Starting to wonder if anything can keep your blood pressure down?
The results of several large and long-term researches, made by DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) and EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) concluded that healthy diet positively helps controlling high blood pressure.
Good eating plan includes a wide variety of good foods to protect as well as promote your health. Eva Obarzanek, Ph.D., R.D., researcher on the DASH diet stresses that you shouldn't rely on just a handful of foods for blood pressure control or any other health benefit - although a few foods do stand out from the rest.
Medicine-foods superstars, introduced in this lens - that target high blood pressure issue - are here to help fighting hypertension the natural way. And they taste nothing like pills!
Other alternative treatments for high blood pressure include breathing slowly and deeply, exercising, better lifestyle and diet choices and home remedies.
Important: NO medical advice here, you need to contact a licensed health practitioner to get one. This is only a brief summary of some findings of DASH diet studies.
High blood pressure diet video
How to control high blood pressure
High blood pressure
What is hypertension?
Hypertension is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure is elevated. It is also referred to as high blood pressure or shortened to HT, HTN or HPN. The word "hypertension", by itself, normally refers to systemic, arterial hypertension.
Hypertension can be classified as either essential (primary) or secondary. Essential or primary hypertension means that no medical cause can be found to explain the raised blood pressure. It is common. About 90-95% of hypertension is essential hypertension. Secondary hypertension indicates that the high blood pressure is a result of (i.e., secondary to) another condition, such...
Controlling high blood pressure
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Hypertension diet foods - part 1
Vegetables, grains and olive oil as treatment for high blood pressure
Green vegetables like spinach contain chlorophyll and magnesium, which seems to be the key ingredient in promoting normal blood pressure. Foods, rich in magnesium are usually also a great source of potassium and fiber: almonds, cashews, halibut, oatmeal, peanut butter, potatoes, shredded wheat cereal and soybeans.
Bananas are probably most famous for their potassium content but not everyone knows that sweet potatoes are the real potassium powerhouse. A medium sweet potato has 540 mg of potassium while medium sized banana contains 420 mg.
Higher intake of potassium seems to lower blood pressure especially well when the consumption of sodium is high. Therefore, to lessen the damaging impact of processed foods (filled with sodium), stick to foods abundant in potassium like: almonds, apricots, cantaloupe, cooked lentils and soybeans, fish, low-fat dairy, meat, oranges, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes and zucchini.
Potassium from plant sources may also reduce bone loss and risk of kidney stones.
Note that diseased kidneys may not be able to remove excess potassium from blood - which could cause problems with heart rhythm.
Numerous studies found a link between high fiber intake and lower blood pressure.Whole grain foods like whole wheat bread, pasta and cereal also contain magnesium and other nutrients which may be responsible for promoting healthy heart and regulating blood pressure.
For many years the researchers weren't certain if the impact of olive oil on lowering blood pressure was due to the monounsaturated fat itself or just a side effect from oil's association with veggies. Finally, extensive multinational EPIC survey showed that olive oil by itself is beneficial addition to high blood pressure diet.
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High blood pressure, diet and obesity in the news
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Fish, low fat dairy and dark chocolate as treatments for high blood pressure
Albacore tuna, herring, lake trout, mackerel, salmon and sardines all belong to the fatty variety of fish, among highest in omega-3 fatty acids.
Small but consistent relation was found between higher omega-3 from foods intake and lower blood pressure. Although, the impact was stronger with people who were not taking hypertension medication and those with normal blood pressure.
Large recent study claims that calcium and vitamin D in low-fat dairy products also keep blood pressure under control. This was not the case with calcium or vitamin D, taken as a supplement.
Approximately 30 calories worth of dark chocolate is also on the list of blood pressure reducers - most likely due to flavonol, substance in cocoa beans. This small piece of chocolate should not affect your weight, only benefit your blood pressure.
Purple sweet potato from Hawaii
Sweet potato
Sweet potato
- Sweet potato is the world's seventh largest food crop, widely cultivated and consumed throughout the world.
- Sweet potatoes are what we usually see and buy in stores.
- They come in all colors, from white to orange and even purple (as seen on Polaroid above) or Okinawan potatoe, native to the Japanese island, Okinawa.
- It is a herbaceous perennial vine, its leaves alternate, heart-shaped and lobed. Flowers are medium-sized. Edible root is often long and tapered. The leaves are also edible.
More sweet potatoes: orange and white
Potato, sweet potato and yam
Photo above: giant yam
Source of all three photos: Google images
Yam
- First item
- Second item
- Third item
Have you ever been on high blood pressure diet?
daria369 wrote...
in reply to susannaduffy Me too, sweet potatoes (with lots of butter) are my favorite... :)
Posted November 03, 2009
poutine wrote...
I'm lucky, my blood pressure is just fine, hope it stays that way.
Posted March 08, 2009
Jennifer wrote
Guess I need to start eating more whole grains. I don' t know @ the olive oil....Grains are good for a lot of things though.
Jen
Posted November 15, 2008
Priya wrote
What if you are not sensible by nature and require extra effort for thinking sensible? wil it still help?
Posted November 13, 2008
Connie wrote
Blood pressure is so important to our overall health. People who ignore hypertension are playing with their lives. Great lens.
Posted November 13, 2008
How to with Herbs in Daria%u2019s World
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My name is Daria of DariasWorld.info and I've always been interested in healthy life style and personalized diets, especially when it comes to spe... (more)
