high blood pressure diet

PZlady
PZlady Posts: 137 Member
edited October 5 in Food and Nutrition
It's official, I've got high blood pressure & got meds this weekend. I've checked the internet for a suitable diet to help bring it down quickly - mostly (expensive) fruits & veggies. What do you fellow high blood pressure people eat??

Replies

  • poustotah
    poustotah Posts: 1,121 Member
    My husband had high blood pressure and what helped him was to lose weight and all he did was just to cut back his portions. He lost 60 lbs and now he's off the meds (FINALLY!). Weight isn't always the issue though and in my husband's case, he was morbidly obese.

    Is weight the issue here or is there another problem?
  • navygunner
    navygunner Posts: 36 Member
    I eat most anything. I have had high blood pressure for over 30 years. In my case it is genetic. Stay away from high sodium or any salt content, stay away from processed foods. I eat a lot of made from scratch foods and fruits and veggies with no salt. I substitute a shot of vinegar or lemon juice for salt or seasoning. There are a lot of salt-free alternatives out there.
  • Larius
    Larius Posts: 507 Member
    There is no magic food(s). Lose body fat to correct the problem, and keep sodium intake low to keep the condition from killing you in the meantime.

    You should really be asking your doctor that question.
  • vsyates
    vsyates Posts: 373 Member
    I've been on meds for a while now but my doctor is seriously considering taking me off them since I lost my excess weight :wink: For the most part I eat the same foods everyone else eats -- nothing special.
  • little_wolfie
    little_wolfie Posts: 91
    Heh. The title of this thread made me think "you want to go on a diet to get high blood pressure?! You can just borrow my 3 year old for an hour! Problem solved!"


    I have HBP too. I have had to go on medication to control it (my pregnancy made it spike permanently and it caused damage to my heart, so I have to be really careful about taking my pills daily.) I try to watch my salt intake and drink a TON of water. Like, half my body weight in oz a day, so in my case that's 125 oz of water minimum. The medication really does the best at keeping my BP under control, but I tell myself that the other stuff is helping too :-)
  • luvinlaurakate
    luvinlaurakate Posts: 145 Member
    Ya, like she said, there are several things to take into account. If it is high blood pressure that is being caused by weight, then the most obvious thing is to lose weight. The best way for someone with high blood pressure to do this is portion control, like she said, but also controlling your sodium intake. Sodium is one of the most crucial factors in your diet now. Drink lots of water to help flush your system, and obviously watch the cholesterol as well.

    I'm there with you, but my high blood pressure was pregnancy induced more than 10 years ago, and has never went away. I am hoping once I lose weight it will be at a normal level again and I can get off the meds, but we will see.

    Good luck!
  • nukehiker
    nukehiker Posts: 457
    I recently came off of high blood pressure meds after being on them for almost3 years. so here is what helped me. stay away from fast food, soda etc. eat a well balanced diet, veggies, lean protein etc drink enough water and last but not least exercise. it may not worked for everyone but since adopting this approach in Jan I have lost almost 30 pounds and went from a size 38 jeans to size 34.
  • gaeljo
    gaeljo Posts: 223 Member
    Become a vegetarian, I'm not joking. All cholesterol is from animal products, all of it. Therefore if you want to reduce your cholestoral, eliminate animal products. That doesn't mean you have to become a vegan per se, but it could mean that. And the higher prices you pay for veggies pay off longterm. You can spend the money on medical care, or on veggies. Also, I don't miss being an ominivore, it's an amazing feeling to be a vegetarian. My energy level has never been higher and my health has never been better. Read the book The China Study. It's all about the very health issues you are describing. Good luck. I"m truly sorry you are having these issues, I really am. But know this, better to find the high cholestoral now, than heart disease later. It's not too late to turn things around for yourself.
  • fish119
    fish119 Posts: 67
    I have HBP too. Throw away the salt shaker in your house. I look for lower sodium items when I shop. They make a 30% less sodium chili powder, broths for soups, canned veggies (if you like them, I prefer fresh veggies), chips (they are the devil but they have less sodium) and many other items. I do have to admit, it takes me ALOT longer to shop for food now, I am an avid label reader!
  • gaeljo
    gaeljo Posts: 223 Member
    I don't think staying on meds and eating whatever you want to is a good option. Not even a little. high cholestrol is the path to heart disease. While reducing salt is helpful, it is NOT the best solution. The BEST solution is no animal products.
  • PZlady
    PZlady Posts: 137 Member
    My husband had high blood pressure and what helped him was to lose weight and all he did was just to cut back his portions. He lost 60 lbs and now he's off the meds (FINALLY!). Weight isn't always the issue though and in my husband's case, he was morbidly obese.

