Learn to eat a for a healthy heart and improve your blood pressure

Your diet is not the only factor that affects your blood pressure, but a healthy, balanced diet can improve several factors that influence cardiovascular risk.

People who watch what they eat, who try to keep their weight down, who avoid a sedentary lifestyle and drop unhealthy habits such as excess alcohol and tobacco, are all factors that contribute to high blood pressure.

Remember to keep the salt down, and that goes for the sale you add to cooking and salty foods. The foods that are worst for your blood pressure are:

• Sausages, salty, smoked, canned foods, cured cheeses that contain a lot of sodium.
• Processed food, that contains sodium and partially hydrogenated fats.
• Drinks that contain caffeine and theine, which speed up the heart rate and affect the flexibility of the blood vessels.
• Red meat, which increases fat levels in blood.
• Chocolates, which contain theobromine, an alkaloid cardiac stimulant.

Which foods care for the heart and maintain normal blood pressure?

• Water, which helps to eliminate toxins and improve blood flow.
• Whole grains that contains fibre to encourages intestinal transit.
• Pulses, which contain fibre and minerals such as potassium which contribute to water balance.
• Vegetables that contain high levels of potassium and have a diuretic effect, such as spinach, parsley, artichokes, garlic, mushrooms, potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli.
• Green leafy vegetables that contain folic acid and magnesium that can reduce blood pressure by up to 4 mm Hg.
• Foods rich in calcium (skimmed dairy is always better skimmed), since calcium has been shown to have a crucial role in cellular excitation and electrical impulse.
• Fruits that are rich in fibre and water, such as the watermelons that contain cucurbitacin, which dilates the vessels, banana which is low in sodium and rich in potassium, lemon, with antioxidants that improve vessel flexibility and vitamin B that protects the heart, and pineapple, rich in bromelain, which helps to dissipate clots and fluidizes the blood.
• Foods containing essential fatty acids such as fish and dried fruits, to prevent clogging of the arteries.
• Vegetables like carrots and tomato, that contain a lot of vitamin C and beta-carotenes, which prevent arteriosclerosis by lowering cholesterol and protecting the blood vessels.

Here are two sample diets for controlling blood pressure?

Menu 1

• Breakfast: A kiwi. A decaffeinated coffee with skimmed milk and piece of wholemeal toast with oil.
• Mid-morning: Skimmed yoghurt with Nuts.
• Food: Spinach with mushrooms. Roast Chicken. An apple. A piece of wholemeal bread. A cup of lemon balm tea.
• Snack: Three biscuits with salt-free fresh cheese.
• Dinner: Mixed vegetables, grilled sole, a slice of wholemeal bread and a kiwi.

Menu 2

• Breakfast: Drinking yogurt. Apple sauce. Four wholemeal biscuits.
• Mid-morning: Fresh skimmed cheese with crispbreads and orange juice.
• Food: Lentils cooked. Mere in the oven. Green salad. Bread and a pear. Herbal tea.
• Snack: Pineapple in juice.
• Dinner: Rice with artichokes. Fried egg with garlic. Bread and low fat yoghurt with three walnuts.

Ask your doctor if you have any questions and always follow take her advice

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