A Healthy Diet is Important for a Healthy Heart

This article is to help you understand some of the problems caused by high blood pressure and hypertension and to give you some dietary instructions to eat healthy to stay healthy.

The blood pressure of a resting, healthy adult should be 120/80 or lower. If levels between 120/80 and 140/90, then you are considered in the pre-hypertensive stage.  If you blood pressure is above 140/90, then you are considered in the hypertensive stage. Both pre-hypertensive and hypertensive patients must make diet, exercise and lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of hypertension and heart disease.

There are tremendous hazards associated with hypertension and high blood pressure.

Globally, about thirty percent of adults have consistent high blood pressure. It puts a strain on the heart which then causes thickening of the vessels, also known as atherosclerosis. This results in severe heart damage.  Other complications are: kidney failure, coronary artery disease, stroke, and eye damage. Hypertension exhibits itself and it damage silently and once you become aware that you have it, your organs can already be in danger. You do have a choice:  Control your blood pressure and limit the damage to your important organs.

The first step to controlling your blood pressure, is educating yourself about some basics.

First, know that extra weight increases blood pressure. Obese people have twice the risk of being diagnosed with the disorder than their thinner counterparts. Weight reduction significantly decreases blood pressure. Losing just ten pounds can make a huge difference in your blood pressure.

Here is some basic dietary advice for controlling your high blood pressure.  First, find a healthy, balanced diet.  If your goal is to lower your levels, your diet should be mostly low-fat dairy products, vegetables and fruits. You should keep it low in fat and cholesterol.  Eat fair amounts of potassium, magnesium, calcium, fiber, and protein. Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, recommended by both the U.S. government and the American Heart Association, is a good guide to lower blood pressure.

A major step is to lessen the amount of salt you consume. Salt really raises blood pressure. When you consume too much salt it causes your body to need a larger fluid amount and then it retains it which leads to, not only high blood pressure, but also swelling of the extremities. It also puts more pressure on the blood vessels that open and close to regulate your blood’s pressure and flow, which are called arterioles. Less than twenty-four hundred milligrams of sodium per day is recommended.

What are some good ways to lessen your sodium intake? Well, start by eating fresh food and not canned or packaged food. Although, fresh foods do have sodium, it is in much smaller amounts than in food that have been processed.

Become a label reader. Look at every label of processed foods. Choose those which are labeled as salt-free, very low sodium or low-sodium. Pay special attention to words that show a high amount of sodium. Most of those scientific sounding and confusing terms, will include the word sodium right in them.

Develop lower sodium eating habits.  Simple things like not adding salt while cooking or eating. In fact, don’t even have a salt shaker on your table.  Rinse any salty, processed foods well before cooking or eating them.  Always choose the low-sodium version of you favorite foods.  These simple steps can make an extremely significant lowering in your blood pressure levels.

Avoid high sodium foods. The following items are very high in sodium. Opt for the low-sodium varieties or, even better, avoid them completely.

Keep an eye out for these salty foods and products:  barbecue sauce, baking soda, baking powder, catsup, mustard, garlic salt, soy sauce, salad dressing, steak sauce,  seasoned salts, mustard, peanuts, onion salt, pork rinds, pretzels, corn chips, tortilla chips, canned soups, instant soups, sauerkraut, olives, relish, pickles, Herring, hot dogs, bologna, ham, luncheon meats, sausage, corned beef, cheeses, cheese spreads, soda flavored with saccharin, club soda, cold cereals, instant hot cereals, scalloped potatoes, boxed rice, frozen dinners, pizza, macaroni and cheese, instant rice, pot pies, butter, and. instant noodles.

While this list seems extensive, it does not contain all of the foods you need to avoid.  The most important thing is to talk with your physician and determine what you need to do to control your blood pressure.  Diet and exercise are two of the best things you can do for your heart.

Do You Have Hypertension?

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a medical condition in which the blood pressure in elevated on three consecutive readings that there are done three hours apart. The exception is pregnant women where high blood pressure is defined as being elevated on two consecutive readings. Hypertension can affect anyone but mainly affects middle-aged or elderly people. If left untreated, hypertension can cause stroke, heart disease and failure, possible aneurysms, severe kidney problems, and a number of other systemic diseases.

For someone to be considered borderline hypertensive, one’s reading must range between normal and high or must range higher than 140/90 (the top number is the systolic number, and the bottom number is the diastolic number). If someone diagnosed with diabetes has a blood pressure of 130/80 or higher, they will be at risk for developing hypertension.

If you have hypotension, or low blood pressure, then your doctor may advise you to add a little salt in your diet. However if you have hypertension or are borderline for developing hypertension, then your doctor will advise you to stay away from salt. If there is a lot of salt in your diet, the kidneys (which control the level of salt) cannot keep up and the salt goes into the bloodstream. Salt attracts water and increases the volume of the blood which raises blood pressure.

Other factors that could increase the possibility of one developing hypertension are those who are overweight, frequent alcohol use, smoking, age, family history of hypertension, lack of exercise, stress (and no your blood pressure will not be better if you lower your stress level), and an unhealthy diet. These causes from hypertension can cause a more serious problem if not taken care of- kidney failure. If your kidneys are unable to get rid of the excess waste and fluid from your body, it could raise your blood pressure and can cause kidney failure. When someone has kidney failure from hypertension, the term accelerated hypertension is used.

Preeclampsia is used with pregnant women who have hypertension. If not treated, preeclampsia can be harmful to mother and baby. This is why it is so important to have regular check-ups where your blood pressure is taken and why it is so important to take medication if you need to do so.

To see if you have hypertension, your doctor will take several blood pressure readings on you (preferably lying down, it seems to relax you better) that will need to be several weeks apart. However if you’re doctor suspects that your organs have already begun to deteriorate due to hypertension in the body, the treatment will need to be taken care of soon.

With blood pressure, you cannot feel it or feel its symptoms coming on. With hypertension, you may experience a headache or blurry vision, but generally it comes on quietly. But once you have hypertension, you will have it for the rest of your life.