    Is weight the issue here or is there another problem?

    The doc didn't say so I'm assuming its because I'm so overweight.
  • PZlady
    PZlady Posts: 137 Member
    Become a vegetarian, I'm not joking. All cholesterol is from animal products, all of it. Therefore if you want to reduce your cholestoral, eliminate animal products. That doesn't mean you have to become a vegan per se, but it could mean that. And the higher prices you pay for veggies pay off longterm. You can spend the money on medical care, or on veggies. Also, I don't miss being an ominivore, it's an amazing feeling to be a vegetarian. My energy level has never been higher and my health has never been better. Read the book The China Study. It's all about the very health issues you are describing. Good luck. I"m truly sorry you are having these issues, I really am. But know this, better to find the high cholestoral now, than heart disease later. It's not too late to turn things around for yourself.
    Thanks for the encouragement!
  • PZlady
    PZlady Posts: 137 Member
    I have HBP too. Throw away the salt shaker in your house. I look for lower sodium items when I shop. They make a 30% less sodium chili powder, broths for soups, canned veggies (if you like them, I prefer fresh veggies), chips (they are the devil but they have less sodium) and many other items. I do have to admit, it takes me ALOT longer to shop for food now, I am an avid label reader!
    I read the labels, too, mostly for high fructose corn syrup & transfats. I guess this is another one to look fro.
  • manjingirl
    manjingirl Posts: 188 Member
    Become a vegetarian, I'm not joking. All cholesterol is from animal products, all of it. Therefore if you want to reduce your cholestoral, eliminate animal products. That doesn't mean you have to become a vegan per se, but it could mean that. And the higher prices you pay for veggies pay off longterm. You can spend the money on medical care, or on veggies. Also, I don't miss being an ominivore, it's an amazing feeling to be a vegetarian. My energy level has never been higher and my health has never been better. Read the book The China Study. It's all about the very health issues you are describing. Good luck. I"m truly sorry you are having these issues, I really am. But know this, better to find the high cholestoral now, than heart disease later. It's not too late to turn things around for yourself.
    Okay, having high cholesterol and having high blood pressure are 2 different things, you can have 1 without the other, though some people have both. Cholesterol - our bodies MAKE cholesterol because it's a vital component of some hormones and the covering around nerves. Eating cholesterol-containing foods can influence the level of blood cholesterol so eating less animal products would be good, IF you had a cholesterol problem. The OP has high blood pressure. Reducing weight and getting some exercise would be a great start PZ. All the best.
  • PZlady
    PZlady Posts: 137 Member
    I eat most anything. I have had high blood pressure for over 30 years. In my case it is genetic. Stay away from high sodium or any salt content, stay away from processed foods. I eat a lot of made from scratch foods and fruits and veggies with no salt. I substitute a shot of vinegar or lemon juice for salt or seasoning. There are a lot of salt-free alternatives out there.
    Hmmm, I hadn't thought of vinegar as a salt substitute; I know chili powder is. Thanks for the tip!
  • PZlady
    PZlady Posts: 137 Member
    Heh. The title of this thread made me think "you want to go on a diet to get high blood pressure?! You can just borrow my 3 year old for an hour! Problem solved!"


    I have HBP too. I have had to go on medication to control it (my pregnancy made it spike permanently and it caused damage to my heart, so I have to be really careful about taking my pills daily.) I try to watch my salt intake and drink a TON of water. Like, half my body weight in oz a day, so in my case that's 125 oz of water minimum. The medication really does the best at keeping my BP under control, but I tell myself that the other stuff is helping too :-)
    Hahaha, I love our language!! // Interesting ratio. I don't drink enough water so I'll up that - the BP meds make me pee anyway so...
  • Dtrmnd86
    Dtrmnd86 Posts: 406 Member
    At my highest weight I was prehypertension. My doctor advised me to cut back on alcohol, seriously watch my sodium, and lose weight/exercise. I started with walking and have moved up to workout dvds/jogging. My blood pressure is now back in the healthy zone and I am no longer at risk for high blood pressure. I would suggest eating cleanly.
  • jojoworks
    jojoworks Posts: 315 Member
    when you said you "looked on the internet and found mostly expensive veggies and foods recommended" I'm wondering if you read through all the information about the DASH diet (the recommended diet for high blood pressure) (here's a link: http://dashdiet.org/sample_menu.asp).

