The Dietary 'Do's' and 'Don'ts' of High Blood Pressure.

A great friend of mine has recently been told that he has 'high blood pressure' (HBP) and he and his wife were asking me whether there were any foods he should focus on and/or avoid ... while the demands of his work are thought to be the real cause of his condition, his diet is at least an area of his life over which he has a degree of control ...

While I don't for a minute propose that anyone should read this blog and 'self-medicate' a similar condition based on the dietary changes I am about to suggest, I think it is important to know that while you wait an intermiable amount of time to see your physician (this process further challenging your blood pressure stats!), there are things you can be doing at home.

Ok - so first things first, here are all the 'Don'ts;

1. Limit your intake of saturated fats. This really translates to limiting your intake of animals fats which are most commonly found in fatty cuts of meat, bacon, sausages, duck, chicken and turkey with the skin on, egg yolks, butter/lard, cream, ice-cream and whole milk dairy products. (It is true that Coconut oil and Palm oil are the vegetarian offenders due to their high saturated fat content, but they are yet to be shown to have unfavorable effects on cholesterol and blood pressure statistics).
2. Watch your salt intake. While it is currently proposed that we don't exceed a salt intake of 2,400 mg/day, there are a number of studies which show a healthier intake to be around 1,600 mg/day. In the case of individuals who are trying to lower their blood pressure, the Mayo Clinic recommend trying to limit intake to 1,500 mg/day. This is actually not a challenge if you are able to avoid processed foods. 75% of our salt intake is from processed foods, and only 25% is from the cooking salt and table salt. So for all those salt-junkies (I am a self-proclaimed salt-lover...), we really can reduce our intake without compromising taste, as long as we get friendly with our kitchens!
3. Limit alcohol - but don't panic, it is recommended just to drink in 'moderation', which is 1 drink/day for women and 2/day for men ... and no, you can't store up your quota and drink 14 in one night - not ideally, anyway, for your blood pressure or your liver!
4. Be 'healthy': - and by this I am encompassing the 'don't smoke' recommendations along with the '30 minutes of aerobic activity a day' and the 'maintain a healthy weight' suggestions which seem to accompany all disease prevention spiels in today's world!

And now, for those of you who would like to stop 'avoiding' and start 'adding' blood-pressure friendly foods into your day, here are the 'Do's':

1. Focus on eating fruits, vegetables and whole-grains. This means, embrace those stir-fries with whole-wheat noodles, the brown and wild rice dishes and legumes (see my previous blog), whole grain breads and pastas ... and the apple/tangerine/banana/pear/dried fruit snack options. In addition, if you are a desert addict, don't lament the loss of your ice-cream fix at the end of dinner, but instead try and get creative with the fruit bowl .... and by the way, low fat frozen yogurt is still ON the menu?!
2. Increase your potassium intake. This means including dried foods such as raisins, apricots, dates and prunes, fresh fruits such as bananas, strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe and oranges, fresh vegetables such as beets, greens, spinach, peas, tomatoes and mushrooms and dried vegetables such as peas and beans. Yum!

And a final word on caffeine ... there is no standard line on this, but it is possible that caffeine can cause a short but dramatic increase in blood pressure in some individuals. In order to find out if you are one of them, check your blood pressure within 30 minutes of drinking a caffeinated beverage and if it increases by 5-10 points then it suggests that you are sensitive to this side-effect of caffeine. To be honest, I recommend anyone with high blood pressure to limit the amount of caffeine they drink to 200 mg/day - which is about 2 cups of coffee (12-ounce, people...not 24 ounce!). In addition, it's recommended you avoid caffeine right before activities that naturally increase blood pressure such as weight-lifting and aerobic activity.

So - there you have it - the blood-pressure-friendly nutrition tips. To be honest, there's nothing new here is there? They're pretty much the standard 'healthy eating' guidelines we've all come to know, if not love! I think the point is that if you have HBP, these guidelines really can enable you to be effective in helping your numbers come down. I've known a lot of people who can reduce their blood pressure readings simply by taking control of what they eat ... and lets face it, actually making some constructive changes it's a hell of a lot less frustrating than just being told to 'relax' the whole time, right?!