Ask the You Docs: Lifestyle changes are best choices to lower blood pressure

Q: What alternative treatments (herbs, etc.) will help bring down high blood pressure? - Debra, Georgetown, Texas

A: The best "alternative treatments" are to put healthy foods on your table and walk for at least 30 minutes every day. The details: Eat more fruits and vegetables. Avoid foods that contain simple sugars or syrups and saturated or trans fats. Eat only 100 percent whole grains.

Need help with walking? Find someone to be your walking buddy; then, after you walk every day, call/e-mail your buddy and "report in." Or walk with your buddy. And no excuses: If there's a downpour, you walk; a hurricane, you walk; a blizzard, you walk. Do it in the basement, the playroom or the garage, but walk.

You've got it: The changes that work best to reduce blood pressure are lifestyle choices: 60 percent of our patients are able to get off blood pressure meds completely if they do these things.

Nothing replaces these changes, but you could try supplementing them with 200 mg a day of CO-enzyme Q10. A few studies have also found that eating a couple of cloves of garlic a day or 10 tablespoons of tomato sauce a week help. But eating right and exercising are such powerful medicines that they'd be blockbusters if they came in pill form.

Q: My husband and I are both senior citizens; we're in good health and want to stay that way. I take calcium tablets every day, but I've heard that men shouldn't take calcium. Why? Don't men also get osteoporosis or brittle bones? - Mary, via e-mail

A: Yes, men get osteoporosis - or its forerunner, osteopenia. And as men are living longer, we are seeing more of them break fragile bones as they get older, which makes them even older. That is, the breaks can be so physically limiting that the men can't do anything, which can result in their untimely demise. So yes, we think that adult men should take the following twice a day: 600 mg of calcium, 500 IU of vitamin D and 200 mg of magnesium. The D works with calcium to strengthen your bones; the magnesium counters the constipation that calcium supplements can cause.

Q: A man approached me at a ballgame a few weekends ago and tried to sell me a product called Vemma. He said Dr. Oz recommends it. I have very bad arthritis; I've had both knees operated on. I take lots of medicine, and the man assured me that I would be able to get off of all of it if I took this. What are your thoughts? - Anonymous

A: The product is actually called Verve; it's made by a company called Vemma, and it's basically a multivitamin in a beverage. Both of us YOU docs periodically take it as a vitamin "insurance" supplement. Will it get you off other medicines? Only if your diet is so bad that nutrient deficiencies are causing the disease, and that isn't very likely.

What is important for osteoarthritis is this: Do exercises that strengthen the muscles above and below the affected joints, as this will help support them. (If needed, take pain relievers so you can do the exercises.) Eat a healthy diet (see the first Q of this column). Supplement it with these: Twice a day, take 500 mg of vitamin C, 600 mg of calcium, 500 IU of vitamin D and 200 mg of magnesium. And walk, even if it hurts; again, take analgesics to relieve it. People who did this regimen in a major medical study (Framingham) had no progression of their osteoarthritis. Those who didn't got worse.

Q: In your book "YOU: Staying Young," you say people should consume 20 grams of chia seeds twice a day. Is this correct? It seems like a lot. - William, via e-mail

A: Yes, we do mean 20 grams of chia, which isn't that much, less than an ounce. But this tiny seed has big benefits: It has the highest antioxidant activity of any whole food; it decreases sharp blood sugar spikes after eating; and it may lower your blood pressure and risk of heart problems. You can add it to cereals, salads, yogurt, smoothies, or stir it into whatever you're drinking (meaning water, tea, juice - not gin and tonics). So it's not hard to eat 20 grams.

The You Docs - Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz - are authors of the best-selling "You: The Owner's Manual" and "You: On a Diet." To submit questions and find ways to grow younger and healthier, go to www.RealAge.com.