Clique Hypertension Diet Guide

For people who are having risks of developing hypertension, or at the prehypertension category, or already developed hypertension, diet plays a very important part of the disease prevention, control and progression.

The following are important points to take back:

1. Minimal salt intake in your daily food

Salt is used in high contents in our normal daily diet. Salt is not only used to preserve food, but also as add-on to increase taste in food. Avoiding daily consumption of processed food, instant noodles, carbonated drinks or sports drinks can reduce the amount of sodium intake. Also, you can have better control on your sodium/salt intake by making your own meals versus eating out or go to a restaurant. Using salt substitute such as vinegar and curry powder can help increase tastes without using sodium.

2. Vegetables in every meal, and a fruit a day

Vegetables and fruits has many anti-oxidants properties, vitamins and minerals that helps reducing your blood pressure.

Baked white potato, banana, avocados, tomato, grapefruit, and soy beans provide ample potassium. When potassium is low, the body retains sodium (and too much sodium raises blood pressure). When potassium is high, the body gets rid of sodium. Eating potassium-rich foods is important for maintaining a healthy balance of both minerals and, by extension, for keeping blood pressure low.

Green beans, broccoli, tofu contains high calcium, where as spinach, legumes, sunflower seeds and beans are all loaded with magnesium, key ingredients for lowering and maintaining healthy blood pressure levels. These foods also provide lots of potassium, a primary nutrient in the fight against high blood pressure.

Celery, is known not only providing calming properties, but it also helps reducing blood pressure.

Onion, spring onion, scallion, and seaweed reduces blood pressure, blood clots, and cholesterol levels in your blood.

3. Skim milk
Skim milk provides calcium and vitamin D, two nutrients that work as a team to help reduce blood pressure by about 3 to 10 percent. It could add up to about 15 percent reduction in risk for cardiovascular disease.

4. Dark chocolate
Eating about 30 calories a day was associated with a lowering of blood pressure without weight gain or other adverse effects, according to a study in the July 4, 2007, issue of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association).