There are changes we can adopt into our diets to control high blood pressure. Adopting a healthy eating plan is a two prong approach as it prevents the development of having a high blood pressure and lowers an existing elevated blood pressure.
Fiber Rich Diet
Having a diet that has a huge amount of fiber has been proven to be successful in preventing and treating many different cardiovascular diseases such as Hypertension. However, the effect of different dietary fibre varies. Water soluble gel-forming fibers have the best result in lowering high blood pressure.
Guar gum, apple pectin, psyllium seeds, oat fiber, fenugreek seed powder, fennel seed powder, dandelion root powder and ginger root powder are examples of water soluble gel-forming fibers. They are not only effective for Hypertension, they are also useful in getting rid of heavy metals present in our body, lowering our cholesterol levels and aids weight loss.
One way to ingest water soluble gel-forming fibers is to consume one to three tablespoons of herbal bulking formula that contains water soluble gel-forming fibers such as those listed above.
Sugar Low Diet
The common sugar that we use for cooking increases our blood pressure. This common sugar is called sucrose. The actual mechanism to how sucrose does this is still not fully understood. However, some people have postulated that sugar increases the production of a hormone called adrenaline. Adrenaline increases the amount of sodium being retent in our body and narrows our blood vessels.
Instead, people should switch to a diet that is high in potassium (vegetables and fruits) and essential fatty acids. Seven grams of potassium should be ingested daily. The diet should be low in salt, sugar and saturated fat. On the whole, diets should have a big component of vegetables and members of the onion/garlic family.
“Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)” is a research sponsored by NIH. In this study, what is the impact of different type of nutrients in food on blood pressure is being tested. Results showed that diets that have a huge emphasis on vegetables, fruits and low-fat dairy foods and low amount of cholesterol, saturated fat and total fat are useful in lowering high blood pressures.
The diet that DASH recommended was to have nuts, fish, poultry and whole grains and lessen the amount of sweets, sugared beverage, fats and red meat. DASH diet is another type of diet that can be employed to control high blood pressure.
Vegetarian Diet
People who follow a vegetarian diet tend to have both a lower level of blood pressure and lower occurrences of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. There vegetarian diet can be a diet that can control blood pressure. Therefore researchers have a hypotesis that it could be that a vegetarian diet contains a greater amount of complex carbohydrates, potassium, vitamin A, polyunsaturated fat, vitamin C, fiber, calcium and magnesium; all of them might have a positive impact on high blood pressure.
Low Sodium level diet
The key for Hypertension patients to note is that they must avoid foods that have high levels of salt and sodium. People who were not able to get high blood pressure medication in the past resorted to consume a very low salt-reduced, low-calorie “rice diet.” Apparently, people were able to lower their blood pressure significantly just by avoiding salt.
Countries that uses low level of sodium in their cooking tend to have lower level of blood pressure when compared to countries that use high amount of salt. Japan and America have one of saltiest diets in the world and thus also the highest blood pressures.
Be conscious and careful of what you are eating. Avoid any unnecessary amount of sodium intake. If you have Hypertension, you must avoid foods that contain huge amount of salt or are highly processed. Examples of such food include fast food, frozen pizza and preserved vegetables.
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