HELP! Trying to bring my blood pressure down.

Reduce salt
Reduce your over all weight
Add in a daily walk, try to increase the pace
Stop smoking and drinking
Reduce stress
Cut back on caffeine
Add a portion of whole grains
Add a wide variety of vegetables- Beetroot has been linked as a good one to have every few days
Monitor your blood pressure and get support, just because you don't want to take medications doesn't mean you shouldn't get monitored and get advice from a Dr.

Good luck with your journey

Actually, there's indications that salt really doesn't raise blood pressure as much as previously thought. I don't think it's a definitive answer yet, but I wouldn't say you have to cut out all salt. You need some sodium and iodine in your diet, and table salt is an easy way to add it. What I would do is lower over all sodium intake, which means paying attention to nutrition info labels. You'd be surprised how much sodium is in a lot of packaged foods. Not saying don't eat packaged foods, but pay attention to what's in them. I'm not sure what the minimum you need is, might talk to your doctor about that.

Lose weight and adding exercise are going to be your biggest things to do right now. Both will help you out in other ways, not just lowering your blood pressure! Get a blood pressure cuff for home and keep a log of readings for your doctor.

ETA the link to the study i was referring to: http://ajh.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/09/03/ajh.hpu164

KristaMil wrote: »

I'm wanting to bring my blood pressure down but I'm not sure how. I looked for a high blood pressure group but couldn't find one. I want to try the natural way before I take meds or agree to surgery. (I also have a heart murmur) there's nothing structurally wrong with my heart so exercise is okay. Any tips would be amazing! Thank you!

I hope you are doing this under doctor's supervision. Even though I have reduced my weight by about 50 lbs, cut out excessive salt use, changed my diet, etc., mine did now lower to the point where I can medicine free. My doctor said I am doing everything right but in my case it is most likely hereditary. Good luck.

I started at 150 lbs and now at 100 lbs. I am a 4'11' 53 year old lady that had been taking blood pressure medicine for over 10 years. I exercised and ate at a calorie deficit. After I lost 50 lbs, I logged my blood pressure twice a day in my food log notes for 2 weeks on my medicine and 2 weeks off my medicine. I came to my Dr. apt with a print out of my food diary, with my blood pressure readings. I am now officially off all prescription medication and am no longer hypertensive.

My blood pressure started going down after I Iost my first thirty pounds and I negotiated off all meds after further weight loss from bariatric surgery.

Exercise has reduced my heart rate but does not seem directly related to dropping my blood pressure readings. Significant weight loss did that.

As noted above, however, if you have a hereditary case, you may need medications anyhow.

I also generally follow a salt-reduced diet, which means more home cooking.

http://www.eufic.org/article/en/artid/salt-potassium-blood-control/

You may want to look in to the DASH diet.

I agree with all the advice here, and one other thing: meditation has been shown to improve blood pressure, and it has definitely lowered mine. As little as 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the evening can have an impact, and it's free. Can't recommend it highly enough.