is another dietary factor. It's now known to cause atherosclerosis (hardening of your arteries), which researchers now have pin-pointed as yet another treatment focus for hypertension. So make sure you avoid all trans fats or hydrogenated fats that have been modified in such a way to extend their shelf-life. This includes margarine, vegetable oils, and various butter-like spreads.

I recently interviewed Dr. Fred Kummerow who is nearly 100 years old and was the first scientist to document the dangers of trans fats. In the interview, he explains that trans fats prevent the formation of prostacyclin, which acts as natural blood thinning agent. By diligently avoiding trans fats, your body will make prostacyclin that keep your blood thin, which will reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.

Now, if you think about these two factors alone—insulin resistance and atherosclerosis—what kind of dietis bound to produce high blood pressure? The answer, of course, is a processed food diet, loaded with carbohydrates (sugar/fructose/grains) and trans fat. Knowing that, the answer to correcting high blood pressure becomes rather self-evident. If your blood pressure is running high, you need to restore your insulin and leptin sensitivity, and the following five strategies are among the most effective for doing so:

Avoiding processed foods (due to their being high in sugar/fructose,grains, trans fat, and other damaged fats)

Intermittent fasting is one of the most effective ways I've found to normalize your insulin/leptin sensitivity. It's not a diet in conventional terms, but rather a way of scheduling your eating in such a way as to promote efficient energy use. Essentially, intermittent fasting means eating your calories during a specific window of the day, and choosing not to eat food during the rest. When you eat, your body reacts by elevating insulin and leptin.

Starchy carbohydrates cause a far greater insulin elevation than protein, while fat requires no insulin for digestion. If you're constantly snacking (or drinking) on sugary fare, your insulin/leptin levels will remain chronically elevated, which tends to promote high blood pressure. The more sensitive your body is to insulin/leptin, the more likely you'll be to use the food you consume efficiently, which will help improve insulin resistance, and promote weight loss and the creation of muscle. Your body is most sensitive to insulin/leptin following a period of fasting. (Fasting also boosts growth hormone secretion—another important key to weight loss and muscle growth.)

Making whole, ideally organic foods the focus of your diet

Swapping carbs for healthy fat. Sources of healthy fats to add to your diet include:

Avocados Butter made from raw, grass-fed organic milk Raw dairy Organic pastured egg yolks

Coconuts and coconut oil (coconut oilactually shows promise as an effective Alzheimer's treatment in and of itself) Unheated organic nut oils Raw nuts, such as pecans and macadamia, which are low in protein and high in healthy fats Grass-fed meats or pasture raised poultry

Exercising regularly. On a side note, I recommend training yourself to breathe through your nose when exercising, as mouth breathing during exercise can raise your heart rate and blood pressure, sometimes resulting in fatigue and dizziness. To learn more about this, please refer to my previous article on the Buteyko breathing method.

My optimized nutrition and exercise plan can help guide you step-by-step toward normalizing your insulin and leptin levels, which in turn will help normalize your blood pressure and help you shed excess weight. It's a free resource that can help you improve your health, or take it to the next level if you've already started making some changes. My plan addresses all five of these key strategies in a systematic fashion, but below I will discuss why you really want to take these recommendations to heart if you're struggling with high blood pressure.

Fructose Causes Blood Pressure to Skyrocket

If you are seeking to control high blood pressure without drugs, my strong recommendation for your first step is to remove all grains and sugars,particularly fructose, from your diet until both your weight and your blood pressure have normalized. If you have high blood pressure, eating sugars and grains -- including any type of bread, pasta, corn, potatoes, or rice -- will cause your insulin and leptin levels, and your blood pressure, to remain elevated.

One 2010 study27 discovered that those who consumed 74 grams or more per day of fructose (the equivalent of about 2.5 sugary drinks) had a 77 percent greater risk of having blood pressure levels of 160/100 mmHg (stage 2 hypertension). Consuming 74 grams or more of fructose per day also increased the risk of a 135/85 blood pressure reading by 26 percent, and a reading of 140/90 by 30 percent.

