How to control high blood pressure with diet and exercise

People who have high blood pressure need to watch what they eat. Closely linked to this is exercise, which is also beneficial. However, before changing diet or exercise routines, please consult your doctor to talk through your personal situation.

Causes of hypertension (high blood pressure) in most cases are very difficult to diagnose (in fact some sources suggest that even up to 90% of cases have unknown causes). However, some of the common factors thought to be involved include:

• moderate to excessive alcohol intake
• smoking
• too much caffeine
• being overweight
• too much salt in the diet
• genetics

These factors mean that:

• If you are overweight, try to lose weight. Reducing % body fat can lower blood pressure. A 30 minute walk every day can help you achieve this.
• Try to eat more fruits and vegetables and less processed foods.
• Always look at the nutritional information on the food you buy, and choose those low in salt (or sodium).
• Drink less caffeine drinks. Often fizzy drink contain a lot of caffeine, so do read those labels. Try to switch to decaffeinated coffee if you are a coffee drinker. I actually found I needed a caffeine coffee in the morning so had one caffeine coffee first thing, followed by decaf if I wanted more.
• Reduce alcohol intake to recommended levels or less.
• Stop smoking!

The problem with trying to lower your salt, is that there is so much hidden salt in the stuff you buy at the grocery shop.

Tips to reduce salt in your diet

• By products that are labeled as no salt added.
• By fresh meat and vegetables rather than processed products. Lots of those cold meats at the deli have added salt, as do canned vegetables.
• Try to stop putting salt on food when cooking or eating. You may find that the food becomes “tasteless” when you do this, but after a while you will get use to it.
• When buying bread, look for the sodium levels on the packaging and select the one with the lowest levels. I have found the amounts of sodium in sliced bread varies enormously.
• Cut back on stock cubes and packages soups which are often high in sodium. If you want stock cubes, look for low sodium ones.
• If using canned food, rinse well in water to remove salt. Tinned vegetables and tuna are good examples of foods packages in extra salt.
• Read the labels on breakfast cereals. These often have high levels of salt.

Additional Supplements thought to contribute to lowering blood pressure

Magnesium, potassium and calcium are three very important elements of a diet, and are thought to have blood pressure lowering properties. I have listed below some of the sources of these supplements, but please do consult your doctor before supplementing with these minerals.

Magnesium – dark green leafy vegetables. Soy products, legumes and seeds, nuts (e.g. almonds and cashews), whole grains like brown rice, bananas, dried apricots, and avocados. Your body eliminates excess magnesium.

Potassium – salmon, cod, and sardines. Broccoli, spinach, lettuce, parsley, peas, lima beans, tomatoes, potatoes with skins. Citrus fruits, apples, bananas, and dried apricots. Note people with kidney problems should avoid these foods. They require a low potassium diet.

Calcium – Milk and dairy products such as yogurt and cheeses. However, try to go with low fat products. Skimmed milk has a higher calcium content than full fat milk. Broccoli, kale, and bok choy. Salmon and tinned sardines (eat the bones), shellfish, almonds and Brazil nuts. Also look for products with extra added calcium.

B Vitamins – Broccoli, spinach, wheat germ, bananas, potatoes, chicken, fish, lean meat, milk, liver and eggs.

Omega 3 – Walnuts, oregano, salmon, halibut, shrimps, cod, tuna, scallops, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, sprouts, kale, spinach and strawberries. Look out for margarine and dairy drinks with added Omega 3.

The DASH Diet

The DASH Diet puts many of these factors into an easy to follow diet system. You can get a free copy of the Dash Diet from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute website. The DASH diet is clinically proven to significantly reduce blood pressure.

Treating hypertension with medicine

Everybody is different, so you should visit your doctor and get a professional diagnosis and treatment recommendations. Those people suffering from diabetes or kidney problems will have to be treated differently to others.

While there are medications to lower blood pressure, it is a good idea to try the natural “lifestyle” changes approach first, including losing weight, exercise, reducing stress levels, stop smoking, cut back on alcohol, diet, etc.

There are some people who find that acupuncture works to reduce blood pressure. Alternative remedies like this are laughed at by some health professional, but I do think they deserve a mention here.

