Five Easy Ways to Reduce Hypertension Through Your Diet Alone!

High blood pressure increases the risk of future heart and circulatory problems and may even result in an eventual heart attack. While your physician may prescribe medications as one of the ways to reduce blood pressure, there are a number of dietary changes you can make which can help reduce your blood pressure to normal.

Here are five foods that, eaten regularly, are time-tested ways to reduce hypertension. Most have several other components that provide additional benefits to your general health, as well as other health conditions that may be associated with high blood pressure. Be sure to consult with your physician and discuss the appropriateness of each of these foods to your specific health picture. Augmenting your medication with these dietary ways to reduce high blood pressure may require more frequent testing of your blood pressure. Your doctor may want to adjust your prescription dosage accordingly.

Garlic is perhaps your most valuable in reducing high pressure. Garlic contains allium, the active property in effecting a reduction in HBP. Onions also contain allium, although not in as high a concentration. Both garlic and onions reduce high blood pressure, 'bad' cholesterol and can prevent blood clots. Garlic is also a natural antibiotic, effective against an array of pathogens. There are so many ways to incorporate garlic and onions into your diet, so load up! Many clinical studies have found that just a couple of large cloves each day can cut your risk of heart attack in half!

Cucumbers - good in a salad seasoned with those garlic and onions - help lower your blood pressure, are good for your digestive tract and can also relieve the symptoms of rheumatism. Cucumbers also have a mild diuretic effect, so mention this to your doctor.

Artichokes are yet another of the effective ways to reduce hypertension naturally. If you're overweight, this is a good addition to that salad plate as well. If you are diabetic, artichokes can help regulate blood sugar levels and provide plenty of that fiber you need.

Celery is an old-time remedy for hypertension, so let's add a few stalks to our growing salad dish. Like cucumbers, celery is mildly diuretic, reducing water retention. Celery is good for diabetics in regulating blood sugar, as well as reducing water retention.

Certain mushrooms have long been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine as one of the ways to reduce high blood pressure and cholesterol levels. In particular, shiitake and maitake mushrooms are found to be especially effective in this regard. Shiitake mushrooms are usually available fresh in larger supermarkets. Both are also available in dried form and are easily reconstituted in water. A mix of these mushrooms makes a delicious soup, or salad accent. Other notable benefits of eating these mushrooms include boosting the immune system function, fighting off viral conditions and as a preventative and treatment for cancer.

Check with your doctor about the above food choices. Eat salad daily. You will be amazes how a bowl of salad might be one of the best ways to reduce high blood pressure.

You Can Lower Your High Blood Pressure by Changing Your Thinking

High Blood pressure is mostly caused by dietary and lifestyle factors. These are the first to be reviewed when our BP readings are consistently elevated. First line defence techniques such as improving our diet and becoming more active are beneficial. They are, however, only part of the picture. What is often overlooked is the effect of our thought patterns on our blood pressure.

As a Man Thinketh, So He Becomes:

James Allen's famous aphorism - as a man thinketh so he becomes - says that our dominant thoughts affect our well being, for good or for bad. Our subconscious mind hears our "chatter" and tries to make those thoughts our reality. If we are worried, for example, about out our job security or keeping up the mortgage repayments, then our subconscious mind interprets our anxiety by releasing chemicals into our blood that elevate out blood pressure. This is anxiety or stress related hypertension, which we sometimes try to alleviate through increased smoking unhealthy and drinking. We are, of course, only making our hypertension worse.

A study of psychology and hypertension carried out by the University of Padua, Italy confirmed that:

hostility
anger
anxiety
depression and
defensiveness
have been often associated with the development of hypertension (Semplicini and Realdi, University of Padua Medical School, 2009).

We can apply this knowledge to turn the problem around by:

changing what we think about, and
using relaxation techniques.
Recognizing the problem

Our anxiety is caused, at least in part, by the fear of the unknown. We do not know what is going to happen and we think we have no control over circumstances. If work fears are a cause of our hypertension, we can work to reduce or eliminate them. It might help to make an assessment of the likely impact of losing a job and try to plan for such circumstances.

Changing what we think about

Human nature is for our self-defense mechanism to engage. In the case of anxiety related hypertension, it is not uncommon for us to try to ignore the problem and hope it will go away. This is self-deception and can add further stress burdens, making our condition worse.

As important as dietary factor as in controlling the high blood pressure, it would be wise to recognize the problem and do something about it. Planning is a form of action. Taking positive action to reduce or eliminate the problem can be cathartic. So if anxiety is fuelling our high blood pressure, we can counter it by altering the predominant subject of our thoughts away from worrying to actively dealing with the cause of our concerns.

Relaxing

There are two types of relaxation - active relaxation and passive relaxation. Engaging in an activity or sport that you enjoy which is a break from your normal routine can be relaxing to both body and mind. Passive relaxation can be as simple as finding a peaceful place and quieting your mind for 20 minutes. This will immediately lower your blood pressure.

Defensive behavior can likely worsen anxiety related hypertension. You should also do something about the psychological factors. It starts with acknowledgement and gets easier by taking positive action. There is a dynamic relationship between the nature of our predominant thoughts and our bodies especially our blood pressure.