The high potassium and low sodium in some fruits can help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease. Selection of right fruits can keep your blood pressure under control.
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A systolic pressure (top reading) of 140 or more and/or a diastolic pressure (bottom reading) of 90 or more indicate that you have high blood pressure. The good news is you that don’t always have to go for prescription medicine to lower your blood pressure.
Trying lifestyle changes can suit you if you have borderline or moderate hypertension. However do consult your doctor, he or she will check your pressure and inform you if these changes can substitute or lower the medication dose for your hypertension. The recommended changes includes:
Watch your waistline. Shed that extra flab.
Exercise regularly. Even moderate physical activity such as brisk walking and bicycling or gardening can help control your blood pressure.
Drink alcohol only occasionally and moderately
Quit smoking.
Reduce sodium in your diet. Avoid processed or fried foods. Aim for less than 1,500 mg of sodium a day if you have high blood pressure.
Boost your potassium intake. Potassium can lessen the effects of sodium on blood pressure.
How does Potassium Help Reduce Blood Pressure?
Potassium is a very important mineral for the proper functioning of all cells of our body. Along with sodium, calcium and magnesium, potassium helps maintain the electrolyte balance of the body. Too much salt or sodium causes water retention in the body. This increases the blood volume and puts pressure on the artery walls resulting in high blood pressure.
Again, low potassium levels and high sodium levels, makes the heart and blood vessels to work harder and therefore increase pressure on the walls. So, keeping the right sodium–potassium balance is important for proper functioning of the body. Increasing the dietary consumption of potassium can help lower blood pressure.
Since our diet is normally high in sodium, it is important that we increase the intake of potassium. And if you have high blood pressure, you need to decrease the intake of sodium and increase the intake of potassium to get better effects.
Fruits that Lower Blood Pressure
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommends the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet to lower high blood pressure. The DASH diet plan is high in fruits, vegetables, and low fat dairy products. It is also high in potassium, calcium and magnesium which are useful in controlling high blood pressure.
Data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) indicated that higher dietary potassium intakes were associated with significantly lower blood pressures. The DASH trial provided further support for the beneficial effects of a potassium-rich diet on blood pressure. According to them, consumption of a diet including 8.5 servings/day of fruits and vegetables and 4,100 mg/day of potassium lowered blood pressure by an average of 2.8 /1.1 mm Hg (systolic BP/diastolic BP) in people with normal blood pressure and by an average of 7.2 /2.8 mm Hg in people with hypertension. Increasing dietary calcium intake by 800 mg/day in the DASH trial lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure still further.
Since fruits contain many essential nutrients, vitamins and anti-oxidants besides potassium, it is one of the best types of food that can help lower your blood pressure. Here are some fruits that are high in potassium content and which help lower blood pressure.
Apricot: Apricot is a very good source of potassium and vitamin A. With 2202 mg (63 percent DV) of potassium in a cup (119 g of cubes) of dehydrated apricot, it is perhaps one of the best foods that have potassium in them. It is very low in sodium content as well as saturated fat and cholesterol.
Avocado: Avocado is rich in assortment of vitamins and high in monounsaturated fat and potassium. It contains a unique fatty alcohol, called avocadene, which has a curative property for a number of ailments including high blood pressure. One cup (150 g of cubes) contains 727 mg of potassium (21 percent of the daily recommended value for potassium) and only 10.5 mg of sodium (zero percent of the daily recommended value [DV]). Avocado is very low in cholesterol and it is a good source of dietary fiber.
Banana: Bananais a versatile fruit – eat a whole banana as a snack or add sliced banana to your morning cereal or make a fruit salad with banana as one of the ingredients. Whatever way you eat it, a medium sized banana will provide 422 mg of potassium and 17 percent of the daily recommended value for vitamin C. With 2.83 g of dietary fiber, this fruit will help you stay full for longer periods of time.
Cantaloupe: Cantaloupe is a fruit that belongs to the melon family. It is an excellent source of vitamin A and vitamin C. A cup of cubed cantaloupe (160 g) contains 494.5 mg of potassium 14.1 percent daily recommended value for potassium. Remember to wash the outside of the cantaloupe before cutting it since bacteria can grow on its surface. Refrigerate if you are not going to consume it immediately.
Oranges and Lemons: Citrus fruits are best known for their high vitamin C content. Oranges are high in nutrition and low in calories. With a potassium content of 326 mg and no sodium, this is one of the best fruits that lower blood pressure. Limes, too, are a good source of potassium, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin A and folate. They contain 2.8 g of dietary fiber.