    Maybe you're finding "clean" eating expensive and if you're coming off of eating mostly highly processed packaged foods you may be experiencing sticker shock. It may take awhile for you to get used to buying "ingredients" and making your own food as opposed to letting some giant food manufacturer process everything "cheaply" for you. Most of the sodium in your diet comes from highly processed foods. You need to A) make as much of your own food as possible and B) carefully read all labels.

    I hope you're tracking sodium on your food diary. One thing I'll tell you is MFP sets the "goal" for sodium at 2,500 mg. This is way too high and should really be regarded as the outer limit. I manually set my "goal" for sodium at 1,500 mg per day which is the new recommended amount usually used.

    I also recommend you track your potassium. Potassium and sodium are really like two people balancing on a teeter-totter. You need them both and our American diets are way high in sodium and way low in potassium. Actively reducing sodium and increasing potassium should go a long way to helping your blood pressure. The best way to increase potassium is to eat more fruits and especially more veggies!

    good luck and happy eating!
  • cramernh
    cramernh Posts: 3,335 Member
    I have HTN and between a major dietary breakthrough in learning about food sensitivities and allergies, Im almost ready to get taken off of the med...and my most recent blood work shows dramatically positive results that I should be coming off soon, as discussed with my physicians and specialists.

    I eat nothing but fresh foods, everything is cooked from scratch - no boxed/canned/preprocessed at all, 'clean' eating.

    Medically wise, I CANNOT eat:
    breads
    pasta
    rice
    white flour
    bleached any-flour
    full fat dairy
    coconut
    the majority of fruits
  • LeanMeanFitnessMachine
    LeanMeanFitnessMachine Posts: 659
    I don't think staying on meds and eating whatever you want to is a good option. Not even a little. high cholestrol is the path to heart disease. While reducing salt is helpful, it is NOT the best solution. The BEST solution is no animal products.

    No its not. Are you crazy? What about the heart healthy omega 3's in fish that have been proven in studies to reverse the effects of cardio vascular disease?
  • LeanMeanFitnessMachine
    LeanMeanFitnessMachine Posts: 659
    Become a vegetarian, I'm not joking. All cholesterol is from animal products, all of it. Therefore if you want to reduce your cholestoral, eliminate animal products. That doesn't mean you have to become a vegan per se, but it could mean that. And the higher prices you pay for veggies pay off longterm. You can spend the money on medical care, or on veggies. Also, I don't miss being an ominivore, it's an amazing feeling to be a vegetarian. My energy level has never been higher and my health has never been better. Read the book The China Study. It's all about the very health issues you are describing. Good luck. I"m truly sorry you are having these issues, I really am. But know this, better to find the high cholestoral now, than heart disease later. It's not too late to turn things around for yourself.
    Okay, having high cholesterol and having high blood pressure are 2 different things, you can have 1 without the other, though some people have both. Cholesterol - our bodies MAKE cholesterol because it's a vital component of some hormones and the covering around nerves. Eating cholesterol-containing foods can influence the level of blood cholesterol so eating less animal products would be good, IF you had a cholesterol problem. The OP has high blood pressure. Reducing weight and getting some exercise would be a great start PZ. All the best.

    THANK YOU. You know what you're talking about.
  • crisnis
    crisnis Posts: 83 Member
    Sodium is huge factor in reducing blood pressure! It's a must cut down item for people with high blood pressure - it's amazing how much sodium is in items we purchase without realizing it... often items that are marked "low fat" or "lite" have more sodium than the original version to make up for the loss of flavor from the fat reduction. Be mindful of your sodium intake - processed foods are killer. 2300mg a day should be the limit for everyone 1500mg a day for folks with high blood pressure. One teaspoon of table salt has 2300mg of sodium - so that's pretty impressive. Try salt substitutes and getting flavor from other spices - lemon juice is great for adding a bit of tang without the salt.
  • firedragon064
    firedragon064 Posts: 1,082 Member
    Google DASH diet.
  • aoede
    aoede Posts: 30 Member
    Ugh. Reducing your sodium intake will not necessarily reduce your blood pressure or may only reduce it slightly (just like reducing animal products has not been shown to reduce cholesterol).

