{"id":1199,"date":"2017-11-13T09:02:20","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T09:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/simplyhealth.today\/?p=1199"},"modified":"2021-03-15T17:46:46","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T17:46:46","slug":"10-diet-tips-manage-high-blood-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.today\/10-diet-tips-manage-high-blood-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Diet Tips to Manage High Blood Pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"High blood pressure is a serious issue that can make it difficult for the heart to pump blood and oxygen around the body. This means that the blood has become too thick, that the heart is pumping too hard or that the veins have become too narrow.<\/p>\n

Either way, this means that there is a build up of force and pressure inside your veins and arteries and that the heart will need to work harder and harder to deliver oxygen and nutrients where they need to be in the body. This can have some immediate negative effects such as making you short of breath and damaging your athletic performance. However, it can also have even worse long-term effects eventually leading to heart problems or even a heart attack of stroke.<\/p>\n

Blood pressure is a result of many different things but one of the main causes of high blood pressure has to do with your diet. The wrong diet will cause the blood to be thicker and will make it significantly harder for it to make its way around your body.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look then at 10 easy diet changes that will manage that high blood pressure.<\/p>\n

1. Drink Water<\/h3>\n

The first and most important diet tip is to make sure you are getting enough water. Water is absolutely crucial for every single chemical reaction in your body and yet over a third of us are chronically dehydrated! This is not a small issue and it should be an absolute priority for you to solve this problem at your earliest convenience \u2013 by drinking more water!<\/p>\n

This will not only prevent inflammation<\/a> and stress caused by general bad health but it will also help to dilute your blood making it more fluid and more able to make its way around your body.<\/p>\n

\"\"2. Avoid BPAs<\/h3>\n

BPAs are added to a lot of plastic products and tend to find their way into our bottles, our lunch boxes and the packaging around other foods. Even our beauty products and hair products are guilty of containing added BPAs.<\/p>\n

BPAs are not immediately life threatening by any means, but they do have a number of negative impacts that have been demonstrated in long term studies. These include lowering testosterone<\/a> as well as increasing blood pressure!<\/p>\n

\"\"3. Reduce Sugar<\/h3>\n

There was a time that everyone blamed fat for everything. Over time though, it has transpired more and more that it is actually sugar<\/a> that is the truly guilty party. Sugar is in a whole lot of what we eat and it is very often doing a lot of harm.<\/p>\n

The big issue with sugar is that it causes inflammation. This is known to be one of the biggest causes of high blood pressure, not to mention negatively impacting our health in a variety of other ways too!<\/p>\n

\"\"4. Avoid Trans Fats<\/h3>\n

Trans fats<\/a> are fats that are added to foods during processing. These are not natural fats then and instead are usually used to make food tastier or help it last longer \u2013 at the expense of our health!<\/p>\n

While sugar has been held newly accountable for our health in many ways, fat has been somewhat vindicated. We\u2019ll look at this more over the course of this post but what you need to consider is that not all fat is suddenly okay. Trans fats are still very much not okay.<\/p>\n

How do you know what\u2019s okay and what\u2019s not? Generally if it\u2019s the kind of grease you associated with sausage rolls, it is not okay!<\/p>\n

\"\"5. Eat More Omega 3<\/h3>\n

One type of fat that is very much okay on the other hand is omega 3 fatty acid. This is found in tuna, in salmon and in a host of other foods.<\/p>\n

Omega 3 is good for us for a number of reasons. One benefit is that it is incorporated into the structure of cells where it is used to form the cell walls. Omega 3 increases the permeability of our cell walls, in short allowing nutrients to pass through them more easily.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, omega 3 can also make cell walls more flexible, which includes our blood vessels<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"6. Eat Less Omega 6<\/h3>\n

The other good thing about omega 3 is that it decreases omega 6. That\u2019s because these two keep each other in check. When you have more of one, you have less of the other and vice versa. If you eat more omega 3, your O6 levels will fall.<\/p>\n

And while omega 6<\/a> is necessary in your diet and has important roles, most of us have too much of it and not enough 3. And this is a big issue because like sugar, it is known to cause inflammation.<\/p>\n

\"\"7. Seek Out HDL-Raising Foods<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s a misconception for sure that all fats are bad then. Likewise, it\u2019s a common misconception that \u2018cholesterol\u2019 is bad. Cholesterol<\/a> is only bad if it is the wrong kind. And the wrong kind of cholesterol is LDL (low density lipoprotein). HDL on the other hand (high density) is very good for us and will actually decrease blood pressure.<\/p>\n

The good kind of cholesterol has a host of other jobs as well in fact \u2013 even helping us to make testosterone and other key hormones. So make sure you\u2019re eating your eggs and your meat!<\/p>\n

\"\"8. Avoid Processed Foods<\/h3>\n

You might start to notice that there\u2019s a trend emerging here. Nearly all the additives and processed elements in our diet are bad, while the natural things whether they\u2019re fats or not, are good for us.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the long and the short of it: your job is to avoid unnatural and processed foods and to seek out the natural, healthy foods.<\/p>\n

Anything that you would consider an unhealthy snack should be avoided and that means crisps, chips<\/a>, cake, processed meats and the rest.<\/p>\n

\"\"9. Try Beets<\/h3>\n

When you\u2019re seeking out those natural healthy foods, one of the very best options is beets. Beets are vasodilators, meaning that they can actually open up the blood vessels and help the blood to flow around them more easily. This instantly improves your blood pressure.<\/a><\/p>\n

And as it happens, it will even improve your athletic performance! This is why many athletes will actually seek out beets before a long race. This increased blood flow helps the body to deliver more oxygen and more nutrients to the muscles, the organs and the brain.<\/p>\n

And anything that improves your performance is also a good thing \u2013 seeing as exercise is one of the best options for improving your blood pressure levels.<\/p>\n

\"\"10. Try Garlic<\/h3>\n

Garlic<\/a>, just like beets, is a vasodilator. It is one of the best known and another favorite among many athletes in fact. And on top of this, garlic has a ton of other benefits too. For one, it is high in fiber and can help to improve your blood pressure that way.<\/p>\n

It is also a natural antibiotic and can help to kill off unwanted bacteria and germs. It boosts your digestion (which can have indirect knock on effects for your blood pressure) and in general it\u2019s something that everyone should aim to get more of in their diet.<\/p>\n\r\n

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