The Worst High Blood Pressure Foods You Can Eat
Blood pressure police
High blood pressure foods are high in sodium (salt) and low in potassium and can increase your blood pressure. Although not all individuals are equally susceptible to the effects of sodium, we have no method to determine who is sodium-sensitive.
Therefore, it is wise for everybody, children and adults, to reduce the amount of sodium ingested.
Nearly 1 in 3 American adults have high blood pressure and are at risk of suffering a stroke, a heart attack, congestive heart failure or developing atherosclerosis and almost 1 in 3 adults have pre-hypertension. Much of this state of affairs is due to our high intake of salt with our meals and not enough potassium from fruits and vegetables.
Blood pressure (BP) numbers:
Hypertension 140/90 or higher
Pre-hypertension 120/80 – 130/89
Optimal BP less than 120/80
What is sodium?
Sodium is a mineral essential for maintaining the proper balance of fluids in our body cells. We all need some sodium, but most Americans eat too much. Salt (sodium chloride) is approximately 40% sodium and 60% chloride. Sodium is found in:
- food, especially processed foods and restaurant meals.
- softener water
- some medication
Salt is our number one source of sodium. Normally the body needs less than 500 mg of sodium per day, less than ¼ teaspoon of salt but the average American eats from 3,000 to 5,000 mg of sodium each day. This is 1 ½ – 2 ½ teaspoons of salt, far in excess of what our body needs.
Make a goal not to have more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day.
We know by now that an imbalance between sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium is the main step towards a normal high blood pressure. By including more fruits and vegetables, you increase your level of potassium, calcium and magnesium. So far, so good. But how do you lower the amount of sodium that you ingest every day? Here is what you can do.
Sodium and Processed Foods
Always keep in mind that about 75 percent of the salt we eat every day comes from processed foods, most of which is added by food manufacturers and restaurants; 15 percent comes from cooking and 10 percent from natural foods. By cooking more at home we can limit the amount of sodium in our meals.
Because the American public consumes far more sodium than is needed, about 4,000 milligrams per day, on November 2002 the American Public Health Association called for a 50 percent reduction in sodium in the nation’s food supply over the next 10 years. It is estimated that such a reduction would save at least 150,000 lives annually.
Understanding the sodium numbers in nutrition labels
A way to control the amount of sodium you ingest every day is to pay attention to the food label when you buy packaged or canned foods. This is what the sodium numbers on the label mean:
Sodium free……………………………………… 5 or less than 5 mg (milligrams)
Very low sodium…………………………………… 35 mg or less
Fruits, vegetables, pasta
Low sodium foods…………………………………… 140 mg or less
Bread, meat, chicken, fish, milk, margarine
High sodium foods…………………………………… over 140 mg.
Cheese, luncheon meats, hot dogs, bacon, catchup, mustard, soy sauce, many frozen entrees, canned soups, canned entrees, hamburger helper, many snack crackers, most chips and pizza.
Get used to read the labels, otherwise you may be due for problems, not only with high blood pressure, but also with many other chronic diseases.
Foods that will send your sodium-potassium balance out of whack:
- Commercial soups. Always read the food label when buying soups, or any canned food for that matter. They tend to be very high in sodium.
- Hard cheeses. Read the label here also. Hard cheeses are high in sodium.
- Cooked ham
- Olives. Olives are a good food but they can be high in salt. Rinse them before putting them in your salad or making them part of your dishes.
- Chips. Be very careful here. Very few chip brands are low in sodium.
- Salty nuts. Nuts are good for you because they are very low in sodium and high in potassium. Never buy nuts with added salt. However, if you are trying to lose weight, don’t eat more than a handful of nuts a day.
- Cold cuts. Be aware of cooked ham and cold cuts. They are loaded with saturated fats, salt, and additives such as nitrites and nitrates. They also contain meats of poor quality.
Read also the list of ingredients on the food label
Salt is used primarily to add flavor and occasionally as a preservative in food. Sodium is combined with a variety of other substances which then provides various functions in foods. For example, sodium bicarbonate is baking soda, a leavening agent; sodium citrate is an antioxidant.
Read food labels carefully and look for the following names to identify which products contain sodium:
- Salt
- Sodium
- Brine
- Sodium alginate
- Sodium sulfite
- Sodium caseinate
- Disodium phosphate
- Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
- Sodium chloride
- Sodium saccharin
- Sodium propionate
- Sodium hydroxide
- Sodium benzonate
- NaCl (chemical initials for salt)
Final Thoughts
Although an imbalance between sodium and potassium in your cells can increase your blood pressure quite dramatically, I have very good news for you: reversing this imbalance is fairly simple. Wouldn’t you like your doctor to reduce or completely take you out of some of the medications you may be taking? Let us recap then what you can do to lower your blood pressure and to surprise your doctor next time you show up at his office for a check up:
- Do not add salt while preparing meals.
- Use less salt at the table.
- Substitute salt with herbs, spices, and lemon juice. Go Mediterranean.
- Read labels. Choose foods low in salt or without added salt.
- Choose fresh meats, vegetables and fruits over processed foods.
- And, above all, cook more at home. Restaurants use a lot of salt in their meals, especially fast food restaurants.
To your health success!
Emilia Klapp, RD, BS
www.TheDiabetesClub.com
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