If you know that high blood pressure runs in your family, you are lucky that you now have a clear warning sign to prompt you to take steps to prevent it. If you did not know, it would landslide on you.
High blood pressure is a silent killer. It arrives without warning. So, by knowing that a parent, uncle, aunt or some other member of your family has hypertension, you know you may have a genetic predisposition to developing high blood pressure, too.
Sometimes it is not the genes. It could still be lifestyle. Families tend to share the same eating, exercise and other lifestyle habits, such as smoking and drinking alcohol.
But if it is genes, you have to adjust your lifestyle habits to reduce your risk of contracting the condition. One such intervention is food.
What food to consider
Start prioritising fresh food and not fast food. This will reduce the amount of salt in your diet. Sodium has a big impact on your blood pressure.
When you eat too much salt, your kidneys find it harder to remove water from your body. The fluid builds up and increases your blood pressure.
Eat less saturated fat. Limit meat consumption at meals to a portion about the size of the palm of your hand.
Avoid fried meats, trim the fat off your meat, choose low-fat dairy, and significantly increase the amount of fruits, vegetables, and fibre that you consume daily.
Foods high in saturated fat create the perfect storm of trouble for heart health, clogging arteries, raising bad cholesterol and contributing to high blood pressure.
Limit sausage and other processed meats. Not only are they loaded with sodium and other preservatives that are unhealthy for your heart, but they are also instrumental in blood pressure.
A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women who consumed more than five sausages per week had a 17% higher rate of high blood pressure than that of those who ate less than a serving per week.
Prioritise foods with potassium like broccoli, spinach and green beans. Potassium eases the tension on the walls of your blood vessels, which in turn lowers blood pressure.
It helps your kidneys remove sodium from your body through urination. So, it is important to get enough potassium in your diet, to prevent hypertension.
Weight
Skip foods that make you fat such as potato chips, soda and cookies. Very high calorie foods, saturated fat and added sugars, can contribute to metabolic disorders such as heart disease.
They are highly palatable so, they encourage overeating and increase the risk of weight gain. And weight gain, especially obesity, is a strong risk factor for hypertension.
