High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a common ailment that afflicts 1 in 3 individuals. Many people who have it don't realize it until it leads to heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure or kidney disease. It can affect everyone, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics. The CDC defines high blood pressure as "a systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or higher or a diastolic blood pressure of 90 mm Hg or higher." Though you can take medication for high blood pressure, altering your lifestyle and eating habits can make a significant difference in your blood pressure.
DASH Program
The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) recommends the DASH program for altering your eating habits to prevent high blood pressure in the future ore lower blood pressure that is already high. DASH stands for "Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension." The plan's recommendations are based on clinical studies of the nutritional effects of various foods.
Caloric Intake
Check the chart for your lifestyle. NHLBI defines the various categories as sedentary ("You do only light physical activity that is part of your typical day-to-day routine"), moderately active ("You do physical activity equal to walking about 1.5--3 miles a day at 3--4 miles per hour, plus light physical activity"), or active ("You do physical activity equal to walking more than 3 miles per day at 3--4 miles per hour, plus light physical activity."). Once you have found your lifestyle, you can tune the diet for your particular needs.
Menu Planning
The DASH eating plan pamphlet contains a chart that lists the food groups, examples of each and number of servings allowed based on your lifestyle grouping. It also has a chart you can fill in to determine what you are eating now and what you need to change in order to follow the diet. This allows you to adjust only what is needed and not everything you eat.
Quick Tip Changes
NHLBI recommends that if you eat two servings of vegetables, add a third. If you don't eat fruit or just drink a cup of juice, add it as a snack. Cut your butter, margarine and salad dressing servings in half and try low-fat condiments. Gradually increase dairy products to three servings a day and eat only two deck-of-card-sized servings of meat a day, increase vegetables, rice, pasta, and dry beans, use fruit and low-fat foods as snacks and cut back on sodium.
Tags: blood pressure, physical activity, your lifestyle, light physical, light physical activity
