Foods You Should Avoid if You Suffer From High Blood Pressure

 

A considerable number of people today are suffering from a condition known as high blood pressure or hypertension. It is the condition where the speed of the blood inside the blood vessels increases to an alarming level. This weakens the walls of the vessels and also causes the heart to pump at a faster pace. This fast pumping of the heart results in the over-exertion of the heart, and that can cause many heart diseases. However, this condition can be lessened by eating a specific food. It can also be aggravated and made worse by the use of certain foodstuff.

1. Salt

Salt is the prime culprit when it comes to high blood pressure. When the sodium content in our diet is increased, it disturbs the delicate ionic balance of the human body. This results in the kidneys being unable to filter the blood properly as the blood has a high level of sodium content. When the kidneys do not produce proper urine, the water content of blood increases which increases blood pressure. According to nutritionists, the daily intake of sodium for a healthy individual, so that he/she does not suffer from hypertension, should not exceed 1500 milligrams.

 

2. Canned Soups

 

Canned soups may look extremely nutritious when you are looking at their advertisements in which they promote the use of healthy veggies that provide nutrition. However, in reality, canned soups are a major aggravator of hypertension. These canned goods are loaded with a sodium content that increases the speed of the flow of blood. Therefore, while selecting a canned soup, a person should make sure he goes for a can with a “low sodium” label on it.

 

3. Processed Meats

Processed meats have been made to last longer and to stay unspoiled. They are used to make quick sandwiches and are considered nutritious. However, these meats contain a large amount of sodium content.

 

4. Chinese Take-Outs

 

Chinese take-outs are a favourite for people these days. When living in a fast-paced society, places that offer these budget-friendly and quick food items are considered saviours. However, this is not the case. Chinese take-out places use oils that are sodium content rich. That is why sautéed veggies in a Chinese place look so shiny. Also, Chinese take-out contains a large quantity of canned sauces as well as other sodium-rich ingredients that cause hypertension.

 

5. Frozen Pizzas

 

Frozen pizzas are considered to be a quick fix when lunch isn’t cooked or when you feel too lazy to get something to eat. Pop them in the oven and wait till the cheese starts the melt and the dough turns crispy and golden. However, to conserve the frozen pizzas, a large amount of salt is used. This high sodium concentration aggravates blood pressure and causes various heart diseases.

 

6. Pickles

 

Pickles are salted and preserved vegetables that are dipped in oil or vinegar for fermentation and flavour. These pickles are eaten as a side as well as put in various sandwiches and burgers all around the world. The extremely high sodium content in these aggravates blood pressure and can turn even a simple cucumber into a sodium bomb. 

 

7. Baked Cookies

 

Baked cookies may look healthy because of the brilliant smells and the amazing taste of it. Plus, the idea of something being freshly baked sounds very healthy and nutritious. However, baked cookies are rich in sugar content, and this sugar also causes a spike in blood pressure. Furthermore, in slices of bread, pastries, and croissants – salt is added. This salt increases blood pressure levels due to an increased level of sodium in the bloodstream.

 

8. Bacon

 

Bacon is a calorie bomb. They are sticks of fats that are fried in cholesterol pools. The worst thing is that people eat this for breakfast and breakfast is the most important and vital meal of the day. Therefore, eating something this unhealthy, this early in the morning has even more adverse effects than eating it at another time would. Due to the fat content of bacon, the blood pressure rises, and this results in overexertion of the heart.

 

9. Red Meat

 

Every doctor’s first advice to a person suffering from high blood pressure is to avoid or altogether boycott red meat. Red meat is a major source of haem iron to the body. This haem iron is directly related to the blood pressure levels of the human body. The red meat also contains more sodium content than white meat and sea-food; therefore, the use of red meat should be lessened to control blood pressure and avoid hypertension.

 

10. Donuts

 

Donuts are every age group’s favourite snack. However, these little snacks are incredibly unhealthy. They destroy the oral health of a person by acid deposition inside the mouth. They cause obesity which directly co-relates with hypertension and exertion of the heart. Consumption of donuts also spikes sugar level which causes a further aggravation of the blood pressure levels.

 

In conclusion, the list is not final. There are many food types that may not be good should you from suffer high blood pressure. Please consult your medical doctor or a dietician.

 

HendrikDB

 

Source: https://lovemyfamilymag.com/

High Blood Pressure and Foods to Eat

 

High blood pressure is a common problem in today’s societies, especially where people are living a fast life, eating fast food and are always on the go. High blood pressure can be prevented with regular exercising and healthy eating, but if you already have a little bit higher level, it’s important to pay attention to your everyday habits and keep your health from declining.