Some people with very high blood pressure do need to be put on medication quite quickly after diagnosis.

High blood pressure treatments

The following are a list of some common medications used to treat high blood pressure:

Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors) and angiotensin receptor blockers – These stop your body from making a hormone called angiotensin II. This hormones natural role is to cause blood vessels to narrow, so by preventing this narrowing by blocking the hormone, your blood pressure goes down. Possible side effects include headaches, dizziness and an irritating cough.

Beta-blockers – slow your heart beat rate and the force of the heart beat by blocking the effects of adrenaline. This causes blood pressure to be reduced. Possible side effects include : Fatigue and lethargy. Depression, memory loss, dizziness and cold in the extremities are also reported.

Diuretics – or so-called “water-pills”. They help remove excess water and salt from your body. This helps reduce the overall volume of blood in your body, and therefore reduce your blood pressure. Possible side-effects include fatigue, irritability, depression, increase in cholesterol levels, and allergic reactions.

Calcium channel blockers (CCBs) – stop calcium from entering muscle cells in your heart and blood vessels. This causes the muscle to relax, opening the blood vessels and reducing blood pressure. Side effects include tiredness, drowsiness or dizziness, headaches, nausea, constipation (or diarrhea), swelling of the legs or feet, dry mouth.

Alpha-blockers – reduce the nerve impulses that cause constriction of the blood vessels. Side effects include dizziness, fainting and heart palpitations.

Vasodilators - drugs which open up the blood vessels to decrease the pressure of the blood.

You will need to discuss your treatment with your doctor, and the possible side-effects. By trying different medications, you should be able to find a treatment that suits you and minimizes side-effects.

If you are interested, you can read our section on”What causes high blood pressure“.

Hypertension (high blood pressure) is often called the silent killer, due to the fact that there are few, if any symptoms. People go about their daily lives unaware of the time-bomb ticking away inside them.

It is vitally important that you keep checks on your blood pressure, and if high, seek medical help. While blood pressure medications can help reduce a dangerously high blood pressure, they often do have side-effects. In my own case, I wanted to find ways to help control my blood pressure naturally, and within a couple of months, my blood pressure was largely under control. The following tips are for information only. Please consult your doctor if you have high blood pressure.

Tips for controlling blood pressure

• Reduce alcohol intake if you drink more than three alcoholic beverages a day. Small amounts of alcohol don’t seem to affect blood pressure in the same way, but heavy drinkers will benefit from reducing alcohol intake.
• Drink plenty of fresh water – your body is made up of a high percentage of water. If you don’t drink enough, your body tries to hold onto it, causing bloating. By drinking water regularly throughout the day, your body can detoxify your body. Your urine can be a good gauge to whether you are drinking enough water. The darker it is, the more dehydrated you are.
• Increase levels of activity – this will exercise your heart. Studies regularly show that increased exercise will help lower blood pressure.
• Lose weight if you need to – if you are over-weight, your heart has to work harder to pump blood around your body. Losing weight can reduce blood pressure, and you’ll feel a lot better as well.
• Reduce salt intake – your body does require salt, but in most cases, it can be supplied in sufficient doses by eating a balanced diet. Foods contain salt, so you don’t need to add extra. Since sodium (a component of salt) is involved in regulating body fluids, it can play a role in high blood pressure. If you eat canned products, read the labels. Look for food sources low in sodium.
• Avoid food high in fat or cholesterol.
• Stop smoking – nicotine has been shown to constrict blood vessels (making them narrower), raising the pressure in the vessels.
• Reduce Caffeine intake – My morning coffees are an important part of my daily routine, but I found that by having one caffeine coffee, and then switching to decaffeine coffee for the rest of the morning, I could have the best of both worlds, while helping to reduce my blood pressure.

Prior to following these tips, my blood pressure regularly reached 140/90 and even 140/100. After two months of following these tips, my blood pressure was normal, and often as far down as 115/68. These tips were responsible for controlling my high blood pressure, and meant that I could avoid going onto drugs. If you decide to try the natural route, please do consult your doctor first. The above information does not constitute medical advise.