DASH Your Way to Lower Blood Pressure, Part 1

September 15th, 2009 · No Comments

Many people who struggle with high blood pressure fail to realize they can easily lower their blood pressure without taking any medications. Making a few healthy lifestyle changes can make a big difference in our health.

The changes we will address in this post are all related in some way to eating. By losing weight, eating well, and cutting down on salt, you can make great progress in lowering your blood pressure.

Losing weight

Carrying extra weight on your body places you at greater risk for health problems such as the aforementioned high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, and diabetes.

In order to lose weight, you must expend more calories than you take in. You can do this by increasing your activity level, and eating less calories. Trying to lose weight with unhealthy diets or by taking pills may only work for a short time. Soon the weight comes back on, quite often higher than when you first started on the diet.

Starting with a safe goal of 10 percent of your weight will give you a logical number to aim for, and a better chance of success. If you weigh 180 pounds, your goal would be to lose 18 pounds. A healthy guide is to aim for one to two pounds per week until you reach your goal.

The first week you may lose more due to excess water weight, but then you will fall into a smoother pace as you go forward.

Eat well and lose

Eating well includes making the right choices for your health. When you take control of your eating habits, you will have a great chance of success. You will feel much better about yourself and how you look.

First of all, cut salt from your diet. Reducing salt intake has proven to lower blood pressure.
Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less fatty foods.
Eat more fiber through fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Fiber helps you feel full and naturally encourages you to eat less.

Follow the three points above, and you will soon look and feel better.

DASH to better health

DASH is the acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. The DASH diet was developed to help lower blood pressure. It is low in fats and sodium and high in fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products. The two versions include on that allows more sodium than the other. Your health care provider can tell you which one you should use.

The DASH plan may have different foods than you are used to, but if you take the time to get used to eating foods you normally would not include in your diet you will see the difference the eating plan makes for your health.

We will discuss the DASH plan in further detail in part 2 of this article. In the meantime, check out the following website for more information about the DASH diet plan:

http://www.1on1health.com