High Blood Pressure Diet

High blood pressure can result due to lifestyle factors, illness, or heredity and for those particularly at risk, a high blood pressure diet along with other precautionary measures can be undertaken to ensure blood pressure is kept to a safe and sensible level. To some degree, by following a sensible diet, we can control blood pressure and how it behaves throughout our life span.

High Blood Pressure

A variety of factors contribute to high blood pressure and poor diet and being overweight are two items that play major roles toward developing hypertension even at a young age. People often wrongly assume high blood pressure to be a disease that occurs in our senior years, this is most definitely not the case and a dangerous attitude to take. High blood pressure can contribute significantly to the risk of heart attacks and stroke and kidney failure, to name but a few problems. Therefore high blood pressure must be taken seriously at any age.

According to the American Heart Association in 90 to 95 percent of high blood pressure cases, the actual cause in unknown, however, causative factors are able to be more clearly defined.

High Blood Pressure Diet: Increase Your Wellbeing

Following a high blood pressure diet does not mean that a strict ‘diet regime’ must be followed, nor does it require specifically measuring the intake of certain foods as is the practice with ‘Weight Watchers’ and other well known diet plans, it is more centered on sensible eating and the avoidance of certain food items in high quantities.

There is a physiological link between certain foods and dietary habits which can significantly increase the correlation between diet and high blood pressure. Increasing your overall wellbeing is not a difficult undertaking and a moderate uptake of exercise at regular intervals, twinned with a sensible diet is the best approach to take. The avoidance of the following is, however, recommended:

Salt

Salt is widely reported to have a direct impact on blood pressure and a higher than recommended intake can significantly raise the blood pressure over a relatively short period of time. For some people this leads to damage of significant organs such as the heart and kidneys and at times may be irreparable. By keeping the daily intake of salt to between five and six grams per day, problems such as high blood pressure can be avoided. People’s intake of salt is more than likely double this and directly contributed to by:

• Adding salt to meals
• Adding salt to food when cooking
• Buying pre-prepared (processed) meals and food items that have a higher than recommended salt content.

If acknowledged and acted upon before major health problems occur, a reduction of salt in the diet can over time reduce problems with high blood pressure. This will not necessarily cure the problem entirely; for some medication is required also. However, a diet low in salt will definitely compliment this. Fortunately food packaging is clearly labeled with salt content to conform with manufacturer standards, this has not always been the case, and today the information benefits consumers by allowing them the ability to make informed dietary choices.

Alcohol

Alcohol is relatively safe if taken in ‘moderation’. Information on what is deemed ‘safe’ in terms of alcohol intake shifts from study to study, but those who already suffer from high blood pressure ought to be aware of the impact of alcohol on blood pressure. Those potentially pre-disposed to high blood pressure also need to be aware of the potential issues faced.

Recommended alcohol intake for those with high blood pressure and for others to avoid high blood pressure is:

• Two units per day with a maximum of fourteen units per week for women.
• Three units per day with a maximum of twenty one units per week for men.

It is also recommended that individuals should aim to have two alcohol-free days per week. With the advent of ‘binge drinking’, for many who socialize on a regular basis it is almost impossible to quantify the amount of alcohol being taken in a week. Binge drinking is particularly worrying when the age of those who consume alcohol appears to be at an all time low. To consider the impact on blood pressure when drinking alcohol from such a young age is alarming to say the least.

Alcohol does not only have an impact on blood pressure but also the liver and the pancreas. For those unfortunate enough to suffer ill health due to alcohol, as with salt intake the damage caused can be irreversible.

Take the Sensible Approach

If we went through life constantly worrying about the impact of our diets on our health, we may find ourselves slaves to diets which we find bland and not of our choosing. To combat this risk, the sensible approach would most definitely be to modify the intake of foods such as salt and alcohol as opposed to cutting them out of the diet entirely.

For those who choose to do just that, it cannot be said with 100 percent certainty that high blood pressure will not develop for other reasons, however risk will be significantly reduced without a doubt. It is better to be aware of pre-existing risks such as that of a family history of high blood pressure. It is far better to have knowledge of increased risks than be ignorant of them and do nothing to combat them.

As well as reducing the intake of salt and alcohol, maintaining a diet that is rich in fruit and vegetables will support a more acceptable blood pressure without the need to make too many sacrifices when being cautious with a high blood pressure diet.