High blood pressure/Hypertension is a disease that can create a lot of complications enough to make your life troublesome and frustrating. Once you are diagnosed with it, it is almost impossible to cure it.
But don't get disheartened. It is true that you can not cure it but at the same time it is possible to control it. One way to do this effectively is through healthy diet. A healthy diet means a diet rich in essential nutrients, fiber, foods that contain more electrolytes, calcium, magnesium and potassium.
Keep following things in your mind while planning your diet:
High-fiber food:
Foods rich in fiber help you prevent high blood pressure from developing. So make a healthy selection of foods such as potassium-rich fruits including bananas, prunes, oranges, and cantaloupes. Pick vegetables like spinach, celery, carrots, alfalfa, mushrooms, lima beans, potatoes, avocados, and broccoli.
Avoid saturated fats:
If you want to have fats, choose mono-unsaturated oils, such as canola oil or olive oil. Simply refute the saturated ones.
Eat whole grains:
If presented with a choice, choose whole grains and whole grain products such as wheat, oats, popcorn over the others. These are really good and can go a long way in preventing high blood pressure.
Eat less sodium and salt:
Restricting your intake of salt is essential. Salt and sodium can raise the blood pressure significantly. Elderly are known to be salt sensitive. Therefore, these people should limit their intake of salt and sodium.
High-salty diets may harm the heart, kidney and brain and increase the risk of death. According to health experts, sodium intake should be no more than 2,400 mg or about 1 teaspoon of salt each day. In order to prevent hypertension, only the recommended amount of salt should be taken.
Protein:
Take modest amounts of protein which are mostly found in fish, poultry, or soy products. If you take soy with fiber-rich foods or supplements, it may give you some extra benefits.
Fluids:
Take as much fluid as you can. These are excellent for your health.
Reduction and moderation:
Smoking causes a lot of problems including hypertension. Therefore, to prevent hypertension you must stop smoking immediately. As for drinking, too much of it is also not acceptable. A peg every day is enough for everybody.
After taking care of your diet you should zero in to other things that can cause hypertension. Educate yourself on the causes of hypertension and then modify your lifestyle accordingly to get rid of these causes.
If you are already under the watchful care of your family doctor, please follow their instructions sincerely. Let there be no holidays for the medicine and please keep sufficient stock in advance.
Also, the doctor must have given you certain indications about the schedule of exercise that is necessary for you, such as, morning walk, light stretching exercises or light aerobics. Follow the schedule strictly. Your doctor treats hundreds of patients like you everyday. He has more practical wisdom about high blood pressure, than you. Go as per his advice and understand his treatments.
Regular check up of blood pressure is a must. You need to have such an arrangement at your home. Charts of your regular checkups will help your doctor tremendously in treating you. Let all the members of your family, your wife, and your children go for the check up, along with you, even if they do not have this ailment.
If you are taking basic precautions like controlling your diet and doing proper exercises - keep aside all imaginary worries and live a normal, relaxed life!
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