A more recent analysis of the available research,28 reported by Time Magazineunder the telling headline, "Sugar Goes Straight to Your Blood Pressure,"29concluded that the sweet stuff makes your blood pressure soar regardless of your weight, although eating too much sugar will typically cause weight gain that also contributes to hypertension (as discussed above).

Fructose also elevates uric acid, which drives up your blood pressure by inhibiting the nitric oxide in your blood vessels. (Uric acid is a byproduct offructose metabolism. In fact, fructose typically generates uric acid within minutes of ingestion.) Nitric oxide helps your vessels maintain their elasticity, so nitric oxide suppression leads to increases in blood pressure. High levels of uric acids have long been associated with gout, but recent studies reveal its association with many more serious health problems, including hypertension, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and kidney disease. For more information on the connection between fructose/uric acid/hypertension, please see my previous article, "Fructose: The Hidden and Pervasive Cause of High Blood Pressure."

As a standard recommendation, I recommend keeping your total fructose consumption below 25 grams per day. If you're insulin resistant (about 80 percent of Americans are), have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, or other chronic disease, you'd be wise to limit your fructose to 15 grams or less per day, until your condition has normalized. In his book, The Sugar Fix, Dr. Johnson includes detailed tables showing the content of fructose in different foods, but for a sampling of the fructose content of several common fruits, please see this link.

The Pros and Cons of a Vegetarian Diet to Control Your Blood Pressure

A recent meta analysis30, 31, 32 suggests that a vegetarian diet can help resolve high blood pressure. A vegetarian either excludes or severely limits meat, but typically includes dairy products, eggs, and fish. (Vegan diets, which are even stricter, typically exclude fish, eggs, and sometimes dairy as well.) According to this analysis, removing meat from the diet led to blood pressure reductions similar to losing five kilos of body weight. Compared to blood pressure drugs, a vegetarian diet was found to be about 50 percent as effective for lowering blood pressure.

Most people do not eat enough vegetables, let alone high-quality organic ones, so it makes sense that individuals who consume more vegetables are likely to be healthier. But I still do not believe excluding all meats makes for an ideal diet in the long run. There's ample evidence that abstaining from animal protein altogether can lead to health complications, such as:

Vitamin B12 deficiency, which can lead to anemia

Sulfur amino acid deficiency33

Nervous and digestive system damage34

Both vitamin B12 and sulfur amino acid deficiency increases your risk of heart disease. Claims that B12 is present in certain algae, tempeh, and brewer's yeast fail to take into account that the B12 analogues present in these foods are not bioavailable. The only reliable and absorbable sources of vitamin B12 are animal products, especially pastured eggs.

Quality and Quantity—Two Key Factors to Consider When Buying Meat

It's worth noting that studies such as these are not comparing vegetarians to LOW animal protein diets. The vast majority of non-vegetarians eat far more protein than they need. They also have not compared the health effects of factory farmed versus organic, pasture-raised meats, eaten at varying amounts. From what I've learned, I believe the quality and quantity of the meat may be a major part of the equation.

First, in terms of quantity, there are a number of reasons why I believe it's best to limit your protein intake. The first is that if you eat large amounts of protein your body doesn't need, it will convert most of those calories to sugar. Additionally, it will need to remove the nitrogen waste products from your blood, which stresses your kidneys. Excessive protein can also have a stimulatory effect on mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)—a pathway that seems to be largely responsible for the pathology seen in cancer growth. When you reduce protein to just what your body needs, mTOR remains inhibited, which helps minimize your chances of cancer growth.

Nutrition experts like Dr. Ron Rosedale believe most adults need about one gram of protein per kilogram of lean body mass, which equates to one-half gram of protein per pound of lean body weight. (As an example, if your body fat mass is 20 percent, your lean mass is 80 percent of your total body weight).

