High Blood Pressure?Easy Eating Rules For Lowering Your Blood Pressure
Hypertension is generally a symptom that indicates the presence of a larger health problem.
Changing your food habits is one important way of trying to lower your blood pressure.
What you eat and drink affect both directly and indirectly your blood pressure.
As a rule of thumb, the healthier your diet is, the lower your blood pressure will be.
Some of the basic rules are: Cut down on salt and sodium Check food labels to see how much salt the food contains.
Some labels may not say how much salt the food contains, but they may say how much sodium it contains.
Sodium is one of the chemicals in salt, and one unit of sodium is equal to two-and-a-half units of salt.
Most of the salt we eat is not what we add to cooking or at the table.
Around 80% of the salt we eat is in prepared foods.
Eat fruit and vegetables daily Fruit and vegetables are full of vitamins, minerals and fibre to keep your body in good condition.
They also contain potassium, which can help to balance out the negative effects of salt.
Dried, frozen and tinned products can be just as good as fresh, but watch out for added salt, sugar and fats.
Avoid foods that contain a lot of saturated fat A low-fat diet can help you keep to a healthy weight, which in turn will help keep your blood pressure down.
Avoid eating too much saturated fat, cut down on red meat and eat more fish.
Drink water and be careful with alcohol and caffeine If you drink too much alcohol, this will raise your blood pressure over time.
Caffeine will raise your blood pressure, only temporarily.
But if you suffer from hypertension you don't want a temporary boost.
Note that in small quantities, red wine can prevent heart diseases.
So you may want to drink up to one glass of red wine per day.
A healthy diet is one important part of curing hypertension but often it needs to be combined with other activities, such as physical exercise, relaxation and slow breathing exercises.
Changing your food habits is one important way of trying to lower your blood pressure.
What you eat and drink affect both directly and indirectly your blood pressure.
As a rule of thumb, the healthier your diet is, the lower your blood pressure will be.
Some of the basic rules are: Cut down on salt and sodium Check food labels to see how much salt the food contains.
Some labels may not say how much salt the food contains, but they may say how much sodium it contains.
Sodium is one of the chemicals in salt, and one unit of sodium is equal to two-and-a-half units of salt.
Most of the salt we eat is not what we add to cooking or at the table.
Around 80% of the salt we eat is in prepared foods.
Eat fruit and vegetables daily Fruit and vegetables are full of vitamins, minerals and fibre to keep your body in good condition.
They also contain potassium, which can help to balance out the negative effects of salt.
Dried, frozen and tinned products can be just as good as fresh, but watch out for added salt, sugar and fats.
Avoid foods that contain a lot of saturated fat A low-fat diet can help you keep to a healthy weight, which in turn will help keep your blood pressure down.
Avoid eating too much saturated fat, cut down on red meat and eat more fish.
Drink water and be careful with alcohol and caffeine If you drink too much alcohol, this will raise your blood pressure over time.
Caffeine will raise your blood pressure, only temporarily.
But if you suffer from hypertension you don't want a temporary boost.
Note that in small quantities, red wine can prevent heart diseases.
So you may want to drink up to one glass of red wine per day.
A healthy diet is one important part of curing hypertension but often it needs to be combined with other activities, such as physical exercise, relaxation and slow breathing exercises.