If you have been diagnosed with high blood pressure or hypertension, your doctor probably suggested a diet plan to help lower your blood pressure.
Millions of Americans have hypertension and don’t even know it. Having this condition greatly increases your risk of heart attack, heart disease, stroke and many other diseases. It is very important to have regular checkups with a physician so that conditions like blood pressure that is too high, high sugar levels and other common conditions can be caught early and before they cause long term damage.
Lose Weight
Managing your diet is one way to help drop your hypertension numbers. This condition is usually a side effect of how you eat and how much (or little) exercise you get every day. If you are overweight, simply changing your diet and losing weight will improve your blood pressure. Typically, the more weight you lose, the lower your blood pressure will be. I started off on a higher dosage of medication and it had to be lowered when I lost 25 pounds.
Start Exercising
Get up and get moving! Not only will you feel better, doing 30-60 minutes of exercise every day can significantly lower your blood pressure, especially if you stick to a heart healthy diet plan. If you are pressed for time, you don’t have to do the full 30 minutes at one time. Splitting it into three ten minute brisk walks will also work. Before you start any exercise plan, consult with your doctor to make sure you are healthy enough for the exercise plan you intent to follow.
Pick A Healthy Diet Plan
Losing weight is great but there is more than one way to lose weight and not all of them are healthy or will help lower your blood pressure. You specifically need to stick to a food plan that has whole grains, fruits, vegetable and low fat dairy products. Cutting or drastically reducing your intake of saturate fat, salt and cholesterol can also great lower your blood pressure.
Tips To Eat Healthy
But, all of these things are easier said than done. After all, if you had been eating properly and exercising, chances are you wouldn’t have high blood pressure now.
Make small changes at first. For example, cut out sodas and chips the first week. Then pick something else the second week and start substituting healthy things instead. Do not make this an all or nothing deal because you will fail.
Write down everything you eat. This is how I managed to lose 30 pounds and keep it off. I used MyFitnessPal to keep track of everything I ate. Even on days when I cheated, I still knew how bad I had been and I was able to get back on track more easily. It really doesn’t matter how you keep track of your food intake as long as you log everything you eat and drink.
Make A Meal Plan. I have personally found that if I plan my meals and snacks for the week, I stick to the diet plan much better. I work and it is just too easy to run through a drive through and completely ruin my eating for the day which can cause my blood pressure to shoot up. I make a list, hang it on my fridge, package up what I can on Sunday and label everything. I try to only go to the grocery once a week and I buy what is on my list that I plan to eat for the week. This reduces temptation and makes it a snap to eat right when I am tired at the end of the day.
