Eat Foods That Lower Blood Pressure

By Paul Johnson | July 9, 2008

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by Paul Johnson

If you have high blood pressure, your diet can make a difference. It’s best if you eat foods that lower blood pressure and therefore have a positive impact on your health.

If you like to drink alcohol occasionally then you might want to cut this from you diet. Alcohol is known to have a direct impact on your blood pressure and raise it. It acts in damaging the walls of your blood vessels, which in return elevates your blood pressure. Excessive drinking can cause serious problems with your blood vessels and make high blood pressure even more difficult to treat.

You can also increase your chances of having more complications with your blood pressure. Some studies have shown that a small amount of alcohol can have a protective effect on your heart. However, you should not take the risk nor should you have this attitude. You should cut alcohol out of your diet entirely.

Salt is another thing you should cut out of your diet if you have high blood pressure. Too much salt can increase blood pressure and make your problems worse. Some people don’t have a problem with salt consumption and it doesn’t do anything to their blood pressure.

Therefore, limit or eliminate your salt consumption if you have high blood pressure. Foods naturally contain sodium themselves, so you’ll get everything you need from your diet without adding extra salt. Your doctor will be able to tell you how much if any salt you can consume besides that which naturally occurs in your food.

Trans fats, too, can raise blood pressure because they can damage your blood vessels. They raise cholesterol, which is bad for your circulatory system and your cardiovascular system in general. Your diet should be low in trans fats and low in saturated fats in general. Moderate amounts of so-called “good” fats such as monounsaturated fats should be included in your diet for best health. Limit or eliminate foods such as junk food, fast food, processed cakes, cookies, etc. Modest amounts of meats are fine (all meat contains some saturated fat), but you should concentrate on getting most of your fat from monounsaturated sources.

If your circulatory system is already under a lot of stress because you have high blood pressure, high fat foods can plays an additional stress on your body. Dairy products too, should be of the low fat or no fat variety, since full fat dairy products contain lots of saturated fat.

The best things you can eat when you have high blood pressure and you want to keep your pressure at a low include fresh fruits and vegetables and fish. Green vegetables are the healthiest for you and fruits like berries or cantaloupe. You don’t want to eat too much of fruits that are really high in citrus.

If you have high blood pressure, the food you eat is very important. If you eat a lot of high fat or highly salted food, this can cause your blood pressure to go off without your even being aware of it. Eat foods low in salt and saturated fat, and avoid excess alcohol consumption. All of this can be very damaging to your blood vessels, which in turn can raise your blood pressure. By contrast, a good diet can also significantly lower your blood pressure.

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Topics: Weight Loss |

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