Diet for High Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is a measure of the amount of blood your heart pumps and the blood flow in your arteries. If your heart is forced to pump more blood because you have narrow arteries, you will undoubtedly have high blood pressure. The condition, also called hypertension, affects sixty-five million American adults, nearly one in three, and if left untreated can have serious consequences on the health. Though you can live with high blood pressure for many years without experiencing a single symptom, it will always catch up with you and the result is often a heart attack, a stroke or severe damage to the kidneys.

Fortunately for the millions of Americans who have hypertension, the condition can be kept in check with a combination of lifestyle and dietary changes and, in some more extreme cases, medications. In this article we will be discussing the role diet plays on high blood pressure and how people with high blood pressure can control their condition by keeping an eye on what they put on their plate.

High Blood Pressure Diet

If you are a person who is living with hypertension, there are several foods and beverages you will want to cut down on and others that you must remove from your diet altogether. Below we will discuss some of the most common offenders.

Alcohol

Though we've long been told that small amounts of alcohol can actually help reduce heart disease and may even reduce the risk of hypertension, this is not true for people who already have high blood pressure. In fact, studies have shown that for these people alcohol only serves to raise their blood pressure and increase damage to blood vessels. Therefore, people with hypertension should do their best to not drink alcohol.

Salt

While eating too much salt can increase blood pressure in some, in others salt consumption has virtually no effect. The difficulty is that doctors have no idea which patients can get away with eating salt and which cannot until it is too late. That is why it is a good idea for all people who suffer from hypertension to cut the sodium out of their diet. Besides, there are always salt substitutes.

Fats

Though it impossible to cut all fats out of your diet, those who suffer from high blood pressure need to cut down on saturated fats, especially trans-fats. These fats can damage both your heart and blood vessels. And because your system is already under stress due to your high blood pressure, the extra strain could be deadly.

The Dash Diet

The Dash Diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) was specifically designed by doctors to help people control their high blood pressure. It suggests cutting out the salt and also recommends three minerals-calcium, magnesium and potassium-which they believe can help lower blood pressure. The diet also stresses the importance of whole grains, fruits and fresh vegetable as well as meats and dairy products that are low in fat. Early studies show that the DASH diet is effective in lowering blood pressure in people with hypertension, sometimes in as little as two weeks.