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You don\u2019t need us to tell you that high blood pressure is bad news. It\u2019s common knowledge, but do you know what you should be doing about it? <\/p>\nYou don\u2019t need us to tell you that high blood pressure is bad news. It\u2019s common knowledge, but do you know what you should be doing about it? <\/p>\n
There\u2019s a ton of research out there which tells us what to eat and what to avoid to keep our blood pressure healthy, but it can often be hard to find among all the \u2018noise\u2019 that exists.<\/p>\n
Ads and articles for diet fads and superfoods are often \u2018here today and gone tomorrow\u2019. There\u2019s a constant churn of information in the advice industry that\u2019s often there just to get attention. <\/p>\n
If you can manage to keep these things out of your mouth (especially if you have high blood pressure) you\u2019ll be well on your way to getting a healthier cardiovascular system.<\/p>\n
1- Alcohol \u2013<\/strong> Ever had a friend tell you that one glass of wine is good for you, then look on in disbelief as they fill a glass for you that almost holds the entire bottle? Friends like that are great, but a large global study published in UK medical journal, The Lancet has confirmed that actually, there is no safe level of alcohol consumption<\/u><\/strong><\/font>.<\/p>\n Sure, we\u2019ve all heard stories of people who drank booze every day of their lives and still lived to be a hundred years old, but most people aren\u2019t that lucky. They\u2019re more likely to wind up with serious diseases, and high blood pressure is just one of the ones on the list. Alcohol is the most popular drug on Earth, but for the sake of your health, avoid it if you possibly can. We know it can be lovely stuff\u2014in the moment\u2014but sooner or later you\u2019ll always pay a price for the good times that it brings.<\/p>\n 2- Frozen foods-<\/strong> Freezing freshly-picked vegetables is perfectly okay, and if that\u2019s all supermarkets were packing in their freezer aisles then you\u2019d be fine. A bag full of rock-solid veg is a great buy for your body, but you\u2019ll want to avoid the less innocent packages that also lurk in the cabinets\u2014if you know what\u2019s good for you. <\/p>\n There are plenty of pre-prepared meals laced with salt, sugar and a laundry list of chemicals which masquerade as food, so with some of them you might be better off eating the package they came in instead of food! You\u2019d like to think that they\u2019re simply good food that\u2019s been frozen at the perfect moment, but they\u2019re often sullied with preservatives and flavorings straight out of the laboratory. So, check the label before you put anything in your shopping cart.<\/p>\n 3- Canned foods-<\/strong> In 1974, canned foods were recovered from the wreck of the Bertrand, a steamboat which went down in the Missouri river in 1895. When cans were opened the contents may not have smelled or tasted great, but after 109 years, analysts couldn\u2019t find a single microbe growing inside them. Even after all that time, the food was still edible! <\/p>\n Canned food is convenient, cheap, and it lasts a long time, but the foods themselves are often processed before they\u2019re sealed into their airtight containers, which means many of them come with a heavy dose of salt and sugar. 4- Prepared \u201cMediterranean\u201d foods-<\/strong> When you hear the word \u2018Mediterranean diet\u2019 you probably think of sun-kissed vineyards, lush salads, fresh fish and fine cheeses. And that\u2019s what manufacturers want you to think. It\u2019s a label that helps them sell frozen, canned, boxed and freeze-dried foods that come loaded with extra chemicals, sodium, and sugar and which have also had the vitamins and other nutrients cooked out of them. <\/p>\n \u2018Always check the label\u2019 if you can, but if you can\u2019t then just avoid the stuff altogether, just to be on the safe side.<\/p>\n 5- Instant foods and food additives-<\/strong> Oatmeal wasn\u2019t born \u2018instant\u2019. It gets that way because it\u2019s rolled and flattened between cylinders, pre-cooked, sweetened and flavored. In other words, it\u2019s processed to within an inch of its nutritional life and then packaged to look as if it\u2019s natural and good for you. <\/p>\n Many other foods suffer a similar fate, so any time you see the word \u201cquick\u201d in the title, be on your guard. Be suspicious of food additives like stock cubes and sauces that can sit in your fridge or cupboard \u2018forever\u2019 without going off. They usually come with extra sodium that should be avoided if you have hypertension. <\/p>\n 6- Carbonated soft drinks-<\/strong> Many people consume canned and bottled sodas without a second thought. They\u2019re almost everywhere you look, in vending machines, offered as part of \u2018meal\u2019 deals at fast-food outlets and they take up entire aisles in the grocery store. They\u2019re also cheap, so it\u2019s no wonder they\u2019re popular, but they\u2019re also drinkable junk food that can harm your health. <\/p>\n A can of something like Sprite or Coke contains eight teaspoons, or 33g of sugar, which is ludicrous! Far better to drink water, which is what your body was designed for. But drink these all day and the sodium content (14.7mg) will help to dehydrate you as well as play havoc with your blood pressure. <\/p>\n Switching to diet soft drinks may seem like the healthy alternative, but they often contain aspartame, sucralose and other artificial sweeteners too, substances that have been shown to cause weight gain (how ironic!), diabetes and more. Your high blood pressure will not thank you for indulging in fizzy pop. <\/p>\n 7- \u201cEnergy\u201d Drinks-<\/strong> You can think of these as the \u2018evil twins\u2019 of regular carbonated drinks (which are pretty evil to begin with). Manufacturers throw everything they can think of into energy drinks; caffeine, sugar, taurine, aspartame, and more. Some people have suffered from heart failure drinking these chemical cocktails in a can, while others experience symptoms of addiction and suffer from anxiety, agitation and sleep disturbances from drinking them. <\/p>\n Energy drinks can\u2019t really give you energy. They can only give you the illusion of energy, a false sensation that comes from sugar and adrenaline spikes that always end in a slump and the desire for more. <\/p>\n The big lie is that these denatured substances are food. They\u2019re pseudo-foods that taste nice and last a long time, but beyond this they have little to offer the body and are often harmful. If you want to experience how much of a hold they can have on you then try doing without them for a few days and see if you don\u2019t feel like an addict suffering from withdrawal! <\/p>\n Real food shouldn\u2019t do this to you. It should leave you feeling level, calm, and satisfied. Stick to foods that really are foods, that haven\u2019t been altered, added to, or taken away from, and see how much better you feel. <\/p>\n
\nIf you do have to eat from a can then you can make it a healthier experience by washing the contents thoroughly, as most of the sodium content is dissolved in the water. <\/p>\n