Both your cholesterol and blood pressure play crucial roles in your heart's health. Other factors include your gender, age, weight, medical conditions such as diabetes and lifestyle choices such as whether you smoke, drink alcohol or exercise regularly. If you lower your cholesterol by making changes in your diet and daily habits, you may also reduce your blood pressure.
Link Between Cholesterol and Blood Pressure
When cholesterol builds up in your arteries, your arteries narrow. This makes it more difficult for blood to flow freely to your heart, lungs and other vital organs. The harder your body needs to work to transport blood, the higher your blood pressure. If you take steps to clean up your arteries, you relieve some of the pressure on your heart.
Reduce Unhealthy Fat
If you reduce the amount of saturated fat and trans fat in your diet, you can help return your cholesterol and blood pressure to healthy levels. The American Heart Association recommends you aim for total cholesterol measuring no more than 200 mg/dL and blood pressure no higher than 120/80 mmHg. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 call for no more than 16 g to 22 g of saturated fat and no more than 2 g of trans fat in your daily diet. Animal products and tropical oils provide the main sources of saturated fat. You'll find trans fat in margarine and shortening.
Add Fiber and Healthy Oils
You can also add fiber and healthy oils to your diet to lower both your cholesterol and your blood pressure. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes provide fiber. You can find healthy oils in fish such as salmon, cooking oils such as olive, and in nuts and seeds such as almonds and flaxseed. Women should include 25 g and men 38 g of fiber in their diets, per the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine's recommendation. Eat fish at least two times a week, use about 2 tbsp. of olive oil daily and eat a handful of nuts -- about 1.5 oz. -- every day to lower cholesterol, MayoClinic.com recommends.
Fiber and Potassium
Including fiber in your diet helps lower your cholesterol and blood pressure. Foods high in fiber include black beans and other legumes, oatmeal, bran, raspberries, apples, pears, spinach and other leafy green vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Food high in potassium can reduce your blood pressure. Foods high in both fiber and potassium include sweet potatoes, bananas, soybeans, white beans, kidney beans and spinach.
References
- MayoClinic.com; High Cholesterol; June 2010
- American Heart Association: About High Blood Pressure: Understanding Blood Pressure Readings
- American Heart Association: About Cholesterol: What Your Cholesterol Levels Mean
- MayoClinic.com: Healthy Diet: End the Guesswork With These Nutrition Guidelines
- American Heart Association: About High Blood Pressure
- American Dietetic Association, Eat Right; Health Implications of Dietary Fiber; October 2008
