Natural Treatment for High Blood Pressure and Hypertension

Appropriate eating habits

An appropriate diet will help to keep blood pressure steady. It is recommended to go for vegetarian. This is because meat consumption promotes an increase in uric acid, which has been identified as factor that increases the workload of heart, liver and kidneys.

The diet should contain high vitamins, high fibers, high calcium, more vinegar, but low fat, low sugar, low salt and low cholesterol. The staple food should include coarse food grain such as miscellaneous grains, brown rice, and corn but fewer intakes in refined rice and noodles, sugar and salt. Besides that, patients should restrict their diets on eating sweets, lollipops, chocolates, ice cream, cakes, biscuits and any other sweetened or baked desserts, foods high in energy and trans-fat while watching for their weight. The intake of heat should calculate according to their work, physical needs and living conditions, and then reduces the heat ratio from 15% to 20% in the daily meal.

The total fat should less than 30% of total calories, while protein intake should account for about 15% of the total calories. Additionally, the patients should eat more whole grains, cereals, miscellaneous mixed grains, fresh vegetables, fruits, soybean products, black fungus, seaweeds, but cut on meats, fish, crab, prawn, squid and other animal-based proteins in order to obtain essential trace elements, vitamins, cellulose and enzymes. Patients should avoid taking oily, sugary, spicy, charred and fried foods. Tea, coffee, or coca-cola or any other concentrated caffeine, alcoholic and carbonated drinks are not encouraged for hypertensive patients.

Use non-salt seasoning or sea salt (but Korean bamboo salt is recommended) to increase the delicious of food. Eat less processed, canned food and foods that contain more sodium, preservative and artificial coloring. The intake of protein (plant-based is recommended) should keep to 1gram for each kg of body weight per day. For example, people with 60kg of body weight should take 60g of protein per day, in which plant-based protein occupying of 80%. Adequate intake of protein helps improve flexibility and permeability of vascular vessels, increase urinary sodium excretion, and thereby lowering blood pressure. Nevertheless, hypertensive patients with renal dysfunction should strictly restrict protein intake in their daily diet.

The consumption of oil should come from plant sources such as soybean oil, rapeseed oil, grape seed oil, sunflower oil, corn oil and olive oil. Avoid animal-based oil but use vegetable oil while cooking as the latter is found useful in reducing cholesterol, extending platelet cohesion, inhibiting the formation of thromboxane to prevent stroke, increasing microvascular flexibility due to its linoleic acid property that help preventing cerebral vascular sclerosis and rupture, and other hypertension related complicated symptoms. Apart from this, patients should take polysaccharide sugar (complex carbohydrates, such as starch, corn) instead of monosaccharide sugar (simple carbohydrates, such as glucose, fructose and sucrose) as the latter may easily cause the rise of lipids in the bloodstream.

Eat three regular meals a day and do not over eating and drinking. The plan for daily meal should base upon this menu:

250 to 350 g of carbohydrates (equivalent to 6 to 8 ratio of staple food), 400 to 500g of fresh organic vegetables, 100g to 200g of fresh organic fruits (preferably red apple, one to two a day to provide your body with essential trace elements such as iron, potassium and magnesium), 20 to 25g of cooking oil (preferably olive oil, or grape seed oil), 250g of low fat milk, meats include animal brain and internal organs, chickens, fish, egg yolk, sea foods and other animal protein products should limit to 100g, 100 g of tofu and soy bean products for three servings each.

The recommended foods for healthy blood pressure are as follows:

Preferable foods:

• Carbohydrate: unbleached brown rice, red brown rice, vermicelli, noodle and flour, yam, porridge, pueraria extract powder (Lobed kudzuvine root), soft beans, etc.
• Protein: less fatty foods, low fat dairy products (such as milk oil, yeast milk, yogurt, ice cream, cheese, etc.), soybean products (tofu, soybean meal and drinks, bean curd, soy extract powder, Japanese natto, etc.)
• Fats: plant-based oil, small amount of low fat butter, low fat salad dressing, low fat mayonnaise, etc.
• Vitamins and minerals: vegetables (spinach, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, lily root, pumpkin, eggplant, cucumber, mushroom, beet root, etc.), fruits (apples, peaches, oranges, pears, grapes, watermelons, grapefruits, plums, dates, etc.), seaweed, kelp, walnuts, almonds, etc.
• Others: black tea, green tea, milk yeast drinks, etc.

Not Preferable Foods:

• Carbohydrate: sweet potato (food that produce abdominal gas), dry beans, biscuits, pie, cakes, pizza, foods enrich with artificial coloring, seasoning and preservative, etc.
• Protein:fatty foods (bacon slices, cow, beef, mutton, crab, prawn, pork, steak, fish meats particularly tuna, herring and whale, etc.), processed meats (sausage, nugget, burger meat, etc.)
• Fats: animal-based oil, charred and grilled meats, animal protein products, etc.
• Vitamins and minerals: hard fiber vegetables (such as bamboo, maize, bamboo shoot), vegetables with strong irritant and stimulant (mustard, onions, parsley, shallot), water spinach (high in sodium content), etc.
• Others: spices (pepper, mustard, curry powder, chili), alcoholic beverages, coffee, concentrated tea, carbonated beverages, salted foods (such as salted vegetables, salted eggs, salted fish and meat, soy sauce cooked foods, pickles), canned foods, etc.

Remarks:

If you follow closely the suggestions in this article, I assure you that you will be rewarded with better health and life. I do hope that you enjoy reading this article. Please feel free to leave your comments if you have any ideas, suggestions, or specific health concerns. This article is aimed at helping patients to live healthily and happily. Good luck!