1. Yoghurt

A box of yoghurt contains the suggested daily amount of calcium and also a lot of magnesium. It’s a good idea to start your day with a yoghurt, maybe eat some fruits with it.

 

2. Spinach

 

Green leafy vegetables, for example spinach has a high amount of kalium, which is essential for keeping the balance of blood pressure.

 

3. Salmon

 

Salmon is rich in omega-3-fatty acids, which helps to normalize blood pressure and also has a role in controlling the normal heart rate.

 

4. Honey

 

Paying attention to your blood pressure is hard if you also have problems with your blood sugar. Try eating honey instead of sugar, but be careful, it’s better, but still sugary and leads to obesity if you eat too much.

 

5. White Beans

 

A plate of white beans contains enough magnesium, calcium and kalium for a day for an adult person. You can eat them in a soup, as a side dish or in salads also.

 

6. Blueberries

 

Almost every kind of berries are good for your blood pressure because of the flavonoids they contain. Flavonoids can reduce high blood pressure, so don’t be afraid to eat them as snacks also.

 

7. Raspberries

 

Almost the same as blueberries but it’s also good for blood vessels because of the antioxidants it contains. Researchers have proved that eating red berries regularly can reduce high blood pressure.

 

8. Potatoes

 

It might be surprising but potato is also good to reduce high blood pressure. We have discussed how important is the magnesium and kalium to keep a balanced blood pressure, and this vegetable happens to contain both.

 

9. Kale

 

Kale, just like spinach is a green leafy vegetable, therefore contains a lot of kalium, which is essential for our body to keep itself balanced.

 

10. Kiwi Fruit

 

Speaking about kalium, magnesium and calcium may became boring now but they are still the best things to eat if you want to keep your blood pressure in balance.

 

11. Bananas

 

Banana contains the biggest amount of kalium, therefore it’s really good to reduce high blood pressure. Perfect for a quick breakfast if you don’t have time to prepare complicated meals.

 

12. Dark Chocolate

 

You are sweet-toothed? No problem. Have you ever thought that dark chocolate is healthy? Of course, don’t eat too much because it will cause constipation, but it can reduce high blood pressure and it’s great against cardiovascular diseases.

 

13. Beetroot

Beetroot is quite divisive amongst everyone. You love it or you hate it. It contains nitrate which becomes nitrite and then nitrogen-oxid and it widens the blood vessels, therefore reduces blood pressure. Try eating it with some roasted meat, or as a side dish.

14. Garlic

Garlic is good for a lot of things, since it has antibacterial effect but it also contains allicin which can prevent high blood pressure. It doesn’t matter how you eat it; raw or prepared. Either way it’s healthy.

 

15. Avocado

Avocado is the ultimate superfood nowadays, and not only because it’s popular. It contains a lot of good kind of fatty acids and a lot of vitamins also, and the best thing: magnesium, kalium and antioxidants. Perfect for your blood pressure.

 

Very Important: Please note, in spite of the fact that the 15 foods mentioned above definitely assist you to control your high blood pressure, you still have to use any prescribed high blood pressure medications as prescribed by your medical practitioner.

Source: Beauty and Body Care

What is preeclampsia?

Preeclampsia is when you have high blood pressure and protein in your urine during pregnancy. It can happen at any point after the 20th week of pregnancy, though in some cases it occurs earlier. You may also have low clotting factors (platelets) in your blood or indicators of kidney or liver trouble. This condition is also called toxaemia or pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH). Eclampsia is a severe complication of preeclampsia. Eclampsia includes high blood pressure resulting in seizures during pregnancy.

Approximately 5 to 10 percent of all pregnant women get preeclampsia.

What causes preeclampsia?

Doctors cannot yet identify one single cause of preeclampsia, but some potential causes are being explored. These include:

•genetic factors

•diet

•blood vessel problems

•autoimmune disorders

There are also risk factors that can increase your chances of developing preeclampsia. These include:

•being pregnant with multiple foetuses

•being over the age of 35

•being in your early teens

•being pregnant for the first time

•being obese

•having a history of high blood pressure

•having a history of diabetes

•having a history of a kidney disorder

Nothing can definitively prevent this condition. Early and consistent prenatal care can help your doctor diagnose it sooner and avoid complications. Having a diagnosis will allow your doctor to provide you with proper monitoring until your delivery date.

Symptoms of preeclampsia

It’s important to remember that you might not notice any symptoms of preeclampsia. If you do develop symptoms, some common ones include:

•persistent headache

•abnormal swelling in your hands and face

•sudden weight gain

•changes in your vision

During a physical exam, your doctor may find that your blood pressure is 140/90 mm Hg or higher. 

