What people put into their mouths affects the amount of pressure their blood puts on their veins and arteries. Eating processed foods that are high in sodium and fat, as many Americans do, often leads to high blood pressure, the American Heart Association cautions. But choosing natural, unprocessed foods can help people lower their blood pressure.
Fresh Vegetables
Fresh vegetables don't contain added sodium like canned or jarred vegetables often do, and that's a plus because consuming too much sodium can raise blood pressure. Also, many fresh vegetables are good sources of the nutrients potassium and magnesium--both of which help the body lower blood pressure and maintain it at healthy levels. The Center for Science in the Public Interest recommends that people who want to use food to lower their blood pressure make vegetables their main course at lunch and dinner, making sure that vegetables fill up at least half of the plate and either avoiding meat or limiting each meat portion to a size no bigger than a deck of cards.
Fresh Fruits
Fresh fruits also are rich in nutrients like potassium that help the body lower and maintain blood pressure. Another benefit of fresh fruits is that they don't contain added sugar that many processed fruits do. Added sugar adds calories that can promote high blood pressure by causing people to gain too much weight, according to the American Heart Association. So people hoping to lower their blood pressure should avoid added sugar as well as added sodium in processed foods. People can eat an unlimited amount of fresh fruits every day while trying to lower their blood pressure, because fresh fruits have a low calorie density.
Whole-Grain Foods
Whole-grain foods such as whole-wheat bread and brown rice promote lower blood pressure much more than refined-grain foods such as white bread and white rice do because whole-grain products contain lots of fiber. But the Center for Science in the Public Interest recommends that people limit their consumption of grains to no more than four servings per day, since grains can be high in calories and eating more than 2,000 calories daily can push blood pressure higher. The appropriate grain serving size is one thin slice of bread or half a cup of rice, pasta or cereal, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
