High blood pressure puts you at risk for a heart attack and stroke. Other risk factors for these conditions include high cholesterol, being overweight, medical conditions, such as diabetes, and lifestyle choices, such as smoking or drinking more than one or two alcoholic beverages daily. Men, people older than 50 and anyone with a personal or family history of heart disease are also more susceptible. Adding potassium and fiber-rich smoothies to your diet may help you reduce your blood pressure and cholesterol.
Potassium and Cholesterol Guidelines
The American Heart Association recommends that you include 4,700 mg of potassium in your daily diet. Potassium helps offset the effects of sodium, which can elevate blood pressure. Limits for sodium intake range between 1,500 mg and 2,300 mg daily. Fruits, vegetables and low-fat and non-fat dairy products contain high levels of potassium. The fiber in fruits and vegetables can also help reduce your high cholesterol levels. To keep your cholesterol and saturated fat intake within daily recommended guidelines -- 200 mg to 300 mg cholesterol and 16 g to 22 g saturated fat -- use low-fat or non-fat milk or yogurt in smoothies.
Sweet Potato Smoothie
You can make a sweet potato smoothie. Use one baked sweet potato, which contains approximately 359 mg of potassium if you remove the skin or 694 mg if you leave the skin on. You could also use 1 cup of canned sweet potatoes, which contains 795 mg of potassium. Add 1 cup of non-fat milk, which has about 382 mg of potassium. Add 1 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice or 1 tsp. of cinnamon and a dash of ginger and cloves. Add ice and blend.
Banana Smoothie
Make a banana smoothie using a ripe banana, orange juice, fat-free yogurt and ice. A banana contains about 422 mg of potassium. Orange juice made from concentrate contains 473 mg of potassium per 1 cup serving. Raw, freshly squeezed orange juice contains 496 mg per 1 cup. A 1 cup serving of non-fat yogurt contains 579 mg of potassium. This smoothie includes about 30 percent of your daily recommended amount of potassium.
Considerations
Other potassium-rich ingredients to include in a smoothie include cantaloupe, honeydew melon, grapefruit and grapefruit juice, oranges, prunes and prune juice, apricots and apricot juice. If you need to add sweetener to a grapefruit smoothie, consider using blackstrap molasses. It contains 498 mg of potassium per 1 tbsp. Grapefruit and grapefruit juice can interfere with many medications, including birth control pills and cholesterol-lowering drugs, so check with your pharmacist or physician before using.
References
- American Heart Association: Potassium and High Blood Pressure; Jan. 21 2011
- Mayo Clinic: High Cholesterol; June 24 2010
- United States Department of Agriculture Nutrient Database: Potassium Content of Selected Foods
- Mayo Clinic: Healthy Diet: End the Guesswork with These Nutrition Guidelines; Feb. 22 2011
- "The New York Times"; Experts Reveal the Secret Powers of Grapefruit Juice; Nicholas Bakalar; March 21 2006
- "The Sun"; Killer Grapefruit Alert To Slimmers; Emma Morton; April 3 2009