Urine and blood tests can also show protein in your urine, abnormal liver enzymes, and platelet levels.

At that point, your doctor may do a nonstress test in their office to make sure the foetus is moving normally. A nonstress test is a simple exam that measures how the foetal heart rate changes as the foetus moves. An ultrasound may also be done to check your fluid levels and the health of the foetus.

What is the treatment for preeclampsia?

Delivery of your baby is the only cure for preeclampsia.

During pregnancy, your doctor will monitor and manage your condition to ensure you and your baby stay healthy. If you’re at week 37 or later, your doctor may induce labor. At this point, the baby has developed enough and is only minimally premature.

If your preeclampsia is mild, your doctor may recommend:

•getting bed rest

•reducing your salt intake

•drinking more water

•making regular visits to the doctor

In some cases, you may be given medications to help lower your blood pressure.

If your condition is serious, your doctor may want to admit you to the hospital for more thorough monitoring. You might be given intravenous (IV) medications to lower your blood pressure or steroid injections to help your baby’s lungs develop quicker.

Delivery might be the only safe option if the preeclampsia is severe enough to endanger the health of you or the foetus. This can be the case even if your baby will be delivered prematurely. The signs of severe preeclampsia include:

•changes in the foetal heart rate that indicate distress

•abdominal pain

•seizures

•impaired kidney function

•fluid in the lungs

You should see your doctor if you notice any abnormal signs or symptoms during your pregnancy. Your main concern should be your health and the health of your baby.

What are the complications of preeclampsia?

Preeclampsia can be fatal for both mother and child if it’s left untreated. Other complications can include:

•bleeding problems

•breaking away of the placenta from the uterine wall

•damage to the liver

Complications for the baby can also occur if they’re born too early.

During pregnancy, it’s important to keep you and your baby as healthy as possible. This includes eating a healthy diet, taking prenatal vitamins with folic acid, and going for regular prenatal care check-ups. But even with proper care, unavoidable conditions like preeclampsia can sometimes occur. This can be dangerous for both you and your baby.

Talk with your doctor about things you can do to reduce your risk of preeclampsia and about the warning signs. If necessary, they may refer you to a maternal-fetal medicine specialist for additional care.

Is Salt Good for You?

 Salt is important to good nutritional status. Too little can cause disturbances in tissue-water and acid-base balance, which is important to good nutrition.

A sodium deficiency is a health condition where a body fails to receive an adequate supply of sodium. Sodium deficiency can become extremely prevalent in excessive temperatures, which cause the body to perspire heavily and patterns of dehydration will set in. Sodium deficiency can lead to shock if the blood pressure is decreased too severely.

 Check out why:

Sodium is a mineral that your body must have in order to function properly. The primary source of dietary sodium is sodium chloride, or salt, more than three-quarters of which comes from processed foods. Although sodium is vital to a number of routine body functions, too much can have adverse effects, particularly for people who are sensitive to sodium. Excessive sodium can cause hypertension, which in turn can lead to other health problems.

Sodium is a mineral that carries an electrical charge, known as an electrolyte. Electrolytes facilitate muscle contraction and nerve cell transmission. Ions of sodium, potassium and chloride trigger muscle contractions and nerve impulses when they shift places across cell membranes. A nerve cell at rest has positively charged potassium ions inside the cell and is surrounded outside the cell by positively charged sodium ions and negatively charged chloride ions. When stimulated, potassium ions rush out of the cell as sodium ions rush in, creating an electrical signal or nerve impulse. A similar scenario occurs during the contraction of muscles.

Sodium also works in concert with potassium to maintain normal water balance in the body. Each of the minerals chemically attracts water to itself, thus assuring that optimal levels of hydration are maintained both inside human cells and outside the cells, in the extracellular spaces that surround them. In healthy people the body has a built-in mechanism to guard against the effects of occasional excess levels of sodium, but continued intake of high amounts of sodium can eventually override this safety valve and lead to hypertension.

Remember, diets too high in sodium can lead to high water retention and hypertension. Overall, salt is generally nontoxic to adults, provided it is excreted properly. The maximum amount of sodium that should be incorporated into a healthy diet should range from 2,400-3,000 mg/day.

WARNING: CHECK YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE REGULARLY!!

Source: www.healthyeating.com

High Blood Pressure: A Silent Killer!

High blood pressure  is one of those health problems you can have for a long time without knowing it. Often, it doesn’t cause symptoms right away. But it can still lead to serious issues like heart attacks and strokes. So it pays to know what can lead to it.