    If you want information on the effect of food you eat on blood pressure, the Cochrane Collaboration is a good place to look to find out if something is media hype or not (they summarise scientific studies on the issues), but the best thing to do is speak to a doctor or a dietician. I would not be getting critical medical advice from these forums.

    http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD004022/short-term-studies-show-that-in-people-with-elevated-blood-pressure-low-salt-diets-lead-to-useful-drops-in-blood-pressure-but-overall-harms-or-benefits-are-not-known

    Good luck.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,185 Member
    Become a vegetarian, I'm not joking. All cholesterol is from animal products, all of it. Therefore if you want to reduce your cholestoral, eliminate animal products. That doesn't mean you have to become a vegan per se, but it could mean that. And the higher prices you pay for veggies pay off longterm. You can spend the money on medical care, or on veggies. Also, I don't miss being an ominivore, it's an amazing feeling to be a vegetarian. My energy level has never been higher and my health has never been better. Read the book The China Study. It's all about the very health issues you are describing. Good luck. I"m truly sorry you are having these issues, I really am. But know this, better to find the high cholestoral now, than heart disease later. It's not too late to turn things around for yourself.
    Okay, having high cholesterol and having high blood pressure are 2 different things, you can have 1 without the other, though some people have both. Cholesterol - our bodies MAKE cholesterol because it's a vital component of some hormones and the covering around nerves. Eating cholesterol-containing foods can influence the level of blood cholesterol so eating less animal products would be good, IF you had a cholesterol problem. The OP has high blood pressure. Reducing weight and getting some exercise would be a great start PZ. All the best.

    THANK YOU. You know what you're talking about.
    Both of you have a very simplistic view of dietary cholesterol. For starters, eating dietary cholesterol is neither good or bad, it's just cholesterol. :smile:
  • Grinonneau
    Grinonneau Posts: 3 Member
    Becoming a vegetarian is a great idea. I've done it and brought my blood pressure into the normal range and have been taken off medication. It might seem difficult to do and it is in the beginning but you'd be surprised what you can do with beans, tofu and things like falafel. It will not be more expensive and in the long run will save you tons of money while preserving your health!
  • jaabee11
    jaabee11 Posts: 322 Member
    I don't think staying on meds and eating whatever you want to is a good option. Not even a little. high cholestrol is the path to heart disease. While reducing salt is helpful, it is NOT the best solution. The BEST solution is no animal products.

    I don't think it's quite that simple. A good friend of mine has been a vegetarian all his life, he is in his late 50's. He has extremely high and dangerous blood pressure and is on medication for it.
    He is not overweight and quite fit.
    There are many elements to HBP and to lowering it.
    The op should talk to the doc and get advice on her particular situation.

    Mine is coming down with losing weight, watching my sodium & generally eating healthier but my doc feels because of genetics I will prob always have to be on a tablet.
    We are all different.
  • ausped
    ausped Posts: 58 Member
    I have been on blood pressure meds for a while now. After loosing 94 pounds, I am still on meds. I eat cleanly, have lowered my sodium, rarely eat processed foods and am still on meds. Some people are more prone to HBP than others I think.
  • SharadaRose
    SharadaRose Posts: 69
    I eat most anything. I have had high blood pressure for over 30 years. In my case it is genetic. Stay away from high sodium or any salt content, stay away from processed foods. I eat a lot of made from scratch foods and fruits and veggies with no salt. I substitute a shot of vinegar or lemon juice for salt or seasoning. There are a lot of salt-free alternatives out there.

    Perfect!!
  • manjingirl
    manjingirl Posts: 188 Member
    I have been on blood pressure meds for a while now. After loosing 94 pounds, I am still on meds. I eat cleanly, have lowered my sodium, rarely eat processed foods and am still on meds. Some people are more prone to HBP than others I think.
    You raise a very good point. The causes of both high blood pressure and high cholesterol are varied, and the solutions equally so. Anyone with these problems should always discuss their management options with their doctor/s.
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