What You Need to Know to Manage High Blood Pressure and Reduce the Need of Hypertension Medication

While there are specific eating plans that have been known to help reduce symptoms of hypertension, there are some standard nutritional recommendations that can help you reduce your need for hypertension medication. This include:

1. Avoid Trans Fats Contrary to the low-fat craze of the 90s, we need fats in our diet, including saturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. One fat to avoid, however, is trans fat found in packaged baked goods, snack food, margarines and fast foods. Trans fat is known to raise blood pressure as well as increase your risk for heart disease and stroke. Read labels and avoid products with partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredients. 
2. Emphasize a Whole-Food Diet Avoid processed foods, sugar, refined carbohydrates, trans fats and fried foods, and foods that contribute to inflammation. Eat a whole-foods, plant-based diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts and seeds, healthy fats, and lean proteins.
3. Stay Hydrated Getting enough water prevents your heart from working too hard. Water helps the heart pump blood through the blood vessels and muscles to remove wastes. A general rule of thumb is to drink half of your body weight in ounces of water per day. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, you should drink at least 75 ounces of pure, filtered water. An additional 4 ounces is recommended for every 15 minutes of intense physical activity but this varies from person to person. If you tend to be a heavy sweater, one thing you can do is weigh yourself before and after a workout to see how much weight you lost through sweating and then drinking 8 oz. of water for every pound you lost.

Nutrition has been recognized as a pivotal part of modifying the risk of cardiovascular disease for some time. The role of diet has been focused on individual dietary components, however due to the fact that foods are consumed in combination and the possibility of the beneficial relationships between nutrients, there has been increasing attention to overall dietary patterns as opposed to just individual nutrient consumption. Dietary approaches including the Mediterranean, DASH, Vegetarian and Vegan eating plan are often recommended to patients at risk of or diagnosed with CVD and have all been proven to be successful in helping individuals reduce their blood pressure as well as reduce the need for high dosages of blood pressure medication. Not sure which one would fit your lifestyle?  I will explain them in detail below:

The DASH eating plan (DEP) 

The DEP advocates consuming fiber and potassium via fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, reducing sodium intake, reducing total sodium intake, reducing total and saturated fat, as well as getting adequate protein via lean meat and low fat dairy products instead of high-fat or processed meat.

The DEP has been shown to be effective for managing BP and one study using the DEP reported a drop in systolic blood pressure of 11.4 mmHg and a decrease in diastolic blood pressure of 5.5 mmHg. Many individuals have reported having problems adhering to the DEP when using the low-fat version, but find it easier when they allow moderate-higher fat dairy options into the eating plan.

Surprisingly enough, research has shown that using a version of the DEP that incorporates full-fat dairy along with a moderate reduction in carbohydrates actually produced similar reductions in both systolic and diastolic blood pressures without any increases in low-density lipoprotein numbers.

The Mediterranean Eating Plan (MEP)

The MEP is believed to prevent cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases. Some consider it to be the world’s healthiest diet, as it primarily features plants, whole grains, as well as healthy fats and oils. Specifically, monounsaturated fats (mainly from olive oil) and wild-caught fatty fish are commonly consumed in that part of the world which is thought to be one of the reasons why tis particular eating plan is so effective. 

I would also like to add that consuming too much seafood or fish can put you at risk for mercury poisoning. It’s important to use make sure that you are also getting your protein from non-meat sources to ensure that you are not susceptible to this.

The Vegetarian Eating Plan

Adopting a vegetarian may also be difficult to adhere to since you do not eat meat or fish and most people use them as their main sources of protein. Though consuming meat and fish isn’t necessarily bad, animal protein may be difficult for the body to digest, and modern methods of raising livestock have become somewhat unethical and unhealthy.

If you are considering adopting a vegetarian or vegan eating pattern, make sure to fulfill your nutritional needs by eating mainly fresh, organic, whole produce. Some vegetarians rely too much on processed foods instead of vegetables when it is entirely possible to meet daily protein needs on a vegetarian diet through lentils, beans, and even broccoli! Just keep in mind that  just like many meat-eating individuals, you may need to supplement with B12.

Vegan Eating Plan

Like vegetarians, vegans don’t eat animal meat or fish, but they also don’t eat any animal by-products – such as butter, eggs, yogurt, gelatin, and sometimes honey. While this diet is restrictive, your vegan clients can get all of their nutritional requirements by eating primarily fresh, organic, whole produce. 

Like vegetarians and many meat-eaters, they may need to take a B12 supplement since B12 is a bacteria found in soil and is often difficult to obtain in your diet. Similar to vegetarians, trouble arises when vegans rely too much on processed foods. After all, food manufacturers are more than happy to market their packaged foods as “vegan-friendly” which is why it’s important to avoid this tempting trap. 

If your goal is to lower your blood pressure and reduce your need for hypertension medication on a vegan diet, then you will not be able to do so if you consume too many of these processed foods.