subject: Keeping your Blood Pressure in Check [print this page] Keeping your Blood Pressure in Check Keeping your Blood Pressure in Check
The main factors that determine blood pressure include heart rate (how fast the heart beats), blood volume (the total amount of blood in the body) and total peripheral resistance (the resistance by blood vessels to the free flow of blood). Other factors which may contribute to blood pressure include gravity valves in veins and skeletal muscle contraction, both of which help in returning blood pumped round the body by the heart back to the heart.
Now, during each beat of the heart, blood pressure varies between a maximum (systolic), occurring at the height of contraction of the heart, and a minimum (diastolic), occurring at the peak of relaxation of the heart.
What & What Not To Eat To Control Your Blood Pressure
1. Reduce your calorie intake, including dietary sugar of course. The aim of doing this is to control your weight, so you can combine it with regular exercise such as a daily walking routine.
2. Reduce your consumption of sodium. The major source of sodium in your diet, which you can easily control, is cooking salt, so reducing the amount of salt you put in your food while cooking is highly recommended. And whatever you do, try to avoid adding salt to already served meals.
3. Increase your intake of potassium from natural sources. Natural sources of potassium include vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, etc. Please note that taking potassium supplements is not recommended for controlling hypertension as it could easily become toxic to the body. In some cases, e.g. people with renal (kidney) failure, potassium may even be restricted. Potassium supplements may, however, be prescribed in some cases, for instance in individuals taking certain diuretics.
4. Increase your intake of dietary calcium. Natural sources of calcium include animal sources such as diary products (milk, cheese, yoghurt, curd, etc), eggs, fish, etc, and plant sources such as green leafy vegetables, cereals, millets, peas, beans, soyabeans, potatoes, some fruits and so on.
5. Consume foods rich in zinc. Good dietary sources of zinc include liver, beef, pork, crabs, lobster, clams, salmon, turkey, chicken, diary products, mushrooms, spinach, peanuts, beans, wholegrain cereals, whole wheat bread, brown rice, potatoes, pumpkin seeds, etc.
6. Watch you consumption of fats. Generally, plant sources of fats and oils are preferable to animal sources. Use low-fat or no-fat milk, reduce your intake of foods high in cholesterol such as beef, egg yolk, poultry, pork, etc.
7. Get more vitamin D. The absorption and use of calcium in the body goes hand in hand with vitamin D, so a deficiency of vitamin D affects calcium metabolism in the body, hence can also lead to hypertension. The best source of vitamin D is exposure to sunlight (non-burning or early morning sun). Food sources of vitamin D include fortified milk, fish (salmon, tuna, sole, flounder, cod, etc), fortified cereal, pork, eggs, mushrooms, beef liver, ricotta cheese, etc.
8. Cut down your intake of alcohol. The more alcohol you consume, the higher your chances of developing hypertension.