In terms of quality, meat from organically raised, grass-fed and finished animals is FAR superior to that from animals raised in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). CAFO beef and poultry has many disadvantages, including fewer of the most valuable nutrients found in organically-raised meats, while being contaminated with hormones, antibiotics, beta agonist drugs, and pesticides like glyphosate. Furthermore, since most CAFOs feed animals genetically engineered (GE) grains (primarily corn and soy), there's also the issue of whether or not such feed might alter the meat in ways we still have not recognized.

Should You Cut Sodium to Lower Your Blood Pressure?

Insulin also affects your blood pressure by causing your body to retain sodium. Sodium retention causes fluid retention. Fluid retention in turn can cause high blood pressure, which may ultimately lead to congestive heart failure. A standard recommendation if you have high blood pressure is to reduce the amount of sodium in your diet. While it's certainly beneficial to cut out processed salt—the type found in processed foods and regular table salt—limiting sodium is not the hypertension cure that many think it is.

If you're simply opting for low-sodium processed foods, you're hardly doing your health any favors, as such fare is likely compensating for the lack of flavor with harmful fats and/or sugar. You've probably heard of the DASH diet,35 which is claimed to be among the most effective for controlling hypertension. It consists largely of fresh vegetables, fruits, lean protein, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and very low sodium content. But it's ALSO low in sugar/fructose. So, while people on DASH diets do show reduced hypertension, the reason for this is most likely not the reduction in salt, but the reduction in fructose.

Excess fructose promotes hypertension to a far greater degree than excess salt.Salt is actually essential for maintaining and regulating blood pressure, but the crux lies in the type of salt you consume. Natural salt, such as Himalayan salt, contains 84 percent sodium chloride, and 16 percent naturally-occurring trace minerals. Processed (table) salt, on the other hand, contains 97.5 percent sodium chloride and the rest is man-made chemicals. The former is essential for good health; the latter is best avoided altogether.

But there's yet another factor that comes into play when we're talking about sodium and blood pressure, and that's the issue of maintaining a healthy sodium to potassium ratio. Your body needs potassium to maintain proper pH levels in your body fluids, and it also plays an integral role in regulating your blood pressure. It's actually possible that potassium deficiency may be a greater contributor to hypertension than excess sodium (but not likely a greater factor than fructose).

The Importance of Proper Sodium-to-Potassium Ratio

According to Lawrence Appel, lead researcher on the DASH diet and director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research at Johns Hopkins, your diet as a whole is the key to controlling hypertension—not salt reduction alone. He believes a major part of the equation is this balance of minerals—i.e. most people need less sodium and more potassium, calcium, and magnesium. One of the first papers I ever published, back in 1985, was on the use of calcium supplementation to control high blood pressure,36 so I've been aware of the connection of important minerals like calcium and magnesium in the stabilization of blood pressure for nearly three decades.

According to Appel:37 "Higher levels of potassium blunt the effects of sodium. If you can't reduce or won't reduce sodium, adding potassium may help. But doing both is better." Indeed, maintaining a proper potassium to sodium ratio in your diet is very important, and hypertension is but one of many side effects of an imbalance. A processed food diet virtually guarantees you'll have a lopsided ratio of too much sodium to potassium. So, how do you ensure you get these two important nutrients in more appropriate ratios?

First, ditch all processed foods, which are very high in processed salt and low in potassium and other essential nutrients.

Eat a diet of whole, unprocessed foods, ideally organically and locally-grown to ensure optimal nutrient content. This type of diet will naturally provide much larger amounts of potassium in relation to sodium.

I do not recommend taking potassium supplements to correct a sodium-potassium imbalance. Instead, it is best to simply alter your diet and incorporate more potassium-rich whole foods. Green vegetable juicing is an excellent way to ensure you're getting enough nutrients for optimal health, including about 300-400 mg of potassium per cup. By removing the fiber you can consume even larger volumes of important naturally occurring potassium.

Exercise, Ideally Outdoors, Is a Potent 'Drug' Against Hypertension

Earlier, I listed exercise as one of the five most effective strategies for lowering your insulin level. Indeed, a comprehensive fitness program can go a long way toward regaining your insulin sensitivity and normalizing your blood pressure. To reap the greatest rewards, I strongly suggest including high intensity interval exercises in your routine. If you are insulin resistant, you'll also want to include weight training. When you work individual muscle groups, you increase blood flow to those muscles, and good blood flow will increase your insulin sensitivity.

