How Healthy Eating Affects Your Blood Pressure

Available evidence suggests that to reduce both your high blood pressure and its consequent risk for stroke, coronary heart disease and so on, the most effective changes you can make are to reduce your intake of alcohol, fats and salt. You should also increase the amount of bread, vegetables and fruit you eat. If you are overweight, you will also need to make a reduction in your total energy (calorie) intake.

Drinking more than four units of alcohol a day for a man or 3 units a day for a woman is a common and easily avoided cause of high blood pressure, particularly in people aged under 40 (a unit of alcohol is one glass of wine or one single measure of spirits or half a pint of average strength beer or larger). Regular heavy drinking raises blood pressure, particularly in young men whose diastolic pressures are over 100 mmHg can reduce their blood pressure to normal without medication, once they reduce their drinking to not more than a pint or two of beer a day. High alcohol intake is a common cause of treatment failing to work and if your blood pressure refuses to fall despite apparently adequate treatment, you should think about what you are drinking. Acute heavy drinking (bingeing) can cause a rapid though brief rise in blood pressure and this may bring on a stroke in older people. There is consistent evidence that moderate drinking (example no more than the previously mentioned daily limits) reduces the risks of coronary heart disease, probably through its effects on blood cholesterol and blood clotting factors. Heavy drinking (15 pints of beer a week for a man) increases the risk.

A vegetarian diet would be good for your high blood pressure. Blood pressure in on average lover in vegetarians than meat-eaters. Switching to a vegetarian diet lower blood pressure in many people whose blood pressure is high enough to require treatment, although rarely enough to avoid any need for blood pressure lowering medications. There is good evidence that potassium (which comes mainly from vegetables and fruits) reduce blood pressure and this may be the main way in which a vegetarian diet works, although there has not yet been a strong medical evidence to back this up.

Vegetarian diets have high fiber content and high-fiber foods are digested and absorbed slowly (which means that you tent to feel full for longer - very helpful if you are trying to lose weight). They usually include plenty of pulses (peas, beans and lentils) which contain a particular type of fiber called soluble fiber, which appears to lower blood cholesterol levels. As well as all these benefits, some kinds of cancer seem to occur much less in vegetarians. Of course, people who become vegetarians tend to avoid various other sorts of dangerous habits, especially smoking and excessive alcohol intake, but the consistency of the evidence is impressive. Omnivores wait impatiently on just how much meat they may eat, without losing the apparent benefits of vegetarianism.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Blood Pressure

High Blood Pressure Can Cause Headaches
Being overweight, drinking a lot of alcohol and not eating right contribute to high blood pressure. The person may not notice anything wrong now but in a few years, this will come in the form of a stroke that could either kill or leave anyone paralyzed.Studies reveal that this affects more than 50 million Americans with about 30% still unaware what...

Maintaining Healthy Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Levels in the Body
Many people suffer from problems directly related to high blood pressure and cholesterol. This can be easily avoided with regular exercise, a healthy diet and avoiding excessive amounts of alcohol and salt. The reason many of us find it so hard to maintain healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels in the body is because our entire lifestyle a...

Tips for Staying Heart Healthy
Having a healthy heart will greatly improve your quality of life. According to a study in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association, 50 year olds with normal blood pressure lived longer and enjoyed a higher quality of life.So, how is your heart? Nearly 1 in 3 US adults has high blood pressure. High blood pressure is called a sil...

Blood Pressure and Medications
If you have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, chances are you will be prescribed some kind of medication. However, you should be aware of the fact that drugs are not the only solution to the problem. For instance, changes in diet, exercise, and stress levels can also have an impact on blood pressure. Before we discuss specific types of med...

The Elusive Blood Pressure Symptom
Did you know there is no one specific symptom that can identify high blood pressure, and that it is the results of high blood pressure that produce symptoms? Most people do not realize the only way you can find out if you suffer from high blood pressure is to have a blood pressure reading taken.Blocked ArteriesHigh blood pressure is caused when ...

Is There a Natural Remedy for High Blood Pressure?
High Blood Pressure kills and it affects millions throughout the globe. A lot of people find normal medicine gives many side effects which affect their health in other ways and look for a natural way to deal with the disease.There are many natural remedies for hypertension as it known in medically. I will list some of them and look at one natural r...

Heart Healthy Diet Plan
What is a heart healthy diet? This diet is an eating plan for you and your family and serves to help keep your blood cholesterol low and to prevent heart diseases. Children under the age of 2 should not follow this heart healthy diet as they are still too young and need more fats at this stage to provide enough calories for growth and development.D...