High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a serious health problem. Over time, it causes blood vessel damage that can lead to heart disease, kidney disease, stroke, and other problems.
Hypertension is sometimes called the silent killer because it produces no symptoms. If you don’t get your blood pressure checked regularly, hypertension could go unnoticed, and untreated, for years.
Lifestyle plays an important role in treating high blood pressure. If you successfully control your blood pressure with a healthy lifestyle, you might avoid, delay or reduce the need for medication.
However, there is another small and rare percentage of people whom despite their being health conscious and their good health habits, may still get high blood pressure. This can be caused by factors that cannot be prevented such as genetics.
Most people also relate high blood pressure to high salt intake. Although reducing salt intake may be beneficial in managing hypertension, it is equally not healthy to avoid taking sodium totally as it helps maintain body fluid balance.
High blood pressure may be eliminated with a healthy enough diet. Avoid or limit these foods to keep the disease at bay or to manage it if you already have it:
• Canned foods especially soups are packed with too much salt. So is canned tomato sauce and canned tomato juice.
• Bacon. Even though most bacon is mostly fat, just a slice of bacon has enough sodium. But who eats only one slice of bacon? So if you are a fan of the BLT sandwich (bacon, lettuce and tomato) you may be eating way more than your favourite sandwich.
• Red meat: Its tough to stay away from meat but it is wise to limit the portions
• Soy sauce is packed with sodium. Even a healthy vegetarian meal with no saturated fats can become unhealthy depending on how it is cooked.
• Alcohol damages blood vessels over a period of time and can lead to high blood pressure.
• Whole milk: Milk is healthy and one of the greatest sources of calcium. But if you are hypertensive you should avoid it because it contains high levels of fat which is linked to heart disease.
So if you are hypertensive, it is high time you visited your nutritionist or clinical dietician for a healthy meal plan that can help you manage your pressure better thus reducing your risk of heart condition.