Your heart acts as a pump that pushes blood through your body. Blood pressure is the force your blood puts on your blood vessels as it flows. The higher your blood pressure, the higher the force. Without some pressure, your blood wouldn’t flow. It’d be like trying to blow up a balloon with a hole in it. But too much pressure and you’ll have problems.

What Boosts Your Blood Pressure?

You have high blood pressure if the first number is 140 or higher or if the second number is 90 or higher. Most of the time, doctors don’t know what causes high blood pressure. Your age, race, and family history can all play a part. But some things raise your blood pressure:

Being overweight. As your weight goes up, so does the amount of blood you need. That puts more strain on your heart and more pressure on your blood vessels. This is partly why physical activity and a healthy diet are so important.

Little or no physical activity. When you don’t move much, you usually have a higher heart rate, which makes your heart pump harder with each heartbeat. But when you exercise, your body makes hormones that relax your blood vessels and lower your blood pressure.

Too much salt. Sodium, which is in salt, can boost your blood pressure because it plays a role in narrowing your blood vessels and makes your body hold on to more fluid. So it’s best to limit salt in your diet. You also need to get enough potassium, found in foods like bananas, potatoes, and yogurt. It helps to balance your sodium levels and keep your blood pressure in check.

Tobacco use. Cigarettes and chewing tobacco both raise your blood pressure while you’re smoking or chewing. Plus, chemicals in tobacco damage your blood vessels, which narrows them and leads to higher blood pressure.

Alcohol use. Over time, heavy drinking can damage your heart's muscle. If you drink, it’s best to limit yourself. For healthy women, that means one drink a day. For healthy men, it’s two drinks a day up until age 65, then just one.

Stress. Chronic stress can cause problems for your blood pressure. Also, it often leads to behaviors such as smoking and drinking that also raise your blood pressure.

Medical Conditions

Certain health conditions can cause high blood pressure. This is one of the few times when the cause is clear. For example, certain conditions, such as sleep apnea, kidney disease, and thyroid problems, can cause high blood pressure. Sometimes, hypertension can happen during pregnancy and requires special treatment.

How Does Blood Pressure Get Too High?

As your blood pressure climbs, your heart has to work harder to pump blood. Over time, that’s a problem because it’s like constantly flooring the gas pedal in your car -- you’ll wear out your engine. Same with your heart.

Another problem is that your blood vessels are fragile and can only take so much force. Over time, the vessels get little tears in them, which is where plaque starts to collect.

As plaque builds up, your blood vessels narrow, so you have less room for blood to flow through. Your heart then has to pump harder, which creates even more pressure, and the cycle starts over.

Sleep linked to blood pressure

Women who regularly get fewer than seven hours of sleep each night may have a higher risk of developing high blood pressure, a new study suggests.

British researchers found that among more than 10 000 adults who were followed for five years, women who routinely slept for six hours or less were more likely than their well-rested counterparts to develop high blood pressure.


Compared with women who said they typically got seven hours of sleep a night, those who logged in six hours were 42 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure, while those who routinely slept no more than five hours had a 31 percent higher risk.


There was, however, no clear relationship between amount of sleep and blood pressure among men, the study authors report in the journal Hypertension.


What the study shows: The findings suggest there may be a "gender-specific" relationship between sleep deprivation and high blood pressure, according to the researchers, led by Dr Francesco P. Cappuccio of Warwick Medical School in Coventry.


The exact reason for the finding is unknown. A number of studies have linked poor sleep quality to an increased risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.


Much of this research has focused on people with the breathing disorder sleep apnoea, but some evidence suggests that sleep deprivation, in the absence of any overt sleep disorder, also takes a health toll.


For their study, Cappuccio and his colleagues used data from a long-term health study of 10 300 white British civil servants between the ages of 35 and 55 years old.


How the study was done: The researchers focused on participants who were free of high blood pressure in the 1997-1999 phase of the study and were reassessed in 2003-2005.


During these two phases, 76 percent and 68 percent, respectively, of the original group were included the evaluations.


At reassessment, 20 percent of the study participants were newly diagnosed with high blood pressure, and the risk was greater among women who were "short sleepers."


Risk factors for heart disease - such as smoking, being overweight or having a sedentary lifestyle - did partially contribute to the relationship.


However, an independent link between sleep and blood pressure still remained.


Lack of sleep affects nervous system: Experts speculate that sleep deprivation may contribute to high blood pressure by keeping the nervous system in a state of hyperactivity, which in turn affects systems throughout the body - including the heart and blood vessels.


According to Cappuccio's team, more studies are needed to confirm that sleep duration, itself, affects blood pressure levels -- and why these effects might be different in women and men.


Reuters Health