Thursday, March 1, 2012

Diet For High Blood Pressure - How Do You Know You Are On It?

By Lynne Keller


If your nurse or doctor measures your blood pressure at 140/90 then you suffer from hypertension. This is a condition that affects many an adult, but also some teens and children. Having your high blood pressure treated somehow should be an essential matter in ensuring your good health. Obviously, you want your diet for high blood pressure to be as healthy as possible, as it is such a diet that could regulate your blood pressure as it works in concert with exercise and medication.

Following a diet for high blood pressure also reduces or prevents clogged arteries, increases in cholesterol, cancer and also reduces weight. The ideal diet for high blood pressure patients should include low fat or fat free products and should definitely exclude animal fats, red meat, sugary products, and sweets. Regulating the blood pressure can be achieved as well by eating the right fruits and vegetables, specifically those with low sodium and high potassium.

Ensuring you are on the best diet for high blood pressure can be done by minimizing salt or sodium content. But there are still many who consider salt-free to be anathema, as it signifies the absence of flavor. To add flavor to the diet for high blood pressure you can add spices to the food instead of salt.

There are several ways to ensure a diet for high blood pressure is followed, and one would be to rinse off any sodium content in canned food by rinsing the product first. When buying vegetables, only buy those that are "salt-free" (they actually contain a minuscule, yet healthy enough amount of sodium) and to avoid, or if possible eliminate certain sauces like soy sauce, mustard and ketchup, more succulent vegetables like pickles and olives, as well as cured meat, ham or bacon.

Blood pressure and diet have a certain degree of affinity with each other. This makes the best diet for high blood pressure something you must certainly strive for when trying to keep your blood pressure under control.

The most important thing that you should avoid in your diet for high blood pressure is salt. When one's diet is rich in salt and he/she also suffers from high blood pressure, this only intensifies the issue. You can lower your blood pressure to a great extent if you cut down salt consumption in your diet for high blood pressure. You should not have more than 6 grams of salt per day. In other words, you should significantly reduce your consumption of processed food and fast food - even seemingly harmless broths and salad dressing are quite rich in sodium. If you are non-vegetarian then make sure you are including fresh poultry, fish, and lean meat in your diet.

It goes without saying that junk food is an absolute no-no when it comes to minimizing salt intake. A mineral imbalance can lead to catastrophic effects on your health if you are not careful. There are several benefits to keeping your diet healthy and low in salt content. It can help you to reduce your blood pressure within a period of two weeks.

However, since this is not a "professional medical advice" article, your health care specialist should be the go-to person for any diet recommendations.




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