These Tasty Foods Help Fight High Blood Pressure
These Tasty Foods Help Fight High Blood Pressure
Changing your diet is a great way to help control a number of serious health conditions, including high blood pressure. This is because some of the cholesterol that ends up lining our arteries and causing problems, comes from our diet. Here are some tasty foods you can incorporate into your diet that will have an impressive effect on your blood pressure, from our in-home respite care team.
Why Should We Care About Blood Pressure?
First, let’s talk about why it’s important to combat high blood pressure!
Hypertension (the medical term for high blood pressure) is a stealthy disease. Most people have no idea they have it until their doctor measures their blood pressure. It can happen to young, healthy, and fit people, too. And it’s not a benign condition – it’s the leading cause of heart attacks and strokes, stealing years of your life away by overworking the heart muscles until your heart is worn out.
Drugs play an important part in managing hypertension, but there’s a lot we can do ourselves to get control and keep blood pressure within a healthy range. Taking these measures will help you rely less on drugs, which can have unpleasant side effects as well as expenses. Diet is one of those things, and with just a few changes to what we eat, we can live longer, healthier and better lives – never has good health and wellbeing been easier!
6 Foods That Help Control Hypertension
- Unsaturated fats – These contribute less to cholesterol than saturated fats while still adding flavor to food. Use sunflower, olive, or canola (in limited amounts) rather than butter, coconut oil or palm kernel oil.
- Berries – Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and others all contain strong antioxidant compounds called anthocyanins. Studies have shown that people who eat plenty of berries have an 8% reduction in their risk of high blood pressure. They’re also a great choice for snacks and satisfy a sweet tooth!
- Bananas – Another sweet choice is bananas, which contain about 422 milligrams of potassium. Potassium is great for heart health, helping to reduce the negative effects of sodium. If you don’t like bananas, try avocados, tomatoes, cantaloupe, tuna, beans, and honeydew melons for your daily dose.
- Dark chocolate – Yes, we’re recommending chocolate! Dark chocolate with a minimum of 70% cocoa isn’t just delicious, it also helps reduce blood pressure. Still, it’s good to stick to just one block a day.
- Fresh fruit and vegetables – You really can’t get too much fresh fruit and vegetables – five a day is just a guideline! If it’s difficult to always get fresh, then avoid canned or dried fruit as these can be high in salt and sugar. However, frozen fresh items are a great alternative as they keep almost all their nutrient content. Good items to choose include leafy greens, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, peppers, and other colorful produce.
- Fermented foods – These are foods with a high probiotic content, which efficiently supports gut health. This is good for your overall health as well as your blood pressure. Tasty foods in this category include yogurt (try to find a natural brand without added sugar), kombucha, kimchi, miso, and tempeh. According to a study by the American Heart Association, five or more servings of yogurt per week led to a 20% reduction in hypertension risk!
Of course, it’s also important to talk about foods to avoid or eat in very small quantities, which include salty snacks, processed meats, caffeine, trans fats, and alcohol. Depending on how severe your hypertension is, it’s a good idea to seriously reduce these items or eliminate them completely.
In-Home Respite Care in New Jersey
HomeWorks offers a leading in-home respite care program for seniors in New Jersey. In addition to assisting with daily tasks, errands and light housekeeping, our home health professionally trained.
Because of the work we do, our senior home care services agency takes the coronavirus pandemic very seriously. Our team of home health aides in New Jersey are fully trained in protection practices to help prevent infection. We have taken the strongest precautionary measures in line with COVID-19 to ensure that we can deliver the care that seniors need on a daily basis while reducing their risk as much as possible.
Contact us today and let one of the leading home health aide services providers in New Jersey deliver the exceptional care and companionship that your loved one deserves. You can also visit our website at https://umcommunities.org/homeworks/chronic-disease-management/
