What food to eat to lower blood pressure?
If you are diagnosed with Hypertension (high blood pressure) recently, you should know that with some lifestyle changes you can easily control it and lead a healthy life. Among these changes, your choice of diet is one of the most important ones. Here are some of the foods that you should consider incorporating into your diet to lower your blood pressure:
Garlic
Garlic is a wonder food. Among its many well-known benefits lowering your blood pressure is one. It has allicin, diallyl disulfide, diallyl trisulfide, and other sulfur-containing compounds which are useful for lowering blood pressure.
Magnesium
According to American Heart Foundation, Magnesium – an essential element of the human body, plays role in stabilizing blood pressure. So if you are someone with magnesium deficiency or insufficiency try adding magnesium-rich foods into your diet like – grains, beans, nuts, and green leafy vegetables.
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Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Omega 3 fatty acids like EPA & DHA are also good for lowering your blood pressure. It may not slash blood pressure right away but even the smallest reduction in it can save thousands of lives. So, try including omega-3 fatty acid rich foods like fatty fish, fish oil, flaxseeds, walnuts etc.
Potassium
Foods that are high in potassium like leafy greens, romaine lettuce, arugula, kale, turnip greens, collard greens, spinach etc. are also good for managing blood pressure. Potassium helps your kidney to work well and get rid of more sodium through urination.
Few more foods that help in lowering blood pressure:
- Blueberries are rich in flavonoids, which lowers blood pressure. The same thing applies to raspberries and strawberries.
- Nitric oxide in red bit lowers your blood pressure by opening up the blood vessels.
- Skim milk and yogurt are also good for lowering blood pressure.
- Bananas are rich in potassium and Oatmeal is high in fiber, low fat and low sodium, which are good for managing hypertension.
Foods to avoid
Stay away from processed foods and salts, both of them have sodium which increases your blood pressure. In order to add flavor to your food, you can try adding spices and herbs, until eventually, you get used to it. Smocking, Alcohol and any kind of Red Meat are detrimental to managing your blood pressure too.