If you're struggling with high blood pressure, you're not alone. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that 65 million Americans suffer from hypertension (high blood pressure), and another 59 million combat pre-hypertension. Medication can help lower blood pressure in many cases, but there are also natural ways to improve the condition. Making any of these lifestyle or dietary changes can cause your blood-pressure level to drop by several points in just a few weeks.
DASH Diet
Step 1
Follow the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, a healthy eating plan that the Mayo Clinic and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services both recommend to lower blood pressure naturally. Reduce the size of your meat servings as part of DASH, and concentrate on getting protein from lean meats, fish, beans and legumes instead of red meat. Increase the amount of vegetables and fruits you eat to eight to 10 daily servings, and aim for six to eight daily servings of whole grains and high-fiber foods. Include low-fat dairy products in the diet for healthy doses of calcium without added fat and calories.
Step 2
Reduce the amount of sodium in your diet by eating fewer processed foods and more vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean proteins. Follow the American Heart Association's recommendation to buy processed and prepackaged foods that are labeled "salt-free," "no added salt," "low sodium" or "very low sodium," or choose the better alternative of cooking more homemade meals with fresh, whole foods and limiting the amount of salt you include.
Step 3
Add a regular routine of physical activity to your days if you don't already have one. Follow the Mayo Clinic's recommendation to get 30 to 60 minutes of moderate or more intense exercise on most days of the week, and your blood pressure could drop from 4 to 9mm of mercury (mm Hg) as a result. Try fast walking, yard work or short bursts or activity if you don't have time to integrate a full workout into your schedule every day.
Step 4
Drink fewer alcoholic and caffeinated drinks. Avoid drinking more than 200mg caffeine daily, which is about the amount of caffeine in two regular cups of coffee, and don't have more than one alcoholic drink per day if you're a woman and two per day if you're a man. Help prevent and avoid sudden and dangerous spikes in blood pressure by keeping your intake of these two substances in check.
Step 5
Keep a food diary, and write in it regularly. Record what and when you eat as well as how much you ate and how you felt before and afterward. Review your food diary periodically to check for places in your nutritional plan that could use improvement. Use the diary as a tool to help you build a better diet that includes more fruits, vegetables and grains and fewer foods that are high in sugar and fat.
