Dietary Strategies to Control Hypertension
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The DASH Diet
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According to the Mayo Clinic's website, the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) was formulated especially to lower and eventually eliminate high blood pressure. The DASH diet encourages eating high fiber, low fat foods, with a large selection of fruits, vegetables and lean proteins. The DASH diet encourages you to eat colorful meals, as the more color in your meal, the more nutritious and low-fat it will be. You can find a number of DASH diet recipes at www.DASHdiet.org.
Diet Changes
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If you want to control hypertension but don't feel comfortable integrating the DASH diet into your lifestyle, there are other dietary changes you can make to control high blood pressure. The first thing you can do is reduce the amount of fats in your diet. Cut down on fast foods, fried foods and high sodium foods. Instead of frying meats, try purchasing very lean meats, baking or broiling them and eating smaller portions. If possible, avoid eating empty calorie foods such as instant noodle and pasta meals, frozen foods and canned vegetables with very little nutritional content. Add more fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet by drinking smoothies and fruit-based shakes with your breakfasts, and by eating snacks of fruits and vegetables.
Beverages and Habits
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Surprisingly enough, a lot of beverages can also contribute to high blood pressure. Carbonated sodas have large amounts of sugar, sodium and can contribute to high blood pressure as a high sugar diet can cause weight gain. If you drink coffee, use a sugar substitute (such as Stevia or the Splenda brand) to reduce the amount of sugar in your beverages. Try drinking more water, diet sodas, and fruit juice (be careful you check the nutritional labels as fruit juice can have excessive amounts of sugar). You can also manage hypertension by quitting smoking. Smoking damages the blood vessels and increases blood pressure.
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