Eating my way to lower blood pressure

do_lally_tap

Blood pressure is through the roof and having a 24 hour monitor fitted next month, so I have decided to try eat my way to lower blood pressure.............. I feel and look better after 2 weeks :j
The basic things I have done is:
Drinking: red grape juice and pomegranate juice
Eating: muesli, low fat yogurt with berries, nuts and bananas

Can anyone suggest more foods (on a budget)?

Have whitecoat syndrome :rotfl: but booking myself in with the nurse next week to see if I have managed to do any good!!

Anyone else trying to do this

daska

hmmm... that's pretty much sugar, sugar, a little bit of protein and loads more sugar.

Try not having the sugar?

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20100125/low-carb-diet-lowers-blood-pressure

Fire_Fox

Well done for making a change, so glad you are feeling the benefits already!

Oily fish, oily fish with a side of oily fish!! Canned is easy and cheap - mackerel, sardines/ pilchards, salmon - otherwise fresh whole fish - mackerel, herring, rainbow trout are reasonably priced. Amazing source of long chain omega-3s and bioavailable vitamin D both of which are key to cardiovascular health. Any decent medical professional should be delighted to hear you intend eating more of this.

Agree cut the sugar, juice should be had maximum one small serving per day, fruit should be maybe two servings of your seven to nine servings a day. Eat whole unprocessed foods that look much like when they came off the plant of animal. Whole fruits that are rich in the antioxidants you have obviously read about and also contain fibre which is beneficial for cardiovascular health. Berries (frozen is cheapest) of all kinds are much lower in sugar than grapes or pomegranate seeds but by all means have a little of those, also sour cherries and black or redcurrants. Limit bananas, the sugar/ carb content is scary.

Be sure to have a wide range of non starchy vegetables in the FULL rainbow of colours because these are chock full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants - dark green, blue/ purple, red, yellow/ orange. Frozen green veggies are very good value and versatile - broccoli, fine beans, spinach - ditto canned tomatoes. Soup is a great way to get more vegetables in, as are green smoothies (fruit smoothies with greens in, I swear you cannot tell).

Look at your intake of minerals, especially magnesium which relaxes muscles including those in the cardiovascular system/ around the blood vessels. Beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, whole unprocessed grains. Almost all wheat products are processed, muesli flakes (look like dry porridge) tend to be steamed, rolled and dried they aren't 'true' wholegrains. If you are not already consider making up your own muesli mix using jumbo barley and jumbo oat flakes and loads of nuts or seeds. Beans and lentils are super cheap, packed with minerals and fibre, very versatile.

Switch from low fat yoghurt to sugar free live yoghurt. Sugar is highly damaging to the lining of blood vessels, it's actually what causes the bad cholesterol to stick. If you need a little sweetness get some xylitol.

do_lally_tap

Thankyou for your replies:
I should have done more research on the sugar quantities!
I have excellent cholesterol (or did have) and my weight is good as I am very active.
Will def check out the low-carb diets also.
Thankyou so much..................

ukmike

Beetroot juice works wonders for lowering blood pressure!

Azmataz

Celery works too! It's a traditional natural aid for lowering blood pressure, thanks to the phthalide compounds it contains.
Try to eat at least 5 sticks a day. Worked for me!

trailingspouse

Avoid any sort of processed food like the plague. Actually, it is a bit of a plague. Yes, you need to limit your carb intake, but when you do eat carbs, make sure you have unrefined ('brown') varieties. As well as being better for you, they are tastier, and more filling

jenniewb

My dad had heart problems and had to change his diet. He ate more green leafy vegetables- all be it in stews rather then steamed (the best way IMO) and increased his intake of fish, both oily and white.

I think the best thing to do is to cut back on refined carbs and replace with any of the above or other omega 3+ type foods (nuts, eggs...etc) and other meats as well as green leafy vegetables such as cabbage, brussel spouts and so on. This is what seemed to help him anyway.

do_lally_tap

Hi and thanks for your replys dating back a month!!
After just over a month of eating pretty healthily today I went back to the docs after having a 24 hr blood pressure monitor......
The results may seem a bit high but I have managed to reduce my blood pressure - will deff continue and possibly improve on my eating plan.
Overall (24 hour) average: 146/78
Daily average: 155/82
Night average: 107/58
I had the day off work and did a thorough spring clean - so a normal day in the life off.........
p.s. did gag on the beetroot juice lol x

savemoney

I just started taking medication for high blood pressure on Monday. Also cut down on snack like crisps, fizzy drinks. I had a monitor a month back for 2 weeks to monitor my blood pressure. The medication so far is giving me headaches, dizzyness a little and nightmares. My blood pressure is slightly on high side

do_lally_tap

Hi savemoney!
Hope all works out ok for you - the nurse is passing my results onto the doc to see if any medication is needed (not one for taking subscription tablets that is why i started to try and eat my way thru it).
What I have learnt is simply changes to a diet can help - take a look at some suggestions that other posters have given.
What blood pressure is slightly on the high side?