If you want to kill several birds in one stone, exercise barefoot outdoors on sunny days. Not only will you get much needed sunshine to promote production of vitamin D, but bright daylight sun exposure will also help maintain a healthycircadian clock, which will help you sleep better. Poor sleep is yet another oft-ignored factor that can cause resistant hypertension.

Going barefoot, meanwhile, will help you ground to the earth. Experiments show that walking barefoot outside—also referred to as Earthing or grounding—improves blood viscosity and blood flow, which help regulate blood pressure.So,do yourself a favor and ditch your shoes now and then. Grounding also calms your sympathetic nervous system, which supports your heart rate variability. And, when you support heart rate variability, this promotes homeostatis, or balance, in your autonomic nervous system. In essence, anytime you improve heart rate variability, you're improving the entire organism—in this case, your entire body and all its functions.

Addressing Stress-Related Hypertension

Although many people believe that the "tension" part of hypertension refers to stress as the cause, the primary cause is actually insulin and leptin resistance. However, the link between stress and hypertension is well documented.38 In fact, it has been shown that people with heart disease can lower their risk of subsequent cardiac events by over 70 percent simply by learning to manage their stress. Suppressed negative emotions such as fear, anger, and sadness can severely limit your ability to cope with the unavoidable every day stresses of life. It's not the stressful events themselves that are harmful, but your lack of ability to cope.

The good news is, strategies exist to quickly and effectively transform your suppressed, negative emotions, and relieve stress. One of the most well-studied of these is an energy psychology method called the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). By teaching your body to slow down and relax when stress hits -- essentially short-circuiting your physical stress reaction -- you can protect your health. EFT is easy to learn and can be done just about anytime, anywhere. For a demonstration of how to tap for high blood pressure, please see the video below.

Other Considerations and Alternatives to Help Normalize Blood Pressure

In addition to everything already mentioned, there are still more dietary and lifestyle strategies that can be of help if you struggle with hypertension. Here are several additional alternatives for your consideration:

Skip breakfast: Research shows that intermittent fasting helps fight obesity and type 2 diabetes, both of which are risk factors for high blood pressure. As mentioned earlier, your body is most sensitive to insulin and leptin after a period of fasting. While there are many types of fasting regimens, one of the easiest to comply with is an eating schedule where you limit your eating to a specific, narrow window of time each day. I typically recommend starting out by skipping breakfast, and making lunch your first meal of the day.

Eating first thing in the morning coincides with your circadian cortisol peak—the time of day when your cortisol (a stress hormone) levels rise and reach their peak. The circadian cortisol peak impacts your insulin secretion, so when you eat during this time it leads to a rapid and large insulin release and a corresponding rapid drop in blood sugar levels, more so than when you eat at other times of the day. If you're healthy, your blood sugar levels won't drop to a dangerously low level (such as can occur with hypoglycemia) but they can drop low enough to make you feel hungry.

So, although skipping breakfast goes against the conventional dogma that you should not skip meals and breakfast is the most important meal of the day, omitting breakfast could actually make it easier for you to control food cravings and hunger throughout the day. Intermittent fasting shifts your body from burning sugar to burning fat as its primary fuel, which can lead to a truly amazing health transformation. Once you are truly shifted to primarily fat burning mode, your hunger dramatically decreases and your desire for unhealthy processed junk foods virtually disappears.

Normalize your omega 6:3 ratio: Most Americans get too much omega-6 in their diet and far too little omega-3. Consuming omega-3 fats will help re-sensitize your insulin receptors if you suffer from insulin resistance. Omega-6 fats are found in corn, soy, canola, safflower, and sunflower oil. If you're consuming a lot of these oils, you'll want to avoid or limit them. Omega-3 fats are typically found in flaxseed oil, walnut oil, and fish, with fish being by far the best source. Unfortunately, most fresh fish today contains dangerously high levels of mercury. Your best bet is to find a safe source of fish, or if this proves too difficult or expensive, supplement with a high-quality krill oil, which has been found to be 48 times more potent than fish oil.

