5 Types Of Food That Help Lower Your Blood Pressure
Blood pressure refers to the pressure that the flow of your blood exerts against the
walls of the arteries within your body.
When the pressure is too high, this causes hypertension to occur, which can damage the
walls of your blood vessels and lead to numerous health-related complications such as heart
disease, stroke, and kidney disease.
Because of the symptoms of hypertension can be hard to detect, it’s important to take
proactive steps and ensure that you’re doing what you can to keep your blood pressure under
control.
One of the ways you can manage blood pressure is by incorporating certain foods into your
diet.
Here are just a handful of foods which are useful when it comes to keeping your blood
pressure at manageable levels and preventing hypertension from occurring.
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Foods High In Potassium= Potassium is an important nutrient due to
the role it plays on your system.
Specifically, potassium helps your kidneys by filtering more sodium out of your body
through urine, in turn, the lowered sodium levels in your body also help to keep your
blood pressure down.
Potassium can be found naturally in a variety of plant-based food sources; particularly
in leafy greens such as romaine lettuce, kale, arugula, spinach, collard greens, and Swiss
chard.
Just make sure you’re getting them fresh; canned vegetables often come packaged with
added amounts of sodium, effectively making their rich potassium content something of
a moot point.
Alternatively, you can rely on frozen vegetables as well: while they might not be as flavourful
as fresh greens, they still retain all of their nutritional value.
Another source of potassium is a fruit that you probably already have sitting on your
kitchen counter: that’s right, look no further than the humble banana.
In addition to being a high source of potassium, bananas are both versatile and portable, making
them easy additions to incorporate into an everyday meal plan.
You can even blend a banana with some leafy greens in order to make a healthy and potassium-rich
smoothie to take with you in the go!
For yet another option, unsalted seeds such as sunflower, pumpkin or squash seeds are
also an excellent source of potassium, as well as magnesium and other minerals which
are known to have a positive effect on blood pressure.
2.
Foods High in Calcium Calcium also plays an important role in managing
your blood pressure, so another way to improve your overall health is to make room in your
meal play for calcium-rich foods such as skim milk and yogurt.
According to the American Heart Association, a group of female test subjects ate five or
more servings of yogurt per week as part of a study; the result was that these women experienced
a 20 percent reduction in their risk of developing heart disease as a direct result of this dietary
change.
If you’re looking to incorporate more yogurt into your diet, be sure to read the label
on the yogurt’s packaging before buying; you’re going to want to stay away from any
brands that come with a surplus of added sugar.
3.
Foods High in Omega-3 The Omega-3 fatty acid is yet another important
nutrient that can help to keep your blood pressure levels under control, as well as
reduce inflammation within your body and lower the number of triglycerides within your bloodstream.
One great way to get more omega-3 into your diet is by eating certain types of fatty fish
such as trout, mackerel or salmon; in addition to being high in omega-3, these fatty fish
are also an excellent source of other important vitamins such as lean protein, and in the
case of trout, vitamin D. Looking for a way to work some healthy fats and a lean source
of protein into your daily diet?
Go fish!
4.
Foods High in Nitric Oxide Nitric oxide helps your blood vessels to expand
and open, thus relieving and lowering blood pressure level.
One particularly high source of nitric oxide is beets.
According to researchers, the nitrates found within beetroot juice are potent enough to
lower blood pressure in just a short span of 24 hours.
If you’re not familiar with some of the ways to prepare beets in cooking, you can
either juice them or cook and eat the root itself as an ingredient in stir-fries, stews
or beet chips.
Just make sure to be careful during the cooking process, since the bright red juice from beets
can easily stain your clothes.
5.
Foods High in Flavonoids Flavonoids are a natural type of compound
that can be found in certain types of berries, particularly blueberries.
According to one study, flavonoids are yet another way you can potentially reduce your
blood pressure levels and lower the risk of hypertension and its related problems.
Fortunately, the fact that these flavonoid compounds are so abundant in berries means
that you can easily work them into your diet as a healthy snack option.
This is of course in addition to all the other health benefits that you can expect from berries;
for the full scoop, be sure to check out Bestie’s other video, “Eating Berries Every Day For
A Week Will Do This To Your Body”.
Did you find this video useful or informative?
Can you think of any other foods that are high in the types of vitamins and minerals
that we’ve discussed here?
As always, we’d love to hear your input and feedback, so be sure to let us know in
the comments section below and help us to keep the conversation going.