The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has designed a special diet called DASH---Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension---that it recommends for high blood pressure patients. The DASH diet features less sodium and sugar and more fiber, potassium, calcium, and magnesium than the typical American diet. It can help high blood pressure patients lower their blood pressure to healthier levels.
Limit Sodium
High blood pressure patients can help lower their blood pressure by limiting the amount of sodium they consume each day to no more than 2,300mg. People who are middle-aged or older and those of African ancestry can especially benefit from limiting salt intake even more to 1,500mg per day.
MayoClinic.com recommends choosing fresh foods such as fresh vegetables over processed foods such as canned vegetables because processed foods often contain added sodium. Another important strategy that high blood pressure patients can use to limit their sodium is to read nutrition labels carefully when shopping. Foods that contains about 5 percent of less of the recommended daily sodium value are the best choice.
Add More Minerals
The minerals potassium, calcium, and magnesium can each help high blood pressure patients lower their blood pressure, says the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, so the DASH diet suggests that people consume 4,700mg of potassium daily, 1,250mg of calcium each day, and 500mg of magnesium per day.
Decrease Saturated Fat and Cholesterol
According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, it is important for high blood pressure patients to cut back on the amounts of both saturated fat and cholesterol they eat, since both substances can raise blood pressure in the body. The DASH diet recommends that people limit the saturated fat they consume to no more than 6 percent of the 2,100 calories they should eat daily.
Cholesterol intake shouldn't exceed 150mg. MayoClinic.com suggests people avoid fried foods as much as possible to avoid excess saturated fat and limit how much meat they eat to cut back on the amount of cholesterol they consume.
Increase Fiber
High blood pressure patients can help lower their blood pressure by increasing the amount of fiber they eat daily. The DASH diet recommends people to eat 30g of fiber every day. Choosing whole grains over refined grains and eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables can help people increase the amount of fiber they eat.
