If you know high blood pressure runs in your family, consider yourself lucky. You now have a clear warning signal prompting you to take action to prevent the development of hypertension, such as changing your Feeding Habits.
See, high blood pressure is often called “the silent killer.” Most people with hypertension You have no recognizable symptoms, even when a blood pressure check reveals your blood pressure is dangerously high, according to the Mayo Clinic. So knowing that a parent, uncle, aunt, or other family member has hypertension, he knows that he, too, may have a genetic predisposition to developing high blood pressure.
But don’t just blame genes. Families tend to share the same eating, exercise, and other lifestyle habits, such as smoking and drinking alcohol. That means examining his own eating habits and the lifestyle practices of his family members can tell him what changes he may need to make if he wants to avoid the same fate. And there’s a good reason to take the time to do your research because high blood pressure tends to lead to serious chronic conditions like heart diseasekidney failure and stroke.
How to change your health trajectory through your diet.
You can’t stop aging or change your genetics, but you can adjust your lifestyle habits, like what you eat every day, to lower your risk of high blood pressure.
a study in Circulationthe Journal of the American Heart Association, determined that lifestyle modification is a powerful tool for preventing hypertension even in people in high genetic risk groups.
The researchers analyzed 314 studies involving more than 2 million people without prior cardiovascular disease and scored the participants according to lifestyle factors such as body mass index, diet, sedentary behavior, alcohol consumption and smoking.
Comparing people with a healthy lifestyle to those with poor eating habits and other negative behavioral factors, the researchers found that those with healthy habits had a 31% lower risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease even when they had a family history of hypertension.
The takeaway is you You can play an important role in changing your health trajectory, even if your family has high blood pressure and heart disease. And you can start by making improvements to something you have the most control over: your diet.
Start reducing your risks of high blood pressure by adopting these key eating habits, and for more information on how to eat healthy, don’t miss The #1 Best Juice to Drink Every Day, Science Says.
If you do it regularly, you will automatically reduce the amount of Salt in your diet. And sodium has a big impact on blood pressure.
When you eat too much salt, it is harder for your kidneys to remove water from your body. The fluid builds up and increases blood pressure. the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025 recommends eating about 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day, which is enough if you only use salt to season your meals. “Most Americans consume well over 2,300 mg, primarily from fast foods, processed foods, canned goods, and frozen foods,” says a registered dietitian nutritionist. Su-Nui Escobar, RDNwith Evolving Dieticians.
She says that making a habit of the following four steps can significantly improve your heart health:
- Taste your food before using the salt shaker; you’ll probably find that the food is flavorful without the added salt.
- Limit the number of fast food meals you eat.
- Significantly reduce your consumption of prepared foods, such as processed foods and frozen dinners, they are loaded with sodium.
- Choose fresh foods instead of frozen and canned. Even canned vegetables contain a lot of sodium as a preservative. Rinse with water before eating.
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This advice applies to everyone, but especially to people with a family history of high blood pressure.
“Limit meat consumption at meals to a 3-ounce portion, about the size of the palm of your hand, try red meat and fried food As a rare treat, reduce the fat in all cuts of meat, choose low-fat dairy products, and significantly increase the amount of fruits, vegetables, and fiber you consume daily,” says registered dietitian nutritionist Rebecca Schilling, RDN, LDNcollaborator of US RX.
“Foods high in saturated fat create the perfect storm of heart health problems, clogging arteries, raising bad cholesterol (LDL) and contributing to high blood pressure,” adds Schilling.
If you can’t give up red meat, at least choose leaner cuts like sirloin, round, or extra-lean ground beef.
RELATED: Eating Habits to Avoid to Lower Cholesterol After 50, Dietitians Say
They are not only processed meats like hot dogs, bacon, and deli meats high in saturated fat, they’re loaded with sodium and other heart-unhealthy preservatives, he says. Melissa Mitri, RDa registered dietitian for wellness edge.
“Get in the habit of limiting your consumption of processed meat as much as possible,” she says. Clinical research shows that doing that can have an impact. A study in American journal of clinical nutrition found that women who ate more than five servings of processed red meat per week had 17% higher blood pressure than women who ate less than one serving per week.
“We have a very good idea about two diets that do a very good job (lowering blood pressure and preventing heart disease) in randomized clinical trials,” he says. Dr Anthony Kavehan integrative medicine physician and anesthesiologist who writes the medical secrets revealed Blog. “They are the Mediterranean diet and the board diet.”
The Mediterranean diet is based on the traditional foods of the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea and focuses on vegetarian foodsuch as vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, seeds, whole grains, herbs, some fish, poultry, and dairy products. Olive oil is the main source of fat. He mostly avoids processed foods, sweets, and red meat.
PINCH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension and is a heart-healthy eating plan specifically designed to prevent high blood pressure. The DASH eating plan incorporates many of the same low-sodium foods as the Mediterranean diet, but specifies daily and weekly nutritional goals.
Both eating styles are routinely suggested by dieticians and doctors for patients with high blood pressure, but these diets are not fail-safe because “medicine is never one size fits all,” says Dr. Kaveh. “We can go through a long list of all the foods in the DASH and Mediterranean diets, but if it doesn’t resonate with the patient’s cultural values or what they like, and it’s not sustainable, it’s a waste of time,” he says. “The ultimate tool is for patients to get to know themselves and experiment to find healthy foods they enjoy.”
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about the DASH diet
the essential mineral potassium relieves tension in blood vessel walls, which in turn lowers blood pressure, according to the American Heart Association. It helps your kidneys remove sodium from your body through urination. Therefore, it is important to get enough potassium in your diet to prevent hypertension.
“The best way to get enough potassium is to make sure you eat fresh vegetables and fruits every day,” says Escobar. The main sources include beans, lentils and other legumes, bananas, green leafy vegetables, broccoli and nuts.
READ MORE: Popular foods with more potassium than a banana
processed snacks in a bag like chips and cookies, and baked goods like cakes and bagels are high in sodium, calories, sometimes saturated fat, and added sugars, all of which can contribute to metabolic disorders like heart disease. But there’s something else these foods do that’s detrimental to healthy blood pressure. “They’re highly palatable, so they encourage overeating and increase the risk of weight gain,” says Mitri.
And weight gain, especially obesity, is a strong risk factor for hypertension. You can add soda to the list of high-sugar, high-calorie items that play a major role in obesity and, subsequently, high blood pressure, says Mitri. Replace sodas with these The best drinks to reduce visceral fat.
