Common foods that raise your blood pressure level

The National Weekender

LIVING with high blood pressure (hypertension) can be a hassle to deal with. A major contributor to our blood pressure is diet. Once we become accustomed to a certain diet, we find it hard to adjust. However, we eventually need to swap out the food that increases blood pressure, as over time, high blood pressure causes blood vessels to become stiff and inflexible. This leads to other potential problems down the line—such as cardiovascular disease and stroke—which may have fatal consequences.
There are certain foods you should avoid if you have high blood pressure that will be detailed in this article. Along with exercise, prescribed medication, and your doctor’s assistance, managing high blood pressure can be effortless.
How many people are affected by high blood pressure?
The role of blood pressure is to maintain adequate blood perfusion to every tissue and organ in your body. Blood needs to fight against gravity, and your body is especially adept at maintaining a level of equilibrium for normal functioning—a healthy blood pressure is a huge part of that.
Over time, however, the mechanism that pushes blood may weaken, resulting in your body having to work extra hard to push blood through the vessels. This leads to blood pressure rising and it can wreak havoc on the vascular system.
High blood pressure puts you at an increased risk for heart disease and stroke, which are leading causes of death in the United States. It is estimated that about 75 million American adults currently have high blood pressure: roughly one in every three Americans. High blood pressure contributes to more than 1,100 deaths each day.
What are the complications of high blood pressure?
The longer high blood pressure is poorly controlled, the greater the damage to various tissues and organs in the body. Excessive pressure against the vessel walls—caused by high blood pressure—can lead to several long-term and potentially fatal consequences.
Heart Attack or stroke: Hardening and thickening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) cause poor blood perfusion to the heart or brain.
Aneurysm: Occurs due to the weakening of blood vessels that eventually bulge and rupture. This can be fatal.
Heart failure: High blood pressure requires the heart to pump harder to overcome the increased pressure. This causes the cardiac muscles to thicken and become inefficient, leading to heart failure.
Kidney failure: Similar to the heart, the kidneys are also sensitive to blood pressure and play a major role in blood pressure maintenance.
Foods that raise your blood pressure
Being smart about what you consume is the key to successful blood pressure management. In fact, the initial therapy for treatment is diet and exercise. If these two factors can be managed and maintained, blood pressure will start to normalize. All physicians will stress the importance of diet and exercise to their patients, as it will potentially bypass their need for prescription medication that could have unwanted side effects.
The following are some common foods that raise blood pressure when consumed regularly and should be avoided, or at the very least, reduced in consumption by high blood pressure diagnosed patients. Foods that raise blood pressure naturally include:

  1. Processed foods: These foods tend to have a high amount of salt as either a preservative or for taste. This may help the manufacturer increase the shelf life of their product to help save some money, but it comes at the cost of your health. It is advisable to avoid processed foods such as chips, pickled goods, pretzels, peanuts, popcorn, frozen mixes, ketchup, dressings, dried soup mixes as well as lunch and deli meats
  2. Fatty foods: Diets high in fat have shown through research to be a contributor to high blood pressure. Studies done comparing such diets to vegetarian diets show a definite contrast, as most vegetarians were seen to have to have blood pressure significantly lower. Vegetables contain a high amount of fiber as well as polyunsaturated fats, both of which lower blood pressure.
  3. Alcohol: Excessive amounts have been shown to increase blood pressure to dangerous levels. Having as many as three drinks in one sitting can temporally elevate blood pressure and possibly stay in that high range if you binge drink regularly.
  4. Coffee: Caffeine is a stimulate found in coffee, and it is the reason why you feel awake after drinking a cup. But like most stimulants, it can temporarily increase blood pressure. It is thought that caffeine blocks adenosine, a hormone responsible for keeping blood vessels widened.
  5. Refined sugar: Excess sugar leads to more fat being created in the body. It is estimated that most Americans consume around 240 pounds of sugar each year on average, contributing to excess fat creation.

Weight gain and being overweight increases blood pressure.
Managing blood pressure may seem like a never-ending battle that requires a lot of sacrifices, and that may be true. But if one were to think of how it affects them in the long term, how it can shorten your lifespan taking you away from family and loved ones, giving up that can of soda or bag of chips doesn’t seem like a bad trade.

  • Source: www.belmarrahealth.com