Eating properly
The golden rule for living a long and healthy life is maintaining a balanced diet that includes fruits, vegetables, grains, and fish along with limited amounts of salt, fat, and sugar. This is especially important for people with high blood pressure who are also striving to lose weight.
As mentioned earlier, more than half of all Americans are overweight. A natural consequence of this fact is that Americans eat more salt and sodium than they should. As a rule, many medical organizations recommended that people consume no more than 1 teaspoon (2,400 milligrams) of sodium a day. Americans, on average, take in between 4,000 to 6,500 milligrams a day! This is why more Americans — as compared to people in other countries — have a greater risk of developing high blood pressure. (African Americans and the elderly are particularly sensitive to sodium.) There are many reasons for this health disparity, as well as many healthy actions that people can take to improve their diets, lifestyles, and blood pressures.
One critical change that people suffering from high blood pressure need to make is to reduce the amount of salt and sodium they consume. This includes table salt and foods that are high in sodium, like canned soups, smoked meats, seasonings, and many packaged and processed foods. This is why it is important to read the “Nutritional Facts” labels on most goods at the supermarket in order to determine how much sodium per serving a food item contains.
MONITOR LABELS: Foods with High Salt or Sodium
- Hot dogs
- Canned soups
- Ketchup
- Saltines
- Sausages
- Canned vegetables
- Mustard
- Pretzels
- Ham
- Pickles
- Cheese
- Potato chips
- Smoked meat/fish
- Sauerkraut
- Soy sauce
- Packaged frozen dinners
- Canned meat/fish
- Olives
- Tomato sauce/juice
- Packaged cakes/pastries
People who are obese experience a greater decrease in appetite after physical exercise than those who are at their ideal body weight.
Sodium chloride is the equivalent of table salt. It contains about 40 percent sodium. Sodium is defined as “a silvery soft, waxy, metallic element that occurs abundantly in natural compounds, especially in salt water.” Sodium is created naturally in foods, often in small amounts. These foods include milk, meat, cheese, fish, and some vegetables.
Buying foods that are low in sodium or that have labels like “no salt” or “low sodium” can help to reduce or prevent the onset of high blood pressure. Since “fast food” and other restaurant meals are high in sodium, it is also important to make healthier food choices. While eating out, this may even require asking waiters to hold the salt in preparing meals. Using doctor-recommended salt substitutes is another good habit that could go a long way in improving blood pressure.
As with weight loss, a long-term reduction in salt consumption can directly reduce blood pressure levels. In fact, a simple regimen of weight loss and salt reduction can help 20 to 25 percent of high blood pressure patients normalize their levels and even avoid the need to take specific medications.
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