Consume fermented foods: If your gut flora is unhealthy, your risk is much greater for heart disease, as well as many other chronic health problems. The best way to optimize your gut flora is by including some naturally fermented foods in your diet, such as sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables, yogurt, kefir, and natto. An additional benefit of fermented foods is that some of them are excellent sources of vitamin K2, which is important for preventing arterial plaque buildup and heart disease.

Eliminate caffeine: The connection between coffee consumption and high blood pressure is not well understood, but there is ample evidence to indicate that if you have hypertension, coffee and other caffeinated drinks and foods can exacerbate your condition.

Vitamins C and E: Studies indicate that vitamins C and E may be helpful in lowering blood pressure. If you're eating a whole food diet, you should be getting sufficient amounts of these nutrients through your diet alone. If you decide you need a supplement, make sure to take a natural (not synthetic) form of vitamin E. You can tell what you're buying by carefully reading the label. Natural vitamin E is always listed as the "d-" form (d-alpha-tocopherol, d-beta-tocopherol, etc.) Synthetic vitamin E is listed as "dl-" forms.

Olive leaf extract: In one 2008 study, supplementing with 1,000 mg ofolive leaf extract daily over eight weeks caused a significant dip in both blood pressure and LDL ("bad") cholesterol in people with borderline hypertension. If you want to incorporate olive leaves as a natural adjunct to a nutritionally sound diet, look for fresh leaf liquid extracts for maximum synergistic potency. You can also prepare your own olive leaf tea by placing a large teaspoon of dried olive leaves in a tea ball or herb sack. Place it in about two quarts of boiling water and let it steep for three to 10 minutes. The tea should be a medium amber color when done.

Quick tricks: Increasing nitric monoxide in your blood can open constricted blood vessels and lower your blood pressure. Methods for increasing the compound include taking a warm bath, breathing in and out through one nostril (close off the other nostril and your mouth), and eating bitter melon, rich in amino acids and vitamin C.

Take Control of Your Blood Pressure

The best treatment strategy for high blood pressure is to evaluate your lifestyle and make the necessary adjustments, with particular emphasis on normalizing your insulin and leptin levels. We've covered a lot of ground in this report, so here's a summary of key points to remember:

In addition to checking your blood pressure, check your fasting insulin level. A healthy level to strive for is about 2 or 3 microU per mL

Avoid processed foods, as most are loaded with sugar/fructose, processed salt, and harmful fats like trans fat and damaged omega-6-rich vegetable oils. Instead, focus on intermittent fasting to boost results which will help normalize your insulin/leptin sensitivity. This is crucial for normalizing your blood pressure. Also consider whole food, ideally organic diet. Meats should ideally be grass-fed and pasture finished. Also keep an eye on your sodium-to-potassium and omega-3/omega-6 fat ratios. This is more or less automatically done if you swap processed foods for whole foods

Optimize your vitamin D level, ideally through regular sun exposure

Exercise regularly, ideally barefoot, outdoors during the middle of the day

Learn how to effectively address day-to-day stress. One effective tool is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). You can also tap specifically for high blood pressure

Blood Pressure Classification	Systolic Pressure(mmHg)	Diastolic Pressure(mmHg)
Normal	<120 td="">	<80 td="">
Pre-hypertension	120-139	80-89
Stage 1 Hypertension	140-159	90-99
Stage 2 Hypertension	≥160	≥100

Avocados	Butter made from raw, grass-fed organic milk	Raw dairy	Organic pastured egg yolks
Coconuts and coconut oil (coconut oilactually shows promise as an effective Alzheimer's treatment in and of itself)	Unheated organic nut oils	Raw nuts, such as pecans and macadamia, which are low in protein and high in healthy fats	Grass-fed meats or pasture raised poultry

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