Grapefruit: This fruit has a distinctive, tangy taste. Select ripe grapefruits for best flavor and quality. The bioflavonoids present in grapefruit and other citrus fruits not only help lower blood pressure but also help lower cholesterol levels. Half a grapefruit (123 g) contains 166 mg of potassium and provides 5 percent of daily recommended value for potassium.
Melons: Melon is a very good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, thiamin and potassium. One cup of frozen melon balls (173 g) 484 mg of potassium and provides 14 percent of daily recommended value for potassium. It is also a good source of magnesium, folate and vitamin B6.
Prune: Prunes are actually the dried version of European plums. They are sweet in taste and have a sticky chewy texture. One cup of pitted prunes (174 g) contains 1274 mg of potassium and almost no sodium. Moreover, prune is a rich source of dietary fiber. A quarter cup of prunes supply 12.1 percent of the daily value for fiber. The soluble fiber promotes a sense of satisfied fullness after a meal as it slows down the digestive process and thus helps with weight loss. So if you have high blood pressure and are overweight too, prunes may be the right fruit for you.
In addition to these fruits, you can also eat raisins, dates, figs and molasses. They too contain a high amount of potassium. According to the NIH, dried fruits normally contain more potassium than fresh versions.
The following chart will help you plan your menu for fruit intake recommended in the DASH diet.
Fruits Help you Save Calories
If you are obese or overweight and have high blood pressure, substituting some cereals or protein food can help you save calories. For example:
Eating a medium sized apple instead of four shortbread cookies can save you 80 calories.
Eating one-fourth cup of dried apricots instead of a 2-ounce bag of pork rinds can save you 230 calories.
The following fruits are low in calories and help you lower blood pressure as well.
Calories in Fruits per 100 grams
Fruits Calories
Avocado 190
Banana 95
Dates 281
Kiwi Fruit 45
Orange 53
Orange Juice (100 ml) 47
Plums 56
Water Melon 26
Tips to Eating Fruits
Potassium leaches out into the water during cooking. So the best way to get potassium is through fruits.
Keep the fruit out on the counter or in the front of the fridge. That way you’ll be more likely to notice it and eat it.
Choose color and variety in fruits. Go for yellow, green, orange and red fruits.
Fruits salads are an interesting way to eat fruits.
Get some fruits at snack time too.
Go for variety in fruits. Try some new fruits.
Potassium can lessen the effects of sodium on blood pressure. And fruits are a great source of potassium.
LOWER YOUR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE BY EATING SALAD
New research by King’s College in London suggests that tossing your salad lettuce in olive oil and adding a sprinkling of nuts and avocado boosts heart health and lowers your blood pressure. The addition of unsaturated fat in olive oil makes salad leaves particularly healthy. How does it work?
The chemistry of cooking
The reasoning behind the finding put me in mind of the late celebrity TV chef, Philip Harben. Harben went beyond demonstrating his recipes and explained to his television audience why it was that they worked. He explained the chemistry of cooking.
When foods are eaten together a chemical reaction occurs in stomach. William Hay, the inventor of food combining in the 1920′s, understood this and used it as the basis of his dietary program.
The addition of unsaturated fat in olive oil causes salad leaves to make compounds called nitro fatty acids which react in the stomach with an enzyme to lower our high blood pressure.
There are two essential ingredients for the chemical reaction to occur. They are:
1,Unsaturated fats
2,Unsaturated fats are found in::
olive oil;
nuts such as walnuts, almonds, cashew, hazelnuts, macadamia and pecans;
avocados; and oily fish such as salmon, trout, mackerel, fresh tuna, herring, pilchards, swordfish and sardines.
Compounds called nitrites and nitrates
Nitrites are found in high levels in many salad vegetables including:
lettuce;
spinach;
celery;
carrots; and
beetroot.
Beetroot juice
A study into the beneficial effects of drinking beetroot juice also concluded that it was the nitro fatty acids reacting in the stomach with an enzyme that helped to reduce hypertension.
Mediterranean diet
The King’s College study could help explain why the so-called Mediterranean diet is good for the heart, despite followers eating large amounts of olive oil and other fats. It also helps to explain why previous research has shown that a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil, or nuts can reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems like stroke, heart failure and heart attacks.
Balanced diet and hypertension
Most dietary advice for those of us with hypertension focuses on having a healthy balanced diet containing a variety of fruits and vegetables.
The basis of this advice is that it ensures we get all the vitamins and minerals our bodies need together with adequate amounts of dietary fibre necessary to keep or bodies functioning properly.
The King’s College study and the study into beetroot juice, amongst other research, as well as the Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension (DASH Diet) not only confirm that having a healthy balanced diet is essential to lowering high blood pressure, but like Philp Harben all those years ago, it is explaining the chemistry of why it reduces our hypertension.
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