Improve Your Blood Pressure
1.) Watch out for Sodium:
Sodium, also known as salt, is an ingredient found naturally and added to food. Salt intake can directly influence your blood pressure by way of water retention. If you have high blood pressure you want to keep your sodium intake at or below 1500mg per day.
What foods are high in sodium?
Cured or deli meats
Hard cheeses
Pickled items
Fast food
Canned foods with sodium added
Some condiments and dressings
Potato chips, crackers, bagged popcorn
Things to eat to help lower sodium intake: Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, non-salted nuts and seeds.
Here are some low sodium recipes:
2.) Get your body moving!
It is recommended that you get 210 minutes of moderate activity per week. Another movement recommendation is to get 10,000 steps per day. Do this by taking a lunch time stroll, sign up for some exercise classes, or find an exercise partner.
An App that I recommend is Fit On for free workout videos.
3.) Reduce alcohol intake.
Refer to our mocktail blog and our beyond dry January blog for further info.
4.) Monitor blood glucose levels and reduce risk of insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance can lead to elevated blood pressure. Ways to regulate your blood glucose and insulin are: limiting refined carbohydrates in diet, try to eliminate beverages with added sugars, get regular exercise, increase your intake of vegetables in diet.